Friendly Dating 2 - Ethan

Chapter 12 - Claiming the Window

It's from Kira, and all it says is: "Good night."

"Why?!" I reply in reflex, really freaked out now. I haven't even talked to her yet or done anything. I've been lying here in my bed wondering if I should send her a message, but our whole relationship is made out of rice paper. A drop of water, a slight breeze, or one careless move could destroy it completely. I haven't added any water, wind or anything yet; why is she sending me such an ominous one-line message?!

"What do you mean why? It's night."

"Are you mad at me??" I really hope she's not mad at me. I am trying, but I cannot think of even one reason why she should be mad at me... then again, I seldom can. Come on, give me a break! I really need this chance! Don't take it away now!

"No more than usual. Why? What did you do now?" she replies.

Nothing! I did nothing!

This is going nowhere. I hate typing messages; my fingers are too big for the friggin' small buttons, and I end up making mistakes and adding a bunch of ls and ms when I try to backspace. Frustrated, I hit the voice note button instead.

"Good night? Just like that? Sounds pretty final. Are you ending it already, or are we still doing this?"

That was too aggressive; I should just delete the note and say something nicer. My mom is always telling me that I cannot catch flies with vinegar. I don't know what she's always on about; I don't want friggin' flies. I just don't want Kicks to break up with me already. My heart is beating in my throat now, and if I thought it hard to fall asleep earlier, I now know I'll never sleep again in my entire life.

I'm still trying to get my fingers to the right buttons to delete my sent message when my phone announces a reply from Kira.

"I wasn't saying farewell, Idiot," well, that sounds a lot better. "I was saying good night; it's a thing civilized people sometimes say to each other. Dell and Simon always say good morning and good night to each other. Seems nice. They're my only example, so... whatever. Go to sleep!"

Oooooooooh! The grin sneaking onto my face is making me look exactly like the idiot Kira just called me. She's clearly taking our deal seriously, and that is exactly what I want. Kira never does things by halves when she's made up her mind to do them. She's bringing in the big guns for this. Deli and Sy are experts!

"👍🏻Sorry. Good night."

I stare at the message I just sent, and I don't like it. It looks just as impersonal and blunt as Kira's original message. I should also use my sister and her perfect boyfriend as an example because Kira thinks Simon is the ideal guy. What would he do? Ah! I know!

"😘"

I wait and wait and wait, but there is no return kiss. This isn't right! I know for a fact that Deli always sends Sy a bunch of kisses with her messages. The two are really quite nauseating. I've begged her to stop showing me their corny messages, and sometimes she relents.

There's nothing from Kicks, no kiss, nothing! Perhaps she fell asleep. I'm stupidly thrilled when my phone buzzes again, but these are not kisses!

"🤣🤣🤣"

What the hell? How is this using Sy and Deli as an example?!

"Don't laugh!" I grumble into a voice note. "You started this. You're supposed to send a kiss back; you're being seriously unromantic."

When I hit send, I suddenly have a vision of Kira pouting out those cute lips of hers, and the thought is sending goosebumps up and down my back.

"No." She's getting pretty good at short messages. I'm actually starting to miss her essays.