Summer classes have been killing me and I need something to take my mind off of them
Summer cicada chirp loudly through the open window of a studio apartment, the sound mixed with the faint voices of a late night infomercial carelessly left on.
"You wouldn't believe how well this worked for my family and I, this product absolutely changed us!" An overly perky actress chirped in a manner that was beyond natural.
No one would actually stay up to watch this sort of thing, but a dozed off boy sure didn't care what was playing. As long as there was any other noise other than the cicadas he was happy.
That is, until the clock turned to 3:00am and the channel switched to a man far too buff to be natural yelling about an all new work out treadmill, the actors shouting actually causing the just hardly asleep boy to shoot up from his spot on the couch, his laptop previously on the arm of the chair now on the floor and empty mug falling beside it.
"Shit! No, no, no!" Len cursed under his groggy voice quickly collecting the fallen items, lucky to have caused no damage to either item in the process. "Thank god, I would be dead without you." His sleepy voiced happily sighed to his unharmed laptop. He made sure to place both items back on the coffee table where they belonged. Regretfully he looked at the clock, he knew he had to as much as he didn't want to. Peeking through one eyelid, he saw the numbers reading 3:01am.
Throwing his hands into his face he gave a hard huff, "There's no way I'm finishing this essay." He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with his palms, he couldn't believe he did this again. He thought he would've learned from his mistakes from before but procrastination got him every time. Time seemed to creep up on him so quickly, since as long as he could remember.
Plopping back down on his old couch, a couch he had inherited from his grandfathers old house, he opened up his laptop to check and see how far he had gotten with this essay that was due by 8am that morning. Reading through, it was not his best work. On the brighter side of it all though, he only needed three more pages. At 3 am though with only an hour of sleep? There was only one way to get him through this predicament, and her sweet name was coffee.
He clicked his television off filling the air with only cicadas, "When the heck are they fixing this damn air conditioning, I can't focus in these conditions." He wanted so badly to shut the window to drown them out but it was his only source of slightly cool air.
He flickered his kitchen lights on to find all the supplies for a cup of joe and to scrummage the drawers for a lone hair tie. Pulling his growing blond locks into a stubby pony tail, he started heating up his coffee pot, he was probably going to need a lot to finish these next three pages of an extensive essay on a book that turned out to be a lot more interesting than he had thought. He lazily rested his elbows on the windowsill that looked outside his small apartment kitchen, resting his head in the palm of his hands.
Directly across his kitchen window there was another window only a mere five or so feet away. In that window there lived a couple that lead a completely different life than him. The two seemed to have their lives completely established. He always saw a girl around his age in the kitchen in the afternoon making dinner, sometimes he would catch a glimpse of her significant other talking to her or exchanging a greeting. He could easily see her getting up early to make breakfast too maybe, not that he was ever up early enough to see. That girl appeared in his life a lot, she worked down the street in a coffee shop as well.
If he was being completely honest, he had a huge crush on her the first time he saw her when he moved into his current studio apartment. The first time he saw her, was through this exact kitchen window while he was unpacking. He looked across the window into another window, he saw blue eyes that matched his own but bigger and brighter. Her hair was long at the time, golden like marigolds. That's what she reminded him of, blooming marigolds. He has never actually spoken to her, but he could tell by the way she was through the window across from his, she was nice and mature.
Just when Len was starting to get the nerve to go talk to her, he saw the hue of blue haired man appearing on a daily basis. He knew they were a couple, he's seen the blue haired fellow hug her from behind while she did whatever it was in front of the window on a few occasions, after the third time he saw him do it, Len realized two things.
1. He had to stop fawning over this girl he didn't even know for many reasons
2. He had to stop peering over to his neighbors window because it was completely creepy. He's lucky they had yet to notice.
But, it was three in the morning so he could look all he wanted. He stared at the window and thought about her, he knew it was ridiculous to think of someone he has only ever seen through windows.
Len liked to think she worked part time to pay for her apartment and everything else while her roommate, since we're imagining that's what we'll call her blue haired companion, also worked and they payed half and half. He also liked to think that her name was Atsuko because of how warm she was, that she went to school the other part time and she majored in literature and maybe wanted to be a teacher when she got older. It's crazy how much Len loved the idea of her, yet the only things he knew he could really like about her that were certain is the way her short blonde hair bounced when she sang along to songs he wish he could hear in her kitchen and the way her eyes always seemed to have an extra glimmer to them.
He seriously needed to stop this creepy obsession.
The coffee pot dang, alerting Len that it was ready. He took a new clean mug from his cupboard and poured the dark roast, not intending to put any cream or sugar in his mug. He took a long sip of the fresh brewed coffee, the heat not bothering him at all.
When he was finished taking a big swig, he set the mug down to be greeted with cerulean eyes.
"Wow, how do you drink that stuff? I can't stand coffee, let alone without any sugar or cream." The girl across the window lightly laughed.
Len was not expecting to see her of all people, especially not for her to talk. He almost made the same mistake as last time but was quick to not let himself. It was 3am, what was she doing up? She probably has class or work in the morning, well adjusted people are in bed by now with their alarms set and clothes for the next day laid out.
"U-um!" Was all Len could sputter out, this was the first time she's ever acknowledged him or even heard her voice. It was just as he imagined, sweet and smooth like honey.
"Sorry did I scare you? I just saw you and felt like I had to say something." She apologized with a soft smile. She was obviously in PJ's, her eyes looked pretty rough too.
"You can't sleep either?" Len asked, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Of all times for them to meet, it had to be when he looked like a mess drinking bitter coffee at this ungodly hour.
"It's been a bit of a rough night I suppose, I came out to brew some lavender tea to go to sleep." She raised her cup for proof. How mature he thought, she drinks hot tea. Not that that was really basis for being mature, but in a way it seem sophisticated to him. "I guess no sleep for you tonight with that coffee, huh?" She gestured to his mug, which reminded him of his paper due in only hours. Why would he work on a paper when his mystery girl was talking to him though?
"Oh this? No, not really I just woke up and really craved some good coffee, ya know? T-this is decaf!" He didn't want to look like some loser who delayed an assignment for absolutely no good reason or some kid who stayed up just for the fun of it.
"I wouldn't know actually, I absolutely hate the stuff. It's much too bitter for my taste!" Rin giggled. That was odd, Len thought to himself. Coffee was usually like a right of passage to becoming an adult, even if you didn't like it you still drank it to let everyone know your taste buds no longer craved hot chocolate, but now the caffeinated drink to help people with responsibility stay up. She seemed so mature, it surprised him she didn't drink the stuff. Then another thought popped in his head that made him realize her not liking coffee was odd.
"Wait, don't you work in a coffee shop? How do you not like coffee?" Len asked taking a sip out of his own mug now.
"How did you know I worked in a coffee shop?"
Len chocked on his bitter drink, that right. How did he know that?
"Y-you work down the street don't you? That's you, right? I pass it every time I go to classes!" He quickly redeemed himself from seeming creepy. What he said was true anyway, he really did see her every time he passed the coffee shop for his classes. Though, he would specifically look for her whenever he did pass.
"Oh, then yeah. Yeah I do, but it's only for money really. I like the smell of all the pastries we have in there too, it's more than coffee anyway. You should come in sometime, um?" She paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, what's your name? I've seen you through the window quite a few times but I've never actually caught your name before."
This was shattering news for him, she sees him too? He's not completely blind to his mystery girl? "My name is Len, it's nice to meet you! Ah, yeah I've seen you across the window too a few times!" Dozens of times. "What's yours?"
"I'm Rin, it's nice to have a name for the face now." She beamed over to him taking another sip of her tea. "So what're you doing up at this hour? You can't sleep either?"
"Ah, yeah. I've been having trouble lately you know how it is-" His sentence was cut short by a loud growl from his stomach. How embarrassing, he cursed himself for not nibbling on something before starting his paper.
"Tired and hungry huh? I think I have something for you." She left the window for a moment and returned with a bag with a colorful assortment of things, "Catch these, okay?" Rin tossed the plastic bag right into his outstretched hand, not that it was hard considering how close their buildings were to one another.
"Gummy bears?" Len questioned with a confused look.
"I know it seems weird," Rin sheepishly blushed, "But I swear they help. It's kind of a placebo effect, my mom used to tell me the blue ones help you sleep, the red ones help you wake up, and the yellow ones help you wake up."
"What about the green ones?" Len asked amused by the story.
"Oh, mom always hated the green ones so they don't do anything. The green ones are my favorite though, so I say they make me happier when I'm feeling a little sad."
"I'll take your word for it then," Len chuckled and took a blue one from the bag and tossed the rest back to her. "They won't really work though, because you already told me they were a placebo. Not that I would believe gummy bears would cure my need for sleep."
"What placebo effect? I told you, the blue gummy bears help you sleep." Rin smirked. Len couldn't believe how this had turned out, I mean how much more perfect could this night get? Other than the three other pages of his assignment that were still screaming to be finished. Also, the small fact that Rin had this blue haired "roommate"
"Hey, before you go, can I ask you something?" Rin paused mid sip, waiting for his question, "What's the name of that blue haired guy that lives with you?"
"His name is Kaito," Rin said, "He's my fiance."
Ouch. This is my karama, this is what he gets. Just when he meet a girl he really clicked with, she has a fiance. "I see, well I'd like to see you guys around." He lies right through my teeth. He'd love to see her, her fiance not so much.
"Yeah," Rin gave a sheepish grin, "Come by the shop sometime, I'll serve you whatever on me!"
"I'd like that, do you work tomorrow?"
"Mhm! I'm working open till three, come see me anytime!" She chirped, "Hopefully I see you, good night." She gave a wave before shutting her window for the night.
It was so late at night. Is this real? Am I going to wake up and realize I was dreaming? Or is this technically a nightmare, considering she has a fiance. I mean, she can't be older than me. I'm only 19 and have never had an official girlfriend, how is she engaged? She must really be sure to be engaged so young.
Plus, she's surprisingly childish. In a charming way, who knew we would bond over coffee and gummy bears.
It's literally 3 am rn, I knocked this out in an hour and a half while listening to the Stranger Things sound track on youtube. That music did not fit the mood of this lol Tell me if ya'll want a second chapter, I'll do it if people want it. May or may not if they don't