She gulped, staring at the distance between the window and her ground. She averted her gaze to the tree branch near her window, which he climbed to get there. Unconsciously, she shook the branch.
"Are you sure the branch will support my weight? How did you climb the tree anyway?"
He reached for the tree branch. Stretching his upper body out the window, he grabbed the branch, hoisting himself on it with ease. He hopped from branch to branch and soon, was on the ground, smirking at her. She did the same, trying to prove she wasn't a maiden in disguise. He led her to the bike parked by the road. He handed the helmet to her before getting on the bike. She stared at him quizzically as she wore the helmet. When she was done, she got on the bike.
"Where are we going?" She asked again.
"It's a surprise," he smirked, "Hold on tight."
The arrogance in his voice made her snort. "Why would I do that? I would rather...Ah!"
She grabbed his jacket tightly as they zoomed into the night. Her loose curls were whipped side to side by the wind, temporarily blocking her vision. She inhaled the fresh, crisp night air and relaxed. Deep down inside her, she felt she could trust him. They were going to some random place by 11:30, it's normal!
He parked by the abandoned lighthouse. She alighted off the bike and took off the helmet. She ran her fingers through her hair trying to tame it. Her attempts failed woefully. She gave up and handed the helmet to him. She looked around, the surroundings were unfamiliar. They were on the other side of town, where the big shots resided. She stared at the lighthouse. "Why did you bring me here?"
"It's a surprise," he repeated. The area was fenced off, there was no way they could enter, except scaling the fence. "We can't go in, there's no way to enter," she said. He smirked once more as he walked to the fence. She watched him scale it and soon, he was on the other side. She knew how to scale a fence, she did it once. That, however, was also the last time she scaled one, her grandmother skinned her alive when she found out. He stared at her, not moving an inch. Her gaze went to the fence. It wasn't very high, it was probably designed just for scaling. She scaled it easily, breaking another of her grandmother's many rules. It wasn't an important one, but a rule is a rule, and she just broke it. But still, she was far away, what the heck? She thought. She joined him as he walked to the lighthouse. He turned the door knob. As expected, it was locked. She felt the lighthouse keeper had probably gone home. Who would be in a lighthouse by midnight?
"The door is locked, stop trying," she asserted, "We should go."
He smirked again and broke the door down. Her mouth dropped, she thought she would end up in jail. They were already trespassing. She could picture the disgrace on her grandparents' face, no, her grandmother's face. She wouldn't hear the end of it. Something in her head told her to turn back and save her ears from her grandmother's scolding. Still, she followed him into the lighthouse. They climbed the narrow stairs to the top, making her suddenly feel claustrophobic. They finally got to the top where all the magic happened. The area was dusty, it seemed the place hadn't been maintained for a while. She stared at the deep blue sea, lost in its beauty. She looked over her shoulder and saw Laurent still having that ridiculous smirk on his face. The one she wanted to smack off. She decided to ignore his annoying smirk. "Did you bring me here to look at the sea?"
"Nope, I'm giving someone a wake-up call.,"
"Then there was no point bringing me here. You can do it yourself."
"Yes I can, but I wanted to get you in trouble for a change. Besides, isn't that what friends are for?"
"You have a very twisted definition of friendship. Who are we pranking?"
His smirk was replaced with a grin. "Does it matter?"
The idea of pranking some random person became ridiculous. "Yes, it does! You know what, this is stupid. I'm..."
"It's Jacques," he interrupted.
"I'm in," she quickly replied. His laughter boomed off the walls of the room. "What's the plan?"
"He seems to complain about sleep. Let's just say he's not getting much of it tonight."
"What are doing them? Making loud noises?"
"We're pointing the light directly at his window."
She also smirked. "Cruel move, I like it."
He laughed once more. "I knew you were up to the task. First things first, let's change the bulb." He directed her to get a new bulb from the ones stashed in the corner. She walked to the box where the bulbs were. Squatting, she picked one up. She stood up once more and walked back to him. Handing him the new bulb, he gave her the old one which she kept in a corner. Staring at the room, she noticed an extension in the corner. Her phone was down since she forgot to charge it. Luckily, she came with her charger. She walked towards to the extension, leaving the task of setting up to him alone. She hurriedly connected her charger to the extension. When she touched the charger, it shocked her. She yelped in surprise, distracting him from his task.
"What are you doing?"
"I was...um," she mumbled, suddenly feeling embarrassed. He walked towards the extension, attempting to remove the charger. The result was the same, it shocked him also.
"What the...what did you do, Sparky?"
"I did nothing...wait, who's Sparky?"
"The idiot who connected her charger to a faulty extension!"
"That's a terrible nickname, even for you, Laurent! Also, I'm not an idiot."
"Let's just do this and get out of here."
They abandoned the charger and walked back to the lightbulb. He directed the lens at a window she assumed to be Jacques.
"Quick," he said, "turn the thing on!"
"How?"
"Flip the switch over there, will ya?"
She grumbled and walked to the switch in the corner. It shocked her again and she yelped again. He shook his head. "Seems the lighthouse hates you."
"I didn't want to come here," she snarled. He chuckled and flipped the switch. The light instantly came on. "Great, we're done, let's get outta here," she said, walking back to the extension to retrieve her charger.
"Not quite, Jacques needs to know it was us who ruined his sleep."
She grumbled again, finally retrieving the charger. He dialed his number, the smirk still on his face. He immediately answered.
"You won't believe this man! The lighthouse is working. Well, it was always working, but the idiot directed the light at my window."
"I believe you," he coughed, trying to hide the amusement in his voice.
"Seriously?"
"Of course, especially since I was the one who did it "
"You're bluffing."
"Maybe, maybe not," he said, picking his fingernails.
"What the fuck man! Turn it off!"
His words made her giggle. "Is someone there with you, Laurent?"
"Maybe, maybe not."
"Turn it off!"
"Nope."
"I won't get any sleep!"
"Good luck with that, ranger."
"Cut it out! Turn..."
He hung up, a smirk still on his face. He was amused, he always wished he could hang up on Jacques mid-sentence since he always did that to him. Dreams come true!
"Can I go home now?"
"The night's still young, Heathrow. You'll go home soon enough."