‘Damn it.’ Willem-Jan rummaged again in his pockets. Earlier that evening he’d left the house in a hurry to go to the kroegjool. An evening’s free drinking courtesy of the student association was not to be missed. Now it was a quarter to four in the morning and he was standing outside a locked door.
‘Shit, you’re an idiot,’ Willem-Jan slurred to himself. The keys were probably still lying on his desk. He tried to think clearly. The girls weren’t home, Derk was out on the town with his sports buddies and where Filippo had got to was anybody’s guess. Willem-Jan felt tiredness steal over him and longed to fall straight into his bed.
He took out his telephone. He was short of options and really wasn’t that bothered how Derk would react. As he listened to the dialling tone, the muffled sounds of One Direction were audible through the front door. Derk had left his mobile at home. Willem-Jan swore a little louder. From the open window on the first floor, Vecino stared at him pityingly. Suddenly, Willem-Jan’s gaze fell on the drainpipe next to the cat. Bingo! Determined, he started to haul himself up the zinc. The pipe creaked alarmingly.
Once he’d reached the first floor, he couldn’t get to the window. Luckily, the drainpipe ran past the balcony. If he could just stretch his arm out a little farther…
His attempt was interrupted by loud creaking as the drainpipe separated from the wall. Willem-Jan managed to grab the top edge of the balcony and stop himself crashing to the ground. He summoned all his strength to climb up onto the balcony. Panting he tried to open the balcony door. Also locked!
‘Right, I’ve had enough of this.’ He seized a flowerpot and threw it through the window. Finally, he was in. During the following moment of silence, he assessed the damage. The landlord certainly wasn’t going to like this. Below, the back door closed suddenly. A little while later Filippo appeared in the doorway and all was quiet. ‘I… I forgot my keys,’ Willem-Jan stammered. Filippo raised his eyebrows. ‘Dude, you know the back door is always open, right?’