Chapter Text
Alberto was knocked back slightly as Giulia leaped onto him in a tight hug. The boy’s legs still ached from being confined in the tight seats of the train car, so he wasn’t quite ready for a 130-pound teenage girl squeezing the life out of him. This was the first time in two years that Alberto had been the one to travel to meet his friends. After a few seconds of being ruthlessly squeezed half to death, he gently pried his adopted sister off of him.
“Woah, Giulia. When did you get so strong?” He asked, catching his breath.
“I started taking football last semester.” She said, lightly punching him in the arm.
“You should see her, she’s really good.” A pale, skinny, beady-eyed teen piped in, timidly peeking out from behind Giulia. Luca’s rich brown hair shined in the gorgeous sun. He had grown a little since they had seen each other last, Alberto noted. He was now slightly taller than Giulia, although not by much. In addition, his hair had grown a little, his soft curls now reaching down to the top of his neck. The skinny boy smiled nervously and gave a small wave at his friend. Alberto’s eyes widened in excitement, and he rushed forward, immediately forgetting about his aching legs. In one swift motion, he pulled the smaller boy in for a tight hug.
“Luca, mi amico!”
“Ow, my ribs,” Luca exclaimed, smiling.
“Sorry, sorry.” Alberto apologized, pulling back from his friend, still smiling wide.
“How was the train ride? Sorry, we couldn’t come down this year.” Luca tilted his head sincerely like he did whenever he was curious about something. Knowing that his friend wanted to hear how he was doing made him feel like he was about to go down the steepest hill in Portorosso at top speed.
“Non era niente di speciale. I just slept the whole time.” Alberto replied, showing a toothy grin.
“Imbecilli, do you two want to spend your entire spring break talking about the train ride? Andiamo!” Giulia called, already grabbing Alberto’s briefcase, pushing past the boys, and rushing toward the exit of the train station. Quickly realizing that she was getting away with Alberto’s luggage, the two boys began running after her through the crowded station, earning skeptical glances from annoyed onlookers.
Narrowly, they got to the exit without injuring themselves or others. As the group of friends burst through the door of the train station, laughing loudly, Luca and Giulia quickly made their way to their respective bikes. Giulia got down on one knee and dramatically presented Alberto’s briefcase to him, and he took it just as dramatically. After knighting Giulia with his luggage, he walked over to Luca, who was waiting for him. The two hopped on, and Luca suddenly sped off.
“Andiamo! Last one to Signora Vitiello’s house is a rotten sea cucumber!” Luca called, already speeding down the winding streets.
“Luca, what are you doing?” Alberto screamed at the top of his lungs while laughing hard enough to give him a stomach ache.
“Just hold on to your coppola!” Luca called to the boy who was squeezing onto his waist for dear life.
Despite Luca’s best efforts, Giulia was gaining fast. Seeing her approach, he began peddling as fast as possible (Having to support a 160-pound sea monster wasn’t helping either). The friends sped down the streets of Genova, dodging cars and narrowly avoiding pedestrians. The bustling city was one of the most beautiful things Alberto had ever seen. Although, it was hard to tell while moving at 25 miles an hour downhill. It was just like old times. Except, the roles were reversed. Luca was the thrill-seeking one, and Alberto was merely along for the ride. It was a welcome change of pace.
“Where’d this Luca come from?” Alberto asked teasingly.
“I have no idea!” Luca shouted back, smiling wide.
“Yeah, well, I think he should stick around for a while,” Alberto replied reassuringly with a hand on Luca’s shoulder.
At that, Luca’s cheeks went a little rosier than usual. However, to Alberto, it was hard to tell whether or not it was from the bike ride. In the hot mid-day sun, biking was brutal. After one of the hardest workouts Luca and Giulia had ever done, the two finally made it to Signora Vitiello’s house at the same time. It was impossible to tell who won. However, both were too competitive to admit as much.
“We totally won,” Luca said energetically, hopping off his bike and gesturing to Alberto.
“No way, I was way far ahead,” Giulia replied defensively. Alberto just smiled at their bantering. He felt a little like a third wheel, but he knew that the familiar voice in his head was just Bruno talking. So, he closed his eyes, shut off the voice in his head, and laughed along with his friends’ conversation.
The group continued arguing as they made their way inside. They kicked off their sandals, and Luca stepped back quietly to set them all together neatly. Alberto smiled to himself, seeing that the Luca he knew was still there. Signora Vitello was waiting for them in the kitchen as they walked through the house, already making lunch.
“Ciao, kids,” She said, setting several bowls of tortellini and glasses of water on the table.
“Grazie mille, Signora,” Luca thanked, sitting.
“Yeah, thanks a bunch,” Alberto said, taking a seat next to Luca.
Pulling out a chair and sitting across from the boys, she asked, “So what’s the plan for today?” Stabbing her fork into the tortellini.
“Luca and I were thinking about taking Alberto to a house party that someone from school is throwing,” Giulia spoke up, her mouth already full of pasta.
“As long as you all promise to stay out of trouble, I think that sounds like a fantastic idea.” She replied, smiling.
“What do you say, Alberto? Wanna go?” Giulia asked, beaming.
“That sounds amazing.” He replied in awe. Luca just smiled at him softly gratefully. The gesture made Alberto smile too.
The group proceeded to eat their lunch. The tortellini was perfect. It was just soft enough with the perfect amount of cheese. The sauce Signora Vitiello paired it with was heaven. It took less than ten minutes for everyone to finish their food. When everyone’s plates were thoroughly polished off, Luca stood and took them over to the sink. Seeing this, Alberto stood and followed him over to help with the dishes.
“Grazie, boys, but you don’t have to do that.” Signora Vitiello started, already standing.
“We don’t mind, Signora,” Alberto replied, smiling.
“Alright then,” She gave in, accepting that she wouldn’t be able to change their minds, “Giulia, would you take Alberto’s things to the guest room?”
“Yes, Mama,” Giulia replied begrudgingly, “Come on up when you two are done, ragazzi.”
They quickly realized that there weren’t too many dishes to do. Alberto grabbed the dirty dishes, washed them with soap and water, and handed them to Luca to dry and put away. Quickly the two set up a system that worked well for them. When they were about halfway done, Luca spoke up, trying to pass the time by talking.
“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you,” He started, smirking, side-eyeing Alberto, then looking back down to the plate he was drying, “What’s with the lip hairs?” Alberto quickly moved his hand to cover his sprouting facial hair.
“Uh, uhm, I was thinking of growing a mustache, but, well, not much has come in yet,” Alberto stammered uncomfortably, his calm and collected demeanor quickly fading away. In the back of his mind, for reasons that he couldn’t quite place, he worried that Luca didn’t like the look, “Does it look that bad?”
“No, no, I like it. It makes you look older. Even if you do look a little scruffy.” Luca teased light-heartedly.
“I don’t look like Ercole, do I?” Alberto asked, obviously still worried.
“Oh god no,” Luca laughed goofily, “The chin hairs help. You look very handsome.”
Both of their eyes went wide as they blushed a little; Luca because he was worried that he had crossed a line, and Alberto because Luca had said that he found him handsome. At that, they both of them silently went back to awkwardly doing the dishes.
“Are you excited about the party?” Luca spoke up again after some time, trying to start up a new conversation, seeing that Alberto was visibly uncomfortable.
“Yeah. I mean, I think so.” Alberto replied, furiously scrubbing a fork.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know,” He started, waving his fork around as he talked, “I just figure I don’t know what to expect from a party in Genova.” He replied, looking up from his utensil at Luca.
“They’re pretty fun, I guess,” Luca started, looking up like he was recalling countless previous escapades, even though he’d only ever been to a few, “This one’s being thrown by Enzo Rossi. He’s an upperclassman at our school.”
“Oh, cool,” Alberto just looked down.
There was so much that he still didn’t know about his friend’s life in Genova. Sure, he had come to the city once before, and Luca would always describe in intimate detail what was going on in his life in his letters, but Luca lived there for most of the year. There was no way he could keep up with everything that was happening in the other boy’s life. Still, the idea that Luca didn’t need him anymore was bittersweet. Of course, he wanted his friend to be happy, and if Luca was happy without him, that was a good thing. At least that was what he told himself.
“Hey, Alberto. You okay?” Luca asked with a voice full of concern, carefully placing a hand on his friend’s wrist.
“Yeah, sorry,” He replied in that nonchalant way that Alberto always did when he was trying to be as persuasive as possible. Luca, however, looked unconvinced. He had known his friend for a long time and could always tell when something was bothering him. The smaller boy’s beady brown eyes scanned Alberto’s face, concerned. His eyebrows furrowed as he looked over his friend’s slightly flushed freckled cheeks.
“Luca, I’m fine,” Alberto asserted, trying not to pay attention to the fact that Luca still hadn’t taken his hand off of his wrist.
The two stood in the awkward silence of Signora Vitiello’s kitchen, just looking at each other. The tension was palpable. Luca, caring as always, was still skeptical, while Alberto, not wanting to worry his friend, was trying his best to play it cool. After staring at each other a little too long, Luca spoke up.
“Scusa, I didn’t mean to make things weird,” Luca was furiously scolding himself internally, “I was just a little anxious that something was bothering you.” He spoke shakily, worried that his questioning was making Alberto uncomfortable. Nervously, he pulled his hand away, “It’s just that, you almost never come down to Genova, so I wanna make sure that you’re having a good time. I don’t want you to feel like we don’t care about what you wanna do, so you should tell us if something’s wrong or if we’re being too forward, or if anything’s bothering you because we’re your friends, and we care about your feelings.”
“Luca, you’re rambling. It’s okay,” Alberto cut in, smiling supportively and pausing for a moment to let Luca breathe. He placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder, which Luca unconsciously leaned into slightly. After spending most of their day jarringly swapping dynamics, it felt good to go back to what felt familiar; Luca being the nervous and shy one, worrying way too much in that way that made Alberto want to hold him until everything was better, and the ever-loyal Alberto who guided his friend through life and the adventures that came with them, pulling Luca out of his comfort zone, “I’m sure the party will be a blast.” He finished.
“You guys are the slowest dishwashers of all time,” Giulia barged in, causing Alberto to quickly remove his hand from Luca’s shoulder conspicuously, “Here, let me help.” Giulia pushed past the two boys and proceeded to take over both jobs of washing and drying the dishes. She was like a machine. Like a one-woman factory, she quickly lathered the dishes in soap and speedily sprayed them down in the sink. When they were all washed, she began drying them with a vengeance. Needless to say, the other half of the dishes were done in record time, leaving the boys slack-jawed.
“Come on you two,” She started with agency, “Alberto still has to unpack his things.” At that, the red-headed girl turned on her heels and sped out of the kitchen like she was running a marathon. Still in shock, Luca and Alberto could only look around the room, look at each other, shrug, and silently follow her out of the room.