I jumped as Luca stomped into the kitchen and
snatched his apron down from the hook.
Frowning at his obvious distress I had to ask,
“Are you okay?”
He turned to me and I was startled to see that
he’d been crying, “I’ve had better days.” He snarled.
I was a little taken aback. Luca never spoke to me
like that. “Okay.” I said quietly, “I’m sorry I asked.”
He sighed and turned back to me, an apologetic
expression on his face, “Enid and I broke up, okay?”
I can’t deny that my heart leapt at his admission
but I tried my best to maintain my poker face, “Oh, I’m really sorry man.” I
said as sincerely as I could muster when inside my head I was high-fiving
myself.
He shook his head, “No, that bit’s fine – well
it’s not really…” He sighed and sniffed, “But you know, she was right – I have
been distant. My head had definitely not been in the game – I hadn’t even been
thinking about her… I just broke her heart and it nearly killed me.”
He wasn’t making any sense but I found myself
nodding along. “Well, maybe you can make things up again, maybe you just need a
break or something…” Or maybe you just
need me. Come on man, take a chance...
He stared at me, looking even more distressed than
he had to begin with, “Oh, hell – are you serious man?” he said, “Do you really
think all I need is a break? Have I just been imagining everything that’s been
happening between us then?”
I stared back at him in total confusion, “Uh?” I
know – pathetic aren’t I?
He took a tentative step closer, “Don’t freak out,
okay?” he asked.
I nodded. He was getting damned close and I’ve got
to admit, I was beginning to freak
out a bit – but in a good way, I think… This could not be happening. Things
this good just didn’t happen to me – ever…
Luca was stood right in front of me. We were
pretty much the same height and were kind of nose-to-nose.
Suddenly there was the loudest crash from the
storeroom, “Shit!” I shouted and turning on my heel I shot back into the
stores. What the hell was going on? Were we being robbed? I snapped the light
on and it became immediately obvious that we weren’t being robbed at all, “It’s
just the veg rack,” I called back to the kitchen. The rack of vegetables that
had been slightly precariously balanced had fallen over. “Shit,” I muttered as
I started to rebuild it. Luca hadn’t followed me and I was guessing that, like
me, he was trying to make sense of what had just almost happened between us. My
heart rate was just starting to get back to normal when I heard slightly raised
voices. I stopped what I was doing and edged closer to the door to the kitchen.
Tate
clearly had no idea that I was in the stores. “I need a word with you,
Gianluca.” He growled. My heart spiked with fear, I swear if someone that big
had growled at me like that, I’d have thrown myself in the waste disposal…
But Luca
stood his ground like the man I knew he was, and loved more than anything else
in the world... “Morning, Tate.” He said cheerfully, “What’s up?”
“What’s
going on between you and my brother?” Shit. I could just imagine his scowl and
my legs started to shake.
“Sam?”
Luca sounded surprised. I imagined him blinking those big brown eyes in
confusion… He’d be wondering how the hell Tate knew…
“Sam.”
Tate agreed in a surly tone that made me cringe.
“We’re
friends.” Luca said innocently. And he wasn’t wrong either – we were friends and I’d explained that to
Tate – that kiss we’d shared at the party playing spin the bottle was (sadly)
the one and only time – it might not have been had the vegetable rack not
fallen over when it did but still… right now we were as innocent as could be.
I heard
the hissing sigh leaving Tate and I could picture him in my head. Actually what
I pictured in my head was the way he looked when I first knew him, all dreads
and piercings and looking just about as scary as anyone could. I shook my head
and tried to think of nice things… “And you’d better make sure it stays that
way, my friend – or you could find yourself out on your ear.”
I frowned…
Now just wait a minute – I could choose my own boyfriend, no, friend, friend, thanks very much… and I wasn’t
having Tate threatening him like that. I shot out of the stores and stood in
front of Tate – we were of a similar height but he was absolutely massive with
muscles on muscles, whereas I was so skinny I’d blow over in a big gust of
wind… Still, I wasn’t gonna stand by and allow him to tear a strip off Luca
like that. “Hey, man,” I said angrily, “– back off.” I shoved his shoulder –
guess I was more annoyed than I thought. Realising what I’d just done, I
instinctively took a step back with a muttered apology.
Tate
glared at me, “I beg your pardon?” he asked.
Taking a
deep breath I looked him in the eye, “I said back off – I heard what you just
said – and I can choose whom to love – just like you can.”
Both Tate
and Luca turned around with the same expression. “Love?” they both asked with
equal incredulity.
I shrugged
and nodded, feeling my face heating up, “Yeah – so what?” I asked, trying to
play it off as if I meant as a friend. I was beginning to regret my rash
decision to come defending Luca – hell, he was twice the size of me too – he
could totally look after himself!
Tate’s
scowl was impressive but I wasn’t looking at him – I was looking at the
delighted look on Luca’s face, “You just said you loved me?” he asked, his face
full of something that could have passed for love for me too.
I nodded,
“Yeah.” I said, “You know I do – we’re best mates, aren’t we?”
Tate
cleared his throat and rolled his eyes, “Well, I feel ten kinds of stupid for
getting the wrong end of the stick now.” He shot me a little grin. Turning back
to Luca, with a slightly less impressive scowl he added, “Whatever’s going on
between you two I want you to make sure you look after him – you should worship
the ground he walks on because this kid is solid gold.”
Luca
nodded, “I do,” he said with a grin, “and I know a good thing when I see it,
dude.” He added, “I’ll never let him down – you can count on it.”
Tate grunted and made for the door. I stood
looking at the floor, unsure as to what to say.
Luca came and stood right in front of me again,
“Where were we?” he asked as he leaned in and cocked his head slightly. Closing
his eyes he brushed his mouth against mine. It was every bit as sweet as the
first time he kissed me. But that had only been for a bet – this was kind of
real – and therefore kind of incredible and frightening and wonderful…
Sam Fletcher... Riverside #7... #2016 #HappyHeatherAfters
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