Learning to Live

Chapter 6

Luca had been living with the gang for just over 2 months and he was struggling, he couldn't get Andre out of his head his Gray/silver eyes were always in his dreams, with the 6 foot 3 hunk usually plowing into him, his dreams were getting worse and he always had a hard on, he was struggling to be around him even in the same room. And then there was Jess who was always at school with his comments, Luca couldn't work out if Jess liked him or he was just like that to everyone, grumpy, obnoxious and rude but in a cheeky flirting way, to be honest he never paid attention maybe he should, but what's the point, he will never be good enough for people like Jess, Jess is made of money, he probably sleeps on money.
It was the 1st of December which meant it was Luca's birthday and he is now 18, he wasn't sure if anyone knew it was his birthday and he wasn't sure how to mention it, so he hasn't. He wasn't in a very talkative mood and Andre and Grace had noticed this.
"Luca, are you ok?" Grace said as they all ate breakfast Luca looked up from his plate
"Oh ummmm yeah I guess" then shrugged his shoulders
"So what are people up to on this lovely day" Reggie said to the table people then started to explain what they were doing
"Luca are you doing anything today?" Grace said as she nudged him bringing him out his trance "Oh ummm yeah I guess, I'm going to see someone" that got Grace giggling "what you got a girlfriend" Luca just scaled at her and got up from his chair and walked off. Grace turned to Andre "what did I say?" Andre shrugged he had no idea but something was upsetting him and he wasn't happy that Luca was meeting someone, he watched as Luca slipped out the front door, he left it a couple of minutes then followed closing the door behind him, it was cold so he was wrapped up in a coat and hat he could see Luca down the road so he followed at a safe distance he was walking further out of town, who was he meeting and where. Luca finally turned off the main road and entered the cemetery. Andre picked up the pace and hid behind a tree near to where Luca was sitting in front of a grave.
"Hi Liam, sorry I haven't spoken to you in a couple of months but I've been busy, I'm finally not living on the streets can you believe it after 2 years I finally have a bed and 3 meals a day, I'm living with some really nice people they have taken me in and are treating me as if I'm family and that's what we wanted wasn't it, it's just, I really wish you were here, I miss you so much" Luca broke out crying Andre wanted to go over and comfort the blue eyed boy but thought better of it.
"Can you believe I'm 18 today, I never thought I would reach it, i thought I would be dead and finally be reunited with you and we would have celebrated together" Luca giggled whilst wiping the tears from his eyes. Andre decided to leave Luca and go back to the house he felt bad for eavesdropping but wanted to make sure he was safe, he walked into the house about an hour later with a few presents and a cake which he put on the table confusing the girls and boys in the kitchen, Grace looked at the cake "who is that for?" "It's Luca's birthday today and he didn't tell anyone so I thought we could do something small for him when he comes back" Andre said, Grace smiled at her brother, she had been watching him for the last month, he so liked Luca, that's why she mentioned the girlfriend earlier to see if he would say yes or no but instead he got angry. She managed to find some birthday banners and put them up whilst Andre wrapped the presents up.
Luca turned up about an hour later and walked into the kitchen, no one noticed until he spoke "What you doing?" Making everyone jump
"Oh crap Luca you made us jump"Reggie said with his hand on his heart, everyone then shouted happy birthday and Luca "thanks" Andre then handed the 3 presents to Luca,  a new laptop, a pair of new trainers and 20 hours of driving lessons. Luca was speechless no one had ever been this nice to him, he had tears in his eyes as he got up from his seat and hugged Andre "thank you, but you didn't have to buy me anything" Andre had his arms wrapped round Luca not wanting to let go "it's your birthday, everyone gets presents on their birthday" Luca slowly moves away from Andre which made both of them sad. Grace could see what was going on so she shouted "cake time" and everyone cheered, they all spent the afternoon in the kitchen around the table chatting, laughing and drinking but everyone noticed that Luca wasn't really being Luca today at some point Luca disappeared to his room he was struggling with his demons. Andre slowly creeped up stairs and put his ear against Luca's door
"I lied Liam earlier, I'm not happy, I'm so lonely, I miss you so fucking much and it's killing me, I need you with me" Luca broke down into a sobbing mess at that point Andre opened the door to find Luca on the floor, Andre picked him up and carried him to the bed and laid both of them down and pulled the covers over them and Luca grabbed his jumper as if he could vanish at any moment. "It's ok Luca I'm not going anywhere" Andre whispered into his hair as he kissed the top of his head and ran his fingers up and down Luca's back eventually his crying turned to sniffles and then his breathing evened out and Luca was asleep wrapped in Andre's arm and tho he had cried himself to sleep and Andre had no idea why he was just happy that Luca was in his arms, he kissed his head and closed his eyes smiling.