𝗕𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗦 𝗪𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥 ⚔︎

13

jesse slipped a disc into the CD player on top of his dresser and 'let's dance' by david bowie began echoing around his bedroom. today was a saturday, and his father was out with sal and the guys at some drag racing tournament he hadn't bothered to learn the name of. it was only he, chantelle, and giovanni in the house.

he danced around his bedroom, tidying it as he went: he picked up some clothes off of the floor and put them in his drawers, as well as smartening up his pillows and his blanket before placing some fallen books back on his shelves. the time on the alarm clock read 10:30am in bright red letters. he was dressed in blue denim jeans and a black t-shirt, with pink floyd's 'dark side of the moon' album cover on the front. he did a spin and waltzed over to his mirror, where he put a small silver hoop into his ear.

he heard a knock from his door. "jesse!"

it was chantelle. "what?"

"turn it down!" she shouted.

"shut up!"

jesse continued dancing around his room, playing the air guitar as he went. he walked through the en-suite and into giovanni's bedroom, resuming his shenanigans in there. the older boy was sitting quietly at his desk, reading 'the gambler' by fyodor dostoevsky. giovanni looked up at his bizarre entrance and frowned humorously, a smile on his face. jesse wandered over.

"what's all that noise?" giovanni said.

jesse scuffed giovanni's buzzcut with his fingers. "david bowie!"

he focused back on his book. "hm."

jesse's eyes widened. "you don't know bowie?"

giovanni shook his head. "no."

jesse laughed and stole a cigarette from giovanni's pack that he kept on the bedside table. much to giovanni's annoyance, he lit it and resumed his dance, back into the en-suite.

the younger motioned for him to follow, the cigarette between his fingers. "come here."

since the little talk on their run three nights ago, giovanni and jesse had been getting along surprisingly well. they were no longer malicious to each other, no longer competing for eddie's approval, shooting each other dirty looks across the room, or fighting about using the bathroom. they had found that they had a lot more in common than they thought; they both enjoyed similar sports, and jesse had even introduced giovanni to baseball, having spent an entire morning showing him how to play and how to swing a bat properly. they both liked cars and motorcycles; just a day prior, jesse had let giovanni hop on the back of his harley and taken him for a ride around the city. they were both very curious about each other's lives, now that the awkward and hostile barrier was finally broken down — but above all, it was a relief to eddie. he was glad that he didn't have to worry about them fighting in the foyer and smashing vases anymore.

giovanni complied, putting down his book and following jesse into his room. it was fairly big, but despite its largeness jesse made sure to keep it tidy (well, tidy enough — there were a few miscellaneous objects scattered across the tiled wood floor). big posters lined the off-white walls: bands such as the police, AC/DC, black flag, talking heads, the clash, beastie boys, and the human league, just to name a few. there was also a poster of heather locklear in a bikini amongst them, which giovanni thought was rather crude. some strings of multicoloured christmas lights were strung on his bed frame which again, giovanni thought was a strange thing to have, considering it was may. the bedding was grey plaid and a colourful crochet blanket was lazily settled at the end of the bed. punky stickers covered the top half of the drawers on the chestnut wood dresser, where the CD player and stereo was settled on top. two metal dumbbells lay on the floor, and a half union jack, half american flag (which he had sowed together himself) had been pinned to the back of his door. there was an old-fashioned candy red telephone beside his alarm clock, and on the other bedside table, there was a lamp and a glass ashtray. a mottled dark brown rug was spread over the floor below the window. it was a typical room for a boy like him.