"Scottish?"
"Mhmm?" His sleepy voice came through the phone as a low hum.
"I miss you."
A small silence as Scott shifted up in his bed, supported against the headboard.
"I miss you too. Like hell."
Silence again as Mitch decided how much to say.
"Home isn't quite as simple as I thought it was."
"What do you mean? Don't you miss Mike and Nel?"
"Of course I do. It's just..." Mitch sat down hard on the edge of his bed in his old room, trying to swallow down the words his heart had been beating for the past few months.
"There's something I should say."
"Say it, Mitch. There's nothing you need to hide from me." Now Scott was pacing his floor like a caged animal. Mitch was distressed and he wasn't close enough to fix it.
Mitch took a deep breath and wondered how someone who knew him so well hadn't figured out what was wrong yet.
"I'm coming home, Scott."
_
"Mitchell Coby Michael Grassi."
"Yes ma'am?"
Mitch was sitting at the kitchen island while his mother cooked dinner. He remembered sitting in this exact same position when he emerged quietly from the closet into his family's waiting arms. Nel turned from the boiling pot to face her son.
"Why are you here?" That got his attention. An only partially forced smile tugged at his lips.
"Do I need a reason to come home to my mamá?" Nel laughed at the Italian that came so naturally to him.
"No, I suppose you don't. But your busy life doesn't exactly allow for whims. The last time you came down so suddenly was after you and Travis broke up." Mitch sighed at the slightly embarrassing memory. He was absolutely shattered, but knew Nel could help him sweep up the pieces.
"That was a long time ago."
"Long enough for another boy to wriggle his way into that guarded little heart of yours. What are you hiding behind that mask?" Mitch sighed and dropped his head while Nel took the seat next to him and rubbed his back as only a mother can.
"It's Scott this time." Came the reply, muffled by layers of his expensive sweater.
"Yes, gattino, I know." Mitch's shoulders heaved as he pulled in a shaky breath.
"It's like I'm a tiny little comet orbiting the sun, and I can't resist his gravity even though I know it's too much for me. He's going to burn me to a crisp." Nel thought on that one for a minute.
She'd watched those two boys grow up together. Ever since they met they were inseparable. Weekends, projects, piano recitals and everything in between had found the two boys right next to each other, giving pep talks and cracking jokes until they were blue and forgot what they were supposed to be doing. It wasn't until Scott was a senior that she recognized it.
One day after school he asked to speak with her privately. He was nervous and tried to hide it from Mitch, even though to this day he can't hide anything from Mitch. She brought him into her bedroom where he proceeded to spill his guts about having lost his virginity the night before. Thoroughly confused as to why he was so distraught, Nel took Scott's not-quite-filled-out-yet frame into her arms and rocked him quietly until he calmed down.
