Love Thy Neighbor ✓

five

FIVE | MID APRIL

LUCA WAS COLLECTING his sister's parcel from the porch step when Blake's car pulled into the driveway. After tucking the package under his arm, he waited beside the door for Blake to park.

"Hey!" He beamed, slamming the driver's seat door behind him and coming round to the other side, closer to Luca's lawn. "What've you been up to?"

The April breeze drifted lazily through the neighborhood, mild and fragrant with spring florals; the faint scent of unravelling petals and blushing flower buds flowing through the air. It was late evening and the sun was beginning his journey beneath the horizon, leisurely sinking through the cornflower sky, streaked with pink and purple clouds, their orange bellies floating like stretches of distant land.

Outside was still, but for the movements of the sun's bright face and the gentle wind. Many cars were missing from their driveways and the houses remained quiet. The only brief disturbance had been Blake's car pulling into the road and now that was still, too. Luca took a second to glance over the road at the adjacent houses, their trimmed lawns and flourishing gardens and fresh paint.

Smiling, he turned back to Blake. "Painting," he replied, feeling sleepy and relaxed.

He was getting much better at controlling his nerves when the two of them were together. Since Blake's party, they had seen a lot more of each other and sometimes had conversations over the shared fence in their backyards. Occasionally, when Luca climbed out and sat on the slant of roof just beneath his window, Blake opened his own window to ask what he was up to. Always, he was sketching something that he would paint later and Blake was always curious to know what it was. Once or twice, they had driven home from school together.

It was nice having him around. He was good company and he still made Luca's heart skip when he complimented his sketches or his clothes or his laugh (that one had made Luca lose his composure completely and his eyes had blown wide, his face as pink as the frothy clouds).

"Painting?" Blake grinned. "That's my boy."

Just when Luca thought he was getting better at keeping his feelings controlled, Blake said things like that. It was that easy for him to make Luca's hands clammy and his legs weak. It was that easy for him to make Luca's heart jolt and send his stomach fluttering. It was that easy for him to make Luca lose himself all over again.

"Shut up," Luca replied playfully, flushing darker when Blake's smile spilled wider, knowing and delighted; warmer than the hazy stretches of sun, than the orange beams casting out towards them.

This was the first time they had seen each other today. Luca knew that Blake was up and at the gym before he could even stumble out of bed, but he wasn't sure what he did after that. He supposed that he'd probably been out with his friends all Saturday.

Luca, however, had spent the whole day painting— not that it bothered him. Having all day to relax and work was a dream, even when his muscles started to ache and his bones grew tired and his eyes felt heavy. He was having lunch with his friends tomorrow, anyway, so some alone time was both needed and appreciated. In fact, he'd planned to spend the rest of the night in his bedroom of solitude, until Blake opened his mouth again.

"Think you could go for a break?" He suggested, stretching his arms out above his head. A sliver of his toned stomach was visible beneath the hem of his loose t-shirt and above the waistband of his slightly baggy jeans, hanging low on his hips. For an embarrassing moment, Luca almost forgot how to speak. Then Blake's arms fell back by his side and he shook himself out of it, promptly and quietly clearing his throat.