Love Thy Neighbor ✓

ten

beforehand / UNEDITED!!!
slightly different format to the previous chapters as it is split into four sections across the rest of the year and is noticeably longer :') I hope it meets your expectations, enjoy!

LATE JULY

THE YOUTH OF spring had quickly ripened into summer and sultry heat of midday had cooled into a warm evening, shrouded like a flower bud in petals of lazy, stretching, golden sunbeams.

Their hands, flush like a prayer, were blotched with fresh paint from their late afternoon art class and their heads had grown sleepy with concentration. Blake, especially, complained of his weariness, his shoulders aching and his body worn with effort, with the stiff rest of attentiveness. Luca had never been more proud of him; the progress that he was making was staggering and the level of devotion he gave to his work, the furrow of his brow and the chewing of his lip, made Luca feel like he was in love.

"You know," Luca began, swinging their hands back and forth playfully. "We could go to the lake."

"The lake?" Blake inquired with a curious smile. "We don't have any towels."

"Don't need towels," he insisted, squeezing Blake's hand tight. "We have the sun."

Walking to art class together was Blake's idea. Luca was in no hurry to tread the unbearable trek under the unwavering passion of the sun's blistering face, the air thick with the intensity of his gaze, but Blake was very persuasive, so they walked. Besides, the building where their class was ran was barely two miles away, which Blake insisted was barely any distance at all. Luca supposed that was what he got for going after an athlete.

The silver lining, though, was the walk home. By the time they left the relief of the air conditioning, they were greeted with sunlight trickling pleasantly along their tanned and browning skin, honeyed and bronzed. The sky was rippling with golden clouds, bright light bursting forth in between fluffy pink silhouettes, and Luca's feet felt like they had springs hidden in the heels. He felt like a feather, carried easily by the occasional, gentle breeze.

"Alright," he replied, squeezing Luca's hand back. "Let's go down to the lake."

Instead of continuing the route towards home, they cut through the woods near their neighborhood and found themselves inside of the mass of trees and under the shadows of the darkened leaves; their green bellies still shining.

"You're getting a lot better, you know," Luca remarked when they slipped out at the other end of the woods, sauntering through the tall, dewy grass and along the flat, dry hill towards the lake.

The water was still and the trees made a mirror of the crystal surface, casting a reflection of their viridescence under the glinting edge of sunlight.

"You think so?" Blake grinned, his pride pouring out of the corners of his lips, the brightness of his eyes.

He was already pulling his t-shirt over his head and tossing it onto the grass, heeling out of his shoes and kicking them away.

"Absolutely," Luca nodded. "You're incredible."

As he sauntered further along the grass, he threw a bashful smile over his shoulder at Luca. Then he stepped onto the jutting deck, the pier, he pulled his shorts down and then his underwear, approaching the edge and standing before the lake.