Portorosso Forever

The Rain in Portorosso

The rain in Portorosso was usually met with great enthusiasm, as it filled the already colorful town with a myriad of shades from deep purple to green, to the light blue of the scales of some of its residents.

It had been 11 years since it had become a Sea-monster friendly town, with several of them moving inland and settling among the townfolk. Including the Paguro family, Daniela and Lorenzo, who had decided to settle in a small house near the shore, where Lorenzo worked as the town's plumber and his wife took a job at Roberta's Pizzeria; all of this in order to pay for their son's college education.
Luca would be graduating before the beginning of summer, one semester behind his best friend Giulia whom, being the over-achiever that she was, had taken a double load of college credits to graduate early, so that she could try to apply for a particular internship in Genova.

But bad news don't wait for good weather, and ironically, neither did the Portorosso sky.

At the foot of the church stood the entire town dressed in black while the father sang the psalms in Latin. Many men carry the casket, among them was Luca, with his honey colored eyes downcast towards the rain puddles on the floor, his tail dragging behind him. Next to him walked Giulia, with silent tears streaming down her freckled cheeks, her bright auburn hair tied in an elegant knot at her back, her father's yellow umbrella open above her as though it could protect her from the cold in her chest which she's been carrying for years now.

They held each other's hand, in the same way they did when they were children and would fall asleep together after reading books about space or chemistry, until the late hours turned into the morning. Back at Giulia's mother's house in Genova. Back when all they had to think about was school and writing their detailed letters to Alberto, so that he would know absolutely everything before the next summer came along.

"I can't believe he isn't here" Giulia whispered, more to herself than anyone else, though it seemed to startle Luca into the present, from wherever his mind had wondered.
Luca looked around, searching among the crowd for someone who clearly had decided not to come. He sighed and shook his head.
"I didn't think he would" he admitted.
It's true that they had grown apart since both her and Luca had gone to college and couldn't come back to spend the last few summers in Portorosso.
Giulia winced as she thought back to the time when his letters had become progressively scarce until they stopped coming altogether.
She knew Alberto had always been closer to Luca, but she couldn't explain to herself why he'd decided to leave her out of his life, especially since he never stopped writing Luca.

Even so, she couldn't fathom that he would've grown to hate her so, for reasons beyond her knowledge, that he would purposefully avoid coming to Massimo's funeral.

Massimo had been like a father to Alberto. Though it was never on paper, the whole town knew Giulia's father had practically adopted him. Alberto had taken on the heavier workloads when Massimo had gotten sick, and even started working part time as a mechanic when he couldn't leave on fishing trips after the cancer got too bad.  He had been there until the very end.

Which is why she couldn't fathom that he wasn't here. That he wasn't one of the men carrying her father's casket, that he hadn't spoken during mass, nor made even the briefest appearance, just to hold her hand. Even if they'd grown apart, surely the years upon years when they had been friends should've meant something.

"Maybe he's caught in traffic" Luca offered meekly, prompting Giulia to roll her eyes. It wasn't a lie that the streets were full of people, but the town was small and it's not like there were enough cars for an actual traffic jam.

"He drives a Benelli café racer motorcycle, Lu," she protested, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the sleeves of her black sweater. Her mother, who walked a few places behind her, cleared her throat disapprovingly. Giulia ignored her and looked back to Luca after scanning the crowd for what felt like the millionth time."You're always making excuses for him."