Family

FOURTY-FIVE

Missed me?

Present || Alfonzo

Blue eyes stare at me anxiously from the open bathroom doorway, a towel wrapped tightly around his malnourished frame.

He opens his mouth to speak, hesitating slightly before clearing his throat, "P-pizza?"

If I wasn't feeling so anxious I'd burst out laughing right about now. 

Picking up my phone, I quickly hang up before dialling the nearest pizza restaurant and ordering us a large cheese pizza.

"You had your shower?" I ask Leo when I'm done, placing my phone on the side of his bed.

He doesn't answer, staring at his lap. Droplets of water drip down the top of his shirt and he wraps the blanket he's cocooned himself in again even more tightly.

"Any more tighter and you'll suffocate Leo." He doesn't respond and I sigh, we're not going anywhere with this.

An abrupt knock on the door causes Leo to flinch, his eyes immediately meeting mine. 

"It's alright Leo, you're safe. Nobody is going to hurt you with me around, I promise." His eyes don't leave mine in all the time I stand up from the bed and walk towards the door.

"Did someone order pizza?" Luca asks, a huge stupid grin on his face. He's carrying three pizza boxes in his hands and a bag of fries.

"I didn't order this much?" I question as he barges his way through.

"I did." Giovanni replies curtly, walking right behind Luca with cans of various drinks in his hands.

"What's next, popcorn?"

The two of them stop and turn to face me briefly before chuckling and walking towards the desk in the corner.

"Have you decided on a movie?" 

My eyes dart to meet Antonio's dark one's, the faintest of a smile playing on his lips. He lifts up two bags of popcorn and I can't help the laugh that escapes my mouth.

"It's sweet and salty!" Luca adds from the other side of the room, helping Gio move the desk to the middle of the room, closer to Leo's bed.

"Is Alonzo going to be coming in with hot chocolate?" Today's just full of surprises.

"He won't be joining us." Antonio replies curtly, shutting the door behind him.

"Need I ask why?" He doesn't reply, setting the popcorn down and walking towards Leo.

Gio and Luca pay them no mind, bickering quietly about a movie to play whilst my eyes go back and forth between Leo and Antonio. He doesn't seem to be too anxious but he still refuses to look Antonio in the eyes.

"Leo?" Antonio asks. His voice is so steady, so gentle. I haven't heard him speak like that in a while. It's as if he thinks Leo's on the verge of breaking completely if he talks to him in anything but a soft whisper.

Minutes pass, silence coating the room like a fog but Leo doesn't move, he doesn't speak. Antonio sighs softly, grabbing a pizza box from the desk and gently placing it in front of Leo on the bed. He opens the box and places a packet of fries onto it before stepping away.

"He'll eat in his own time." Antonio murmurs to me before sitting on the floor next to Gio and Luca, it seems they've agreed on what movie to watch.

I sit beside them and we eat in silence, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone playing in the background. Even though we noticed, nobody comments on the packets of ketchup and mayonnaise being taken from the desk by thin, pale fingers reaching from behind us and the tiniest of smiles every time he finishes a slice of pizza.