Camouflage (boyxboy)

~Ashton~

"So what did you want to talk to me about?"

After thoroughly embarrassing myself in front of Ade, Angel and Luca, I'd stood up, dusted myself off, and tailed Luca out to his car. Angel's mocking comments had followed me out the door and, childishly, I'd flipped him off through the window. His elderly neighbour had caught the gesture, and tutted at me disapprovingly. I'd resisted the urge to gesture obscenely at him, too. Instead, I'd simply called to him, 

"It takes 42 muscles to frown, but only 4 to extend my middle finger and tell you to bite me!"

That hadn't gone down as well as I'd hoped.

Now I was sitting in Luca's bedroom, watching him pace. He kept wringing his hands together, like he was trying to work up the courage to say or do something. Clearly he wasn't about to beat me up, which was a relief, although I was curious as to why he had called me here, out of the blue.

Luca was a cute guy, especially when he was nervous like he was now. I just didn't know him all that well, despite him doing athletics with Ade for the last six months. 

"I need your help," he finally said, spinning around to face me. He adjusted his glasses hesitantly. 

"You're in luck," I said, clasping my hands together. "One of the seven voices in my head is willing to help you. But I have to warn you, that's the one who though wearing pink with pink was a good idea..."

Luca looked like he was reconsidering his decision to ask me for help. I quickly shut up, too curious to leave it now.

"Look, I like this girl, okay? And I've tried to ask her out, but every time I end up bottling it," Luca said in a rush.

Wow. That was it? He wanted help with women? Not like I had any experience in the matter. In fact, of everyone, I was the worst person to ask about this particular subject. 

"Who's the girl?" I asked, intrigued.

Luca flushed, embarrassed. It must have been someone I knew, then.

"Danielle?" I guessed. "Tansi from my Spanish class?"

"Adeline," Luca blurted.

I frowned. "I didn't know there was another Adeline at our school.....oh, right."

Luca rolled his eyes. 

"You fancy my sister?" I said, shocked. "Since when?"

"Oh, I don't know....about two seconds after I met her."

Aw, how sweet. I mean, I wasn't usually the type of guy to find anything particularly cute, but Luca's expression certainly was. 

"Why did you think I could help?" I asked. "She's a sweet girl. She'll probably give you a chance if you ask her nicely enough." 

Luca looked at me with eyes that questioned my sanity. Only now did I regret the fact that we had never been close. Because it was very clear to me now that Luca possessed a rare vulnerability that would make him a very caring and loyal friend. His eyes were round and full of anxiety behind his glasses as he gazed at me. I could see his feelings for Ade etched in every worry line on his forehead.

"You're in love with her," I realised, shocked. 

Luca stiffened, his eyes landing fleetingly on my expression before darting away in a panic. If my statement had been a question, the look on his face now would have confirmed it; he did love my sister.

"Why don't you just tell her?" I asked, half-laughing. Of course Ade fancied Luca, too. It only occurred to me now that she seemed to dress up whenever he was around. She had stuck close to him at the school dance, and had asked me about him a couple of times. I'd just been too wrapped up in my own problems to notice, and of course I hadn't been able to answer her questions, because I barely knew Luca myself. 

Luca sat down on his bed beside me, running his hands across his face and through his head, ruffling it. I reached out a hand tentatively and rubbed his back. It felt weird to be doing this to another dude, but that was what girls did, wasn't it? They comforted people, and gave a crap about their feelings.

"I'm going to do it," Luca said resolutely, his hands curling into fists as they rested on his thighs. 

"Good for you," I said enthusiastically. 

Luca jumped to his feet and strode to the door. He paused there, glancing back at me. "Well?" he raised his eyebrows expectantly. "Are you coming?"

"Oh, right." I scrambled to my feet and followed him out.