Sink or Swim - Luca x Alberto

What People-Watching Can Lead To

Alberto and I both laugh at her silliness.

She sits up quickly, setting the book down in the grass. "I need to get the second book next," she continues. "That one just came out. Hopefully next time it's not sold out."

"What are the books about?" I ask her.

"An annoying sister."

"First time I relate to a book," Alberto jokes, pointing his finger at her.

Giulia grabs one of those big acorn-looking things and throws it at him. It hits his arm and he cowers, laughing as she throws another one.

I scoot backwards while smiling. "I would help you, but you kind of walked into this one."

He starts to say something, but is interrupted when Giulia tackles him, sending them both to the ground. "Take it back!" Giulia demands, using her fingers as a fake gun and pressing it to his cheek.

"I'll bite you," Alberto warns.

"It's true, he will," I add.

"How am I annoying, huh?" Giulia smiles for a second before continuing her "serious" face.

"You're a girl! Girls are just like that." When Giulia moves her hand back to pretend-punch him, Alberto yelps and protects his face. "But you're still pretty cool!"

Giulia lets him go and sits up, grinning with pride. "Admit it. You love me."

Alberto sits up too. "Nope," he says, trying not to laugh.

"Subito!"

He rolls his eyes. "Fiiine. I love you."

Giulia chuckles and brushes some grass off her clothes. "Good. Now shut up."

"You shut up." Alberto watches her move back to her spot, then turns to me. "You see how she treats me?"

I... um... I don't really know what to say. I'm still processing those three words he said.

'I love you.'

I get butterflies in my stomach as I replay it in my head. Even if it was towards Giulia, I can't help but imagine him saying it to me instead.

But... will I ever actually hear it from him? And will he mean it in a "I don't think of you like a little brother" way?

"Lulu," he says, which snaps me back to reality for a second. "You good there?"

"Uh." I realize I was staring off into space, and blink a few times. "Yeah. I'm just thinking about plants."

"Dude. Out of anything, you think of plants." Alberto rolls his eyes and lies back down in the grass. "Guess I gotta teach you how to be cool." He grins playfully at me. Which just makes my butterflies worse.

But I hide that fact, of course. "Says the one who can read but can't spell." I grin back at him.

He laughs. "It's 'cause I'm lazy."

We both sigh at the same time. Then, without even trying, I fall back into my thoughts. I picture me and Alberto in the grass just like right now, but this time he's telling me that he loves me. And I tell him I love him too. And everything is perfect.

I wonder what that would be like.

"I can't wait to listen to that Beatles album," Alberto says after it's silent for too long. "I mean, the rest of the album. I did get to hear one song at the store, and it was nice. Like, relaxing. And I'm pretty certain the Beatles are all undercover sea monsters."

I laugh at that. "You make it sound like we're a bunch of secret spies," I tell him.

He shrugs. "Some of us might be." He turns to me with a smile. "You remember last summer when we had to hide our fish forms from everyone?"