The Loving Silence

Chapter 14

Rue and Luca talked for hours and ended up eating the turkey sandwiches together. They had emptied the bottle of wine by then and made themselves some coffee too. It felt like they'd had known each other for much longer than a handful of hours. They had both had their share of loneliness growing up and that made them recognise something in one another.

Rue ended up telling him about why he was in town and Luca in turn told him about his childhood and how he'd come to be with his forever family. They had a lot of things in common, and they had both grown up here. Neither one had to explain to the other the way the town worked or how small minded it truly was. They both were more than aware of just how unforgiving a place it could be.

But knowing they had both been here at the same time, albeit in different parts of town, feeling the same sort of way... It made them both feel strangely upbeat and a little less alone. Just talking to someone about how mad the town really was, someone who understood, was a relief to them both.

Having had enough of talking and being serious, they built a fort and spent the rest of their time lying in it, enjoying the silence.

Luca's eyes kept wandering to his lips. He looked, and looked away over and over. Finally he found his courage. Wanting to find out what it felt like, if there could be anything there between them, Luca found himself leaning forward. They lied next to each other on the floor in the very comfortable fort. When Rue didn't move away, Luca moved even closer. He waited an extra long time though, just to be absolutely sure. Neither of them had gotten drunk, and any effect the wine had had, the coffee had killed dead. But he still wanted to make extra sure Rue was fully onboard, and that he was, before he made a move.

Both of them were in desperate need of sleep, and Luca didn't have it in him to wait for a sign. Instead he asked him straight out.
"May I kiss you?"

Rue blinked slowly. "You may."

They leaned forward with a bit more urgency than they should've and the fort collapsed. All the parts fell on top of them and they had to move everything aside to be able to breathe properly. As soon as their eyes met, they leaned forward and let their lips meet. It was a soft, gentle sort of kiss. More of a brushing of lips as first, testing the waters.  Then followed a slightly firmer caress. It felt nice. To Rue, there wasn't any fireworks or butterflies, but it felt nice and warm and kind of comforting to be close to someone again.

They kissed for a while, but when they both were beginning to nod off and they hit their heads together with a smack, they could no longer avoid the Sandman's call.

Luca gave him a final peck before they settled back beneath the collapsed fort and fell asleep in each other's arms.

***

Rue's mind could no longer shut out the incessant ringing. Barely awake he found the source to be the room's telephone. He managed to crawl to it and answer.

"Hello?"

"Good morning! This is the front desk concierge calling. You ordered a wake up call at 7 am and this is it."

"I did?" Rue mumbled before remembering his manners and wished them a good morning too.

"Do you choose to get up now or would you like to snooze? We could call you back in fifteen minutes if you'd like?"

"I am fine to get up now, thank you."

"Excellent. Your cab is still booked to take you to your destination and it will be waiting for you right outside of the hotel when it's time to go. Will you be wanting breakfast before then? We could send it up to your room if you'd like?"