Home for the Summer (BOYXBOY)

22 | Things that Felt Important

The sunset bled into night and, by 9, we were still talking against the sand.

We discussed the rest of the trip, our personas at school, working at Armino's, how we planned on spending the rest of the summer. Things that felt important. The stars stopped mumbling and began watching us instead. We laid on our backs and on our sides and laughed like everything was normal.

Like I didn't want to kiss him the entire time.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and Nico stopped talking so I could answer it. "Hello?" I said.

"You guys have been out for over 2 hours," Izzy said immediately. "I have yet to receive any pizza and Benji is absolutely freaking out. Have you been kidnapped?"

"What? No, we're-"

"Has my car broken down on the side of the road?"

"No. We just-"

"Then I expect a pizza in my hands by 9:30." She abruptly hung up and left me to stand beside Nico.

"Izzy is upset," I grinned. "We should probably get going."

He extended a hand and I pulled him up so that our chests were almost touching. I quickly backed away as he grinned.

"What?" he said and I immediately turned around to start walking back because I could actually feel myself blushing. Like an idiot.

"We have to hurry," I called back to him. "She wants a pizza in half an hour."

***

We found an extremely cheap pizza place and waited patiently at a corner booth as they prepared our food. One pineapple jalapeño, one plain cheese. Nico sat across from me and leaned against his hands as we spoke.

"I've been thinking a lot about your dad," he said and I furrowed my brows.

"You have?" He nodded. "Why?"

"I dunno... He used to be around a lot. And he always seemed to like you and your mom."

"Yeah, he still does. He just has work."

He raised his eyebrows. "When was the last time you saw him?"

4 months and 17 days. "A bit ago. I don't really remember."

"Well, I just don't get why he wouldn't make an effort to come around more often."

"He's busy,"

"Too busy to see his son?"

"Can we just," I inhaled, glancing away. "Stop talking about this?"

Nicolas cleared his throat and quickly smiled again. "Yeah, sorry. I wasn't trying to press."

I softened a bit then, because Nico didn't really have someone he could relate to here. Nobody got what he was going through, how it felt to say goodbye to a parent for months. And, if I could help him feel less alone, I wanted to.

"I miss my dad," I said through a breath. "A lot."

"Yeah?"

I didn't know why I was saying this. Probably just because it was true. "He sort of... Slowly started coming around less and less. We haven't talked in a while. Like, he used to call me all the time and would come home every week and now, he just doesn't."

"Have you tried calling him?"

I shrugged. "I wouldn't know what to say."

"Well, most people start with 'hello'," he grinned.