Love Thy Neighbor ✓

three

THREE | LATE MARCH

BY THE TIME Luca had gotten himself in the right mood to go next door, everyone else had already arrived.

"Are you coming or what!?" Kai yelled from Luca's front lawn, his body half angled towards the house and half angled towards Blake's.

"I'm coming!" Luca yelled, stomping down the stairs and sauntering out of the front door, pulling it shut behind him.

The night air was cool and fresh, a few stray stars lost in an expanse of black sky. A veil of moonlight lustre fell in shadows across his softened face and spilled over the silver lawn. There was something in the air that Luca could feel expanding inside of his lungs with every inhale. Clean and sweet and wistful. The memory of it had existed before he had experienced it. He could feel it in the fading midnight of his veins, like roads of stardust climbing through his skin.

"Nervous?" Kai teased, his mouth quick and his light brown eyes smug, glinting with the reflection of a night that had not yet happened.

"I guess," Luca replied, still watching him from near the house. Kai stood at the edge of the lawn, almost on the sidewalk, under the pale white glow of the streetlight. "I've never been to one of Blake's parties before. We don't talk much."

"You've talked, though," Kai insisted, glancing at Blake's house. The music was blaring inside and the front door was shut, his lawn and porch empty except for a few friends smoking. Any chaos that poured outside was contained in the backyard. It relaxed Luca. "Anyway, you don't need an invite to these parties. Blake and his friends would let anybody in."

"I know," he nodded, the soothing air flooding through his chest and the swift, gentle swirl of a breeze cooling his skin, "but I feel better having the invite."

"Well, you've got it," Kai laughed, the note of it carrying into the sky. "Let's go."

The inside of the house was packed, the pulse of it bursting with activity and noise. People were sliding past each other and dancing on each other; kissing each other and shoving each other; laughing together and yelling at each other, naively attempting to be heard over the madness. The lights were turned low and shots were being tossed back, girls were leading each other through the house in maneuvering chains and boys were throwing their arms around their friends, playfully pushing and pulling them.

It took a few minutes to get used to the place but, once he stopped thinking about it, Luca was able to adapt fairly well and was able to recognize plenty of people he passed, lifting his hand or nodding his head or smiling in acknowledgment.

Kai had beckoned him into the kitchen so they could get themselves something to drink. He'd taken two shot glasses and put them down on the counter, filling them to the brim with vodka. They'd clinked them together and grinned at each other before hastily downing them, both wincing at the taste and the sensation of a burning throat that spread into a burning chest. It was after the second shot that Luca, his face twisted and his eyes screwed shut, felt someone lightly nudge against him.

He turned around and Blake, pouring a vodka and lemonade, glanced up from the cup and grinned at him. "Hey!" He shouted. "I'm glad you came!"

"Me, too!" Luca yelled, nodding enthusiastically at him, his face bright and his cheeks full.

Kai grinned, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "Thanks for the party!"