Come Along

28

We looked for Aiyanna for at least a few hours before it started getting dark. My parents and Alice gave up for the night, but I sat on the porch, watching like a hawk for any sign of Aiyanna. I started getting restless but instead of going inside I started walking along the lake. I'm not sure why, but just being near the lake makes me happy.

"Hey Lito!" An obnoxiously loud and slightly Italian accented voice called. I turned to see Carlo, and surprisingly no Dante.

"Hey." I replied glumly.

"We heard what happened with Aiyanna, Dante went down to the police station with your mom and they'll be sending out an amber alert if she doesn't turn up soon."Carlo said cheerily as almost always. I sat on a small log near where the grass meets the sand; it was wet but I couldn't give less fucks about that.

"What happened anyway?" Carlo asked, sitting on a large piece of driftwood in front of me.

"I promised not to tell anyone about something she did but I did it anyway." I said, resting my head in my hands. Carlo just nodded in response.

"Hey guys! It's getting dark, we should get heading home soon." A not so obnoxious but still lightly Italian voice said rather loudly. 

"You guys can go ahead, i'm gonna sit here for a little while." I said without looking up. I felt the log shift as well as his shoulder against mine as he sat down next to me on the small yet apparently sturdy log.

"It's not your fault, you were just worried about her and as soon as she realizes it, she'll come home. She knows you love her, and she knows you wouldn't do it just to hurt her." Dante said soothingly.

"That doesn't matter, in my 19 years of life I had never broken a promise and now Aiyanna's gone! She's been through some shit and i'm just adding to it. What the fuck kinda brother am I." I said angrily while kicking a rock. Instead of trying to comfort me further with words, Dante just rested his head on my shoulder. After a while of silence, he finally spoke,

"Hey, wanna go swimming?" He knows that being near the lake makes me happy, and he also knows that I usually swim around in it when I have something on my mind.

"Yeah." I said before standing up and walking to the water.

"Wait, you're not gonna change into your swim suit?" He asked. 

"Whoops, hadn't really thought about that." I walked back over to the log and began taking my belt off. Dante blushed,

"L-Lito? What're you doing?"

"Well I don't feel like going back to the house just to change so I figured i'd just swim in my boxers." I said while stripping down to said article of clothing. I then ran into the water until only my head was above water. 

"C'mon!" I called to Dante. I could tell he was a bit hesitant to swim in something other than his swim trunks. He eventually stripped down and hopped into the water, wading over to me. We swam around for a bit until we got tired and just floated on our backs silently, except the occasional question and answer, comment from me about Dante's shirtless chest, or small discussion. Then it hit me:

"We're leaving on the houseboat tomorrow, what If we can't find Aiyanna before we leave?"

"Lito," Dante started while standing up. "Stop worrying about it, there's no point in worrying  about what you can't change, now let's go inside, the water's getting cold.

               ~Cesira