Home...
Throughout the whole day, that was all Luca could think about. Home.... Not that Genova wasn't a good home for the time Luca spent there. Luca absolutely adored Genova, partly because he was always there with Giulia and her mom. Luca loved the bright, big atmosphere; the streets that you could spend hours walking down; the beautiful landscapes. Luca hates to admit it, but it even had some better stuff to do than what he could do back in Portorosso. When Luca first got there, Giulia spent days just showing Luca around, and even after that, there was still so much left to explore. He enjoyed his time in Genova. Like, he really did. If Luca was being honest, Genova was the perfect home for him. It was more than perfect, actually.
So why did he keep thinking of somewhere else?
Somewhere like Portorosso.
Luca sighed at the thought of his old home. As much as he loved Genova, it could never compare to Portorosso. Genova had everything that Portorosso did. In fact, it probably had more. But there was something missing that Luca had always noticed when living in Genova. Well, obviously he was missing his family, and Alberto as well.
Alberto...
Again, Luca sighed at the fact of thinking about his best friend. The person who introduced him to human things. Without Alberto, Luca would have never even stepped foot out of the water. He would have never experienced some of the most amazing things in his life, and he would've never even gone to Genova. Luca was so distracted all the time by the things in Genova that sometimes he forgot why he was there in the first place. It was because of Alberto. Even though Alberto had given Luca the chance to leave for Genova and fulfill his dream of going to school, he still felt empty. Even after attending school, he still missed Alberto deeply. He enjoyed school so much, and learning the things he learned was something that he never could have dreamed of back in Portorosso. Still, the home that Luca needed was Portorosso, where his memories, family, and where Alberto was.
Luca reminded himself of the fun times he had with Alberto and Giulia back in Portorosso. It made him feel warm and happy inside, just like he had felt when he first started attending school. Speaking of school, Luca wondered when he would finally be able to tell Alberto about all the things he learned in school. Being the curious boy that he was, nothing satisfied Luca more then learning new things at school. Unsurprisingly, Luca loved astronomy, and it was always his favorite subject. He was even the top student in his class, which did end up making Giulia a bit jealous. Luca laughed at the thought, remembering the look on Giulia's face when he started to excel in their astronomy class, even faster then Giulia could. But who could blame him? Luca truly deserved to be the top student. He was always so dedicated to getting his work in, and was overall a very good student. Well.... I suppose not in every class. Luca never really enjoyed mathematics very much, but regardless, he still did very well in school.
He just couldn't wait to tell Alberto all about it!
Wait, speaking of Alberto....
"LUCA!!"
"WAHHH," Luca screamed as he woke up suddenly.
The boy quickly looked around and remembered that he was already on the train ride back to Portorosso. He must've fallen asleep pretty quick. He looked over to his right to see Giulia standing over him with a big smile on her face. She was laughing uncontrollably, almost falling over on the floor of the train car.
"Giulia!" Luca yelled. "You can't just scare me like that, y'know."
Giulia started to calm down as she looked back at Luca, "Ah cmon Luca. You needed to wake up anyway."
Luca laughed, "Yeah I guess you're right."
"I mean, did you see the look on your face. It was priceless!"
The two started to laugh again. As much as Luca hated to admit it, he admired Giulia's sense of humor. Although it was annoying sometime, he could never really get mad at her. At this point, she was practically a sister to him, and the two got along so well after all the time they spent together in Genova.
Giulia sat down in the chair next to him. Luca opened his mouth as if he was going to say something, but nothing came out.
"Luca? Were you going to.. say something?" Giulia asked.
"Yeah, I was going to say that your shirt looks nice today."
Giulia chuckled, "Thanks Luca. But seriously. Um..."
"What?"
"I know you well, Luca," Giulia turned around this time to face Luca. "You wanted to tell me something, didn't you?"
"W-well.." Luca stammered.
"Cmon ragazz don't lie to me. You have that look on your face that you get whenever you're nervous."
"Nervous?" Luca questioned. "Of course I'm nervous. You're nervous too, we all are."
"Luca.."
"I mean, don't worry about it Giulia, there's nothing botherin-"
"Luca!"
Luca stopped talking for a second. He looked over at Giulia, then down at his feet. Giulia scooter closer to him and put an arm around his shoulder. For the first time during the entire train ride, Luca wasn't stressing about a million different things.
"It's just that.. I'm worried. I'm worried, Giulia."
Giulia gave him a sympathetic look. "About what?"
He paused for a second before talking again.
"Well actually, never mind it's not real-"
Giulia sighed, "Oh come on Luca. If you're gonna lie to me, you have to at least make it believable."
Luca nervously laughed at Giulia's response. She was right; he was a horrible liar.
"Well umm, I'm just a bit worried about Alberto. He- he maybe doesn't care anymore? Like, I've been gone for- I mean we've been gone for so long. What if he doesn't care about me anymore? Does he even remember me anymore? Giulia, I'm so glad that I went to Genova with you, but I always missed Alberto even though I was having so much fun with you. I just don't want him to... forget about me."
Giulia looked at Luca for an uncomfortably long time before embracing him with an hug.
"Luca... you should never feel like that, never."
Luca smiled and hugged her back.
"Thanks Giulia."
"I mean, do you really think the person who sent you a million letters and tried to call you every day doesn't care about you anymore? Santa Mozzarella, that's crazy Luca!"
"Yeah", Luca laughed. "You are right I guess."
"Trust me Luca," Giulia put an arm around Luca's shoulder and shoved his face in the direction of the window. "You'll see that I'm right soon."
"Huh?" Luca asked as he looked over at Giulia. "W-what do you mean?"
Giulia smiled, "I said, you'll see that I'm right soon, because we're here silly."
Luca quickly glanced out the window and instantly dropped his jaw. It was the island, the island that Luca and Alberto shared their jest memories on. Instantly, feelings of happiness, anxiousness, and eagerness rushed into his mind all at the same time. Luca couldn't wait to get to the train station and finally see everyone again. Finally see Alberto again.
"Luca look, it's your island right?!" Giulia squeezed Luca excitedly.
"Yeah it is!!"
Luca managed to escape Giulia's embrace. Gosh, she sure does hug tightly, Luca thought.
The train started to slow down as it got closer and closer to the station. Luca could hardly wait, with his heart beating out of his chest at a million miles per hour. He had this funny feeling inside of his chest that he couldn't describe as well.
"Oh boy, I sure do have butterflies in my stomach," Giulia said.
Luca looked very confused. "What??"
The girl started to laugh uncontrollably again, this time even louder than before. "Oh I'm sorry for laughing Luca, it's just that-"
"What does that even mean, Giulia?"
"It's just an expression, Luca," Giulia said bluntly. "It basically just means that you're anxious haha."
"Anxious?" Luca asked.
"Yeah, anxious," Giulia replied. "It happens all the time. It can happen when you're about to take a test at school, when you're trying something new, when you're in love."
"W-what?" Luca asked.
Giulia quickly laughed, "Never mind, Luca. The point is, I'm just anxious to get back to Portorosso and see Papa and Alberto again! I'm sure you are a bit anxious too."
"Yeah, definitely," Luca replied.
Suddenly, the train bolted to a stop, sending Luca and Giulia forcefully back into their seat. Startled, they both got up and started to gather all of their luggage.
"Hey Giulia?" Luca asked.
"Yeah what's up?"
"I... just wanted to say thank you. For helping me calm down earlier."
Luca nervously rubbed the back of his arm.
"Of course, Luca! I'll always be there for you. Just remember that."
Luca smiled, "Thank you."
Giulia nodded back and smiled before turning around quickly.
"Cmon we have to get out of here and see if everyone's already waiting for us!"
Luca nodded and started to follow her before Giulia stopped suddenly in her tracks.
"What's wrong?" Luca asked.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" Giulia said as she pulled out a wrinkled up piece of paper from her pocket. "This was a last minute letter Alberto sent you back in Genova, but you weren't there when it arrived, so I grabbed it for you. Then I may have forgot to give it to you hehe."
"Oh, no problem Giulia. Here, I'll take it," Luca said. Luca grabbed the letter and neatly stuffed it into his right pocket. Huh, I wonder what this is about, Luca thought to himself.
Giulia turned back around and headed towards the door, "Here we go!!"
"Giulia, do you think they'll already be there?"Luca asked.
"I don't know Luca, only time will tell."
The duo headed out as the doors to the train opened, revealing a glorious and warm beam of sunlight. Giulia was right, only time will tell.
(AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Hello! I know barely anyone will be reading this, since this is my first piece of work ever on Wattpad, but to anyone who is reading this, I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know your thoughts, or any ideas or suggestions that you may have. I hope this gets at least somewhat popular, but i'm not setting my expectations too high. Stay awesome!
-Marx