It was already Saturday morning and Leon woke up with a backache, the truth is that his friend's sofa has ruined the few muscles he had. His cell phone rang constantly, he answered a little sleepy.
"Hello!"
He knew that voice.
Zeus laughed heartily when he heard the soft thread of the young man's voice.
"What's up honey, asleep? you have to get up early, the early bird catches the worm."
"So now I understand why I'm doing so badly." Letting out a chuckle.
"Listen to me, we are performing today in a place downtown, I'm sure you know it, it's called CaballerEn".
"Yes, I know it."
"There is a private party we are gonna performance for. Numa is already rehearsing so your name is on the list. If you want to invite someone else." he made a short break before adding "You can bring up to 4 people," a cough sounded on the phone.
"You sound strange, you have a cold, don't you? Are you going to dance too?"
"Yes, never mind the cold can wait, actually is like the flu."
"You should stay in bed."
"Only if you stay with me," added softly, "Have to go back, these men can't live without me.
I'll see you tonight."
Leon hung up the phone and immediately started dialing another number.
A familiar voice answered on the other end.
"Hi Manon, it's me Leo."
#
Lucas tossed in bed, he hardly had any sleep all night. Strange nightmares flooded his dreams based on memories he wanted to forget. It was clear that Giovanni's presence was no help.
He dreamed again of his ex-boyfriend and woke up with eyes swollen from crying and an anguish that congested her chest.
So many things had happened, and everything kept in the most absolute silence without ever having told anyone, seemed to drown him in those moments.
Someone knocked at the door, he hardly answered, it was Giovanni holding a cup of coffee, still wearing his sleeping clothes. Lucas looked at him out of the corner of his eye, this had to be a bad joke, thought.
"Where are you taking me today? It's Saturday"
"I thought you were going out with my sister," he added, clearly disgusted as he saw him sit on the edge of the bed.
"Giovanni, there's a chair over there," he pointed to the desk.
"How sour you are" he let his hand fall on the bedspread, slowly caressing Lucas' leg.
The young man firmly removed his hand.
"If you're horny, you know where the bathroom is, and if you can't afford it, buy a dildo, they include a lot of features these days," he jumped up from the bed, leaving him confused.
As he left the room he slammed the door provoking an instant response from his sister.
Manon came out into the hallway. Lucas was already in the bathroom, door closed and locked.
Giovanni got dressed and went into the kitchen to get a yogurt.
Manon looked at him strangely, while he drank his coffee.
"What happened?" the young woman asked curiously.
"Well! Come faccio io ad saperlo?*"
Manon shrugged her shoulders, looked at him again out of the corner of her eye.
"Cara mia, will you accompany me on Monday to the university? I want to see what the curriculum is like, maybe I'll continue my studies here."
Manon seemed surprised.
"Sure! But when you tell your parents, don't give them this address, I don't want to send me any bombs. The fact that they allow you to come is enough!"
The family of Giovanni and the family of Manon cut ties as consequence of an incident happened around two years ago, this was solely applying to the parents as the cousins continued in contact."
"Manon, I'm already 21 years old, don't you think I'm too old for them to make a scene? This is my life"
"Yes, it is but if you dare to go against them once, call me to tell me the same thing. I thought you knew how it all worked."
Manon left the kitchen singing a song, Lucas entered at that moment, Giovanni observed him carefully, that boy was already very good looking but his facial features has become more manly, Giovanni wondered how it was that he had not thought about modeling. The answer came quickly: it was Lucas, he would never think of something like that.
"You should practice some sport" having that face and a trained body, they could charge to see him.
Lucas looked at him absentmindedly.
"I'm not interested."
The image of Numa dressed in red shorts in the boxing ring came to his mind. What would he be doing? He would love to see him fighting again. He went back to his room with the excuse he had to continue studying. His sister came in after a while.
"What now? When did my room become a tourist center?"
"Lucas, aren't you going out with Giovanni?
"No."
"Ok, I'm going out with him, but tonight we're going out the three of us, and I recommend you for your own good not to say a peep. Understood?"
Lucas looked at her defiantly, but he knew it was the right thing to do, surely they would go dancing, how little he liked it.
Manon opened her mouth to say something but she realized that it would be to argue and she didn't want ton pick a fight with him.
"Well, at 11 p.m. we leave here, try to be ready on time."
Manon went to the living room to find Giovanni ready to leave, she smiled sideways.
She would like to know what happened between the two of them so that Lucas had so much mania for him, she has been curious about it for a long time. She has some theories, but never spoke them out loud.
"It's no use," she murmured to herself as she looked for her bag to go out with Giovanni on a tour of the city.
Lucas heard the sound of the front door closing and sighed in relief. He was having a hard time with the whole situation, certain images came to his mind again and again. He had regrets, how could he has been so stupid?
He was too young then, the first love, the first shared sexual acts, all that and much more tied him to Giovanni irremediably.
Notes: *It means, How am I supposed to know? in Italian