—
Luca grunted as he helped his father move things around the yard. While the family was wealthy enough to pay someone to do the chores for them, the Antonio family felt as though things wouldn't be done right if they hadn't done it themselves. Though there were a still few people Luca didn't really recognized who were helping them prepare for the storm coming.
His eyes squint as he locks eyes on a group of boys he grew familiar with.
The pogues.
Specifically, John B, JJ, and Pope.
Stopping his work, he catches the attention of his father, the man huffing as he noticed his son getting distracted.
Mark Antonio practically jumped for joy at the sight of the three teenage boys.
Calling out for his wife, who had pre-ordered groceries from the Heyward family's store, which explained Pope's reasoning for being here.
Luca couldn't help but frown in confusion as to why the other two boys were there.
"Luca!"
His attention falls onto his father, the man waving a hand over, signaling for him to meet him.
Sighing in annoyance, the boy wipes his hands against his pants, allowing himself to stand up and make his way to the three.
He sends an unsure look towards John B, before respectfully nodding in the direction of JJ, earning the same in return.
"JJ and John B here are gonna help up get this place set up. JJ's gonna help you, while John ties up the boats, don't want those things floatin' away." Mark explains to his son, having to glance up slightly, silently cursing the minor height difference the two shared.
Even if he didn't agree with his father, Luca knew better than to voice his concerns of letting John B near their boats. While JJ was a known kleptomaniac, for some odd reason Luca couldn't find it in himself to trust the Routledge boy. He'd thought he'd feel better knowing that John B also helped the Cameron family tie up the druthers, but he knew how that family tended to ignore the obvious.
Letting out what felt like his twentieth sigh of the day, Luca sends a nod to his father, silently gesturing for the blonde Maybank to follow him while his dad walked off with John B.
"Hey." JJ starts, and from the way he said it, Luca knew a question was following, "Does your mom always order that much lemonade, or is it a special occasion?"
"It's not hers." He vaguely responds, earning a surprised look from the boy walking next to him. Why he was surprised, Luca didn't know, nor did he care.
He never really spoke much to the pogues, despite him dating their friend, hence why JJ was shocked to hear his voice.
Luca unknowingly came off as an unapproachable person, which is why it threw the pogues off when they found out he was dating Evelynn. The girl was much more kind looking than her tattooed boyfriend.
"You like lemonade?" JJ wonders, trying to make conversation, Luca can only assume that the boy didn't like silence.
"No."
JJ couldn't help but purse his lips at the response. He could tell that Luca wasn't really one for conversation, unless it'd been with his family or Evelynn, but he just couldn't work in silence.
"It's for Evelynn." He heard Luca mutter under his breath.
Now, while Evelynn's parents couldn't stand to even look in Luca's direction. Lori Antonio absolutely adored Evelynn Rose. His mother loved the girl like she was his own, his father didn't speak to her much, but he was always respectful when she was around.
After hearing from her son that Evelynn liked lemonade, Lori always went out of her way to get some whenever she got groceries. Luca appreciated that his parents treated his girlfriend so kindly, seeing as the girl didn't get much respect from her own.
"Rose likes lemonade?" JJ frowns. He had known the girl for a while now, he had never really caught on to her love for the beverage. Now realizing how she had always ordered the drink when they ate at The Wreck.
"Pink." Luca elaborates.
"Don't they taste the same?" JJ's face scrunches.
Luca nods, "She likes the color."
The Antonio boy could hear JJ hum in acknowledgement to the fact. Continuing his work, he can hear JJ mumbling to himself as he quickly catches on to what he was supposed to do.
He listened to the Maybank speak to him as the worked, sending vague responses to anything he said, not wanting to come off as rude.
The two boys worked for hours, the topic of conversation changing every once in a while, which ultimately led to Luca hearing all about JJ's liking to a certain acquaintance of his.
Luca knew about the relationship between JJ and Kirsten via Evelynn telling him whenever the hung out. He couldn't help but be intrigued with hearing about it from someone actually involved in the relationship. While be loved Evelynn Rose with all his heart, the girl could get a bit side tracked when it came to explaining things, which left gaps unfilled when it came to her story telling.
He listened with a stoic expression, not wanting to give the Maybank the idea of him being interested.
"And even if I don't really do relationships, I wouldn't mind being in one with her, you know?" JJ rambled on.
Of course he knew.
He felt the same way with Evelynn once. And after getting over himself, the boy finally grew the balls to ask her out. And two years later she still put up with him.
"Yeah." He mumbles out.
"But then there's the whole 'no pogue on pogue mackin' rule. That shits stupid." The blonde admits.
Luca absentmindedly nods, "Then why is it a thing?"
"Kie came up with it. We all had a crush on at least one of the twins and she didn't want us breakin' up the group. It make sense but it's still dumb as hell."
"Luca, sweetheart!"
JJ's words trail off as the other teens turns in the direction of his mothers voice. The two can faintly spot her waving him over from her place in the house. He sends Luca a nod when he receives the gesture that he'd be back.
Luca's footsteps slow as he walks up to his mother, his eyes staring into her own as he can't help but return her smile.
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, nothings wrong. I just wanted to know if Evelynn was stopping by."
Luca held back a sigh.
His mother tended to do this a lot. He never minded that Lori wanted to hang out with his significant other, but he figured if she wanted to do that then she should just get Evelynn's number. Lori however, didn't really know how to work her phone, much to Luca's amusement.
"I don't know, mom." He responded, his back resting against the counter as the woman prepares drinks for the three teen boys who went out of their way to help them. "She's probably helping her dad set up for the storm."
Or avoiding being in his presence at all.
Lori scoffs, "She never wants to hang out with me anymore."
Luca smiles fondly at the woman in front of him, silently reminding himself to being the girl over.
"She's a teenage girl, Lori, Im sure she has friends her age to hang out with." The voice of Mark Antonio jokingly said.
The mother and son turn to spot John B and JJ awkwardly standing in the kitchen's door way.
"Oh!" Lori chirps, "Would you boys like a drink?"