James Carnarvon

I'm glad to hear it! I think, in the final scene of this chapter, Giaco states his case for his rift with Marco as best he can from his own point of view. You may not agree with his perspective, of course, and as such you'd be quite within your rights. There's no right or wrong answer.

I get the impression that you're really not very keen on Giaco - which is your right, of course! Personally, I still like the kid. I would defend him in so far as he is thirteen years old (and only just, at that), and not all kids can be as emotionally intelligent as Dani. Aw, bless... please allow the poor boy some genuine confusion. 😆 Why, thank you... it was almost as if it was carefully plotted! 😉 As to that, who knows...

@travlbug you clearly take some time to consider and compose your comments, and I can assure you that I'm grateful for every word. A relationship chapter? This is a relationship BOOK. 😄 Your observations on Toto are on point, and summed up very well by your choice of emojis. 😆 You're right that to observe that Dani is learning more about Marco (while becoming more like him all the time...). If there's a key 'relationship' in this story it's Dani/Marco, so stay tuned for more on that. However, watch out for that Giaco, too. 😉 Dani's date with Emilia - I'm sure it's not unusual for gay boys to do something like this in an attempt to be 'normal'. Dani may not see it in quite those terms, but it serves the purpose of clarifying for him that that's not what he really wants/needs. Unfortunately, Emilia gets hurt in the process. Enjoy chapter five!

Sorry guys, but if I ever do write another entry in this series I can promise that it won’t be called A Ravello Threesome.

Well, thank you all once again for coming on another gently paced stroll through the streets, steps and squares of Ravello with me. I hope I've been a good guide. Claudia leaving and everybody saying goodbye does feel like the end of an era. As always, for me, in deciding whether to return for another story, I need time to consider whether it would add positively to the narrative or whether it would take away from the stories I've already told. Especially considering that I tend to tell stories about transitions... making/breaking relationships rather than living them. For the first time, this story didn't add any new major characters to the mix. This was a conscious move: because I don't tend to write major characters out of the ongoing storyline, the risk in continually adding more is that you end up with an unmanageable, George R.R. Martin style story bloat if you want to do justice to all the characters you already have. ...but, in limiting new characters, I am left with a bit less left to explore for a future tale. For example: I could attempt to resolve the Marco / Dani / Giaco love triangle, but they might all need to be a bit older for me to do that. Do I really want to tell a story about Dani at 14/15/16, or would that spoil the memory of the charming boy he still just about is now? Anyway, since we're here, let's finish with a silly and vaguely inappropriate question: Who do you ship? Are you Diaco or Darco? 😉

Wow, quite an indictment that would have been! But I can totally see how you got there. 😆 Personally, I'm with Dani when he wonders (in ch.1, I think it was) if Giaco sometimes underestimates the effect he has on people. I guess Giaco is a tease in the more benign sense of the word: he does enjoy these 'moments' he creates, and he likes being the centre of attention (e.g., in this chapter, stringing Dani along a little before telling him the truth about Laura). But I also didn't intend any insincerity in the nice things he says to Dani.

The next afternoon, Daniele, Giacomo and Emilia met in the square. It was a Saturday, and the place was already busy with locals and visitors. Although the end of the summer was fast approaching, the nights had held onto the heat, and a few cicadas still scraped drowsily in the trees. The main cathedral doors were open, and lavish bouquets of flowers were visible just inside the entrance. From the smart clothes of the steady stream of people walking in through the doors, Daniele sensed that

If my own experience is anything to go by, he’s aware of it but is ignoring it because he doesn’t know what to do about it. 😅 You’re right to point out the parallels between Dani’s behaviour here and Marco’s behaviour in the last story. Where could this be heading…?

For me, the real thing in this scene is that Dani has finally lived enough and experienced enough to stand up to his friends - even emerging as a leader, at least for the moment. He’s never spoken so assertively to anyone else, as far as I can recall.

It is for me, too. I love engaging with you all, and each Ravello story always feels like the last one I'm going to write.

Well... maybe just a little. It's a confusing age!

Since we're approaching the end of the story now and the last couple of chapters are a bit shorter, I'm giving you this one a day early. Enjoy... and tune in tomorrow for the final instalment.

For the next few days, when he wasn’t with Giacomo, Daniele looked for Marco. There had been no response to the note he had put though Marco’s door; he saw no sign of the smaller boy in the square, on the belvedere or in the Municipio gardens. As far as he knew, Marco had made no attempt to visit him at home. When Daniele visited the secret clearing in the valley, it had an air of forlorn disuse, as if nothing had been disturbed there for several weeks. It wasn’t until Friday, the morn

I'm quoting your comment from chapter nine because it's relevant to Dani's conclusions in this chapter. This is a realistic perspective. The question is, am I a realistic writer? 😅

I’m happy that you and other readers are invested in what happens to Sami. I never really had time to develop him as a character before he disappears from the story. He served his purpose in the plot, but he obviously deserves some kind of positive outcome. We’ll see if you’re right. As for Giaco, it’s no wonder he’s confused after everything he and Dani have been through together. Dani just wants everyone to be happy. Can he square the circle? (Or triangle, as the case may be.)

The scene where Giaco makes his confession was so tricky to write! It ended up going a little further than I originally intended. I was still tinkering with it until late last night, trying to slow it down to play out a little more naturally.

Yes - it’s Pagnol. Good spot!

Daniele made his way home as soon as the storm abated, treading miserably through the puddles left behind by the downpour. The black water glinted dully in the glow of the old-fashioned streetlights. When he let himself into the house, dripping gently onto the ceramic tiles, he encountered his father, who had finally returned from his day on the road and was working his way through a bowl of Daniele and Marco’s spaghetti alla puttanesca. To Daniele’s relief, Paolo was so relieved to learn t

Straight in with the relationship speculation - brilliant, haha. Thanks for reading. I think you'll like it here...

On their date, Emilia said to Dani that “you’re not like all the other boys”. She wasn’t commenting on Marco, but it’s the similarity in Marco’s choice of words that makes Dani realise what’s actually going on. Marco has actually been demonstrating subtle signs of an attraction to Dani throughout their scenes together in this story. Or, at least, that was the intention. Even back in Dani the Hero, in his despair after the fight, Marco said: “Why would [Giaco] ever look at me next to his beautiful new friend?” Marco’s attraction to Dani is one of the reasons he was so frightened of becoming friends, along with the problems with his self-image which have already been well discussed.

Hardy har har.

The ground never opens up and swallows you when you want it to, does it? I respect you for having the courage to try!

By the way, as a characterisation of Dani, I sort of love this. 😊

I'm glad it didn't seem too incredible to you! To anybody who might be thinking that this all happened too fast, I would say this: At that hormonally chaotic and emotionally immature age, did you never - especially if you were a shy and isolated teenager - have that moment where someone you didn't really know was randomly nice to you, and you fell slightly in love with them? It happened to me at fourteen - with a girl, no less - and it took a good deal less than what Dani did for Marco here.

Daniele met up with Marco several more times over the next few days. Now that they were friends, their old enmity was quickly forgotten. Daniele found it harder and harder to remember why they hadn’t got on in the first place. Daniele had learned that Marco was sensitive about his background. Anything that drew attention to how poor the family was, or that exposed his troubled attitude towards himself, tended to upset him. At the same time, the smaller boy thrived on Daniele’s attentio