Pitch Perfect - 3. Chapter 3: To Addie's

“Hey, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” Addie giggled as she threw open her front door. When she stopped to give Lucca a serious look her eyebrow quirked up. “Is something bothering you?”

Lucca let out a big rush of air. “I was hoping we could problem solve without actually talking about it. Maybe through avoidance?”

“Again?” She stepped away from the door to let him in.

“Yeah, sorry.”

Leaving Matt at the nursing home had been horribly cruel. Right at the moment, though, Lucca couldn’t feel bad about it. He was numb. Riding his bike to Addie’s had given him a chance to relax. Bringing up the subject again would destroy the bits of calm he had collected.

Aside from that, there was another issue. Addie had no clue he was gay. Lucca had considered bringing it up multiple times, but the timing never fit. He knew what the response would be too, ‘who do you like?’ Yeah, Addie would definitely care more about whom he was interested in than the fact he was gay.

It was difficult for Lucca not to tell Addie anything though; it felt dishonest. Addie had been a good friend ever since third grade. They had met during a class project where everyone was required to bring in a gift for a secret friend. Lucca had received Addie’s gift. Even at the time it had been obvious whom it was from. While most people gave small gifts like cards, Addie had wrapped a giant stuffed cat, which now took up residence on Lucca’s desk. That day had somehow cemented their friendship, and they only grew closer afterwards.

Keeping the fact he was gay secret was one thing, but Lucca didn’t want any more space than necessary in their relationship. ‘How can I phrase this…?’

Lucca sat down on the large love seat in Addie’s living room and faced the television. Without really thinking about it, he blurt out, “Matt gave me a headache.”

‘Oh my god, did I say that out loud? What the hell, that’s not even true! Well, I was sort of thinking about him when I got a headache, but it’s not his fault. That was probably the stupidest thing I could have said.’

Panicked, Lucca glanced sideways to see Addie’s reaction. She was twirling her long black hair in her fingers and biting her lip. She looked perplexed.

“Matt, your neighbor Matt? When did you see him, I thought today was hospital day?”

She was right, of course. After so long, obviously she knew his schedule. Her questions seemed fairly easy too, but the answers he would have to give would only open up other, harder, lines of query. Lucca turned to her and smirked, giving her the I won’t elaborate grin.

“That’s not fair, Lucca!”

‘It’s not fair, but right now my dad is the only one who knows I’m gay. I’m sorry Addie.’

“How about we order a pizza, my treat?” Lucca knew ordering food was only a momentary cover-up. Sooner or later, Addie would want to get back to the topic at hand.

“Fine,” she said begrudgingly.

Graciously, Addie ignored their previous conversation for most of the night. When the pizza came they talked about their plans for next Friday. They had decided to go to a Colombian restaurant in downtown Philadelphia called Tierra Colombiana. She had recently become addicted to a Colombian guava candy called Bocadillo and decided it would be fun to take a trip. Lucca was more than happy with the idea. Not only did it provide a good distraction, but also Addie’s plans always seemed to turn into fun adventures.

Halfway through the conversation Lucca let his mind wander to what it would be like to be planning a dinner with Matt instead of Addie. ‘I wonder how many dates we’d have to go on before we kissed? I bet he’s a great kisser.” The thought left as quickly as it had come when Addie waved her hand in front of his face.

“Lucca, c’mon. You could at least pretend to pay attention when I’m talking. Where are you today?”

“I’m here, I just… I had a long day.” His excuse sounded flimsy even to himself, and Lucca frowned.

“Yeah, yeah. We’ll talk about it when you’re ready.” Addie waved her hands dismissively and Lucca was glad yet again to have such an understanding friend. Then, to ease the tension she asked, “Would you help me pick out a topic for my Civics paper?”

They discussed the pros and cons of writing a paper on First Amendment law, and then researched together for a bit. It was almost ten-thirty when Lucca finally looked at the time.

“Ah, shoot. Sorry, Addie, I have to go. I never told my Dad I was coming over, and he’s probably wondering where I am by now.”

“No problem. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.” Addie smiled as they walked toward the door. He was just about to leave, but Lucca wished he could stay longer. He wasn’t looking forward to yet another sleepless night. A little disheartened by the thought, Lucca stepped out into the cold air.

“Hey,” Addie called from behind him. “Don’t forget about Friday, okay? I have the feeling we’ll have a good time.”

Lucca nodded then got on his bike. ‘Colombian food, Friday, check. Now all I have to do in the meantime is figure out what I want to do about Matt.’

It had been almost eight years since Lucca realized he liked Matt; still he was unsure as ever what to do about it. The day he noticed his feelings for Matt was memorable for two other reasons. It was his tenth birthday party. All of his friends discussed cute girls from their class while playing basketball. Lucca made a pass to Matt and while wondering when he’d like a girl. Then Matt made a beautiful three point shot and burst out with a wide grin. The world seemed to stop and Lucca realized his feelings right then and there. Eric, without noticing the earth bending revelation, passed the ball to Lucca. It had been a painful beginning to a first crush. Lucca walked away from the day with a broken nose and the realization that he was gay.

Wind whipped past him as made his way home. Despite his questionable day, Lucca was enjoying himself. The snow shone blue in the nighttime, except where the lamplight hit and made it orange. Lucca found it eerily beautiful. A few minutes later, Lucca skid to a stop in his driveway. He hopped off his bike and wandered inside.

The Amsley family home was modest, but very warm and welcoming. It was messier now than it had been during Lucca’s childhood. With his brother at college and his mother gone it was only natural for things to be different. His father left mugs of coffee and papers everywhere and since Lucca wasn’t exactly a clean freak they often weren’t moved for a couple days.

Lucca left his coat in the kitchen and then walked to the study to greet his dad. He sat on the leather sofa with one hand holding a mug and the other typing away on his laptop. He was dressed in his usual casual style, but his hair looked crazed, it practically mimicked the crazy pace he must be writing at to get the article done in time for publishing.

Knocking on the doorframe Lucca announced his presence “Dad, I’m home.”

His father glanced up at him, to the clock on the wall, and then looked back at him with a thoughtful expression. “I was expecting you earlier, Lucca. You could have called to let me know you were coming later, no?”

“Sorry, it won’t happen again. I wound up at Addie’s and she needed help doing some homework,” Lucca answered truthfully enough.

“Alright, see that it doesn’t. Matt stopped by for you earlier. He looked troubled; you might want to give him a ring.”

‘Oh boy, that was about the last thing I wanted to hear.’ Lucca didn’t notice but his face had become a mask of worry.

“I’m serious, Lucca. Call him.” Lucca’s father gave him one more hard look then shooed him out of the study.

After going back and forth about it, Lucca decided to give Matt a call. Even though avoiding him seemed easier, it would probably be better in the long run to apologize and be done with it. He picked up the phone to dial, but his hand shook as he punched in the numbers.

‘Deep breath. Oh god, it’s ringing. Think calm. Wait, everything is my fault. What if he hates me? What if this time he never wants to talk to me again? Or worse, what if he doesn’t care at all?’ When it got to the sixth ring Lucca practically vibrated with nervous anticipation.

“Hello?” It was Matt’s mother.

“Oh, hello, it’s Lucca. Could I speak with Matt?” Lucca asked as politely as possible.

“Oh, hey Lucca. I’m sorry Matt went over to his friend’s house. I think he planned on staying pretty late. Do you want to leave a message?”

Lucca thought that over for a second. ‘He’s not there. Went to a friend’s? Yeah, why not?’

Unconsciously, he let out a sigh of relief. “No, thank you. Just tell him I called please?”

“Sure thing,” Matt’s mom replied and then he heard a click.

‘I’m glad, right? A conversation tonight would have been really awkward. Yeah, I’m happy he wasn’t home.’ Lucca felt much better. He had tried to call Matt, so that was a step forward. One thing nagged at him, though. ‘I thought he didn’t have plans tonight? I wonder where he went?’ Lucca decided that it didn’t really matter. At least he had made an attempt to repair things. Now, Matt would call him back and things between them would go back to normal.

***

Things weren’t normal, though. As the week went by Lucca realized that Matt avoided him. Not the other way around. Normally, they would see each other leaving their houses in the morning, or maybe in school during in the interim between classes.

This week Lucca had not seen Matt once. Not even in passing. Zero. If he was nervous on Sunday, by Friday he was going insane. Sometimes he felt relieved that he wasn’t running into Matt. It had been stressful to see him all the time, but because he knew it was his fault, the separation was made him sick with guilt. He had called Matt’s house again on Tuesday, but he had an almost identical conversation- except this time with Matt’s Dad.

On Thursday, Lucca rang the doorbell at Matt’s house. No one was home, so he left a note in the mailbox for Matt to call him or stop by. ‘Maybe I really ruined things? Maybe we’ll never talk again.’ Lucca felt lost. It wasn’t like Matt not to return calls, no matter what kind of horrible stunt Lucca pulled.

It was Friday after school and Lucca was doing homework on his bed and wondering over what was going to happen between him and Matt. Lucca heard the phone ring, but his dad picked it up.

About ten minutes later his father called up to him, “Lucca, phone for you.”

Lucca ran down the stairs and grabbed the phone. He paused for a second before answering the phone. “Who is it?”

“Oh, it’s Addie.”

“You were on the phone with her for an awful long time,” Lucca accused.

“Yeah, well…” His father shrugged his shoulders and wandered off.

“Lucca! Lucca!” He heard Addie calling from the phone.

“Yeah?”

“Oh, hey. So I’ll be by to pick you up in about an hour. Wear something nice, okay? I want to dress up.”

Lucca had totally forgotten about their plans, but he knew it was too late to say anything but, “Okay.”