The Summer of the Selfless - 4. Chapter 4

Daniele returned home sometime later, his tie tucked back into his pocket at Marco’s insistence. The other boy had been reluctant to leave him on his own at first, but Daniele had finally persuaded him to go by suggesting that he still had time to return to the disco and let the others know he was alright… that was, if they were even still there. He suspected that Giacomo would probably have made a quick exit soon after he did.

Giaco…

Just the thought of Giacomo’s reaction cut him up a little inside. Daniele decided he would text him in the morning. How else could he begin to make things right between them?

He let himself into the house, shed his shoes in the hallway and trailed miserably into the kitchen diner. His parents were relaxing together in the small living area below the two large picture windows, through which the distant lights of the coast still twinkled and shimmered. They looked up eagerly, ready to ask him all about his evening, but their faces fell abruptly as they saw him.

“Dio… are you alright?” Patrizia gasped. “Did something happen?”

Daniele supposed he must look terrible; exhausted and cry-faced, probably, with his hair in total disarray.

“I don’t really want to talk about it,” he replied, which was true enough, for the moment. “If it’s okay… I’m just going to go to bed.”

Patrizia and Paolo exchanged a concerned glance.

“All right,” Patrizia replied uncertainly, “but… I hope you’ll tell us a bit more about it in the morning?”

Daniele nodded. “I’ll try.”

Paolo frowned slightly. “You’re sure you’re okay, son?” he pressed. “Nobody hurt you, did they?”

Daniele shook his head. “Nothing like that,” he replied. “I’m fine.”

* * *

Daniele felt a little better after he had taken a second shower; well enough to go to sleep, anyway.

He woke up the next morning without much enthusiasm, and lay in his bed for a while, staring listlessly up at the ceiling. The sunlight was streaming through the cracks in his shutters; normally, he would have rushed to throw them open, welcoming the summer into his room, but today it felt like too much effort.

After a few moments, he was jerked fully awake by a sudden buzz from his phone, which was charging on the bedside table. He reached for it at once, wondering if it could be a message from Giacomo, but it was only Marco.

‘R U okay?’

Daniele uttered a gloomy sigh.

‘Yeah. I’m doing all right.’

‘Gianni and Angelo were sorry to hear what happened. They’re taking me out to Conca dei Marini today. Want to come?’

‘Nah… don’t think I’d be great company today. But thanks.’

‘Ok.’

Daniele forced himself out of bed and listlessly examined the contents of his wardrobe. Taking stock of his collection, he picked the new t-shirt he had bought in Salerno and his most sombre pair of navy blue shorts, then brushed his hair in a cursory sort of way. It was time to go and face the music.

His parents were waiting for him at the breakfast table, nursing two glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice. As he sat down, his mother passed a third one towards him. There was a box of her homemade lemon croissants on the table; he helped himself to one, took a bite out of it and put the rest down on his plate.

“Did you sleep all right, champ?” Paolo asked.

Daniele nodded. From the tired look of his parents’ eyes, he suspected they had been up for a while themselves last night, worrying about him. He felt bad to have caused them so much concern.

“Are you ready to tell us about it, now, caro?” Patrizia asked.

Daniele shrugged; in truth, he still didn’t want to share the details with them.

“Things got weird with Giaco, that’s all,” he replied.

“Weird how?” Paolo asked, frowning slightly. “Did he say something, do something, to upset you?”

Daniele could feel a dull pressure building up behind his eyes. Desperately, he shook his head. He really didn’t want to cry in front of his parents.

“No!” he replied emphatically. “Giaco didn’t do anything wrong.”

His parents backed off, then; perhaps they could tell he was still unable to discuss it any further, at least for now.

“Well… you know where we are,” Patrizia said, “if there’s anything else you’d like to tell us.”

Daniele nodded. “Yeah,” he replied quietly. “Thanks.”

He finished his breakfast and headed back towards his bedroom. In the hallway, he paused, listening to his parents’ quiet voices as they discussed what they’d just seen.

“There was always a risk of this, don’t you think?” Paolo murmured. “Friendship and unrequited love… it’s a tricky tightrope to walk.”

“We don’t know it’s unrequited,” Patrizia replied quietly. “Who knows what’s really going on in their heads? They’re at such a funny age, not quite adults, but not quite children either. There must be so much passing between them every day that the adults in their lives don’t even see.”

“But we’ve always suspected it, haven’t we?” Paolo said.

Patrizia sighed. “Yes, I suppose we have. Poor Daniele…”

Daniele had heard enough. He returned to his room, closing the door behind him as softly as he could so his parents would have no reason to suspect he’d been eavesdropping.

Flopping down on his bed, he picked up his phone to compose a message to Giacomo. He stared at the blank screen for a while, wondering where on Earth to begin.

After several false starts and deletions, he settled on a form of words he was just about happy with.

‘Ciao, Giaco,’ he ventured. ‘I’m sorry about last night. Can we talk? I’d really like to still be friends.’

He stared at the phone for a while, waiting for the tell-tale dots to appear on the screen to indicate that the other boy was typing a response, but there was nothing. The icon next to his message told him it had been received, but not read.

Miserably, he cast the phone aside and tried to think of something else to do.

* * *

While his parents went out to work, Daniele moped around his room for most of the morning. He attempted to write, but it was sluggish work. From time to time, he turned to one of his windows, staring out at the sun-drenched hillside and listening to the sound of the cicadas among the olive trees down below. He closed his eyes, trying to cut his mind loose and let it drift out into the landscape, but it remained stubbornly tethered to his body.

It wasn’t until nearly eleven o’clock that his phone buzzed again. Daniele practically flew across his bed in his rush to pick it up.

His heart rose to his mouth as he realised it was a reply from Giacomo.

‘Sorry, I was helping Mamma to clean the shop.’

Is that it…?

Daniele stared at the screen in dismay, but then the dots appeared again, delivering him from his momentary torment.

‘I could see you tomorrow.’

Daniele bit his lip anxiously. Giacomo’s response gave no commitment to friendship, but it was better than nothing. He was prepared to take it.

‘Ten o’clock, in the olive grove at San Cosma?’ he asked.

‘Ok.’

Daniele flopped back onto his bed with a sigh of relief. At least the other boy was willing to talk to him.

Suddenly, the rest of the day seemed a little more survivable than it had done before.

* * *

The next morning, Daniele set out on foot at about quarter to ten. In the hope of recapturing the affectionate spirit of the evening, not so long ago, when they had met in the square to finish celebrating his birthday, he had donned his old pink t-shirt and beige chino shorts once again.

It was Patrizia’s morning off work and, as he left, she wished him the best of luck in his talk with Giacomo. He wasn’t sure what she really thought of his prospects, or even what she thought he might be planning to say to the other boy, but he was grateful all the same.

It was another bright morning, with just a couple of light, fluffy clouds drifting slowly across the sky. The air was slightly hazy, not enough to promise rain, but just enough to make the mountains beyond Minori and Maiori seem slightly out of focus.

San Cosma was a hamlet a little further round the hillside from Daniele’s neighbourhood. It sat in the lee of a great stone cliff, a high, rocky crag at the seaward end of the ridge on which Ravello stood. At the top of the cliff, one found the beautiful Villa Cimbrone gardens. A few days ago, Daniele and his friends had talked about going there together for games or just to chill out but. After the events of the disco, though, he wondered if they would ever all be together like that again.

It was an easy climb up the quiet, gently sloping road to reach the foot of the cliff. While the road itself doubled back round one of its hairpin bends on its way up towards town, Daniele continued straight on through a tiny square and onto a sun-drenched concrete footpath that wound around the base of the cliff. Silvery olive trees peeked up over the low boundary wall from the terraces down below. Now and then, there was even a splash of brighter colour; he passed a garden full of bougainvillea in fiery reds and pinks, and a carpet of morning glory hanging down from the sandy-coloured cliffs, its indigo trumpets turned towards the sun.

The small olive grove where they were due to meet had once been Toto and Michele’s secret romantic hangout. The older boys had moved onto pastures new since then, and it had become a place where Daniele and Giacomo could meet whenever they felt like spending some quiet, undisturbed time together. It sat at the point where the footpath turned inland towards the Valle del Dragone, just above a pretty section of the footpath bounded by ancient stone walls.

Giacomo hadn’t arrived yet. Daniele climbed off the path, scrambling up among the low, silver-grey trees, and sat down on the dry, sandy earth, ready to be as humble as he needed to be, waiting for his friend.

What if he’s not coming?

But Daniele thought he would.

* * *

It wasn’t too long before Daniele heard footsteps, and he looked up just in time to see Giacomo arriving on the path below him.

The dark-eyed boy looked a little unsure of himself, but he was wearing Daniele’s old red tie-dye t-shirt. Daniele took heart from the sight of it; surely it meant that Giacomo wanted to maintain their friendship as much as he did?

All the same…

Why did you ask me to dance, Giaco?

It was the question he was dying to ask, but could he really expect the other boy to answer him after the way he had reacted? And what did it really matter, now? Whatever had driven Giacomo to it, the moment had surely passed.

Giacomo climbed up from the path and sank down below one of the olive trees, setting down a small rucksack that he was carrying over one shoulder. Daniele noticed that he had sat a little further away from him than he normally would, keeping just a little distance between them, at least for the moment.

“Ciao, Dani,” he said quietly.

Daniele was lost for words for a few seconds, wondering where to begin. He found himself wishing he’d rehearsed the conversation a little more in his head before coming out here.

“Ciao, Giaco,” he said falteringly. “I wanted… to explain…”

But the other boy cut him off.

“It’s done,” he said quickly. He began to inspect his fingernails, making clear that he didn’t want to talk about how the whole episode had made him feel.

“I’m still sorry,” Daniele said in a small voice.

“I don’t understand what happened,” Giacomo said, “but I know one thing.” He looked back towards Daniele, a faintly pleading look in his dark eyes. “I really don’t want to lose my best friend over this. Do you?”

“No!” Daniele replied emphatically. “I just wish I could…”

I just wish I could what? Take it back? Say it differently? Not feel this way at all?

Unable to contain himself any longer, he threw himself forwards and embraced the other boy, hoping to convey some of what he couldn’t seem to find the words to say.

“Jesus, Dani,” Giacomo gasped, prising him away so they could face each other again. “Can’t you give a kid some warning?”

“You can talk,” Daniele retorted, unable to stop a couple of tears rolling down his cheeks.

Giacomo winced slightly at the sight of them. “Okay,” he said, “you win.”

He gave up the fight, allowing Daniele to come back in, and this time Daniele felt the other boy’s arms close around him. They leaned into each other, and Daniele blinked his tears away, leaving a few little droplets of salty water suspended in the short, dark hair behind his friend’s ear. Next to him, he thought he felt Giacomo utter the smallest of sighs.

After a few moments, they separated again. Daniele looked at his friend a little uncertainly; it had felt different, somehow… like it was, in some way, more of a hug than they had ever shared before. The mad, frenetic energy he had felt lately when he was around the other boy had been stilled, at least for now.

Giacomo brushed at his eyes with one hand and offered Daniele an embarrassed half smile.

“No hard feelings, then?” he said. “Friends?”

Daniele nodded. “Friends.”

Friends…

It was better than nothing. Friends, he could handle.

There was a moment’s awkward silence. Even though they had made up, there still seemed to be a little distance between them. Daniele wondered how he could overcome it.

“I… like your t-shirt,” he said, giving the other boy’s sleeve a gentle tug.

Giacomo looked down at his red tie-die t-shirt, which was a little smaller on him than it had used to be, as if remembering for the first time that he had worn it.

“Yeah, well,” he said, “I’d run out of other things to wear, so…”

He offered Daniele a wary grin.

“Liar,” Daniele pouted, giving the other boy a playful shove on the shoulder.

In spite of himself, Giacomo snickered and shoved Daniele back.

“Am not,” he replied.

“Are too –” Daniele began, reaching to shove the other boy again, but Giacomo dodged and tackled him somehow, and then they were lying face to face on the ground.

“Quit it, Dani,” Giacomo said gently.

“Okay,” Daniele replied quietly. He was already worrying that he had gone too far, but the other boy shook his head.

“Relax,” he said. “I’m not mad at you.”

Giacomo scrambled to his feet. Daniele sat up, watching him a little anxiously, as he walked over to the small rucksack he had brought with him and rummaged around inside it.

“I’m glad we’re still friends,” Giacomo said. “It means we might get a chance to use… these.”

He fished out two small Nerf pistols and tossed one to Daniele.

“Seriously?” Daniele asked, looking from the other boy to the orange and blue plastic weapon in his hand, and back again.

Giacomo levelled his weapon slowly, so it pointed at Daniele’s forehead.

“Right between the eyes,” he replied, narrowing his own eyes in a playful challenge.

Alright… if that’s how it is…

Quick as a flash, Daniele brought his weapon up and got off a shot before the other boy could react. Giacomo gasped in mock outrage as it caught him a glancing blow off his waist. He returned fire as Daniele dived to retrieve his fallen Nerf, missing him by inches. While Giacomo scrambled to fetch his own projectile, Daniele reloaded and got off a second shot, catching the other boy on the backside as he crouched to reload his own weapon.

“Oh, you are so dead,” Giacomo said, rounding on him with his dark eyes blazing, weapon arm outstretched.

Daniele raised both hands, dropping the gun.

“I surrender!” he cried.

Giacomo shook his head. “Take no prisoners,” he replied, and he fired.

The Nerf hit Daniele square in the centre of the chest, and he threw himself back onto the dirt with a high, fading cry. The whole display seemed to be too much for Giacomo, who burst out into slightly crazed laughter.

“What was that?” he spluttered, dropping his own weapon. Soon, Daniele was giggling too.

Giacomo fell to his knees beside Daniele, who sat up to meet him. For a moment, it was like nothing bad had happened between them, and there it was – just a pale flicker of that odd, frenetic energy.

“You’re not like anyone else, you know, Dani,” Giacomo said.

Confused, Daniele shook his head. “Is that good or bad?”

Giacomo shrugged with a smile. “I’m here, aren’t I?” He clambered to his feet again. “Want to climb a tree?”

* * *

Against all Daniele’s expectations, the morning had gone sufficiently well that he felt confident enough to invite Giacomo back for lunch.

They walked back along the sun-drenched concrete footpath together. Daniele, for one, felt incalculably happy to have his best friend back by his side, and the colours of the landscape seemed just that little bit brighter than they had earlier that morning. He ran his hand along the warm coping stones of the low stone boundary wall, enjoying their rough texture against his fingertips.

“Dani…?” Giacomo began as they walked.

Daniele glanced at him curiously. “Yeah?”

“I meant to ask you this before the disco, but I forgot, and then… you know.”

Daniele nodded to show that he understood. “Ask me what?”

“Mamma’s going to visit relatives in Bari in a couple of weeks,” Giacomo went on. “She said I’d be welcome to go along, but that I’d probably be pretty bored, and I…” he hesitated. “I was wondering if I could come and stay with you for a few days?”

Daniele blinked in surprise. “With me?”

Giacomo nodded. “Yeah.”

Daniele twisted his mouth thoughtfully, picturing the double bed in the centre of his room. “We’d have to share.”

“We could do that, couldn’t we?” Giacomo asked. He smiled uncertainly. “As friends.”

“As friends?” Daniele replied. “Yeah… that’d be cool.”

Is that weird…?

Daniele wasn’t sure. But, right now, he had his best friend back, and that was all that mattered. It was hard to be too worried about anything else.

* * *

Daniele let them both into the house a short while later. They exchanged a quick smile as they shed their shoes in the hallway.

“Daniele?” Patrizia’s voice called as he pushed the kitchen door open. “How did it… oh!”

She looked up from her baking, mouth slightly open in surprise, as she saw the two boys walking into the room together.

“Buongiorno, signora,” the dark-eyed boy said politely.

Daniele could see his mother’s alert blue eyes, so like his own, flicking between them, taking in their matching t-shirts, trying to figure out the mood between them.

“So… it looks like you’ve sorted of a few things, then?” she ventured with a hopeful smile.

Giacomo slipped an arm around Daniele’s shoulders.

“Yeah, we’re cool,” he replied. “…right, Dani?”

Daniele couldn’t help giving him a quick, curious glance, but then he turned back to his mother and nodded.

“Please can Giaco stay for lunch?” he asked.

Patrizia nodded. “Of course. I’ll rustle up a couple of panini for you once I’m finished here,” she replied, gesturing to the unfinished Danish pastries in front of her.

Daniele offered her a smile. “Thanks, Mamma.”

He fetched a couple of glasses of water and then led the other boy through to his bedroom. They sat down together for a moment on the side of the bed.

“Are we, though…?” Daniele asked quietly. “Cool?”

He knew the other boy was adept at putting on a show when he needed to, and there were still unanswered questions between them.

Giacomo’s dark eyes seemed to study him for a moment. Once again, Daniele had an unnerving sense that he was being seen more closely, somehow, than he ever had been before.

“It hurt, Dani,” Giacomo admitted. “I thought you’d… you know.”

“Yeah…” Daniele mumbled. Drumming his hands anxiously on the bedclothes, he looked away. “Me too.”

“Then why…?” Giacomo replied, forcing Daniele’s reluctant eyes back to his. “Ah… never mind.”

Daniele dropped his gaze again, relieved, but also troubled by the implications of what the other boy had said.

What, exactly, could he have had by now… if he had only found the courage to say yes?

* * *

The visit to the Villa Cimbrone, it seemed, was back on.

After lunch, Daniele and Giacomo made the climb back up to town to meet up with Marco, Emilia and Luca. They took a winding route that Daniele thought of as his ‘back route’, trailing along quiet lanes between tucked-away villas and under the porch of an ancient church, tugging at loose chips of mortar and the tufts of vegetation that grew from the walls, then they snuck together through the long, dark pedestrian tunnel under the Villa Rufolo.

As they emerged from the tunnel, approaching the cathedral square by a shady back street lined with high stone walls, they exchanged a wary glance. How were they going to explain themselves to the others?

“What do we say?” Daniele asked.

Giacomo paused, his red tie-dye t-shirt illuminated by a stray ray of sunshine that shone down through the trees. In the distance, Daniele could just hear the cicadas scraping in the pines, and the quiet buzz of conversation emanating from the shops and bars.

“That we’re still friends,” he replied. “That’s the truth, isn’t it?”

Daniele frowned uncertainly. “Don’t you think they’ll wonder…?”

Giacomo smiled. “Does it matter? They’ll see for themselves, soon enough.”

Daniele shrugged. “Okay…”

They continued on their way, rounding the corner into the full heat of the afternoon sun.

The square was alive with visitors. Those who weren’t already sitting at the bars came and went from the shops, or rested on the benches under the umbrella pines or on the cathedral steps, making use of whatever shade they could find. A few feral cats lurked among the shrubs planted beneath the pines, hoping for a treat or a scrap of sandwich.

Marco, Emilia and Luca were huddled in a little group at the far corner of the square, close to the car park steps and the tree-lined street that led down to the valley road. They seemed surprised to see them arriving together.

“Ciao, guys,” Luca said. “You’ve made up, then?”

Daniele nodded. “We’re cool.”

Giacomo inclined his head. “Totally.”

Emilia smiled. “Friendship wins out, I guess.”

Marco, alone, looked unconvinced. He was wearing the faintest of troubled frowns, taking in the way they were standing together, the way they were dressed. Daniele supposed he was remembering the state he had been in on the night of the disco and was wondering how they had managed to sort everything out so quickly.

“Well… that’s great,” Luca said. “I thought we might be in for an awkward afternoon.” He gave the group an enquiring look. “Ready to go?”

Nobody protested, so he began to move away, but he couldn’t seem to resist taking one last curious look at Daniele and Giacomo before he did. Daniele watched him go with the faintest of troubled frowns.

The small group crossed the square and wandered along the little side street that led past the gift shops. Passing the top of Daniele’s usual route to town, they began to climb the winding stairway that led up towards the Villa Cimbrone.

Climbing this particular footpath always gave Daniele a feeling of quiet and seclusion. It was the furthest part of town from all the roads, and the only sound was the scraping of the cicadas and their own soft footsteps. They passed beneath the cavernous, vaulted porch of an ancient convent and then wound onwards through a glade of tall trees tucked away behind high stone walls.

Giacomo chatted with Emilia and Luca for a while, leaving Daniele to walk a few paces behind with Marco. The smaller boy gave him a slightly suspicious look.

“What’s the deal?” he asked quietly. “The other night, you were so… so…” he tailed off.

“There’s no deal,” Daniele replied. “We’re just friends, that’s all.”

Marco frowned slightly. “If you say so.”

“How was your trip to Conca?” Daniele asked.

Marco brightened a little. “It was pretty cool. We took a boat into the Grotta dello Smeraldo.”

“The sea cave?” Daniele asked. “You’ve never done that before?”

Marco shrugged. “I haven’t done most things.”

Daniele gave him an awkward glance. “I… guess not.”

But it seemed that the smaller boy wasn’t prepared to be distracted for long.

“It’s just…” Marco went on, as if Daniele’s attempted change of subject had never happened. “How can you just switch your feelings off like that?”

Daniele glanced ahead for a moment, to where Giacomo was walking with the others. He was thrown to catch the other boy glancing back, and their eyes met for a moment over the few metres between them. Daniele flushed slightly.

“I… some things are just more important, I guess.”

At the top of the hill, they passed a small café next to a tiny park where a few more feral cats sheltered beneath the benches and hedges. They walked on past a pretty restaurant terrace, where diners could admire the valley views from the shelter of a pergola draped in lush green vines; and then they reached a vantage point where a few visitors stood by a low stone wall, gazing down over a sunny vegetable garden whose terraces tumbled away towards the lower reaches of the Valle del Dragone and the rocky coast beyond.

It wasn’t long before the little group was climbing the quiet, leafy path that led to the great wooden doors of the Villa Cimbrone gardens. Over the years, Daniele had made many happy visits to the panoramic estate, either with his parents, or for birthday parties, or just to spend time there with his friends. Viola Rossi, a cousin of Angelo and Claudia who ran the ticket kiosk, was fond of Daniele and usually gave him and his friends a discount when they arrived together.

Today, it seemed, was no exception, although she seemed a little alarmed when she saw the size of Daniele’s party.

“Five of you?” she exclaimed, running a hand through her unruly brown hair as she let them through at half price. “I hope they don’t fire me for this.”

The villa itself was an imposing pile complete with cloister, entered via a courtyard shaded by a single, great umbrella pine. From there, a long, straight avenue draped with verdant wisteria and grape vines scythed out along the length of the rocky crag on which the gardens stood, heading for the so-called Terrace of Infinity, where the land ended abruptly at a high balcony overlooking the distant sea.

In the interior of the estate, beyond the formal gardens, there was a quiet and shady area dominated by an avenue of tall pine trees. It was the place where they were least likely to trip over other visitors, and it was the place to which that they headed now.

The avenue was thick with the scraping of cicadas and the resinous smell of the pinecones that lay scattered amongst the fallen needles on the dry, dusty ground. It was still fiercely hot, but the shade of the trees kept them out of the worst of the sun. Luca produced a tennis ball and bounced it up and down in his hand for a moment.

“Let’s play a round of catch, with a twist,” he suggested, with a mischievous smile. “The person who drops the ball the most times has to buy us all a round of drinks at the terrace bar.”

“I’m in,” Marco said at once. He knew he had a natural advantage, and Daniele sensed he meant to press it.

“Only straight, fair throws, mind you,” Luca went on, glancing playfully at Giacomo. “No fancy trick shots or mind games.”

Giacomo put on his most innocent look. “Would I…?” he said.

Daniele snickered. The dark-eyed boy shot him a friendly glare, putting a finger to his lips.

Luca started the game with a slow throw to Marco, who caught it easily and fired it straight on to Emilia. Emilia served it to Giacomo, who tossed it to Daniele with a quick smile. Daniele hesitated for a moment before returning it to Emilia.

However, as the game continued, Daniele found it difficult to concentrate. After a few moments, he glanced up, startled, as the ball hit him uselessly in the chest. From the disbelieving laughter in his green eyes, it was Luca who had blindsided him.

“Wake up, Dani!” he called. “Are we losing you again?”

Daniele flushed with embarrassment and scooped up the ball, which had come to rest at the foot of one of the tall trees. He had got distracted watching Giacomo, who had been throwing and catching the ball with graceful ease, dancing in and out of the dappled sunlight in flashes of red and white.

To compensate, he forced himself to avoid looking at the dark-eyed boy and concentrated on throwing the ball to the others. In between throws, Luca kept casting him amused glances. Daniele sensed he knew exactly what had distracted him.

It wasn’t long before there was a thud and a curse from off to the right. Daniele looked up to see Giacomo chasing after the ball, which he seemed to have missed completely.

“Oh, Dio,” Luca snickered. Next to him, Marco shoved his hands into his pockets, looking like he’d rather be somewhere else. Emilia folded her arms, shaking her head slightly, as Giacomo threw the ball to Daniele, looking a little embarrassed.

“And the award for the weirdest behaviour goes to…” she remarked.

Daniele exchanged a slightly uncomfortable glance with Giacomo. Seeking to deflect the others’ attention, he threw the ball back to Luca as hard as he could. The green-eyed boy caught it, but only just, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Easy, tiger!” he exclaimed.

The simple game was turning into torture. Feeling fed up, Daniele sat down, propping himself up against the rough bark of one of the pine trees.

“I’m taking time out,” he grumbled.

“Yeah…” Giacomo concurred. “I’m not really feeling this, either.” He wandered over to Daniele, as if to join him.

Luca shrugged. “Whatever you like.” He glanced at the others. “Want to take a walk?”

There were grunts of assent from Emilia and Marco, and the three of them turned to head out towards the Terrace of Infinity.

Giacomo extended a hand to help Daniele up, and they followed the others at a distance.

“Maybe it was too soon for this?” he muttered.

Daniele nodded. “Yeah. Maybe.”

Giacomo smiled slightly. “Should we just disappear?” he suggested. “Do you think they’d care?”

Daniele snickered. “Nah, I… I think we’d better stick this out.”

Giacomo sighed. “Oh-kay.”

Walking at a slow dawdle against the heat of the afternoon sun, they passed through a small, temple-like structure and stepped out onto the terrace.

A high, stone platform with a low balustrade lined with marble busts, the Terrace of Infinity jutted out from the outermost cliff of the gardens. There was no shade at all, and the sun beat down upon them with the full, merciless force of the hottest part of the day. Daniele mopped his brow, squinting against the glare reflected from the terracotta floor tiles.

Daniele and Giacomo came to rest against the rounded top of the balustrade, at some distance from the others, who had gathered at the far end of the terrace and were chatting idly together. They peered over the edge.

At the foot of the cliff, Daniele could just make out the concrete ribbon of the footpath they had followed that morning to reach the olive groves. From there, the terraced landscape swirled dizzyingly around the contours of the rocky mountain slopes on its way down to the coast. From on high, it looked a little like an impressionist painting, formed with broad brush strokes and studded with tall, thin cypress trees and sculptural umbrella pines. Hundreds of metres below and beyond, the coast road wound around the turquoise sea, which shimmered in the afternoon heat. A few pleasure craft sailed back and forth along the coast, leaving tiny white wakes behind them.

“It’s beautiful,” Daniele murmured.

“I guess,” Giacomo said neutrally. “I dunno… it’s just what I’ve always known.”

Daniele smiled. “I guess you’d rather be climbing the mountains than staring at them.”

Giacomo grinned. “Yeah. Maybe I’m more of a doer than a thinker.” He paused. “You can dream for both of us.”

Daniele gave him a questioning glance. “You don’t dream?”

Giacomo smirked. “Only when I’m sleeping.”

“So, what do you dream about?”

Giacomo snickered. “If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

“We’re getting thirsty, guys,” Emilia called from the far end of the terrace. “I think you owe us some drinks.”

Daniele and Giacomo exchanged a glance.

“Split it?” Giacomo suggested.

Daniele nodded. “Sure.”

“Come on, then!” Giacomo called back.

They stepped back off the terrace again, descending a flight of steps behind it that led down to a triangular lawn surrounded by trees and shrubs that promised some much-needed shade. Built into the base of the terrace was a small bar that sold cold drinks and ice creams.

Taking their friends’ orders, Daniele and Giacomo dished out Cokes, Sprites and Lemon Sodas. Emilia, Luca and Marco colonised one of the small round tables that had been set out next to the bar, while Daniele and Giacomo retreated to the shade of a tree at the far end of the lawn and sat down together.

“What do you want to do for the rest of the holidays, Dani?” Giacomo asked.

Daniele sighed, looking out at the distance that seemed to have formed between them and their friends. “I dunno. Not this.”

“Yeah, it’s been too weird,” Giacomo admitted. “I reckon it’ll get better, though.”

“At the disco…” Daniele said. “Didn’t you see any of this coming?”

Giacomo laughed slightly and shook his head. “I told you…”

Daniele smiled. “…you’re a doer, not a thinker.”

They sagged against each other, propped up by each other’s shoulders, and sipped at their drinks. The others were clustered around Emilia’s phone screen and looked like they had been watching something together. Perhaps their video had just ended, though, because Daniele caught a flash of Luca’s green eyes as he glanced in their direction then whispered something into Emilia’s ear, shaking his head in a pitying sort of way. Flushing slightly, Daniele looked away and tried to ignore them.

However, it wasn’t to be.

There was the crunch of three pairs of feet on the short grass, and Daniele and Giacomo looked up to see their three friends standing in front of them. Luca and Emilia were watching them intently, whereas Marco seemed to be less engaged, standing awkwardly to one side with his hands in his pockets.

“You’ve both been acting weirdly all afternoon,” Emilia said, with a hint of accusation in her voice.

“So…?” Giacomo asked quietly.

“I think it’s obvious what’s going on here, guys,” Luca added. “You two can’t stop looking at each other. It’s like you’re in your own little world.”

“No, we’re not,” Daniele replied uncertainly.

“Come on,” Luca snickered. “The wait is killing me. Why don’t you just skip it and get to the kissing?”

Giacomo bridled. “Cut it out, Luca!”

“We’re just friends!” Daniele protested.

“Oh, sure,” Luca replied, smirking slightly. “Of course you are.”

Giacomo was glaring at the other boy, and Emilia seemed to realise that enough was enough.

“Luca…” she said, tugging on his arm, “maybe you should leave it alone.”

“That sounds like a really good idea,” Giacomo muttered.

Luca backed off a little. “Hey, I’m sorry,” he said, reverting to a more conciliatory tone. “I’m just calling it how I see it. It’s… sort of what I do.” He shrugged. “I just think you’re kidding yourselves here.”

He turned away, and Emilia and Marco followed, leaving Daniele and Giacomo on their own once more.

They exchanged a slightly uncomfortable glance. Daniele’s heart was beating anxiously in his chest.

What if he’s right?

* * *

When the time came to leave, they did so as a straggly group, with Daniele and Giacomo bringing up the rear. Marco trailed along on his own a few metres ahead of them, fiddling with his fingernails in a distracted sort of way.

When they reached the vegetable garden, Daniele and Giacomo paused to say goodbye. Daniele could take a shortcut home from there, so there was no need for him to head all the way back into town with the others. Up ahead, Marco glanced over his shoulder for a moment, then turned away and quickened his pace to catch up with Emilia and Luca, who didn’t even seem to have noticed that they’d fallen behind.

“Ignore Luca, Dani,” Giacomo said. “He’s just being an idiot.”

“Is he, though?” Daniele asked.

Giacomo shrugged. “Friends is what we wanted, right?” he said.

Daniele nodded. “Yeah.”

Giacomo smiled. “So, we’re friends.”

Daniele sighed, mentally reliving their troubled moment at the disco. “Then… why did you…?”

Giacomo put a gentle finger to Daniele’s lips. “Don’t, okay?”

In faint desperation, Daniele took his friend by the arm.

“I’m confused, Giaco,” he cried. “I don’t get it.”

Giacomo shoved his hands into his pockets. For a moment, he looked a little awkward.

“Sorry,” he said.

Daniele backed away a step. “Look… I’ve got to go. See you soon?”

Giacomo remained where he was. “Yeah. Tomorrow, maybe.”

With un unhappy wave, Daniele set off up a side turning opposite the vegetable garden.

He made his way along a very narrow footpath bounded by high stone walls festooned with the lush, shiny foliage of a dark green creeper of some kind. After the fierce heat of the more open spaces, it was, at least, mercifully shady. Round a couple of corners, the path turned into a flight of steps that descended past a small salmon-pink villa towards a view of the coast. Old-fashioned lanterns hung overhead, ready to cast the path in a friendly glow come nightfall.

Daniele was just turning onto a more open section of path bounded by rustic chestnut fencing, when he heard running footsteps and Giacomo appeared from the corner behind him.

“Dani… wait…” he panted.

“What is it, Giaco?” Daniele asked.

Giacomo chewed his lip a little uncertainly.

“I just wanted to…” he said.

He leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on Daniele’s cheek.

Rendered speechless, Daniele watched as his friend turned and left without another word, leaving him more confused than ever.

Friends…?

The cracks seemed to be showing in their plan already.

* * *

A while later, Daniele returned to an empty house, and for once he was relieved to have the place to himself. His mother must already have left for her evening shift at the hotel. Keen to free himself of the dust and perspiration of a long, hot afternoon, he showered for a while and then collapsed on his bed in a fresh pair of underpants, enjoying the relative cool of the air on his bare skin.

Strange day…

Exhaling slowly, he turned over towards the empty side of the double bed, and then sprang back to his feet as if burned.

In a couple of weeks’ time, Giacomo would be sharing the bed with him. Daniele had agreed to it only this morning. It had seemed so natural at the time, when friendship was all there had been on the table.

What are we going to do?