Letters to the Sea | Luca x Alberto and Giulia x OCs | Chaos and Free Advice

He's in a Lonely City

"We're analyzing this poem in class." Luca explained, trying to find the page he was looking for. "I really wanted to show it to you. It's in Italian but it's really umm- cool."

"A poem?" Alberto asked, not to thrilled at the idea of reading.

"It's about this person who always thinks of  uh..." Luca trailed off, beginning to think Alberto didn't have any interest.

But in actuality, Alberto was just caught of guard by the music from the dance hall gently pulsing and thumping in the room.

"What's it called?" Alberto asked, looking over Luca's shoulder at the book.

"Citta Vuota." Luca answered casually, not expecting Alberto to recognize the title- since he didn't exactly like reading.

"Hey I know that! It's a song. Massimo plays it sometimes. It sounds really sad." Alberto commented,

"Yeah. It is a bit of a downer." Luca agreed, "But umm, you see- I guess I like the song?"

"You do?" Alberto asked in surprise,

"Well yeah," Luca said, "It kind kind of uhh... reminds me of us."

"Luca. If we were a song, we'd be something happy. Come on," Alberto laughed,

"Well look," Luca finally found the page he was looking for. There the lyrics were, along with a rough English translation next to them.

But I know the city
Ma so che la città

It will seem empty to me
Vuota mi sembrerà

If you don't come back
Se non torni tu

"Wow." Alberto took a step back, "That's- wow."

"Right?" Luca said,

Both had a mutual understanding that they never had to voice. They liked being around each other. One without the other just wasn't fun. It just was. Both of them were living better lives but that would always be interrupted by-

This would be better if he were here.

He would have loved this.

And though they wrote each other everyday, it almost felt like the person at the other end of the page was gone. They both felt guilty for feeling that. Alberto was the first to voice the problem.

"Luca, you want to go to school, right?"

"Yes I just-" Luca mumbled something that Alberto couldn't hear.

"What was that?" Alberto asked,

"I just wish I could see you more." Luca admitted,

For some reason, even though his wishing to see Alberto was painfully obvious, Luca couldn't help but worry what Alberto would say. He'd wonder if a certain tone or inflection would make him sound whiney or ungrateful.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Alberto laughed, "I wish I could see you more too. Why do you think I dressed up like this?"

They laughed for a second and they could hear a bell ring. The music that was thumping a bit had stopped. The dance was over. It was time for Alberto to go. Both of their eyes went wide. The room was frozen and they just stared at each other, waiting for one to say it was time to go or start goodbyes and nether if them dared.

Luca just took a few steps forward and clutched onto Alberto. Alberto followed suit, trying his best to steady his breathing.

"Alberto..." Luca sniffled, "Could you possibly come to school here?"