Only Time Will Tell (A Luberto Story)

Chapter 19- Surprise Invitation

Luca woke up laying in a hospital bed with a large bandage across his forehead. He had a hard time remembering what had happened due to the headache he had. Where am I?

Luca looked around the room and realized he wasn't alone. There, in the corner, was Alberto, who was sitting in a chair, anxiously waiting for Luca to regain consciousness. He noticed Luca sitting up and immediately stood up and ran over to the hospital bed. He warmly smiled at Luca and reached over to hold his hand.

"Hey Lu, how you holding up?" Alberto asked with a soft tone in his voice. Luca looked over at Alberto and noticed that his eyes were puffy and red.

"Did you just.. call me Lu?" Luca asked. His throat felt sore as he spoke, but he was happy that it had felt a lot better than how it felt earlier with Ercole.

Alberto blushed, "Oh-yeah. I mean, if you aren't comfortable with it.."

Luca shook his head. He found the energy to sit up. "N-no. I like it." Luca smiled at Alberto, who was still blushing. Alberto smiled back and gently sat down on the bed with Luca.

"Here, drink this." Alberto said. He handed Luca a bottle of water and held it to his mouth. "I'm sure you need some water."

Luca took a sip of the cold water, and his throat instantly felt better. It was so dry and worn out from Ercole's beating earlier, which had also made him very dehydrated. He took a long drink of water before putting the bottle down.

"Thanks, Al."

Alberto smiled, "Of course."

Luca decided to take a look at his arms and legs. Fortunately, he had not gotten very many scratches or bruises on neither his arms nor his legs, and if he had, they were much smaller. Unfortunately, Luca had already noticed the massive headache he had, as well as the large bandage that was across his forehead. While he didn't know what kind of injury he had gotten, he did know that it had to be more serious.

"Luca.. I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I- I should've gotten to you earlier. None of this wouldn't have happened if I wasn't going so slow.." Alberto whispered. Luca could hear from the tone of Alberto's voice that he felt really bad.

"Al, it's not your fault." Luca responded. "How were you supposed to know that Ercole was there?"

Alberto knew Luca was right, but he still felt a feeling of guilt, almost like he had let Luca down.

"Are you sure?" Alberto asked worriedly.

Luca nodded his head. He felt his head hurt once again, causing him to lay back down in his bed. Alberto instinctively moved closer to Luca and grabbed his hand. He felt Luca's grasp loosen as the boy became more lightheaded.

"Al?.."

"Don't worry, Lu. The doctor told me you fainted due to a mix of exhaustion and fatigue. Ercole.." Alberto frowned at the thought of Ercole. "Whatever he did to you.. it must've tired you out too much for your body to handle.."

Luca was surprised; he had never heard Alberto even talk about something like that. In fact, Luca had noticed that Alberto had learned about a lot more things, even though he stayed back in Portorosso.

"I'm supposed to go get the doctor, along with everyone else." Alberto said as he let go of Luca's hand. "I'll be right back, Lu."

Luca felt like he had butterflies in his stomach. The nickname Alberto had given him made him feel all fuzzy inside, but he didn't want to tell Alberto that. Luca only managed to spit out a soft "Okay" before laying back down on his pillow.

A few minutes passed by before the door opened again. This time, only the doctor arrived along with Alberto behind him. Luca noticed how the doctor reminded him of her grandmother; he didn't know what it was about her. She had a warm, sympathetic look on her face as she approached Luca.