Eli Borrelli

31: Remembering

Alessandro POV.

I let Eli have the day off since it was a Friday, and the anniversary of their best friend's death. Eli had gotten a lot worse over the past weeks, and the only thing that seemed to cheer them up was Diego, and I could see why. They were unrepeatable. Also, Eli showed us a picture of Carlos, and I had to say, Diego looked exactly like his brother.

Eli hadn't been really eating for two weeks, and barely sleeping from the looks of it. They had been downing a pot of coffee every morning, just to keep their eyes open. Diego on the other hand got depressed just in the last few days before the twenty-third. Like Eli, he wouldn't sleep or eat, but he spent all his time in the art room painting away. I guess he was a lot like me, working through problems.

We had all taken the day off that day, and we let Eli and Diego sleep in. Diego had been sleeping in Eli's room for most of their visit, and most of the time, we could find him either in the art room or with Eli.

Matteo was making pancakes, and we were all doing our parts. Gabriele and Antonio were making the batter, which was chaos. I was making fresh-squeezed orange juice, while Lorenzo helped Matteo with the frying.

Soon enough, Eli walked into the kitchen, fragging Diego with them. They both smiled at the scene in front of them. Eli quickly grabbed their phone and took a picture, that perfectly described what it was like cooking with my brothers. Antonio and Gabriele were fighting about eggs, I had just gotten orange juice in my eye, Lorenzo was scolding the youngest two, while Matteo looked like he wanted to die.

"Thank you guys, you really didn't need to," Eli said, as they sat at the kitchen counter.

"We wanted to," Lorenzo said placing two plates of pancakes in front of the pair.

We were all shocked when Eli started eating them with no problem. We thought he'd have to push them down their throat, but they were eating with a tight smile.

"Eat you damn pancakes," Eli said pointing their knife at Diego, who reluctantly picked up his fork and started nibbling at the food.

We all got our pancakes and started eating.

"So do you guys want to do something today?" Matteo asked, trying to be gentle.

Eli and Diego looked at each other, and I could swear they had a full conversation with just their eyes, which Eli won.

"Let's do a picnic in the park," they said smiling at Diego, who lightly smiled back.

"Great, I'll start cooking up food," Matteo said getting back up.

"We'll cook," Diego said quickly, locking eyes with Eli.

Diego POV.

I woke up that morning to a nightmare. I kept on repeating what happened two years ago, in my mind like a film. I immediately ran to the toilet to throw up. I heard Eli running behind me, and, as always, they sat next to me, as I puked my guts out.

"Did you sleep?" I asked already knowing the answer.

Eli just shook their head dismissing my question.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up," they said lifting me to my feet.

I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and gargled some mouthwash.

I cooked with Eli like we always used to. Carlos could never be trusted anywhere near a kitchen, so it was always just me and Eli cooking. We made sandwiches for everyone and called it a day.