The morning sun shone in through the window, gently waking Alberto up. He awoke, somber to leave his dream behind. He had dreamt about Luca and what it might be like if they were together for real. But, it was too good to be true and Alberto woke up in a nightmare, that which he called his life. Alberto sighed and rolled over. He saw that Luca had already got up and left the room.
Probably to avoid me. He thought.
Meanwhile, Luca was already in the kitchen with Giulia and Massimo. It was barley 8:30 and she was already all over him.
"Luca are your eggs all right?" Giulia asked.
"Their meraviglioso, grazie." Luca replied, a bit annoyed, but he flashed her a toothy grin as to not come off as rude.
Please let my suffering end. He thought.
"Luca I was thinking we could go down town today and get some gelato?" Giulia proposed.
Fish sticks. Luca didn't know if he could handle spending the day with Giulia after how clingy she had been the past few days. And what about Alberto? Luca wanted to spend the day with his best friend. But he also didn't want to be rude to Giulia, she was the reason for him going to school afterall. Fine.
"Yeah Giuls! That sounds like fun, I'm ready when you are!"
"Sii, lets go, il mio pesce preferito!!"
Giulia grabbed Luca's arm and dragged him out the door. What had he gotten himself into?
Alberto came out into the kitchen just minutes after the duo had left.
"Hey Papa, where are Luca and Giulia?" Alberto questioned.
"Aye, they just left figlo." Massimo replied.
"Oh." Alberto frowned. He really wanted to see Luca today and apologize for everything. He wanted to get their friendship back. "Do you know where they went?"
"Giulia took Luca down town to get some gelato."
Alberto's heart dropped. Someone might as well have pulled it out of his chest, stepped on it a million times, run it over with a fishing boat, and sent it to the bottom of the ocean. Giulia was with his Luca. But he couldn't let himself be angry, he knew this was coming.
Massimo saw the distraught look on Alberto's face and understood at once. Even if Alberto hadn't told anyone how he felt about the Luca, the fisherman knew his son well.
"Take the day off pesce piccolo."
"Grazie, Papa."
"You know Alberto, I think you could really do some good by spending some time with Nonna Paguro today."
It was a weird fact, but it just so happened that Alberto and Luca's grandmother had a very close bond. During the year while Luca was at school, Alberto confided in her for the ups and downs of life. They often went hunting for sea-cucumbers together and conversed about anything and everything. Alberto saw her like his own grandmother figure.
"What do you mean Papa, I'm bene."
"Alberto, I may be old, but I'm not stupid. I am your father, I know you better than most people and I can tell you are not fine. You don't have to tell me about it, but please, go to Signora Paguro and talk to her. You need it and you know she can help, she always does."
Alberto smiled for the first time in days. He would go to Signora Paguro and he would admit everything, if anybody would understand, it was her. Maybe there was hope afterall.
Giulia and Luca made it down town. They walked out of the gelato shop and headed to the nearest dock so they could dangle their feet in the water. There was a record breaking heatwave making it's way through town. Giulia had strawberry gelato and Luca got chocolate because it was Alberto's favorite and he missed him.
"It's such a beautiful day out!" Giulia said with excitment, scotching closer to Luca.
"Sure is, but it's hot. I sure miss the weather in Genova. It was a lot breezier most of the time."
"Well that was a fake breeze Luca, it was an AC inside the school, they make things colder when it gets hot." Giulia gave a little chuckle.
"Oh?! I didn't know that."
"You're smart when it comes to books il mio pesce preferito, but you have some work to do when it comes to street smarts."
"But I have Alberto to teach me stuff like that, it's why we're the perfect duo."
"Aye, si. But you know Luca, I was thinking, I know an even better duo than you and Alberto, or a duo that could be better..."
"Impossible Giuls, I'd like to see you try to name a better duo."
"Well first of all, the so called 'best duo' aren't even speaking right now and I don't know why. What happened Luca?"
Luca's smile vanished from his face. He stared down into the green-turquoise, crystal clear water. It reminded him of Alberto's eyes. Everywhere he looked be was reminded of his better half.
"It doesn't matter Giulia." Luca replied, quickly dismissing the subject.
"Fine you don't have to tell me, but that just proves my point."
"What point?"
"Luca I think we would make a great duo."
"What do you mean? We already do!"
"I mean like as more than friends..."
Luca just stared at Giulia, contemplating. He should have seen this coming. Everything made sense now. He thought about it. Obviously, Luca only wanted to be with Alberto but he knew that wasn't a possibility. But maybe if he went out with Giulia it would go really well or they could be good together. They would never be a better duo than him and Alberto but that didn't mean that they couldn't be something good.
"Listen Giulia, I don't want to ruin our friendship, I'll agree to one date if you promise that we will always put our friendship first. I can't lose my other closest friend."'
Giulia's smile grew wider than her face. "Prometto, Luca!! Listen, I have to get back so I can run the fish deliveries for Papa but I'll be home later tonight and we can talk about this more." She gave him a tight squeeze before happily dashing away.
Luca's breathing became faster, he felt himself start clenching his fists and sweating profusely. What had he just done? He wanted to go back in time and take it all back. He didn't want to go out with Giulia. Now the situation at hand was even more delicate than before, they were more hearts involved. Luca needed to clear his head.
Looking down at the water, he reckoned that a nice long swim by himself would do him some good. Luca dove into the water feeling his skin transform into scales. He felt his tail emerge and suddenly swimming became so much easier. Back in Genova, Luca didn't get the chance to be in his native form too often. It felt freeing to go back to his roots, just what he needed.