Piccoletto

To Show Them You Love Them

"So let me get this straight," Giulia said, sitting between the two boys at the breakfast table. "Last night, you kicked Alberto in the face-"

"And the chest," Luca interrupted timidly. Giulia turned towards Alberto who gave a wide smile.

"And the chest," Giulia repeated cautiously. "And he fell from the hideout?"

Luca and Alberto were rigorously nodding, sitting stiff and happy as if last night didn't happen. It was now morning, which meant they were expected to begin training for the cup like usual. But with last night's events, this made training riskier. Luca and alberto had promised each other that everything with Ercole would be kept secret. It was the only way to keep training, although they would have to make sure not to be seen. That was the challenge. Ercole was everywhere. He always had something to do, someone to taunt. This wouldn't be easy.

"Ok," said Giulia. "I'm not that surprised, really. But you'll have to tell my dad before-"

A loud crash sounded from behind the trio. They turned to see Massimo, Giulia's father, dressed and ready for the day at the doorway. A fat black and white cat jumped down from his shoulder and walked by the boys, eyes narrowed. The crash had inevitably come from the door that had swung open into the wall. Massimo was a large man.

Alberto giggled nervously while Luca gave an awkward wave. Lying to Giulia would be easy, but lying to Massimo- well, it's difficult to lie to a man three times your size with various knives hanging from his belt. But Alberto's reassuring smile held the most pain. Lying to Massimo was different then lying to Luca and Giulia altogether. Massimo was like. . . Massimo was like his father. 

"Alberto," Massimo said in a gruff but caring voice. "What happened to your face?"

Luca looked down and twiddled his thumbs while Alberto laughed.

"Huh, yeah, well- funny story actually, I fell out of the hideout last night."

"Fell out?" Massimo replied, lifting a brow to reveal his teeny tiny eye. "How did that happen?"

Alberto struggled for the words as he felt his face burn up in shame. "Well, I- uh, you know me, I-"

"I kicked him," Luca interjected. "Uh- by accident."

"Kicked him," Massimo replied again, though he sounded skeptical. "Are you alright, Alberto? Do you need something? Your eye looks inflamed."

Albert once again completely shut down the question. "Oh, no, no! Totally fine, barely felt a thing! Right, Luca?"

"Right!" Luca said on que. Massimo looked between the two and sighed.

"Alright, well, be more careful next time."

Alberto gave a little wink to Luca who blushed in return and they began to help Giulia with the dishes. Soon enough, Alberto was off with Massimo to fish, and Luca would begin the usual routine of training with Giulia. Before leaving, Alberto and Luca made strong eye contact, as if to wish the other luck for the rest of the morning. Luca and Giulia would head off to bike for the morning when the air was still fresh, and then coming back for lunch with Alberto so he could eat some pasta. And finally all three of them together would take Massimo's rowboat out to sea so Giulia could swim. But with all that came one problem. Ercole.

Ercole was almost everywhere around the village. If he wasn't following the trio in a motorboat, then he was spying around some corner to watch Luca practice. This meant Luca would have to convince Giulia to practice somewhere secret.

"Come on, Luca!" Giulia said as she finished wiping the table. "Lets get some training done, only five days until the cup. Uh, Luca?"

Luca looked up from his daze and giggled nervously. "About that - is there any way we can bike somewhere else?"