Page 73 of Boy Friends
The renewed attention makes me queasy, I won’t deny it. But the fear that I experienced on that first day of school has reduced to a faint echo, now that my parents are on board, now that Luca and I are on the same page. I was afraid of their reaction, because their reaction is what matters.
‘We look good,’ Luca murmurs, and sends me a shy smile.
‘We do,’ I agree. I want to say that I don’t care what anybody says, but that’s not true. I do care that what ought to be mine isn’t fully mine any more. And yes, Luca mighthave played a part in that, but he didn’t write these headlines. Also, I’m not completely naive. When I showed up to the charity event with the Brandenburgs, it crossed my mind that people might pay attention. Especially the busybodies that make up most of Lombard’s population. But I wasn’t going to let that ruin time spent with Luca.
‘Yes, you look so good that everyone is talking about you, and nobody is talking about my exhibition,’ Maz says.
Luca is the face of disbelief. ‘Yourexhibition?’
‘OK, fine, Jacob’s exhibition. But I’m in it.’
‘I’m in it too. And it doesn’t open till tomorrow, so.’
‘Yes, but you’re stealing all my thunder. Try to keep a low profile until it’s over, yeah? Don’t want another press ambush.’
‘You’re a pest.’
‘Don’t insult your dad when he’s made you breakfast,’ Maz says, and pushes back his chair. ‘Now the pest must return to work. Without a trust fund, I simply can’t afford to laze about all day.’
Luca snorts but obediently reaches for the bread basket and offers me the toast. Instead of leaving, Maz grins down at us.
‘What?’ Luca asks, frowning.
‘You know, I’m really happy for you two. In case I’ve not said that.’
I can feel heat rising up my neck, but for once it’s not shame making my ears burn. Maz’s words feel like a big warm hug.
‘Thanks, Dad.’ Luca tries to hold back a smile, but it breaks out and lights up his face.
I want to lean in and kiss it from his lips, but I don’t dare to do it in front of Maz.
He turns mock-serious and points a finger at us. ‘I trust you to behave yourselves when I’m not looking. Keep it PG, yeah?’
‘Says the man who got a girl pregnant at sixteen,’ Luca retorts. He takes a criminally big bite of mushrooms on toast and doesn’t see what I see. Maz’s face slips. For an instant, his expression flickers, but it’s back to normal before I can make anything of it.
‘Don’t try me, or I’ll enforce an open-door policy,’ he grumbles, and walks out.
Luca and I eat in silence. That is, we don’t speak, only shovel food in our mouths, occasionally nicking it from each other’s plate. It’s almost exactly like before we kissed, only back then Luca wouldn’t have wiped crumbs from the corner of my mouth and licked them from his fingertips. Something pensive steals into the look he sends me.
‘What?’ I ask, and receive a shake of the head in return. ‘Come on, tell me.’
‘Well . . .’ he says, and hesitates. ‘It’s about what Dad said.’
‘The PG thing?’
‘The decrying-any-form-of-labelling thing.’
‘Ah. The best-friends-slash-boyfriends thing.’
‘Yeah. That.’ Luca looks awkward. He’s kind of cute when he squirms, so I draw out the moment and wait till he can’t take it any more. It takes two seconds until he cracks.
‘Do you have any . . . thoughts on it?’
‘I mean, the being-boys part is true.’
Luca barely holds back an eye roll. ‘Sure.’
‘And we’re friends.’
