7. Back to the real world

The next morning, the two boys woke up almost at the same time: lying on the same bed, under the white sheets, they were only stripped of their shirts. As soon as he became aware of where he was, Tommaso sat on the mattress, carrying a hand on his face to rub his eyes and bring back all the memories of the previous evening once again in his head. He saw himself kissing Leonardo but also entering his house without paying attention to details anymore and finding himself lying on the bed. A good feeling, which forced him to set aside a point in his brain for the speed at which everything had happened.

Meanwhile, Leonardo had remained under the covers and kept only one eye open, obviously turning to the other boy by his side, in order to observe him secretly. Remembering also what had happened the night before, he found himself smiling without saying any words. Kissing him had been nice, a beautiful thing that hadn’t happened to him in a long time: it wasn’t his first experience with a guy, and it certainly wouldn’t have been his last either, but at the same time there was something different that was not clear to him. He did not want to think about it, at least not at that time, when sleep could take over him again very soon.

The two guys said nothing to each other for the first few minutes, all made up of simple looks and innocent smiles that, in reality, had a lot to say. If on the one hand, Leo was aware of what had happened, because he had approached the other boy and kissed him without any hesitation; on the other, there was Tom who had only recently realized that he had not felt anything for any girl. However, he hadn’t thought he could like the boys, he hadn’t passed through his head at all. But things had changed after that kiss, so much so that it surprised him even if in a positive way.

« Coffee? » asked all of a sudden Leo, first rubbing his eyes and then getting out of bed, putting aside the blankets, and transporting himself to another room that turned out to be the kitchen, without really waiting for an answer from Tommaso and doing everything on his initiative.

The latter, after recovering the shirt the night before and wearing it on the way, reached the landlord: he had already taken the mocha, had just finished pouring water into it, and was going in search of coffee powder. Tommaso kept staring at him while working, forgetting everything he had seen the night before, in other words, his two friends hiding their relationship. Everything had taken a back seat, also because Tom was discovering something new about himself, something he had never investigated before. So much so that he would have disturbed Leonardo, perhaps just to talk about what had happened, but his plans were ruined by his cell phone vibrating inside his pocket: a call from Alessio. Although it didn’t seem like the best time to start a conversation with his best friend, Tom forced himself away from the kitchen entrance to head into the bedroom – under Leo’s watchful eye – where he answered the phone call. « Hello? »

« Finally, fuck! » Tommaso heard on the other side of the phone, whose voice was accompanied by some sighs that made him raise his eyebrows. Were they all that worried about him? He collapsed on the bed in disorder and turned to the kitchen to see if Leo was still taking care of the coffee, even though he couldn't see much, just part of his back. « Your mother called me, I told him you're with me. We've been looking for you for hours, but where the fuck are you? » exclaimed his friend, in a very serious and angry tone. Tommaso had to leave that house as soon as possible and join them: he had no other chance, also because he did not want to feel like the son Alex should take care of. « I'm from a friend, where are you? » he finally replied, getting out of bed and looking for his belongings, especially his cigarettes and jacket.

« At Matt's. And who would this friend be? » asked Alex once again in a more than curious dry tone, while Tommaso had just finished wearing both shoes, trying not to drop his cell phone with a bad gesture, placed between his shoulder and his right ear. He could not have made any movement, otherwise, he would have made some disaster without wanting it in any way. He didn't even look at what Leonardo himself doing anymore, with that coffee he was promised.

« We talk about it as soon as I'm there, give me five minutes and I'll arrive. Thank you for telling my mom that I've been to you, I swear I'll explain to you as soon as I get there. » Tom replied accordingly. Meanwhile, Leo had shown up in the room with a tray containing the coffee maker, the two small empty cups, of sugar and chocolate cookies scattered all over, as if they never ended. The dark-haired boy's face immediately fell, while the other tried to figure out what had just happened, or at least if the red-haired boy was fine. Making a sign with his head, he asked what was going on, but Tommaso shook his head and went back to the call. « I'm coming, huh! » the boy answered the call, before detaching it once and for all.

Tommaso's phone ended up abruptly on the bed, bouncing and almost ending up on the floor. Leonardo collapsed by his side, leaving the coffee and the tray on the desk, clutching it in a small consoling embrace, not required; the other did not get rid of the grip, but with his gaze went in search of his jacket: as soon as he saw it, he took him away from him with a cold move, took it and ran away from the room, As much as he didn't feel like letting him go like this, the least he could do was return his cell phone.

Before he could open the door and leave to join his two friends, Tom picked up the cell phone the dark-haired boy was handing him over and thanked him with a little smile. He had to escape, this was what his mind suggested to him: on the road that separated him from his goal, he would understand what to say to his friends. « I’m sorry, I have to run away from here. They are looking for me and... I have to go. »

The only thing he could hear before closing the boy's front door was, « We'll talk about what happened... », then nothing else. Maybe he didn't want to hear from the night before. He had returned to the real world: he couldn't escape him and couldn't believe what had happened the night before. He remembered everything perfectly, even too much, given how his cheeks had turned red as soon as he found himself outside, not because of the cold.

They had kissed: indeed, Leonardo had kissed him in front of the door of his house, where at that moment Tommaso had rested his back again, exactly as had happened the night before. A passionate kiss that had lasted so many minutes, minutes that were not worth counting, before reaching the bedroom and letting the shirts of both touch the floor, while various kisses took a stand in the skin of the two.

Tommaso saw the scene clearly in his head, as he headed to Matt’s house to join the latter and Alex. He couldn't stop thinking about it: he almost slept with a boy. A boy he had known for so recently but who had managed to take off a mask so deep that not even his friends had noticed. To understand that the girls weren’t doing for him had been so much, getting to the point of allowing themselves the first time was running too fast with a car with new wheels.

Tom remembered how they had looked at each other, how he had never had that feeling before, but also how he had, in the end, said no to in-depth advances between the two of them. And Leo had been kind enough to put him at ease, after that rude and sudden response. And in addition to spending the evening kissing, they had started talking until they fell asleep. Conversations were so naive that Tom smiled, as he walked, aware that he was now in even more trouble than usual. And he didn't know what to do, how to fix it. Fortunately, despite being overthinking, he managed to get safely under Matt's house. As soon as the bell rang, the door opened seconds later. He went up the stairs and, just enough time to reach the apartment and open the door, found himself submerged by the two friends and their questions. Tommaso found himself sighing, shaking his head. « Is there coffee? »

« Immediately! » replied the owner of the house, running to the kitchen to pour dark liquid into the boy and bring it to him. Shortly after, as Alex’s gaze lingered on Tommaso, they sat around the coffee table, sipping coffee and eating rusks with jam found in the refrigerator on top. Now Tom certainly felt more at home, more comfortable, and could tell them anything they wanted to hear. Others, for the time being, would certainly have kept them more to themselves.

« So who starts? » asked Matthew, turning his gaze first to Alessio, but then also to Tommaso, with his arms folded and ears attentive to grasp the smallest detail of the speech. The red-haired boy, a little groggy by what had happened, could not understand what he was talking about, so much so that he raised his eyebrows surprised by the question.

« In what sense? » He asked, in fact, full of doubts and carrying brown eyes on both friends and expecting an answer, which was not long in coming from Alessio. Alex didn't dare to look him straight in the eye, rather he preferred to crumble a rusk slice; but at least he hadn't lost his word and, from that point of view, looked pretty brave. « Bro, I have to tell you one thing, too, » he began, approaching the table with his chair, « I’ll start, will you…? » And Tom nodded because he didn't know what to tell them. Rather than thinking about it, he focused on what the friend had to say to everyone else.

« Alessia and I have been dating for a while, » he said, looking lower and lower, focusing on one of the designs of the tablecloth, filled with crumbs. Neither Tommaso nor Matteo said anything, letting it continue. The red-haired boy in particular even avoided making gestures that could be misunderstood, since that story was addressed to him. « it all started by chance, we didn't think it would become something serious. Yesterday afternoon I called her, we went out and I asked her to get together, even if at first things weren't going well who knows how well... And let's stay together. » he concluded, looking up at the two boys: Matthew beat him on five, while Tom nodded as a sign of approval, even though he imagined something like that very well. Knowing everything from his own best friend had a completely different meaning, than what he wanted. Alessio smiled. « Now it’s up to you, bro. »

« I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but it’s a bit of shit, » Tommaso began, not knowing what he wanted to do. He had so many things that he had been holding for much more than ever: his family situation, all the school problems, and sometimes even his friends. And this was also added to the fact that he didn't like girls, that the night before he had kissed a boy and also liked it. Because yes, it was a lousy period, where his father was looking for him less and less, but he wasn't the reason he had run away from home. « After the Fontana’s party, I went around and stayed with a friend, sorry if I didn't tell you. Just that. » and shook his head, as the two remaining nodded, looking at each other. It wasn't a good expression, the one they had on their face. Only Alex could say something. « Was that the one you were at the party with, the friend? » and Tommaso did yes with his head.

« You get it. » Alex replied definitively, overlapping the lower lip with the upper one and nodding accordingly. At least, he found himself thinking, he was always one step ahead in opening up more. Because nothing took nothing out of his head that something was wrong with Tommaso. No one spoke anymore: you could only hear the sound of cups and cookies – taken from a shelf by Matteo – that were chewed to pass the time. Then, only the sound of a message from one of the people he wouldn’t expect to resent so soon came, but only to Tommaso:

From Lorenzo:

I have a task to assign you, I need to know if I can trust you. Rumors have told me that you have become friends with Greco. You need to find out more about him. I am counting on you.

The look of the red-haired boy passed into the eyes of the three friends, who signaled that they did not understand why he had it with them: they knew nothing about it, or at least it was what they showed. Then he put a cookie in his mouth, pretending nothing and starting to think about how much he didn't want to go back to the real world at all, but rather that he was saved from the disaster he had just plunged headlong into.