A series of tiny taps against my bedroom window broke my thoughts. I went over to the giant ceiling to floor, glass pane doors, pushed aside the curtains, and shoved them open. I stepped out onto the balcony, looking down to see Ricky in the yard with a handful of pebbles. Even after I was clearly out on the balcony and staring straight at me, Ricky chucked a pebble up, sending it sailing past my face.
“Hey!” I squealed.
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t see you there!” He flashed a coy grin.
“Yeah, you did,” I called back. “What are you doing?”
“Isn’t this a thing that girls like?” Ricky asked.
I leaned against the balustrade. “Well, I think girls in movies like it, but typically, it’s their boyfriends, not their brothers.”
All the color drained from Ricky’s face. “Wait, are you serious? It’s a romantic thing?”
I laughed. “Yeah, Rick. Have you ever seen it in a fucking action flick?”
Ricky dropped the pebbles, fake gagging. “I’m sorry.” He held his hand up to me. “Give me a minute.”
“Also noteworthy, it’s usually people who can’t get into the house they’re throwing rocks at. You have keys to all of the doors leading in or out of here.”
Ricky was still hunched over, coughing. “Yeah, I know, but I thought to myself, hey, I’ll do a cute little brotherly thing.’” He gagged again. “Hang on. I’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure?” I called down. He took a deep breath and then stood upright. “Feeling better?”
Ricky nodded. “It’s coming back to me.”
“I had sex up here last night,” I shouted down.
Ricky threw his hands in the air. “Why would you—I don’t wanna—what did you—why?” He hunched over, hacking again.
I started laughing. “Will you get up here, you weirdo? My throat is starting to hurt from screaming.”
He stood up, looking up at me. “I don’t need to hear that!”
“From screaming at you!” I shouted. “God, you’re so strange! Get up here.”
I went back into my room, and a few minutes later, Ricky walked in. He made a face like he was stepping into a landfill, coiling his hands into his body and turning his nose up. “Tell me where it’s safe to sit.”
I shook my head. “Nope, you’ve already failed.”
“Ah!” Ricky hopped back out of my room and stood outside the doorway.
I laughed. “It’s too easy. I’m kidding. Just avoid the bed.”
Ricky looked at me skeptically, but stepped into the room and walked over to the stool that sat in front of my vanity. “Ugh,” he started. “I can’t believe I’m about to ask this, but how was last night?”
“Really, really wonderful,” I said, and Ricky’s face started glowing.
“Seriously?
I smiled at him. “Yeah. I mean, he laid it all out there, and then we…well, you know.”
“Yeah, I don’t need to hear it again.”
I sat down on the bed and lifted one of the pillows to my nose, taking in Alessandro’s smell still clinging to it. “He wants to take me out to dinner, and I said I’d let him. It was really perfect until the end.”
“What happened at the end?” Ricky asked.
“You don’t know yet?” I said. “Apparently, Marco called Alessandro.”