Pyro

Saturday morning, 7:28 A.M.

The air was cold, save the smoke that was rising from people’s chimneys.
The sun was rising, only covered by a thin sheet of clouds this time.

The town had regained a small amount of its color for the time being.

Ka-chik!

I inhaled the smell of morning dew and burning wood…

…and then cigarette fumes and cinnamon.

I turned around and there he was, a cigarette held between his lips as he put away his box of matches.

“You came.”
A warm smile.

I felt my cheeks heat up – this is becoming too common around him.

“It would have been rude to not accept, am I correct?”

He hummed in agreement and grabbed a hold of my hand.

“Shall we?”

//πυρ//

“I didn’t even know this place existed…”

A large hill covered in green grass, a cliff at the top.
From here, you could see the whole town.

Ka-chik! Ka-chik!

“It’s always nice to have a change of scenery every once in a while, and I feel this is better than the spot on the rooftop.”

I nodded in agreement and sat down, letting my legs dangle over the edge. Pyro did the same.

I turned towards him and was about to speak – that is, until he moved in and crashed our lips together.
He didn’t hesitate to entangle his hands into my hair and slip his tongue inside my mouth.

I didn’t push him away. I was too engrossed by the shock and the taste of cinnamon – it was strong, but not overpowering.

He finally moved away, his hazel eyes – this time filled with lust – staring into mine.

I looked away from him and let out a small, nervous cough, feeling a large amount of blood rush to my cheeks.

“You said you wanted us to get to know each other…”
“That’s the reason I asked you to meet up with me today.”

“You won’t tell me your real name, we’ve established that.”
“You can ask me something else. I might answer. I might not.”

I bit down on my lip.

“Why did you follow me those times? I know you found me interesting, but it was somewhat unsettling.”
“I wanted to talk to you before, but I lost my nerve a couple of times beforehand.”

I found that hard to believe with his recent actions towards me.
However, I pushed that thought to the side to think of another question.

“How come I have never seen you around before?”
“I used to live here when I was younger, but then I moved away. I came back to live with my mother.”

“I still feel like I would have seen you before…”
“It’s best not to think about it too much.”

So for the time being, we sat in silence, staring at the town below us.

“Do you have a family, Alessandro?”
I shook my head.

“It must be lonely.”

He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me a little closer to him.
I rested my head in the crook of his neck, my nose almost coming in contact with the skin.

“Yeah…It is…”

“I was lonely, too.”
“How? You have your mother with you.”

“You’ll understand. You have to understand…”

The last phrase he uttered to himself, but I still heard him.
I didn’t question what he said, or what he meant by that.

I just closed my eyes and relaxed against the warmth of his body, slowly inhaling and exhaling the scent of cigarette fumes and cinnamon.