IF YOU WERE A PARTY, I'D BE THE PILLS / private, luca

once everyone left him alone, rinto had time to think in his hut on the beach. he had organized his belongings meticulously, trying to distract himself. he sorted alphabetically, and then by size, and then by color, then by how much he liked each item. he ran out of ways to sort his three items and he sighed, defeated. rinto couldn't stop thinking about luca. everyone else was nice, sure, and he appreciated them not eating him, but luca was kind and graceful, yet enticing. rinto couldn't help but think they had known each other before, somewhere. he didn't really believe in reincarnation or anything like that, so he couldn't articulate the reason why he felt like he needed to be something to him.

rinto had difficulty sleeping, despite the warm sand and the gentle purr of the ocean's waves. he managed to sleep, and woke up tired. he had to do something about this cancer in his heart. this desire to be close to luca. he took the rest of the hard candy he had brought from home and put it in his backpack, shoving on his socks and reapplying a few bandages. he trotted out into the early morning, seeing the sun rise. he didn't know where luca would be, and so not thinking straight, rinto went to the right of the middle of the beach and loudly announced "hey! does anybody know where luca is? i'm looking for him!" he was tired and yet all he could think about was luca.