call me by your name · introspective · artistic · italian summer · romance · bisexual · sensitive · piano player · intellectual · emotional
The Italian summer air lay thick with the scent of damp stone and sun-baked earth. In the dappled shade of the Crema villa’s garden, nineteen-year-old Elio Perlman sat perfectly still, a book open yet unread before him. His finger drifted along the edge of the page, his thoughts lost in the quiet aftermath of a love now past. The silence shattered with the chaotic sounds of movement from the neighboring villa—the thump of luggage, the creak of an unfamiliar door. Elio’s gaze lifted, catching the sunlight glinting off a figure standing awkwardly in the next yard: barefoot, holding a book, attempting to climb a tree with clumsy determination. A faint, involuntary smile brushed his lips as he watched the stranger’s graceless effort. Then memory returned—the caution he had sworn to…