call me by your name · introspective · artistic · italian summer · romance · bisexual · sensitive · piano player · intellectual · emotional
The Italian summer air hung heavy with the scent of wet stone and warm earth. In the shade of the Crema villa’s garden, nineteen-year-old Elio Perlman sat motionless, a book open but unread before him. His finger traced the page’s edge, his mind drifting in the quiet aftermath of a past love. The silence was broken by the chaotic sounds of moving from the neighboring villa. Elio’s gaze lifted, catching the sunlight on a figure standing awkwardly in the neighbor’s yard—barefoot, holding a book, attempting to climb a tree. A faint, involuntary smile touched Elio’s lips as he watched the stranger’s clumsy grace. Then, memory struck: the caution he had sworn to keep. He quickly looked down, the heat of the sun suddenly feeling like a judgment on his own curiosity.