Luna’s mouth drops open in a gasp.
“What? Some girl hit you?” The brief moment of outrage on her face slides into a knowing look. “What did you do?”
I ignore the question and turn and get down a couple more wine glasses so Reid happily fills her in.
“She came over to talk to us and when she tried to tell him her astrological sign, he tapped her forehead and said, "Skip intro". She hauled back and slapped him.”
Luna’s eyes bounce from Reid to mine in amused shock. “No! Julian! Why would you do that? That’s so freaking rude!”
I pass a full glass to Reid and swirl the wine in my glass with a shrug. “Did I approach her? No. Did I ask her to come over and word vomit things I had no interest in knowing? No. She didn’t like the response. That was a her problem, not a me problem.”
Luna shakes her head at me as she tries to hold back her laughter. “Keep that kind of behavior up and you’re going to need a bodyguard to keep you safe from an angry mob of women whenever you go out.”
Reid’s eyes light up. “Oh! You could be his bodyguard, Hobby! You’ve been learning martial arts, right?”
There’s a beat of silence as we all, including Luna, look at him in confusion. Even Gage turns from the stove to stare. Reid laughs at our looks.
“What? I saw you practicing moves the other day in the living room. Was it a secret? Sorry if it was.”
Luna’s still looking confused, but then her eyes crash closed on a groan and her face starts turning red. She rolls her lips in and bites down on them as she ducks her head and then mumbles something.
A grin starts to take over my face as I step closer. “What was that? Sorry, didn’t quite hear you, Cin.”
She groans again and scrunches up her cute little nose. “I said, I was trying to learn a…TikTok dance. Some of them aren’t as easy as they look!”
All three of us howl with laughter until she finally breaks and starts laughing with us. Once we get our breath back, Gageasks me to grab him a knife to start cutting up the vegetables he’s making for the stir-fry. I set my glass aside and step to the counter where Luna is perched, drop my hands on her thighs and sweep my thumbs across the inside of them and slowly spread her legs apart. She sucks in a quick breath and bites down on her bottom lip as her eyes drop to my hands on her spread legs, a soft blush darkening her cheeks. I smirk and then drag my hands off her legs and open the drawer underneath where she’s sitting and grab a knife from it. I pass it off to Gage and a quick look at Reid shows me his eyes are zeroed in on her spread thighs and I know exactly what’s going through his head.
I place my hands back on her knees and gently push them closed again, lean in and whisper, “Good girl.”
Luna flinches back and glares at me.
“Did you look both ways before getting on my last nerve? Because you’re about to get flattened.” She growls at me and then lifts one of her knees and uses it to shove me back a step.
I shoot her a wink and turn to help Gage with the prep. He side-eyes me but there’s a glimmer of amusement in it. Out of all of us, I’m the one who pushes her boundaries the most.
It’s been ten months since the accident that changed all of our lives and we can see the progress she’s made from the broken shell she was after the accident. But she’s still not back to who she was, still not ready to face all of the world and that’s okay, because we’ll all be here with her every step of the way until she is.
Gage dumps his cutting board of veggies into the pan on the stove and moves over to grab his bottle of beer from beside her and takes a drink.
“Did you hear back from the University yet?”
She blows out a deep breath and nods. “Yup, I got the email today. I’m officially enrolled for two online courses next month. If that goes well, I’ll see about adding a few more for the nextsemester.” She ducks her head to stare down into her glass and asks in a soft, sad voice, “Do you think it’s a cop out to not go back to school full-time?”
Gage reaches for the wine bottle and tops off her glass.
“Not at all. I don’t think there’s a set timeline for anything when it comes to grief and how we process it. It’s not something you have to get over, sweetheart; it’s a journey you have to go through. This is a great step on that journey for you.”
She nods slowly, peeks up at him and then over to me and Reid. “I’m…I’m just not ready to…leave…here. Yet.”
Reid leans in and rests his head on her shoulder in support. I just breathe deeply. None of us are ready to leave here or be apart from her. I don’t know if we ever will be.
***
Group Chat
Reid: What animal do you think you could take in a fight? (Make it Canadian edition)
Torrin: A Canada goose. Those fuckers are vicious but I think I could take one
