Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters

Mason nearly crapped his pants when he came over the next day. He insisted that Luke didn’t say anything except the awkward second base accomplishment. I didn’t believe Mason at all, considering he kept catching himself anytime he mentioned squeezing information out of Luke. Mason had a blast telling the boys at night school. They kept trying to figure out why Luke was ignoring me if I let him go that far. The same question bothered me to no end.

I barely saw him the rest of the week. He quit coming home as early, and as soon as he walked into the house he ran straight to his room and wouldn’t come out the entire time I was there. Mrs. Moreno said he’d been feeling sick since he went swimming at the lake with Jack and the boys last Saturday (which we all knew was a lie) and said he only left his room for food.

I felt completely embarrassed and rejected. I wanted to erase that morning, and the four nights before it. His extreme efforts of avoiding me made me want to disappear entirely. I didn’t dare ask him about driving arrangements. Instead, I took my chances and drove my car to school, praying that it wouldn’t be damaged by the idiot kids from the rival high school.

“Aye, do you know what today is?” Mason asked, lightly elbowing my shoulder.

“Thursday,” I shrugged, sliding out of my desk.

“Uh-huh, and that makes tomorrow Friday,” Mason continued, throwing his backpack over his shoulder. “Are you still down for the camping trip?”

“No,” I huffed, shoving my notebook into my backpack.

“Why not? It’s Squid’s birthday! You gotta show up!” he pressed, following me out of the classroom.

“He doesn’t want to talk to me, so I highly doubt I’m still invited,” I said bitterly, pushing open the school entrance door.

"Oh, fucking…COME ON!” Mason shouted, throwing his hands over his head. “The only reason why he's avoiding you is because he doesn't know what to do now. Just go over there, sit on him, and make him explain what's up. You fooled around with him. He doesn't know if it was because you weren't in the right state of mind or not. He's not gonna do shit until you explain it to him.”

“Mason, I really don’t want to talk about it, okay?” I said sharply, tossing him my car keys. “It never happened, got it?”

“Yes, it did!” Mason argued, throwing his backpack in the backseat. “You passed the point of no return. You either talk to him and agree that it never happened and move on, or you talk to him and agree to neglect the shit out of each other. Either way, you have to talk to him.”

“Why? So I can make an even bigger ass out of myself?” I snarled, kicking my feet onto the dashboard.

“Look, Rizzle, you’re not hearing me--”

“Yes, I am. You’re not hearing me. I’m not going over there to talk to him, I’m not going camping, and I’m not going to be the one to fix this. I’M not the one ignoring myself,” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest and staring out the window.

“I’m going to try and continue what I was planning on saying before you interrupted me,” Mason said darkly. “He still wants to be your friend. He told me so after Jack made him confess. He said, ‘I still want to be friends with her, you know? But I think I messed it up.’”

“He said that?” I asked, completely unconvinced.

“Word-for fucking-word,” Mason nodded, turning down the main road that led towards Luke’s house. “He thinks he’s the one who fucked shit up. He’s just waiting for you to tell him he didn’t.”

“That would be a lot easier to tell him if he wasn’t avoiding me,” I said sharply.

“And that’s what you got to say to him,” Mason nodded again, the sound of triumph hinted in his voice.

I tried to place myself in Luke’s shoes and see things from his view, but ended up getting upset that he didn’t consider how he made me feel when he did his best to avoid me. I could see how he’d be embarrassed, but didn’t it once cross his mind that he was making me feel like a complete ass?

I tried to block out Mason's motivational speech the whole ride home. He kept talking about what Luke said or what Jack said, or somebody else who I didn't know. It was all crap anyway. He was just lying through his teeth in desperation.

“So are you going to go for it?” Mason questioned, pointing to the red brick house we were parked in front of.

I stared down the house, trying to burry my anger and find my courage. The only thing I couldn’t deflate was my pride. I couldn’t make it seem like I needed him to be my friend. Yes, it was a nice relationship and it gave me something to do-even if some of the activities weren’t in my best of interest. I really liked Luke. He had his flaws like the rest of us. I just couldn’t help but think he would take it as a dependency instead.

“How are you getting home?” I asked, inhaling a large amount of air to build up the strength in my chest.

“Scotty is parked in the McGee’s yard,” Mason informed, pointing to the yard where I parked my car the previous week. "He picked up some honeys. We're going to a burger joint and then, you know..."

"You were planning on bringing me here this whole time, weren't you?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You guys are making a big deal out of something small," Mason shrugged. "Hug it out and call me tomrrow. Not too early, though. I have a feeling I'll have some things to get over."

"You're something else, you know that?" I chuckled, opening the passenger door.

"Yeah, I know. Hurry on up and get in there. Cathy might be getting worried about a random car parked in front of her house," Mason smiled, playfully shoving me out of the car.

"You know where to put my car, right?" I asked, stepping out of the car and zipping up my jacket.

"It'll be in the McGee's yard. And I'll put your keys in the glove box," Mason answered, putting the car into gear.

"Thanks," I nodded, shutting the car door.

Mason drove into the neighbors yard while I made my way down the Moreno driveway.

I tried to think of what I was going to say. The constant swirling of my stomach and twitching of my nerves distracted me from my speech preperation. Was he going to kick me out of his room? Did his parents already spot me walking towards the house? Would Luke continue to ignore me, even though I'd be sitting right in front of him? The possibilites of causing myself even more humiliation almost scared me enough to turn around and drive home. But, I knew I had to set thing straight, since Luke obviously wasn't the one who was going to make the first move.

I tried my best to avoid the window on the front door so I would remain unseen. If the Moreno's cars weren't in the drive, I would have though they weren't home. the TV wasn't blaring with political arguements or Colby's DVD copy of Transformers.

I pryed open Luke's bedroom window and entered as quietly as I could. The thudding of my heart kept throwing me off, making me think I was being a lot louder than I actually was. Luke was the only one who noticed my sudden apperance.

"I didn't know you'd be coming over tonight," Luke said quietly, keeping his eyes set on the TV in front of him-not even bothering to look my way.

"I wasn't planning on it," I admitted, shutting the window. "It just kind of happened that way."

"My mom is a lot more observant than my dad," he said, turning his head to look at the closed bedroom door. "You shouldn't be here."

Ignoring his last remark, I took a seat on Jack's bed, resting my elbows on my knees. "I'll only be here for a minute. I just wanted to talk to you before I went home. Not to mention Mason stole my car," I said nervously, cracking my knuckles.

"Mason stole your car?" Luke asked in surprise, sending me a quick glance.

"I know where he hid it, but he practically made me pull an Indiana Jones move and roll out of the car," I exhaggereated, lightly shrugging my shoulders.

"What did he do that for?" Luke questioned, turning his attention back to the TV.

"He wanted me to talk to you, which is proving to be very difficult since Otto, Reg, and Twist are holding your attention better than I am," I said darkly, continuing to crack my knuckles.

Luke slowly turned his head, giving me a defeated look before turning off the TV.

"Why have you been avoiding me?" I asked, trying to look in his direction without locking eyes with him.

Luke shrugged and pushed his hands through his hair. "I dunno."

Dissatisfied with his answer, I stood up and opened the window.

"Okay, I guess that's it then," I spat, ducking my head underneath the window.

"Fucking damn it," Luke muttered, throwing the room mate onto the floor. "No, come back!"

"Are you going to talk to me?" I asked with a raised eyebrow, my body already halfway out of the window.

"Yes! Just hurry up and get back in here before someone sees you," he snapped, his eyebrows almost running into he top of his nose.

I climbed back into the messy room and sat back on Jack's bed, giving Luke, who was miserably staring at his knees, my full attention.

"What do you want to know?" he grumbled.

"Everything. Most importantly why you've started ignoring me and what we do now," I answered.

"Is that all?" he snorted, slightly shaking his head.

"This is bullshit, Luke," I scoffed, trying not to let my anger alert the other members of the house. "Fine. Ignore me all you want. That's great. But I have the right to at least know what I did wrong."

"You didn't do anything wrong," he replied, staring his hands that rested on his lap.

"THEN WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!?" I shouted, my arms automatically throwing themselves out on either side of me.

"Keep it down!" Luke hissed, his eyes growing wide.

"You've kept me in the dark this whole week, making me think I said or did something that fucked shit up," I said through gritted teeth. "If I didn't do anything, why are you acting like this?"

"Luke?" Mrs. Moreno's voice called from the hallway.

Instinctivley, both of us froze, staring at his bedroom door.

"Luke, honey, can I come in?" Mrs. Moreno asked, lightly knocking on the door.

"Yeah, just a second!" Luke replied, his voice slightly cracking. He jumped off the bed and silently instructed me to hide under Jack's. "I'm trying to find my Neil Young CD. Have you seen it?"

While Luke slammed his butt onto the floor in front of his dresser, I crawled under Jack's bed, trying to ignore the empty condom boxes and twinkie wrappers that out numbered me.

Mrs. Moreno opened the door and entered. "If Jack doesn't have it anywhere, then it might be in my car," she answered. "I thought I heard shouting?"

"Yeah, you did," Luke said, not a hint of nervousness in his voice. "I was flipping through channels and there was some movie on. This chick was unhappy with this guy or something."

I tried to keep my breathing undercontrol as Luke lied through his death. The apperance of Mrs. Moreno's feet made my heart reat speed up, and my breath go hay-wire. Luke lying only made it worse, because if we were caught, it meant even more trouble.

"What channel?" Mrs. Moreno asked curiously.

"Lifetime or something," Luke guessed. "That's why I was looking for my Neil Young CD. There isn't anything worth watching on tonight."

"Colby is watching Rocket Power in her room. You can watch it with her while you baby sit," Mrs. Moreno said sweetly.

"Babysit?" Luke repeated in shock. "I thought she went to Molly's sleep-over with Karen?"

"Oh, no. Molly and Colby don't get along," she sighed.

"Why not?"

"Colby bit her after Molly pulled her hair," Mrs. Moreno sighed again.

"She's worse at fighting than me and Jack ever were," Luke laughed.

"Oh, I know. I think I'm going to put them into daycare after New Years. They really need help on their social skills. If they don't get around kids their age, both of them will end up getting kicked out of school," she said.

My breath caught at the mention of daycare, almost causing me to cough at the lint I inhaled.

"Daycare?" Luke asked, souding as baffled as I felt. "But what about Riley?"

"She's been wonderful with teaching them colors, numbers, reading, and all of that, but she can't provide them social skills when she's the only other person they're around, Luke," Mrs. Moreno chuckled. "She's been very helpful, but this is one thing she can't teach them."

"Yeah, but she needs a job, Mom," Luke snapped.

"It doesn't make much sense to leave school for $150 a week. Education is more important," Mrs. Moreno shrugged.

I wanted to crawl out from underneath the bed and scream at her. How dare she. She knew why I couldn't stay in school. If I was being paid only $150 a week, that was what I had to do to take care of myself. The only reason I was working for her in the first place was because every other teenager took jobs at fast food resturants and department stores.

"She has things to take care of, Mom," Luke snorted. "She didn't drop out because she was lazy, she did it because she had to."

"Well, then the girls going to daycare will help her get things back to normal," Mrs. Moreno hummed. "Anyway, your father and I are going out to dinner and the Bullpen. Have you figured out what you want for your birthday?"

"A guitar," Luke answered hopefully.

"Luke, you know we can't afford a guitar right now,” Mrs. Moreno said sadly. “Is there anything else you want? Movies, or clothes of any sort?”

“A new skateboard would be nice," Luke mumbled, standing to his feet. "You can get them at Zumiez at the town center."

"Anything special? I don't know how to shop for skateboards," Mrs. Moreno chuckled.

"How about you guys go shopping when Jack is home. It's kind of hard to explain," Luke shrugged, sitting back down on his bed.

"Okay," she laughed. "I want Colby in bed by nine, and you in bed by ten. I don't know when we'll be back."

"You really think dad is going to want to stay out that late?" Luke laughed.

"He will if we go to the Bullpen. He's been in a really good mood since his pay raise," Mrs. Moreno giggled, her feet moving towards the doorway. "Don't wait up, you hear me?"

"Yeah, bye," Luke coughed, turning the TV back on.

"Ten o'clock," Mrs. Moreno said sternly.

"I know, Mom! Bye!" Luke huffed.

I waited until I heard the car pull out of the driveway before I crawled out from underneath the bed. I tried to brush off the lint and dust from of my clothes and out of my hair before giving Luke an evil glare.

"You okay?" he asked slowly, turning the TV back off.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied. "Just answer my question."

Luke scooted against the wall and let out a large amount of air. "Where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning would be nice," I sighed sitting back on Jack's bed.