Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters

“The very beginning?” he asked with a wrinkled nose.

“Yeah, that would help a little bit,” I snapped, pushing the hairs that escaped from my ponytail behind my ear.

“I guess I just really wanted to talk to you,” he shrugged, keeping his eyes locked on his hands. “I mean, I recognized you from school, and then you worked in my house for a while and I never said anything. So when I felt sick, I figured it would be the perfect time to get to know you.

“I already knew you were shy, and I figured you’d probably ignore me since you and Jack don’t really like each other. So I asked about the only thing I knew-school. When you said you really wanted to go back, I knew immediately I had my foot in the door.”

I tilted my head in interest as Luke finally raised his head to look at me with a questioning look on his face.

“Continue,” I nodded, letting him know that I understood what he said.

“I wanted to prove to you that I wasn’t like Jack,” he continued to explain, returning his gaze down to his lap. “So I called Mason and asked him to come over and talk to you about night school. My plan sort of back fired.”

I started to grind my teeth in nervousness. Luke’s sudden change of facial color made my ears begin to burn.

“I tried to play it off like I normally do-the smile, the jokes, all of that. But the more you talked to me, the less I had to say. I just couldn’t speak without my stomach trying to climb up my throat. I just got so nervous all of the sudden. Then I thought for sure that I blew my chance after Scotty’s party,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “Between Jack being a dick and me getting shit faced, I thought you’d be done with me. But then Karen and Colby sort of fixed things for me. Or at least it seemed that way.”

“You planned that?” I asked in embarrassment.

“No, I didn’t, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot,” he shrugged. “I thought it would help me get in good-or better.”

“How about we fast forward to all the girl questions you kept asking me,” I spat. “Since you had this grand master plan, what else was a part of it?”

“I’ll admit I’m not as socially handicapped as I pretended to be,” he sighed. “I did ask all those questions because I wanted to know what you like. Usually I just flirt with Jack’s leftovers and tell them no when they say they like me.”

“That doesn’t make you seem like an ass at all,” I snorted, rolling my eyes.

“They don’t like me, they like my brother,” Luke said defensively. “I haven’t done it since Jack and Izzy have been together anyway.”

“And since I told you that I liked you, you’ve been avoiding me,” I reminded him. “Are they connected somehow?”

“No, that’s not why,” he answered, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“Oh? And why am I different?” I asked bitterly.

“Because you don’t talk to me just because I’m Jack’s little brother,” he shot back, giving me a hateful glare. “I wanted it to where I could talk to someone who didn’t see me as plan B to get into Jack’s pants.”

“So I’m the only person in and out of school who doesn’t like Jack?” I scoffed. “Luke, not everybody is in love with the kid. Just forget about it if it bothers you so much.”

“It’s not like that!” Luke exclaimed, throwing his arms up. “I know not everybody likes Jack. I just wanted to talk to you out of all those people.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know!” he shouted, violently shrugging his shoulders. “I just did! And when I kissed you, I found out I really liked you,” he said through nervous chuckles. "And that’s why I invited you over.”

“Invited me over on Thursday or Friday?” I asked. The anger and embarrassment slowly started to disappear from my body.

“What happened of Friday was supposed to happen on Thursday, but I ended up making you cry so I didn’t want to make a move,” he explained, once again lowering his eyes.

“What about Amanda and the girl at Mikkel’s party?” I questioned. Jealousy started to brew in my chest at the memory of the two bimbos.

Luke nervously chuckled in effort to hide his smile. “Amanda is one of Jack’s goons. I only pretended to show interest in her because I wanted to see if it made you jealous.”

The anger instantly returned. He tried to make me mad just to see if it worked? Couldn’t he just ask instead of making me feel like a complete fool? “That’s very manly of you,” I snorted.

“Izzy’s idea,” Luke shrugged. “She said the only way to be sure is if I made you jealous.”

I shook my head making a mental note to spit in the next smoothie Izzy made me make for her.

“And the girl at Mikkel’s party?” I questioned venomously. “Was she a part of Izzy’s plan, too?”

“No, that was the girl Travis brought to the party,” Luke answered. “He left her to go get a drink and she just sat on top of me.”

“You didn’t have to feel her up,” I muttered.

“I thought it would make him mad. I figured he was up to something since he was acting like an asshole,” he shrugged.

“Yeah, well while you were playing the field, Travis was trying to chase me into an upstairs bedroom,” I informed him. “He was the one who pointed the two of you out to me.

“Oh,” Luke mumbled his face turning into a dark shade of red. He quickly looked away from me and rubbed his forehead.

“Now can you please tell me what’s been up with you this past week?” I barked. “I’d like to know before ten. I have to pick up Louie from Mason’s house.”

“I thought you said he stole your car?” Luke asked with raised eyebrows.

“I also said I know where he hid it,” I countered. “Seriously, Luke. What’s the problem?”

“I don’t know, I just got scared,” he said slowly. “I know for a fact that you would not have let that happen if we weren’t hungover and already half naked.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to completely forget that I exist,” I shrugged. “You know?”

“I just thought you’d be mad at me if I brought it up,” he said. “And I wasn’t quite over it yet, so I thought if I got near you I’d say something about it.

“Luke, the only reason I got upset was because you wouldn’t talk to me,” I chuckled, lightly shaking my head. “If I didn’t want it to happen, I wouldn’t have let you done it. And you’re forgetting that I was the one who kind of initiated it,” I shrugged, twisting my mouth to the side.

“So I’m not in trouble anymore?” he asked hopefully.

“I dunno, are you going to talk to me again?” I asked with a small smile.

“If I do, does snappy, bitter Riley disappear?” he countered with a wide grin.

“Yes, she does,” I laughed. Now it was my turn to bashfully hide my face with my hand, pretending to scratch my forehead.

“Then yes,” Luke nodded. “I’m not in trouble anymore.”

I nodded and sent him a bright smile, trying to push down the rest of the emotions I felt towards him down to my stomach. At least he apologized and gave reason. It would be wrong of me to continue to be sour towards him.

“Since I’m in the clear,” Luke began cautiously. “May I say that that hickey is taking forever to go away?”

“Shut up!” I gasped, throwing one of Jack’s drooled on pillows at him. “Your mom already asked me what it was when I put a band-aid over it.”

“Well, you make it kind of obvious when you try to cover it up,” he snickered. “What did you tell her it was?”

“A cat scratch,” I answered, folding my legs Indian style. “At first it didn’t looked like she believed me, but then I said I was allergic and she seemed to buy it.”

“Now it looks like a bruise,” he teased. He picked up the TV remote from the floor and looked at me with a sulking face. “I guess you have to go.”

“Why?” I questioned, looking at his alarm clock. It was only a quarter till nine.

“You said you had to pick up Louie or something?” he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, yeah,” I blinked. I completely forgot about that fib. “That’s tomorrow. Mason and Scotty went out with some girls Scotty picked up.”

“Damn. I wish they picked me one up, too,” Luke muttered to himself.

I threw another of Jack’s pillows, hitting him square in the face.

“I was just kidding!” he exclaimed, throwing the pillow back at me. “You know that I like you.”

“Oh really?” I playfully sneered, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Do I really have to spell it out for you?” he mocked with a sly grin.

“Please do,” I challenged, unable to hide my smile.

“I turn into a complete idiot when I’m around you. I like to sleep on top of you and barge in, fully clothed, on you while you’re in the shower. Do you know why that is?” he asked, resting his chin on his palm.

“Because you’re a social cripple who has never used a real mattress or wash machine?” I joked, shrugging my shoulders.

“Yeah, that’s why,” he said sarcastically through laughs. “So we’re all clear on everything now, right?

“Yeah, we’re okay,” I smiled.

Luke grinned and raised the remote in the air to click on the TV. “I can turn Rocket Power back on, right?”

“Shouldn’t you be putting your sister to bed?” I reminded him, nodding my head towards the bedroom door.

“You’re the babysitter,” he teased.

“Not for long,” I mumbled, staring down at my knees.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Luke asked curiously.

“Your mom just said she was putting the girls into day care after new years,” I reminded him with raised eyebrows.

“That’s like…three months from now. A lot of things can change before then,” Luke said confidently.

“You know, I don’t even want to think about it,” I sighed, shaking my head.

After Mrs. Moreno returned from Pittsburgh and learned of Mr. Moreno’s slight pay raise, she had been talking about returning to baking at the small pastry shop off of Brecklyn Road. Mr. Moreno was surprisingly supportive about it. He didn’t like Mrs. Moreno working a man’s job is what Mason said about it. It was highly likely that was her reason for another job switch. She lived to irritate Mr. Moreno to catch his attention. You notice things like that when you’re around the Moreno’s. They liked to get on each other’s nerves.

Luke slid off of his bed and stood in front of me. “C’mere,” he said quietly, grabbing my hand and pulling me to my feet.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and hid my face in his shoulder. The gesture was extremely comforting-a lot more than I thought it would be. It became ever more distracting when Luke started to kiss my cheek and sing American Pie in my ear. It earned a smile and a few good chuckles from me. But as his mouth got closer to mine, I had to remind him of something extremely important.

“Colby!” he shouted, staring at the closed bedroom door.

“What!?” she yelled back, her voice muffled from the two closed doors.

“Go to bed!”