Of Moons, Birds, and Monsters

Luke and I sat on the park bench while the girls ran around of the playground. The place was empty, leaving Colby and Karen to occupy themselves with the imaginary wonderland that was the park.

“I love how you are here in pajama pants,” I teased, pointing at the legs of his stripped sleepwear.

“They’re comfortable,” he laughed, resting his elbows on his knees and leaning forward.

“Reminds me of my mom,” I said quietly, staring at his strange choice of attire. “She would go to Wal-mart in her pajamas. I remember she had these horrid green sandals that she would always wear with socks.”

“Sounds like Danny,” Luke chuckled.

Danny was one of his other friends. I swear that boy was against showering, and anything that had to do with personal hygiene. He would come around a few times a week, wearing the exact same outfit. The only difference was the amount of knots he had in his hair, and how many stains he had on his shirt. He was never seen outside of his Superman pajama pants.

I felt a little insulted by him comparing my mom to Danny, but I kept my mouth shut and laughed a little.

"I'm sorry Jack was such an ass back there," he said, rubbing his eye.

"Don't worry about it. I'm used to Jack acting like that," I shrugged.

"Yeah, but that's not an excuse," Luke insisted, now pulling at the hair that stuck out of his beanie.

"I know, but there's not much I can do about it. Jack and I don't talk to each other. We just can't get along," I explained, twisting my bracelet around my wrist.

"He's a dick," Luke muttered.

"I'm just as much to blame as he is. I mean, I must have done something for him to be so sour," I thought out loud. "But whatever. He can act like that all he wants. It's not going to get him anywhere."

"Well, I don't have a problem with you. I think you're actually pretty cool," he admitted, carving lines into the bench with a stick.

I felt my face grow a little hot. I didn't have friends other than Dawn. I was too skittish and shy to ever be considered 'normal' or 'cool'.

"Thanks. You're pretty cool, too," I replied quietly, wanting to slap myself for sounding like an idiot.

"Look, Luke!" Karen yelled, running toward us with Colby trailing behind.

"What?" he asked, holding out his hand to hold what Karen was trying to give him.

"Flowers," she smiled, dropping a clyster of small pink flowers into Luke's hand.

Colby stood beside Karen, holding her own flower.

"He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me," she recited, yanking off the pedals.

"You got to do it too, Luke!" Karen commanded, excitedly slapping Luke's arm.

"Alright, alright! Chill," he laughed, pushing her small hands away from him.

"She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not," he recited, pulling off the pedals and dropping them on the ground. He started to yank off the last tiny pedal. "She loves me."

"Aww!" both girls cooed. "Riley loves Luke! Riley loves Luke!"

"Hey, now!" Luke yelled over them. "Go play over there."

"You think she’s pretty," Karen teased, swinging around in half circles.

"Yeah! You think she's really pretty," Colby agreed with a wide grin.

I knew my face was blood red. It had to be-it was practically four degrees hotter than it was before the girls walked over here.

"Of course she's pretty," Luke agreed, smiling at Colby and Karen. He looked just as uncomfortable as I felt.

My face was on fire. The only people to ever call me pretty were girls in my class that wanted to copy off of my answers. They thought that telling me I had beautiful handwriting and amazing facial features would get me to let them cheat.

"You think Luke is handsome. Don't you, Riley?" Colby asked, grinning and showing all of her sharp teeth.

“Yes, Luke is very handsome,” I answered with a smile. I had to say something. It would be extremely rude if I had said ‘No, Luke is ugly,’ and it would have been a lie. Luke was cute-all of his friends were, minus Danny. I was never interested in boys to pay attention to their looks. They just didn’t matter to me. It wasn’t as if I was going to be using their facial features for anything.

“Riley and Luke sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g!” the girls sang aloud.

“Go, go, go, go, go!” Luke rushed, shooing the girls away. “If you’re done playing then we’re going home.”

“No!” the girls whined, pouting and hugging each other.

“Then go play!” he instructed, pointing at the large playground that the girls had all to themselves.

The girls ran off, arm in arm, and started to jump up the stairs of the play set. Luke let out a giant sigh, and scratched his head.

“I don’t know where they get that,” he mumbled, pressing his hands against his rosy red cheeks.

“Children,” I sighed,

Luke and I spent the rest of the time at the park in silence, trying to get our normal coloring back.