They ran all the way to the kid’s park on the opposite side of the complex. She was okay with that because that meant no one in her family would hear her talking about them.
“Thank you for stealing me from them.”
“I could tell that I would get you in trouble if I stayed any longer. Did you get yelled at for me being there?”
“More like she had questions, how I met you, how long have we been friends, did you come into the apartment, questions like that. The basics. Even though, I know she is going to have a bunch of questions as to why you were there waiting for me and then ask if there is anything more happening here?” She was laying on the bridge because she knew if Aaron ran on it, she would feel like she was getting a massage. He stood over her, she was scared not because of what he could possibly do but because she would feel the pain if he jumped.
“How did we meet? School, been friends for a couple of months, never went inside the apartment. Why I was waiting for you was because I wanted to ask her first if I can steal you for a while. Is there anything more happening here, I say it’s up to you.” What?! Hold on! What! Luna immediately sat up, luckily Aaron moved back fast so then she wasn’t in front of his region.
“What do you mean it’s up to me?”
“It’s up to you, you clearly are in love with your boyfriend not boyfriend, but you are scared to make him your true boyfriend which is even more confusing. While you also had a crush on another guy and you stayed extremely close to me and defended me several times to all your friends and even to our friends. It gets confusing on what you want.” When it gets put in that perspective, Luna looks like she is an indecisive mess. That was never her intention. Does that mean Aaron has feelings for her? Oh no! Please no! Luna needs a friend not a partner, she didn’t even let Joaquin down that she didn’t like him like that because she didn’t know how to. It’s not something she was taught how to do, she couldn’t go up to her mom and say ‘hey mom, how do I reject this guy I have a crush on because the guy I am in love with is getting insanely jealous?’ WOW! That sounded much worse than she thought, okay she can now see where Aaron was coming from.
“Aaron, I thought you didn’t see me that way. You told me you wanted to protect me like a little sister, that’s why you call me dummy. Is that not the reason anymore?” She was scared to get that answer, but she needed that answer.
“Luna, I see you as this amazingly beautiful girl. I did see you as a little sister but that was before we started connecting more. I realize that you probably don’t feel the same way and that’s okay because I will still be your friend.” Wow! Luna feels worse now! That’s not fair!! She already feels bad about everything with Oliver and now she has to feel bad about hurting Aaron. She didn’t want to do that, not to him or not to anyone else. She is tired of hurting people. She just wants friends and a guy that won’t hurt her anymore.
“I… ummmm… I don’t know. I mean I like you as a friend and you truly have been amazing when it came to helping me, I wouldn’t want to ruin that. I am…sorry, I feel really bad saying this to you…I’m sorry.” Luna started tearing up because she felt truly bad about this whole situation. She didn’t want any of this to happen. She didn’t know what else to say or do, she was tempted to just go home. She didn’t want to go home either, she was at a crossroad. She decided to get up and wanted to walk around, the moment she got up Aaron went over to her and hugged her.
“You don’t have to be sorry for not feeling the same way as me. I wasn’t going to get upset about it, I just wanted you to know. Don’t go home yet.” She didn’t let go of him for a while, she held back her tears. She wanted to cry because she felt like she had to give him the same feelings but she couldn’t.
“Okay, I won’t go home yet. I just don’t want us to be weird, I dealt with that with Joaquin and he made it his mission to protect me for Oliver which also made no sense.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what his deal was with me. I was just your friend and in the end I was made the villain in his story. Like how badly did he like you, Luna?” She actually didn’t know that answer, she felt like that was a hard answer to come up with.
“Clearly more than I thought because it was out of hand. Like it was sweet at first but when he kept coming at you, it was annoying that was why I made it a weird joke that was a jerk move after going back on it all. He was no harm, but it got harmfully when he claimed that you attacked him.”
“That was my favorite part from him, I would have loved to see his reactions when you said we were together during that time.” As she thought about that last conversation, she felt bad for humiliating him but she knew that he was going to keep going and make it worse every time. She stopped it before it got out of hand.
“He looked dumb, he regretted saying it because he wasn’t expecting my response. He thought I would go into caring mode, my question is, who beat him up because he looked rough?” Good question, Luna. She would love to know that answer, but she knew that she would never get that answer.
“That will always be a mystery for both of us. I would look into it, but by August it wouldn’t matter.” Good point, there was no point because there were no witnesses but also because the person that did it could not be at the school in August. She felt bad for Joaquin but she was done with him for a while.
“Hey,” Aaron touched Luna’s back to see what was going on in her head. “What’s going on in your head, dummy?” She told him everything from her dad’s betrayal to her feelings for Oliver. She couldn’t help but think about the amount of issues she had been going through. She missed her dad, but the dad that actually cared about her and her opinions, the dad that didn’t let her feel like she was all alone under the same roof. She felt like crying all over again, but she knew that if she broke down crying it would be noticed by her mom and then he would get blamed for making me cry.
“Luna, I want you to know a secret. You have to promise not to tell anyone, promise?”
“Promise.”
“You don’t have to like your parents.”
“What?”
“You don’t have to like your parents, you sound sad when you talk about your dad but then you say you miss him. If my dad was like that, I would hate him forever, but you still look at your dad like he is your hero. You don’t have to like him, especially after all the horrible things he let slide.” Was Aaron right? Was she allowed to not like her dad? She thought about it and thought about how her mom was okay with cutting him off especially after the Christmas stab in the back, but Luna would hate herself if she cut her dad out of her life but also she would hate herself more if she didn’t care about him.
“I promise, I won’t tell anyone your secret. Can I tell you a secret?”
“The reason why I can say I love Oliver but don’t have him as my boyfriend is because I am afraid that I am just like my dad and that I am going to hurt him just like how my dad treated every woman I have seen him with. I am scared that I am going to cheat on him the first chance I get, like look at that we don’t date and I end up having a crush on someone else. I wouldn’t be able to handle that pain, I never want to hurt Oliver in that way, that’s a pain that could kill someone.” She never told anyone that, not even Oliver knows why she led him on the whole year. She didn’t want to look selfish in his eyes.
“It’s okay to be scared, relationships are hard. I will keep your secret, but I think you need to tell him that so then he knows as well.”
“I can’t tell him. He would hate me forever.”
“If he hates you for protecting his feelings, I will personally beat him up for you.” She shoved him for that because he was making sure that she laughed at least once, or even smiled.
“You don’t have to do that, I am just scared to tell him. I don’t want to look like the biggest jerk ever, like he heard your class praising you for having me as your girlfriend and he acted like nothing happened. Usually he gets jealous but with you, he realized that we are two weirdos and I feel bad for having him second guess my feelings for him when I adore him more than I could think of.” She felt like she was going to break down crying but she didn’t think she had any tears left to cry. After saying that, she looked at her phone to make sure she wasn’t going to be in trouble for not keeping an eye on time. Luckily, she still had an hour left.
“You are still good on time, I have a timer on. That’s why you looked at your phone, to make sure I don’t keep you out too late?”
“Yeah, I just don’t need my mom hating you because she has seen us together a lot.”
“Well, we do go to the same school and we live in the same complex. I would assume that we would be seen together too since we are close. I know my mom has heard from our neighbors that I have been hanging out with a small spanish girl. I told her that we are just friends but that you are a sweetheart that she would love.”
“Why would you lie to your mother, I am not a sweetheart. I am a tough man that can handle anything!” As she said that, Luna lifted a tree branch as if it weighed 200 lbs. Both Aaron and Luna laughed, she was happy to be around him. He made her feel like she wasn’t strange and that her tendencies weren’t odd.
“Luna,”
Luna cut Aaron off before he said anything, “we should head toward the entrance.” They walked calmly side by side as if there was an unspoken tension between them. She was confused as to why there was tension between them.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, why?” He looked as red as a stop sign. Was he thirsty? Not feeling well?
“You don’t look okay. I know you were going to say something to me before I said we should head back. Were you going to tell me that you aren’t feeling okay?” He stopped and put his head into his hands and started shaking. Luna was confused because she never saw him like that. She came over and hugged him, she didn’t look at him, she just hugged him. That was when she realized why he was freaking out, she felt his lower region slowly poking her lower stomach. She immediately let him go.
“Soooo…I’m going to head home. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m going to be fine. See you around.”
“Bye Aaron.” She pretty much ran home because she didn’t know how to handle that whole situation. The only reason she knew what was going on with that was because of Lucas. She stopped in her tracks, she was seeing it all over again.
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