The other thought was telling one of his friends and seeing where that would take her, but it terrified her to tell anyone about this crush.
“Hey Luna, you okay?” Kelly, the most annoying girl in the after school recreation center. No one liked her, but Luna was nice enough to her to have her believe they were friends for the longest of time.
“Hey Kel, I’m fine. Why does it look like something is wrong?” Something was wrong with her, but she would not tell Kelly out of all people.
“You just look like you have a bunch of questions in your head. You can always tell me what questions you have going on.” She automatically knew the answer would be no to that statement because she would not trust her with the information, no matter how much she wanted to say…
“I like Oliver.”
“Did you just say you like Oliver?” What did she do? This isn’t good for anyone involved. Luna knew this would change everything in the matter of minutes.
“What? No, not like that. More like, I like him as a friend. I am close with his siblings and he is close with mine… so no, not like that.” Luna knew she would get exposed even if she didn’t want to. Kelly has the biggest mouth in the school, that’s why no one talks to her, so her having Luna’s big secret was like having a bomb ready to explode.
“Oh, okay. I would ask, why would you like him? He isn’t that good looking.” As Kelly said that line, she was slowly walking away. The countdown to the explosion began at T-Minus 10 minutes. She watched Kelly running off into the distance. She had to think quickly. As two minutes passed, she could already hear the whispers of her crush flying around her. All her friends came over and asked if it was true, and all she could do was question where they heard it from.
There he was. Standing only a couple of steps in front of her, she could feel her heart exploding even though she still had five minutes left of her bomb. She wanted to walk away more than that. She wanted to run away and hide until she had to go back to the school for the talent show.
“Luna, talk to me.” He knows! How did it get to him so fast? Looking around the sea of people watching us like we are zoo animals. She sees Kelly’s face smiling from ear to ear. Kelly went straight to Oliver to tell him she liked him.
“What would you like to talk about, Oliver? I am confused about all the rumors flying around about us. Did you start it?” Let’s see how long she could pull off the innocent card.
“Well, that’s what I want to talk about with you. All these rumors. Is it true? Do you like me?” That was it. She had to act strong and brave when she thought of her next lines.
“What? Why would I like you, Oliver? I am your friend/bully. I don’t know where anyone got this idea that I liked you like that. I just think you’re cool.” She played off the lines, having no hiccups. Luna wanted to just hide away for the rest of the day.
“Oh, okay. We can talk about this when we are ALONE.” As he said that, he looked around at everyone watching us at this point. She knew they caught her red-handed in her horrible lie, but what could she say that would make that line not true. She was his friend and bully, and she thought he was cool. The thing was, what did he want to talk to her about that couldn't be said in front of people? She was more nervous than anything, but she couldn’t show it, so she didn’t.
She walked away and sat far away from people. She sat where it all began, under the tree. She put her head on her knees and breathed before anything worse happened. She could feel herself trying to control her thoughts and words before anyone came over and asked questions. She could see a shadow on the floor. She looked up to see Oliver. He kept tilting his head until she said hi.
“Alright Luna, time to be honest with me. I can tell that you were lying, and I just want to know why.”
“Oliver, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I told you, I don’t like you. Why would I like you, anyway? It’s not like you are the only guy that sees me for who I am? It’s not like you care about my feelings and help me through terrible times?…” She knew what she was trying to say, and so did he. She knew she had to be honest at this moment, but it scared her to say anything.
“Okay, yes, I like you. Just don’t make it obvious to everyone. Plus, I doubt anyone will believe you. Everyone thinks I’m your bully. So what does it matter if I like you?” She could feel her heart taking a slow elevator down to her stomach, waiting for his response.
“Girlie, I like you too. It scared me to say it aloud because you’re my bully. I like you being my bully. I like that you are close to my family and that Justin thinks you and him will get married. I like you.” Her heart stopped. She lost her thought process. She knew that in her head she would get rejected and act like it was all a joke, but when he said that; her train of thought disappeared, just like the urge to fake a smile. She didn’t know what to say or even do. She wasn’t trained for this moment. No one told her that this would happen in her life. She was worried about what to say next because she knew that the next words would determine the next couple of years in middle school.
“Then do you want to be my boyfriend?” Luna’s voice was quiet enough that only he heard her, but he didn’t know if she was asking what he thought.
“Can you repeat your question… you said it so low? You’re one of the loudest girls I know, and yet you are talking like a mouse.” She was nervous about asking it again. She turned around so she couldn’t see his face when she asked him in a normal volume.
“Do you want to be my boyfriend?” She could feel herself shaking in fear and nerves. It scared her, especially if he would laugh in her face and say NO. She felt him hugging her from behind, and he whispered yes in her ear.
A single word. A single word changed her life for the greater good. She couldn’t stop smiling as they were hugging. She knew that this would be the happiest moment in her life.
He released her. They were both looking at each other, seeing how red from embarrassment and happiness. Luna knew she made the right call to fall for Oliver. She didn’t want these past few minutes to leave, but when they were looking at each other; she was over the moon. The moment, the minute, reality kicked in. Half of our after-school club was around us. A few of those people were Kelly, Oliver’s little sister Emma, and my little group of friends. They were looking at us like we were aliens that crash landed on Earth for the first time, but in Luna’s eyes, she just came back from Cloud 9 and she was high on life at that point.
She went over to Oliver and held his hand, pushed past all the people watching them and just stayed focused on how they were currently holding hands. True reality kicked in. She saw her parents coming to pick them up. Which led to Luna immediately letting go of Oliver’s hand. She mouthed ‘I’m sorry, see you later’ before leaving with her parents.
As she was heading home to change into the backstage outfit, all students were told to wear. She was in her own world. All she could think about was having Oliver as her boyfriend. She wanted to tell someone, but she didn’t have access to call Laurissa. When she got home, she started thinking about Oliver; she realized they couldn’t be together. Oliver didn’t know that they were going to the same middle school yet, but also neither of them had experience in dating at this age. She knew what she had to do, even if it meant losing her first official boyfriend. She hid in the bathroom for a few minutes to make it seem like she was fixing her hair, but she was trying to hide the tears that were falling from her face. She didn’t want Oliver to hate her for doing everything she did earlier in the day.
“Luna, we have to drop you off at the school.” Hearing that line, she knew she wasn’t ready for the talent show. What was worse about this moment was that she was more nervous to be backstage with Oliver than to be on stage in front of everyone?
“Okay, coming now.” She was hoping this would go well. As her parents were dropping her off at the school again, she could see some of her peers coming toward her. She felt like she would be sick. Instead of going near them, she gave them a faint smile and waved at them and went toward the girls' room. She didn’t want to feel sick, but all the nerves in her head were spiraling down into her stomach. She splashed lukewarm water on her face, looked at the mirror and said, “you can do this. You can tell him the truth.” She knew she was lying to herself, but she knew if she didn’t lie to herself, she would get nowhere close to the exit. She repeated it three times before she started believing the lie. By the fifth time saying it out loud, she was ready to tell him. She walked out of the girls’ room with this strong confidence that was overpowering her nerves and controlling her stomach reflexes from getting truly sick.
When she got to the backstage door, her heart stopped for a moment. She saw him looking straight at the door as if he was waiting for her to come in. She looked at him with a faint smile.
“Hey, you okay? You look pale. If you don’t feel okay, you should have just called out for this. I don’t want you fainting on me, girlie, especially since you are now my girlie.” Her hearing that she was his made her brain stop working.
“Hey dork, can I ask you something since we have time before the show starts?” This was her moment. The moment to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Do you know how to be a boyfriend? I know… I know nothing about being a girlfriend.”
“No, but I thought it would be great for both of us to learn together.” As he said that, he was trying to grab her hand. As a bad reflex, she gained from one summer. She pulled back, her arm almost hitting the wall behind her. She didn’t like being cornered. She felt her heart beating faster than a tap dancer dancing. She didn’t want to panic in front of him, but she was seeing a flashback. She didn’t want a reminder of the scariest moment in her life. She took a whole step back and tried to calm down.
“Sorry, I’m listening. I just need you to understand that I wasn’t ready for the hand grab. I just feel like we are rushing into something that we aren’t clear about just yet. Plus, I doubt you know my favorite flower or gem or when my birthday is?” She was finally calming down, seeing Oliver as Oliver and not as Lucas. She didn’t want him seeing this vulnerable side of her.
“Then you should tell me what they are, but just know that my feelings for you won’t change Luna. Never think they will disappear.” She wanted to cry, but she was glad they would not become a couple yet. She wanted to get to know him. She didn’t even know when his birthday was. She thought it was close, but she couldn’t remember at the moment. She knew that her feelings for him would never change.
Throughout the entire show, Oliver and Luna were getting to know each other. They learned the little details about each other. She learned he knew more than just tap dancing, and he learned she loved roses because her mother loved drawing them all over the place. Luna’s feelings for Oliver grew stronger as they were talking about their interests because she knew she didn’t want to be with anyone else.
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