*Sam's POV*
I was sitting at a table in the food court when I saw Luna walking towards me. "Hey, dude!" she said. "Hey. So, might explaining to me what the deal was earlier with you stuttering and stuff when I offered to browse with you?" I said. I had a feeling that I already knew the answer, but I wanted her to say it. "About that. The thing is that I…" Luna said, trying to find the words. "Lunes, you're my best friend. You can tell me anything." I said, hoping some encouragement would help. "I know. And I appreciate that. It's just… I'm not sure I want to talk about it right now." Luna said. "That's okay. You can tell me when you're ready. I got you something if you wanna see." I said. "Totally." Luna said. I grabbed one of my shopping bags and took out a big wooden plaque then handed it to Luna. She looked at it and read it:
My life is a little too much panic and not enough disco
My life is a little too much fall and not enough boy
My life is a little too much chemical and not enough romance
My life is too much imagination and not nearly enough FREAKING DRAGONS
"Dude, that's so rockin'. Thanks, Sam." Luna said. "Glad you like it." I said as we hugged. "I should get you something too. Don't move, I'll be back." Luna said, running to one of the stores. "Why can't she just tell me how she feels?" I asked myself. A while later, I was eating some fries I had ordered when Luna returned. She was sweaty and desperately trying to catch her breath when she handed me a CD with a mix of a bunch of popular songs on it. "Cool. Thanks, Lunes." I said. "No prob, dude. I know that you like all sorts of tunes so I figured you'd enjoy listening to a selection of them on the same disc." Luna said. "You rock, Luna." I said. "Tell me something I don't know, bruh." Luna said. We both laughed then I said, "Guess I should go now. See you at school on Monday?" "You know it." Luna said.
I went home and sat in my room as I thought about what happened at the mall. I get that Luna's probably scared to death of ruining our friendship, but I wish she would just tell me instead of pretending everything is normal. She's obviously the one who wrote the love letter I got in my locker a while back. But I guess you can't force someone to do something they aren't ready for. "Hey, Sam." Simon said. "What do you want, Simon?" I asked. "Did you hang out with Luna today?" Simon asked. "It's none of your business." I said. "Did you tell her that think she's pretty?" Simon said. "No, Simon. And even if I did, I wouldn't talk to my twelve year old little brother about. Or anyone else in the family for that matter since apparently, it's not acceptable for me to think of another girl as more than just a friend." I said. "I hear that Lincoln has a friend with two dads. Maybe you can talk to them." Simon said. "I'm not going to walk up to a house that belongs to people I don't know, knock on the door and ask them for advice. But since Lincoln knows them, I can ask him to do it for me." I said.
I kicked Simon out of my room, closed the door and hit the speed dial for Luna's number on my phone. It rang for a few minutes before I heard Luna's voice on the other end. It was a beautiful sound, but I had to focus on the task at hand so I asked her to give her phone to Lincoln. "You want me to give my phone to Linc?" Luna asked in a confused tone. "Yes. I have something I want to discuss with him." I said. "But, why-" Luna said before I cut her off. "Just do it!" I said. "Alright, alright. No need to shout, dude." Luna said. I waited for a few seconds before I heard Lincoln's voice. "Hello?" he said. "Hey, Lincoln. It's me, Sam. I need you to do me a favor and talk to your friend's dads for me." I said. "You mean the McBrides?" Lincoln asked. "Yeah. And I need you to promise me you won't say a word about this conversation to Luna." I said. "Oh, I see. You need some advice on how you like Luna, but you don't want to tell her that you have a crush on her until she's ready to confess how she feels about you." Lincoln said. "Exactly." I said. "I'll see what I can do. But, all of this secrecy is kind of ridiculous. Luna's your best friend. Why can't you just tell her that you like her and get it over with?" Lincoln said. "Because then it would defeat the purpose of Luna telling how she feels about me first. Can you give her phone back now please?" I said.
"What was that about, bruh?" Luna asked. "Oh, nothing. I was just asking Lincoln for his opinion on getting Simon an Ace Savvy comic for his birthday." I said. It was a lie, but I had to tell her something and it couldn't be the truth. "We have a landline, you know." Luna said. "Yes, but it was easier to call your cell phone since I have it on speed dial." I said. "Wait. What?" Luna said. "Uhh… I mean… Sorry, loosing signal. Call you back later." I said nervously before hanging up. "Well, that was smooth." Simon said sarcastically while standing in my doorway. "Shut up. When you're older, you'll understand what it's like to have a crush on someone and not be able to tell them for fear of rejection." I said.