Luna stumbled backwards until her back slammed against the wall, and then slid to the floor. Her hands laced behind her head as the first muffled sobs escaped her mouth. The crook of her spine grew warm because the rocking motion she'd moved in to rubbed her back against the wall. The sobs grew louder, and she felt a warm hand on her shoulders trying to still her, but she only shook harder. Bella wrapped her arms tightly around Luna to keep her still.
"It was nobodies fault Luna," Bella whispered gently in to her friends ear, and Luna realized that she had been speaking through her sobs. "Milo had a problem, and there was nothing anybody could have done to save him today," she soothed. Luna mentally scoffed, but refrained from telling her friend that she herself could have saved him. "Loon, maybe you should get to bed now. I know this is a lot to handle, but maybe some sleep will help." Luna stood shakily, and walked in to her bedroom. She closed her door leaving a concerned friend staring at it. She crawled in to bed in the same clothes she'd worn on her date, but when she closed her eyes all she could see was Milo asking her for help. She sat up back hunched over, and let her tears flow freely, as if to release the enormous guilt she felt inside.
"You have 7 new messages..." the answering machine brayed at Bella who was sorting through the mail. Upon hearing the big number she looked up surprised. She'd only been gone a day, so it seemed somewhat immoderate. A smooth male voice was emitted from the machine: "Hey Luna, it's Criss. Just wondering what you're up to. I had a really nice time last night...So uh...Call me back when you get this. Thanks!" BEEP The message was followed by 5 other similar messages from Luna's admirer as well as a sales call about insurance. Bella set down the mail and threw her purse on the couch. She walked up to Luna's bedroom door and tapped gently. As far as she knew, Luna hadn't come out of the room since she entered it last night.
"Luna?" Bella called out gently. "Honey, are you up?" A muffled grunt came from inside the room, which Bella obviously took as a 'yes', because she opened the door and walked over to Luna's bed. Luna was facing her window, not actually asleep, but trying to get some sort of rest. She hadn't slept all night, because every time she closed her eyes the events from the previous night flew through her mind. She felt Bella's hand smooth down her hair.
"How are you feeling?" her friend softly asked. Luna turned to face her, body slightly constricted in the sheets. She thought about the question. How was she really feeling? She was feeling drained. That's for sure. And tired. And sad. And guilty. But what she actually vocalized was "Okay".
"Do you need me to get you anything?" Bella asked while looking around the messy room. It was a pigsty, and looked like someone had robbed her, but couldn't find what they were looking for. She wondered if Luna had been like the robber last night, hoping to steal back pleasant memories from when she and Milo were together.
"I'm really okay, thanks," Luna replied. "Unless of course you suddenly gained the power to resurrect people," she added, but then instantly regretted her sarcastic comment. Bella however was patient.
"Alright, well I'm going to make some food, and I'll just leave here for you in case you change your mind, okay?"
Luna nodded, and then turned to face the window once more. Everybody walking on the streets below was oblivious to the pain contained in Luna's bedroom at that moment. She felt like crying again, but nothing came out.
"Criss called for you," Bella stated making Luna jump, since she thought her friend had left to make something to eat. "Actually, he called for you 6 times….Did you hear him on the machine? I think you should call him back," she advised.
Luna closed her eyes, and this time pictured the good events from the previous night. She opened them, and answered her friend. "I don't really feel like talking to anybody right now."
Bella sighed defeated, and walked out of the room. Luna curled up in to a ball, and finally fell asleep.
Luna awoke to hear hushed voices from the living room. She tried to make out who they were from. The high pitched one was obviously her roommate, but there was another voice as well, whispering in subdued tones. She reached to pick up her clock, but her hand landed on something sticky. She turned and noticed that she had ended up grabbing some rice off a plate her friend had left her. It was cold, and she wondered how long it had been there. It didn't matter though because she didn't feel like eating anything anyways.
She lifted up her clock, and saw that it read 10:17. The PM light was off, leading her to realize that she'd actually slept through the night. This made her feel a little better, but her stomach was still knotted with grief. She heard weighted footsteps moving from the other room, which stopped outside of her door. She closed her eyes hoping to feign sleep as to avoid any unnecessary conversation. She heard a soft knock, but kept true to her role by staying silent. Her door squeaked open, and the heavy steps grew closed and closer, until they stopped. She felt her bed shift as somebody cautiously sat on the other side. From behind her closed eyelids, she could make out a shadow as a face leaned above hers. She caught a whiff of a familiar smell; one that she recognized as Criss's.
She was conflicted about whether or not to "wake up", but decided to wait a minute. She felt a smooth hand graze her cheek. Criss waited to see if Luna would awaken, but she didn't. He wondered whether or not it was worth it to wake her up, but decided to do it anyways.
"Luna?" Criss inquired tenderly. He raised his hand to her cheek once more, feeling the trails of salt that remained from her previous myriad of tears. Luna cracked open her eyes, focusing them on the handsome man who was leaned up against her. Criss smiled as she "awoke". Luna tried to return a smile, but it was so forced that it looked more like a grimace. "Hey," Criss said.
"Hey," she replied in a hoarse voice. She pulled herself in to an upright position, her back leaning against the headboard of the bed. Criss pulled her into a tight hug, which Luna returned. Criss pulled away and looked at Luna. Her eyes were set above enormous swollen red bags because of her crying. Her lips were set in a prim line, trying to conceal any emotion. He tried to think of something to say. He knew asking her how she was doing was pointless, because he knew she wasn't okay. He thought that saying sorry wouldn't even come close to helping ease the ache she was experiencing. He tried to bring his mind back to what made him feel better after his dad died.
"Tell me a good memory you two shared," Criss said to Luna whose head was bent downward. She lifted in with an inquisitive look. Criss's caring gaze didn't falter, so Luna looked upward trying to remember a time when she and Milo had been happy together. She laughed upon retrieving it, and Criss smiled.
"There was this one time that he and I went to a concert. We went to see some local groups, I can't really remember who they were; but anyways, we were right up front, being pushed against the stage by the other moshing people. I couldn't see that well, because the stage was like 4 feet tall, so we were like looking up to see the people perform. So then Milo decides that I should get on his shoulders, because then I'd be like eye to eye with the singer, and I was a little high off of the adrenaline in that place at this point so I was like 'yeah that'd be awesome!', ya know? Then before I realize it, I'm on his shoulders, and people all around are cheering, but then the moshers start bumping up against Milo, which is making me wobble all over the place. Long story short, I end up falling face first on to the stage, Milo rushing up after me to make sure I'm okay. The singer was a great sport about the whole thing, making jokes about it and stuff. He ended up letting us go backstage afterwards to chill with him and the other musicians there that night. It was so much fun," Luna finished. Criss looked into her eyes admiring her, and happy that he'd thought of this trick because although Luna hadn't noticed it, she was now sitting legs criss-crossed, knee to knee with Criss; her face flushed with a new found happiness.
Luna realized what Criss had done and smiled at him. Criss cupped her chin in his hand and pulled her towards him. They shared a brief peck, which then led to a deeper more passionate kiss. Luna pulled away after a while, and wrapped her arms around Criss, grateful to have someone like him.