Beneath a Moon'full' Sky

Chapter Four

Ramin's POV

"So what do you want to do next?" Sierra asks me as we walk back to my car.

"Um well I heard tonight is gonna have a full moon. Maybe we can go to my place and watch it rise! I have roof access." I respond.

I see Sierra's face light up with glee. "I'd love to do that!" she squeals.

"Then off to my apartment we go!" I exclaim, opening the passenger door for her.

The traffic surprisingly isn't too bad, so we get to my apartment in around fifteen minutes.

"No racing!" I say to Sierra as we come to the elevator and stairs.

"Fine," she grumbles, sticking out her lower lip.

The elevator arrives and we hop in, groaning as Wrecking Ball blares through the elevator speakers.

"Isn't everyone tired of that song yet?" Sierra asks exasperated.

"I guess not," I answer, trying to block images of naked Miley Cyrus out of my head.

I press the button for the roof, and thankfully noone else needs the elvator so we get there before Miley can even start the chorus.

"Wow it's really nice up here!" Sierra exclaims as we step out onto the roof, a cool breeze blowing her hair in all directions.

Someone was kind enough to put chairs up here, so we go and sit down and wait for the moon to show up. Sure enough, a few minutes later it creeps into our view, clear and bright; no fog clouding its luminosity.

"Wow," we exclaim in unison.

"We should Instagram this!" Sierra says, pulling out her phone.

I suddenly recall the tasteless comment on Mandy's photo.

"Um...I don't think that's a good idea..," I mutter.

Sierra gets a worried look on her face. "Why not?"

How do I exlpain this to her? 

"Well...um..," I stutter nervously.

Sierra looks at me attentively, a slight frown on her face.

"So I was looking through comment on Mandy's Instagram photos, and someone commented something kind of disturbing..," I trail off.

"Oh really? What was it?" she asks, leaning closer to me which oddly makes me feel uncomfortable.

Why am I bothered by Sierra doing something every good friend would do? 

"Oh um well they said that I should divorce Mandy and well...uh...marry you instead. And that..uh...we'd make beautiful musical genius babies," I cringe, waiting for Sierra's sore reaction.

She merely stares at me, eyebrows slowly scrunching together in determination.

"That was really wrong of them," she frowns. "But we need to show them that we can still be friends. Good friends. And that we're not ashamed of our friendship. It's a wholesome and wonderful friendship, and I don't want you to feel ashamed of it." Suddenly she gets a look of realization on her face. "Mandy isn't bothered by us being so..attached...does she?" she asks, worry etching itself into her face.

"No, not at all. She hasn't mentioned anything about it. And I'm pretty sure she reads most of her comments." I reply.

"Good," she replies. "So wanna post a picture?"

I grin. "Sure."

Sierra picks her phone up from her lap and pulls up the camera. She looks at it confusedly.

"What are we even taking a picture of? The moon? Us? Us and the moon?" she asks thoughtfully.

"Us and the moon,' I reply, taking her phone from her and and reaching behind us so that it will just take a picture of our profiles with the moon in front of us.

I snap a few pictures then return my arm to a more normal, undoubtedly comfortable, position. 

"Ooh I like these!" Sierra exclaims as she flips through them. "Which one do you like the best?" she asks me, handing me the phone.

"I don't really have an eye for that kind of stuff," I reply, handing back the phone.

"But you'e the one who immediately thought of a good angle," she retorts, shoving the phone in my hand.

"Well it was the only obvious one," I argue, throwing the phone into her lap.

"So you're saying I'm a dingbat?" Sierra replies coolly, although her smug face is beaming with "I Won."

I sigh with defeat, glowering at Sierra from the corner of my eye. 

"Friends don't treat each other like that," Sierra continues impishly. "I'm really disappointed with you, Ramin," she looks forlornly at me.

"Stop it," I grumble.

Sierra leans back and continues to look at the pictures.

"Hey maybe you should post it, since you and Mandy are the ones being 'attacked'," Sierra makes finger quotes.

"Yeah that's a good idea," I say as I pull my phone out. 

Sierrra airdrops the picture to me and I open Instagram. I choose the picture and begin to write a caption. 

"Um...what should I write," I ask dumbly.

"Ooh!" Sierra almost screams. "Let's make a Love Never Dies reference! Say 'Beneath a Moon'full' Sky'."

"Ok," I say absent mindedly as I type the caption in. "It's off!" I accounce as I press "Share."

"See? That wasn't so hard. And now you can show that no matter how much time you spend with me, how much you enjoy my company, your heart is still with Mandy, and it will never leave her," Sierra smiles.

Suddenly I have this sudden urge which  would have seemed wrong before, but now seems so right. I lean in and quickly peck Sierra on the cheeck. Sierra beams up at me. I smile back.

"Well I should probably get going," Sierra's tone dorps down an octave with disappointment. "I hope we can get together again sometime soon!" she says a little more cheerily.

"Yeah! Definitely!" I grin.

"Bye!" Sierra leans over and hugs me, in a friend sort of way, and I have to admit, it feels nice. Mandy isn't much of a hugger.

"I'll walk you to your car!" I hop up and link arms with her. 

We get back to the ground floor and walk out to the parking lot, the cold night air stinging our faces. I get a strange feeling, like someone is following us. I snap my head around, but don't spot anything suspicious. I've always been kind of uncomfortable in the dark, so maybe I'm feeling anxious, especially with Sierra. We get to her car and I open the door for her. 

"Bye," she says one last time, before closing the door.

As she pulls out of the parking space I wave, after which she waves back and drives away. I walk sadly back to my apartment, already missing her. She's so fun and positive to be around, and it's nice to have some company especially when I don't have Mandy and the kids around. Just as I come to the entrance to the apartment complex I hear a familiar voice behind me.

"Stay away from her."