WHEN THE RAIN STOPS- Scrutinized [TANNER x LUNA] 2 IN 1

SIDE STORY PT. FIFTY SIX

|LUNA|

His lips were warm, but not suffocating. Wet, but not soaked. Home, but not home. I stepped back to separate us. And with the sight of his face my hand extended. In a flash my hand went across his face in a harsh slap. His head flew to the side as his facial expression showed confusion. But instead of talking I just let him sit there in silence. Grabbing my bag before walking back to my car. I sighed and laid my head down on the steering wheel. I took a breather before I decided on taking a mental break. It would be short and sweet, so I didn't see a problem going. Driving all the way to the cemetery when the clock showed 3 in the after noon. I got out and walked to Sarah's grave. "Hey Sarah.." I sat down. "Sorry I didn't brings any flowers.. I didn't really have time." The wind whistled in my ear. "My birthday's coming up.. heh, I remember when you used to make me a whole cake for the day. And made cookies for everyone else.." I sighed and went to talk again when I heard a branch snap behind me. I whipped around to find a brown haired man with bandages around his head. "Oh! Sorry to scare you miss.. I'm just here visiting a friend.." he sat next to me as the wind whistled again. "How'd you know Sarah?.." he asked. "She was my cousin. What about you?" "A friend from high school." I laid back in the grass as the man looked over and spoke again. "Do you still miss her?" "Heh, everyday.. but my birthdays coming up and I don't know what to do.." he laid back with me. "What do you mean by that?" "I mean I miss the days when it was just us on my birthday. We live a little too far from our parents to go back every year so instead, she would come over with her famous carrot cake and we would eat together all night long." The man nodded for me to continue. "She would make it feel less lonely ya know? Even at work when she was busy with friends, -I never felt lonely."

"I understand, she and I would talk on the walk home. We even played tag once but after, she and I never spoke again.." "why not?" He shrugged. "We just went our separate ways I suppose. But I guess that's not always a horrible thing right?" I lightly smiled at him before looking back up at the clouds. "What happened to your head?" He chuckled. "Got into a gang fight.. they threw me around with a crow bar." I slowly nodded. "Did you tell the authorities?" He nodded. "They're trying to track them down but I don't think they'll find her. She's slippery." "It was a woman?" "Mhmm, said something along the lines of "just die already." But by the grace of god I'm still here." I lightly smiled. "That's good."

|TANNER|

She was gone for hours. Normally any man would worry and think she left with Laurence to a motel, where they could bang it out together but I was perfectly fine knowing she was at the cemetery. She needed some time to herself. And It was perfectly healthy so I was kinda glad she went. In a sense it gave me time to set up our little date. I bought red wine, put the mood Lightning on, made my family famous ratatouille and even bought a record player to dance together. She was gonna love it. She had too after all, otherwise it wouldn't really work as compensation for the news I had.

Now all I had to do was wait. Wait the hour for Luna to come home. Now it was 7 and she looked a lot better. "Well Hello there." She giggled. "Hey!" She put her bag down before going to the kitchen. "Sorry about the wait, I went to Sarahs grave. And-." She stopped with the sight of the dinner. "Tanner what's all this about?" I stood up and took the, now cold chicken, off her hands. Putting it in the fridge for later before turning on the record player. It played a random sappy song and I walked over to my beautiful wife. She was taken aback but slowly got into it. Leaning her head on me and swaying back and forth with me. "How was your day my love?" "It was-.." she sighed and stopped dancing. "I Gotta tell you something, but you have to promise to leave it alone." I nodded and she held my hands together. "Today, at the store, Laurence kissed me.." I closed my eyes, she would've found out I knew if she saw them. "I was getting the chicken when he came over to say hi and then I told him about the doctors appointment, and-." I reopened my eyes and held her cheeks. She was panicking a little so I wanted her to know it was ok.