The Triad

Five

Harper walked into the bathroom as Luna was blotting her face dry, "Girl, what are you in here doing? We're waiting for you. The boys think we should sing a Spice Girls song together."

Laughing at her excitement, she shook her head, "Nope. I'm definitely not tipsy enough for that."

Hiding the confusion on her face, she attempted to pull herself together. She couldn't be sitting in here freaking out about a childhood crush she had years ago.

"I guess it's a good thing I have another drink waiting for you at our table. Oh yeah, we've got a table by the dance floor now." Harper stated as they exited the bathroom.

Luna decided she would ignore every thought and feeling she just had. She was only feeling like this because she hadn't seen them in so long. The joy and excitement of being back in her hometown with her lifelong best friends were just emotionally overwhelming. She was there to have a good time and she didn't know when she'd be allowed to do this again.

Allowed to, Luna thought. When did it come down to her being allowed to do anything? Since when did she start needing permission to do stuff?

Pulling her phone from her back pocket, she opened her texting app.

Luna: Hey honey, just wanted to check in and see how your night's going.

Jesse: It's 1:00 in the morning, why are you texting me this late? Are you still at the bar?

Luna looked at the time on her phone in shock. Where did the time go?

Luna: Yeah. Didn't realize how late it is with singing and all. I'm sorry.

Wait, what was she apologizing for? This was the most fun she's had since she moved in with Jesse.

Jesse: Go back to Harper's and go to bed.

Great, now he's upset with her. She doesn't like it when he's upset with her. She walked outside to call him.

He answered on the third ring.

"Luna, I'm in bed." He answered angrily.

Sitting down on the steps, she readjusted the shirt so it wasn't hanging too low.

"I just wanted to make sure you weren't upset with me."

There was a moment before he responded, shuffling in the background. A door closed; he must have gotten up to go to the bathroom.

"Luna, what are you doing to yourself? Are you drinking?"

She didn't respond right away; shame began washing over her. She began to talk, to explain herself when she heard his name. A female called out for him.

"Luna, are you drinking?" He demanded again.

"Is that a girl?" She ignored his question, she had to be sure she was hearing things.

"What? No. You're drunk. This is why you shouldn't drink. You start acting stupid, not to mention you'll have to work out extra-long to burn off the calories."

Luna heard the voice again, this time it was closer.

"Who's there with you?" She asked him.

"It's the TV." He lied.

"You said you were in bed."

"I was. Normal people are sleeping at this hour." He declared.

"You don't sleep with the TV on, Jesse," she felt anger replacing her shame. Who was in the hotel room with him at 1:00 in the morning?

"There's no one here, Luna. Do you need me to video chat with you?"

His response made her feel bad. Of course, he wouldn't have anyone there, he's even offering to show her his room. The alcohol was getting to her, she had to slow down.

"I'm sorry, honey, I just wanted to tell you good night."

"Well, get back to Harper's and sleep it off."

"Ok. Good night, Jesse."

The call ended.

Still feeling a little off, she decided it was probably time for her night to end. The alcohol wasn't doing her any favors, it was only making her brain think of the craziest things.

Heading back inside, she found the three sitting at the table, "Harper, do you mind taking me back to your place. I need to sleep."

Frowning, Harper looked at Jed, "I can't drive and you've barely drank anything. Can you drive?"

"I probably could, but we're going to Uber home. I'm not taking the chance." He smiled and kissed the top of Harper's head. Such a loving gesture.

"Have a seat, it'll be a little bit before one arrives," Harper told Luna.

Luna hesitated but took the seat next to Brent to wait. Harper slid a drink across to her, "This was yours."

Shaking her head, Luna knew it was best if she stopped drinking. Whatever was going on in her mind was alcohol induced and she knew it would just get worse if she continued.

"Did you go out to call Jesse?" Harper asked, studying the weird expression on Luna's face.

Slouched against the back of the tall seat, she sighed. "Yeah. I didn't realize how late it was until he pointed it out."

Chewing on the side of her lip, Harper watched Luna intently. She noticed how sad she looked after coming back from the phone call. It had to do with Jesse, she hated that her best friend was with a narcissist and didn't even know it, or may she knew it and didn't want to accept it.

"Are we making plans to get together tomorrow?" Jed asked breaking the silence between the four.

"I'd like that." Brent answered quickly.

"We are." Harper replied, not taking her eyes off of her best friend, "Right now, I just need to get Luna home. She hasn't drunk like this in a while and it shows."

Luna looked up offended until she saw the grin on Harper's face, "Very funny." She mumbled.

About a half an hour later their Uber showed up just as the bar was calling out for last call. The four of them piled into the small car, Luna sat up front while Jed, Harper, and Brent sat in the back.

"Is that Miss Luna May, I see?"

Luna looked over and saw Mr. Meadow, Harper's parents neighbor, "Mr. Meadow! Hey!" She exclaimed and leaned over to hug him. She missed his quick wit and smart retorts. He would always have something to say when he saw the three of them together running around the town as little kids. He loved to pick on them and tell Luna and Brent that they would grow up and marry one another.

"Did you finally get your head on your shoulders and come back for this young lad back here?" He asked thumbing back towards Brent.

Harper snorted a laugh, Brent choked out a cough, while Luna just stared at her old neighbor, "I'm here visiting, Sir. I'll be going home to my fiancé in a few days."

Mr. Meadow let out a sad sigh as he put the car in Drive, "And here I thought the two of you finally stopped being idiots." He shook his head and looked ahead, not saying another word.

Luna leaned her head against the cool glass of the passenger door and stared up at the sky. The sky was so much clearer in Ridgeway than in the city. She was thinking about everything she missed here while unaware of Brent trying to hide a grin as he looked out his window.