Sun and Moon

Thirty-One

Luna's POV:

"I can't believe you're leaving me," I said as I morosely picked another mushroom off my veggie sandwich.

Ben reached over and patted my hand, his thin fingers brushing my knuckles in sympathy. "I know. But I'm here for a few more days."

I sighed. "I guess. But it's just you training me on your job while still doing my own. Doesn't leave us much time for chatting," I pouted.

Ben looked around, lowering his head and widening his eyes in what I recognized as his preparing-to-gossip look. It made me smile despite myself. I was going to miss that look. We were on our lunch break, sitting on a concrete wall outside the back of our office building in the shade of a tiny tree. A couple people were passing by, maybe on their lunch breaks, too, or on their way to meetings, but in any case, not close enough to be within earshot.

"What I can't believe is that Claire isn't hiring a replacement for me. That bitch seriously has some nerve expecting you to just do my job in addition to yours. It's crazy," he said, crossing his legs again and leaning back, his salad laying beside him as he sipped his water and rolled his eyes.

"I won't be on my own, according to her. She claims we will be splitting your tasks. Whatever that means. So far it sounds like I'm doing pretty much everything," I said, rolling my eyes and removing another mushroom, before finally taking a tentative bite.

Work had been crappy all day. Claire had been pissed I'd taken Monday off, even though she had no right. PTO was to be used at our discretion. And while Ben was doing his best to train me, the fact remained that there was just entirely too much to his position for me to take on in addition to my own. Then, to top it all off, I had asked for no mushrooms when we ordered our food, but not only did my sandwich have them, it seemed like it had more than if I'd not mentioned them at all. It was busy and loud in the restaurant when we had been ordering and it made me wonder if they'd misheard me over all the din and thought I'd asked for extra mushrooms. Stupid to be grumpy over, really. It's not like having a mushroom-laden sandwich was some great tragedy, but sometimes when you're on the edge anyway, it's the littlest things that tip you.

But really, what probably was mostly responsible for my bad mood was that I had less than 3 days left with Hope before he flew back to Korea and probably out of my life forever. This meant that any time I was at work was precious time I could have been spending with him before he left. I was trying not to be crabby, but honestly, between Ben leaving and Claire being insufferable, my career was low on the list of things that were making me happy lately. Not only that, but it was taking time away from Hope, who was on the top of that list. And as much as I tried not to waste what little time we had left being upset and pouty, it was hard when I was at work having a miserable time instead of spending his last 72 hours in LA with him.

I chewed gloomily, thinking about our night of cuddling last night after our bath together and how soon I'd be alone in my bed again, without his warmth beside me and his cute little laugh ringing throughout my apartment. It was crazy how quickly I'd gotten used to him being a part of my life, considering how it had been a little less than two weeks since he'd entered it.

This, I told myself, was why I shouldn't be so depressed about him leaving. He'd been up front at the beginning, telling me he wasn't in the states for long. Hadn't I made the first move, holding his hand at the beach that night he was so upset? If I hadn't have done that, it's likely he would've never attempted to be more than friends. And even after we'd kissed that first night, wasn't I the one who decided to make the first move again, touching his jaw and giving off definite more-than-friendly vibes? The answer was yes to it all. So if I was left hurt when this- this whatever we had was over, I only had one person to blame. I didn't even know what the word for it was. Relationship definitely wasn't it. That implied more than two weeks of knowing someone, right? Fling then? Ugh, the accuracy struck too close to the mark, with how we'd behaved. We met, within a few days slept together, and been doing pretty much nothing but since then. But I hated that word. Fling. It felt wrong.