Strangers in the Night ▸ Javi Rivera

5

Luna once again occupied the passenger seat of the RAM, her feet propped up on the dashboard while the cowboy boots were discarded on the floor after Tyler demanded it multiple times. Her elbow leaned against the door beside her while her eyes watched the grassy fields surrounding the gas station they'd made a stop at. She gave out a small sigh as she listened to her mother's muffled voice on the other end of the phone pressed against her ear, not needing to understand them to recognize the scolding tone. And it wasn't hard to know who it was directed at.

"So I take it pops is still livid about me leavin'?" Luna asked into the phone, making it clear to her mother that she wasn't being as subtle as she hoped she was.

"Don't worry about your father, I'll work on him." Her mother reassured easily, her work heels clicking against the floorboards back in the house in a familiar pattern that Luna could hear in the background of the call. "By the time you're back at the end of the summer, it'll all be fine again."

"Ain't that what we told Boone when he went for his first long chase?" Luna asked in a pointed tone, knowing that both she and her mother had used those exact words back then. "Still not over that one, is he?"

"No, no he's not." The woman on the other end of the line gave out a small sigh that had Luna's concern growing.

"You okay, ma?"

"Oh don't you worry about me, honey." The dismissive tone was instant as Luna listened to her mother's voice perk back up. "That's my job. So tell me, how is it out there? Is Boone looking after you? Are you being safe?"

"Yes, he is and yes, I am." Luna said, this time giving out a small sigh, about to go into the longest answer with a new excitement as she just thought about how much fun she'd been having the last few days, but her mother spoke before she could.

"Are you sure? You know you're a bit more... fragile than your brother or the others, right?" Luna loved her mom, she really did. And she couldn't blame her for worrying about her after everything that had happened. But she also couldn't help but hate that that same worry so often reminded her of her own drawbacks.

"I know my limits, ma." She still said in as patient a tone that she could muster.

"And you're taking your medication?" The woman continued to ask, making this sigh more prominent as it pushed its way past Luna's lips before she could stop it. "I read a study written by this one doctor who says that people who've been in your situation start feeling better and then stop taking them and that leads to-"

"I'm taking my meds, ma!" Luna called into the phone, desperate to cut off what she knew would be a regurgitation of the entire study the woman had ready at some point in the last few days, full with each statistic she'd memorized independent of whether it did or did not apply to Luna's own situation. "When's the last time you asked Boone this much questions?"

"Well honey, it's not really the same..." Luna decided to tune out her mother for a few moments as the doors of the RAM started opening up again, Boone and Tyler both climbing back in since they'd gone into the gas station to buy stuff while Luna got stuck on the call.

"Who's askin' me questions?" Boone asked, having caught the last of what she'd been saying through the open window.

"Here, ma, Boone wants to say hi." Luna announced into the speaker, giving him his answer, her mother a chance to fret in a different way and get it all out there, and herself a little bit of a break as she pushed the phone into her brother's hands. "Love ya!" She called out the last bit before turning back to the front and leaving her brother to it.

"Your stuff's in here." Tyler announced once her hands were free, putting the bag of food and snacks they'd bought up into them and letting Luna sort through the crinkling bags inside until she found the pieces she'd requested for herself while Boone spoke with their mother, allowing the other two in the car to only hear his end of the conversation.