Bring Your Own Chick ✔️

34: Lunches With the Gang

Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield

You don't know how long I've been dying to put this up lol

The next day India could barely get three feet away from Luna without her noticing. The only free time she had to herself was during her morning classes but as soon as the bell rang Luna would be waiting out in the hallway.

Currently she was dragging her to lunch, their arms intertwined.

"What do you want to eat? I'm craving French Fries but not the cafeteria ones. Those make me sick."

India didn't bother in responding. Her mind had been wandering all day, mainly to her father's actions the night before but also to Jesse. She was glad she stayed with him last night. Even though he wasn't in the same bed, just knowing he was in the room made her feel safer.

She was afraid of going home after school but she also knew she couldn't hide forever. She had to face him and explain the photo albums she had hidden under her bed. They were full of happy memories of her family, including pictures of her parent's wedding, her mother's pregnancy, and everything else that was supposed to be happy.

Like the map she hung up in her office she had found the photo albums tucked away in a locked box in the back of her garage. A.K.A. the place where everything her mother owned was stuffed.

She just wanted to see her mother's face again. She wanted to see her bright eyes. Her wide grin. Her golden hair.

She wanted her mom back.

Looking through the album every night since the trip had made the pain feel a little less terrible. But then her father found it . . . and it didn't end well at all.

They were hidden for a reason.

Out of sight, out of mind, was the old saying that her father lived by. He loved his wife with all his heart and when she left he turned to the best thing that could make the pain go away: alcohol. But then eventually he noticed the fear in his daughter's eyes, the way she would cower away from him, and not look into his eyes. He put down the bottle and stuffed every single memorable object of his wife in the back of the garage.

But skeletons don't stay in the closet forever.

"India," Luna called, "do you hear me?"

India came to attention to see Luna standing in front of her. They were standing in the line to the lunch line and they were almost next.

"Do you want to talk about it," Luna asked softly.

India shook her head. "No, I'm fine."

Luna and India shared a special kind of friendship. Yes they were neighbors and that's how they met, but how they became friends was unique.

One early morning Luna had rode her bike to Palace Park where she found her neighbor lying on a bench, nothing but a jacket keeping her warm. She nudged her awake and asked why she was sleeping in the park by herself. India tried lying to her, telling her slept walked but Luna was smart enough to know that was a fib.

The next night she looked out of her bedroom window to see small little India escaping out of her window on the second story. Luna grabbed her bike and met India at the park.

India cracked and told her everything.

For years after India would run to Luna's house when she wanted to get away. Luna would sneak her into her bedroom and let her stay the night there. They've been best friends ever since and Luna never wanted her to go through that pain again.