Luna, My Love

Chapter 3

The car was silent except for Talk Dirty playing from the radio, which only made the moment more awkward. I texted my Aunt real quick to let her know where I’d be and then stared out the window. You could practically feel the awkward.

 “So Nora, how’s your senior year?” Aaron asked, trying to break the awkwardness. Mentally, I sighed in relief.

 “It’s okay, I guess. I’m just glad it’s my last year.” I said, still looking out the window. Through the mirror, I saw Aaron’s frowning reflection.

 “What do you mean?” He asked. I turned my head around and looked out the front window.

 “I really want to leave. This town I mean. I hate it here and I’ve planned to leave for quite a few years.” I replied. Aaron gripped the wheel so hard, that I was afraid it would snap off.

 “Nora, you’re family’s here. Why would you want to leave?” Aaron said, “What’s so bad about this town? You make it sound as if it’s a disease.”. I sighed, hating this conversation.

 “Well, if you hadn’t noticed, nobody talks to me here. I don’t have any friends, people all whisper when I walk into a room. Even in preschool, nobody talked to me. I had birthday parties, but couldn’t invite anyone because no one would come. I hate this town, now can we please drop it?!” I said, close to tears. I turned in my seat and, once again, looked out my window. Maybe I shouldn’t have come.

 “I’m sorry, Nora, I really am. I’ll drop it.” Aaron said. We sat quietly the rest of the way until we got to the restaurant that was across the street from the theater. This town was small, so everything was close like this. We got out in headed into Piccola Italia. When we got inside, the smell of pasta and oregano filled my nose. The hostess lead us to our tables and took our orders then left us alone. The music was loud in here so I couldn’t hear anyone clearly unless they were next to me like Aaron. I couldn’t help but think that they turned it up when they saw me walk in. A little later we got our food and ate silently. I felt my guilt grew as the time past.

 “Aaron, I’m really sorry about my outburst in the car earlier. I just di-” Aaron quickly cut me off.

 “It’s alright, Nora. I pressed on when I should have stopped. How about we just forget about it and focus on what’s happening now?” Aaron asked. I nodded, liking the idea of a new beginning.

 “Thanks, Aaron. The food is really good here.” I said, saying the first thing that popped in my head. Aaron smiled at me, clearly happy that we were talking again.

 “Ya, this is my favorite restaurant. Piccola Italia has the best italian food. My dad brings me here all the time.” he said and continued to eat his pasta. The table went silent again.

 “How about we play a game of 20 questions?” I asked, not sure whether it was childish or not. Aaron find, so clearly I didn’t mess up.

 “Okay, I’ll go first.” Aaron said, “What’s your favorite color?”.

 “Red.” I replied, and he continued to ask me questions and I him. I learned that his favorite color was red too and he liked comedies like me. I also learned that he favored music like Eminem and Dubstep, while I favored music like Jake Bugg and Katy Perry. He also prefered outside over staying inside and so did I. I started to think that we had a lot more in common then I thought we did. We continued this until 7:15, then we walked over to the theater. We bought our tickets and popcorn then got our seats.