Adopted By The Hemmings (mgc)

Thirteen

Luna was sat on the curb as Liz's car pulled around. She stood, dusting herself off before heaving her bike into the trunk. Her phone buzzed once more and she knew it was the boys. As she opened the door Liz began her inquisition.

"What happened? You weren't here for very long."

"Can we go get ice cream?" Luna turned to Liz, ignoring the question. Gazing over Luna's face, the car was put into drive and they silently made their way to the ice cream shop. Once inside Luna immediately ordered something with extra chocolate before moving to pay and sit down. When she was joined at the table, Liz tried again,

"What happened?"

"Abby apparently doesn't like me. She didn't even give me a chance. That's totally fine, but then she basically insulted the band."

"I see. Anything else?"

"Mikey defended her when I got mad. Completely ignoring the words she had said. He justified it by saying that he did in fact ask for her opinion." Luna stabbed her ice cream viciously before taking a huge bite. Liz stayed silent knowing there was more to come.

"I mean, he did ask her opinion, but all she said was that she didn't like the song. It's not even a constructive piece of criticism! When I defended the song choice she scoffed and said that of course someone like me would like the song. Whatever, I can handle that." Luna took another huge bite as Liz looked at her. Taking a breath she continued,

"That's also when she said that maybe it wasn't the song that sucked. I lost it. She had no right to say that about the boys, but Michael still defended her. That's when I texted you, I knew if I had stayed any longer then I would have hit her Liz. I would and I wouldn't regret it." 

Liz sighed softly as Luna glared into her ice cream taking a moment to say anything.

"Lu, Michael is one of those types of people that when he falls, he falls hard. That also means he can love hard as well. He can be a little blind sometimes. Eventually, he will see what you and the boys see, but it's going to have to be something he learns on his own."

"She's awful Liz, and I never  like speaking ill of another person." Luna picked at the remnants of her ice cream sullenly.

"I know you don't. Now, are you ready to go home? I think you just ate your weight in chocolate." Liz chuckled softly.

"Yeah, thanks for bringing me by the way."

"Any time kiddo, let's just try to not make this a habit."

The car ride home was a much more comfortable silence. As Liz parked the car, Luna noticed three bikes lying near the front porch.

"Looks like the boys are back. I wonder how the rest of their rehearsal went." Luna hummed in response, her phone was still buzzing with messages occasionally.

"It was definitely shorter than normal."

The two made their way inside to find Cal, Ash, and Luke lounging around the living room. Luna began trying to walk silently to the stairs as Liz greeted the boys. They all returned the greeting, not looking up, until Luke asked,

"Mum, have you heard fr -" He stopped as he spotted Luna with her foot on the first step. She grimaced as the boys stared at her. Luke released a puff of air and leaned back into the couch. Ashton spoke up first,

"Where have you been? Why didn't you answer us?" All three of the boys seemed extremely upset, which made Luna feel worse. She turned to get help from Liz, only to find that the older woman had slipped away.

"Do we have to talk about it? I was fine." Calum stood walking closer to Luna.

"Lu, we were worried, you just walked out of Mikey's house saying you were coming home, and then when we show up you aren't here."