Lovebug ── PETER PARKER¹

24. Reunion

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          "Operation Paraldo reunion is a go."

          The last thing Luna expected was to wake up to Liz Barns lying in her bed, but that's exactly what happened. Now she was watching with a frown as Mia rummaged through her closet, all the while Liz tugged relentlessly at her hair as she worked on braiding it. It was an hour before her alarm was meant to go off, already setting her bad mood in concrete, and now the two girls were planning out her apology for her.

          At first, she was unsure if she was the one that needed to apologize in the first place. With the way Peter spoke to her, she didn't think he deserved her apology, not after he snapped and left her with no explanation and a heartache. Not to mention he unintentionally yet single-handedly ruined her "almost but not really" relationship. But as she tuned out Mia and began thinking, it seemed both ends needed to apologize. After all, she was ditching him after they formed a friendship of some sort.

         Luna winced as Liz tugged particularly hard on a strand, muttering an apology in between frustrated grunts. Both girls seemed to be trying to make her look her best, and though she didn't understand why, she didn't bother trying to make them stop. She learned a long time ago that when Liz and Mia put their mind to something, they stuck to it.

          For as long as she could remember, Mia had been that way. The girls had been attached at the hip since the age of five, giving Luna plenty of time to learn the ins and outs of Amelia Lancaster. Getting close to Liz wasn't all that hard, the girl was pretty much an open book. Anything a person needed to know about her was most likely already out there, and that's exactly how the girl liked it.

         Luna's bedroom door creaked open, causing all three girls to turn to it. Luna's lips immediately curled into a smile at the sight of her mother, Victoria, poking her head in. Nowadays, it seemed she was always working, and when she wasn't, she was sleeping. Luna had grown used to her siblings tending to her, but nothing beat the tenderness of a mother, especially hers.

        "Hi mami," she greeted, Victoria smiling slightly as she stepped into the room. On instinct, Mia jutted out her cheek, not looking up from the two pairs of shoes as Victoria pressed a kiss to her cheek. She moved forward, and Luna felt Liz's movement stop as a kiss was pressed to her cheek as well.

          Finally, Victoria was kneeling down in front of the girl, her hands resting on her daughter's knees. "Hi little," she spoke softly, and it wasn't hard to pick up that the woman was tired. She was still clad in her scrubs, most likely just arriving a few minutes before. "I came in to kiss you before going to sleep like I always do, what's the occasion?" She gestured to the two girls creating a mess in her room, an amused smile settling as she saw the obvious annoyance on the girl's face.