The Sea, The Stars, and Luna | ✓ The Watty's 2019

chapter 24

let my baby stay mac demarco

(attached picture: Luna's back)

Sebastian

When I woke up in the morning, Luna was still sleeping, the same way she fell asleep last night. The morning light spilled through the car windows and shined on her bare back.

I felt a pang in my heart as I looked at all her bruises on her back and arms. They weren't easy to see when she was dressed, but they were there. I tried to stop myself, but my hand travelled across her skin, outlining every imperfection. I wish I could take all her pain away.

She slowly looked up at me and flipped so she was laying on her back. Curling up in the blanket, she smiled at me.

"It's so warm," she whined cutely, "don't make me get up."

"I won't. We can lay here as long as you want," I chuckled. She patted the space beside her and I just stared at her. She took her arm out of the blanket and tapped my nose.

I brought my finger up and tapped her nose back and she laughed. "Boop."

"Are you sure you don't like being tickled?" I questioned again, smirking.

"I only like the way you do it. They feel like a violent attack from anyone else," she said.

Luna turned back around on her stomach and faced me, smiling, as if an invitation for me to tickle her again. So needy.

Just kidding, it was cute.

I sighed and brought my hand up to her back and tickled her gingerly. She closed her eyes and let out a huff of air.

"Do they hurt?" I asked quietly, hoping she knew what I meant.

"Only sometimes," she said, "but don't worry. You aren't hurting me."

I continued to tickle her. "So, should we find a hotel today and take a shower?"

"That's probably a good idea," she said.

I could not, for the life of me, take my mind off of her back. It made me feel sick, and I wasn't even the one with the disease. Her back wasn't just a bruise here or there, it was spotted in them, basically covering her entire body. It pained me to see her beautiful body tainted with all these ugly marks.

"Sebastian, what's wrong?" She asked, running her fingers through my hair.

"It just hurts me seeing you like this. Are you sure you don't want to go home or to a hospital or something?"

"No. Not at all. Don't worry about me, okay? I'm okay I promise."

Even though she promised me, I was still worried. My mind wouldn't stop racing, my heart wouldn't stop beating. Everything just had me so worried. I couldn't lose her at my expense. What was happening to me?

***

Luna and I were making our way to Salt Lake City, and I noticed she took two Advil's with a big gulp of water. She pulled down the sleeves of my hoodie I borrowed her and pulled the blanket up closer. It wasn't even cold out, but she looked frozen. Her lips were even purple and she seemed paler than usual.

I turned the heat up though, because maybe then if I knew she was warm, I wouldn't have to worry.

"You look peaked. Are you feeling okay?" I asked.

"Yes, just feeling a little tired, how much longer?" She asked.

"Well, that depends. If you want to get to Utah today we would get there at like seven with no stops, but if you just wanna go half way we can stop and find a hotel."

"Let's just go all the way. Might as well right?" She smiled. I could sense she wanted to stop halfway, she needed a break, but her heart was telling her that she had to go the whole way. She was very stubborn like that.

I nodded, silently disagreeing with her decision, but I promised her that I would give her whatever she wanted in the world.

"I think I'm going to climb in the back and take a nap, I'm a little tired." Luna climbed over the seat and crawled under the covers without saying another word. She seemed sadder today than usual. From my rear-view mirror, I could see she had already fallen asleep, even though we had just woken up.

***

a/n: thanks for reading. Also TSTSAL has just hit 900+ reads!! I know it isn't a big number but it is to me. Thank you so much to anyone reading this, to anyone who votes an comments and added it to your reading lists and all that other stuff I'm so thankful. Ilysm 💞

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