Sliced Trees and Dead Words

10 - Passing the test.

- WOLFE -

My laughter ended when Luna cut me a look so sharp that I was about half a second shy of genuinely fearing for my own personal safety.

"She's looked like that since Medusa bowled her onto the floor of her shop and started licking at her face," I said to the woman who just introduced herself to me as Siella, Luna's twin sister, who was juggling two six-packs of cider as she opened Luna's front door with her own key. They were identical, though they really don't look all that similar. Siella is blonde and more slim, with nowhere near the amount of raw sex appeal Luna exudes just from blinking. "And it just got worse from there, really."

The two of them were both staring at me, Luna because I doubt she knew what we were talking about, and Siella probably because I hadn't told Luna about her makeup situation until now.

"And you didn't think to tell her she had mascara all over face?" Siella asked, her grinning lips giving me a clearer picture of what Luna's must look like underneath the brown layer she had painted on, which surprisingly wasn't smudged like her eyes were.

"What are you talking about?" Luna asked, unsure whether to direct it at me or her sister to get the most quick and honest answer. I'm almost flattered.

I smiled imagining how much more annoyed with me Luna was about to be. "Go check a mirror, Luna," I said when Siella couldn't stop laughing at her sister. She was going at it so hard she had tears forming in her own eyes, though there was no risk to the fidelity of her own makeup because, unlike her sister, she wasn't wearing any. At least, not that I could tell.

She stormed off down a small hallway and into a room to her right, and I heard her exclaim, "Oddio!" which I assumed translated to something resembling shock horror. It really did look pretty bad the way her mascara had run down and around her cheeks, but I was finding it pretty damn amusing that a woman like Luna, who is so fixated on her appearance, wouldn't have any idea how much of a mess she looked. "Why didn't you say something, Wolfe?!" she yelled over the sound of a tap turning on and splashing water hitting soft skin.

"I was too busy having to prove I wasn't a murderer or rapist, Luna," I fired back sarcastically, dropping Dalen and his belongings down on her living room couch.

"Huh?" stuttered Siella, ceasing her wild laughter almost unnaturally to take in the meaning of what I had just said. "What!?"

"Jesus. What is it with you Martone women?" I muttered under my breath, taking a step back towards the door preemptively as I assume there is a very real chance one or both of them is about to kick me on my ass. "Luna just needed some reassurance that I wasn't an aggressive predator, is all."

Siella's questioning gaze on me lingered for a few seconds, but it wasn't as unnerving as when it was Luna's eyes staring at you; like she sees straight through your bullshit and is infuriated for having to exert her energy on you unwantedly just to do it.

Siella, despite having the very same DNA and similar-ish features, did nothing for me below the belt. But Luna, even when grief-stricken, incensed and aggressively cautious—as she has every right to be as a gorgeous woman living independently—stirs things in me that make no sense at all.

"Did you pass the test?" Siella asked warily, keeping a vigilant eye on me the whole time.

I chuckled, thinking back to Luna's face in the window which had mellowed so dramatically with every anecdote I recalled about our lost friend. I'm fairly sure I had already won her over at Dalen's birthdate, but just kept going because I was enjoying the way her whole body relaxed and stiffened simultaneously with every memory I reproduced. I could have gone on for days, but my stomach was growling at me with hunger and the burning of our food wasn't making it any better. Also, I just don't like having to justify things that are true and obvious.