the moon [h.s.] - EDITING

eight.

Luna should have been back. It's been a few long minutes and Harry's no longer in the mood. He sits up and finds his underpants. He stands up to pull them on.

Is she talking to Zavier? Or worse, Madison? He quietly walks to the door to see if he can hear something. He slowly opens it, just a little to peek. He can't see Luna because he's in the hall, but it sounds like she's in the living room with people.

"Yeah, I know him..." he hears Luna say.

"How? If you don't mind me asking?"

Harry figures out who she's talking to. He knows that voice. He closes the door slowly and steps back. He doesn't know what to do.

He feels upset. His ex-fiancée is over, Madison probably brought her, and they're talking to Luna. About him? Why? He scoffs and picks up his jeans off the floor to pick them up. He doesn't have a shirt so he throws on his cardigan and buttons it up. He puts on his shoes.

Normally, Harry would ignore and run from an uncomfortable situation. In this case, he had nowhere to run and it feels impossible to ignore. Who knows what they're telling Luna. It probably isn't anything nice.

He's out of Luna's bedroom. He feels his heart beating out of control, but he tunes it out. "What's going on?" He speaks up when walking closer to Luna. He sees her looking down. He can't tell if she's crying or not. He finally looks to see Madison and Kristen on one side of the room. He locks eyes with Kristen.

"Harry, nothing... The girls were just gonna go, right?" Zavier speaks up, leaving the kitchen to step closer to them. He looks at his girlfriend who only glares at him in return.

"What are you doing this for, Harry?" Madison speaks.

Harry breaks contact with Kristen to now look at Madison. He frowns in confusion. "Doing what?"

"Sleeping with Zavi's roommate and for what? For Kris to see? You know she comes over a lot. You're probably taking advantage of this poor girl just to spite Kris, huh?" Madison scoffs.

Harry shakes his head. "What?" He then stifles a laugh. "No-"

He's abruptly cut off when Kristen speaks up. "Enough!" She leaves them quiet. She glances at Luna before searching for Harry's eyes again. He didn't let her meet them. "This isn't exactly what I'd hope to see after a long day at work... but why try to spite me, Harry?"

"This isn't about you!" Luna snaps at Kristen. She looks between Madison and Kristen before linking her arm into Harry's. "I'm sorry to break it to you, but this isn't about you. We happened to meet... and fuck before he knew I was Zavier's new roommate. And, why the hell do you care? I know what you did. Don't play the victim here. Harry has the right to move on from you. You might want to stop coming here more often because I'm not going anywhere... neither is he." She looks up at Harry and takes his hand. She looks at Madison this time. "And he's not taking advantage of me... Let's make that clear."

Harry stays quiet as he lets Luna speak. He glances at Kristen a few times and he could feel his heartache all over again. It wasn't over missing her, it was over her thinking so little of him. He's not the one that cheated, he reminds himself. He locks his fingers in with Luna's. "Excuse us," he whispers. He tugs Luna and she follows behind him towards the hall. He hears a scoff behind him.

Luna and Harry are back in the bedroom. He lets go of her hand and sighs.

"Well, the mood has passed, hasn't it?" She laughs a little, but her smiles fade when Harry doesn't say anything. "How are you feeling?" She then asks him.

He shrugs as he sits at the edge of her bed. He feels her sit next to him, but he's looking down at the floor. "I'm sorry you have to be in the middle of that," he tells her.

Luna touches one of the rings on his finger. She outlines the letter H and smiles. "It's okay," she says. "I thought my life was dramatic."

Harry looks over at her and raises an eyebrow. "Yeah? How so?" He asks.

"Now that's a story for a different time." Luna reaches for his cheek. "Are you good though?" She asks again.

Harry nods. "I think so," he says softly. He looks at her lips. "I'm not using you to make Kristen jealous or something, by the way. Whatever Madison says or comes up with... it's not true."

Luna smiles. "I know," she whispered before leaning in to kiss him. "But I wouldn't mind making her jealous... It's what friends are for."

Harry smiles back at her and kisses her again. He decided not to say anything. He feels her hand run through his hair as he kisses her deeply.

»»

"What time is it?" Harry asks. They're barely awake.

Luna turns to check the time on her phone. She turns back to Harry and reaches to brush the curls away from his forehead. "It's two in the morning," she answers him.

They didn't do much since what had happened in the living room. They only made out and ended up streaming episodes of Friends on Luna's laptop in bed. He zoned out most of the time while watching the show. He couldn't stop seeing the look on Kristen's face when he walked out in his head.

"Already? Damn, I work in the morning," he then says.

Luna's eyes are on her laptop screen. "What do you do?" She then asks him. She reaches over to press pause.

Harry realizes she doesn't know what he does for a living, and he doesn't know what she does either. He turns his whole body to her. "I write for À La Mode. You know, the magazine. You?"

Luna sits up. "Seriously? I got a job in retail. Some boutique. Nothing big. Tell me more about your job." She's interested to know more.

"Uh, well I have my own column in every issue," he tells her.

Luna gets out of bed without a response. She's walking to a vanity she has in the corner of her room. She opens one of the drawers and pulls out the thick magazine he writes for. She walks back to bed while she flips through the pages.

Harry sits up and sees the copy in her hand.

"I stole this off of the countertop. It's Zavier's. He had it opened to this page and I started reading... Did you write this?" Luna looks at him. She sits cross-legged next to him after setting the magazine down in front of him. The pages are open to his column.

Harry bites his lip. Zavier always read his columns, even though he isn't the biggest reader. He's surprised to know he still reads them. "Yeah, I did."

She laughs. "That's so cool. You're like famous, you know that right?"

Harry scrunches his nose. "I think 'H' is well-known."

"Fine. Well-known," she corrects herself and grins. "I googled who 'H' is after reading this. Harry, you have a whole fan page, and like this group trying to figure out who you are! Is it a secret? Your identity, I mean."

Harry laughs and lays back against the bed again. "I know... I didn't think my column would ever get to where it is today. I also didn't think people would want to know who I am. It didn't start off as a secret, but now it is."

"I can see why you're so popular. I felt like you were speaking to me, you know? I'm sure others feel that way, too." Luna smiles and closes the magazine. She places it on her nightstand. "Don't worry, I'll keep your secret."

Harry smiles back at her. He watches as she then closes her laptop and puts it aside as well. "Thank you," he whispers. "I appreciate that."

Luna lays beside him again. She brings her blanket over her body and she yawns. "Such a shame though," she says tiredly. "The people don't get to know how hot you are or see how well you dress."

Harry yawns right after her. He then smiles when he closes his eyes. "Oh stop," he whispers as he lets himself cuddle closer to her.