DISCONTINUED

Chapter 29

It was mid-morning the following Saturday when Luna sent a short, vague message off to Bo. All she said was. I've thought of something. Come see me. And don't tell Olivia. To which Bo had replied simply ok.

She knew she could count on him, always. He was a good friend. A good, strong, kind, handsome, I want to just fall into his arms friend... No! She shook herself out of those thoughts. No way. She wouldn't allow herself to go there, not even given her current rift with Olivia. She was better than that. At least she hoped that she was. No. She'd make sure she was.

While it was true that she just, in general, still didn't particularly want to hang out with Olivia any more than they already did at school, in this case it really didn't make sense that she come. It wasn't appropriate, and to be honest, the less she knew about it the better. Just in case. How Bo was going to explain spending part of his Saturday with her and not Olivia was his problem. He could figure something out, 'cause right now Bonnie needed her Clyde.

About an hour later there was a knock on the door. She was upstairs so her Dad answered it.

"Oh, hey Bo. How are you doing?"

"Hi Mr. Timmons. Good... good thanks."

"I'm assuming you're looking for Luna? I think she's upstairs, although I admit that I actually don't know for sure."

Luna came running down the stairs.

"Oh, well... look at that. Here she is! Hey Luna, Bo's here..."

"Thanks Dad. I know. I asked him to come over" she said as she sat down to put her shoes on. She grabbed her coat. "I'm going out for a bit ok Dad? I'll be back later."

"OK. Sounds good. Have fun."

Bo followed Luna as she bounded down the front steps, her Dad closing the door behind them. "Somebody's awfully cheery today. I'm not complaining or anything, but... what's up Lu?"

"I told you. I thought of something."

Bo was having trouble keeping up, with both Luna and the conversation. "Um, ok. Would it kill you to be just a little more specific?"

"Oh shoot, just a minute. I forgot my phone. I'll be right back" Luna said as she turned and headed back up the driveway to her house.

She walked in and grabbed her phone off the table and was just about to leave again when her Dad poked his head around the corner from the kitchen.

"Hey, I thought you left? Where's Bo?"

"I did, but I forgot my phone, so I ran back to get it. Bo's waiting out front. See ya."

She was about to close the door behind her when her eyes met her Dad's. He grinned and she smiled back.

"It's nice to see you smile Luna. I haven't seen you look this happy in a while." He paused before continuing. "Bo's a nice guy, isn't he?" He raised his eyebrows as he looked past her towards where Bo was waiting outside. "And I saw the way he was looking at you. Anything I should know about?"

"Wait, what? No! No, Dad. NO! Why... why would you even say that?" She could feel her cheeks heating up as she tried to mask her embarrassment and guilt with what was undoubtedly an overly dramatic display of disbelief. "We're just friends Dad! And besides, Bo's going out with Olivia. You know that."

"Oh yea, right. Sorry. I forgot. I guess I didn't see what I thought I saw then. But it's still nice to see you happy. Love you Luna."

"Love you too Dad."

"Have fun with your... friend" said her Dad as he disappeared back into the kitchen. She could hear the smirk in his voice.

She closed the door behind her and stood on the steps for a moment. Maybe she should have invited Olivia after all. No, that would have been a bad idea. But sheesh... if her DAD could tell? You usually had to hit him full in the face with something for him to notice. Clearly she was going to have to get a much better grip on herself.

She stuffed her phone in her pocket and walked back down the driveway to Bo and they headed off down the street.

"Sorry about that."

"No problem. So... now can you tell me what this is all about?"

"Like I said, I thought of something" Luna replied, grinning mischievously.

Bo narrowed his eyes at her, raising an eyebrow. "And like I said, can you be any more specific?"

She jumped out and stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop abruptly, and looked into his eyes, still grinning. "Bo, will you be my Clyde?"

He stared blankly back at her.

"You know, Bonnie and Clyde... we just learned about them in class the other day, remember? I need you to be my Clyde." She paused briefly, realizing what she'd just said, and quickly stammered out "Wait. Not the whole lovers thing. Not that. I just mean... shoot. Maybe it's not a good metaphor aftercall. It sounded a LOT better in my head. I just meant, like, I need a good friend that's got my back on something. You know, like a 'partner in crime' or whatever, except I'm not talking about committing any actual crimes. And, you know, you're a guy, I'm a girl... Clyde, Bonnie..."

"Lu. Lu! Stop. I get it ok." He paused. "Although for a second there I was thinking maybe I understood why you didn't want Olivia here today." He grinned at her and she smacked him playfully.

"Ha ha ha Bo. Very funny. You give yourself way too much credit. Not if you were the last guy on earth buddy." Of course her pounding heart begged to differ. They started walking again.

"Ok, so forget the whole Bonnie and Clyde angle. Clearly that played out a lot better in my head somehow. But I've got an idea and I need a partner... someone to help me with a plan. Are you in?"

"Because I know that I'm not only your best friend but I'm also pretty much your only friend right now" - he put his arms up to block the swat that he knew was coming - "I will say 'yes'. But, since even you would have to agree that you haven't exactly been a pillar of stability and 'good' ideas lately, I'm going to reserve the right to reverse my decision should I deem your so-called 'plan' to be guaranteed to hurt one or both of us. Deal? Trust me... that's the best offer you're going to get." Bo stuck his hand out towards her.

Luna paused briefly for effect before replying "Deal" and shaking his hand - against her better judgement, but not for reasons that had anything to do with sealing a deal. Yikes... just the touch of his hand made her skin tingle.

"Good. Deal. Ok then. Let's hear this plan of yours."

"Well, you know how the other day at school I was saying that I wanted to do something that would, you know... get under their skin, but I didn't know what?"

"Yea, I remember." Bo gave her a look like he wasn't sure he was liking where this was going but Luna continued on enthusiastically.

"Well, I thought of something! Wanna hear my idea?"

They walked and talked for close to an hour. Well, they walked and Luna talked while Bo mostly just listened. When they finally stopped to sit down on a bench, Bo turned and looked quizzically at Luna. They were at a dog park.

"Lu, why do you do this to yourself? Why do you come here?"

Luna sat quietly watching dogs of all shapes and sizes appear to be having the time of their lives. Her smile was gone now, replaced by an all too familiar as of late expression of sad emptiness.

"Because these guys remind me of what life should be like, of the way we were all capable of feeling before someone decided that their lives were more valuable than ours."

She turned to look at Bo. "So, are you in? Will you help me?"

Bo studied her face for a moment and then sighed. He closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly. "I'm almost certainly going to regret this, but yes... against my better judgement, I'm in."

Luna grinned, but just slightly. Not nearly enough to hide her obvious pain.

"Thanks Clyde."

"You're welcome Bonnie."