DISCONTINUED

Chapter 64

Bo lay on the edge of Luna's bed repeatedly tossing a small stuffed penguin in the air as Luna busied herself trying to find a place for everything she needed in just her backpack and one other small bag. He accidentally tossed it higher than intended, causing it to hit the ceiling fan which sent it flying to the far side of the room where it thumped against the wall and dropped to the floor.

"Oops" said Bo, laughing.

"Hey! Don't you go disrespecting Winston like that!" scolded Luna as she walked over to pick up the penguin and brush it off.

"Um, Winston?"

"Yea. Winston. You know, he's a penguin so he sort of looks like a butler, and Winston seems like a pretty good butler name so, yea... Winston." She held the stuffie at arm's length, admiring it, then hugged it to her chest.

Bo rolled his eyes at her and looked away, pretending to barf.

"Oh c'mon... like you never had a special stuffie when you were a kid."

"Exactly. When I was a kid, sure. Don't you think maybe it's time to let go of the little guy Lu? You know, let him spread his wings..."

"Penguins can't fly Bo."

"Ok. Good point. But you are 17, right, and not just a freakishly tall child?"

Luna screwed up her nose and stuck her tongue out at him as she shoved the penguin into her pack. "Well, clearly you can't be trusted with Winston so he's coming with me."

Bo lay silently on the bed as Luna finished the rest of her packing. When she was done, she moved her bags to the floor and lay down next to him. She turned her head to look at him, but he avoided making eye contact with her.

"Well, this is fun. Not. Geez... you'd think you were the one that had to leave to go live in the boonies. C'mon Bo. I thought you were coming over to cheer me up?"

Bo continued staring up at the ceiling as he spoke. "It's just... it sucks, you know. You having to leave really sucks. I wish you didn't have to go."

"Yea, me too. But I can't very well stay here and not die when I'm supposed to now can I? Somehow I don't think they'd look fondly on that."

"Then why can't I come with you?" Bo said as he turned to look at her.

"Don't be stupid. It's too dangerous. I have to go, but you... you don't. And you have a life here that's not half bad if you don't count the whole 'we're killing you when you're 42' thing. Which at least is a long way away, thankfully."

It was her turn to stare at the ceiling as she shook her head. "No way. You gotta stay. It's way better for you here. But I have to go. It's not like I want to, but I have no choice."

Bo sighed. "I dunno Lu. You seem pretty ok with all of this really."

Luna sat up and glared at him. "Seriously? You think I'm 'ok' with all of this?" She was about to detail all the things she was definitely not ok with but instead she sucked in her top lip and got up off the bed to go fiddle with her already packed bags. She knew he didn't mean it, and her losses, her tragedies... they certainly weren't his fault. And she was really going to miss him too. She flopped heavily down in her chair and leaned her head back, loudly exhaling as she puffed out her cheeks.

"No Bo, I'm not ok with any of this" she said sadly. "But what I am ok with is living. And we'll still see each other. Like, a lot... hopefully." She grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. "So stop being such a depressing dork already."

"Yea. I know" said Bo as he caught the pillow and threw it back at her.

"You know what this reminds me of?" said Luna, the mood having lightened a little, at least for the moment.

"What?"

"It reminds me of nights before going away on family vacations. If we got done packing early enough, we'd always sit down and watch a movie together." Luna screwed up her face and looked off into the distance. "Thinking about it now, it sort of sounds like a bribe, but... whatever." She threw up her hands. "It was fun, and it worked. My Dad would usually pop in and out - he was sort of an obsessive organizer / packer - so it was mostly just my Mom and I and we usually ended up watching sort of a chick flick. It was fun. Sort of like a tradition."

Her voice trailed off as she sighed and stared at the floor sadly, biting her lip.

"Why don't we watch one Lu, you and me? I mean, I know it won't be the same, but it could still be fun. Why don't we watch that one you were talking about... the one where those two people drive off the cliff?"

Luna smiled slightly and raised an eyebrow at him. "You want to watch Thelma & Louise with me, really?"

"Yea, yea... let's watch that!"

"Ok, but I'm warning you... it's pretty old and it's definitely a chick flick."

"Bring it on girlfriend."