Becoming the Luna

Somehow we all gravitate to the kitchen where Shana cooks up a quick breakfast. Breakfast might have turned out okay if everyone didn't keep on staring at me like I'd lost my throat.

"Is there something on my face that no one is telling me about?" I ask, taking a sip of the glass of milk that my mom keeps refilling.

Was it possible to get drunk on milk?

"No, not at all." Shana tells me with a convincing tone, watching with great interest as I put a forkful of egg into my mouth.

"That's it, I'm full." I pronounce, pushing my nearly empty plate backwards.

"Finish your milk, baby." My mom says, hurrying over to my side of the table to fill up my nearly empty cup.

I just glare at her. "I'm going to feel like a walking bag of juice if you make me empty this cup again." I whine, pouting. "I'm pretty sure I've already emptied a carton.

"Two, but who's counting?" Mae murmurs, tapping on her phone, she had refused breakfast and would soon take her leave.

"Mom?" I complain louder at Mae's words.

"I just want to make sure that you're okay." She says seriously, clutching the carton of milk and eyeing my cup to see if there was a way she could somehow fit a couple more drops in.

"And you think that drowning me in milk is going to somehow achieve that?" I ask sarcastically.

She makes a non-committal shrugging motion. "What can I say, you're cute when you drink milk." She says unrepentantly, eyeing me with interest. "I'm pretty sure the others feel the same."

"Yep." Shana nods seriously, drinking down her cup of tea.

"Ditto." Dale agrees, his leaf green eyes watching my face.

Virgil hums at this and I'm devastated at them teaming up on me.

"Do you agree with them, Mae?" I ask, turning to my last help.

"Not really." She smiles at me.

"I can't believe you let my mom bribe you all." I say in a huff, crossing my arms.

"Mae didn't agree." My mom points out.

I give her a dark look. "Maybe because her demands were too high or something or she just doesn't collect bribes."

"Would you just drink up your milk?" Shana requests, shaking her head fondly.

"With all of you staring at me like I'm the first person to ever drink milk, no thanks, I'm not about to choke and die." I say seriously, avoiding Dale and Virgil's eyes because if I stuttered my mom wouldn't take me seriously, and looking at either of them was enough to make me forget how sentences worked.

"Stop being dramatic, baby." My mom coaxes me. "Just drink that last cup of milk so we can leave the dining table."

I frown at this, narrowing my eyes at her. "I see what you're doing, mom, you're trying to guilt-trip me into drinking the glass of milk but that's not going to…"

"Come on, Doll, drink up." Dale interrupts my ranting.

No! Don't look at him!! Don't… too late.

I glance at him and unsurprisingly I forget where to place my tongue while talking.

"O-Okie." I mumble, already bringing the cup of milk to my lips before my brain processes my actions.

"What? Really?" My mom exclaims, faking being hurt. "I've been convincing you for forever and you simply do it when he just asks!"

I don't even have the presence of mind to answer her questions because Virgil is taking the glass of milk out of my slightly trembling hands and feeding me.

How do I swallow again? Wait, my throat comes after my mouth, right?

"I don't know, Renee, maybe you should just be happy that he's finally drinking the milk." Mae says, dropping her phone to watch the scene with much interest.

"Mae?" Shana says, her voice shaky and I glance at her when Virgil takes the cup away slightly so I can swallow, she actually looks nervous.

"Yeah?" Mae tears her eyes from my torture to glance at her.

"Wanna come swimming with us?"

I splutter at this, surprised that I wasn't informed that we would be going swimming. I open my mouth to complain about this but Virgil is gently spilling milk in my open mouth and watching with an amused smile as I struggle not to choke.

"You're right, Renee." Dale agrees, not even staring at her. "He is cute when he's drinking milk."

I'm dying, I definitely am because Virgil doesn't let up the occasional tips of milk into my mouth like he enjoys my constant slight choking and my face is heating up from Dale's words.

Mae just shakes her head at this and returns her attention to Shana. "Of course, I'd love to, I had better get going now then, just stop by my house and I'll join you guys." She says, getting up. "Wanna walk me out?" She adds with a grin.

Shana falls over herself getting up and we all pause to watch the usual calm and collected, mostly scary girl nearly trip over her feet trying to get to Mae.

My mom and I share a quick glance and she winks at me, I barely have the time to react to my mom's actions before Virgil and Dale are returning their attention to me, the interest they're showing in watching me drink milk is highly unnecessary.

I've never been happier in my entire life to see a glass of milk get emptied, I feel like I drank an entire drum of it even though I only took like two glasses.

Shana saunters back in with a goofy grin on her face and all our eyes get trained on her but she doesn't even act like she notices even though she obviously does, going over to settle down on her chair.

"Well, you look inordinately happy." Dale speaks up, eyeing her.

"Yep." She answers shortly, taking an unnecessary sip of her now cold tea. 

"Well, are you going to tell us why?" My mom prods.

"Why?" She asks mischievously, grinning wider.

"Because we'd like to know." I say, joining the throng trying to find out what was going on only Virgil looks unbothered, lounging against the highbacked dining chairs like it was a sofa.

"I don't think that's enough reason to let you know." Shana says slyly, a smug smile on her face.

"She's just happy that she's going to get to see Mae in a swimsuit." Virgil says blankly and Shana lets out a sound of horror, going a shade of pink that I've never seen before, wait, actually I've never seen Shana blush.

"So it's true?" Dale asks with a smirk, interest on his face.

Shana crosses her arms and closes her eyes in a reprimand. "Of course not." She says importantly, shooting Virgil the stink eye. "I asked Mae on a date and she said yes."

"So you won't be happy to see her in a swimsuit?" My mom frowns believably but I see through her ruse, Shana unfortunately falls for it.

"W-What? No, I mean yes." She splutters nearly biting off her tongue in her attempt to explain, it was nice not being the center of attention for a while. "I don't like you, Renee." She pouts.

My mom just chuckles, getting up to clear the table. "You think I was going to let that kind of opportunity pass me by?" She laughs harder, relishing in the pink shade of Shana's cheeks.

I remember now that I had been signed up for pool time that I wasn't aware of. "When did we decide to go to the pool?" I ask everyone and no one in particular, already cringing into myself at the thought of spending the rest of the day half-naked around Virgil and Dale.

"Now?" Shana says, an invisible 'duh' floating around her words.

I glare at her. "I'll tell Mae that you said you couldn't wait to see her in a swimsuit." I threaten with a smug look on my face.

More of that pink shade splashing on her face but she recovers faster than I had budgeted for. "And I'll tell Virgil that you wished he didn't wear a one-piece swimsuit." She emphasizes each word, spelling out my doom.

I clamp a hand over my mouth, my face burning up. "You already did." I say in a choked voice full of disbelief, I wanted the ground to open up and choose only me to fall in, it couldn't be that bad living in a cave right?

At least it had to be way better than dying from a seizure which was about to happen to me as Virgil slowly turns towards me with amusement dancing in his bright blue eyes.

Dale and my mom are laughing silently while Shana looks like she just designed a spaceship to take us to the aliens all by herself, she looked incredibly smug.

Virgil uses a hand to spin my chair around to face him so that there's no way I can ignore his piercing gaze. "Is that really how you feel, Hay?" He asks in a low pitched voice that has me wanting to place a hand over my heart to cross-check if it was still working and hadn't gone into a seizure yet.

I go cross-eyed with trying to keep my gaze on him, well, I actually feel that way but I'd rather shave all my hair off than let him know this but I have to reply to him.

What the hell was I supposed to say to his question?