Becoming the Luna

I got dressed and we were cleared to leave the hospital, they were still at the waiting room so when we joined them we all made our way back to the car.

"Where are we going?" I ask absently adjusting the collar of the shirt I had on, I had worn a thin cotton t-shirt inside and a short sleeve shirt over it.

"Your grandmother's house." My mom says, carefully easing into the easy traffic.

Shana perks up at this. "That means we don't have to come over tomorrow, right?" 

My mom smiles. "Yeah, you don't, you have the entire summer to yourselves, just try not to get in too much trouble."

"You sound old, Renee, are you okay?" Virgil asks seriously.

"Yeah." Dale agrees. "Plus you're leaving Shana in charge, don't you think that's a contradiction."

My mom just shrugs, luckily the house wasn't that far from the hospital so we got there in no time.

My mom quietly drives through the high Gates and I can see how tense she is, I know that spending the holiday with her family puts a lot of strain on her because they don't really approve of her decision to stay in the countryside even though she's been there now for well over a decade.

We all get out of the car and make our way inside.

""You all made it in good time." My grandma says with a happy smile coming to meet us in the living room where the maid had ushered us into. "Candy isn't even here yet, I had no idea it would be over so soon."

"Hi, mom." My mom greets blankly, tossing her bag to the side and flinging herself on a settee like she turned boneless.

"Hello, Renee, so what did Rizha say?" She asks impatiently. "Hello, children." She tags on distractedly.

Mumbled replies of greetings float back to her but I walk into her open arms. "Hi, Grammy."

"Hi, baby, how do you feel?" She murmurs into my hair, too worried about the test results to remember to correct me about her name.

"Good." I mumble back to her.

"She says there was nothing with him that she could detect, except a slight abnormality in his blood that doesn't really mean anything." My mom summarizes quickly.

Different expressions cross my grandmother's face as my mom's words sink in. "Oh, then why was he passing out and throwing up blood?" She asks, accusations evident in her tone.

"It was just one time, Maggie, don't make it sound like it happened every single day." My mom replies stiffly, a little upset, she's still lying down on her back on the settee, a hand thrown over her face to hide her eyes.

My Grammy finally lets me go and I leave her arm to plop myself down on a cushion in a corner, tensing up at the oncoming argument.

"I'm just saying that this could be the perfect opportunity to leave the countryside, this house is so big and your father is rarely around, Candy is so busy with her law firm that I never see her anymore, plus now there's the other issue with Hay's school…"

"We are not discussing this, mom." My mom sits upright with a tight expression on her face.

My Grammy bites her lip and looks away, sadness in her eyes. "Fine but I'm not giving up yet." She points a finger, turning around to walk out of the living room. "Oh dear I almost forgot." She grins, coming back in no time and waving a small black… card?

"What's that?" I ask curiously, narrowing my eyes.

"Oh, you'll need this on your vacation, after all Renee won't be around much." She says waving the credit card at me.

Shana's mouth drops at this. "Hayden has a black AmEx card? Are y'all adopting?" 

Maggie laughs heartily at this, coming over to give me the card which I slip into my pocket quickly, still uncomfortable with the idea of being ridiculously rich.

"Not at the moment love but…" She drags the 'but' her eyes twinkling. "I'm going to throw a ball for your eighteen birthday!" She announces happily, throwing her hands up.

The impressed expression on Shana's face at the card falls and she just looks stunned. "What?" She whispers in a soft voice.

"Yes, Maggie has had Candy and I working on it since forever." My mom rolls her eyes, trying to hide the excited smile trying to break free.

"It was just a couple months ago, Renee…" my Grammy barely gets all her words out because Shana is rocketing herself into her arms, high-pitched screaming leaving her mouth.

"I see I missed the big announcement." My Aunt Candy walks in looking tired but happy. "Mila said to tell you all that lunch is ready."

"Thank you so much, Maggie." Shana says genuinely, tears in her eyes.

"It's my pleasure, besides Hayden would have a stroke if I tried to do something like this for him." She admits sheepishly and I hide my face behind because her words hit too close to home for comfort.

"Well, lunch is ready, let's eat and then you can go back to enjoying your summer."

∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆•∆

"Do you even know how to drive a bloody limo?" Shana fires at Virgil.

"Yes, but I'm not the one driving."

"I thought you wanted the limo." Dale asks her as we wait outside for Rodriguez to bring the Limousine up from the underground garage. "Why are you so nervous now?"

She tries to shrug absently but I see how tense she actually is. "Nothing."

I glance up at her. "It's just a car, Shana."

Rodriguez drives said car up and Shana gulps. "Of course, it's just a car, last one in is an old man's butt." She throws over her shoulder, already dashing towards the open doors of the Limousine.

"I don't like that pink haired monster." Dale mumbles under his breath, coming in last again.

"Say that again?" Shana says, another of her huge sunglasses are on her face and she has a fizzling cup of champagne in her hand.

"How did all this happen?" I ask, waving a hand around to encompass her.

"Shana sees pretty things, Shana takes pretty things." She tells me simply. "Now buckle in we're about to go shopping!" She announces in excitement.

"Do you think Rodriguez would notice if we bashed her over the head with an empty champagne bottle and threw her out the window?" Virgil asks, always detailed in his devious plans as usual.

"No, no, there will be no killing of anyone." I say firmly, pinning Virgil and Dale who looks like he's very interested in mauling Shana with a serious gaze.

"Aww, you're no fun." Dale fake pouts.

Shana gives them a blank expression. "I'm right here."

"Unfortunately." Virgil mutters under his breath.

"You're just jealous that I'm getting a birthday ball and none of you did." Shana says smugly, her head bobbing on her neck with happiness.

Virgil and Dale just stared at her like her head left her body and started to roll around. "Uh huh."

That reminded me. "Are you going to get your hair recolored, Shana?" I ask her, the pink dye in her hair is almost non-existent now and her dark red hair is clearly showing.

She gets up to come sit beside me in the opposite chair, sunglasses moving to the side when the car lir he's a bit. "I'm thinking of a new color, I'm not ready to see my red hair just yet. That's it! We'll go to the salon at the mall while Virgil and Dale go get groceries, I'll recolor it then."

"Hey! Why are we the ones going grocery shopping?" Dale complains.

"Would you rather follow me to get my nails painted and buy lingerie?"  She asks smugly.

I see Dale wince and go a little green. "I'm not even going to ask."

I cough a little laugh into my hand at the horrified expression on their faces.

Virgil pins me with a dark expression and I choke on my laughter, tapping my chest a couple times to restart my breathing.

"Is Hayden going lingerie shopping too?" He asks seriously, a very, very serious expression on his face that I'm not even sure again if the asshole is messing with me or not.

"W-What?" I splutter, swallowing the wrong way - crap! I'm choking again.

"And a manicure? I mean he's coming along with you." Dale corroborates, looking very interested.

"I-I'm n-not…"

"If he is then we would be very interested in coming lingerie shopping with you." Virgil continues in that serious voice."

"Then we'd give you our opinions on the clothes you pick but you would have to model them for us first."

I just stare at them with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, surely Shana wasn't considering this, I glance at her in horror.

Shana hums thoughtfully. "That sounds…"

"No." I cut in, horror in my face and voice. "Fuck no, I can't believe you're even considering it."

She shrugs apologetically and my horror triples. "Well, you know, I've always wanted to get Virgil to get an undercut, you know for my scrapbook." She says in a tiny voice, not meeting my eyes.

I'm speechless, this cannot be happening.

"Then it's settled." Virgil decides, his electric blue eyes sparkling. "We're all going shopping."

I just slide downwards on my seat, wondering if anyone would notice if I bashed myself over the head with an empty champagne bottle and then threw myself out the window. That's it, I'm dead.