Luna

23 | restless heart

Nevaeh's mouth drops open. "Oh." She flips the pages of the menu again, and realization crosses her expression as she finds many options to customize the burger. "Well then, I'd like my burger with beef, cheddar cheese and gluten-free bun. With mixed greens and tomatoes. The sauce would be buttermilk ranch, and please add this sauteed mushrooms for me," she says. "And french fries."

"Alright." The waiter quickly jots down everything she says. "What about the other one?"

I'm thinking that Nevaeh would wait until Max comes back from the restroom, but then she says, "For him, it would be a burger with beef... and pepper jack cheese... and whole wheat." She taps her finger on her chin, biting her lower lip. "Please include mixed greens and sauteed red peppers, and for the sauce... It would be the barbeque one. As for the fries, it's the same. French fries."

The waiter jots down the order again, nodding a few times.

"And he'd also like to have smoked bacon as an extra topping, please," Nevaeh adds.

"Noted," the waiter says. "Thank you for ordering. Please wait for a while until the food is delivered." He's about to leave when Nevaeh calls.

"Wait, no pickles for him, please," she urges, as if she just forgot that important part. "And please make the smoked bacon really really extra, like, a lot."

The waiter nods again before finally leaving.

And I'm at a loss for words.

Just in time, Max arrives back at our table, flopping into his seat. "Did you order it?"

"Yeah," Nevaeh says before explaining the details of his order, and Max nods in approval.

"Perfect." He smirks.

My heart sinks, and I wonder why. This is a simple thing, but it hurts me to know that I don't have any single clue about what Nevaeh was saying.

I know that Max loves cheeseburger, but I didn't know that he prefers pepper jack to cheddar cheese. I didn't know that he likes sauteed red peppers in it. I didn't know that he hates pickles and that he has a huge craving for smoked bacon.

And I'm not happy with that.

I'm so confused. Am I really not happy with that, or with the fact that Nevaeh knows all of it?

Even Max knows about her habits. It seems like they know what's inside each other's minds without having to tell the other about it.

"So how was the field trip?" Nevaeh smiles, resting her chin on both of her palms.

"It was cool, wasn't it, Luna?" Max says, snapping me out of my trance.

I've just realized that I've been staring at Nevaeh longer than I should. "Oh, yeah. It was great."

"Luna practically mastered the galleries as well as their masterpieces, especially the paintings," Max says. "She loves them. She's really good at painting."

Nevaeh's eyes widen as she stares at me with amazement. "That's so cool. I've always wanted to be able to paint, but I suck at that." She laughs -- her laughter sounds so angelic.

I give her a soft smile. "I'm not that good, actually. My brother is the real artist."

Max shakes his head at me, his stare firm as he mouthes 'No,' as if telling me that I was entirely wrong, but then he shifts his attention back to Nevaeh.

"You haven't told me how you managed to get here," Max says.

Nevaeh huffs. "What do you think? I've got Dad's permission."

Max raises his eyebrows, throwing her a lazy stare. "Right. What tricks did you use this time?"

She scoffs, crossing her arms on her chest. "Well, even though Dad knew that you'd moved from Australia to New York, he still didn't allow me to move from Texas so that I could attend Royal Heights as well. I kinda gave him an ultimatum. You know, at this point, he would accept anything as long as I don't leave the house." A devilish smirk creeps on her lips.

I listen to her every word, not missing how my heart drops when I hear that she was planning to attend our school after knowing that Max had moved there.

"When you talked to me on the phone a few days ago while I was speaking with Sienna, you said that you would have this field trip in Paris, and I got so excited." She grins. "I always wanted to visit this city again, but Dad seemed quite busy these days. Besides, I wanted to have a vacation where I could explore this city freely without him always worrying about me for every little thing." Slight irritation fills her voice, but the smile on her face lets me know that she loves her Dad very much.

"I begged him to let me fly here to see you and have a little vacation as a weekend getaway," she continues. "It's supposed to be no big deal, because I just had to skip one day at school. Then I promised him that I would drop Royal Heights."

Max raises one of his eyebrows and says to her in a mocking tone, "And you managed to convince him?"

Nevaeh shrugs, a hint of proudness in her voice as she says, "Come on, Max. He definitely allowed me to come here because he knew that you would look out for me. So, hell yeah, I did manage to convince him." Her smile is so big, from ear to ear.

My mouth hangs open, my thoughts going crazy inside my mind.

Navaeh wanted to move to our school, all the way from Texas, the moment she knew that Max had come back from Australia.

She's close to Max's family. Well, at least I know that she's close to Sienna.

Even though Nevaeh's dad didn't allow her to move to New York, he trusts Max to take care of her.

I swallow hard, the horrible feeling stirring inside my heart becoming worse.

Why am I feeling like this? I shouldn't have this kind of restlessness.

Nevaeh and Max are really close. They're best friends, perhaps.

But then, what if they're more than best friends? What if they are a thing, and all this time, they couldn't be together because of the long distance between our country and Australia?

What if this is the moment for Max to introduce me, his close friend-- Right, am I his close friend? I guess so -- to his significant other?

Max chuckles, shaking his head in disbelief after listening to Nevaeh's explanation, while she just giggles.

And I am lost. Completely lost.