Southern Gentleman's Club

Big Girl Panties

Luna's shoulders sagged in exhaustion. The night was quickly slipping between her fingers, but she was determined to do all she could in one night.

Meadow held Freya's hand, taking off her press on nails. Luna worked on taking off her wig. Neither sister had anything else to say other than how far they were from being done.

Marcus waited patiently in the limo for Luna so they could leave together. Titan felt he would be overstepping boundaries, so he went back to his hotel room.

Luna stepped back from the bed. The wig was gone, nails taken away, and makeup scrubbed. Freya looked much like she did before she started on this journey.

"Are we doing the right thing?" Luna breaks the silence to Meadow. She sighs.

"My heart says yes but my mind...could she recover from this? Not personally but professionally?"

"We have to focus on her right now, her fans will be there." Luna turns her other side on. "I hope."

The sisters turn the light out and close the door. Luna's hands shook. "We're leaving her in there alone?"

"We don't have a choice, Lu." Meadow reminds her.

"I know...I just..."

"Guilt is a killer, Luna." Meadow reminds her again. "Just because you didn't push for a reset, doesn't mean it wasn't up to Freya herself to sit down more. We both have a hand in this."

"Thanks, Meadow." They're standing by the limo now. The sisters slide in and the car takes off for a hotel not far from the hospital.

Luna and Meadow sit on the bed of Luna's room. She pulls out the iPad and begins the task of sending out emails, presetting them to 8 am. Phone calls will have to wait until the next morning.

"I can't do this by myself." Luna stops to rub her eyes. She suddenly hops up and leaves Meadow in the room. Meadow jogs after her with the laptop, charger, and iPad.

Luna knocks hard on the door.

Titan snatches it open with red eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked while taking in the laptop.

"You busy?"

"We sleep."

"Oh. We need some help canceling this tour." Luna pushes her way in the room.

"It can't wait?" he asked.

"No, we were supposed to leave and head to the next show tonight. But obviously that's not about to happen. With that said, Meadow and I need to cancel all of her dates, hotel arrangements, backup singers, dancers, security, everybody and everything."

"But does that need to be done right now..."

"I wouldn't ask for y'all help if I didn't feel like I needed it." Luna sets up the laptop to charge while Meadow logs back into the iPad.

"You need to rest, Lu." Marcus' sleepy voice distracts her thoughts.

"So, you not gon help us?"

"That's not what I said...I said you need to rest." Marcus is sitting up straight in the bed now.

"Wow..." Luna's ears turned red. "Okay." She blows a disappointed sigh. "Forget I asked." She snatched the plugs out of the wall and leaves, Meadow close behind.

The sisters jumped in surprise at the loud thump coming from the Minnellis' room.

"What the fuck is her problem!" Marcus was close to losing it.

Titan remained quiet. "...I wish I knew." He sighed.

"She don't listen."

"You don't either." He calls his brother out. "Her sister is in the hospital. Her sister is not a regular woman by anybody's standards. Luna and Meadow are both a huge part of the reason why. You need to remember that."

"What? I never forgot..."

"Well, then act like it. Freya is all they both have. In Luna's eyes, Freya's career is all but over, and she has to maneuver that in a way that ensures Freya doesn't lose it all. You're in marketing, you should know that."

"I do! But Luna has to rest otherwise, her being in the hospital next to Freya doesn't do anybody any good."

"I'm aware of that. But you shouldn't expect Luna to do what you want her to do when y'all just got on good terms, bruh."

Marcus rolled his eyes in frustration. "I just..." he breathed in. "I'm going to bed." He turned over and fluffed his pillow.

But sleep didn't find him. Shit mane, he thought.

Meanwhile, Luna sat at her laptop, typing away. She'd set up a quick press conference, gotten through to half of the staff. She sipped a 5-hour energy to push herself through it. Meadow frowned as she wrote the next article to be sent directly to reputable newspapers around the country.

Marcus shuffles out of the bed, grabs a pair of Nike slides and leaves his twin staring at the muted tv screen.

Luna is so focused on the task at hand that she doesn't notice him standing in the doorway after Meadow let him in. "Shawt." His gruff sleepy voice. "Take yo ass to bed."

Luna frowns again and looks up. "When the f-"

"Go to bed."

"No."

"You can't be doing what you need to do when you're sleep deprived."

"I asked you to help me and you said no, so I got it." she brushes him off.

"No, I said you need to rest."

"Oh my fucking God! If you didn't come to help, convincing her to go to bed ain't it! That's your girl, right? Then you know how she is. Either help or shut the fuck up." Meadow slams the iPad on Luna's bed. "I'm going to my room. Good night."

Meadow's uncharacteristic exit leaves a chill in the room. Luna sighs heavily. "Why are you here Marcus?"

"Because I care, Lu." He sits on the bed next to her. "You gotta be exhausted."

"No, I'm scared." She admits. The sun is barely peeking over the horizon. "We don't have long before we got to be at the hospital. I don't want Freya to wake up alone."

Luna allowed herself to rest in Marcus' arms for a moment. Although her mind continued to race, she felt her eyes close against the sun. The warm, familiar cocoon wrapped around her as she did so.

Why do you make this so hard? Marcus thought, enjoying the feel of her. What part of I gotchu don't you understand?

He waited for Luna to fully fall asleep before he grabbed his own laptop and sent out his own announcement.

Cease and desist letters to all gossip sites and unauthorized news outlets outlined by Meadow herself the night before. Meanwhile, Julius worked quietly to scrub the video of Freya's accident from the internet completely.

By the time Luna was awake, Marcus' work was done.

"Did you sleep at all?" her sleepy voice caught his attention.

"A little...I had some work to finish real quick." He avoided her eyes. "We going to the hospital in a minute." He gestures toward the sun slowly going down.

"Fuck! I missed a whole day."

"You got some rest." He turned his attention to the email in front of him. "That's just as important as being with your sisters right now."

"Why are you so adamant about this?"

"Because..." he looks away from the screen to the window. Time ticked by. "I want a lot of things for you, Lu. And hearing Freya was in trouble was just as scary for me too. But that's beside the point."

Luna remains quiet. "Why?"

"Because my brother loves her." he says simply. "We love y'all."

"Why did he let it get this far?"

"The same reason you refuse to be all in. Even before we fell out."