My Crazy Love

Chapter 4

Everything felt so normal. It felt like I had known Luna and her brothers for years. I can't remember how we moved away from Old Maid but before I knew it we were all laying on different parts of the floor. I had been leaning against the wall next to the door. From my spot I saw that Kaleb had retreated back to the corner from before. He had his headphones on and a blanket thrown over him while his knees were pulled into him. My guess is that he had a tablet in his lap under the blanket. I look towards the middle of the room and see Luna had passed out starfished in the middle of the room. And on the complete opposite side of the room was Evan. He was leaning against a wall. He had two bluetooth earphones in and he's leaning his head back against the wall. I was taking everything in. I felt happy and content, a feeling that had been a while since I felt.

"You good?" I hear Evan's voice say softly as if he didn't want to disrupt the other two. "Yeah just taking in the moment." I feel a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. "Yeah it was great. I can't believe Luna didn't make it to midnight." He laughs as he stands up while taking out his earphones. "It's your first time at a family get-together. Here," he hands me a small amber colored fleece blanket and a small pillow. "We are usually here past midnight. Sleep stuff is great when it gets late." He threw a blanket over Luna before making his way over to me. He slid down the wall until he was sitting right next to me. Close enough that our shoulders touched just slightly. "Wanna watch a video rating different fast food bread rolls." He pulls his phone out of his pocket and holds the phone for both of us to watch. He leaned in slightly closer. "Are you comfortable?" He looks me in the eyes as he asks. "Yeah, are you?" I ask back.

It felt like time had stopped and we were stuck in this moment. Suddenly an alarm goes off on his phone. "Shoot sorry I wanted to remember to wake up Luna." 11:55. Five more minutes until New Years. "Everyone come out!" I can hear an adult woman call out. "Okay give us a sec. I gotta wake up Luna!" Evan yells out. "Give me a second." He says with a toothy grin as he stands up again. "Moon," He keeps repeating while he pokes her. I can see her eyes flick lightly as she starts to open them. "Almost midnight, come on everyone is gonna start counting." He says as he begins to pull her off the ground. "Yeah I'm coming." Luna stands up, walks over to me and rests her head on my shoulder. I could hear her short breaths as she tried to wake herself up. "Hey, Kaleb counting is gonna start." Evan poked Kaleb with the tip of his shoe. "You know I hate that stupid countdown stuff." Kaleb shouts through the blanket before rolling to lay on his side with a blanket covering him. "Come on, you know how Aunt Ava gets about photos." He pulls Kaleb's blanket off of him and offers his hand to him.

"They're never worth it though. They are always kinda blurry and no one says anything because no one realizes it until they sobered up." He says as he rolls onto his stomach instead of grabbing Evan's hand. I pat Luna's back to signal moving her head. I walk over to Kaleb. I kneel down and place my hand gently on his shoulder. "It'll only be a second, right?" I smile down at him. His gaze softens before he starts to stand on his own. "Yeah I guess you're right." Evan gives me a nod as he gets Luna. We all head out. "Pictures!" says a lady I'm assuming is their Aunt Ava. "Come on everyone, come in!" She calls trying to push everyone as close together as possible. "Here stand in front of me." Kaleb says as he guides me to stand in front of him. Luna had woken up more so she was smiling as she was standing next to me. Evan standing next to Kaleb and behind Luna. "Everyone Smile!"

Once the photos were taken I saw Kaleb quickly escape back to the room. Luna was walking around and disappeared to who knows where. Evan was standing in the kitchen not too far from where the picture was taken. I was still standing around not quite sure where to go or who to go with. "Hey, Hungry?" Evan says while holding out a plate that has cheese, salami and pepperoni. "Hey, my name isn't Hungry." I jokingly said as I took a slice of pepperoni from the plate. "I see you two meet." I hear from a woman behind us. "Irene, this is Julie." He motions towards me. "Julie. You're Rose's daughter right." She holds her hand out to shake my hand. "Yes Ma'am." I smile before she drops my hand. "I'm Vincent's mother, Irene." A slight scowl comes across her face before it is quickly replaced with a welcoming smile that felt too fake to be real. "Anyways don't get too comfortable. Evan can't be getting distracted now." She pats his shoulder before walking away from us.

"What was that about?" I watch her walk away and disappear into the main room everyone is drinking in. "She's probably referring to baseball practice." He turns away. "Coke?" He offers while holding one up. "Yeah, sure. So you pl-" "Time to go Julie!" Vincent calls me. "And mom?" I ask back. "Already in the car, say goodbye." He says before briskly walking out. "Wait I don't know where an-" "Hey it's cool Luna and Kaleb are probably asleep by now. I'll tell them bye for you." He smiles at me. "See ya around?" He says lightly. I wave bye and run to catch up to Vincent.

Once I got into the car my mother was sitting in the driver's seat looking annoyed. Vincent looks irritated but content. Take one last look at the house and then the car begins to pull out. I look out the window as we pull away. Until my eyelids felt heavy and they closed. When I opened my eyes again I was in the car. Except the car was completely surrounded in darkness. I blinked while looking around. I opened the door slowly. I could see the car headlights and lights in the car turn on. The light lit up the once dark garage. I guess I was left in the garage. I close the door and make my way to the garage door. I opened it with no struggle. I guess that must have forgotten to lock it, thankfully. Inside I see Vincent and my mother passed out on the couch as the T.V. plays. I sneak my way into my room and crash myself.