Blue Moon

Chapter 25

Alona woke up tired. She felt that she had been beaten up. Her shoulder ached, her eyes were sore, and she did not feel like getting out of bed.

She stretched, then suddenly stopped when she touched something. She brushed down her scruffy blanket and saw the back of his gray t-shirt. Arlo had stayed all night with her.

She sat up and smiled over at him. He was snoring softly.

"Arlo?" She whispered. He lifted his head and yawned.

"Hmmm?" He whispered then his eyes widened. "Oh." He cleared his throat, he suddenly realized where he was. "Want me to get out?" He began climbing out of her bed.

"No. I was just going to say thanks." He stopped moving and sat back on the bed.

"You're welcome." He rubbed his neck.

"Who were those men last night?"

He sighed, "Officials. They just want to interview you to make sure you're not a member of the monarchy."

She bit her lip. She shouldn't expect anything to be easy anymore.

"Don't worry about it. We're going to talk to Drew later today, he's invited us to lunch." He wondered how she would take Drew. Drew was intimidating, he had one eye that was blind, it was scarred over light blue.

"I'll make us some breakfast." He replied after a few moments of silence.

She smiled and nodded at him. He left and she searched the room for clean clothes. She could only find a clean shirt, which she assumed was another one of Arlo's. She sighed and made her way to the bathroom.

After she took a quick, cold shower, she already missed the bathhouse and its hot water, she hurried downstairs. She was starving.

Alona was happy to see he had made biscuits and gravy.

He turned to her as she hopped up onto the counter, "We'll be meeti-" He stopped short and stared at her.

"What?" She asked.

"You just look different." He replied, "You don't have your hair up." He glanced at her shirt, realizing it was another one of his old shirts he had left behind. 

Her blue hair was naturally wavy, it was a complete hassle to deal with in the summer heat.

"Oh, I- uh. My ponytail holder snapped last night." She picked at her ripped cargo pants.

He nodded, "Anyways... we'll be meeting Drew at lunch over at his place. I figured we could get some supplies while we were out."

She was happy he was finally involving her in his plans instead of letting her run into a situation completely blind.

"Sounds good." He handed her a plate of biscuits and gravy.

----

They had bought so much stuff Alona was surprised Arlo could pay for all of it. He had paid the taxi guy to stick with them until they didn't need him. They had bought groceries and new clothes.

Arlo had even bought Alona her own set of knives. She didn't feel she needed the knives, but he insisted, telling her that she seemed like a 'knife type'. She wasn't sure if that was a compliment, but she trusted him.

They returned to Arlo's place and put away everything. Alona put away her new clothes, she was unsure just where to put her knives. She decided to put them in her bedside table drawer.

She opened the top drawer and placed her pistol closest to the bed, then she set the case of knives beside it. She slid the drawer shut.

She heard a strange whizzing sound then she heard a CLUNK sound. She turned around to find a clear cylinder with a piece of paper in it in what Arlo had said was the mail system.