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𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗘𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗠𝗘
CHAPTER SEVEN
but with three of us, honey, it's
a side show
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IMESSAGE CONVERSATION
luna 🌙 [ luna ]
karl 🌀 [ karl ]
luna 🌙
KARL
karl 🌀
LUNA
luna 🌙
hi :)
you busy rn?
karl 🌀
not really
just hanging out
with nolan
why what's up
luna 🌙
oh good
I was gonna ask
if he was free too
karl 🌀
you want to do
something?
luna 🌙
honestly
I just need to get
out of this house
I will do literally
anything
karl 🌀
any particular
reason
luna 🌙
mj and foosh won't
stop arguing
I'm gonna go crazy
karl 🌀
so that's where
he's been?
luna 🌙
if you mean going
back and forth with
his girlfriend in my
living room all day
then yes
karl 🌀
we're at mine
you can come
I have oreos stocked
for you
luna 🌙
god bless you karl
jacobs
karl 🌀
only if you
bring skittles
in return
luna 🌙
I assumed as
much
be there in a few
＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊
REAL LIFE
UNFORTUNATELY FOR LUNA, she would have to pass the arguing couple on her way out the door.
Luna let out a deep breath, flicking the light to her room off behind her with one hand, the other holding the package of Skittles for Karl with the other. She could do this. She could just slink past undetected — maybe they would be so caught up on trying to prove who was right that they wouldn't notice her.
She quietly padded down the stairs, the words getting louder with each step she took. Finally, she made it to the bottom. Foolish and Mary Jane were standing in the living room, both in defensive stances, just like Luna had seen that one time in the middle of the night when they had their fight in the kitchen. Luna looked away, heading towards the door. Mary Jane's rant that she was going on didn't pause for a moment. Okay, Luna was there, all she had to do was open it and slip out—
"Luna," Mary Jane announced.
She froze, her hand on the doorknob. Luna let out a frustrated breath. So much for going undetected.
Luna slowly turned towards them. "Oh. Hey."
Mary Jane kept staring at Foolish, her arms crossed across her chest. "Can you give us an opinion on something?"
"I'd really rather not," Luna answered truthfully.
Foolish glanced over at her, his eyebrows knitting in confusion. "What's with the Skittles?"
"They're for Karl. I'm going to his to hang out with him and Nolan. This is just in exchange for Oreos."
Foolish, for some very weird reason, seemed very taken aback at that revelation. "You're going to Karl's?"
"Seriously, Noah?" Mary Jane interjected swiftly, sounding very incredulous. "You're more worried about where Luna is going rather than this conversation? Unbelievable."
He whipped back towards her. "She's been here all day! Is it such a crime for me to ask where she's going?"
"It's not just that, it's that whenever Luna shows up, all your attention suddenly goes to her." Mary Jane looked at her for a moment. "Which isn't your fault, babe. Never your fault."
"Okay, let's just hold on a second," Luna insisted, shaking her head a bit. "Every single time you two try and talk, it always gets heated and turns into an argument. And during that, not only are you hurting each other, but you're hurting yourselves. That's the last thing I want for the two of you. So, please, just take a step back, take a deep breath, and try and have a civilized conversation."
Mary Jane seemed stuck in thought at that, her gaze averted to the floor. Foolish's eyes caught on Luna's, and in them was a sparkle of truth, a moment of realization. Luna wasn't sure what that moment of realization was for him, but she didn't want to stick around to find out. That was a private conversation between Foolish and Mary Jane.
Luna offered him a small smile before opening the door. She went out into the chilly air of October, shutting the door behind her, leaving Foolish and Mary Jane to talk more. Luna crossed the street, heading to Karl's house, where the living room light was on, illuminating the outside of his house in a soft yellow color. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear that had blown in her face due to the wind and walked up the stairs to his front porch. And, without knocking or anything, Luna opened the door.
The sight she was met with made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, only because she loved seeing her friends all together. Karl and Nolan were sitting on the couch side by side, their feet propped up on the coffee table. On the TV was Over the Garden Wall, Karl's favorite cartoon that Luna had seen many episodes of because Karl asked if she wanted to watch, and as if she could say no to Karl Jacobs.
"The woman of the hour," Karl voiced, standing up from the couch and raising his arms. "There's my favorite superstar."
Luna rolled her eyes as she took off her shoes, already smiling at Karl's contagious happy energy. "I'm hardly a superstar, but okay."
"Do you have my Skittles?"
"Do you have my Oreos?"
Karl merely picked up a package of Oreos from his coffee table. "I'm a man of my word."
"I don't that for a second, sunshine," Luna responded, her smile widening at the way Karl's face flushed a light shade of red from the term of endearment. She walked up to him and held out the Skittles. "For you."
"Yes!" Karl handed her the package of Oreos in exchange. "You're the best, Looney."
"Tell me something I don't know." Luna dropped on the couch, opening the package of Oreos. "Hi, Nolan."
"Hey," Nolan responded, tearing his eyes away from the TV to look at her. "You okay?"
Luna shrugged, biting into a cookie. "Maybe you should be asking Foosh and MJ that, not me."
"What were they even arguing about?"
"Couldn't tell you. Wasn't really listening to deep into it, to be honest."
"Seems to me that they just argue all the time now," Karl stated, sitting down again and sandwiching Luna in between him and Nolan. "It's nonstop."
"That's what I'm saying," Luna agreed. "I told them to take a step back and try and have a civilized conversation because all they're doing right now is hurting each other and themselves. It breaks my heart because I love them as a couple."
And, suddenly, Karl started to giggle. Nolan even let out a chuckle as well, but Luna had an inkling it wasn't just from Karl's laugh. She glanced in between the two of them, starting to feel very, very confused. What was this? Why were they laughing all of the sudden?
Nolan nodded. "Right. Sure you do."
Luna's eyebrows knit in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"
"You're not as slick as you think you are, Lunes," Karl replied.
"Huh?"
"Luna." Karl turned to her, a knowing expression on his face. "Come on."
She blinked at him. In all honesty, she wasn't really following. Luna then looked over towards Nolan, who also had a knowing expression on his face. Okay, let's backtrack. Luna had been talking about how she wanted Foolish and MJ to have a civilized conversation, and how she was sad they were arguing because she loved them as a couple—
Oh.
Oh no.
The knowing look from Tina at TwitchCon and her comment about how Luna and Foolish and were just different. The laughing from Karl and Nolan after she said she loved Foolish and MJ as a couple. Luna felt her entire body freeze and her mind started to feel like it was spinning out of control. This wasn't supposed to happen. Nobody was supposed to find out. She had been trying her hardest to repress everything, to push it down so it would never see the light of day, but here Karl and Nolan were, telling her everything had been for nothing.
Wow. What an absolute fucking nightmare.
"You know?" Luna whispered, her voice shaking in horror as her brain desperately tried to keep up with everything going on at the moment.
"Was it not supposed to be obvious?" Nolan questioned.
Luna groaned, her hands covering her face that was rapidly turning red — what an absolute punch to the stomach. "Oh my God. This cannot be happening."
Nolan raised an eyebrow at Karl. "Did she really think that we didn't know?"
"Apparently not," Karl responded. "Luna, we've known ever since we saw you look at him. You literally stare at him like he's the only thing that exists."
"I'm going to die," Luna continued, sinking into the couch farther while wishing it would just swallow her whole so she didn't have to experience this. "This is the worst possible thing that could've happened."
Then, she asked the question that she was dreading the most, but she had to know.
Luna's voice was quiet, because she was terrified of saying it out loud. "Does anybody else know?"
"Tina definitely does," Nolan answered. "I'm not sure about the others, but if I had to guess, they probably do. And mostly all of Twitch sees it. So, basically, everyone does, besides Foolish and MJ."
"I hate my life."
"Lunes," Karl said softly, taking her wrists in his hands and gently pulling her hands away from her face. "It's okay."
"No, it's not," Luna protested. "For months, all I've been doing is trying to hide, and now you're telling me my hiding was never good enough, and now I'm freaking the fuck out." She glanced in between them again, her eyes pleading and full of desperation. "You can't say anything to Foolish and MJ. Guys, I'm serious. They can't know. The last thing I want is to betray Mary Jane like that."
"Lunes, we wouldn't tell them," Nolan replied calmly. "You know that."
Luna sighed, tucking more hair away behind her ears, her face still feeling incredibly warm. "It's just . . . I wasn't prepared for something like this. I thought that if I buried my feelings deep inside nobody would find out."
"The eyes don't lie, Luna," Karl insisted. "And let me tell you, the eyes Foolish gives you back are the same."
She shook her head. "Don't say that. He doesn't."
"But he does," Nolan agreed. "Sure, he looks at MJ happily, but he looks at you adoringly. That's a major difference."
"If you're saying this to try and make me somehow feel better about all of this, you're miserably failing. That is literally the exact opposite or what I want to hear right now."
As much as Luna wished Foolish liked her back in the way she liked him, there was Mary Jane in the way. No matter what happened, Luna couldn't date Foolish. She would never hurt Mary Jane like that. It was the last thing she wanted. All she wanted was for her best friend to be happy.
"We're saying it because it's true," Karl told her. "Luna, believe us when we say that all of us were completely surprised when he started dating MJ. It truly wasn't on my Bingo card. All of us were so sure that he was going to start dating you. And in my opinion, you two make more sense than them. No offense to Mary Jane, love her, but you seem to . . . get him more."
"There's no doubt in my mind that Foolish does like Mary Jane, but he hasn't realized that he likes you more yet," Nolan said. "Foolish just doesn't think sometimes."
Karl scoffed. "Sometimes? More like all the time. There is never a thought behind those eyes."
Luna put her hand to her forehead — there was so much information being thrown at her right now that her head was starting to hurt. "I just simply do not know what is going on anymore."
"It's okay if you don't. We also don't know what's going on, just except for the fact that we're rooting for team Loolish."
"Loolish?" Nolan repeated, sounding disgusted. "That's an awful ship name. I thought they were called Style Duo."
Karl nodded. "Oh, right, because of that one song. You're so right, Nolan."
"Don't have to tell me twice."
"Guys," Luna interjected. "Please."
This definitely wasn't what Luna had expected coming over to Karl's. In the span of maybe ten minutes, she had learned people knew about her crush on Foolish, and that Foolish could like her back — okay, maybe that part she didn't believe because he couldn't.
Luna let her head fall onto Nolan's shoulder. "Life is so confusing."
Karl then practically landed on top of Luna, snuggling up to her side — truly the master of physical affection. "Yeah, but we've got your back."
And so Luna sat there, still sandwiched between Nolan and Karl, trying her very best not to get her hopes up about Foolish belonging with her.
-ˏˋ ♥̩͙♥̩̩̥͙♥̩̥̩ ˊˎ-
OOOOOH IT'S STARTING OOOOOH
also idk why but I literally LOVE this book like I'm so proud of how it's coming out 🥰