"It's a beautiful night," Grayson said. Luna looked down from the sky and towards Grayson.
"Yes," Luna agreed. "It is."
They walked further away from the mansion and came upon a bench. Luna's feet were beginning to hurt from the high heels so she decided to sit down and rest them for a minute. Grayson followed and sat down next to her.
"Noah told me about the relationship between you two," Grayson said, breaking the silence.
"Huh?"
"About you two becoming friends. I was glad to hear that."
'Glad to hear that Noah and I are friends?'
"I was worried, because Noah is my closest friend."
"Worried about what?" Luna was starting to not understand what Grayson was saying.
"Worried that you and Noah were a couple."
"Oh. We were never a couple. We only went on a couple dates."
"I know. I'm glad."
A cool breeze blew by, making Luna shudder. Grayson took off his jacket and placed it over her shoulders. She looked over at Grayson, who stared at her with his dark eyes. Luna was starting to feel uncomfortable again. She wanted to go back inside. "Thank you," Luna said as she got up. "But I'm okay." She started to take the jacket off. Grayson's hands grasped onto the lapels of his jacket, preventing Luna to slip off the jacket.
"It's cold." Grayson's dark eyes continued to stare into Luna's.
"I think we should go back in," Luna said in hopes to escape the uncomfortable situation. She pulled away from Grayson and turned around to leave.
"Do you remember what happened that night?"
Luna stopped. 'What night?' She thought about it. 'Oh, that night.' Luna's memory was jogged and she remembered her and Grayson's faces being so close together, their noses touching. Luna didn't say anything. What could she say?
"Why do you not see how beautiful you are?" Grayson asked with his deep voice. His words took Luna by surprise.
"What?" She thought she misheard him. Luna turned around to face Grayson.
"I can help remind you what happened that night if you can't seem to remember it." Grayson took a step towards Luna. She froze.
"What do you mean?"
Grayson took another step forward and wrapped his left arm around Luna's waist. She gasped.
"What are you doing?" Luna's heart was pounding. What was happening?
Grayson didn't bother to answer Luna. He leaned in, his face closing in on Luna's. As he got closer and closer, Luna started to panic. She leaned her head back and quickly brought it back up, butting into Grayson's forehead.
"Ow!" Grayson grunted and loosened his grip on Luna's waist. She stepped back and turned around. Luna held onto Grayson's jacket around her and she quickly made her way back up the pathway to the mansion.
When Luna entered the ballroom, she felt very warm. She took off Grayson's jacket and hung it on her left arm. She walked over to an empty table to catch her breath.
'What just happened?' Luna asked herself. She took a glass of red wine from a server and took a couple gulps. She made a face after she put the glass down from her lips. Luna was so confused as to what was happening. 'Why is Grayson acting like that towards me?'
When he had his arm wrapped around her waist, Luna confirmed one thing: she has feelings for Grayson. But because Luna didn't know Grayson's intentions towards her, she was scared. She still didn't believe that someone as handsome and sought-after as Grayson could like someone as average as her. Luna had no self-confidence when it came to Grayson; men in general. She was always so self-conscious about her size and her face. Luna didn't believe that she was pretty enough to be attractive to any man. Why would it be any different with Grayson?
Luna brought the wine glass up to her lips and finished it. She set the glass down on the table and took in several breaths.
"Luna." She looked up and saw her mother.
"Mom," Luna said.
"I'm afraid you will have to call Sean to pick you up. Your father and I are going to a business meeting after the party."
"Oh it's okay," Luna said. "I can call a taxi."
Mrs. Rose's eyes opened wide and a frown appeared on her face. "Call Sean to pick you up."
"Mom." Luna started to sound like she was whining. "Sean is probably already asleep. I can get home by myself."
"No, Luna. I do not feel comfortable having a stranger take you home."
Hey Luna." It was Noah. "I apologize for eavesdropping, but I can take you home."
"And who are you?" Mrs. Rose asked.
"My name is Noah Vandin; a friend of Luna's." He offered his hand for a shake.
Mrs. Rose took it. "Mary Rose. Luna's mother." She took his hand.
"Oh!" Noah sounded surprised. "I would have thought you were Luna's sister," Noah said smiling.
Mrs. Rose smiled. "If you don't mind Noah, please take my daughter home tonight. Her father and I will be going elsewhere afterwards and she does not want to bother her chauffeur." Luna sensed the sarcasm coming from her mother.
"Of course, Mrs. Rose. It will be my pleasure to drive this lovely lady home tonight."
After hearing that Noah will be driving her daughter home, Mrs. Rose left the two and walked back towards the crowd of people.
"Thank you, Noah." Luna turned to face him. "My mom can be a bit paranoid."
"That's alright. I don't mind taking you home."
"Oh no. it really is fine. I can call a taxi."
"I won't take 'no' for an answer," Noah said. He took Luna by the arm and guided her towards the corner of the room where she noticed Sera and Grayson—again. "I already told your mother I will be taking you home. I am a man of his words." He chuckled as they approached the table.
"I was wondering where you went off to," Grayson said as Luna and Noah reached the table.
"What happened to your forehead?" Sera asked Luna, noticing the red mark on the center of her forehead. "Brother has the same thing too." Sera glanced suspiciously at Grayson and back to Luna.
"I ran into a pole," Luna blurted out. She isn't really good at lying, but she tries when it is needed.
"Are you okay?" Noah asked, worried.
"Oh I'm fine," Luna said softly rubbing her forehead. Now that she was aware of it, her forehead was throbbing. "Ah," Luna bit down on her tongue to distract her from the pain.
"I'll take one," Sera said as she took a glass of wine from a server. She handed it to Luna. Caught by surprise, Luna didn't react. Grayson reached for the glass of wine, but Sera pulled it back from his grasp. "You already have one. This is for Luna."
"I already had a glass," Luna said, not wanting to accept it.
"Oh come on Luna," Sera said in a whiny voice. "Have a glass with me." Sera opened her eyes widely and blinked several times. She slowly formed an innocent smile.
"Okay," Luna said and she took the glass of wine from Sera. "Thank you."
"Cheers!" Sera said and raised her glass to the center of the four of them. Noah and Luna raised their glasses up, reluctantly followed by Grayson.
"Cheers!" They each took a sip from their wine. Luna tried not to show her dislike for the wine, but inevitably made a sour face.
"Hahaha!" Sera giggled. "You're so cute!" She was referring to the face expression Luna was displaying unintentionally.
Luna swallowed the sip of wine and took in a deep breath. As she let out the breath, she felt light headed and stumbled to her right. Noah reached out with his left hand to help, but he wasn't able to catch her.
"Oomph!" Luna felt a familiar arm wrap around her waist, catching her before she reached the ground.