Hey guys We finally get to meet Amos' mommy! Also, another amazing picture by Kiwi. It's a picture of Amos' mom! Anyway, let's start this chapter! :)
-Luna's POV-
"MOM?!" was all Steven, Circo, and I could say. However, Connie squealed and said, "Aunt Karmaria!"
She ran towards her and hugged her tightly. Amos' mom laughed and hugged Connie back, saying, "Its good to see you too, sweetie."
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Amos asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"I thought I'd come and visit you," she said. Amos raised an eyebrow, knowing his mom was hiding something. She sighed and said, "Your aunt called me about the recent incident at the hospital."
I flinched and glanced at Steven. He glanced at me and I looked up to see that a Circo had the same worried look. What did his aunt tell his mom?
"She told me that she punished you for something she bought you did, but turns out you didn't once your friends explained everything," she said, when Connie let her go. All of us sighed in relief; okay, no need for explanations yet.
"I'm fine now," Amos said.
"Okay, but I just wanted to check up on you, Mani," she said, smiling at Amos. Amos blushed and Circo busted out laughing. I raised an eyebrow, confused.
"Mani?" I asked, confused. "I thought your name was Amos?"
"Oh it is," Amos' mom said. "But that's his nickname I give him."
"It's perfect," Circo said, wiping a tear from his eye from having laughed so much. Amos was trying hard not to look at me or anybody for that matter. His mom came over and patted his head, "Its okay. I won't call you that in front of your friends."
She then turned to us and said. "I never introduced myself. I'm Amos' mom, but you can call my Karmaria. Or as Connie calls me, Aunt Karmaria. Or Ms. Jelani, but you don't have to be formal."
"Nice to meet you," I said, nodding to her. "My name is Luna, and his is Steven and Circo."
Circo and Steven said hi, and Ms. Jelani smiled and said hello. She turned to me and said, "So your Luna. Amos has been telling me a lot about you."
Amos face went red out of embarrassment and so did mine. Connie and Steven smiled, mischievous looks on their faces. Circo looked annoyed.
"O-Oh," I stuttered, not sure of what to say. Ms. Jelani smiled and said, "When you have the time, I would love to talk to you."
"Sure!" I squeaked. I don't know if I should feel nervous or worried about this meeting she wants to have.
"Also, great singing out there. You and Connie were adorable up there. And Amos was amazing too."
Amos flinched and looked at his mom with a worried look. I looked at Ms. Jelani, confused. "What do you mean? Amos never went up on stage."
"Of course he did! He was the one in the-"
"MOM!" Amos shouted. We all jumped and turned to him. "Can I talk to you?" He asked.
"Of course," she said.
"I mean, alone," he said, starting to move his mom away from us.
"Oh sure," she said. She looked at us and said, "I'll see you kids later then!"
As we watch Amos move his mom out of hearing distance from us, I looked at Connie confused. "What was that about?"
"I don't know," Connie said. I could tell she was hiding something but I won't push her. I crossed my arms and said, "I'm surprised Amos' mom is here. I thought he lived with you guys because.....well.....he didn't have any parents."
"He does have parents," Connie says. "But the situation is.....complicated."
I raised an eyebrow and she said, "It's not my place to say. But his mom is in the Air Force and she isn't always home to watch him so she thought it would be good for him to be here where he can get a job and grow on his own with good people."
"'Good people?'" Steven asked.
"Well.....let's just say Amos didn't always hang out with the right crowd before he came here."
I looked at Amos, who was hugging his mom now. What was his life like before he came here? From what happened a few days ago on the way back from the hospital, he must've had it rough. But.....how bad was it?
Circo tapped my shoulder and said, "We should probably get going."
"Why? Aren't we going to wait for-" I started. But Circo glanced up towards the direction of Amos. I looked and saw that his mom was patting his back and Amos was hugging her tightly. I felt my heart twist a little.
He really did miss his mom.
"Yeah," I said eventually. "We should let them have some time together."
"We'll see you later Connie," Steven said. Connie waved to us as we headed back towards the house. All of us were silent in our own thoughts. My mind kept drifting to seeing Amos hugging his mom. I crossed my arms tightly and sighed.
I wonder what it was like to have a mom.
-Time skip-
My eyes shot open and I quickly sat up in my hammock, nearly falling out of it. I sat where I was, gasping for air and feeling sweat run down the sides of my face.
I couldn't remember the dream but I just remember feeling pain and something struggling against me. And he urgency to keep whatever it was contained to keep something safe. But what?
I groaned and rubbed my eyes, knowing that it was late at night and I wasn't going to be falling asleep anytime soon. I got out of the hammock and made my way down to the beach. I walked along the beach, the waves touching my feet. Where I walked, the water would linger a little bit longer then normal before flowing back out into the ocean. I sighed and looked at my hand, seeing the moonstone reflect in the moon light.
I sat down in the dry sand, staring out at the ocean and hearing the waves. I looked at where the night sky met the ocean, and felt a little at peace. I closed my eyes and breathed in the air, trying to calm down a little. I hadn't heard the footsteps until I heard, "Luna?"
I nearly jumped to my feet but when I looked up, I saw a confused Amos standing above me.
"Amos?!" I said, confused. "What the heck are you doing here at this time of night?!"
"I couldn't sleep," he said, looking at the ocean. "So I sneaked out of the house and went for a late drive. But I saw you walking and thought I'd talk you."
I smiled and said, "Guess that's a good reason to be awake this late."
Amos sat down next to me and asked, "Why are you up?"
"I.....had a nightmare," I said. "I was walking to try and calm down. But it didn't help when you scared me."
"That was a complete accident."
"Mhmm. Sure."
Amos rolled his eyes and looked back at the ocean. "What was the dream about?" He asked.
"I'm not sure.....all I remember is pain and struggling to keep something controlled. I don't know what it was, but if I didn't keep it controlled, it would hurt people I cared for."
Amos raised an eyebrow at me. "You don't have any other supernatural powers or demon possessions do you?"
I punched him in the shoulder and he laughed, rubbing his arm. "No, I don't," I said. "But...I think the dream was of somebody else. I'm not sure..."
We both sat in silence for a bit, not saying anything. Until I broke it, saying, "I see your happy that your mom is back."
Amos flinched a little but smiled, nodding. "I haven't seen her in a while," he explained. "The last time I saw her was when I ended moving in with my aunt and uncle."
"At least your seeing her now," I commented.
"Luna.....my mom may have another reason for being here."
I looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?" I asked, worried.
"The last time I saw her, we had gotten into a fight. She wanted me to live here so I could have a a better life then how I was living it before. I didn't want to move away.....for certain reasons. She finally got me to move here and now that she's back, I'm worried she may take me with her."
I felt myself grow cold and my heart stop eating for a second. Amos was going to leave? Now?!
"You can't go!" I said, starting to panic. Amos looked at me surprised. I felt my face grow warm from the blush. Oops.
"I-I mean, w-why would you want to leave?" I asked, finding the sand by my toes more interesting then looking at Amos.
"When I first moved here," Amos explained. "I hated everything about this town. I wanted to leave as soon as possible. But when Connie started trying to get me to meet new people, I kept ignoring her until she finally convinced me to go out and mingle. I met Sour Cream and his gang first before I found the job at the car wash."
He then looked at me and smiled. "Then I met you," he said. I stopped doodling in the sand with my toes and felt myself smile like a dork. I coughed and said, "Okay."
Amos seemed to chuckle and continued. "Then I was pulled into the craziness my cousin was in with Steven and you. And I loved everything about it. I love the adventures, I love the action, I love the crystal gems, I love y-"
He then stopped as he seemed to realize what he was about to say. I looked at him, confused. "You love what?" I asked.
"Ah- I love the way you can help others and fight! That's what I meant to say!" Amos said, not looking at me. I felt myself blush at the compliment and smiled.
He laughed nervously, before sighing and saying, "I grew to love this town and learned to live with my aunt and uncle. I enjoyed everyday I hung out with you guys and anticipated he next day when we would hang out more. So my mom coming out of the blue, it brought back the old feelings of wanting to leave but their fighting with the feelings of me wanting to stay."
I felt like I should say he should stay, but a part of me knew how much he wanted to be back with his mom. I looked at him and watched as he stared out at the ocean, his eyes full of confusion and sadness. He then turned to look at me and said, "Luna, do you want me to stay?"
I was so shocked by the question that by instinct I caused the ocean water to freeze in mid wave. I managed to relax, but realized the mistake I made. Just because I stopped the wave motion, didn't mean I was stopping the water build up. Next thing we both knew, a giant wave washed over us and drenched us in sea water.
"Oops," I coughed, tasting the sea water on my tongue.
"How was that your fault?" Amos asked, confused. I gave him a half lidded look as I removed the water off of us. "Oh," was all he said. I sighed and said, "I do want you to stay Amos. Your amazing, and kind and funny and cool."
"And pretty tall and good-looking?" Amos asked.
"Yeah and-" I stopped, realizing what I just said, and what Amos just said. I looked at Amos and he grinned, knowing fully well what he just did. My response was splashing him with some water. He coughed and said, "Come on, you know it's true."
"It may be true, but you don't have to trick me in order to say it," I commented. I bit my lip, realizing my mistake. Amos smirked and he said, "So all I have to do is ask and you'll say it?"
"D-Don't even think about it," I said.
"Luna-"
"Don't."
"Am I-"
"Amos, I swear."
"Good looking?"
Another face full of water for his response. He laughed and lied back in the sand, sighing. "You still never did finish the question," he said, looking up at me. I rolled my eyes and said, "I do want you to stay Amos. But...."
"But?" Amos said, quickly sitting up. I sighed and said, "Whatever choice you make....I'll support you in it." Amos stared at me for a moment, before saying, "You really want me to stay?"
"Yes, I do. But if you don't want to stay, I understand."
He smiled and stood up. "Thanks for answering my question," he said. I nodded, and yawned, feeling a wave of exhaustion go through me. "It's getting late," I said, standing up. "You should probably head back."
"Same goes for you," he commented. I smiled and turned to leave. But I felt Amos grab my hand pull it. I stumbled back and turned to look at him. But I bumped into him instead, as he hugged me. I felt my face grow really warm as I realized that, not only was he hugging me, but he was hugging me so tightly I could hear his heart beating.
"A-Amos?" I asked, stuttering.
"Thank you," I heard him whisper. "For always being there."
I felt tears well up in my eyes and I hugged Amos back, crying into his shoulder. "You idiot," I said between tears. "That's my line."
He laughed and held me close as I cried. I really wanted to support Amos in whatever the decision may be in a few days. But my heart hurt at the thought of him going away for good. I didn't want him to leave; I didn't want this to be good-bye forever!
And I think I know to whom I can talk to about this.
-Time Skip! (Again)-
I walked down the beach towards the board walk, feeling determined about this meeting. Amos' mom wanted to talk to me at some point, so I thought why not today since Amos has no idea of when he's leaving. As I walked, I saw Circo walking towards me.
"Hey Circo," I said, once I was close enough.
"Hey Luna," he responded. "Where are you going?"
"Amos' mom wanted to talk to me, so I'm going to go talk to her."
Circo raised an eyebrow. "What does she want to talk to you about?"
"I don't know, but I need to talk to her about something."
"Is....everything okay?"
I sighed and said, "I'm worried that Amos may leave because his mom is here. She may be here to take him home."
Circo was silent for a second, before clapping his hands and saying, "Whelp! If that's the case, I'll go help him pack."
"Circo!" I yelled, giving him a glare.
"I'm kidding! Just kidding," he quickly said. I sighed and said, "I'm just hoping I can talk to her and convince to let Amos stay."
"Well, whatever happens, you know you got your family to turn too."
I nodded and smiled at Circo. "Thanks," I said. He gave me a thumbs up before saying, "I got to head over to Steven's. He wants to train and needs a buddy to train with."
"Okay, I'll see you later then," I said. We waved to each other before I sprinted the rest of the way into town. I made it to the board walk just as I spotted Ms. Jelani walking past the arcade.
"Ms. Jelani!" I shouted, waving to her. She saw me and waved back, smiling. She was wearing more casual clothing today apart from her uniform from yesterday. She wore a a yellow head piece that wrapped around her head. She wore a dark blue dress with yellow sunburst designs on the edges of the sleeves and the hem of the dress. She wore black flats and a locket around her neck.
She walked over to me and said, "Luna! It's good to see you again."
"Nice to see you too, Ms. Jelani," I said, smiling.
"So, what do you want to do?"
I looked at her confused. "I thought you wanted to talk?"
"I do, but I wanted to see around this small town first. What's a good place to go and get a good snack?"
"Well, there's the Big Doughnut-" I started. Ms. Jelani cut me off by saying, "Oh! That sounds good!"
I smiled and said, "Okay, then doughnuts it is." I lead the way to the Big Doughnut. We walked in and bought two doughnuts from Sadie and Lars. Sadie smiled at Ms. Jelani and asked, "Are you Amos' mom?"
She nodded and Sadie smiled. When Lars heard, his eyes grew wide and he asked, "Are you really in the Air Force?"
"Yep, but I'm currently taking the day off," she said. Sadie and Lars exchange amazed looks and I waved goodbye to them. Ms. Jelani and I sat down at one of the benches that faced the ocean that was along the boardwalk. "Those two seem nice,"Ms. Jelani commented.
"They're good friends," I said, starting to eat my donut. As I ate my doughnut, I asked, "So how are you?"
Ms. Jelani swallowed a piece of her Boston Creme and said, "I'm doing alright. I'm happy to see that Amos is doing much better then when he first arrived."
"That's good," I said, eating my doughnut.
"You know, before he came here, he had always been a big flirt with girls."
I rolled my eyes and mumbled, "I can probably imagine."
"He really was. He was constantly bringing home girls for me to meet."
"How many did he have?"
"Let's just say he seemed to get a new one every month."
I nearly choked on my doughnut. I coughed and said, "Wow."
Ms. Jelani nodded and said, "I was worried he would do the same thing when he came here. But....he didn't."
She then turned to look at me and said, "You really have changed him."
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"He's so much better then before. He's actually smiling now without having to force it. He's talking more and he's being more open. He's never been this happy before. The only time I remember him being this happy was when he would play with his older brother."
"He has an older brother?!" I said, shocked. Why didn't he never mention him before? Ms. Jelani nodded and said, "Raphael. He's ten years older then Amos, so he moved out when Amos was little."
I nodded, wondering how that must've effected Amos when he was little. Ms. Jelani sighed and said, "But in glad to see he's smiling now and doing much better. When I first got the call that Amos had recently gone to the hospital with his aunt, I decided then and there to take him back home with me."
I felt my heart freeze mid-beat and I stopped chewing my doughnut. She wasn't really going to take him.....was she?
"So you are taking Amos with you?" I said, feeling like there was no use.
"I said I was," Ms. Jelani said. "But when I got here and saw how he was smiling and laughing as if nothing had happened, I knew something changed in him and I wanted to know what caused this change. I believe it's you, Luna."
I felt my face grow warm as she continued. "He's never acted this way around any other girls before in last relationships. He's actually being nice to Connie and he's making an effort to impress you, Luna. He smiled every time your name is mentioned. And I can tell you, he was smiling a lot every time I mentioned you."
My face felt really warm now and I think she noticed. "And it seems the feelings go both ways in this," she said, winking at me.
"Ah! No! I'm just-" I said, but she laughed. "It's alright Luna. I won't tell him until he tells you first," she said.
"How'd you figure it out?" I asked.
"When you've been in love, you can see the signs really easy in others," she said, finishing her doughnut. She stared out over the ocean and I couldn't help but stare at her. Come to think of it, Amos never did mention his dad. Is he still around? Is he even alive?
Ms. Jelani sighed and stood up, saying, "Well, I know my decision now. Amos needs to stay here in order to continue to grow. If I were to take him away, he would just fall back into his old habits and be more miserable then before."
She looked at me and smiled. "I'm glad we had this talk Luna. Please keep Amos safe; he's the only peace I have left and would not want to lose."
I nodded, not sure what she meant by that. "I promise, Ms. Jelani," I said, standing up.
"Please, call me Amana," she said, smiling.
"Amana? But I thought-"
"Karmaria is my middle name. Amana is my first name, and I only let people I trust use my first name."
I smiled, and nodded. She patted my head and said, "Take care, Luna. I got to head back over to my sister-in-law's house to give Amos the good news."
"You too," I said, smiling from ear to ear now. Amana nodded and walked away, heading towards the bus stop on the edge of the town. As soon as she turned the corner, I spun around and cheered.
"Woohoo!" I cheered, laughing like an idiot.
Amos was staying!
-Time skip!-
For the rest of the day, I was playing outside in the water. I didn't care about anything else, and I felt so bubbly and happy by the fact that Amos was staying. I took a breather as the sun started to set and I walked along the shore, kicking up the bits of water as I went.
Suddenly, I felt arms wrap around my waist and lift me up. I squeaked in surprised and heard Amos' voice say, "Your amazing!"
"Amos?!" I said, surprised. He hugged me tighter and spun me around, laughing.
"Your amazing, Luna! Thank you!" He said.
"Can I be put down now? Everything's starting to spin," I commented. He stopped spinning and put me down. I stumbled a bit, but I caught his arms to steady myself.
Once I could see straight again, I looked at Amos and said, "So I assume you got the good news?"
He nodded and said, "My mom really likes you Luna. She really thinks your cool and amazing. She talked to me and says I should stay. I think it had to do something with you."
I looked away and blushed. But Amos kept talking. "That's why I wanted to find you and thank you. I'm really glad I'm staying and-"
I cut him off by hugging him. He seemed a bit startled, but I said, "Your welcome, Amos. I'm glad your going to stay."
He hugged me back and said, "No problem. I hope to stay for a while longer."
My mind froze on that phrase. I should've been happy he was staying. I should've been happy I would get to be with him. I should've been happy.
So why did I suddenly feel scared by that phrase?
........
Is Luna worrying for no reason or is this a foreshadowing? Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to update ASAP :)