Alex woke up with a start. His whole body jumped as he seemed to fall out of sleep. Eyes wide, he looked around and saw Luna laying next to him. He tried to move but his back hurt from sleeping on the floor.
"Fuck." He groaned, pulling himself up. His clock read six am, his mum would be getting up for work any minute. He looked at Luna to wake her up but she just looked so beautiful. How was he going to explain this to his mum?
Standing up, he put away all the illegal substances just in case and stretched his back out.
He opened his bedroom door and crept along the hallway to see if he could hear anything from the bathroom. His mum always went straight to the shower in the morning.
"Alex?" Her voice asked, coming out from her bedroom in a dressing. "Darlin, what are you doing up so early?" She wondered. Her eyes travelled to his bedroom door which was open, she saw someone's foot. "Is there someone in your room?" She asked, stepping forwards.
"I can explain." He held out his hands. "My friend, Luna. You don't know her but she had a fallout with her sister last night and called me. She slept on the floor mum, I promise and I just wanted to be a good friend to her." He rambled.
"And you made her sleep on the floor?" His mum looked at him angrily. He wasn't expecting her to pick up on that.
"Well, she couldn't sleep with me." He pointed out. "She has a boyfriend." He added to try and push the idea that nothing happened between them further. His mum didn't care though.
"I thought I'd raised you better than that, Alex. You should've given up your bed." She shook her head. "I'm having a shower. Send her over to me when she wakes up." She advised. Alex nodded, sheepishly turning around and going back into his room.
Alex laid on his bed until he heard Luna stir, then he stood up and pretended to look through his chest of drawers.
"Fuck, I fell asleep." Luna moaned, she hadn't planned on staying over. She was going to go over to Joanna's afterwards and stay there but now she was still at Alex's with no fresh clothing, no toothbrush and a bad back.
"Uh, yeah." Alex turned to her, scratching his head. "If my mum asks, you had a fight with your sister and I helped you out." He explained. Luna smirked.
"Aren't you the hero?" She teased, standing up. Alex scoffed.
"Hardly, She scolded me for allowing you to sleep on the floor." He shook his head and Luna smiled.
"I like your mum." She decided, still stretching.
"Good, because she wants to talk to you. She's downstairs." He shrugged, not thinking anything of it but Luna's eyes widened.
"What the fuck, Alex? I can't meet your mum looking like this." She motioned to herself but Alex didn't see anything wrong with it.
"Relax, I reckon she just wants to give you some clothes to wear or summat." He was weirdly relaxed around her, she wasn't used to it. "I'm gonna have a shower." He announced before leaving the room.
Luna rolled her eyes and walked out of his bedroom and downstairs.
Penny Turner was making toast when Luna knocked on the kitchen door. She turned around to see a beautiful young girl standing there and smiled.
"You must be Luna. Tea?" She offered. Luna stood awkwardly in the doorway.
"Oh, Yes please." She said politely, walking forwards and taking a mug that Penny pointed to.
"So, are you alright love? Alex mentioned you had had an argument with your sister?" Penny didn't quite believe the story but also assumed that Alex wouldn't have told her at all that Luna was here if something had happened between them.
"Yeah. We don't really get along that well." She shrugged. "I just needed to get away and your Alex is such a lovely lad. He let me in." She complimented him to try and win her over.
"I know, I raised him." She looked Luna up and down and felt sorry for her but she couldn't quite figure out why. "Well, you're always welcome here if you ever need to get away" she offered finally. Luna couldn't quite believe it.
"Wow." She couldn't help saying. "Thank you." She said genuinely. Penny nodded.
"Do you need anything? Some clean clothes? A shower?" She offered, looking at her watch. "Alex gets the bus at eight and he takes a god awful long time in there so maybe not a shower." Luna nodded.
"I know. I get the same one." She smiled. Penny mirrored her expression. "And, some clean clothes would be amazing thank you" She answered. Penny nodded.
"Okay. Help yourself to breakfast, I'll run and get you something." She squeezed her arm as she walked past. Luna couldn't quite believe how warm this woman was being to her.
Luna sat down at the table and munched on a slice of toast, feeling quite disorientated. She sipped her tea and looked around the room, there were some pictures of Alex on the wall but no other children. He was clearly an only child.
Alex entered the kitchen, looking clean and dressed. He noticed Luna at the table, a smile grew on his face.
"Y'alright?" He asked, picking up his mug of tea.
"I love your mum. I literally spent the night in your room and she's making me breakfast." She burst. Alex let out a laugh.
"She feels bad that you slept on the floor." He pointed out. Luna shrugged, it didn't matter to her. She was getting treated like an only child and she was loving it.
Penny entered the kitchen again with some folded clothes. She smiled at the image of Alex sat next to a girl at her kitchen table.
"I found some jeans from when I was about your size. You can have them, they don't fit me anymore." She explained. "But the top is one of Alex's so you may have to return that one, depending on what mood he's in." She teased. Luna grinned while Alex shook his head.
"That's perfect. Thank you." Luna smiled. Alex looked at her, she was being polite. Penny watched Alex look at Luna and smiled to herself.
"Alex?" She asked, referring to the top.
"'ave it." He shrugged. Penny rolled her eyes but patted the clothes.
"I probably should get changed. It's almost time to leave." Luna stood up, assuming they left at the same time as her to get the bus.
"Yeah, and Matt will be here soon as well." Luna stopped and turned around.
"Matt?" She questioned. Matt had seen her in a state the night before and was bound to talk about it.
"Yeah, he lives next door. I walk with him every morning." Alex said as if she should know that.
"Right." She looked at the floor, trying to figure out how to move around this. "I'll get changed then." She ran up the stairs with the clothes and into Alex's room.
Matt arrived five minutes later for breakfast. His parents always left before him and he was useless with food so he just depended on Penny to make him toast.
"Y'alright Al?" He asked, walking through the door. Alex had a piece of toast in his mouth as he followed him back into the kitchen.
"Not bad, mate." He shrugged. "You'll never guess who's here though." He smirked as Matt picked up a slice of toast and started to butter it.
"Who?" He wondered, not taking his eyes off the toast.
"Luna." He answered. Matt stopped buttering his slice and looked up.
"Is she okay?" He asked. Alex's face dropped in confusion.
"Yeah 'course. Why wouldn't she be?" He felt a weird feeling in his stomach as Matt looked nervous. Before he could reply, Luna walked in wearing a pair of jeans she had rolled up and Alex's Pink Floyd t shirt on.
"Morning Lu." Matt said, biting into his toast. Luna froze at the sight of him. Alex couldn't help but wonder what was going on.
"Y'alright Matt?" She asked, sitting back down at the table. Alex looked between them desperately.
"Not too shabby, yourself?" He asked, not seeming bothered. Luna loosened up slightly and finished her tea.
"Fine." She answered.
"So, 'ow come you ended up 'ere then?" He asked. Alex watched them interact with such interest as if it were a soap on tv.
"Was on my way home and thought I'd come and see which houses were yous'. Ended up in Alex's bedroom if you know what I mean." She winked. Alex choked on his toast, making Luna smirk.
"Fuck off the both of ya." Matt laughed. Alex was trying to swallow his toast silently while the others laughed.
"Morning, Matthew." Penny entered again, dressed for work.
"Morning, Penny." He said, munching on his toast.
"You three should get going." Penny advised. They all nodded and stood up. "Kiss" she demanded. Alex walked over and kissed her cheek. Matt did the same so Luna followed suit. Penny welcomed it. "Got your lunch, Al?" She asked.
"In my bag, thanks." He said as he stood in the hallway and put his coat on.
"I made you one too, Luna." She handed her a brown bag. Luna stared at it before taking it off her.
"Thank you so much." She gawked at it, giving her a hug. "Thank you for letting me stay." She said, putting the brown bag in her bag.
"Anytime, love." She smiled as they the three of them walked out the house.
Penny watched as they walked down the steps of the porch and down the pathway. Alex said something and Luna and Matt laughed. Matt said something and Luna shoved him, Penny smiled as Alex laughed loudly down the road at the action. It was a sweet sight.