FATAL has a thing about sleepovers, it was a tradition that Lexus and Luna started back when they were kids. When France, Athena and Toby became an indispensable part of their crew, they asked them to join in the fun. Now, every other month, the five of them would camp out in either Lexus, Athena or Luna's house to do their little tradition.
And this month, it will be in Luna's house. Lexus house was currently undergoing a renovation, while Athena's house was off limits thanks to her brother Artemis who invited some friends over. France was out of the question since the boy lives on the next town, and Toby, the ever secretive and private Toby was completely adamant on not having them in his house. Not that Luna was complaining, she loves having her friends around, Caleb and her mom doesn't really care that much as long as they clean up their mess. Besides, Luna has the largest room for their sleepovers, the second floor of the Green household was original a three-bedroom floor, the twins divided the other room into two so that they can store most of their stuffs in there, giving them a much larger room for them to occupy.
"Babe, we need more pillows!" Luna ran straight to Caleb's room to get some spare pillow, luckily her brother was out with his team and her mom went back to Seattle to spend some time with their grandmother, leaving Luna and her friends alone for the entire night.
"Here," Athena was doing a good job in setting their mini fortress for the night, the once carpeted floor was now covered in mattress and pillows that it looked like a giant cloud on her floor. The boys were doing all the cooking, they were too scared to even let the girls in the kitchen, thus the task of setting up their makeshift bed was given to them.
Luna switched on the fairy lights hanging elegantly on her ceiling, satisfied with their work, she went straight to Caleb's wide range of DVD collection. Her brother has a weird obsession with DVD's, perhaps it has something to do with their father job as a film director, there were times that two of them would talk about film for hours and Luna would watch them with curious eyes.
The Star Trek: The Motion Pictures DVD Collection sitting nicely on the center of the room, it was even enclosed in a protective glass like a precious artifact on display. Luna scanned the floor to ceiling wooden cabinet who sheltered Caleb's collection safely, each rack has a neatly written label categorizing them based on their genres. Seeing the "Action" note on the third shelf, Luna quickly averted her head to the next shelf, not wanting to dwell on the memories of Athena forcing them to watch the fast and the furious series because she was dating a guy who was obsessed with it; they didn't even last for another week.
"Babe, what do you want?"
"Anything Disney, don't even dare adding Conjuring in the list!" But Athena was a step late, Luna already picked the Conjuring from the shelves and hide it under her pajama before Athena could see it.
"Did he buy another one?" Athena was next to her before she could even finish picking movies to watch. She was pointing on the set of Happy Feet 1&2. Luna could barely remember most of the DVDs inside the room, how could she even tell if Caleb bought another one?
"Maybe?" Taking the Purge out of the shelves, Luna was now done picking the movies for the rest of them to choose from, dragging Athena away from Caleb's collection before she made a mess that will anger her precious little brother. The girls went back to her room and finished setting up their makeshift bed for the night.
"Food is here!" The boys came back with a pan of lasagna on Lexus hands, the smell of melted cheese making her stomach growled in hunger. France was holding a tub of Ben&Jerry's, while Toby was hugging a large Cheetos in his arms. Luna went downstairs to pick some soda and candies that was hidden behind the cupboard, Caleb hides their stash in there, away from their mother sight.
Using a stool as a ladder since her height wasn't much of a help, Luna managed to get the stash safely on her arms.
"Careful," the voice catching her completely off guard, as the chair shake a little and Luna stumble along with it. Lucky for her that Toby managed to pull her into his arms as the chair fell into the vinyl floor with a soft thud.
"Aren't you being a little reckless now Ms. Greene?" his ragged breathing fanning the tip of her nose, they were closed enough for her to see the startled look on his face.
"You sneak up on me Cooper, of course I'll be surprised!" She tried to defend herself as Toby let her go slowly, his arms linger slightly on her waist, but it was gone before she could grasp the pained expression on his face.
"Let's go back now," Toby walked away after putting the chair back in place and taking the soda with him, Luna picked the pack of sour patch and follow him back upstairs without another word.
France and Athena were playing on her iPad, Lexus laying comfortably on the makeshift bed as they all waited for them. Athena eyeing her suspiciously when she came back along with Toby. But Luna ignored her, playing as innocent as a saint.
"Now, pick a movie," Luna placed the DVD's that she took out from Caleb's collection earlier, Athena growled in frustration upon seeing the Conjuring. It's not like Athena hated horror, the girl actually likes it, but with a Disney movie on the pile of DVDs in front of her, she was more conflicted than ever.
"Traitor," she mumbled next to her, Athena picked Tangled begrudgingly. Among the five movies were The Purge, The Conjuring, Tangled, 50 first date and the notebook. As much as Luna love chick flicks, she was desperately hoping that none of them would pick The Notebook for her sanity. She couldn't watch it knowing that Toby was in the same room as her with straight face.
France and Lexus picked the Conjuring without much thought, they were grinning wickedly at them, Athena throw a pillow at them that Lexus caught effortlessly.
Luna was conflicted between Tangled and 50 First Date, it was already a losing battle to begin with. Although Toby would be the last to pick his choice, there's a higher chance of him siding with the rest of the boys than with the girls.
"Luna pick now," Breaking away from her internal battle, Luna closed her eyes and picked 50 First Date in a heartbeat.
"Seriously Babe I thought we're on the same page here!?" Athena threw a pillow on her face that she caught midair, sticking her tongue out at her poor attempt.
"Sorry Babe, Adam Sandler always win,"
"Then it's already decided, we're watching Conjuring," France exclaimed triumphantly.
"We still have Toby the game can change with his choice," Athena reasoned out as they all turned to Toby who's now devouring the Cheetos on his hand.
"What?" He stopped eating when he saw the four of them looking intently at him.
"This is a life-changing question, Cooper! Tangled, Conjuring or 50 First Date?" Athena said in a very serious voice. Please choose the romance film! Luna pleaded internally; she just wants to watch 50 first date although she'd watched it a hundred times already that she can even recite all the lines. But who cares? Everybody loves a romance film, right?
"I don't see the point in that question being life-changing Athena," he rolled his eyes playfully at her. Toby studied their faces carefully as if he's searching for something, then he took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose where his glasses were. It's his job to settle the score in this group, that's just how things work.
"We'll watch Conjuring first then Tangled and 50 first date, objection anyone?" he said, returning to his half-eaten cookies as the rest of them groaned at his very wise decision.
Like what Toby said they watched all of their movies picked in order. Enduring France high pitch screaming along with the actors on screen, one moment he was dragging Athena's feet out of nowhere, their little squirrel landed a kick on his face because of that. Lexus constant yelling for them to shut up while Toby and Luna were happily munching every food that their hands can reach. She's lying on Lexus's chest, Toby's on her feet, France and Athena next to Lexus. They watched Tangled and endured Athena's singing, but let's face it who can resist Disney movies. So, in the end, they all sing along with her.
"I still don't know why you want to watch 50 first date, when you knew the movie by heart," Lexus complained while he plugged the movie and returned to her side. She just ignored his complain since the two had been discussing it over and over again and Lexus knew that he'll never win against Luna when it comes to her movie choices because she's more than willing to fight for it.
By the end of the movie, they're all singing Wouldn't It Be Nice by The Beach Boys while Luna's wiping her tears away, she's a crybaby for romance film but she loves it anyway.
"You're such a crybaby Lunababe,"
"Shut up France," everyone chimed in, Lexus hitting France with a pillow, next thing she knew, they were having pillow fights in their makeshift bed. Luna would definitely have a hard time cleaning their mess but for now, she was having too much fun to even care.
"Why am I friends with you again?" Toby mumbled loud enough for them to hear, but the smile on his face says otherwise.
"Cause we're awesome!" Athena beamed happily as Luna throws another pillow straight to Toby's face causing him to stumble a little, as they all laughed wholeheartedly.
Nights like this were one of Luna's favorites, just her and her best friends laughing, being normal teenagers, forgetting about the world outside her room, and just enjoying each other's company. Little did they know that some things were not meant to stay forever.