21. Chapter 21
LUNA
Had this been anyone else’s request, I would have declined it faster than a heartbeat, but alas, an adorable six-year-old with a head full of curls is my kryptonite.
Which is why I’m sitting in a car with Theo and his Surly Bastard of a brother, who, despite his age, is acting as if one single kiss has landed him with eternal cooties; therefore, he must avoid me at all costs, but can’t seem to leave me alone.
What happened two nights ago in his living room is something I’d like to think we were past by now, that it’d been dealt with and forgotten; however, it was the opposite because Oliver refused to talk about it, determined to ignore it and treat it as though it was the biggest mistake of his life, which makes me feel great, by the way.
So great that I can’t stand to be in close quarters with him, if it wasn’t for a certain Super Mario lover.
****
Flashback to Yesterday:
“Ollie, I know what I want to do tomorrow,” Theo beams, not fully awake from his brief nap from Gran’s house to home, yet it is clear to see that the moment his head was due to hit the pillow, he’d be out like a light.
“I want to use my wish! My wish for trying new foods,” he grins proudly. I couldn’t help but smile, standing in the doorway.
He’s done so well with the food chart. I myself knew how scary it can be trying new foods when I was younger, so I was really proud of him pulling through. I’d make sure Oliver granted his wish no matter what.
“Well, since you have the day off from school, I suppose we could grant that wish of yours. What is it?” Oliver asks, tucking Theo into bed; his back is to me, but I was no stranger to the fact that he was probably smiling at him, a rare sight only a few people were allowed to see.
As I’ve already bid my goodnight wishes, I turn to head towards my bedroom when the sound of my name calls me back.
“Luna!” Theo calls sweetly, giving me the courage to step into the same room as Oliver, whose face is stoic as ever once we’re both a few feet away from each other.
“Luna has to hear my wish, too,” Theo states, looking at his brother.
Once he nods in agreement, he looks between us and wishes for something we adults weren’t ready for.
“My wish is for us to go on a date, me, Ollie, and Luna. I want to do something fun together, all day!” Theo reveals in his sleepy tone as Surly Bastard and I are frozen in response.
But Theo was far too bright for his age, so he whips out the puppy dog eyes, shifting them towards me, then back to his brother and so forth.
“I don’t know, bud-” Oliver starts, but I wasn’t going to let him crush this little boy’s dreams because he can’t act like an adult.
“Of course, we can spend the day together, sweetie,” I interrupt, reaching down to ruffle his curls, earning the very giggle that hurts my ovaries, followed by a hooray.
“YAY!” he cheers, punching his fists into the air, then diving underneath the covers.
“I’m so excited, I’m going to sleep right now so it can be tomorrow quicker,” he hums, squeezing his eyes shut and letting the sleepiness he’d been fighting back take over. Oliver and I exit the room moments after, with me going first and him right behind me, trying to burn a hole in my back.
“Glare all you want, I don’t care, but I wasn’t going to let you ruin his wish. That little guy worked hard on earning it, and the right thing to do is reward him for it.” I growl towards him the moment Theo’s bedroom is closed. He says nothing at first, just continuing his surly type stare.
I can feel him trying to wear me down, but just like he doesn’t expect, I hold my ground and cross my arms against my chest. And soon enough, he’s the one who has to give in.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he grumbles, stalking his way downstairs, no doubt heading down to his secret room.
Whereas I stood there a little longer, confused as to how we went from bantering and having actual human conversations in the car ride home when he made me tell him about the origin of his nickname.
The moment we got out of the car and bumped into each other, as we both reached to get Theo out of the car and just like that, he went back to hating my guts, like touching me was acid against his skin, and he was no longer able to be civil with me.
****
I didn’t see him till the next morning when he came into the kitchen to grab his vomit juice whilst I was trying to get Theo ready for our outing, but the little guy was so excited he was bouncing off the walls like he had ants in his pants.
Fifteen minutes later, here we were in Surly Bastard’s Porsche Cayenne on our way to a destination I had no clue about, but I made sure to pack any essentials we might need, including a fully stocked first aid kit and spare clothes.
Theo had no clue where we were off to either. All I managed to get out of him when he woke me up at the crack of dawn was that “Ollie is the best at planning days out.”
Although I didn’t have much knowledge of what Theo and his brother did on their weekends together, this better be good, and I think deep down I know it would be because no matter how Surly Bastard treated the rest of the world, Theo is a happy child that he cared a lot about so even though I couldn’t stand him, I was putting my faith in him for today.
No matter how grumpy he was going to be having to spend the day with his favourite and least favourite person in the world, me being the latter.
He and I haven’t said a word to each other since last night, and he chose to remain quiet during the car ride, whereas Theo and I dabble in a few games of I Spy, one of my favourite car games, then we sing along to a few songs on the radio, including ‘Satellite’ by Harry Styles.
A particular one was sung at the top of our lungs despite the looks I received from Oliver every so often, and then Theo was craving a snack, so I pulled out some apple crisps I’d packed in his bag.
And by the time he’d scoffed those down, Oliver was reversing into a parking spot whilst Theo and I tried to look around to get an idea of where we were, but it wasn’t until we all climbed out of the car and saw the giant sign.
I couldn’t fight back the smile of approval.
OLIVER
“Oliver Walters, you may have gone a little too far, but you outdid yourself.” Luna smiles, shaking her head in disbelief. Not that I need her compliment, but I take it, scooping Theo into my arms and placing him to sit on my shoulders to give him a better look at it all.
“IT’S SUPER MARIO!” Theo screams at the top of his lungs, pointing to the giant Mario head hanging on top of the sign at the entrance.
“That’s right, bud, we’re having a Super Mario-themed day.” I agree, patting his leg, having to hold on to him tightly as he starts jumping up and down, cheering with all his might. I steal another glance at Luna, who’s basking in his excitement, when she pulls out her phone to take a picture.
“Alright, let’s get inside and go have a look around.
” she beams after taking a few photos of Theo and I standing at the entrance, the photo I know she took with him on my shoulders, one I couldn’t wait to add to his photo album later, I almost offer to take one of her and Theo but chose against it, looking past the fact they pretty much had matching outfits.
Theo dressed in his red shirt with the letter M in Super Mario font, matching red jeans and his signature Super Mario shoes.
And Luna is dressed in a baby pink strapless dress with red hearts all over it, that stopped midway to her thick thighs, a light mocha-coloured cardigan and white platform trainers, paired with the same silver hoop earrings she wears all the time, and her curls pulled into two space buns.
Yet another reason I fought against taking a photo: seeing her dressed like that was torture enough; I didn’t need a permanent reminder I could have access to whenever I wanted; that would only make the temptation of her worse.
But then I cave, unable to fight the turmoil inside me as I quickly pull out my phone and snap a photo of her right now, I had to focus on getting through this day.
Once we get inside, things run quite smoothly.
After we go to the booth to get our tokens, Luna and I don’t need to be that close to each other that often.
Which should be a good thing, but I can’t think of anything worse.
Whenever her strawberry scent isn’t strangling my senses because I can’t damn well concentrate once I get a whiff of that.
The first thing we go on is the bumper cars.
Theo doesn’t quite fit the mark on the height ladder to ride on his own, so he grabs Luna’s hand and pulls her towards the nearest red car with the Mario logo on it, while I give enough tokens for them to ride and move to stand at the side until they’re done.
But Theo calls my name.
“Ollie, get in the green one!” Theo yells in excitement as I hand the lady at the stand a few more tokens. I don’t take notice of the flirty smile she’s giving me; all I can focus on is the way Luna smooths down the back of her dress before she sits down in the car, and Theo snuggles next to her.
My jaw clenches with jealousy, a stupid emotion that I shouldn’t even be feeling, especially not about my six-year-old brother and yet I can’t help but glare in their direction as I make my way over to the Green car with the Luigi Logo, not too far from them.
**BEEP**