Just a Pen & Paper

7. you choose one

ftr: 2.5.2021 [12:36 pm, pennsylvania]

7 - YOU CHOOSE ONE

choice • an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities.

/CHois/ | noun

"Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you." - John C. Maxwell

*

- mama -

[it's an emergency. hurry home.

where are you?]

sent/seen

- luna -

[i'm still at my friend's but on my way.]

sent/seen

- mama -

[you were supposed to be home last night.]

sent/seen

- luna -

[i wasn't ready to go home.]

- mama -

[there isn't a reason why you couldn't come home last night. hurry home, be quick.]

sent/seen

━━

     Ramsha was reluctant to let Luna leave, making it known through her actions and by tongue ━ worried. Once she arrived at her street, she took a deep breath ━ in hopes of preparing herself for what was to come. Though in retrospect, nothing could've prepared her.

          Kicking rocks along her parents' pathway, til' she finally reached ━ she knew it'd be in her best interest to take another deep breath before entering, so she did.

Ximena was in the living room sitting on the couch when she heard the door open, she snapped her head to Luna's direction ━ before taking off and giving her a tight hug. "You're here! Do you know how worried we were?! We were going to call the police if you didn't come! Why'd you leave?!"

               "I needed a break. . ."

          "From what?!" Ximena was confused ━ and upset.

     "From. . ." Luna had to take a moment to think. What did I need a break from? She sighed and shook her head. 

          "Everything." She whispered softly ━ but loud enough to hear. "I just needed a break from everything."

Ximena tutted in distaste.

     "So. . . what's the emergency?" Luna looked around and surveyed her surroundings. "It doesn't look like much of an emergency." She motioned with her hands ━ gesturing to everything around her.

      Ximena led Luna by her hand to their living room couch, making them both take a seat. "When we told you about the divorce. . ." Ximena treaded lightly ━ watching and gauging her reaction. "We had already gotten through the process of divorce."

          Luna's mouth fell open, slightly. "So. . . you're already divorced?" Luna knew the answer would weigh so heavy with her ━ she dreaded the answer, which she knew. Her stomach twisted into knots and jumped around, seemingly full of vibrant energy ━ contrary to Luna herself, who was feeling a gloomy kind. Ximena. . . nodded.

     Luna felt her facial expression tighten and become more robotic, along with her voice. "What does that have to do with me?"

          Ximena felt upset with Luna's reaction, she'd expected her to break down and cry ━ so Ximena scowled with the intention to hurt, under the impression that Luna hadn't. "If you can't understand, that means you have to choose. Me or Rafael?"

               "I can't make a decision like that in just a few seconds!"

          "Well, you choose one." Ximena enjoyed the reaction Luna had, drunk on rage ━ she, much like other people did when without conscious of their actions, would regret it later.

               "Where are you guys moving after this?"

               "Rafael is staying here, and I'm moving to a job in Denver."

Luna knew that was a good 13-hours away from her residing city, Arizona. 

          "Oh, have fun then." Luna deadpanned with a robotic tone, no betrayal of emotion. Ximena's mouth fell open, trying to gather words to sputter what she could.

               "I━ don't call saying you miss me!" Ximena sighed in frustration before storming upstairs, probably to pack her things ━ leaving Luna to watch a show on the TV.

*

     "So I'm sure you heard about, you know." Hours later, Rafael had just came in, and was gesturing with his hands ━ sitting next to her on the couch.

Luna nodded and hummed a 'mhm'.

     Her father fidgeted with his hands before looking up at her nervously, something Luna was shocked about ━ as he always appeared confident and strict around her. "So, I'm guessing you chose?"

          Luna tentatively nodded her head in affirmation, trying to gauge if she made the wrong choice in who to stay with. "I did. . ." She wasn't sure if she'd regret choosing him. But Ximena, her "mother" came down before she could finish.

     "¡Por favor! Ven conmigo. Lamento lo que dije. Solo estaba molesto. (Please! Come with me. I'm sorry about what I said. I was just upset.)" Ximena kneeled in front of Luna, taking Luna's hands into her own ━ rubbing them softly while desperately begging. "Te prometo que te arrepentirás de quedarte con él. (I promise you'll regret staying with him.)"

     Rafael, Luna's "father", didn't know too much Spanish ━ he didn't know what was going on. "What is she saying, Luna?"

Ximena snapped her head towards Rafael in a scowl.

          "She wants me to go with her. But I told her I'd stay with you." Luna wondered how Rafael would react, she had a slight fear that he'd be upset ━ send her off with her mother. But Rafael crushed that fear, at first he was speechless ━ then he got up from the couch and rushed to Luna, squeezing her in a bear hug.

     His voice came out muffled ━ from speaking into her shoulder. "I didn't think you'd choose me. You know I love you, right?" He stopped hugging her and cupped her face. Luna hesitantly nodded.

He went back to hugging her again, Ximena having moved out of the way ━ upset that her begging was all for naught.

     Ximena scowled, walking towards the door ━ luggage in hand, slamming the door on her way out. Luna knew that wasn't the last time she'd see Ximena, she'd have to go to court in order to tell them who she chose to stay with ━ so that meant Ximena was planning to stay for it too. Luna sat down on the couch with her dad, they just calmed ━ him patting her head, her just listening to his heartbeat. They sat for hours, in calm ━ lost in track of time.

*

Luna woke up on the couch ━ because she had fallen asleep. Her dad wasn't on the couch any longer, but she could hear sizzling and clanging of utensils ━ leading her to conclude that he was cooking dinner. Ximena and Luna's dad always alternated cooking days, with the occasion of Luna cooking on the weekend. Whenever it was her dad's turn to cook, he always made soul food ━ as he was african-american. Sniffing in the scent of fried chicken, collared greens, and baked mac n' cheese, only made her stomach grumble ━ feeling more conscious than before of the empty space in her stomach, where food should've been.

     Luna made a grab for her phone, before walking to the kitchen and sitting down at one of the three chairs there ━ soon there'd only be two. "Hey dad. Is the food done?"

          Her dad briefly turned his head before turning back to focus on the food while answering. "No. Almost though."

          Luna leaned over the table and unlocked her phone, going to her contact ━ she deleted her mom, before opening up her messages to Ramsha.

- luna -

[hey, i made it home.]

sent

━━

     Luna didn't wait for Ramsha to respond, she just turned her phone off ━ observing her dad cook, then he spoke.

     "You know your mom loves you, right? She just. . ." He trailed off, trying to find a way to put it into words. "She has different ideas on how to raise you. Maybe too different." He mumbled the last part, but Luna heard. Luna shrugged, clearing her throat.

          "Oh!" He suddenly brightened up ━ something rare, unless it made him extremely happy. "I heard you made a friend!"

               "Yeah, she's nice."

     "Yeah, I guess she is. If she puts up with you." Her dad burst out laughing, slapping his knee as if it was the funniest thing in the world ━ while she just stared at him with a straight face, causing his laughter to die down, and for him to feel uncomfortably embarrassed. "I just thought it was funny. . . yea? No? Okay."

Luna just let the conversation die to silence, playing a hotel tycoon game ━ until a plate of food was placed in front of her. "Thanks."

Rafael nodded in response before walking over to the table with his own plate. They ate in silence, with exception to the occasional failed attempts at starting conversation from her dad. Once they were done, her dad carried their plates to the sink and cleaned the table ━ while she did the dishes and swept the floor.

     Luna was heading towards the stairs when her dad called out to her. "Wait, Luna." He walked over to her, bending down a little ━ giving her a kiss on top of her head, before patting it. "Love you."

          Luna, not being used to blatant displays of affection, just nodded ━ forcing a smile on her face, before heading upstairs to her room. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate it, it was just unusual ━ so she was malfunctioning in the department of behavior for such situations.

Lying in her bed, she couldn't help but think of how messy her life was ━ as it'd always been. But she hadn't a contrast to compare it with, so she dismissed the complaint ━ because that same messiness was all she'd ever known. 

That night, as everything stilled into a silence, a process she was familiar with taking it's place, she became sensitive to every sense ━ in it's heightened state, falling asleep with one last thought.

I need a break.

So as it should have been, her wish would be answered.

*

     "na━ Luna. Get up, you overslept." Her dad was shaking her pretty violently, though he probably wasn't aware ━ and Luna was too tired to tell him, so he'd just have to stay oblivious. 

          "I'm up, I'm up." She sat up and took the comforter off of her for good measure. "I said I'm up."

          "That's enough." Her dad knew, she was starting her crap early in the morning. He just walked out once he thought she was up.

     After he walked out, she plopped back down on the bed and cuddled in a fight against the pillows for her covers. Once a few seconds passed, she rolled her eyes with a groan and grabbed her phone off of its designated nightstand. Clicking the side power button allowed her to see the time, "8:23 am". 

     She shot into action with a sudden sense of urgency, like someone finally reading a hurricane warning sent out over an hour ago ━ point being, she was speed. She powered through her shower, not bothering to check the temperature ━ as long as it wasn't cold or even really warm, so basically anything that was hot. 

On her way down the steps, she snatched a banana from the fruit basket ━ shouting out to her dad. "See you!"  

He nodded in acknowledgement, knowing she was off to school ━ in other words, prison.

     "So, can anyone tell me what caused corruption of the U.S. government?" His teacher looked around for raised hands, but knowing her ━ she was a cruel soul who'd choose an innocent who would rather do without the attention.

Deryck, who happened to go to Grayson's school and attend some of his classes, raised his hand ━ which Mrs. Palsky eventually chose, after finding everyone had a hand up. Not because they wanted to participate, but because they figured out that she'd choose them if they didn't have a hand up. "Ah, Jeremy."

          "My name is Deryck, ma'am." Mrs. Palsky just waved him off ━ waiting for him to continue. "It didn't start with him, but Trump made the government stonks crash."

His statement earned a few snickers from students known to have bad senses of humor.

     Mrs. Palsky felt that wasn't a satisfactory answer, so she picked another person, making note not to choose Jer━Deryck again. But by then, Grayson's mind had wandered off and he wasn't focused on history class anymore ━ but the events that took place the night before.

They wandered to the basketball, the rain, and a girl ━ in the dark, on a walk home. They didn't wander to what happened after, not the sting, or the hurt ━ just the prior.

━ 

+2122

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[A/N] Fun fact: I accidentally wrote Jeremy instead of Deryck, but I left it there to lighten things. Also, POV switch! I was hesitant at first, but I decided to go with it because I was suffering from writer's block!