Just a Pen & Paper

12. a little ignorant

ftr: 3.4.2021 [5:49 pm, pennsylvania]

12 - A LITTLE IGNORANT

ignorant • lack of knowledge or information.

/ˈiɡnərəns/ | noun

"Relationships never die a natural death. They are always murdered by attitude, behavior, ego, or ignorance." - Unknown.

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"Ignorance is always afraid of change." - Jawaharlal Nehru

*

He laid there in his king-sized bed, thinking about something he couldn't seem to get out of his head. It kept playing in his head like a broken record. It was a moment that he tried best to forget ━ but was feeling betrayed by his own mind as it kept playing.

     He kept remembering the fusion of smoky grey, chocolate brown, and basil green. It repeated in his head how the girl looked into his eyes, almost unravelling him without even knowing ━ only failing, as he put in extra effort to keep his walls up. Nothing would occupy his mind besides how she looked away, finally catching her once hitched breath ━ after she realized she had control of herself again.

          For the first time since laying in his bed for 23 minutes, his mind drifted to something else. He thought about the conversation he had with Zea about Luna. They talked that night; her giving a mother's advice, and him listening with open ears. He rarely showed interests in people, but when he did, they ended up being friends like Faija or Ramsha. Something felt a little different about Luna yet similar, maybe it was that she was so similar to him. . . that he was seeing himself outside of his body and in female form.

He had been resting, waiting for Zea to finish her duties so that she could come see him. Eventually, she did. "What's on your mind, boy?"

          He sighed, feeling upset that Luna was so invasive in his mind. "Nothing."

               "Nonsense. I'm your mother and you're my son. You think I don't know when my son's got somethin' on his mind? I'd be a fool not to."

Zea knew something was up, and she had an inkling of what it was. 

          He mumbled, not wanting to talk about it; he felt slightly embarrassed. "I don' wan' talk about it." Sometimes, when he was feeling intense or confusing emotions, his accent came out. He was born American, through and through, but his mama had an accent. Being raised around someone with such a role in his life, she influenced him growing up, hence the accent. His parents had never been big fans of it, but he loved Zea enough to ignore it.

          "Yeah, well, you let that Luna girl know I want to meet her." Zea had a soft, knowing smile on.

          He grumbled. "Mooom."

He rarely called her 'mom', because his biological mother hadn't been too fond of the idea. For a while she forced him to only consider her as a maternal relation, but only allowed him to call her 'mother'. In one of his previous deals, he earned his right to call Zea as he wished. 

     She let out a pleasant laugh, one that comes from the soul before patting his blanket-covered leg. "Alright boy, I best be headin' out now."

          A sickly thin servant came in, her head bowed slightly as her blonde hair hung from its roots. "S-sir. Madam requests your presence."

He knew it wasn't a request, more like a command. She did it out of politeness and reputation; yes, she cared about her reputation to servants too; she didn't discriminate. That had to be the only good thing about her.

     "If it's about that little party, I said I was goin━"

*

Luna was brushing her teeth, thinking about how she threw her alarm against the wall. She kept snoozing it until she had enough, only to realize she was late for school. Worse than that, her dad hadn't woken her up yet and didn't answer when she called out before walking into the bathroom.

     Having taken a shower the night before, she washed her face and cleaned out her eye-boogers. She dressed herself in black biker shorts, an oversized Crasher's tee, and black-white Gordan's. She braided her hair into French-styled braids before applying clear mascara and cherry chapstick.

          Once she walked downstairs and into the living, she saw her dad passed out on the couch. "Dad, get up." She knew she was late, but she wasn't so cold-hearted as to leave her sleeping dad on the couch.

          "Dad. . . get up." She jerked him a little, speaking up more this time. Luna went to move him a bit more, hoping to break his sleep only to find a bruise on the right-side of his temple. It'd been revealed when she adjusted him. "DAD! GET UP, NOW!"

He only stirred slightly, putting one leg over a couch pillow. When she jerked him more violently, he swatted her hand away, finally getting up and stretched himself like a cat. "Why're you so loud?"

     "Why do you have a bruise on the side of your face?" Luna calmly questioned, feeling more concerned than curious. Rafael's reaction didn't help. He looked confused before rushing to the bathroom mirror. He peered at the many bruises on not only his face but also his body, most of which Luna hadn't seen; after all, she only seen one. "So why?"

          He sighed defeatedly, plopping down on the lidded toilet seat with a shrug. "I know about as much as you do."

For a split second, only the briefest of Millis, that unknown number text flashed across her mind. Luna was feeling a fusion of upset and concerned, creating another feeling. Confusion. What was he doing last night? Or. . . whenever I'm not here.

          "Shoul━ shouldn't you be in school?" Now he was even more confused. This morning it seemed he couldn't catch a break from the feeling.

               "Yeah, I should. But now I can't go, I have to make sure you're fine."

Rafael looked a little taken aback, shaking his head in defeat when he realized the situation. "Fine. But you need to attend at least one period." He negotiated.

     She wouldn't push it with the injured man. "Yeah, yeah. One period." She planned on attending Health class, so that she could contribute to the project they assigned her with Unity.

               "Now take a shower while I make breakfast."

     Her dad made a grab for her shoulder, squeezing it just enough to fetch her attention. "Thank you. I know things have been hard with your mother and all, but. . ." He sighed, running a hand through his thick curly black hair. "Thank you. I love you, you know?"

     Luna made a noise of discomfort and cleared her throat, before tentatively nodding. "Yea. . . I know." 

She ran downstairs and into the kitchen, reaching into the fridge to pull out her ingredients. A carton of eggs, bacon, and a loaf of bread took up space on the counter while a pot had its spot on the stove. She'd already gotten the butter started in the pan and was waiting for it to brown. Having an idle mind made it easy for her thoughts to wander, her brain's choice was ━ a moment she considered embarrassing.

     She pondered on how she didn't seem to have control over her eyes. Well; she did. She actually could have drawn her eyes away from his, but it was more like she didn't want to. As someone who had shown little interest in people, that was unusual for her ━ and unusual was freaky.

          Before her thoughts could wander any farther, the butter began popping ━ begging her attention. "Oh, crap." She tutted in panic.

She realized she forgot to have the egg batter ready, so she had to whip it against time before the butter could burn. Multi-tasking between stirring the butter and whipping the eggs, she finally poured the batter in ━ with only most of the butter burned. "Craaaaaap."

     She wouldn't have cared if she just cooked it for her, but that wasn't the case. Once she got over that, she made the toast without a problem, ━ leaving the turkey bacon as the last thing to be made. "Hey. Whatcha makin?"

          Luna jumped, spatula in-hand and other hand to her chest, covering her racing heart. "Don't do that." She scolded.

     Her dad blankly blinked before taking a seat at the table, leaving only two seats left. They had yet to get rid of that chair, but they kept saying soon ━ though they were both putting it off for the same reason.

          "You know, we have the court hearing this weekend." Her dad started off hesitantly, finishing his thought with hope. "But you don't have to stay for the whole thing."

          "It's fine. . . it won't be that bad." She shrugged, placing the now cooked bacon onto their respective plates.

She slid her dad his plate across the table, sitting down with hers and digging in just like he was.

*

          "So, do you know where to start?" Unity was shifting eagerly in her chair, reminding Luna of someone and a moment which she just couldn't seem to quite put her finger on.

          It took Luna a few seconds to let Unity's question sink in, but when it did ━ she was pissed. "Are you kidding me right now?"

     Unity hadn't an idea of what had Luna's panties in a bunch, so she c****d her head like a curious bird; a perplexed expression painted all over her face, the canvas. "What do you mean?"

          "We were supposed to have our sources on Tuesday! It's Friday! Are you bloody joking me?!" Luna rarely used words like those, only when she was truly upset.

     Unity looked about ready to cry. She had meant no harm, she truly hadn't. She just wanted to make friends with Luna, because to her, Luna looked like she could use one. She whispered in a broken voice, trying not to let her voice tattle-tale of her restraint to hold back tears. "I━I. . .  I'm sorry. I didn't know."

          At that point, everyone in the classroom including the teacher had their eyes on the pair. Luna felt herself shrink away slightly, turning her head away from her unwanted audience before mumbling an apology. "No, I should be sorry. Not you."

Unity knew Luna felt uncomfortable in the spotlight, so she tried to end the scene. "I accept your apology." But it only made Luna look more like a villain, and Unity a kind, forgiving soul in the prying eyes of the bystanding students.

     Whispers started circulating around them, some of which Luna could make out. "Rude", "Jerk", "Bully", were only a few of what they could hear. Upset with the speculation and whispering, Luna clenched her jaw before walking out. It hadn't been over 5 minutes into the session and she'd already walked out.

          She found herself on her usual route to Atlas's therapy group, even if she was quite early and off schedule. She was in front of the therapy door when Ramsha opened it for her, smiling widely and waving happily. "C'mon in! I've got the pictures."

Luna actually found herself excited and curious to have a look, so she rushed through the threshold and into the room. Once she was inside, Ramsha softly closed the door and took a seat, ━ patting to the one next to her. Luna took the seat while Ramsha pulled a thick photo-album out of her backpack, which had been sitting next to her seat. "Atlas went out to get some snacks for himself. He'll be back soon. He left me with the room."

     Luna nodded absent-mindedly, finding her attention more than willing to be focused on the album. Ramsha positioned it on her lap in a way that Luna could see too. Just as she was about to pull back the cover, she turned to face Luna with a pleading look. "Promise nothing will change."

          Luna looked confused and concerned, wondering why anything would change and if it was serious. She hesitantly nodded, unsure if she made the best decision by agreeing. "Y━ yea, sure."

     Ramsha just sighed, shaking her head wistfully, knowing that she wouldn't be able to go back after this. Knowing that this would ignite change, a change that only the receiver could deem good or bad. 

          "Sometimes, Luna. Sometimes it's better to be a little ignorant." She sighed, before pulling back the cover. It was like a slap in the face with all the emotions Luna got. One of the things Luna felt from the photo?

Goosebumps.

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[A/N]: For further clarification, Zea is not the biological mother of Grayson. She also had no kids, as she only had time to take care of him. So, she considers him her son and does a better job of parenting than his biological parental units. Also, I'll replace name brands with similar names for copyright and stuff. Also, who's your favorite character so far? Mine's is Zea.