Bane of my existence

Chapter 17- Luna

I woke up much later than I usually do. My mom was yelling at me from downstairs, because we were late for the opening of aunt Liza’s art gallery. Aunt Liza, is mom’s best friend. They met when I was in grade three when mom had come to drop me off to school but left with a flat tyre instead. Aunt Liza who was also Simon’s mom had come to my mom’s rescue and that was the start of their beautiful friendship.

“Luna ... honey, you better be up by the time I finish taking a shower. I promised your aunt Liza that I would help her before the guests arrive. We’re late baby. C’mon!!! Wake up! If you’re not up and about in 5 minutes then God help me!!!!!”

I groaned and put a pillow over my ears, but that didn’t do much about the shouting, so I decided to get out of bed. I felt dizzy and sleep deprived as I didn’t get much sleep last night owing to the same recurring nightmare I kept having these days. I figured that a warm shower was the best remedy. I drew the curtains open and opened the doors to my balcony to let the morning breeze fill my room. Then I hopped into the shower. As the first gush of warm water hit my skin, I felt myself relax, my skin tingling with warmth, I shivered. I washed my hair and got out. As I proceeded to brush my teeth and wash my face in the sink, I wiped the mirror that had fogged up from the steam. As I stared at my reflection, there was something unfamiliar about it. I saw it then, at the base of my neck, the mark. An almost circular mark, which looked like a half complete circle, the outline of the circle was glowing, like as though someone had send jolts of lightning through it. I touched the mark and flinched at the pain I felt upon touching it. It was unlike anything I’d seen before. I was certain that it wasn’t there last night, and I didn’t have any tattoos because mom didn’t approve of it. I kept staring at it, just then mom called me again,

“lunaaaaaa.... come on honey...we’re late!!!!”

“I’ll be there in 5, mom” I shouted back.

I hurriedly scrambled out of the bathroom and slathered lotion onto my body and got dressed. I chose a cerulean blue dress today which hugged my body and highlighted my curves perfectly. It was a bit chilly today, so I wore a jacket over it. I blow dried my hair and did a bit of makeup, nothing fancy, just some mascara and a lipstick, and a spritz of my favourite perfume and I was good to go.

I rushed down the stairs and outside, to find my mom fuming in the car.

“sorry sorry mom. I’m ready... let’s go.”

We reached the gallery just in time and aunt Liza was outside giving instructions to the caterer, on something about the wine menu. She waved at us as she saw my mom pull into the driveway.

“You head in Luna, I’ll park the car and meet you inside.”

“okay”

I got out of the car and as soon as I did, I felt like all eyes were on me. The decorators had stopped doing what they were doing and was now staring at me. I felt a bit awkward but I brushed aside the feeling and walked over to where Aunt Liza was and gave her the flowers and the champagne mom had brought along. Upon seeing me, she gave me an approving nod and said, “you look stunning sweetheart, come and give your aunty a big hug.”

“Congratulations, on the opening aunt Liza. The place is looking great. Mom has gone to park the car, she’ll be with you in a minute. “

She hugged me and said, “my luna darling, thank you. Go inside now, Simon is waiting for you.”

I walked in as she handed over the flowers and the champagne to her assistant. Simon was excitedly shouting out instructions to the workers inside, checking , making sure that everything was perfect. He had his back turned towards me, so I stealthily crept over to where he was and tapped on his right shoulder while I moved to the left, he turned to the right and then left, he smiled when he saw it was me,

“Silverrrr... I was beginning to worry if you’d show up on time. “

He caught me in a big hug and I laughed and when he released me, he took me by my shoulders, kept me at an arms length and proceeded to check me out from head to toe, he then whistled,

“I’m loving the cerulean on you babe. The dress is just..ugh... give me a turn..cmon”

I twirled around as gracefully as I could and we both laughed.

“You look not so bad yourself Simon. I see you’ve taken a liking to the gold cuff I got you for your birthday.”

“Yes, Silver.. I love the gold, besides an intern of a fashion magazine should at least have sense of style no?”

“Touch`e honey. Well is there anything I can do to help?”

“I’m glad you asked Silver. Would you be a dear and check the art pieces , see if the tags on it are correct or not. “

“Sure.”

So I got to work. It helped me take my mind off of things, for a while at least. I was glad Simon didn’t bring up the topic about my mysterious lover Bane. But I had a feeling he’d ask me about it soon. Just then mom walked in with aunt Liza.

The last minute arrangements were done, everything was perfect , and guests began trickling in slowly at first and then large groups came in at once. There were many big names of the industry present at the opening, most of them were aunt Liza’s friends or batch mates from college. I looked around, everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves. Simon mingled perfectly with everyone, he fit into this naturally and aunt Liza was the most gracious hostess, even mom seemed to be at home with all the artists and their works surrounding her. It made me smile. Simon had invited his designer friends and he introduced me to all of them but me being me, I felt like a misfit in all this, like a fish out of water.  I needed to get out of there. I needed to go someplace else to breathe freely. So I decided to head to Crusoe’s for a drink or two and also because I wanted to eat something filling, I could barely eat anything at the party. I told Simon where I would be if mom asks for me and I slipped out from there. Thankfully he didn’t pester me to stay because he knew how I felt. So I slipped out of there and outside.

I took a cab to Crusoe’s as I didn’t think it was wise or responsible of me to drive considering I had had a drink or two. I reached Crusoe’s in about 20 minutes. I could see from the outside that the place was fairly empty,” maybe everybody in town had gone to the Gallery opening,” I laughed at my own silly joke. As I entered, with the soft jingling of the bell that hung by the door, I scrutinised the place until I came upon a familiar face. My feet threatened to give way under me, but I held my ground as firmly as I could. My breath caught in my throat as I met the piercing gaze of the familiar stranger. I smiled and walked over to where he was. It was Bane.