Becoming the Luna

Chapter 97

I wake up cradled against my mom and I smile softly at her, we had spent the night talking, more like I had been doing the talking while she listened.

And somehow we ended up on her bed where we must have both slept off after a long while, I slowly separated from her, careful to not bother her.

Luckily, she's a peaceful sleeper and it's the holidays too so her alarm isn't going to kick in anytime soon which was a good thing because she really needed her sleep.

I get up and trudge to my room, leaving Apple who was sleeping at the edge of the bed. The kitten had also taken part in the midnight conversations.

It's already 9am, it's much later than I had thought, my mom would probably not be asleep for long.

I rush up to my room to brush my teeth and check my phone while I'm at it, there's a couple missed calls from Shana and texts from everyone. 

They say that they won't be around till evening, Shana is going on a date with Mae, while Virgil has some things to do with his family, Dale offered the same excuse.

I'm not surprised, I would have even encouraged them to spend some time with their families, after all they've been practically gone all summer.

I quickly brush my teeth and wash my face, I would bathe after breakfast, I also had the plan of making a short trip to the woods.

I'd missed the pine trees and the solitude, plus there was nothing to do now that they wouldn't all be by till evening when we would most likely go for a ride.

I skip happily down the stairs, about to surprise my mom with breakfast. Julia wouldn't be by till tomorrow and I'm starting to think that just maybe I should pick up cooking before my mom ends up hurting herself for real.

Cooking is actually something that gets better with practice and I had enough of it at the beach house so it wasn't hard to prepare a quick breakfast of toast and bacon and eggs, I had the coffee maker going for my mom even though I still preferred to drink my milk.

My mom floats down the stairs in her night robe, a blissful look on her face.

"Hay? I just had the most awesome dream where oh my God!" She cuts herself shut, slapping a hand over her open mouth. "It wasn't a dream!" 

She's standing in front of the kitchen's entrance and her stunned expression tickles me.

"What isn't a dream?"

"There's actual, edible food." She murmurs in a daze coming in slowly to stare at the food I had arranged on the dining table. "Did you make this?"

I grin at her, waving a spatula around. "Yup!"

"Really?" She asks with excitement in her wide eyes.

"Of course." I say, dropping the equipment in my hand on the counter. "Why don't you come and have a taste so you can review my food?" I invite her, coming around to pull out a chair for her.

"With pleasure." She agrees, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.

I want to hover over her but I force myself to take my seat as well and wait for her opinion.

She gingerly takes a bite of bacon and eggs and then gives me an incredulous look. "How did you make it so good?"

I grin widely at this and shrug. "I don't know, I just did I guess." I reply, going to get her a cup of coffee.

"Well, how come it never works when I just do?" She pouts, blowing on her hot cup of coffee after adding in the milk and sugar.

"For starters, try not to get distracted." I tell her indulgently.

She grumbles at this. "Even if I don't it still ends up horrific."

I just laugh at this, settling in to eat.

"I'm going to take a walk in the woods today." I say absently, concentrating on my plate as I try to get bacon and egg on my fork at the same time.

The strange silence from my mom at my announcement makes me glance up at her to see her looking pale.

"Is something wrong?" I ask.

"No, no." She's quick to refuse. "But do you have to take a walk? We could go to the park or something." She offers.

I shake my head goodnaturedly, uninterested in seeing people. "My friends aren't coming over till evening, plus I promise I won't go far and I'll carry a backpack of food and water if you want me too, although it isn't necessary." I quickly reassure her, knowing that she's probably still worried about the last time I had gone into the woods all by myself.

"If you take food and water, you're just saying that you'll stay long." She sulks, looking very unhappy with the whole deal.

But, I really want to take that walk so I just laugh and agree. "Sure, fine, I should be back in ten to fifteen minutes." I tell her. "There's no need to carry a backpack then."

She grumpily agrees which is a little strange because she had never minded before even when I chose to go all the way to the creek all by myself, but I pay it no mind.

I could still take my walk anyway so there was no need to push it.

I offer to clear up the table and do the dishes after breakfast but my mom shoos me away and I acquiesce, hurrying up the stairs.

I planned to make my walk before the sun got too hot so I quickly clean up and wear a thin shirt and shorts, hiking boots on my feet.

I find my mom pacing in the living room with her phone against her ears, a panicked expression on her face.

"Mom?" I call out to her.

"Ah!" She squeals, jumping. "Don't scare me like that." She says on a sigh, pressing the hand that held the phone against her chest.

"Sorry?" I say, confused. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing!" She exclaims, hiding her phone behind her. 

"Okay?" I agree hesitantly. "Well, I'm off to take my walk." I inform her, going out the front door.

I had my new phone in my pocket, just incase, I was still torn if I wanted to listen to music or enjoy the scenery.

Or maybe I could try to do both?

I stop halfway past the lawn, I had forgotten my earphones!

I quickly turn around to hurry back inside, thank goodness I hadn't gotten far.

I burst inside the house to catch the tail ends of my mom's call.

"...get Virgil or I'm" She sounds harried.

I have to pass by the living room to get up the stairs but when she catches a sight of me she freezes, swallowing her words.

"B-Baby? What are you doing?" She asks nervously, with a hand over the phone.

Her weird actions make me forget what I had been there to pick and I take a hasty step back, curious and confused eyes fixed on her. "No-Nothing, I'm going now." I say, hurrying back out.

Well now, what was that all about?

I think to myself, bringing out my phone to check the time, it's just a couple minutes shy of 10:30am, I should be back long before it's 11am.