N.O.

Chapter Nine

-Luna-

When I went back home, my parents were all over Carlos. They wouldn't stop hugging him or asking him questions about how college and football have been. They asked about Grace and Carlos just told them that she was busy with her art, very strange. I was just upset that they didn't question him where he was all this time or why he didn't call. They accepted him in with open arms like nothing happened. I just didn't understand.

"Luna, ¿dónde estuviste todo el día?" My mom grilled me once I entered the kitchen where they were all I guess waiting for me to start eating dinner. She asked me where I had been all day.

"I was at Indiana's. Did Carlos not tell you?" I looked at Carlos and he gave me an apologetic look, of course he didn't tell them, "okay but Carlos has been MIA for two months and you didn't grill him about where he was."

"Porque sabemos que Carlos estaba en la escuela siendo un buen estudiante atleta. ¿Qué podrías estar haciendo con Indiana que sería productivo?" My dad tried to lecture me and tell me how Carlos was being a good student-athlete while I was just with Indiana doing nothing productive. Oh if they only knew.

"I'm going upstairs to my room. Have a good dinner." I said as I made my way towards the stairs.

"Luna, they want to have a family dinner. Stay," my brother tells me, he tried to be sincere.

"Si no quiere comer, puede ir a su habitación," my mom stated. Of course she doesn't want me.

"Mom," Carlos gave her an angry look, "Luna come eat with us," he told me once more. I decided on staying to eat with them because I was hungry and maybe I did miss Carlos a little bit.

Dinner went pretty smoothly, probably because Carlos was back and he managed to keep the conversations going. We ate rice, beans, and steak along with some tortillas. It all tasted really good. Maybe this Thanksgiving break I'll spend time with Carlos to try and see how he's been. I could tell he was acting very differently. He wasn't as upbeat and energetic as he used to be. I'll use this week to spend more time with my brother. Hopefully.

* * * *

Six Days Later

It's Thanksgiving day and I felt extremely thankful for Indiana. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have been able to move on. It's because of her that I felt so strong now. I spent most of the week playing video games and watching movies and shows with Carlos. We hadn't done that in a long time. We caught up a little bit, mainly just talked about what I wanted to do in college and where I would want to go. I didn't really have a set answer, but I did know that I wanted to go to a school out of state, preferably up east. We'll see how I get that money.

I woke up at around noon, per usual. I went to walk down the stairs so I could get a bowl of cereal, only to my surprise I saw Cole with Carlos in the living room watching TV. I grabbed a granola bar from the cabinet and then quickly ran back up the stairs to my room. Once I got back to my room, I closed the door behind me, turned my back towards the door and leaned up against it. This was the first time that I didn't have a full blown panic attack at the sight of Cole. I felt okay, like I could get through it. For the first time since July I actually felt better. I guess the whole fire pit thing did help me afterall.

I just stayed in my room for the remainder of the afternoon, even though I didn't have a panic attack at the sight of Cole. It doesn't mean I was ready to face him. I watched some netflix to pass the time. I mainly just watched Glee and The Vampire Diaries. It was three in the afternoon when I decided that I should start to get ready for the dinner. My guess was that Cole and his family would be coming over for dinner, as usual. I wasn't sure how ready I was for that. I didn't want to bother Indiana because I knew she would be with her family. I needed to face this on my own.