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Act One, IX: got caught up in the moment
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Here's the thing that Moe is beginning to learn: life is relentless.
She is sixteen, bordering on seventeen, with her feet planted firmly on an old skateboard as it skitters down the asphalt road. She chews on blue raspberry flavoured gum and blows a bubble that pops over her pink lips and round nose. Scuffing the bottom of Kie's old vegan leather Docs, she shuffles backward on the board and crouches. The road tapers downhill and wind cards through her freshly washed hair. The stretchy cotton skirt on her pink floral print dress creeps up her thighs. The shoulder strap loosens as she wraps her fingers around the front of the deck to steady herself.
For a fleeting moment, it's just her, the wind and the sound of rubber wheels turning on the road.
She'd dressed in a nicer than usual outfit this morning after peeling herself from her bed and wiping her eyes of crust— in an attempt at convincing herself she felt okay. Had blow-dried her hair to get the ends curled; had winged her eyeliner and applied mascara; had put on the dangly gold heart earrings Lo gave her; had ignored the urge to grip the sink and get lost in the eyes of her mother looking back at her. Moe had hoped with all of her might that dressing nice would make the pit in her stomach ache a little bit less.
Of course, it didn't work.
Life is relentless. She has known this on some level since she was five and her Dad died; since the day she skipped past JJ's threshold when she was twelve and found out Luke Maybank hit his son; since that day nine months ago Big John never came home to the Chateau.
Life doesn't stop for anyone, for anything. Bad shit happens every day and life doesn't give you a break because of it. Especially when you're a pogue, and Moe is a pogue through and through.
So yes— maybe she has a scream lodged in her throat and maybe her fists have been clenched since she woke up this morning and maybe all she wants to do is shatter someone's nose. But fuck she isn't going to let herself wallow in it. Moe has never been a crier.
