Luna

Just as I predicted, it is two days later and I am feeling extremely ill. I guess that’s what happens when you stay out in the rain. But at least I saved the day, am I right? Also, my under eyes are worse than they have ever been. I only got five hours of sleep. Five out of nine. That did not do me very good. I guess an eye mask would go really well right now.

I have talked to my father yesterday. Just as I expected, he laughed at me. Like, really hard. He could not stop laughing when he heard what I’ve done. He said that I am just like him when he was younger; I find that kind of strange, but also nice. My mom on the other hand did not have the same reaction. She kept talking by herself the whole ride back home, telling me how irresponsible I was and that she has never been more upset about my behavior. She did not wish to acknowledge the fact that I actually saved someone while behaving so badly, but I guess that is just mother, always pointing out the worst in a situation.

I have not gotten a call yet from Ashton, which kind of disappoints me. But that is okay, he is a nice guy, I know he will eventually call me. Meanwhile, I believe I am going to do some yoga. It always helps me relax and feel a lot better. Physically and also mentally. I have always believed that a clean aura means a clean mind and body.

Even though my body is demanding to stay in bed, I get up knowing that I will eventually feel a lot better later. I go downstairs to make myself some breakfast, while the whole house is still completely silent. It is nine in the morning and my mother doesn’t usually get up until ten or eleven on Sunday’s. I like waking up early, days are long and beautiful and they deserves to be enjoyed to their fullest.

At about ten o’clock when I am getting ready to head out for the beach, I hear my phone ringing from my room. Running up the stairs, I look at the caller ID and it is an unknown number. An unknown number, but I am pretty sure I do know who it is.

“Hello?” I answer, sitting down on my bed.

“Uh-hey, it’s Ashton.” I hear his hoarse voice, that kind of makes me think he just woke up.

“You remember me, right?”

“Guy who got me in jail? Yes, I am pretty sure I remember you.”

“Yeah, that’s me.” He chuckles and I smile. “Sorry I haven’t called to thank you, it’s just been crazy these past couple of days at my house.” He apologizes and I almost want to ask him to tell me what happened, but I restrain.

“That’s okay. Let’s meet up.” I say.

“Oh.” He says surprised. “Well, that’s what I wanted to suggest anyway, because I kind of owe you those guitar lessons now.” Yes, you do. “So, when can I see you?”

“Right now.” I say while getting my socks and shoes on.

“Right now as in, right now? At this moment?” He asks uncertain.

“I am pretty sure that’s what “right now” means. Meet me at Venice Beach.” I answer while grabbing my keys and then stepping out of the house.

“Where exactly? I mean, the beach is pretty huge if you ask me.” He laughs.

“Close by the Skating Park. You’ll see me, not that many people are there so early in the morning. See you there, Ashton.” I smile, getting ready to hang up.

“Wait!” He stops me and I continue on listening. “Are you eventually going to tell me your name?” He asks and I smile.

“Didn’t I tell you to search up Moon in Italian?”

“Oh-oh you were serious! I had no idea if I heard you correctly.” He huffs and I giggle slightly.
“I am heading out. See you soon, Ashton.” I hang up and run to the gate, climbing up to jump it, not even searching for my keys to unlock it.


It is a beautiful day, just as I predicted it would be. The sun is fully up by now and there is a slight ghost of wind, but it is a really nice day indeed. Stretching while bathing in the warm sunlight is one of the best feelings I have ever experienced. The fresh marine breeze reminds me of my childhood, back when I used to travel around the world with my mother a lot. Her job required a lot of business trips and since I wasn’t old enough to be sitting at home by myself, she would take me with her. And she did not trust my dad to take care of me for more than a week. Let’s say his ways of parenting are a bit too “risqué” for my mother’s taste. We used to visit a lot of countries that had very beautiful sea sights and I remember burying my feet in the fine sand and just sitting there for hours, watching the sun go down. Good times.

I almost get half way through my yoga positions when I hear someone clearing their throat beside me. Opening only one eye, I glance at the boy who once looked a lot different than he does now. His hair is no longer dirty, but looks very shiny and smooth. His outfit is put together way better, no ripped clothes this time. He still has some scratches here and there on his face, but they make him look kind of cool.

“Luna?” He asks uncertain and I smile, closing my eyes again, concentrating back on my position.

“I see you’ve actually translated that.” I try keeping still with one leg off the ground, leaning my weight on the other one. “Took you some time.”

“I guess you could say that.” He chuckles. “What exactly are you doing?” He wonders and I sigh, putting both feet on the ground.

“Yoga.” I answer and open my eyes to get a complete glance at him. He is carrying a guitar case in his right hand. “Care to join me?”

“I’m not sure I’d be really good at- whatever that is you are doing.” He laughs.

“It’s good for you.” I shrug and change positions.

He doesn’t move for a few seconds, but then decides to join me. I have never done yoga with a friend before. Is Ashton my friend? I don’t know him, but I would like to. I guess we could eventually become friends. First we could be yoga buddies. That sounds nice.

“So, why guitar?” He asks when he gets down on the sand next to me, trying to follow my actions.

“We all have a much bigger attraction for what we cannot have, I suppose. The guitar is one of the things I never got to try.” I lay on my stomach and bend my back towards the sky.

“I guess you’re right – oh God, that looks painful.” He mutters when I bring my legs up, almost touching the top of my head with my toes. “What’s that position called?”

“It’s a cobra.” I sigh while letting me body relax again and getting up, with him swiftly following my actions.

“Pretty sure that cobra would snap me in two.” He whispers and shakes off some sand from his shirt.

“So tell me about you, Ashton.” I say and balance back on one leg while leaning forward with my torso.
“Well, uh, what would you like to know?” He asks and tries to follow my moves but winces and puts one hand on his hip, probably in pain.

“Don’t give me basic information, like your full name or birthday or such on. We could get through those later. Tell me interesting stuff about your life.” I answer and bring my right leg up from behind, grabbing it with my hands.

“I mean, my life is not really that interesting and well – are you like a professional or something?” He frowns and tries lifting his leg as well, but fails badly. “You sure are flexible.”

“It’s only a matter of practice.” I answer and close my eyes again. “It takes time, but I’m sure you could easily do this as well.”

“Doubt it.” He huffs. “What is this one called?”

“It’s the King Dancer.” I smile and let my leg fall back on the ground.

“These names are weird.” He laughs and I shrug. I guess they kind of are.

“So, tell me, what is your biggest achievement in life so far?” I ask, stopping my exercises for a while to be able to listen to him.

“Biggest achievement?” He asks and I nod. “I mean- I’m not really sure. Probably getting through high school so far.” He laughs and I roll my eyes.

“That is boring. Give me something else.” He sits and thinks for a while, then shrugs.

“The only thing I can remember right now is when I earned my first money singing on the street. That kind of made me proud; it made my dad proud as well.” He smiles, looking down and moving his feet in the sand.

“That is really nice.” I smile as well, because that is a beautiful achievement.

“I guess. Anything else you would like to ask me?” He chuckles and I think of another basic question that I would really like to know the answer to.

“Why is your hair so long?” I take some time to actually observe his hair; it is really pretty, but a bit too long for what I usually see boys wear.

“Why, does it look back?” He quickly asks and runs a hand through his shiny blonde locks. It doesn’t, it looks very nice. ”I guess I have been kind of busy lately, didn’t really cross my mind to go get a haircut.” He shrugs and I nod.

“Well, don’t, I like it.” He gives me a big smile.

“So,” he clears his throat. “Not that I mind the whole yoga thing, it’s really cool. But, wouldn’t you like to get to the actual guitar lessons?” He suggests pointing to his guitar.

“Oh, yes, absolutely.” I nod and sit down in the sand while he takes the beautiful instrument out of its case and sits down next to me.

“I guess I’ll help you with the basic cords and such and we could slowly move from there.” His fingers slowly graze over the shiny wood. “I don’t know if you’re gonna like guitar though, took me some time to learn and to this day I still don’t like playing it very much.”

“I could end up loving it, or hating it. I guess we’ll have to see.”


I don’t know if I like admitting this, but he was kind of right. I lost track of time, it could have been ten minutes or an hour, but I am already getting tired. There’s just so much stuff going on, so many sounds, cords, I am a bit overwhelmed. I guess I prefer sticking to my piano. I also don’t like admitting this, but I tend to think my mother was right. I just don’t like playing guitar. I was really excited at first, and I am all about trying new things, but if I’m not into it, then I guess there’s nothing else I can do.

“You know, I think you were right. This is boring.” I admit all of a sudden and he laughs.

“What, it’s only been like half an hour, I haven’t even shown you all that much.” I come up with an idea.

“You could sing to me.” I say.

“Sing to you?” He raises his eyebrows confused.

“Yes, I might not be all that into playing the guitar, but I like hearing other people do. So, mind singing something to me?” I ask and give him one of the most convincing smiles I possibly can.
“I mean…” He trails off. “Sure. I could do that.” He shakes his hair away from his forehead and props the instrument onto his lap, slowly stroking the cords.

Then he starts playing one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. This beats any classical music that I have ever fallen in love with, any pop song on the radio, it is just pure and beautiful. I smile when I hear him slowly start to hum along some lyrics. Throughout the whole time he sings the beautiful melody, I do not shift my eyes away from his face nor stop him. He is so into it, so passionate, it almost makes the song sound even better. When he stops I almost want to tell him to continue. God, I am in love with the beautiful sounds a guitar can make.

“Do you know what that song is called?” I ask and crinkle my nose due to the sun getting in my eyes.

“I don’t think so – I heard my dad sing it one time when I was young and I wanted him to teach me.” I move a strand of hair out of my face.

“It is by a very old band, from the ‘70s. Your father taught you a very beautiful song.” I smile.

“What is it called?” He asks.

“The band is called The Grateful Dead and the song is called Ripple.” I answer him.

“So how comes you know this band if it’s so old?” Looking at the beautiful waves, I just ignore the hair that keeps blowing in my face.

“I happened to found an article about it one day on the internet. And I was really curious, so I searched the band up. I guess I kind of fell in love with some of their songs. This one included.” He nods and then we are silent for a couple minutes, before I ask him. “You said it has been crazy these past couple of days at your house; why so?”

“Well, the biggest reason must be because I got into jail, wouldn’t you think?” He laughs and I nod. Accurate. “And my graduation in soon so I guess my dad isn’t really happy with what I want to do next in life, he’s been pressuring me for weeks now to change my mind.”
“What are your plans?” I am genuinely curious about this.

“To travel the world.” He smiles. “We moved here from Australia when I was only six years old and I guess since we’ve come so far away from home, I always wondered what other places I could discover next and fall in love with.” I knew there was something weird about his accent.

“You love Los Angeles?” I ask and he stays silent for a while, probably thinking.

“I wouldn’t really know. Like I said, I’ve never been anywhere else. So I don’t really know for sure. I guess sometimes it kind of feels like home; but sometimes it doesn’t.” He explains and I nod. “Do you like it here?”

“It’s the City Of Angels.” I smile looking at the beautiful light of the sun reflecting into the dark waves of the sea. “What’s not to love?”

“Never seen an angel here before, though.” He mutters and I can’t help but giggle.
“You will one day.” I reassure him and he laughs as well.

“Hey, I’ve told you things about me. What about you?” He asks. “I mean, I’ve barely found out your name and your age, I guess I would like to know some other things.”

“Okay, I guess I could tell you some things.” An idea comes to my mind. “Here’s how we’re gonna do it. I tell you a riddle; if you solve it, I tell you my life story. If you don’t, I guess we’ll just have to wait until you do.”

“Okay, I guess.” I see him frown, but he agrees.

“So, it goes like this, listen carefully: A farmer had thirty dogs and twenty-eight chickens. How many didn't?” His mouth parts in confusion.

“Wait, what?” He laughs. “Can you repeat that?” I do so and he still looks really confused.

“You cannot google it!” I warn him. “If you do, I will know. And also, it wouldn’t be fair.”

“Okay, okay, I guess you’re right. I won’t, I promise.” He agrees and I am happy to hear that.

“So you don’t know the answer?” I ask.

“I mean, give me some time to think.” He giggles. It’s really cute when he does that.

“Time is precious, Ashton. Don’t waste it.”

Notes