could try it. For now I think I’ll just wait it out.”
“No way,” said Phoebe. “You’ve gotta make your move before someone else does.”
“She’s right for once,” commented Haley. “Luna, Toby is smart, funny, cute…a guy like that’s gonna draw some attention sooner or later, right?”
Luna laughed. “You worry too much.”
She waited for about a week before doing anything else. During that time, the feelings steadily increased. By the second day her stomach felt weird whenever Toby spoke to her. By the fifth day her head swam when he was nearby. And by the end of the week, her mind exploded with images at the slightest touch from him. Since they wrestled a lot, her head was kept pretty busy.
Realizing that this was not going to go away, she decided she would rather try the subtle approach than risk a direct question. So whenever Toby said something even mildly funny, she burst out laughing. Whenever they saw another couple pass by, she sighed passionately. And if she spied a slippery patch in the snow, she fell against him every time. The result: Toby started asking if she had suffered any recent head injuries.
After three days Luna was sick of the ditzy act. For one thing, it was getting her nowhere. Actually nowhere would have been preferable, since Toby kept giving her a wary look like there was some disease he was worried she might give him. For another thing, she hated herself as a ditz. ‘Goofy, giggly, clumsy, this isn’t me,” she thought. But still she couldn’t bring herself to say anything outright.
She decided to visit her mother Taya and ask for advice. ‘After all,’ she thought, ‘It worked out for her and dad.’ Then she realized where her mind was going and shook her head. ‘What am I thinking?’
When she came scratching at the door, Taya was surprised to see her. “Luna?” she asked. “Come on in. What brings you here?”
“Hi, mom,” said Luna, wondering how best to explain her predicament. She noticed that her father was also in the room. “Dad?” she asked. “Can I talk…just to mom for a minute?”
Copper looked at her and seemed to guess that this was a females-only matter. “Okay.” And he left. Luna almost instantly wished she hadn’t said anything. Maybe it would have been better to talk to both of her parents about it. But what was done was done, and she couldn’t summon the courage to call her dad back in.
Taya studied her intently. “Alright, so what’s wrong?”
“I, uh…need some advice.”
“Then maybe you should tell me what it’s about.”
Luna scratched at the floor uncertainly. “Well, it’s about a boy.”
“Ah,” said Taya, nodding. “I see.”
“Now mom, don’t go jumping to conclusions!” Luna blurted out.
Taya laughed. “Did I say anything?”
“No, but you were thinking it,” said Luna. “I can tell.”
“Well, before I go jumping to conclusions, maybe you should explain.”
Luna sat down. “Well, there’s this guy who I like…as a friend, you know?”
“Just friends?” asked Taya, raising an eyebrow.
“Well, maybe more. I don’t know. That’s why I came here.”
“Does he have a name?”
“Yeah, he’s got a name,” Luna said evasively.
“Is he anyone I know?”
Luna swallowed. Taya had known Toby almost as long as she herself had. “He…he might be,” she admitted.
Taya nodded, taking it in.“Well, what’s he like?”
Luna tried to think of something that wouldn’t give it all away. “He’s very nice,” she said, trying to keep her tone casual. “And he’s lots of fun to have around.”
“Is he handsome?”
Luna grimaced. She had never really thought of Toby as being attractive, but now that she thought of it… “He’s…kind of cute, I guess,” she admitted.
“I see,” said Taya. “Luna, you wouldn’t be talking about Toby by any chance, would you?”
Luna gasped. “How’d you know?”
Taya laughed. “Well, it didn’t exactly take a genius to figure it out. So, does he know?”
Luna frowned. “Well, not exactly.” Taya gave her a look. “Okay, so I didn’t tell him.”
Taya looked thoughtful. “How long have you felt this way about him?”
“About ten days.”
“How did it happen?”
“Well, Toby and I were wrestli- don’t look at me like that, mom. We were horsing around, that’s all.”
“Right,” said Taya skeptically.
Luna rolled her eyes. “We were horsing around and he had me pinned. I wanted to throw him off guard, so I…” her face turned red with embarrassment.
“Go on,” Taya encouraged.
“I…kissed him on the nose. It was just for a distraction, but I kind of liked it. And then I started to feel…I don’t know. It was like I’d been wanting to do that for a while and just didn’t know it, you know?”
Taya nodded. “Then what happened?”
“Well, I told Phoebe and Haley about it, and Haley said I should just tell him straight out that I like him and wanted to go out. Phoebe said it was better to drop little hints like giggling a lot and leaning against him. I couldn’t face the thought of saying how I felt outright, so I decided to try dropping hints.”
“You actually took advice from Phoebe? You do have it bad.”
“Mom!”
“Sorry.” Taya looked thoughtful. “So now you’re thinking of something more than friendship, is that it?”
Luna nodded.
“Well, I really don’t know what this calls for. I mean, you know that things went a little differently for me and your father, right?” Luna nodded. “So I don’t know how much help I’ll be. But I can offer you some advice.”
“That would be great.”
“First of all, how badly do you want a relationship? Are you unhappy with just being friends?”
Luna thought about it. “No, not really.”
“Well in that case, you might be better off with simple friendship. Going beyond that might just put too much pressure on you both. And not only that, but these things don’t just happen on their own. You have to work at it. It wasn’t easy for me and your father, that’s for sure.”
Luna nodded, looking a bit glum.
“But if you decide that you do want a serious relationship, obviously the first step is to tell him about it.”
“Well yeah, but how? Lately I’ve been scared just to open my mouth around him.”
Taya considered. “Well like I said, your situation isn’t quite like anything I’ve been through. But I’ve heard of some similar cases. I suggest you start by telling him there’s a boy you like, see how he feels about that, and then sort of ease into the fact that the boy is him.”
“But what if he says he’s not interested?”
“Well,” shrugged Taya, “There’s not much you can do in that case. But at least you’ll know, so you’ll be free to stop worrying.”
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Thanks. I thought it was pretty good.
