I Told The Moon About You

10: Moonshine (1/2)

pre-written chapter, not pushing myself

TEN
Moonshine (1/2)

He should have expected this when he said Mars wasn't allowed to stay home alone while he went to the store.

She was lifting herself into the cart, sitting with her legs crossed. "Aren't you getting a little too old for that?" he asked her, watching as she made herself comfortable.

"Nope," she chirped. "If I'm small enough, which I am, then it doesn't matter."

He hated when she used decent logic.

Elias sighed, starting to push with very slight struggle. He tried not to let it show. "Whatever you say. Be careful with everything. I don't want you crushing anything — especially eggs and bread, remember?"

"Yep, yep." She turned her phone horizontally and started playing a game. He snatched the list from her lap and held it out in front of him. This was one of those big grocery days. He wasn't looking forward to it.

He had always hated any type of shopping with a burning passion. His feet started to hurt far too easily — it was embarrassing. Mars was lucky he was letting her sit there. Little did she know, she was making his whole "feet ache easily" problem worse.

"Hey," Mars said, tilting her head back. Elias gave her a questioning look as he grabbed a box of cereal from a shelf. He dropped it into her lap, and she gasped when she saw it was her favorite. "Oh, sweet. And I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Um, so... Like, Lily got a boyfriend, right? And I'm kinda mad about it."

Elias blinked. "Why? Is he mean?"

Mars blew out a breath. "He's annoying. He's always trying to kiss her and hug her and stuff and it's gross."

"Well, that's what couples tend to do, Mars. And is that the only reason you're mad?"

"He's also really ugly."

Elias held back a laugh. He shouldn't find that funny — she was insulting another kid, for fuck's sake, but the delivery was hilarious. He cleared his throat to hide the need to chuckle. "Well, Lily doesn't find him ugly. You should support this if he isn't a bad guy."

"But now she isn't hanging out with me!" Mars complained, frowning deeply. "She asked me to spend the night this weekend, but now she's inviting him to hang out with us. Not to sleep over, because no, but he's still gonna be there. I don't want him to be there."

Elias hummed as something clicked inside his head. "Mars," he said quietly. "Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Are you jealous of him?" He looked at her, watching as her expression became a confused one.

"What do you mean?"

"Are you jealous she's spending more time with him?"

"Well, yeah!" Mars explained in bewilderment. She looked at him like he had said the most ridiculous thing ever. "She's my friend."

"I meant — actually, never mind. I just want you to know something." He leaned down so they were at eye level. She gave him a curious look.

"I love you, Mars. No matter what. Okay?"

She furrowed her brows. "Okay...? I love you, too. Can I sleep over this weekend at her house?"

He exhaled through his nose, nodding. "Yeah, but this time I need to meet her parent or parents first," he said, then pointed at her phone. "Can you get her parent's number for me?"