My ribcage tightens. They’re not leaving you out, Sulli.
The insecurity rises tenfold as Maximoff unfurls the notes and reads, angling his body away from me.
Fuck.
Why would Luna pass a note? Couldn’t she just talk to Moffy? What if she’s deliberately trying to keep something from me?
I sink even further down my beanbag. Sufficiently no longer interested in the alien cupcake, I set the baked good aside.
Glancing to my left and right, I expect to see Banks or Akara. To seek shelter in the fact that they’re with me and they leave me out of nothing. But most of SFO are in the library, currently in a security meeting.
So it’s just me, Luna, Jane, Moffy, and Moffy’s son. Baby Ripley is curled up on a beanbag with Arkham, the furry brown Newfoundland puppy. Luna’s black-furred Newfie has been chasing a calico cat around the pinball machines.
And then Luna’s best buds, Tom and Eliot are en route to join the movie marathon, driving from New York, and Luna already had a birthday dinner with her family at the Hale house.
Moffy stretches further over and whispers to Luna.
She nods.
I cage breath as Moffy passes the note to Jane.
They are leaving me out. I’m the only other one in the fucking room. Hurt courses through me for a full minute, just watching Jane peer at the note, and once she’s done, she nods with certainty to Luna. And then…
And then she passes the note to me.
Shock parts my lips, and Jane waves the note because I’m too frozen to take it right away. Unfreezing, I retrieve the note and feel Moffy, Luna, and Jane eyeing me. They even scoot a little closer, and I’m totally fucking confused until I stare at Luna’s handwriting in neon gel pen.
In case the penthouse IS bugged, can we make a pact tonight? No one talks about my hookup with Donnelly out loud in the penthouse. My dad will kill him. My one birthday wish is for him to stay alive & not get fired.
I relax, understanding why the secrecy with the note. We’re in the penthouse right now, and she can’t say any of this out loud.
I nod to Luna and mouth, I fucking promise.
She begins to smile, then puts a hand in the middle of our circle. Her big brother puts his on top of hers, then me, and finally, Jane.
We explode our hands up.
Knock knock.
“No,” Luna and I moan in pain at the fucking leaks. We’re so over these incoming tidal waves.
Moffy has the same knock knock alert on his phone as SFO, and he opens up the website before I can even grab my cell.
His cheekbones sharpen. “Luna, wait—”
She’s already looking, and I peer over her shoulder to read.
THE ROYAL LEAKS
We reveal all the truths about the American Royals. These are verified and come directly from the source.
ROYAL LEAK #1: Luna Hale writes tentacle porn.
#TodaysLeaks #omg! #scandalous
“Oh my God,” Jane breathes, wide-eyed.
“That fucking mole,” I mutter. “On her birthday of all days. It’s fucking cruel.”
“Oui,” Jane nods.
If the penthouse is bugged, I hope they’ve heard how much I’ve cursed them to Satan’s anus.
“Luna?” Moffy says a little softer, his hand on her shoulder.
Luna is superglued to the screen. “You think Mom and Dad will be freaked out?” She looks up at her big brother.
“I think they’re going to ask questions, but what you write isn’t wrong, Luna. They’ll understand that.”
“The world won’t,” she mutters. “They’ll just keep saying I’m a sex addict like Mom.” She shrugs. “People suck, though. What’s new?” Luna is jaded towards bad things happening.
I wish we could instill more birthday magic. My mom has a staple theory above most theories.
Cake fixes everything.
“Cupcake?” I ask Luna, holding my uneaten one out to her.
“Thanks, Sulli.” She licks off the icing.
The door swings open. SFO come swooping back into the game room. Concern lines their faces, knowing exactly what just leaked. Everyone falls silent as they trickle inside.
Chewbacca’s Wookie noise pitches the air from the TV, and Luna mimics it almost perfectly. She adds a couple R2D2 beeps in at the end. It doesn’t do much to quell the tension in the room. As soon as she’s done, silence befalls for an awkward beat.
Akara cuts it and tells Luna, “Hey, I’m sorry this happened, Luna. I promise we’re working on it.”
“I know.” She shrugs, then wobbles to her feet. To everyone, she asks, “Thumbs-up if you want a Jell-O shot. Jane made them.”
My thumb goes up, along with Banks and several others. Akara must have business calls or something because he keeps his hand down.
Luna pockets the note about Donnelly, and the tattooed, chestnut-haired bodyguard keeps his thumb up for Luna. Close to each other, he uses his thumb to pick an eyelash off her cheek. “Make a wish.”
“You make it. I’m not as lucky.”