Ch. 3 - Strawberries

Luna nodded with a light laugh and the girl sighed and cautiously entered the room , allowing the stark contrast of her presence to seep in gradually . Cor looked carefully at the two , as if the difference between them was sunlight and he had to squint in order to see when looking from one to the other .

Luna's pitch black bobbed hair that curled around her face neatly and fully was pushed behind her ear for a moment of relief by delicate , tanned fingers .

" Raya , I forgot when your class ended today ... "

Her sentence trailed off , her eyes sticking to the floor in uncomfortable fixation as Raya quickly walked over to Luna , tip-toeing to cup the taller girl's ear as she whispered .

" Is that a boyfriend you never told me about ? If you warned me beforehand I would have put on something nicer and not gotten 3 hours of sleep . "

Her long strawberry blonde hair , straight and thin , fell from her shoulder to her back where her ponytail naturally held it in place as she continued leaning into Luna , wide blue eyes traveling across Cor's everything . She was a lot thicker than Luna , a lot softer , and freckled . She was cute , it had been a global consensus ever since she was born .

" He's - he's not my boyfriend , he's " she glanced at Cor who stared dubiously at the two while they chatted . There was no use in whispering -- he could hear their thoughts anyway , " he's not from around here . He's a family friend , actually ! " There was too much enthusiasm behind the lie , and it caused Raya to slip into a penetrating glare as she continued to look him over .

" Why is he here , then ? "

" Because ! Because he was in the area and needed a place to stay , he got a little lost and missed some transportation and now it's gunna' be a bit until he can continue his trip . "

God , she said transportation . No one says transportation -- she was supposed to say bus or plane or ride . She was very bad at lying .

" Rightt , " Rays said with the socially awkward dragging of the last letter she had to use with Luna sometimes because the girl was often a mess , " Well how long is a bit ? And how old is he , he's really cute . "

Luna's eyes widened at her last words , he's really cute . The idea of a being from another world being with Raya unbeknownst to the girl deeply unsettled her on many levels . Some other underlying and unprovoked possessiveness also ailed her , conflicting with the feelings swarming her to reach out and seek some help because she honestly had no clue what to do .

Luna finally moved from Raya's whisper cave of solitude she'd made from her hand and turned back to Cor , who had sat back down , continuing to drink his now too-cold tea .

" No , no , family friends are off limits . "

Raya laughed , moving further into the kitchen area to claw at the fridge .

" No brothers , no friends -- fine , mom . "

Raya grumbled playfully , revisiting in her head how cute Luna's brother had been when he came up to see Luna last summer from Florida .

She pulled out a plastic box of strawberries cheerily , placing them on the counter as Luna's attention switched to Cor who patiently sat staring up at her , the stare only lasting a second before Raya screamed and the container of strawberries was flipped and ended up on the floor , Raya pushed against the fridge door -- a look of disgust and discomfort distorting her soft features .

Luna flipped around to her , looking at the strawberries on the floor and then to Raya with undetectable levels of annoyance in her question .

" What happened ? "

Raya looked down to the strawberries , then away with her eyelids pulled harshly together .

" They have mold on them , I just bought them tooo ! " She dragged out the 'too' and held her hands to her chest . No annoyance was lost from Luna as she bent down and started picking up the fruit , holding them by their limp leaves and tossing them back into the partially caved in small plastic box .

She found Raya's reaction to the mold irritating and troublesome , but carefully avoided the mold herself as she cleaned it up .

Before she could look up , Cor was kneeled beside her , cuping his hands and scooping up a few strawberries that's slightly smooshed forms started to stain his hands , Luna's already soiled despite caution .

" What are you - "

The strawberries shaped themselves back into fully-ripened berries . Luna watched eyes wide and Raya gaped , mouth wide open and hands still to her chest as she peered down over the two . Then the strawberries little spots of fuzzy mold dissolved into nothing -- they might as well have been just bought . The two girls continued their staring . Then vines started to grow from the strawberries stems . Luna's eyebrows furrowed as Raya processed everything she knew to find an explanation for this phenomenon . Then the vines started branching , curling and twisting , until one hooked around Cor's thumb and -

Luna smacked the strawberries out of his hands , suddenly hyper-aware of a possible progression of Cor's newly-realized ability when the vine had started wrapping itself around his fingers . She had realized in a moment that they could've kept going forever until the fruit consumed Cor up until a point of no return , and the idea that such a thing could happen freaked her out . The idea of what had just happened by itself freaked her out .

Cor put his hand on Luna's , and her skin prickled slightly , jolting just a bit before she looked up to meet Cor's transparent eyes . He looked into her with worry dotting his confusion , the type of worry and confusion that ascertained the notion that he'd saw into her mind .

" Hey , it's OK . They're programmed to stop at a certain point . It's a part of a program added to my skin . There's no need to worry , alright ? "

The warmth radiating from her hand and the tone of Cor's voice did more than the words he spoke , and Luna nodded slowly to him -- still a bit jittery from nerves but soothed .

Raya hummed , grabbing Luna's attention . Raya had bent down to the two now , and carefully rolled over her words in her head before speaking .

" Soo , not a family friend ? "

Luna grinned , a caught me in a lie , oops sort of grin before shaking her head .

" No , he's not . "

" Well , re-introduction , then ? "

She said , forgetting she hadn't introduced herself in the first place . She stuck out her hand as she rose from the ground , Cor doing the same to grab her hand and shake it .

" I'm Raya , Luna's roommate and friend . "

" I'm called Cor , I'm not from around here . "

Cor smiled at her as she did him . It was a pretty smile and Luna watched somewhat defeated as Raya's grin turned sheepish for a moment .

" I noticed . "