CHAPTER 9 : Still In Denial

“Hey, wait up! Wait! We’re not done yet.”

“Race me to my car then?”

“WHAT?”

Clell was jogging away from her now with his sly and

sexy smile plastered on his face “If you can beat me to my car, I’ll hear you out, my lady.”

“God, I hate that smile so much, it makes my heart skip a beat.” She murmured to herself. “I hate him for making me feel a certain way.” And started running towards him with her full speed.

“You’re quite an athlete, young lady.”

“Stop trying to let me win then.”

“What? I am not.” Clell playfully denied, smiling at her again which made her lost her resolve and growl.

“Then why are you running a bit slow?”

Taken aback with her growl, he figured that she’s not having fun anymore and was actually getting serious with their friendly competition.

“No, it’s just that I’m hungry. Wanna go have breakfast?”

“Save it. I’ll only go out with you when you beat me.”

The look on Clell’s face changed, his eyes were very determined. “To my car? Got it.”

Before Luna could even confirm anything, Clell was already storming away from her which made her smile a little, but at the same time determined.

They were side by side now, Clell was a little bit shocked that she was keeping up with him. He was befuddled at the woman beside him, for someone who claimed to be always at home and not into exercising, she’s pretty agile and athletic.

“She can keep up with me if I don’t use my wolf instinct.” He murmured under his breath—not too loud, just enough for it to be inaudible for Luna.

“What are you staring at?” asked Luna to a stunned Clell.

Clell was still at lost for words, “Huh?”

“I said why are you staring at me like that?”

“Nothing, just staring at your beautiful face.”

“Ehhhh?” Now she’s the one who’s lost for words, Clell’s random compliments had been very successful to make her tongue-tied. It took her a few seconds to regain herself and focused again for their friendly competition, but few seconds were enough for Clell to be ahead of her again.

“THAT’S CHEATING!!” She shouted.

“Nope.” Clell replied, popping the “p” at the end. “No one told you to stop running.”

Clell had been using at least one fourth of his wolf speed now, making sure she would never catch up to him—just enough for him to win.

“You know it’s rude to run away from an unfinished conversation.” She argued.

Clell was shaking his head in a lively manner, clearly enjoying and having fun with their banter.

“Well, might I be excused atty? I have a competition to win. I guess we are having breakfast together, missy.” He was, at least, three to four meters away from his car as they speak.

“You don’t say.” Luna roared while rolling her eyes at the same time. Clell, on the other hand, was already storming towards his car.

He was already resting his back at the driver’s door of his car when Luna reached there, trying to quench his thirst. “Took you long enough.”, he teased and Luna just rolled her eyes at him.

“Where do you want to it? Do you want to compete on that too?”

Luna still didn’t answer him, so he started making funny faces to get her attention and make her laugh which was very effective because Luna was already smiling right after his first funny facial expression.

“Anywhere.” She finally answered.

“There’s no restaurant or food court called Anywhere or, hmmmm, maybe there is. Let me search it for a while.”

“Jerk.” She snorted and they both laughed afterwards.

“Let’s get in the car first before we decide where to buy breakfast.” Clell the proceeded to open the shotgun door for her. She obliged and went in.

“So? What do you want to eat?” Clell asked as he positioned himself in the driver’s seat and shutting the door at his side.

“Hmmm. I kind of want to eat pancakes. Fluffy pancakes. Souffle.”

“Hmmmm. I know a place.”

“Can we just eat in the car though? If that’s okay for you, of course. I’m tired from all that running.”

“Hahahah. Yes, princess, we can.”

“Stop calling me princess. I hate that word.” she complained, looking away from him.

“I used to be a princess once, not anymore. I hate that word.” She mumbled.

Clell was confused at her sudden shift of mood, but he chose not to pester her anymore and just jump-started his engine and started driving. He didn’t want to ruin the moment.

“Off we go.”

There was awkwardness in the air between them now, so both of them remained quiet. Luna was just staring at the sky with a gloomy expression, while Clell kept on glancing at her from time to time. He was trying to feel if it’s the right time to break the silence and ease the sudden awkwardness. So, Luna decided to connect her phone to the car’s radio and played The Maine’s album, Lovely Little Lonely, to ease out the awkwardness in the air.

“May I?” she asked, gesturing if she could plug her phone and play a song.

“Sure, they say you can really get to know someone if you get to hear their playlist. More opportunity to get to know you.”

As soon as the first song started, Clell was already singing along while banging his head a little, just grooving to the beat.

“What? You know them?”

“Actually, yes. They are one of my favorite bands.”

“Really?”

“What do you mean really? Is it hard to believe?”

“I mean, well, you don’t look like you listen to this kind of songs.” She shrugged.

“What do I look like then? I mean what kind of songs do you think I listen to based on my appearance?” Clell was looking at Luna now, raising one of his eyebrows.

“Hmmm. I don’t know. EDM maybe?”

“What’s with that face?” Luna continued upon seeing Clell’s facial expression.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love all type of music. I give each song a chance. Except for those meaningless ones, of course. But I enjoyed this kind of music more.”

“Who wouldn’t love it though?” she argued.

“You can’t please everyone. You can be the most delicious peach in the world, but there are still people who hate peaches.”

“Fair enough. So what’s you favorite song in the album then?”

Clell pouted at her question and actually contemplated—as if it’s a matter of life and death—for a while before answering, “Ughhh. That’s hard.”, whereas Luna, on the other hand, was smiling at his cute pout and facial expressions.

“Well….”

“That’s like making me choose between my mom and dad. Not like I have a lot of moms and dads. I mean it’s hard picking favorite.”

“Okay, let me rephrased my question then.”

“Yes, please.”

“Stop pouting, you look like a puppy.”

“But you like it anyway.”

“Here you are again with your winks and smile, Mr. Flirty.”

“So? Aren’t you going to rephrase your question?”

“Oh, right.”

“Don’t get too starstruck at me, my lady.”

“Stop it. I am not starstruck. Hmmm. Which of the songs in the album do you feel most connected with?”

“Let me see. Black Butterflies and Déjà vu.” Right when he said that, the song played next, blasting the car’s stereo with its instrumental intro.

“Nice timing.” Luna smiled. She was too focused at the perfect timing of the song that she didn’t notice Clell’s little glances to her while singing along to the song.

He was so in unison with the vocals of the song as if he was one of the members of the band, “What would you say, if you could say everything you needed to, to the one you needed to?”

Clell continued singing and jamming with the song while still glancing at Luna as if he was dedicating the song to her, this time she finally caught him glancing at her.

“You really have a nice voice.” She complimented.

After saying his thanks, he continued singing along with the song as if it was meant for him. When it finally hit the chorus, Luna was already singing along too.

They were lost in the moment, enjoying the song that, somehow, befitting to their situation. Luna already forgot to ask Clell why he felt connected to that song the most.

The song finally ended and so did their mini-concert. They were passing by the park again and Luna was just admiring how the trees seemed to sparkle as a glimmer of light from the sun passed through the tiny spaces in between their leaves. And then she saw Ciro walking with his headphones on, which stunned her a bit, as he too was like sparkling when the glare of the sun struck his white skin. Clell was also quite confused why Luna suddenly fell silent.

“Hey, are you okay?".

"Huh? Nothing, the view."

"What? I was asking if you're okay."

"Pffft! I know, I was just telling you about the view. Look." Luna snorted.