NOTE: All characters are of age.
"It's not funny, Jacob. I have a curfew. Stop with the pranks." Luna says while sitting down on the chair near the door.
Jacob silently continues attempting to open the door. "Seriously, Jacob. It's even your fault that we were assigned for cleaning duty today." Luna stands up and approaches Jacob. "If you properly disposed of---" Luna falls silent once she sees that Jacob was not kidding.
"Fuck! Seriously? I have a curfew. You know that. This is all your fa---"
"My fault?" Jacob finally looks at Luna in the eye. "We were both supposed to dispose of the garbage bags last week. Why is it only my fault?"
Luna falls silent. Jacob gives up and sits on the floor. Grabbing the doorknob, Luna attempts to open it to no avail. "That's not what I meant."
Jacob looks up at her with furrowed eyebrows. "What else was that supposed to mean?" Making air quotes in the air, he continues, "'This is all your fault' sounds pretty clear to me." He slumps and looks at the ground tracing the carvings on the ground. Luna stares at him, unable to think of something to say.
Giving up, she sits a couple of centimeters beside Jacob and clears her throat. Jacob continued looking and tracing the floor. "What happened to us?" Luna whispered.
Jacob's finger stopped. "You tell me."
Luna furrowed her brows. "What do you mean 'you tell me'?"
Jacob continued tracing the carvings on the floor.
"What do you mean 'you tell me'?" Luna repeats in a louder voice.
Jacob stops his finger and looks at Luna. "Are you serious? You have no idea?"
Luna lets out an exasperated sigh. "Idea about what? I just know that one day, you started avoiding me. We were best friends, remember? And then suddenly, we were not because, for whatever reason, you did not want to be friends with me anymore. And you even did that a day after my birthday."
Jacob stares at Luna. "That's just really how you see me, huh? A friend."
Luna irritably rubs her forehead. "Well, duh. We WERE best friends."
"Yeah. We were. Until we weren't." Jacob stood up and started walking back and forth.
Luna stared at Jacob confusingly. "What the fuck are you even talking about? Just tell it to me straight."
"I literally did." Jacob covered both of his eyes and stopped right in front of Luna. "I confessed to you."
Luna's eyes widened in surprise. "Confessed to me what? When?"
Jacob weakly smiled. "The day of your birthday, I told you I liked you." Luna's eyes grew wider, and her mouth opened, but she could not speak. "I told you I liked you, and you pretended like it was nothing. I would have liked it better if you had rejected me, and we could continue being friends. I was ready to be rejected, and I just wanted to tell you."
Jacob slowly sat beside Luna and buried his face in his arms. "But you avoided my feelings and pretended they weren't real. That hurt more than being rejected," he whispered.
Luna stared at Jacob. It was getting darker and quieter. Did he mean it in that way? Luna rubbed her forehead, unable to decipher what was happening. "You like me?"
"Are you deaf?" Jacob says while still having his face buried in his arms.
"No. I just—" Luna shifted closer to Jacob. "As more than friends?"
"How many times do I have to tell you? Are you a sadist?" Jacob raises his head, and Luna sees his teary eyes. Luna unconsciously reaches out to wipe his tears and rubs the side of his face with her thumb. Jacob smiles softly and pushes Luna's hand. "Stop that, Luna. I don't want your pity."
Luna gives out a tired chuckle. "We are both idiots."
Jacob looks back at her, confused. "What do you mean?"
Luna puts her hand back on the side of Jacob's face, staring at his eyes. I liked him since the first time we have met. And when I heard him say that he liked me, I assumed that he meant it as friends. I have accepted the fact that he would never like me back. I was content to be his best friend so that I could stay by his side. "Idiots." Luna slowly brings her face close to Jacob's until their foreheads touch.
Jacob frowned and pulled his head back. "Luna, I don't like this. I don't want your pity."
Luna smiled. "Jacob, let's make a bet." Jacob questioningly looked at Luna. "I bet I have liked you way before you have liked me."
Jacob looked shocked. "Impossible."
Luna pulled Jacob's head towards her and whispered in his ear, "October 18, 2014, the day we met. 9 years ago, we were 11." Luna pulled her head back and looked at Jacob's shocked face.
Jacob looked at Luna's face, looking for a hint of a prank. "Are you—Are you serious?"
Luna leaned closer to Jacob. "You think I would joke at a time like this?" And leaned until their lips touched.
*knock knock*
"Anybody there?" The deep voice of the security guard echoed. Jacob and Luna hurriedly stood up, their whole face and ears tomato red. The door opened. "What are the two of you doing here?"
Luna looked at Jacob. Jacob looked at the guard, saying, "We tried getting out after cleaning duty, but the door won't budge."
The security guard nodded. "This door really needs to be replaced. It always does that. That's why we check every room now. Now, get your bags and run along. We don't want your parents worrying."
Luna and Jacob got their bags and walked out of the school building, holding hands with smiles from ear to ear.