Chapter 3

• Indiana after EWI’s live weekly TV broadcast…
• Turning the channels with the TV remote, Luna felt chills fall all over her. She rubbed the goosebumps from her arms, smiling like a Cheshire cat. “That. Was. A...maz...ing! I can’t believe Gunner is back. Can that man get any hotter?”
• Again, she shivered in excitement from what she witnessed on her favorite show. Wrestling was always the budding writers’ guilty pleasure. Her cozy little one-bedroom apartment was tucked away in downtown New Albany, Indiana, with warm light browns and deep burgundy decor that gave her apartment a homey feel. She pulled her plush fuzzy throw blanket over her lap wringing the soft fabric in her hands just to feel the fuzz tickle her skin.
• Her best friend, Dee, grabbed the remote from her lap turning the TV to some cheesy reality show. Her bestie was a thin beautiful Jamaican girl with wavy black hair and striking emerald eyes. She almost had a fairy-like quality to her that drew everyone around her in.
• She was always the outspoken one, too. Fearless and confident, something Luna clearly never was. They were polar opposites in that regard. They had been best friends since meeting on the first day of school in the eighth grade when Luna had been bullied by some older kids. Dee was always the protector and nurturer, so anyone who even thought to bully her friend would end up on the receiving end of a knuckle sandwich back then. Luna, the quirky eccentric, often relied on her for support long into their older years. They were total opposites but fit together like puzzle pieces.
• Dee chuckled, seeing the goofy smile on her friend’s face from watching the wrestling show. “You are seriously hung up on that man. Gunner is too big for my taste. You always like those meathead-bodybuilder types.”
• Luna frowned. “He’s not a meathead, Dee. He’s handsome with a great body and a nice smile. I hope my cousin’s girlfriend, April, is wrong and he isn’t married to Blair Hargrove. I would just die.” Luna threw herself across the couch face down into a pillow, being her usual dramatic self, mumbling through the pillow. “Life would be over as I know it.”
• Her friend couldn’t help but be amused at her drama queen bestie. After all, it was what she liked about her most. She had a flair for the dramatic. “I think April just says that stuff to upset you, sweetie. She knows how much you love wrestling and it’s a way to keep you upset. Especially regarding anything about Gunner Cain. Since your brother died, she’s been a total witch because he’s not around to put her in her place. She may be dating your cousin, but you don’t have to keep letting her be mean to you. She knows you are head over heels for that man, so she just says stuff to get under your skin. It’s not like she doesn’t crush on celebrities, too. Heck, I do. Who doesn’t? Hello! Ryan Reynolds. He’s dreamy.”
• Luna scrunched up her nose. “Eww. Not my type. You’re right about her, though. I just wish I could show April that she is wrong about him. I’ll make her eat her words one day.”
• “Well, you have the tickets to the show in Chicago next month. Sneak backstage and find out if he’s married or not. I think it’s just for the show to be honest. I hear she is really with that Axel guy. They are always posting selfies together online.” Dee threw a piece of popcorn at her with a giggle. “Go and take a chance.”
• “No way. I would rather not get kicked out of my first EWI experience. I’m excited to see my dream guy, but I don’t want to be a stalker. But thanks to my best friend for getting amazing front-row seats for Christmas, I get to see him in person. You’re the best, by the way. I wish you could come with me.” Luna wound her waist-length brown hair into a messy bun and grabbed the popcorn bowl as the corner of her lip downturned. “I hate being alone.”
• “Sorry, chick. I’ll be working overtime until after the election season. Gotta get my boss elected. If he gets seated, I get a huge raise. You can take that hottie Chicago cousin of yours with you and put in a good word for me with him while you’re there. He’s so freaking adorable.” Dee bit her lip thinking about Grey. She had had a crush on him ever since she was a teenager, and over the years had fallen madly in love with him.
• “Gross. Grey has an evil girlfriend he thinks he has to answer to. You do remember that, right? She’s a total Satan’s spawn. Dee, you are such a better fit for him. April hates me so she probably won’t let him go to see the show, anyway. Sometimes I think you are the only person who understands me.”
• As she sat up, crossing her legs, she fiddled with her pj’s trying to not think about how horrible April always was to her. The grown woman acted like a high school bully.
• “She treats you that way because you’re a pushover. Well… not entirely. When you do get a little backbone, you can be a little ruthless. You did ruin the bleach-blonde bitch’s hair. I can’t believe she had to cut it all off.”
• Luna blushed remembering her last trip to visit Grey. It didn’t end so well. “Not all her hair is gone. April still has a pixie cut. It’s not my fault she grabbed my hair removal cream instead of the shampoo.”
• “I’m still not convinced you didn’t plan that attack,” her friend laughed. “I thought she was going to kill you.”
• “I will not confirm nor deny the placement of said product. I cannot be responsible if it was laid strategically in her reach. I do agree upon the fact that she had a big dose of karma coming to her,” Luna snickered.
• That made her friend crack up. “All she did was say wrestling was fake.”
• “No. What she said was that Gunner’s injury was fake and it was for TV ratings. It’s not fake. He had his freaking ACL torn. He could have easily ended his career that night. Wrestlers are real athletes with real injuries. There is a big difference between scripted and fake.”
• “I know. I get it.”
• “Do you? That same night, we went to a nightclub with Grey. April said that I should stay home because fat girls trying to dance at clubs look desperate. She and her friends were making fun of me all night.” Luna dropped her head fiddling with the hem of her pajamas. “I just wanted to have fun with everyone and meet new people. She and her crony friends were so mean I ended up crying myself to sleep that night.”
• “LuLu, you are not fat. Just because you are not some plastic Barbie clone, doesn’t mean you are not perfect just the way you are. You have normal curves like any woman. April looks like a stick figure with oversized fake boobs and too much Botox. She’s horribly mean to you and I’m sick of seeing her treat you this way. You’re pretty, sweetheart. Don’t ever let anyone make you feel like you are less than perfect. Don’t listen to her.”
• She shrugged. “Pretty face, right? Still fat though. Not like someone like Gunner Cain would like me. She’s right. I am a loser. I haven’t had a date in over a year and people think I’m weird. I just wish I could be normal.”
• That did it. Dee hated the self-loathing of her best friend, but she understood. Luna faced things most people didn’t understand, and her daily life was more complicated than just being a little quirky.
• “Oh. My. Gosh! Stop this self-loathing bullshit, Luna. You work your ass off in the gym and are always busy writing. You’re just working hard to make a future for yourself, instead of trying to be someone’s trophy wife. Just because you are not a supermodel doesn’t mean you are not beautiful. Stop letting people like that define you. Even if you were stick-thin there are still going to be people who are just mean. People like her have nothing better to do than make others feel bad because of their insecurities.”
• “You’re right, I guess. I worked hard to lose weight. I’m not that big anymore. It’s just… sometimes I don’t feel like I’ve changed when I look in the mirror.”
• She watched seeing Dee wince from hearing that. Luna knew that she hated hearing her talk that way, but she had always been insecure.
• “I’m sure anyone who struggles with weight, and then loses as much as you did, feels that way. You will get used to the new you. April is just jealous because when we visited Chicago last month that baseball player flirted with you and not her. Bimbo Barbie is always looking for her next gold-digging victim. I just wish Grey would see her for what she truly is, a cold-hearted bitch.” The fact was, Dee was disappointed that the man she admired so much didn’t recognize that he deserved someone better, and desperately wanted that to be her.
• (BAM! BAM! BAM!)
• A loud banging noise at the door startled them out of the conversation. Whatever it was almost knocked the door off its hinges and made the whole room shake.