“Dante!”  At the sight of him, Amy rose from the bed and stretched her arms so lovingly towards him. And he rushed to her and hugged her tightly.

“You sweet little thing, what happened?”

“He dumped me,” her silent tears were already rolling down his shoulder.

“What! I thought he said he was gonna get a divorce to be with you.”

“I know, right? But then last night at the party, he showed up with his wife, and when I confronted him, he said he never intended to leave her! And that I’m just a distraction to him, and I should just be thankful that he picked me!”

“That son of a b!tch! I can’t believe it!”

“Wait, what?!!” busted Kara since none of this was making any sense. “Who are you talking about?”

 Amy slowly unclenched from Dante’s arms, wiping her tears like a little girl.

“You know..., the Art teacher...” she finally said in a timid voice.

“That old fart?! Aaah, I can’t believe this!” she exclaimed, catching Dante’s smirk. “That’s it! I’m gonna kill that old scumbag!” blurted and rushed immediately to the door.

“Wait, wait, calm down for a second. Stop trying to kill everybody!” jumped Dante, holding her back and forcing her to take a seat. “She was actually going to kill him,” he explained to Amy, who was now looking startled at them.

“Oh, right, how come you’re here anyway. Did you tell him?” she asked, trying to catch Kara’s eyes. Then added with a flirtatious tone, squeezing her eyes, “Did you guys hook up at the party?”

“WHAT?! NO!!!” they both jumped at once.

Amy was looking at them so startled, eyes like onions.

“Nothing like that.” Dante sat next to Amy and explained to her the whole confusion.

“Oh, you poor thing,” pouted Amy, caressing his cheek. “And I can’t believe you actually thought that about me,” throwing an arrow look at Kara.

“Well, you said you were gonna introduce me to your boyfriend at the party. And he was the only one you introduced me to.”

“He just happened to be there! And after that, you just vanished and, well, you know the rest...”

“Why was he there anyway? It’s not like he graduated, either!”

“Because I invited him. I heard he moved back to town, so I asked him to come.

“I wasn’t aware you two knew each other back then...”

“We didn’t. We met afterward …by coincidence. And we kept in touch. Anyway, Dante, darling, you can stay at my place for the time being. I’ll be moving with my folks for a while, anyway.”

 “NO! Absolutely not!” Kara bounced up like burned at the sound of such absurdity.

“Oh, come on, he has nowhere to go,” Amy continued, applying her well-mastered whining filter.

“That’s right, I don’t!” he played along with those husky puppy eyes of his.

“Don’t you have any friends?”

“I’m very suspicious of everyone right now!”

“Oh, don’t mind her! Here, I’ll give you my keys. It’s my room after all!”

“No! I’ll book him into a hotel! Just NO staying at our place!” intervened Kara, with her arms crossed, to make it obvious this was the end of the discussion.

“Oh, stop being such an ass! He’s been through a shock; he needs a friendly place right now.”

 “Yes, I’m quite shaken, actually.”

As if a whining Amy wasn’t enough, now there were two of them ganging up on her!

“And it’s only for a couple of days,” concluded Amy, ignoring Kara’s desperate signs of threat.

“What about you, are you gonna be ok?” Dante turned back to Amy, caressing her shoulders.

“Don’t worry, my mom won’t leave me out of her sight for a second.”

 

○ ○ ○

 

“What just happened?! This isn’t real, I must be dreaming. There’s no other explanation!” She kept mumbling to herself, banging her head against the cold metal of the elevator door.  “... this isn’t real, this isn’t real, this isn’t…”

“So, I think you owe me an apology!” he cut in, with his annoying yapping, crushing all the illusions she just managed to create for the sake of her own mental health. She raised her head, sighting, rolling her eyes in frustration as he was caressing his jaw.

“I think you owe me your life!” she fired back, almost passing through him when the elevator doors opened. “If not for my misunderstanding, you would be ashes by now! Say thank you!”

“Thank you... Still, you people should take responsibility for the victims and, at least, treat them to a meal! I mean, you dragged me all night all over the place, without even considering offering me a snack or at least a lousy coffee, not to mention...

Needless to say, he went on and on with his nagging …and whining …and breathing

                                                                     End of New Moon