The Luna Choosing Game

Veronica and I sat on either side of Julian on the couch on the deck.
Veronica held the bag of ice I had retrieved from the kitchen to the top of Julian’s head, even though he continually insisted it
wasn’t necessary.
“Your head could swell,” I said.
“We don’t need you growing a bigger head than you already have,” Veronica said in a flat tone.
Julian laughed and didn’t argue anymore.
After the good mood passed, I lightly scolded, “You worried us.” “I can’t believe you were so careless,” Veronica said. “You
warned Piper not
to get distracted, but then there you were, even more so. And for what? A pair of breasts.” Julian hung his head a little.
“You've seen breasts before,” Veronica said.
“Yeah, but...” Julian sighed. “It was Bridget.” “So?” came Veronica's sharp response.
“So...” Julian let the word stretch.
“Bridget is special.” Veronica narrowed her eyes. One minute, she was holding the ice to Julian’s head, and in the next, that
same ice was suddenly on Julian’s lap.
Veronica had teleported it! “Why don’t you cool down, Julian,”
she snapped.
Only wearing his swim trunks, Julian must have felt the cold instantly.
“Veronica!” he gasped, and jumped up.
The ice bag fell to the ground where it split open, and the ice cubes flung in all directions.
Then she abruptly stood and walked away. She didn’t look back as she went into the mansion. I watched her go the entire way,
trying to remember the last time I had seen her angry. Had I ever seen her angry? Julian flopped back down onto the seat.

“What was that all about?” I wasn’t sure. Unless...
Veronica had told me before that she wouldn’t have minded Julian dating someone, if that someone was me. I
was starting to see the truth in that now. When Julian and I were together, she was fine. But when Bridget was on the scene,
Veronica went frigid.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one who absolutely detested the two of them ~ together. Bridget was toxic to Julian, and he seemed
to love self- destructing.
“Do you have any idea?” Julian asked, glancing at me.
Of course I had ideas. I had several ideas, along with many, many choice words to say to both Julian and Bridget.
I restrained myself now. I didn’t want to burn bridges. Julian was my friend, even if he continued to make the same stupid
mistakes again and again.
For his sake, I had to explain why Veronica was frustrated with him
without continuing to dig too hard.
“The people who care about you want to see you move on from Bridget,” I said. “We've talked before, many times, about how
unhealthy your relationship is.” “It wasn’t a relationship that tripped me up,” Julian said. He raised his hands in his defense. “It
was her breasts.” @ I rubbed my forehead.
“I’m not helping my case, am I?” he asked. “But you were checking out Nicholas...” “You know why that’s different.” He sighed
then, and looked to the side.
“Yeah, I guess I do. Sorry, Piper. I'll apologize to Veronica too.”
“We only care because we are tired of seeing you hurt,” I said, certain that Veronica felt the same way.
“I’know.” He sighed again, deeper.
“Trust me, I'm tired of it myself. I wish I could turn my feelings on and off like - alight switch, but it’s not possible. I loved her for
years, Piper. That doesn’t just go away, no matter how often I get hurt.” He looked up at me, his sad eyes through his long
lashes. “She still feels like the one that got away.” I' wanted to continue to argue with him, but the way he was looking at me... it

took me back to last night, when Julian kissed me under the starlight. He looked like this then too, helpless and lost, trying to find
any lighthouse in his storm of emotion.