Luna showed up at my house this afternoon. I was upstairs and didn't realize she'd arrived until my mother called me down. Luna was sitting at the kitchen table.
"Hi," I said, wondering why she was there. "What's going on?"
"Nothing. I brought you the CDs you were going to borrow. You forgot them at my house." She held them out to me.
I took them, thanked her, and stood there awkwardly wondering what to do next. Was she going to want to hang out, or could I go back up to my room? My mother was still hovering around, so attempting to flee would have been risky.
Luckily, Luna broke the silence. "My mom gave me some money so we could both go to the movies. Do you want to go?"
I had to stop and think about it. Getting myself reinvolved with Luna wasn't top on my list of "fun things to do"; it would just mean more deceptions, and more time spent hanging out with a twelve-year-old girl. On the other hand, I'd been wanting to go to the movies for a while, and it wasn't far to the movie theater.
But, in the end, what decided it was my mother staring at me in a way that made it quite clear that she thought going to the movies with Luna was my duty as a pseudo-friend.
So I said yes, and we headed off to the movies.
Our town's main street — creatively named "Main Street" — is home to a handful of shops that confused tourists occasionally visit in the summer, a few cafes, one restaurant, two churches, and the movie theater. It's an old theater with only three screens. Main Street is a bit of a walk from my house, but it isn't terribly far, and it's a downhill walk.
We didn't talk much on the way down. I asked Luna a few questions about school. She said she likes it, but I don't believe her. Middle school is practically hell on earth, especially if you're not good at fitting in. I doubt Luna is any good at fitting in.
The movies playing were The Avengers, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and Dark Shadows. I don't know a thing about The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and I'd lost faith in Tim Burton long ago, so The Avengers was the obvious choice as far as I was concerned. Luna didn't seem to care what movie we watched, so I bought two tickets for The Avengers. Donna, God bless her soul, had even given us some extra money for popcorn.
Let me get on to what I thought of the film: I thought it was great. I've never been much for superhero movies; too often they're just dumb flashy action, visually engaging but with no real substance. The Avengers wasn't the most intelligent movie I've seen, but it was smart enough not to take itself too seriously, and it was smart enough not to do anything so glaringly stupid that it pulled me out of the action. In short, it was a fun superhero film with lots of cool special effects, and it was good enough that I didn't feel guilty about watching it. In fact, I'd gladly see it again.
Luna didn't talk to me during the movie — in fact, she didn't make any noise except a few giggles at the appropriate moments (the movie did have a pretty good sense of humor) — but afterwards she immediately turned to me and launched into the longest speech I've ever heard her give. I won't attempt to remember what she said exactly, but the gist of it seemed to be that she'd just had the time of her life. Seeing her so enthusiastic about something struck me as funny, so I started laughing, and then we both cracked up.
We discussed the movie all the way back to my house (which is closer to the movies than hers). I offered to walk her the rest of the way home, but she declined and ran off. Strange kid.
So, in the end, today wasn't such a bad day. I got to watch a movie and eat popcorn without paying a cent. If being Luna's buddy is going to be like this from here on out, sign me up.
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