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An announcer comes on over the loudspeaker. “Reece Decker will now be signing in Hall B. Again, Reece Decker will now be signing in Hall B.”
Ah, damn. That’s on the other side of the conference center. Reece is the actor who plays Strider on the show. He’s a main stop for Luna and her Strider fangirl heart.
Can’t fault her for it. We can be on opposite teams this time.
Luna inspects a T-shirt with “The Peak” insignia and an illustration of a snowcapped mountain. That’s cute. I can see her contemplating buying it. I lean close, just a breath away, but I’m watching Xander’s back. “Lemme get that for you,” I whisper.
Flush ascends her cheeks. “I got it,” she whispers just as quietly back, then pays the vendor for the tee.
It hurts, not gonna lie. Feels like I took ten steps back on the Game of Life board. But I need to remind myself that I had conversations about money with Luna before her amnesia. Not after. It took a while for Luna to be okay with me purchasing things for her back then too.
Xander saw me get shot down, by the way.
Nothing like having your teenage client see you on your worst flirt game.
“Did they say Hall H?” a white girl with pink braids asks her brunette friend, both huddling around us.
“I don’t know,” her friend replies.
“This is not good,” Pink Braids says anxiously, and quickly taps Quinn’s shoulder, “Excuse me. Did you hear if they said Hall H?”
“Fuck,” Quinn mutters. “Hall what?” He’s asking Frog.
“L?” Frog whispers.
“There’s no Hall L,” Quinn says.
“What? Yes, there is,” Frog argues.
“Oh God,” Pink Braids mutters.
Xander spins around. “It was Hall B,” he says casually.
“OhmyGosh Thank you!!” Pink Braids takes her friend’s hand, and the girls race towards the exit for the vendor hall.
I can almost see Xander watching her—can’t see his expression behind the mask—but he’s faced in her direction for a long beat. Then he turns his head to Luna, and it must trigger something because he focuses on Frostie ship buttons.
“You wanna go?” I ask him, motioning to the door where Pink Braids just left.
He shrugs a shoulder. “We’ll head there eventually.”
Luna has been perceptive of the whole thing too. She’s a watchful one. As they push away from the table and lines, Luna speaks quietly to her brother. “I’ve been meaning to ask; I saw this thing online about you and a girl from school.”
“Delilah?” he asks.
“Yeah—”
“It’s fake. A rumor. She made it up after Homecoming.” He lowers his voice again. “We did not have sex. I would not have sex with her for so many reasons, one being she just wanted to fuck Donnelly.”
Yeah, fuck me, this is not gonna help my case. Need to scout the area as people nearly bump into their shoulders, and Quinn and I take most of the impacts so our clients aren’t touched. Looking at the Hales is a harder task.
“Did they…have sex?” Luna asks, drawing it out.
“No, he shot her down like every opportunity,” Xander says, hushed. Thank you for that truth bomb. “It’s gross that she was even trying to get with him. She’s not eighteen, and I only heard that she wanted to sleep with Donnelly from other people at school. Winona and Vada think she was embarrassed that everyone was saying she was desperate for a bodyguard, so she thought she’d gain cred or whatever by sleeping with me. Which, again, never happened. But now it’s online.”
“It’s buried deep,” Luna says. “It took me a while to find it.”
Xander eases some. “That’s good.”
An announcer comes on the loudspeaker and repeats Reece Decker’s location. More fans are listening, and a surge of girls rushes in our direction to reach the exit.
“Jesus fuck,” Xander bumps up into my shoulder to avoid being plowed down. I’m doing my best to shield him without appearing like security. Sliding to the left, I take an impact to the hip so no one shoves him. He’s starting to hold onto my shirt like he’s nervous he might get ripped away from me.
I clamp a hand on his shoulder and edge us closer to a Bass vendor table. “We’re big Frostie fans,” I tell the guy behind the table.
He beams. “We have embroidered sweaters.”
“Love to see ‘em,” I say, keeping a hand on Xander’s shoulder. Luna squeezes beside her brother, and Quinn and Frog stand behind her, creating a barrier around the Hales that alleviates Xander’s panic for a second.
“Hey, are you…” the vendor squints at Luna, trying to place her.
“Leeloo,” she says.
He snaps his fingers. “Luna Hale.”
Shit.
Xander goes rigid.
I survey the people who may’ve heard. A girl to my left is slyly snapping a pic of Luna…and Quinn. Alright.
“Uh, maybe,” Luna says absentmindedly. “How much for the sweater?”
“Forty.”
“Hey, Luna Hale?” another girl tries to catch her attention. “Can I have a selfie?”
