Moon Songs

Chapter 1 - Moon Songs

“Are you sure you don’t want any?” Ziggy inquired, pushing the all-too-large basket of french fries away from him, and closer to his colleague sitting just a few feet away.
“Yeah, I’m sure; it’s kinda part of the job.” Luna chuckled a bit, declining his invitation while avoiding eye contact. She wasn’t wrong- as a model on the rise, she had very strict dietary and workout routines. She was meant to personify conventional, societal beauty in every way that she could force and mould herself into being.
Ziggy pulled the french fries back towards him. “Man, I don’t get how you guys do it. It seems a bit miserable to me.”
“Maybe at times, I suppose, but who isn’t these days? Everyone has their own source of misery; some with work, some with relationships, some with addiction or tragedy or faith or whatever else this world could throw at us. Mine is just dietary, and if it wasn’t dietary, it would be something else. There’s always something else.”
He nodded in agreement as he worked on the fries.
The truth is, she was miserable. She couldn’t realize the extent of her own inner turmoil, as it had become second nature for her. Her misery, though, was no competition for how conflicted she felt at this very moment.
Sitting across from her was the most good looking man she had ever seen. His large frame was maybe about three times her size, and she couldn’t help but find her mind wandering off. It wasn’t just his physical appearance though. He had a freedom that she had lost ages ago, and she couldn’t tell if she just simply admired it, or was attracted to it in a way she couldn’t understand.
He finished the fries, pushed them away, leaned back a bit, and rubbed his belly. He pulled his head back and let out a sigh, and then resumed eye contact with her. She felt her cheeks flush; he had the prettiest blue eyes she had ever seen.
“Food is just such a simple joy though. You deprive yourself of such basic indulgence.”
She was indulging, though. His indulgence was her indulgence as well, even if he didn’t understand that- she barely understood it herself.
“Maybe it’s easier for me to say that; after all, I get to stay behind the camera as opposed to in front of it.” The waitress set their meals down and he quickly thanked her while finishing off his thought.
Her eyes ran him up and down. “To the world’s dismay, of course.”
He scoffed and started into his burger.
“I’m not joking. I hope you know just how handsome you are.”
The rest of the dinner was silent, except for when he finished his plate and she slyly slid the rest of hers over, giving him a slight smile.
“You should really finish your plate. Won’t you get hungry?” He slid it back over to her.
“I honestly prefer to make my meals at home. If you don’t want it it’ll probably just get thrown away. You’ll be doing me a huge favor.” She slid it back. She wasn’t lying necessarily, but the idea of watching him eat two burgers really excited her. Besides, to be as big as he was, she knew that only one meal probably left him still hungry.
He inhaled, before beginning on his second plate. Her whole life was based around ‘want’- girls want to be her, guys want to be with her. That’s what sells. Promises of beauty and love and sex and fulfillment beyond your wildest dreams, endorsed by pretty women who are paid by mega-corporations.
This was a different kind of want, though. Luna had never wanted anything- how could you want something when you seemingly have everything? The answer is actually pretty simple; no one has everything, and sometimes it takes sitting across from what you’re missing to realize how empty you’ve been.
She snapped back to reality and noticed he was finished, and the check was sitting in between them. He tried to lean forward to grab it, but was pinned back down by his own stomach.
She couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t worry, I got it tonight.” She grabbed the check.
“God, don’t do that to me. I ate all the food, just pass it over to me.” He groaned, “I’ll feel bad if I don’t.”
“How about… you just pay next time?” She signed the check and looked up at him.
He smiled a bit and tilted his head, “There’s going to be a next time?”