Page 78 of Beyond The Stars

Luna’s gaze shifted to Siasia, who was struggling to hold herself together. She knew what she had to do. “Fine, Barbie. Post it if you must. But know this – if you come for my family again, there will be consequences.”

Barbie sighed, a long, weary sound. “Well, let me get off the phone because I ain’t trying to go there with y’all. I always look out but I can’t ignore this one. I have a business to run.”

The call ended, and the room fell into a heavy silence. Luna turned to face her family; her expression hard but her eyes filled with determination.

“That’s why you shouldn’t have paid for her schooling just for her to not even finish,” Javen pointed out the obvious.

If looks could kill, Javen would be dead from the look Luna gave him. “Shut the fuck up.”

“I ain’t worried ‘bout that shit, man.” Qamar waved it off, ready to put it behind him.

“You might not but any team that was thinking about signing you will care,” Siasia reminded him. “I mean, I can lay low to let it all die down.”

“Hell no! You too pretty to hide from the world,” Qamar fussed, his statement making her swoon. “Matter of fact, I’m taking you out tomorrow just to show niggas they ain’t stopping shit. It’s us, mama,” he said, pulling her into him and kissing her lips. “Besides, I owe you about twenty years’ worth of fancy ass dates filled with fancy ass drinks.”

That’s my baby right there… being a real man,” Stephanie cheered, lightening the mood of the just tense room.

Noodle sat close to the big window that offered an unobstructed view of the vast night sky, a canvas painted in deep indigos and blacks, dotted with shimmering stars that twinkled like tiny diamonds scattered across velvet. The dark waters of the ocean stretched endlessly before her, the gentle rhythm of the waves crashing against the shore, creating a soothing symphony that filled the room with a sense of peace. She loved the view in Qamar’s living room; it felt like a secret world where time stood still, allowing her to lose herself in the beauty of the moment. As a Lynn Beach native, it was astonishing to her that she’d never been able to wake up and watch the ocean waves dance in the early morning light, a simple pleasure that felt just out of reach.

After a day filled with laughter and love, where the air had been thick with joy and the warmth of family, she felt a strange guilt settle in her chest. The echoes of their laughter still rang in her ears, the playful teasing and shared stories weaving a tapestry of connection that she cherished. Yet, beneath the surface of that happiness, there was an undercurrent of sorrow that refused to be silenced. She tried to compartmentalize her grief, to lock it away in a box marked “Deal with Later,” but no matter how tightly she pressed her lips together in a smile or how brightly her laughter rang out, her heart still ached with the weight of unspoken words and unprocessed feelings.

With her little notepad and pen, Noodle hummed out a rhythm and jotted down some words. She continued the soul cleansing exercise, pouring out her young feelings leaving no room for fear on the paper. The floor creaked, pulling her eyes to Luna who almost blended in with the dark.

“Hey,” Luna whispered, easing her way closer to Noodle. She’d watched the pretty little girl all day, catching small glimpses of her big and loving personality that paired well with a smile that stretched across her face and reddened her button nose.

Noodle smiled back. “Am I bothering you?” Her eyes swept across the open floor plan that housed a ton of blow-up mattresses covered in bodies.

Luna shook her head. “You okay, though?”

Skeptically, Noodle eyed Luna, trying to decipher if she was a friend or foe. Knowing that anyone Qamar loved had to be a friend, she decided to be open. “Is it okay, if I’m not?”

Squatting down, Luna sat beside her on the floor. “I think you’re entitled to not feel okay. Does your sister know you’re a little sad?”

“I try no too be sad because I know if I’m sad it’ll make SiSi sadder. And I don’t want her to be sad. I just want her to be happy because— because I want to believe that being happy is real. The bones in her shoulders exposed by the pink tank top she wore lifted in the air before falling down.

“What makes you think happiness isn’t real?” Luna tried to keep a neutral expression but inside, her heart was breaking for Noodle. No child should need to see examples of happiness to know its real and attainable.

Her big eyes sparkled from the moisture sitting in her tear ducts. “My mama and daddy. They wasn’t happy. He yelled and she cried. But Qamar makes my sister happy. Me too.” She finally found something to smile about.

“Anything else make you happy?”

Her head bobbed, looking too heavy for her slim neck. “Music.” She cheesed.

Teasingly, Luna pursed her lips to the side. “What you know about music, Noodle?”

“I know you’re Moonlight,” she said with adoration in her adolescent voice. “I want to do music like you when I grow up.”

Luna looked at the notepad in Noodles hand. “That’s what you were doing when I heard you humming?”

Noodle nodded.

“It sounded so pretty,” she confessed. The sound of Noodle’s beautiful melody. “Can you sing too?”

Again, her head bounced this time with more excitement. “My sister taught me music,” Noodle revealed before humming so beautifully. “I write songs just for her. I ain’t never let her hear them but one day, I’ll write a whole album and dedicate it to my hero. Siasia is the best parts of the world. At least that’s what my mama said,” Noodle confessed, talking well beyond her years. An old soul live inside her.

Luna was captivated by the tiny version of herself. “Hopefully, one day I can show you how to record some music.”

Her eyes expanded. “Really?”

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