Never a dull day.

It should have been a normal day. Luna had the day off from work, from classes. She didn’t need to go anywhere else to pay bills or get groceries. Today she could spend all by herself. At least as much as she could with her two partners.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me to the library?” Issac asked her as he packed his laptop bag.

“Or with me to my parent’s house?” Emilia offered.

Luna smiled gently and shook her head. “No I’ll be fine here.” She insisted. Helping Issac force his bag to zip shut. “You need to focus on studying if you're going to pass this class.” She started kissing his forehead. “And you,” She stated turning to Emilia and kissing her cheek. “have been avoiding your fathers all semester since you changed majors.”

“Yeah, but I thought you didn’t like the quiet?” Emilia asked with her cheeks still flushed.

“Yeah that’s why we're all dating and rooming together.” Issac recalled with a small chuckle.

“It’s fine today. But you two need to get going before you put it off for another week.” She scolded the two as they both seemed to quickly get the hint. Emilia grabbed her purse and keys while Issac threw his bag strap over his head. “Both of you out. Enjoy yourselves today! And tell your dads Hi for me!” She called out as Emilia chuckled.

“Will do.” She stated.

“I’ll let you know when I make it to the library so you don’t think I died or something!” Issac chirped as the two made their way out.

She shut the door and made sure it was locked tight before letting out a small sigh.

She made sure she did indeed have the full day for herself. No new assignments posted from her professor. She was indeed not scheduled to report to work until tomorrow morning. There was plenty of food until next week. And even all the chores were done. Issac took out trash. Emilia had done the dishes.

She truly did have a day to herself. She took that moment to savour the idea. Before quickly she sprung into action.

She set up her easel in her bedroom. And pulled out a canvas making sure it was nice and tight before grabbing what she would need.

Paints, water cup, pencils to sketch, painting apron.

She pulled her stool into position and shut her eyes. Trying to imagine what to paint. She didn't have many opportunities to paint for herself lately so she wanted to think of what idea she wanted to go with today.

When the idea struck her she grabbed a pencil and started sketching on the canvas. Light enough just in case she needed to adjust something.

She was just about done when she heard her phone go off. She sighed, putting her pencil behind her ear and checking it to see it was the group chat.

Issac had indeed made it to the library in one piece. And he didn't even need to fight anyone on the bus. His friends were there so he asked for prayers that real studying would in fact get done.

That meant she didn't have to worry about him checking up on her.

She finished her sketching and was just about to choose what color she wanted to start with when she heard her phone start ringing a beautiful piano melody.

"Emilia what's wrong?" She asked when she picked up.

"Nothing, I just passed by a fruit seller with some strawberries." Emilia explained. She could hear the smile in her voice which smothered any annoyance trying to form. "I'm not too far out. I can grab a basket and come home so they don't go bad."

"Or you could take them over to your parents. Doesn't your Papa love fresh fruit like that?" Luna reminded.

"He does yeah…" Emilia said a little quieter.

"So you can take it over as an 'sorry i haven't been over for a few months' gift." Luna suggested.

When Emilia didn't respond though Luna closed up the paint she was about to use.

"Emilia what's going on why don't you wanna see your dads?" She asked.

"I'm just worried they'll be disappointed, you know?" Emilia admitted. "I mean…all I've done is gotten general ed out of the way. But everytime it comes to courses to help my major. I end up switching it up every semester. It's gotten to the point Dad has joked about not telling anyone what I'm majoring in. Just that I'm going to college,” she admitted.

There was the root of the problem. Luna smiled sadly. "They just want you to be happy. And if that means you need to try every major possible before you fall in love with your work then so be it. But I think you're going to stick with medicine."

"But what if I don't?" She asked.

"Then it's no big deal. If anything maybe it means you should try and take time off of school to figure out what is it you truly want." Luna suggested. “Either way from what you’ve told me, they're not going to be disappointed. They’re probably worried about me and Issac turning you into some drunk partying monster since it’s been so long since you’ve reached out.”

That at least got a snort out of her partner. “Oh god I can’t even picture that. The hardest we’ve partied was when we stayed up late that one night throwing the controller back and forth with Issac because none of us could beat the final boss in Village.”

“Well tell them that.” Luna chuckled. “Emilia I love you but this isn’t going to get easier the longer you put it off.” She said gently.

There was a brief silence before a sigh. “I know...Thanks for talking with me though.”

“No problem, now go get those strawberries, and go say Hi to your parents.” Luna stated.

When she hung up she let out a small sigh of relief before opening her paint again. Carefully she dipped her brush into the paint and dragged it across the canvas. Carefully at first but the moment she found her groove she didn’t hold back. Using her fingers to add different sized smudges of color here and there. The bottom of her apron to blend in others there.

It was coming together in a beautiful way. At least until the drum solo rang out from her phone causing her to smudge too much in an area.

She let out a frustrated groan before grabbing her phone. Trying her best to breathe out the negative feelings before answering it. “Talk to me Issac.” She stated.

But instead she was greeted by a bunch of noise. As if Issac had called her while in the middle of a restaurant in the middle of rush hour and left his phone on the table.

“Hello?” She asked. “Issac?”

No answer. She sighed and hung up. Thinking maybe he buttdialed her on accident.

She had just enough time to fix the mistake she made when he called the first time before the same drum solo began.

“What’s up Issac?” she asked when she answered.

But still no response. Just the same background noise.

“Earth to Issac hello?” She called out. She could kind of hear his voice but it was way too far out. And it was obvious he was talking to somebody else. Probably one of his friends.

She groaned and hung up. Finally noticing the time. It was about time for lunch anyway as she decided to get up and stretch her back out before heading to the kitchen to eat.

She nearly dropped the bag of pizza rolls she was going to bake for lunch when that cursed drum solo kicked in.

“If this is some kind of a prank I swear-” Luna snapped into the phone.

“Whoa what are you talking about Lu?” Issac’s voice actually responded that time.

She paused before running a hand through her hair and groaning out in frustration.

“Uh...Lu?”

“This is the third time you’ve called me in the last 15 minutes, Issac!” She snapped. “The first two times all I could hear was whatever restaurant you're in and I couldn’t get your attention! I was starting to think maybe Brad or Samual got a hold of your phone and was starting to play a prank on me!” She stated.

“Damn it, Sorry Luna,” He apologized, genuinely sounding sorry. “I was gonna call you about if you wanted me to swing by with some lunch from our favorite pasta joint but the boys kept pulling me back into the conversation before I could actually call. I must have been hitting the dial button without realizing it.” He explained.

Luna sighed, her frustration dying down somewhat. “It’s fine Issac...Just try and be more mindful about your phone ok? And don’t worry about getting me lunch I’m actually eating now.”

“Oh! Ok then.” Issac said, his normal happy tone back.

“Hey tell her about the movie!” She could hear in the background.

“Oh that’s right, Samueal was able to get a copy of an anime movie early and he offered me to come over after this to watch it.” Issac explained.

“Hey you do what you want, I’m good here at home.” Luna explained with a smile.

“Emilia isn’t back yet?” Issac asked.

“No, and I'm not worried about when she’ll be back.” Luna stated. “Now go have fun.”

Once the two hung up she ate in relative silence. Watching videos off her phone before heading back into her room to finish her painting. Applying the last details before throwing on a few good layers of glaze to lock the colors into the canvas for hopefully a lifetime.

Once she was done her phone rang one more time. It was the default ringtone, She almost let it go to voicemail when she noticed the name finally. She lunged for her phone and answered it.

“Hello Father. sorry I had my phone across the room.” She rushed to say. Nerves quickly formed, her dad rarely called unless it was something important like if she was coming for christmas this year, or how her studies were coming along.

“Ah, I figured you just had your head in another book or something. If I caught you at a bad time I can call back when it’s more convenient.” He assured. And while his voice held no ill will she couldn't help but be nervous.

She was all he had after all and he gave up so much to take her in and raise her as his own. She didn’t want to let him down which is hard when she kept so much of her life a secret from him.

“Ah, it’s ok father.” She assured. “I wasn’t too busy honestly, just finishing up a personal project of mine.”

“Oh? Care to share?” He asked.

She bit the inside of her cheek, “I-it’s nothing special really. How’s home?”

“Well, it’s quiet as usual, business is running smoothly. But uh…” His voice wavered a bit which made every atom in Luna pause.

Her father didn’t waver in his words. He never hesitated. He built his business from the ground up when he was a little younger than her and it turned so successful he was able to retire comfortably while sending her to college to discover her passion without the fear of ever taking out a student loan.

He was strong, he was indestructible. He was everything she aspired to be.

“If you're sure you're not busy. You may need to sit down, we need to talk.” He said slowly.

So she sat on the couch in the living room. She listened to her father tell her a patchy story of him discovering signs of Alzheimer’s appearing before any of his helpers did. And how strong it runs in his family.

“I started treatment awhile ago, And according to the doctors and my nurses and helpers that come in now and again I’m doing better, not great but better.” He stated. “There wasn’t really a good time to tell you, but I was hoping to time it in between tests for you, I’d hate to distract you from your classes-”

“Distract me? Dad, you should have told me sooner!” Luna cried for a moment, before pausing and clearing her throat. “I’m sorry father.”

She paused though when she heard him chuckle.

“You know...I think that’s the first time you’ve ever called me dad and not Father.” He said amused. “I know it’s still a few months until your summer break, but if you don’t have plans, how about you come visit? You can even bring those roommates of yours. I’m sorry I don’t quite remember their names.”

She smiled sadly. “It’s ok Father...I can introduce them again when we get there, that sounds really nice, and I’m sure they’ll want to come.”

“Splendid! I’ll make sure the guest rooms are all made for the...two it’s two of them right?”

She chuckled dryly herself. “Yeah, two of them.”

“Excellent!”

The conversation dulled, before her Father had to let her go to get his vitals checked from his nurse that was coming soon. But even when he hung up she stayed on that couch. Looking down at her phone for what must have been hours until she heard the front door open.

“Luna?” Emilia called out.

“I brought leftover pizza!” Issac called out behind her. Although his cheery vibe was smothered quickly as they made it further into the living room.

“Whoa, Lu what happened?” Issac asked, setting the box down on the table.

“Luna? Sweetie what happened?” Emilia asked, reaching to wipe at her eyes.

Luna didn’t even realize she was crying silently until she looked up at her two roommates, a sad smile on her face.

“Can you guys sit down? I uh...I had a phone call with my father.” She explained as the two sat down on either side of her.

By the time she finished talking about her Father’s official diagnosis Issac had an arm around her shoulders. By the time she mentioned the treatments, Emilia had a hand on her leg. At the end the two were hugging her, Issac rubbing her back while Emilia ran her fingers through her hair.

“It’s gonna be ok starlight.” Emilia whispered.

“Yeah Lu. From what you told us your father is a fighter. He’ll probably come up with a million ways to Sunday to keep himself from forgetting a single thing.” Issac stated.

“He invited the three of us to visit this summer.” Luna stated. She felt Emila pause and Issac looked at her. “He wasn’t really that interested in my roommates to begin with...But I want to introduce you guys as my partners if you’ll come down with me.”

The two looked as if they were gonna cry this time, as they all embraced each other on that couch.

“I’d love that Luna” Emilia stated.

“So would I!” Issac agreed before pulling away and whipping at his face. “You know what, this deserves a celebration. Real pizza instead of left overs!”

“And fresh strawberries, I’m pretty sure that vendor will still be there.” Emilia suggested.

Luna smiled softly as she watched her two partners get up and offer her each a hand to pull her up to her feet.

All she was really hoping for was a day to paint a memory of her father and her walking in the park. She didn’t expect to fall in love with her partners all over again today.