The Ordinary Haunting

16. The Dark Blue - Part 1

I glanced up at the inky night sky above the buildings, wishing its unusual breezy lightness could reach us here on the ground. We weren't even inside yet and the bodies milling closely about were setting me on edge. I'd already inadvertently made a couple of middle-aged ladies sneeze through their lipstick. I ducked under the line barrier and stretched my arms. There were too many puffs of smoke drifting along the street for me to feel hugely relieved, but the extra space was a small improvement by itself.

I didn't like that thought so much. Not that long ago, pre-ghost me lived for the loud, warm, musky circles of my friends. I heaved away the dry irony of me finally detecting regret in myself (as a 'tethered by regrets' ghost) and observed New. He was stifling a yawn, standing by himself in the line now that I'd jumped out. Though I guess he always looked alone, even when I was with him.

I reached across the boundary to pull my phone from his pocket. The eyes of one of the businessmen behind us widened considerably. New's head whipped up and he swiveled his hip away.

[We don't have to stay for that long.]

[K?] He scratched at the corner of his mouth and frowned at his phone as he typed. (The only reason he promised not to talk out loud in the line was because he was making me sneak into another establishment and I was more than a little terrified of bouncers. And though he couldn't understand why a ghost who couldn't be touched would be afraid, I'm pretty sure he was too.)

[Why the '?']

[Thought you were excited.]

[I am. But you...]

[Assuming something about me again, T?]

[Come on, you're not great at this stuff, you know that. And that's okay, it's really common actually.]

['This stuff' being going to bars?]

[Yeah, being sociable and stuff.]

[Say 'stuff' one more time.]

New turned his head away as a fresh line of cars passed beside us, their headlights flashing starkly into his eyes. I saw his profile silhouetted on the brick of the building beside him, growing and shrinking with each car that sped by. I stepped to where I should have been able to block the lights and looked for mine.

Invisible as ever.

[Sorry.] I waved my phone to get his attention again. [Am I wrong?]

Do I not see you, like you don't see me?

New moved forward in the line and I walked with him on my side. The bar's sign came into view ahead of us, the words 'Dark Blue' lit from below by a small, suitably blue LED spotlight. The sound of mellow acoustic music bobbed into the air.

"Depends what you call 'being sociable'. Do I think it's a good idea to have a drink with work colleagues and clients at noon on a Saturday? No." I hurried back under the barrier and pushed my phone against his mouth. He flung out his hand and clipped my arm. "Can I eat pizza and play Pictionary and--" he wrestled away the returning phone, "--get wasted on a Wednesday night before a public holiday? Sure." My brain was racing with panic but I did take a second to consider how hilarious he probably looked fighting off some kind of boomerang phone right now. "Do I genuinely enjoy going to a bar to catch a friend's gig? Yes."

He finished his point and dropped his hands. I tumbled forward at the abrupt release and accidentally smashed the phone fully into his face. We both kind of froze in an uncomfortable anti-climax, him letting out a low hiss from somewhere between his squished cheeks, and me unsure of the information coming to me through my fingertips as they brushed the soft skin of his jaw and nose.