𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐘𝐨𝐮 ⇀ 𝗃&𝗍𝗉

chapter eight

"What? No." I got up from my bed and take cello out of his hands, leaning against my wall only for him to grab it again.

"Why not?" He wondered, "I want to hear you play."

"Because it's bad enough you heard me sing," I addressed, "Now you want a concerto."

"I don't know what that means, but yes, I do," He nodded and I smiled in amusement as he went on, "You seem like a great celloist, so I know you can do it." I suddenly burst in to laughter, causing him to raise a brow at me, "What? What's funny?"

"There's no such thing as a 'celloist', it's cellist," I corrected and he slowly nodded as I took my instrument away from him again.

"Please, Dawn, just this once," He begged and I shook my head, "What if I said it's my birthday?"

"Then I would wish you happy birthday and tell you goodnight," I told him, but eyed him as he stuck out his bottom lip and pouted. I huffed out exaggeratedly and grabbed my chair nearby, "Fine, but only this one time since it's your birthday."

He grinned widely and plopped down on my bed, laying out as I sat before him, setting up my cello. When I finished, I positioned my bow on the strings held my fingers at the neck, glancing up at him as he was now sitting up, watching me intently as I began to play. I then close my eyes and let my fingers take control as if they were their own person.

Usually, I play in my room at night when I can't sleep because I felt that it would keep me distracted. Playing meant I had to put all my concentration in my fingers, but let my body ease with no intent of messing up. But I've been playing since I was a kid, so there was no need to mess up with so much practice.

I let my mind force the thoughts of Hayes away, leaving me to only focus on the instrument in my hands and surprisingly, Luke. I began to play and while I did, I thought of Luke, keeping my eyes shut. I thought of his smile and choice of clothing and I smile myself because of it. I tuned in on my music and felt satisfied as I let myself feel free to the sound all the way until I finished.

Slowly I opened my eyes and immediately met his as he looked at me with amazement. I sighed lightly and moved my cello to the side before pushing my hair behind my ears, "So, what did you think?"

He began to stutter, his mouth hanging open a little, "Dawn, that was- you were amazing!" Suddenly, he shot up from my bed, "I never heard anything like that before."

I laughed, nodding my head, "Yeah, I can tell," I then rest my chin on my knees when I brought them to my chest, "Now that I played for you, when am I going to hear a solo?"

"Soon," He responded, "You just can't rush perfection." I scoffed as he smiled at me, "Thank you, that made my day."

I hummed, "Thank you for distracting me. I needed to get my mind off of tonight for a minute."

He nodded, "Well, if you need more of a distraction," I perked up at his offer, "I'll tell you how we died, but don't laugh, alright?"

"That's something I've always thought about anyways," I chuckled, "But tell me, was it in a crash? Did you all simultaneously fall off stage or get hit by a massive truck?"

"No, no, we didn't die like that," He shook his head, "We died by..."

He mumbled the rest of his answer, so I furrowed my brows, "Huh?"

"We died by..." He muffled, but saw that I still couldn't hear him, so he huffed out, "We died by eating hotdogs!" I immediately burst out laughing, causing him to groan. "I told you not to laugh!"

"I'm- I'm sorry, it's just," I stifled, hiding my mouth behind my knees, "It's just I never heard of such thing and I see ghosts all the time. I thought this guy dying from his own laughter was the strangest thing I've heard, but you guys- you died from eating a hotdog!"

"It was a street dog, okay? A guy would make hotdogs from his car," He explained and I laughed harder.

"That wasn't a red flag, Luke?"

He shook his head, "No, not at the time because we used to always eat them. That night was just a bad batch," He tried to excused and I tried to stop myself from laughing after a couple minutes, "Are you done?"

"Yes," I assured him, but grinned, "That was probably the best thing I heard tonight."

"Haha, I'm glad you found my death funny," He sarcastically commented and I chuckled, "Well, I'm off."

I then stand up from my seat and go over to him, pulling him into a hug that I knew I couldn't feel. He couldn't feel it either, but he didn't step away, "Thank you for tonight, Luke. I really needed this."

"What are ghost friends for?" He asked before I pulled away and he disappeared. I let out a small laugh again, thinking to myself, who would have thought that a rock band would die from eating hotdogs?