The week passes quickly, I spend almost every day watching TV and talking to Michael. One of the days I went out exploring the city. I bought a bunch of decoration for the apartment and some new clothes, including the dress I'm wearing tonight.
"Mikey, hand me another nail." I am currently standing on a stool, trying to hang up a photo. He floats up to my level and hands me a nail. I hammer it in and hang the photo on it. I take his hand and jump down, admiring the picture of a sunset on a beach.
"That's pretty sick," he says from behind me. I hear him sigh so I turn to look at him. "I wish I could see a beach like that. That would be on my bucket list if I was alive."
"If you don't mind me asking, how did you die?" I ask him cautiously. Sadness and pain clouds his eyes, taking his bottom lip between his teeth, he sighs again.
"I was poisoned," I gasp, beyond shocked at his words. "The girl I was dating and I thought we would be cool and badass and drop out of school and runaway. We ended up here, this is the apartment we shared. I thought we were going to be together forever, get married, have a family but I guess after a while she didn't think the same. I eventually found out she was cheating on me with the apartment owner, Ashton. The night I was going to confront her about it, she had made me dinner and apparently put something in my food.
"She watched me die. I just know she did. But things didn't go well on her end either, she did this to me to be with him but he didn't want to be with her. She was stupid enough to tell him what she did and he called the cops on her. She was serving life in prison but then tried to kill two other inmates so her punishment was raised to the electric chair." I don't realize I'm crying until a tear hits my hand. He rests his hand on my cheek, wiping the tears away with the swipe of his thumb.
"Michael I- I had no idea..."
"Don't worry though, I died in the parking lot, in my car, not in the apartment."
"How can you be all cheery and happy all the time though? The woman you loved cheated on you and then murdered you."
"Because I've moved on, I don't love her anymore. Once I found out she was cheating, I was disgusted and all of my feelings for her were lost." I nod, understanding. If something like that were to happen to me, I would feel the same.
"Is this why you didn't want me going out with Ashton?" He nods slowly, avoiding eye contact. "Mikey, he probably didn't know you were together, plus I'm not a-a-"
"A little evil witch?" I laugh and nod.
"Yeah, that," I walk over to the couch and sit down, flipping through the TV channels. "Do you miss being alive?"
"No, if I was still alive, I would probably still be with her."
"No, I mean if currently you were given the chance to come back to life, would you take it?"
"In a heartbeat, I defiantly would." He takes a seat beside me, looking straight into my eyes, his glowing with an emotion I don't recognize. A smirk spreads across his face and I can't help but smile. "I haven't exactly told you all of the abilities I have." I raise a brow at him, recalling a few days ago when I was asking him about what he has learned to do in the past five years.
"What haven't you told me?"
"I can make it so my touch and presence feel human, so I seem alive."
"All spirits can, dude." I roll my eyes and slouch in my seat. I recall all the times it seemed so real when my grandma or sister touched me but their skin was so cold. I begin to think what he meant by looking and feeling alive. My curiosity grows. I look back over at him and gasp at how much brighter his skin is, how glowing his eyes look, he just looks... Alive. "You-you look..."
"Less pale? Normal? Not dead?" With each word, Michael inches closer to me until I'm pinned down to the couch with him hovering over me. "Alive?" He breathes, mint fanning across my face.
"But you-" he presses a finger to my lips, silencing me.
"Please, I've been wanting to do this since I met you last week." Before I can process what he means, his mouth is attached to mine. I melt in his touch, surprising myself. It's amazing how human he feels, I wish he could be like this all the time.
He pulls away and looks behind me at the wall. Michael sighs, frowning, instantly losing his glow, his warm skin turning back into ice. He sits up and disappears. Standing up, I smooth out my clothes before going into my bedroom to see if he went there. I peak in and see him lay a dress on the made up bed along with a denim vest, heels and tights.
"What are you doing?" I ask him, standing in the doorway. He has his back to me but I can tell by the way it moved that he sighed.
"You only have an hour to get ready." He strides over to the bathroom and turns on my curling iron. He smiles at me sadly and leaves my view completely though I see out of the corner of my eye that he is on the balcony.
I was looking forward to my date with Ashton, but now, after what just happened, not so much. I jog into the bathroom, curling my hair, deciding that if I cancel the date I would feel bad. I feel like Ashton was looking forward to it and I can't just crush him like that. I guess that's why they call liking someone a crush. Once I finish my hair and make up, I step into my dress but struggle with the zipper. I look up and see Michael is leaning on the railing, looking down at the water. I walk over to the balcony, stepping out into the night air.
"Hey Mikey," he turns, startled. "Could you zip my dress?" He nods as I turn my back to him, moving my hair out of the way. I feel his cold touch trail up my spine as he zips the dress up. Goose bumps cover most of my body and I know he notices because he chuckles. The back of my head is suddenly pressed against his chest and his arms are wrapped around my waist, his hands slowly trailing down to my hips. I feel his lips brush over my cheek and up to my ear, stopping there.
"I hope he knows how damn lucky he is, getting to have all of this." My goose bumps become more intense at the sound of how raspy his voice suddenly is. He gives my hips a light squeeze and just as quickly as I was in his hold, he's gone and I'm left standing alone on the balcony.
"Jessie?" I look up and see Ashton standing in the middle of my bedroom, staring at me.
"Oh, hey." I smile and wave at him but he just frowns. "What?"
"I've been waiting on you downstairs for over half an hour," he walks toward me, stepping onto the balcony. "I called your cell and the apartment but you didn't answer. I got worried..." He trails off, looking down at his boots.
"I'm sorry, Ashton, I was daydreaming and lost track of time." Why lie to him? Oh right, because he will think you're crazy if you tell him that you have grown feelings for your ghost roommate and he's been distracting you. "I thought I still had another fifteen minutes."
"It's fine, I had to cancel our reservations though." Great, now I feel even worse.
"I'm so sorry, is there anywhere else we can go?"
"Most places around here are closed by now but I could cook something maybe if you'd like?" I hesitate answering, thinking over the scenarios of how this could go.
"Sure, give me a bit to change and I'll be right down." I follow him to the door and open it for him.
"Okay" he smiles and leaves the apartment. I hear the ding of the elevator and know it's safe to resume "talking to myself".
"Mikeyyyyy!" I whine, leaning against the wall and sliding down to the floor. He appears next to me. "What do I do?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not interested in him in the way I thought I was."
"Why? You should be with him, he's good for you." I look at him completely confused.
"But you-"
"It was a moment of weakness, the past gets to me sometimes and also I haven't touched a female in years, I'll take what I can get." My heart stings with his words but I shake it off. I stand up, walking back into my bedroom.
"Alright." Is all I say because I know he followed me in here. I step inside my closet and change into a random shirt and some jeans. I slip a pair of generic toms on and leave the apartment. I step into the elevator and pull my hair into a ponytail. I can't believe I actually thought for a moment that Michael and I could be together. He's dead, for goodness sake. I guess I will just stick with Ashton and see how it goes.
I step off the elevator and into the lobby. I walk over to the door behind the front desk, nearly tripping over a trash can and knock on the door. Ashton answers a few seconds later, now wearing an AC/DC shirt and jeans with no shoes. He looks at my outfit and bursts out laughing.
"What?" I ask confused but then I catch on and look down. I'm also wearing an AC/DC shirt and jeans a similar color to his. "Wow, that is creepy." He moves aside, allowing me through the door, still laughing.
"The pasta should be done soon, feel free to explore." I nod and continue walking, past the kitchen, down a hallway and finally ending up in the living room. His flat screen TV takes up half of one of the walls and the rest are a gray color, covered in posters. His black leather couch in a large L shape, not even taking up half the room. On the other side is a pool table, the balls at the top, already racked up. I notice another doorway and go through it, it's a bit dark but my eyes eventually adjust and make out a bunch of different instruments. My eyes land on a beautiful red and black electric guitar. I run my hands over the strings, admiring it.
"Excuse me," I turn around and come face to chest with a tall blonde guy about Ashton's height. I look up and meet his light blue eyes. "Who are you?"
"Oh I'm Jessie," I say, taking a step back and sticking my hand out for him to shake.
"You're Jessie?" He asks with a big smile, light reflecting off of his lip ring. I nod, completely caught off guard when he steps forward, wrapping his arms around my waist in a bone crushing hug before picking me up and spinning around.
"Woah, calm down, Jolly giant." He laughs and puts me down.
"Ash has talked so much about you," his eyes scan over me and his smile grows more if that's even possible. "He said you were beautiful and an amazing person but wow! I'm Luke by the way." My heart flutters at what Ashton has said about me but i push it to the side. He slings his arm over my shoulder and we walk back into the living room.
"So are you his roommate or something?"
"Yeah, he's my best bud, there used to be four of us but... Never mind, it's a long story." I nod, understanding that he doesn't want to explain. "But if you stick around, I'll have another amigo and Ashton gets him a sexy girl." We both laugh as I roll my eyes and Ashton enters the room.
"I see you met the lost puppy I found on my doorstep." Ashton says with a big smile to match Luke's. I take a moment to admire how he looks. Ashton's once clean shirt now has sauce stains all over it, his hair in twenty times messier, probably from him constantly running his hand through it, and he has a dish towel thrown over his shoulder. He just somehow looks hotter this way. "Anyways, I burnt the pasta so I just ordered pizza instead." I begin to speak but am cut off.
"Aw thanks man," Luke chimes in, crossing over to Ashton and pulling him into a hug. "This is the best date ever." I can't help but laugh and the face Ashton makes as he tries to pry Luke off of him. Ashton looks over at me, mouthing the word "help".
"Hey, Jolly Giant!" I say, walking towards them. I grab Luke but the shoulders and pull him away. I wrap my arms around Ashton's torso and look up to find Luke pouting. "I call dibs." Ashton laughs and hugs me back, much gentler than a Luke hug.
"You know I'm pretty much the same height as Ashton, right?" Luke asks and I roll my eyes.
"Obviously, so that makes him the Giggly Giant." Luke snorts, falling back on the couch laughing. I look up and see Ashton shaking his head while smiling down at me. I notice we are still in an embrace and he seems to notice too as he tightens his grip. He places a kiss on the top of my head and pulls me out of the room and down the hall. "Where are we going?" He answers my question by opening another door. He flips a light on and his bedroom illuminates.
"I need to change," he leaves me standing and crosses over to his dresser. "Take a seat." I sit down, watching him as he grabs a shirt, begins to lift his dirty one off but stops. He turns towards me, chewing on his lip.
"What's wrong?"
"You don't mind if I change in front of you, right?" I laugh, falling back on his super soft bed.
"Dude, it's not like you're stripping all your clothes off, it's just a shirt, why-" my voice catches in my throat and I can't speak as he takes off his shirt. He smirks at my reaction.
"It's just a shirt, Jessica, remain calm." I swear he is teasing me as he fumbles with the shirt and takes his time putting it on to cover his amazing body. If I had more courage, I would have ran my fingers over him, tracing out his abs.
"Pizza is here!" Luke calls from the hall. Ashton and I leave his bedroom just as Luke shuts the front door, holding two pizza boxes.
"You payed for those?" Ashton asks in a surprised tone. Luke laughs and hold up a brown wallet.
"Yeah, with all of your help of course." Ashton rolls his eyes and snatches the wallet from him. "Now lets eat!"