James and I were both walking in sync down the crooked sidewalk when I noticed a large sign on one of the telephone poles.
“James, look at this. There’s some sort of performance tonight,” I said, pointing at the piece of paper. A couple walking down the street gave me a strange look, wondering who the heck I was talking to.
Crap, I thought to myself. I really need to get in the habit of not talking to him in public.
That ‘strange look’ was given to me often. Being the only person that could see and communicate with James, people tended to think I was crazy. Especially when James would say something to make me laugh in the most awkward situation.
I remember a time that we were at a funeral and he started telling me a joke that he saw somewhere. “When I’d go to weddings, my grandparents would always laugh and point, saying ‘You’re next’. So I started doing the same thing to them at funerals.”
Of course it was the worst possible time to burst out laughing, but I did. The wife was in the middle of making a tear-filled speech about her husband’s successful life before he died. Disbelieving looks were cast upon me, and I turned an embarrassing shade of red. I could probably be mistaken for a fire hydrant. Guilt pretty much ate at me for the rest of the night. I hated upsetting people, just for the simple fact that you were left with remorse. Even though I didn’t particularly know the person that died, or the family for that matter, I still felt horrible.
James was a ghost. I wasn’t sure why I could see him and others couldn’t, but I did. I didn’t have some freaky ability to see ghosts or anything – nothing like that. The only ghost that I could see was him.
I once asked him why I could see him, but he became gauche and refused to answer. I’m not the type of person to press for answers, so I just shrugged it off. But I had never stopped wondering.
James squinted his hazel eyes, trying to read the fine print on the paper. “And?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. I always wished that I could do that – raise only one eyebrow. I wasn’t gifted with total capability of manipulating my facial expressions, I suppose.
“Well, we should go see it. It should be fun,” I stated.
“Where are you going to get the money to get tickets?” he asked.
“I have some dollars saved up!” I defended myself. “And I’m planning on getting a job anyways; to pay for college and stuff. So a few dollars out of pocket shouldn’t be a big deal. Plus, you don’t even need a ticket. You can use your little ghostly powers and sneak in.” I put my hands on my hips, ignoring the confused stares of people passing by us on the sidewalk.
“So you’re planning on going to college?” he asked, looking a little surprised.
“Yeah, I mean, my parents haven’t really pushed me to go to college, but how can I do anything spectacular with my life if I don’t?”
James bit his lip, obviously debating on whether or not to tell me something. He decided on the latter and pressed his lips together. I loved when he did that. He looked so vulnerable, like the sixteen year old he should be. His chocolate colored hair swooped into his eyes, and it made him look even more naive. Like he was hiding from the world.
I couldn’t help but notice that we looked like complete opposites. He had the creamy brown hair, while I had the wavy blonde locks. His skin was dark and tanned, as if he had lived in the sun his entire life, while my skin was almost as white as printer paper. Don’t believe anything they say about ghosts – they’re not translucent. Though, to people that can’t see him (which is everyone besides me, I’m assuming) he’s transparent. They don’t even know he exists.
I realized that I was staring at him and blushed. He didn’t make things awkward though, which I loved about him. He knew how to make me feel comfortable. And while we looked like complete opposites, we were the best of friends. Ever since childhood, we’d been practically tied at the hip.
James gave a goofy grin, taking one of the available flyers for the advertisement. “No harm in checking out this show, right?” He picked up the flyer in his hand and walked down the side walk with me. Occasionally, to be a pest, he would poke people with the piece of paper.
The people passing by would glance at the piece of paper floating in the air, thinking it was the wind carrying it along. I smiled to myself, knowing much better. While it was a selfish thought, I was almost glad that only I could see him. He was, in a way, mine. And I liked that.
~* *~
My body slumped down into the comfy pillows on my bed and I snuggled into the blankets. Looking over on the floor, I groaned. The flyer for the show was on the ground, far out of my reach. I had gotten relaxed in bed, completely forgetting about the show tonight.
Out of nowhere, James appeared, laughing. I nearly screamed, “James, you scared the crap out of me!”
“Why are you in bed? I thought we were going to the show!” he exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief. He went to swat at me with his hand, but I dodged it just in time.
“I was just…relaxing,” I mumbled. “How do you always know what I’m doing?”
“It’s just something that is programmed into me, I guess. I always know what you’re up to. Came with the job.”
“What job?” I asked, honestly curious.
He sighed. “The one to watch over you. You don’t seriously think that I just walk around with you all day just to chat? It’s sort of my job to help you. Though, I thoroughly enjoy my job.”
I rolled my eyes a little and stuck out my tongue. He always dropped little hints like that, never really explaining things about his ‘ghost life’ completely. It was like he waited for me to put together pieces. Almost as if he needed me to solve things on my own.
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” I asked. It wasn’t that big of a deal. There was no need to silly little secrets.
“Didn’t want you to get freaked out.” he shrugged.
“No offense, James, but I think the fact that a ghost is my best friend is just a little spooky. I’m pretty good with freaky,” I scoffed with a laugh.
He picked up the flyer from the ground, handing it to me. I took it hurriedly, wanting to grab it before he lost grasp of the paper. He was only just beginning to experiment with picking up objects and was a little rusty.
“Now get ready! I’ll come back later.” And just like that, with the blink of an eye, he was gone. I always wondered where he went when he wasn’t with me.
~* *~
I called up my friend Jess, asking her hopefully if she wanted to come with me. I didn’t want to go all alone. James would be there, but I wanted someone alive to be there with me. She agreed immediately, completely stoked.
An hour later, I was ready to go. I had left my hair down; it was wild and untamed, but I secretly loved it. It was naturally wavy and actually looked decent without me having to do anything with it. I occasionally straightened it so that I could change things up a bit, but I usually had it all natural.
I was wearing a pair of dark denim shorts. I added a pretty turquoise tank top that had an intricate beading design on it. It had a stretchy elastic material at the bottom which made it bunch up at the bottom. Adding dangly earrings, I slipped on some black ballet flats. It was still summertime – August –, so the weather was still warm enough that I would be comfortable in the outfit I picked.
Putting on a minimal amount of makeup – mascara and foundation – I walked downstairs to let my parents know that I was leaving. I heard a low whistle. I smiled and twirled around, knowing it was my dad. “How do I look?”
He grinned. “All grown up, kiddo. Hey, you’re not going with any guys, are you?” he grumbled, suddenly upset. “Whose ass am I going to have to kick?”
“Language.” I warned, narrowing my eyes down at him. It might seem bizarre that I was reprimanding him about language instead of the other way around, but that was exactly how it went. I was a stickler for a clean mouth.
My friend Jessica told me that I was too ‘innocent’; I’d apparently adapt post traumatic stress disorder if I heard the f-bomb come out of someone’s mouth more than once. I had rolled my eyes thoroughly at that one.
Speaking of Jessica, she pulled up in her car about two seconds later, beeping the horn. “I’m not going with any guys, dad. Don’t worry.” I laughed. “Bye mom!” I called out, hoping that she heard me. She was doing renovations in the bedroom and I hadn’t really seen much of her the past day.
“Be careful, Rae Rae. Call me if you need me to pick you up.” My dad said, planting a kiss on my cheek. He was the only one that could get away with calling me Rae Rae. I liked to be called Rae, short for Rachel, but Rae Rae sounded extremely patronizing in my opinion. It was something my dad always called me, though, so I let him.
Walking out the front door, I threw myself into Jessica’s car. Before I could even say anything to her, she immediately started rambling. “I am so excited for tonight. Aren’t you? How do you think the acts will be? There’ll probably be lots of hot singers and lots of muscular guys. It’s going to be so fun. We totally need to-“
I slapped my hand over her mouth, silencing her. “You really should breathe between monologs. One day you’re going to pass out from talking so much.”
She smiled sheepishly while reversing her car out of the driveway and mumbled, “Sorry.”
I laughed, letting her know that I was only kidding. However, I almost peed myself when I noticed James sitting in the backseat of her car. He waved, grinning, which I decided to ignore. I didn’t want Jess to notice my staring. But of course she was completely oblivious to the sixteen year old boy behind her.
Jess pulled up to the address on the flyer and we both took a deep breath. It wasn’t our usual scene. It was getting dark outside – nine o’clock – so the lights on the building were lit up. It looked like some place that people would drink, play pool, dance, and lounge around. I coughed a little, inhaling some person’s cigarette smoke from outside. People were loitering around the building, leaning against the wall and smoking only God knows what. Grabbing Jess’s hand, we took our place in line.
The bouncer that took our money seemed extremely nice. He looked mean and threatening, but he loved cracking jokes and smiling. He seemed like a positive person that was always laughing, and I loved that. “Enjoy the show,” he said to me, smiling. “And be careful in there. The crowd can get pretty intense.”
I nodded with a smile, thanking him. “You’re always so nice to people, my God.” Jess stated, shaking her head in amusement.
“Is that a bad thing?” I asked, looking at her expectantly.
“No, no! Not at all. I’m just saying,” she defended herself, putting her hands up. I looked behind me, and sure enough, there was James walking straight on past the guy taking the money. I smiled slightly. “What are you looking at? You’re smiling. Oh my gosh, you’re looking at the bouncer. You like him, don’t you?”
I wiped the smile off my face, looking at Jess. “What? No I do not! I wasn’t even looking at the bouncer. I was looking at…” I couldn’t say that I was looking at James. “Uh, never mind.”
Jess shot me a look which clearly meant ‘We’ll talk later’. I withheld a deep sigh and let her pull me along the club.
Music was blasting through the speakers and I watched as the crowd undulated with the beat. People were lined up at the bar, getting all their beverages – alcoholic and non-alcoholic. I felt a little uncomfortable and out of place, so when Jess dragged me on the dance floor I was a bit awkward at first.
“Hey, little Ms. Innocent?” Jess asked, smiling.
I scowled. “Yeah?”
“Have a little fun. Let loose.” She nudged me with her elbow, winking. “Just do what everyone else is doing.”
Looking at everyone around us, I believe that my scowl deepened. The people weren’t dancing. They were grinding on each other. How the heck she expected me to do that, I had no clue.
I noticed James in the crowd, dancing along even though nobody could see him. It was actually pretty funny. He was poking drunken people and tipping their drinks over on them.
Sighing, I realized that I was probably being a party pooper to Jess. I was the one that invited her to come, and now I was going to coward out? Determined, I started dancing, loosing myself in the music. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but I eventually got the gist of it. Sway body. Throw hands up. Smile like you’re having a great time.
A little while later, the D.J. decided to take a little break and they were going to start presenting the acts. There was plenty of space in the lounge area that was facing the stage for people to sit down and chill during the show. Most of the people were standing close by the stage, though. People had their drinks with them and were ready to watch the acts. The lounge mostly acted as a place for drunken people to sit so that they wouldn’t fall over standing.
When the lights blared on the stage and the music started, signaling the first act, I didn’t realize that coming to this show would cause the biggest change of my life.