“James, James, James, James,” I yelled his name several times, waiting for him to appear in my bedroom.
It would only be a matter of seconds…
“Where’s the fire?” He asked, suddenly in front of me. I jumped back a little, flinching in surprise. I was expecting him, but it was a little unnerving how he materialized out of thin air.
“There is none. I just need moral support right now,” I said, smiling innocently.
“I need my beauty sleep, you know,” he sighed, faking exhaustion.
“We both know that you don’t sleep,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Eh, whatever. Anyways, what do you want?” He asked, plopping himself down on my bed and reclining backwards against the wall. His arms stretched behind his head, providing a makeshift headrest.
“I need to call this lady. I got a job.”
“Oh, where? Fast food worker at Taco Bell?” James guessed hopefully.
“What? No, why would you think that?” I asked him quizzically.
“I sent in an application for you,” he shrugged.
“…you what?”
“Hey, is it such a crime that I’d want you to work there? We could sit all day and bask in the smell of tacos,” James responded, pulling the puppy dog look I always fell for.
“No!” I screamed, covering my eyes with my hands. “Don’t look at me with that face! And yes, it is a crime, since you sent out an application without my permission. There has to be some law against that!”
“What face would you prefer for me to look at you with? And too bad they can’t arrest me if you turn me in,” he winked, grinning.
“Do you want to hear about my job offer or not?” I demanded. He nodded. “Then shut up,” I laughed. I could never win any of our silly ‘arguments’. He was just too clever!
“Alright, so what fancy place did you get a job at? Street corners?” James asked, looking at me innocently.
My mouth formed an ‘o’ as I stared at him in shock. It was a good thing we were best friends and he was a ghost; otherwise I would murder him. I flung the telephone in my hand at his face. It went right through him.
“You’re forgetting that I can manipulate my body mass. So much that I can completely disappear. Remember? I’m a ghost,” James stated, a smile twitching on his lips.
“Drop dead!”
“Already did, hun!”
“Gah!” I screamed in exasperation, giggling a little. This was a daily ritual between James and I. “Do you want to hear about this job or not? Or do I have to hire some sort of pope for this house to cleanse it of all ghosts? Specifically ones with the name James? I’ll banish you!”
James gasped in mock-shock. “You wouldn’t.”
“You’re right. I like you too much,” I sighed.
“Alright, carry on then. What job are you considering?” James asked, hopping off of the bed. He walked over to my computer desk, curiously tinkering with the supplies on the surface.
“William Larkin’s assistant,” I replied, feeling a tiny blush rise into my cheeks.
James froze in his spot, his back still to me. “The magician?”
“Yeah,” I responded simply, waiting to hear what James would say about it. He remained frozen, not uttering a single word. “Hey, are you alright?”
James slowly eased the tension in his shoulders, turning around towards me. He plastered a small smile on his face, nodding. “I’m fine. Just fine. Are you sure you want to do this? From what I’ve heard, he’s not the most admirable person.”
“I’ll get one hundred bucks a show. Fifty bucks a rehearsal. It’s negotiable, too,” I said, immediately coming to the offer’s defense. “I’d be willing to wax the entire crew’s backs every night if I got paid that much.”
“If you think it’s a good idea…” James said slowly and hesitantly.
“No insight on this? No snide remarks?” I double-checked, surprised.
“Nope,” James said curtly.
Okay, something was definitely wrong. Knowing James though, there was no point in asking him to spill the beans. He’d tell me when he was ready. If I tried to pry answers, he’d go into silent mode.
“Alright…” I said, dragging out each letter in the word. “So, are you going to stay and help me out here?”
James refused to look me in the eye when he responded. “Actually, I have some things to attend to…right now. I’ll have to talk to you later. Uh, yeah. Let me know how it goes.”
Then he disappeared.
“What the heck?” I mumbled, pressing my lips together as I stared at the vacant space he was previously standing in.
James lied to me. How did I know this? When he lied, he would not make eye contact. His guilty expression would always give his lies away, and he knew it. He had only done it once or twice before, and it was about major issues. An unnerving feeling that settled in the pit of my stomach told me that something was seriously wrong.
“James? Come back!” I said loudly, waiting for him to appear back in my bedroom. There was not a single response.
I began worrying about him. What had I said that would make him upset? Sighing, I lay flat on my back on my uncomfortable bed and began dialing the phone number Ruth gave me.
After four rings, a voice picked up on the other line. “Hello?”
“Hi…uh, Ruth?” I asked, placing the phone between my shoulder and my ear while I played with the hem of my shirt.
“Yes, may I ask who is calling?” Ruth’s voice responded.
“Rachel Cooper. We talked last night at the show.”
“Oh, yes! Hi, Rachel! How are you?” Ruth said, putting on one of those sweet as sugar voices professional people use on the phone.
Disregarding the fact that my best friend was upset with me, I lied and said, “I’m great. And you?”
“Wonderful, wonderful. I’m so glad you called. I figured I probably scared you away with my scary talk about William,” she laughed awkwardly.
“No, you haven’t scared me…” I said and then added very quietly, “yet.”
“So, like I said, I’ll start off with one hundred dollars a show and fifty for rehearsal. Depending on how good of a job you’re doing, I’ll increase your pay gradually. I just require you to keep William out of trouble; maybe even keep him in line during his performances.”
“Alright,” I nodded even though she couldn’t see me..
“I’d just like to see how well you’ll do on stage before I hire you. You don’t have to be the best at it, but I need to at least know that you won’t ruin the show.”
This was to be expected, but a knot still built its way up in the back of my throat.
“I’ll be needing some guidance… As I said yesterday, I’m not the spitting image of a showgirl,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed.
“Don’t worry, we’ll show you the ropes. Actually, can you drop by our –for lack of a better word – headquarters in about two hours? A couple of the acts from last night are part of our group. Johnny and William are going to be there.”
“Johnny?” I echoed.
“He was the act with the motorcycles. You’ll love him,” she said, sounding like she was smiling.
“Oh yeah, I remember him! Okay, that sounds good. I’m pretty sure I can make it.”
“Alright, great,” Ruth responded, and then gave me the exact address to where I was supposed to be going. “…and it’s about a mile from the club we performed at last night. It’s a big beige house. You can’t miss it.”
“See you there,” I chirped, uttering a good-bye and then hanging up. The phone call wasn’t difficult at all. In fact, it was simple. Actually, she was making things very easy for me. I wondered if I should be less willing to take the job. Did I have a clue what I was getting myself into?
Setting down the phone, I called out, “James, come back for a second. I need to talk with you.”
No response.
I waited a full minute for him to appear, but he didn’t. “James, I’m going to go see William and Ruth now. I don’t know what I said to make you –“
And then he was in front of me.
“What the heck, James? Are you-“
“Let’s go,” he said curtly, walking briskly through the doorway leading the way out of my bedroom. I stared wide-eyed at his retreating figure. What was going on?
I jumped into my dad’s hand-me-down pickup truck and shoved my key in the ignition. It loudly rumbled to life and the windows reverberated with the engine. I reversed it out of the driveway and then glanced at James. He sat next to me in the passenger seat, staring out the window.
I was about to ask him what his problem was, but then I realized it would make him even more quiet. If that was even possible. He always secluded himself when I got curious to what was bugging him. It wasn’t common, but when it happened, I learned better than to try and figure it out. Curiosity was slowly taking its toll on me, and I silently begged for him to confide in me.
“You can stop fidgeting. I’m fine, don’t worry about it,” James said, chuckling softly.
I abruptly stopped tapping my fingers on the wheel and glanced in the corner of my eye at James. “What do you mean?” I asked, my voice raising an octave.
“You usually get like that when you’re curious about something. You fidget,”
I hated that he knew me so well, sometimes. Hope took over my annoyance, though, and I thought that he possibly would tell me what was bugging him if he knew I was curious.
“You sure you’re alright?” I asked, eager that he might tell me what was up.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it,” he said, cracking a grin at me. It looked a little forced.
Nodding slowly and taking a deep breath, I redirected my focus back on the road. Somehow, I’d figure out what was bugging him. After a few minutes of driving, I parked in front of a fairly large house. It was beige with blue shutters and had a large front and back yard. Five or so cars were parked near the premises. I parked on the street since there were no available spots left to park in the driveway.
Opening the car door and hopping out of the vehicle, I slammed it shut and locked it. James followed out soon after, trailing behind me like a puppy.
Ringing the doorbell, I occasionally would shift my weight between my two feet. There was a shout from inside the house, that I was pretty sure sounded like William.
The front door swung open, looking like it was almost ripped off the hinges. The nerdy looking kid from last night stood in the doorway, grinning at me. Except he wasn’t wearing his large glasses. “Oops,” he said sheepishly, gesturing to the door. “You must be Rachel. I hear you’re going to keep William in line,” he snorted.
I mock-saluted at him, laughing. “Sir, yes sir!”
“Come on in. This should be fun,” he commented, smiling.
Interesting would be a better word.
James took a step closer to me, looking around the room once we stepped in. He surveyed the area, seemingly studying everything. Without realizing it, I began staring at him, awaiting him to spill the beans.
“You coming or what? Or are you just going to continue staring into thin air?” The nerd chuckled, shooting me a questioning glance. “By the way, I’m Johnny.”
“Ha, right. Coming,” I mumbled, already starting to feel humiliation heat up my cheeks.
When we walked into the lounge room, Ruth’s voice was the first to reach my ears. “So you weren’t lying when you said you’d come. Great,” she laughed and then pointed to the seat next to William on the couch. She herself was relaxing in a seemingly comfy recliner. “Take a seat. There’s a lot for us to teach you, tell you, learn about you...”
However, just when I went to walk to the couch, James decided to rush over next to William, stealing the seat from me. After a few seconds of just standing there in surprise, Ruth gave me a questioning glance. “Aren’t you going to sit?” She asked, looking bemused.
“Uh, yeah. I am. Er, right here, actually,” I said, plopping myself on the carpeted ground. William’s eyebrows rose as he examined the spot next to him, probably wondering why I didn’t sit there.
Hesitantly yet surreptitiously, he stuck his hand out in the air, feeling the space above the cushion. I held in my breath as he touched James chest. He couldn’t possibly know...
As soon as he spotted me looking at him, he dropped his hands, frowning.
“Alright then…well, where should we start?” Ruth asked, comically tapping her chin with her finger. Johnny began to stare at me, analyzing my every move and breath I took. It was terribly unnerving.
And by then, I knew that if I didn’t cover my tracks better, I’d be jobless and listed as mentally disturbed.