Julian . . . He's missing out on everything in this world. He could've had a real girlfriend and got married and had grandkids by now. I stroll over to the box that was used to belong to Julian's sister. The diary of his sister gets my most attention as I grab it and decide to continue reading it. I bet Julian has finished reading this.
I read only a couple of her daily journals. I stumble upon a journal where she wrote about her school's dance.
"Jules looked so happy to see Shelley, although, Jules has always been a coward when it comes to her. He always seems hard to get and so mysterious, Shelley herself told me she was tired of handling him. It went on for weeks! Golly, I laughed so hard remembering how Jules' face turned bright red when Shelley first kissed him on his lips, she said it was the last time she'd ever seen him so mysteriously obnoxious . . .
"I went on a double date with Jules and Shelley. William picked us all up and we went to the Drive Inn. We had a hell of a night! Jules and Shelley wouldn't stop laughing, talking and kissing each other in the back seat. Will teased them to have a backseat bingo already."
I read almost all of them that involved Julian in it. It makes me smile to read such funny stuff happened to Julian back then. There's a photograph of his sister with his boyfriend inside the journal. His sister looked ever so slightly beautiful. I close the journal and decide to lie in my bed. I wish I could sleep.
I wish I could stop thinking about his green eyes.
When it's almost dawn, I decide to get over my boredom and walk around the house. I haven't gone to the basement, yet.
As I leave my room, I hear something in Julian's room. I walk down the hall to find his door is opened. I find him sitting back on his bed, writing something down on—I suppose—his journal. Seeing him is like seeing Zac Efron on Disney back in my childhood days. God, you're miserable. I shrug and I turn around to make my way to where I intended.
The door is locked. The door where it leads to the basement is locked. I groan and as I turn around, Julian is standing two feet behind me. He almost startles me to death. "Julian, can you stop doing that?"
"What are you doing?" He seems suspicious.
"What are you doing?" I ask back.
"I asked you first."
"I asked you second." I spat. My heart is still beating heavily by his sudden presence.
He furrows his brows, confused at my response.
"Did you lock the door?" I ask, palming the door, trying to get through the door.
"What are you doing, again?"
"Trying to get through this door." I scrunch my face at how stupid I am and then hide my hands behind my back.
He laughs a little. "That's not how to do it."
Did he just laugh? At me? "Why can't I do ghost things when I'm a ghost myself?" I walk over to the living room and sit on the couch, lying down lazily.
"Jesus." He mutters, frustrated at my question.
"What?"
"That's rhetorical, your question."
"I'm asking God, He's exceptional."
He shakes his head as he looks around the room, then his eyes dart back to mine. "It's almost sunrise, I want to show you something."
I look up swiftly, my stomach is giggling again. "What?"
"What?"
"Did you just—"
"I want to show you something," He says, almost sheepishly.
"I like this Julian. Please don't turn into a bad Julian."
He shakes his head. "Do you want to come with or not?"
"Yeah, let's go." He leads me upstairs to his room. As I enter the room, a strong scent fills up my nostrils. His smell. "Do you smoke?"
"Used to. Well, it's the majority of what people do back in my days." He informs, opening the window as he steps out of the window. I look around the room to find his journal resting on the bed. Curiosity lingers in my head. I wonder what he writes in that journal and I wonder why do I care so much. "Hey, come on now." He snaps me out of my thoughts.
"Right, coming," I look out the window to a tiny sized deck and a ladder that's leading to a roof. I hesitantly look down and my heart goes faster like it's going to burst anytime soon. "What if I fall?"
"Dead." He states. "Do you trust me?" He waits for me to climb over to the little deck with no fence around it.
"Not really." I slowly climb out the window to the small space that is supposed to be filled with plants. Succulents, even. When I finally reach outside, Julian grabs my waist to keep me still. As my eyes find their way in his, he looks into my eyes for at least five seconds before he looks up to the ladder and licks his pink lips. His arms are cupping my waist as I try to remain my heart beating at a normal rate. I don't know if I'm panicked by the height or by Julian's grip on my waist or his eyes, God. I slowly climb the ladder and up to the roof. As I reach the roof, the space is almost as big as my room. The space is empty and probably has never been used before, unless for Julian.
I look beyond the cemented barrier to see the view. I can see everything from up here. I can see the lake, the woods, the shed unless the view of the driveway to the gate—since its only facing towards the back view. Then a flash of sun comes up making the sky turns from a shade of blue to orange.
"Isn't it something?" He adds up, admiring the view I also admire.
"It really is something," I reply, lost in the beauty of the view. I've never really noticed how beautiful a sunrise can be. I've only seen it on TV and movies, but never in real life. It is refreshing.
"Do you have plans for later?" He breaks the silence. And surprises me with his question.
I chuckle. "It's not like I'm going anywhere." I look up to meet his eyes, but they look away instantly. His eyes absorb the orange hue from the sky.
He just nods. "Do you want to read to me again?"
"Maybe." I shrug. I look back to the sky, admiring the view. I wish there's a music playing in this exact moment—like instrumental violin or piano.
"How do you know Cole Porter?" He says, his eyes are not leaving the view.
"From a movie."
"That's pretty neat."
I just nod and look over to the small lake and to the shed. I couldn't see Mr. Fabares anywhere, not that I'm expecting to see him.