Page 2 of Ghost of a Chance
He stopped at the bar.“What do you want?”
She ordered the same craft beer he was drinking and then followed him to the table.The VIP section was literally two tables with four chairs each jammed around them.They were separated from the general admission section with a very tatty-looking velvet rope.
He gestured for her to sit at the lone table with a reserved sign.She sat down just as the house lights dimmed, the velvet curtains opened and the band started playing.The lonely sound of the acoustic guitar of her favorite of their songs… “Death is Just a Pit Stop.”
She sang along with the opening, realizing the guy next to her was singing too.Their eyes met in that way that only happens at concerts where time almost stops as you enter the band’s world.They both nodded and stood up to sing and dance.Getting lost in the music.
They had an intermission after “Hunting in a Killer Moon,” so they sat down and ordered shots.“What’s your name?”
His voice was low and raspy like hers from singing along with the band.
“Kirsty.You?”
“Jasper.”
“Nice.I bet you were the only kid with that name in school,” she said.
He flushed.“It was my dad’s name.”
“Everyone always calls me Kristy even though it’s Kirsty.”
“Annoying,” he said.
“Yeah,” she said.Growing up it had hurt.Why couldn’t teachers and other kids remember her name.As if she were invisible.Which had led to the one lie she couldn’t shake.In those moments, it made her feel better to pretend a voice from the other side was calling to her and create an excuse to leave.No one forgot her name after that, even if it did make her weird in a different way.
Tonight though, she enjoyed just being a girl who liked the Dead Boys.
Six shots of tequila were delivered to their table and after the waitress left, Jasper leaned back in his chair crossing his big arms over his chest.“Favorite song from the Dead Boys.”
“‘Death.’I mean, that one got me through my first breakup,” she said.True, though that the breakup was with her first literary agent—one that totally didn’t get her voice.It made her so angry that she started writing her odd little cozy mystery series about a woman who could talk to the dead and used their help to solve crimes.Funny that as soon as she stopped trying to write to please her big agent, she found her voice and a story that publishers actually wanted to buy.
“Nice.I found them after a breakup too.Same song.I blasted it in my room every day for two weeks.My roommate hated it and would pound on my door telling me to use headphones.”
“You can’t listen to ‘Death’ with headphones,” she said as she licked salt from her hand, glancing up to see him watching her.She dropped some salt onto his hand and arched her eyebrow at him.His pupils dilated.
He licked his hand slowly…sensually.It took all her willpower not to imagine his tongue on her hand.Then they raised their shot glasses, downing their shots and then biting into their slices of lime.
“What was your major in college?”she asked.It was hard to guess.At school she’d been able to peg everyone’s archetypes at a glance, but out in the real world it was harder.
She suspected most people struggled to know who they were.How to define themselves away from the roles they’d fallen into in school.Popular, jock, geek, misfit.The adult world blurred those lines.
Personally she was still struggling to become who she wanted to be.She had her author persona, a serious woman with a gothic edge who theoretically spoke to ghosts.And then she had regular Kirsty who still wore anime T-shirts and jeans and wanted to live close to her mom.
“Film and Television production.I’m a broadcast journalist.You?”
“Wait what?”she asked.
He shrugged.“Not as glam as you might be thinking.I’m a segment producer on a morning chat show.Basically I make sure things run smoothly.”
“That sounds cool,” she said.
“Yeah?”A surprised smile lit up his face.“What about you?”
“Medieval French literature and philosophy.”
He started laughing.“Something practical.”
“Don’t start.That’s what everyone says.”His hand was lying on the table between them.She wanted to thread her fingers through his—anything to touch him and make sure this guy she was vibing with was real.Time to act first and think later.She lifted his hand, gently licking the back of it, and shook some salt on it.
