Page 5 of Ghost of a Chance
He set her on the bed as she rubbed her eyes sleepily.Grabbing a T-shirt from his clean laundry basket, he handed it to her.She pulled it on before she snuggled under his sheets and curled on her side.
Standing in the doorway he watched her sleeping.His head was fuzzy from the shots and the music and the fun.God it had been a while since he’d just forgotten about all the crap in his life and let loose.
Bringing her back here…he couldn’t regret it.He folded her clothes into a neat pile and placed them along with her glasses on the chair next to her side of the bed.
In the living room, he picked the physics book up off the coffee table.One stupid book had so much control over his life.That ended tomorrow.He tucked it in his work backpack, hoping that would keep things calm in the morning.
Buzzed she might not comment on flickering lights and the TV, but sober she was bound to notice.
Going back in the bedroom, he gazed down at the woman, already fast asleep.He initially figured he could sleep with her, but somehow that seemed more intimate than the almost-sex they’d had.Instead he returned to the living room and, grabbing the blanket his mom insisted he’d need, he tried to get comfortable on the couch.
His feet hung off the edge, but the aftermath of almost-sex and the drinks combined to help him drift off to sleep.The soundtrack to his dreams was made up of Dead Boys songs, and his mind drifted off full of images of Kirsty.
* * *
The sound ofJudge Judyin Spanish blasting from the TV brought him bolting upright at 6:00 a.m.Sitting up and frantically searching, he found the remote, but hitting the off button did no good.He was finally able to mute it after a few seconds of fumbling around.
“What the fuck?”
He glanced to the hall where Kirsty stood in one of his old T-shirts, tousled hair looking adorably messy.Her mascara had smudged, creating black lines under her eyes, and she looked aggravated and seductive as hell.
“Sorry.Must have hit the remote,” he said.
“Judge Judy…wasn’t she on last night?”
“Uh…”
It was hard to come up with a reason on the fly, she looked tousled, he had a boner, his mind wasn’t on excusing the TV.
He pulled the blanket up to his chest.She furrowed her brow at him.After last night, the modesty might have been a little much.But the fact was they were essentially strangers.Last night’s energy was gone.
“Thanks for letting me have the bed,” she said.
Nodding, he got up, wrapping the blanket around his waist.“Do you want coffee?You’re welcome to use the shower.”
“I’ll get both back at mine.”She turned to go back to his bedroom.
Should he offer to order her some breakfast?Was anything even open at this time of the day?After last night he should have expected that this TV shit would happen…though it wasn’t usually this early.
She returned a few minutes later dressed in yesterday’s clothes.“My Uber should be here in a few minutes.”
“Uh, I’ll go down with you,” he said.
She shook her head.“No need.Thanks for last night.”
Just like that, she walked out his front door.He should have gotten her socials so they could keep in touch, but last night hadn’t felt like the start of anything more than a hookup.
Their almost hookup was merely an extension of the fun they’d had at the concert.She’d been looking for a one-night man and honestly that was all he had the emotional bandwidth for.Best to leave it at that.
He walked to the window.Responded to his mom’s good-morning text.And watched until she got into her Uber.He took a photo of the license plate just in case.As he walked into his bedroom his phone started playing “Nobody” by Hozier.
“You fucker.You couldn’t let me have a nice morning with her?”
The music kept playing, so Jasper just went and took a shower.
This was the final straw.Today was the day he got rid of Paul.For real.
His dead college roommate had been haunting him since he died junior year.Jasper had moved four times before he determined that Paul’s spirit was tied to an old physics book.One that Jasper had no remembrance of ever packing or bringing with him.
