Page 66 of Ghosted
“ThePirates of the Caribbeanfranchise is your go-to comfort watch,” he says casually, like it’s no big deal that he knows and has catalogued this fact about me. It makes me stupidly emotional that he cares enough to have paid attention. “Okay well, go-to other than reality TV, I guess,” he concedes. “Shit, should I have gone with a reality TV star costume? What would that even look like?” he wonders.
“No! No,” I say again, quieter. “I like this… Very much,” I say, running a finger along the slutty little V-neck that exposes his bare chest to me.
He clears his throat and blushes. “Well, your family is on the other side of that glass door, and while they can’t see me, they can definitely see you.”
“Right,” I say, stepping back. “More on this later,” I say, waving a finger over him. I look through the glass door to see Aunt Clarissa watching with a girlish gleam. I sigh. I’m not afforded any damn privacy in this town.
“Come on then,” I say. “Time to meet the family.” I turn to find that Dean has gone, well, ghostly. I snicker and lead him inside.
THIRTY-SEVEN
“Um,Rae. What’s your sister supposed to be?” Dean asks in my ear. We’ve just walked in to find my family milling about, eating the last few pieces of unwanted candy. Wren has yet to remove any part of her nightmare costume, choosing instead to lurk menacingly in the dim light.
“Some sort of spider-fly monstrosity,” I whisper back.
“C-cool,” he stutters, and I can sense a literal shiver running down his spine. I cough to hide my laugh.
“So, is the whole ‘meet the parents’ thing happening right now?” Wren asks, stalking closer. Aunt Clarissa looks over, interested.
“What are you talking about?” Dad asks Wren, looking around the room.
“Rae’s ghost boyfriend,” Wren says matter-of-factly. “Dean?” she clarifies as though they should know who she’s talking about.
“Oh, is that Dean boy here now?” Aunt Clarissa asks, looking around.
I flush so hot, I feel feverish. I never exactly got around to telling Mom and Dad about Dean. It wasn’t on purpose, I’ve just been so busy. And I didn’t want to worry them. And, you know, all the other age-old excuses in the book.
“Rae, what is she talking about?” my mom asks, turning an inquisitive look my way.
“Um,” I start. “I—well. It’s complicated.”
“Ouch,” Dean says, looking wounded.
“Complicated, how?” Mom asks.
I clear my throat and try again, “Remember that guy I went on a date with a couple of months ago?” When both of my parents nod, I continue, “Well, he didn’t actually ghost me. Or okay, hekind ofdid. But it wasn’t on purpose! He died in this random way and we’re pretty sure he was murdered? Then he appeared to me because of the whole, you know, medium thing…” I trail off.
“So, you’ve been seeing him… while he’s a ghost? And he’s here right now?” My dad tries to clarify.
“Yes to both? I mean, sort of. We haven’t defined the relationship or anything!”
Why is my voice getting so high? Why am I so defensive?
“I would just like to take the time to point out now that I am totally fine with being your boyfriend,” Dean says, patting my shoulder.
“Do we really need to worry about labels right now?” I ask him under my breath.
“Who’s worried? I already know who I belong with,” Dean says firmly.
I don’t even have time to process this little side conversationbefore Wren peels off her gross mask and says, “Oh, and we should also mention that you’re helping investigate his murder.”
I shoot her a face-melting glare, but she’s Wren, so she hardly flinches.
“What?” My parents ask at the same time.
“That is so dangerous!” My mom exclaims at the same time my dad says, “You should really let the police handle it, Bug.”
I sigh and launch into a semi-detailed overview of the entire “investigation” so far, being sure to emphasize that the police had already brushed it off as a suicide and weren’t looking into it. “So, now we’re just waiting for something else to come up. Either for Dean to remember more, or for Jack’s P.I. to uncover another lead.”
