Out of the Darkness

69

"Who?" I asked, trying to decipher which person she was jabbing at. "HER! Christine Summers!" Her face was animated, her emerald eyes shining, her cheeks flushed with excitement, and just an intensity that I could feel through the atmosphere. "That's great!" I exclaimed, getting excited with her. "Do you remember who she is?" Her face fell almost automatically, her open mouth snapping shut with a force that seemed like it should've hurt. "No," she replied, her lips forming a pout. It would've been the cutest thing that I had ever seen, if not for the frustration written all over her face. "That's okay," I said, putting my hand on her knee. "It's something. It's progress." My phone went off then, alerting me that our food had finally arrived. "Food's here," I said, standing up. "I'll be right back." I rushed out the door before she could say anything, wanting to hurry and get our food. I had forgotten for a little while but now I was starving too. Sam was walking through the entryway when I made it to the front door. "Whoa, what's the rush?" he asked, as I skidded to a halt. "Food," I answered, yanking the door open. After I got my bags and thanked the guy, I turned back to see Sam still standing behind me. "What's up?" I asked, looking through the bags to make sure that I had everything. "Nothing," he answered, but his tone said differently. When his gaze met mine, I saw nothing but worry. I sighed, knowing that I was about to get a little speech. "What is it Sam? What's the problem?" "No problem brother. Not really. I just see how much you like her. Anna. I feel like you're forgetting that she isn't really here. I don't know what happened to make her solid, or alive, whatever you want to call it, but we don't know that it will last. I'm just worried that you're falling too hard, and too fast again. I don't want you to get hurt." I loved him to death but damned if he didn't annoy the fuck out of me when he was so sensible. He was right, of course, but that didn't mean that I had to like it. "I'll be fine Sam. I know the stakes. If I get hurt, that's on me. Okay?" I raised my eyebrows at him, waiting for him to concede. After a moment of him chewing his bottom lip and staring at me, he finally nodded. "Okay...just be careful Colby." I nodded at him, then clapped my hand down on his shoulder for a moment as I passed him to get to the stairs. "I will be. Thanks man." My brain was running wild again, with the thoughts that I didn't want to think about, as I made my way back to my room. How long would this last? Was this my problem? Did I fall for the literal most unavailable women, just to self sabotage myself...or maybe to protect myself? If I knew that it wouldn't work going into it, then I could hold a part of myself back. I had done that before, many times. Especially after my heart had been broken for the second time, after I decided to open up again. It was different with Anna though...wasn't it? I felt like it was but honestly, it was too soon. I didn't have a clue, and I did tend to forget that she was a fucking ghost, even though she hadn't even been solid for that long. Ugh, leave it to me to make my life even more complicated than it already was. I opened my bedroom door, and just stood there for a minute, watching her. She was beautiful. I couldn't see her eyes, since she was still on the couch, but I could imagine what they looked like right now. Shining, the emerald orbs bright, with excitement and frustration. She ran a hand through her raven hair, then pushed it behind her ear, as she stared at my laptop. It took me a minute to realize that she was using it, or as closer to using it than she had ever been. The page, the same page that we were looking at before with the picture of the person that she knew, was scrolling up and down on the screen, as she went back and forth between staring at the picture and reading what the article said. I imagined her biting her bottom lip, or pouting at the screen. It was weird how well I knew her mannerisms already. I guess that I had been learning those since she had first showed herself to me though. I closed the door behind me, and watched her look over her shoulder at me. My heart beat a little faster with smile that spread across her pretty face. "The food!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands like a kid. I laughed a little, and brought the bags over to the coffee table to set them down. As soon as I did, she started removing all of the containers and bags, opening each one to see what was in them. "I don't know what to eat first," she replied, after everything was in front of us. It was a lot of food, covering the entire table. "Whatever you want," I answered. "Don't you want anything? I can't eat all of this." The way she was eyeing the food had me thinking that she would probably try but manners had her holding back. "Yeah, of course I'm going to eat too. Here, start with this. It's really good," I said, sitting up and grabbing one of the plates from Chipotle, and passing it to her. I picked up the other, and sat back again. "Oh my God, this smells amaze-balls," she said, practically drooling as she dug into her food. "Amaze-balls?" I asked, laughing. "Ahmajing," she replied, her mouth full. "Oh," she said, then covered her mouth with her hand. I just laughed harder. "That is, like, just so rude. Ugh," I said, rolling my eyes in a joking manner. "Shut up!" she exclaimed, after she had swallowed her food. "Do you like seafood?" she asked me. "Yeah, some of it," I answered, digging into my own plate. "Ahhh," I heard, so I turned to look at her. She had her tongue out, chewed food sitting in her open mouth. "Nasty," I laughed, and shook my head. "Seafood," she said, laughing after she swallowed. "I'm sorry. That's always been a bad joke, but, like, I couldn't resist. You probably think I'm gross now. I'm such a ditz sometimes." I rolled my eyes. "I think you're adorable," I answered, without thinking. Her cheeks blushed bright red, and she looked back down at her food, without saying anything. We ate quietly for a few moments, then she set her nearly empty plate down on the coffee table. "Oh, wow," I said, raising my eyebrows at the amount of food she had just packed away. "Do you have room for dessert?" "Duh," she replied, grabbing one of the smaller plates that had a small chocolate lava cake inside of it.