Phantom of the Apartment

Tea and Tacks

A loud buzz from Jason's phone cut through the air, proclaiming a text had been received. He picked it up and smiled. "He's here," he said as his grin widened.

Rebecca's face lit up. "Great! Where'd you put the print out of the article?"

He paused for a moment. "I think it's on my dresser," he said, rising from his chair to retrieve it.

     "I'll go get it. You let Thomas in and give him the run-down of the plan," she said as she raced to his room.

     Jason walked over to the door and placed his ear against it to listen for his friends footsteps. He heard the even footfalls from the other side getting closer and then stopping. He grinned and yanked open the door to reveal a surprised Thomas standing with his fist raised to knock on the door that had been before of him moments before. "Why hello there, Mr. Allen," Jason said with a fake British accent. "Fancy seeing you here."

     Thomas grinned back and gave a mocking bow. "Mr. Valdez," he responded, mimicking Jason's tone, "the pleasure is all mine. Shall we step in?"

     "Indeed, my good sir," Jason laughed. "Might I pour you a cup of tea?"

     "That would be splendid."

     Jason grabbed three mugs from the kitchen and filled them with a steaming liquid before sitting down with Thomas at the table. "Here you go, pal," he said, dropping the accent. "Hope you like it."

     Thomas took a long sip from his mug and raised an eyebrow. "I actually thought you were joking about the tea."

     "What did you expect?"

     "Uh, coffee? It's all you and Rebecca ever seem to drink."

     "Exactly. I thought we should mix it up a bit."

     Thomas smirked. "You ran out of coffee, didn't you?"

     "Rebecca finished it off. Again," he sighed. "She must drink a pot every day at least. I'm hoping that she won't like tea as much so that I can actually have some for myself."

     Thomas was grinning now. "Well, I feel like this is karma. I seem to recall a certain high schooler always coming over to my house and drinking all of my coffee because his parents wouldn't buy any."

     "I always thought high school was too early in the morning. Anyway, where's Rebecca?"

     Right on cue, Rebecca emerged from Jason's room with arms full of papers and books. She placed them around the table and then placed a small picture frame face down off to the side. "Alright," she said as she hopped into her seat. "Let's get this started." The ghost grabbed the mug closest to her without looking at its contents and took a swig. Jason and Thomas exchanged knowing smirks as her eyes widened and she choked on the drink. "What was that? Are you two trying to kill me?" She threw her hands up dramatically and exclaimed, "What have I done to deserve this?"

     "You drank all of our coffee," Jason said accusingly. "Now all we have is tea. It's honestly not that bad, anyway."

     "It is when you drink it expecting to taste coffee," she muttered, wiping her mouth angrily.

     "Alright, drama queen. Let's get down to business–"

     Thomas grinned and whispered into his tea, "To defeat the Huns..."

     Rebecca giggled while Jason shot his friend a glare. "Now is not the time for Disney," he said. "As I was saying, we're here for a reason and we've already spent too much time avoiding the topic." He turned to address Thomas. "Rebecca wants to go on a wild goose chase through the city and, through some lapse of common sense, we've decided to join her. So, let's figure out how we're gonna do this. Rebecca?"