“Fantastic.” Daniel smiled and leapt to his feet. “Get your coat.”
“What, now?” Elliot returned the recliner to its upright position.
“Why not?” Daniel held out a hand to help him stand.
Elliot batted it away and stood on his own. He considered it again and couldn’t find a reason not to agree. “Okay.”
He went to get his jacket.
THE NIGHTCLUB
wasn’t as noisy as it had been the first time Elliot was there.
“I can actually hear myself think tonight.” He still had to project his voice to enable Sheri and Malcolm to hear him across the little wooden table in the back corner of the room.
Sheri leaned forward. “It’s because it’s a weeknight.” For a moment, Elliot was afraid she’d fall out of the low-cut top of her tight pink-and-black dress.
“Still an awful lot of people here.” Malcolm seemed even more ill at ease than Elliot did.
Elliot remembered that Sheri said Malcolm never went to nightclubs. He could see why now. The poor man was squirming around uncomfortably and looked like he would spontaneously combust.
Sheri patted Malcolm’s leg. “We won’t stay long. We’re just trying to get Ellie back in the swing of things.”
Elliot shook his head and rubbed the pad of a finger over the scratches in the table. “I’m not sure this is actually the swing of things that I want to get back into, Cher.” Then he made eye contact with Malcolm. “But thanks for being willing to come out tonight.”
Malcolm nodded his “you’re welcome,” but he didn’t look any more relaxed.
The music suddenly changed from one loud song to another. “Come on, Mal.” Sheri was on her feet and pulling at Malcolm’s arm. “Let’s dance.”
Elliot thought the poor man looked discomfited before, but then he looked like he was ready to bolt.
“I don’t dance.” Malcolm didn’t say that nearly as grumpily as Elliot usually did. “I… I… can’t.”
Elliot couldn’t take any more of Malcolm’s embarrassment. Sheri could be overbearing sometimes and even inconsiderate and selfish. Elliot didn’t think she even knew she was doing it. She simply loved life, enjoyed being spontaneous, and wanted everyone else to do the same. He had to help poor Malcolm.
He leaned into Daniel and whispered into his ear. “Can you dance with Sheri? I think Malcolm is going MIA in about three seconds if someone doesn’t sub for him.”
Daniel chuckled and slid back his chair. “Hey, Cher. Do you mind if I cut in?”
Sheri threw a disgruntled look at Malcolm, then turned toward Daniel. “I don’t think you can technically cut in until I’m already dancing with someone, but I wouldn’t mind dancing with you.” She turned back to Malcolm. “Since
somebody
refuses to.”
Watching her worm through the crowd, Elliot became even more concerned about that daring dress. The top was little more than a string bikini attached to the skirt—so maybe more of a tankini—held together only by two thin strings. One at the neck and one across the back. Sheri’s sides and back were completely bare. But the skirt looked like it was made of elastic bandages. It was about that color—maybe just a little more toward the pink—and was wrapped around in a complex pattern, every bit as tight as elastic bandages would be too. And her shoes!
“How does she walk in those?” Malcolm expressed the very question Elliot was thinking.
They had six-inch heels, but the only things holding them on her feet were strings convolutedly wound around her feet and halfway up her calves.
Elliot shrugged, still watching Sheri as she danced exuberantly to the music, seemingly not the least bit bothered by the tiny torture chambers on her feet. “Practice? I guess?”
Malcolm shook his head. “Not for the first time, I am extremely glad I’m not a woman.”
Elliot had to agree on that.
They sat silently for a minute or two, watching their respective—Elliot didn’t want to use the word
dates
—gyrate around on the dance floor. He didn’t really mind the lack of conversation, but it seemed to bother Malcolm. Elliot could tell he was trying to think of something he could talk to Elliot about.
There was really only one thing they had in common.
“So I’ve done some more research on your ghost.” Malcolm raised his voice enough to be heard over the music. “Well, actually it’s more about the Buckner place in general than your ghost in particular.”
Elliot leaned in. “Yeah? What did you learn?” He appreciated Malcolm’s continued research and didn’t want to tell him that he’d only been interested in the Buckner family as it pertained to Ben.
“There have been tales over the years that the place is haunted.”
Elliot feigned shock. “You don’t say.”
Malcolm chuckled nervously and worried the napkin under his mixed drink, breaking off little pieces and rolling them into balls. “Yeah, I guess you already knew that part. My point is that you aren’t the first one to claim there’s a presence there.”
Elliot traced a pearl of liquid running down the outside of his soda glass. “I don’t know how much Sheri told you, but I’m more than sensing a presence now.” He looked up slightly just to see Malcolm’s reaction. “I talk to him in dreams. He’s even trying to speak to me during the day using the laptop.” When Malcolm didn’t seem to launch into the tirade he usually got from Sheri, Elliot continued. “So I more than just suspect there’s a ghost.”
Malcolm laughed and searched for Sheri in the crowd. “Yeah, I guess you do.” When he couldn’t find her, he returned to napkin-destruction duty. “I’m really glad he was there to save you that day.” Malcolm cleared his throat. “I’ve never heard of ghosts doing that before.”
Elliot took a sip of his soda. “Yeah. Ben is definitely one of a kind.”
Sheri and Daniel slipped through the crowd and appeared at the table as if by magic.
“That was great.” Sheri collapsed into her chair and leaned on Malcolm. “But I’m still going to get you to dance one of these days.” She looked at the growing pile of balled-up napkin pieces. “Tell me you two didn’t sit here in silence the whole time.”
Elliot tried to get Malcolm off the hook. “No, we talked.”
“Oh good.” She snuggled up closer to Malcolm. “What did you talk about?”
Malcolm gulped loudly, and Elliot thought it was probably better if he didn’t answer either.
Sheri sat up abruptly and smacked Malcolm on the shoulder. “Oh come on, Mal. You did not bring up that damned ghost again.”
Elliot sat forward, arms crossed on the table. “How can you still not believe in Ben?” He had to raise his voice to get over the music, but he made sure his tone showed his anger. He was getting tired of this. “I’ve shown you my conversations with him. Well, his side of the conversation.”
Sheri rolled her eyes and picked up her cocktail.
“What? Do you think I typed it myself?” Elliot could feel his face heat. Daniel placed a hand on his arm.
“No, Elle, but—” She leaned forward too, meeting his anger head-on.
“But what?”
Sheri shrugged but said nothing. She took a sip of her drink.
“I can’t see a whole lot of possible explanations here, Cher.” Elliot shrugged off Daniel’s hand. “Either I have a ghost; I’m lying about the whole thing, including falsifying evidence; or I’ve had some kind of psychotic break.”
Malcolm had been looking back and forth between the two friends as if following a tennis match. But he jumped in then before Sheri could answer. “The last one doesn’t fit the evidence unless Daniel and I have also taken leave of our senses. And the second one only works if you think Daniel and I are in on some kind of elaborate deception.” Sheri looked defeated and sank back in her chair as Malcolm continued. “I was just telling Elliot that he’s not the only one through the years who thought there was a ghost in the Buckner house.” He put his hand cautiously on her arm. “Come on, is it really that hard to believe?”
“That Ellie is cohabitating with Casper the Friendly Ghost,” she said incredulously as she moved away from Malcolm. “Yeah, kind of hard to believe.”
“Oh, believe it.” Daniel apparently decided he needed to join the conversation too, instead of just trying to calm Elliot. “But I’m not so sure about the friendly part. He throws stuff at me.”
Elliot smiled and sat back in his chair again, anger dissipating slowly. “It’s hard for him to move things, so he’s not going to have much power anyway.” He slung an arm around Daniel’s shoulders. “But I think maybe he needs to get to know you first. Then perhaps he won’t be so hostile toward you.”
Daniel cuddled up to Elliot. “Yeah. Either that or he’s just biding his time until he finds out how to murder me in my sleep.”
SHERI AND
Malcolm eventually excused themselves and left the club. Daniel suggested that maybe tonight was a good time for the ghost to get to know him. Elliot took that as code for “I want to have sex” and took Daniel home. For the first time in what felt like forever, Elliot actually felt up for that activity.
They pulled into Elliot’s driveway, and Daniel could barely wait for the car to stop before he unbuckled his seatbelt. As soon as the vehicle stopped, he jumped out and ran around the car. He had Elliot’s door open and was trying to get Elliot out of the car even as Elliot was fumbling with his seatbelt.
“Wait a minute, Darrell. Geez.” Elliot chuckled. “I’m getting all tangled up here.”
Daniel laughed. Whether at the name or the visual, he didn’t say. Elliot figured it was probably both.
They finally got out of, and away from, the car and fumbled to the front door. Elliot had to push Daniel away and hold him against the door with one hand while he fished his keys out with the other. Daniel laughed uproariously but stayed put against the door until Elliot unlocked it. They stumbled inside, and Daniel pushed Elliot against the door the moment it was closed.
They started losing clothes almost immediately, throwing them this way and that, so it took them a little while to realize that the clothes were being thrown back at them. When Daniel was hit in the back of the head with Elliot’s T-shirt, he fell against Elliot, laughing again.
“See? I don’t think your ghost likes me.”
Elliot wasn’t nearly as amused. “Ben, cut it out.” A T-shirt hit him in the face. He pushed it off, but it fell on his shoulder. “I mean it, Ben. Stop it! I’m finally feeling better enough to enjoy myself and I’m going to do it, dammit.”
There was a long pause, then the T-shirt on Elliot’s shoulder floated to the ground. Elliot watched small objects fly off of furniture in a trail toward the kitchen. Ben was obviously still mad, but he was moving away.
Daniel clutched Elliot, trying to get his giggles under control. “Is he done now?”
“I think so.” Elliot dropped his head onto Daniel’s and just held him close. “But I’m kind of out of the mood.”
Daniel started fiddling with Elliot’s belt. “Let’s see what we can do to get you back in the mood.” Daniel had the belt unbuckled in no time and started pulling it through the loops.
Elliot let his head rest against the wall. “Yeah, we can try. At the very least, you can sleep over.”
Daniel shifted his gaze from Elliot’s belt to his face. “Sleep over? What are we? Twelve?”
By the time they made their way to Elliot’s bedroom, he was very much back in the mood. He pushed Daniel onto the bed and scrabbled at his button-fly jeans.
“Really? You thought sex might be in the cards and you wear button fly?”
Daniel chuckled and spread his legs a little, trying to improve Elliot’s access. “I like how it makes my package look.”
Elliot rolled his eyes, but by then the buttons were undone and he pulled down the pants down to reveal said package.
“Button fly and commando? Doesn’t sound like a comfortable combination.”
“Effective, though,” Daniel purred.
Elliot had to admit Daniel was right. He pulled the jeans over Daniel’s feet and flung them across the room.
“Why’d you do that?” Daniel lifted his head and looked around, apparently trying to find where his jeans might have landed. “My lube was in there.”
Elliot smirked as he crawled up Daniel’s body. “Look in the bedside table.”
Daniel flung out an arm and fumbled around in the drawer until he found something the right shape. He brought the item into his field of vision and had to laugh when he read the label. “Edible lube? You dog, you.”
Elliot silenced Daniel with his mouth while he worked the bottle of lube open. They didn’t talk again for quite a while.
ELLIOT KISSED
Daniel goodbye the next morning, sent him on his way, then ambled to the bathroom. He was stalling. He knew that. He didn’t want to face Ben yet. Elliot had half expected to talk to Ben in his dreams last night, but he was somewhat relieved that he hadn’t. He wasn’t sure what he would have said to him. Elliot had thought he could have sex with Daniel as always, without being continuously aware of Ben, but he was wrong.
He went down to the kitchen the next morning and set up the laptop as usual.
“Hi, Ben.” Elliot tried to be cheerful, but there was no answer. “What? You’re not talking to me now?” There was still no movement. “Really, Ben?”
Finally the keys slowly started to depress.
Hurts
“Hurts?” Elliot was puzzled. “You’re a ghost. What can possibly hurt?” Elliot didn’t mean to be hateful, but he realized the second it was out that it did kind of sound that way.
Ben didn’t seem to mind, though, or at least he didn’t address it. He simply answered the question.
C u with him
“Text speak?” Elliot was curious but also avoiding the topic of Daniel. Maybe. Just a little. “How do you know that?”
teenagers
Oh yeah. Ben had said he picked up a lot of stuff by watching the teens. Elliot could go off on that topic—what were the teenagers like? What else had Ben seen them do? Did Ben know how to operate cell phones? Did he play video games?
But Elliot wasn’t that much of a dick. Ben seemed to want to explain why he was angry around Daniel, so Elliot changed the topic back to that. “Seeing me with Daniel hurts you?” Elliot scrunched up his face. “Why?”