“Nothing’swrong,” she insisted, not quite meeting my eye and keeping her gazepinned on something behind me.
“Lemmetell you somethin’ about me,” I said. “I’m a horrible liar. And what’s funnyabout that is, even though I know I suck, I’ve still been doin’ it most of mylife, ever since I was a kid. Except with you,” I went on, poking her in theshoulder. Her lips curled into an apprehensive smile. “I have never lied toyou, about anything. Not even about the stuff that maybe a sane guy would’velied about. So, all I’m askin’, is that you return the favor. All right?”
Shenodded gently. “All right.”
“So,tell me what’s goin’ on.”
“I… I wanted to invite you and your dad to my parents’ house for the Fourth ofJuly. So that you can meet my family.”
Nodding,I crossed my arms over my chest. “You’re nervous about me meeting your family?”
“Alittle,” she said. “Yeah.”
Ilet the invitation and her confession settle for a moment before nodding. “I’mnervous about that, too. But you know what?”
“What?”
“I’mnot gonna worry about it. And do you know why?”
Shewrapped her arms around my waist with a sigh, and I sighed back at the weightof her head pressed to my chest. “Why?”
“Becausewith all the other shit goin’ on in my life, this is the one thing making mehappy and keeping me away from doin’ shit I shouldn’t be doin’. And I’m notgonna let anything get in the way of that right now.”
Shehesitated before asking, “So, you’ll come?”
“Yeah,”I replied. “We’ll come.”
“Thetrain to Babylon has arrived on Track Thirteen.” We both looked up at thesound of the announcement. She unwound her arms from my waist and stood on hertoes to kiss my lips. I resisted the overwhelming urge to request that she notleave, to ask her to come back to my place and stay the night. It felt soridiculous now, for her to go back to Long Island every damn day, when she’djust be back in the city the next morning. But the unspoken agreement hadseemed to be that we were taking our time, and I was going to respect that.
Andyhoisted her bag up onto her shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Inodded. “You know it.”
Then,I watched her leave, keeping her eyes on the ground the way she always did. Shedisappeared through the door, and I imagined her descent on the metalstaircase. I wondered what her house looked like, how big her bed was, and whenI’d finally get to know what it was like to sleep with her. I wondered how muchher family knew about me, if they’d treat me like shit, and if she’d allowtheir feelings to affect our relationship. And then, as I left Penn and feltthe first drop of rain hit my shoulder, I wondered how it was a junkie like mecould get so lucky with a good girl like her.
CHAPTERELEVEN
ANDREA
“Wouldyou stop looking at me like that?” I scolded Jamie, as I dug a pair of shortsfrom my dresser drawer. “It's just a barbeque. I don't need to dress to thenines for a freakin' barbeque.”
Jamieplanted her fists firmly at her hips and cocked her head, pursing her lips androlling her eyes. She didn't need to speak for her attitude to still comeacross loud and clear. And even though I had insisted it wasn't, I knew she wasright; this was a lot more than just a barbeque.
Ihad now been seeing Vinnie for a little over a month. The days and weeks hadbeen filled with pizza and wings, walks to the train station, and the sweetestkisses any chance we got. It was pretty safe to say that I was swooning andenjoying every second of it. But now he was coming to Long Island with hisfather to meet my family, and what had initially felt like an innocent thingsuddenly seemed serious.
Andhe still didn’t know my closest friend was the ghost of a child.
Hell,he didn’t know I could see ghosts, period.
“Whatdo you think of this shirt?” I held up a flowy black top, and Jamie wrinkledher nose. “Seriously? It’s nice!”
Jamieshook her head and walked to my closet. In my experience, the dead can’tinteract with physical objects, so she simply pointed at a pink, floral tanktop. I plucked it from the rack and held it up, nodding my approval.
“Okay,”I said, and Jamie turned around, allowing me to get dressed without her deep,brown eyes watching.
“Youknow,” I began, as I pulled my pajama shirt over my head and grabbed for mybra, “you should come downstairs today and check him out.”
Shecrossed her arms and shook her head.
