I stretch my legs out on the grass, barefoot and enjoying the brisk temperature. There are little signs everywhere that fall is coming. A very slight crispiness to the leaves of deciduous trees, a chilly bite to the air at night, cooler days. Spring is my favorite, but I’ve always liked fall, too. Now I can wear my flannels without people staring at me like I’m a man on a quest to have a heat stroke.

It’s dusk, and the sun is leaving its last red smudges on the rooftops surrounding Kent’s house. A few stray fireflies are drifting around in the trees, and the plants in the backyard are brushing together in the breeze to play out a collective, whispering song.

The only other sound is the muffled thunk of the soccer ball being kicked around. They’ve been going at it for a while, now. I don’t go in much for sports, but I definitely like watching Aiden play. He does a sudden, speedy little move around Gabby’s side, kicking the ball between her legs. Darting around her back, he snags it again, then passes it to Noah, who somehow knocks it out of the air on his sneaker. Gabby groans as Noah backs up, working the ball between his feet and grinning.

“Yes!” he shouts, punching two tattooed fists into the air. “Jesus! We finally got one around her.”

“You’re a fucking machine, Gabby,” Aiden says, red-cheeked and smiling. “Two versus one and yet Noah and I are dying, here.”

“Aren’t we still tied?” she asks, panting, her hands on her hips. “Scorekeepers? Kent? Jamie?”

“What? Oh.” Kent, who had been watching Gabby run around with a vacant, dreamy expression on his face, seems to snap back to reality. “Oh, the score was, uh-”

“Jamie?” Gabby twists to look at me, sweat dripping down her temple.

“Um, I’m sorry, but there are no goals. Or are they called nets? What constitutes a score, in this situation?”

“You two are utterly useless,” Gabby laughs, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand. Aiden looks as out of breath as she does; his hair is sticking up at crazy angles, and I just want to dig my hands into it and pull him down next to me.

Gabby catches the ball when Noah tosses it to her.

“This is sad,” he groans, flopping down on the grass next to Kent. “You know that Aiden and I were on the soccer team in high school, Gabby? We should be doing better than this.”

“I was, too.” Gabby drops to sit cross-legged on Kent’s other side. “Only for one year, though.”

“Really?” Noah’s eyebrows lift. “I didn’t think we had a girl’s team.”

Aiden sits down at my side, and now we’re a little circle of people sitting on the lawn, one soccer ball in the middle.

“Seriously, there’s still no girls team?” Gabby asks, frowning. “Wow. I’ll have to add that to the agenda for the next education meeting.”

Noah looks a little confused, but he doesn’t say anything. He only met Gabby a few hours ago, when he turned up on Aiden’s porch saying something about how he was bored, and Raj was busy, and what were we up to?

“Kent?” Aiden says, glancing over at him. “You up for a round?”

“Nah, I’m good right here.” Kent folds an arm around Gabby’s shoulders.

“Wait, I’m all sweaty-” she protests, and then breaks off into a smile as Kent plants a kiss on her cheek anyways.

“Are you staying for dinner?” he asks, giving her ponytail an affectionate tug.

“Not tonight.” She tips her head to rest against his shoulder. “Full day of meetings tomorrow, sadly. I need to get home and start preparing.”

“What about you guys?” Kent asks. “Noah?”

“I should be getting back, actually. Thanks, though.” Noah climbs to his feet, brushing off his hands. “Raj should be back soon. I think we’re gonna get a pizza and take a crack at that busted-ass transformer.”

“How is it, staying with Raj?” I ask, tilting my head back to look up at Noah. One of those bright smiles races across his face again before his expression falls neutral. He shrugs.

“It’s fine. Whatever.” He lets his hair down, a dark tumble that falls to his shoulders. The bruises on his face are pretty light now, almost gone, but I guess he’s still bothered about people seeing them. “Kent, Gabby, nice to meet you guys.”

“We’re on for a rematch!” Gabby tells him. “And next time, we’re keeping proper score!”

“That sounds potentially humiliating,” Aiden laughs. Noah grins and turns to face the house.

“Sorry, how do I get out of here, again? Through the kitchen?”

“I’ll walk you out.” Kent releases Gabby’s shoulders and climbs to his feet. We watch them head through the back door.

“What have you two been up to?” Gabby asks, stretching her arms over her head. “I swear Aiden has been racing out of work the moment the clock hits five, lately.”

“Oh.” Aiden hesitates. “We’re working on a - project. It’s hard to explain.”

The goddamn glasses! Why can’t we get them to work? Although… I look over at Gabby. She is the undisputed master of big projects. Maybe she’ll have some guidance for us.

“We have a deadline coming up in like, two days,” I tell her. “And we still haven’t found a way to make anything work.”

Aiden can clearly see where I’m going with this, and apparently he also thinks that we could use some advice, because he adds:

“We’ve literally been trying over and over again, always getting the same results.”

“Well - what are you changing, each time?” Gabby asks, lifting an eyebrow.

Aiden and I exchange a glance.

“Nothing?” I answer, with a shrug. “We just thought that practice would get us there.”

“Is that working?”

“Sort of,” Aiden says, adjusting one of his kneepads. “We’re inching forward, but too slowly.”

“Practice always helps.” Gabby stretches out her legs and crosses them at the ankle, adjusting her turquoise workout top. “Sometimes that’s all you need. But, if you’re doing the same thing over and over, not changing anything and not seeing any progress... That usually means it’s time to try something new. I think that you two need to start thinking outside of the box. I bet the answer is right in front of you.”

Aiden and I look at each other thoughtfully, and Gabby hops up onto her feet.

“Headed out?” Aiden asks.

“Si. Like I said, my to-do list is long tonight.” She reaches down and puts one hand on my head, the other on Aiden’s. “Good luck with your project. You always have my number, if it’s something I can help with.”

“You think she’s right?” I ask Aiden, after Gabby disappears into the house. “About the glasses? Are we fucking up, just trying the same thing over and over?”

“Maybe…?” His brow furrows. “I don’t know, though. Practice is working for the, um. Other thing.” He smiles over at me, and I match it, thinking about yesterday, when we didn’t destroy anything until Aiden’s fingers found the zipper of my jeans. Sweet, sweet progress.

“Speaking of which,” I answer, scooching a little closer to him on the grass. “Should we go upstairs, or…?”

He laughs and rocks up onto his feet, extending a hand to help me up. He doesn’t drop my fingers, and we cross the yard hand in hand.

“Hang on, just let me get these off, they’re a mess.” Aiden stops in front of the stairs and puts one foot up on the second step, bending over to untie his shoelaces. I freeze behind him, watching as the fabric of his soccer shorts pulls tight and strains around the muscle beneath. My face heats up, and I can tell that a bright red blush is spreading across my cheeks.

My idiot brain decides that it would be hilarious if I gave him a hard smack right on the ass, and my body gives it the okay before I can stop myself. He yelps and turns, blue eyes wide. For one terrible second, I think he’s going to be mad, but then he lunges forward with a devilish grin on his face. I let out a shout of surprise as he scoops me off the ground and slings me right over his shoulder. I can feel his laughter rumbling through me, getting louder as I struggle uselessly to escape. He jogs up the stairs with me still hanging there, my face bumping against his lower back. I breathe in the scent of him, grassy and salty with sweat, the faintest tone of his aftershave mixed in.

He ignores my scrambling hands and shouted objections, keeping me firmly on his shoulder until he slides open the glass door and steps inside. I find myself tossed roughly onto the couch, and I land on my butt with a bounce, gasping.

Aiden drops to his knees in front of me and pushes my shirt up. I let my legs fall open to make space for him, burying my hands in his sweaty hair as he starts nibbling and licking his way up my stomach. I drop my head back, close my eyes and savor the feeling of his breathless kisses finding their way up my body. A shiver runs through me as he starts making his way back down, towards the waistband of my jeans. I feel him undo the button, the zipper, not letting up with his mouth for even a moment.

“Um,” I stammer, holding his hair so tightly that I’m surprised he hasn’t stopped me - “Are you gonna-?”

“Well, you know.” His words vibrate against the sensitive skin just above my boxers, sending waves of goosebumps rippling through me. “I've already got the kneepads on.”

“Aiden!” I laugh. He hooks his fingers into the elastic of my boxers and gently starts to pull them down, his mouth following, slowly, inch by inch, teasing - “Aiden.” His name slips past my clenched teeth, riding a heavy exhale.

My boxers and jeans are now so low on my hips that if he drags them down any farther, they're basically going to be off.

He stops. I look down and find him staring up at me, all burning blue eyes and messed up chestnut hair and unguarded smile, and if I was the one who had to control my energy, this entire building would explode right at this moment.

Aiden must feel the same way, because the second I catch and hold his eyes with mine, the entire mirror resting on his desk splinters, cracks, and falls apart.

“No,” Aiden groans, dropping his forehead to rest on my stomach. “Come on.”

“I’m going to die,” I tell him, pressing my palms into my eyes and slumping down on the couch. He zips up my pants for me and redoes the button, scowling like it’s the worst thing he’s ever had to do.

“I’m going to take a shower.” He gets up and slides the kneepads off - goddamnit, goddamn everything about this situation - “Like, a really cold shower.”

I stretch out on his bed and wait for him, reading off a mental list of unsexy things, trying to calm down: parking tickets and sad songs and inventory day and would Aiden be cool with it if I straight up just got in the shower with him?

Come on, Jamie, focus.

I’ve only just gotten myself back to normal by the time he emerges from the shower, his damp hair wetting the collar of his shirt. He climbs straight into bed with me, smelling like body wash, but with a little of the grassy scent still clinging to him. I move to make room for him, and he catches me, pulls me back up against his side.

“Thank you, Jamie,” he says.

“You’re welcome,” I answer automatically, nuzzling my nose into his neck. “Wait, sorry, for what?”

“Being patient.”

“Oh. Don’t thank me for that. You’re being patient, too.”

“This has never been a problem before,” Aiden groans, rolling onto his back. He tips his head to the side to look at me. “You make me crazy, you know that? This is your fault.”

“My fault!”

“Yes!”

“Um! I think if anything the blame falls on both of us?”

“Nope. All your fault. This has never even happened to me before during sex. I can’t get past kissing you without breaking everything.”

“I mean-” I spread a hand on his stomach. “We’ve made it a little farther than kissing, that’s for sure. At least in this we’re definitely making progress. Can’t say the same for the glasses.”

“The glasses,” Aiden mutters, frowning. “They’re just too small. Even with you absorbing all that energy, I can’t get it to fit in a vessel that size.”

I can hear the frustration in his voice. I trace my fingers in small, tight circles on his chest.

“Why don’t we take a night off? We’ve been at the Ghost Office every night since Noah moved out, maybe you just need a break. Start fresh tomorrow.”

“Mmm.” Aiden hesitates. “Won’t Kasey be mad?”

“I don’t think she’d begrudge us one night off.”

“I don’t know…”

“Aiden, take it from me. A little relaxation goes a long way. You need time to recharge.” I sit up in the bed and pull my phone out of my pocket. “Do you have a speaker?”

I sync up my phone to the old speaker Aiden digs out of a drawer and press play. Peaceful music starts drifting out. Aiden sits back down on the bed, listening to the first lyrics of the song.

I couldn't utter my love when it counted… Ah, but I'm singing like a bird 'bout it now...

“I like this,” he says, his head cocked to the side.

“Yeah?” A little rush of pleasure warms my stomach. “You said that you like soft music, since it’s always loud in your head, so. I made you a playlist, tried to channel that vibe and mesh it with stuff I like. There’s a lot of Hozier.”

Aiden stares at me.

“You made a playlist for me?”

I hesitate, unsure. He has no idea how carefully I put it together, each song a very deliberate choice. I do my best to sound casual.

“Is that weird, if I did?”

He smiles so widely that it rounds out his cheeks, and reaches up to pull me down onto his lap.

“I don’t know,” he says, closing his arms around my waist. I wrap mine around his neck, stroking his hair. “But I’m not complaining.”

“You wanna… listen to it and make out for as long as we can before you have to replace every dish in your cabinets?”

“Kasey’s going to kill us,” he says, as I push him flat on the bed.

“No. We’re going to chill out for one night, then we’re going to figure out the glasses, then we’re going to rescue William, and then he and Kasey can start a ghost family and have ghost babies.”

“I’m not sure if it works like that,” Aiden laughs, and even though I love that sound more than anything, I cut it off with my mouth.

~~~~

Me 10:10 PM: Ghost Office after you’re done with work tomorrow? ❤️

Companion Plant 🍃 10:10 PM: Sounds good. 😊

Me 10:11 PM: What are you up to?

Companion Plant 🍃 10:11 PM: Oh, nothing. Just trying to decode this playlist you made me.

Me 10:11 PM: Decode it? What do you mean?

Companion Plant 🍃 10:11 PM: Feels like these song choices are very intentional. I notice it starts out very sweet and ends with a song that’s pretty sexual.

Me 10:11 PM: That is a Kid Cudi song and it’s very popular, no need to read into it

Companion Plant 🍃 10:11 PM: I also see that the song called ‘Butterscotch Skin’ is right after one called ‘Ocean Eyes’.

Me 10:12 PM: Total coincidence

Companion Plant 🍃 10:12 PM: Oh yeah?

Companion Plant 🍃 10:12 PM: Seriously, how long did you spend making this?

Me 10:12 PM: Five minutes idk

Companion Plant 🍃 10:13 PM: You literally can’t even lie in texts.

Companion Plant 🍃 10:13 PM: I really love it, Jamie. Thanks for making it.

Me 10:13 PM: ❤️

Me 10:13 PM: We can sad-listen to it tomorrow if we don’t get the glasses working!

Companion Plant 🍃 10:14 PM: No, I think you were right earlier. I have a feeling we’ll make it happen. Might just be in a good mood because of the playlist, but I’m feeling positive.

Companion Plant 🍃 10:14 PM: Tomorrow is going to be a good day.