“Honestly,” Kasey says, shaking her head at me and Aiden. “Why is it that the simplest things always end up devolving into a complete fucking fiasco when you two get involved? You walked in there to just write down a statement on a piece of paper, and somehow it turned into a situation where we were extremely lucky that the security cameras happened to get destroyed.”
Will lets out a soft chuckle, then quickly presses his hand over his mouth when Kasey twists around to arch an eyebrow at him.
Up in the front of the car, Aiden and I wince at each other, realizing that Kasey has a point. Not that we’re about to admit that to her.
“You know what?” I say, twisting around in the driver’s seat, “That’s some very negative energy you’ve got going right now, Kasey.”
“Yeah, and I would know,” Aiden adds. “I can hear it. Sounds so bad.”
“Oh, my god,” Kasey laugh-groans, rubbing her fingers in tight circles on her temples. “I’m gonna kill both of you. I’ve just decided. Will is officially the only man I need in my life.”
Will absolutely beams at her, then turns to grin at me and Aiden, as if to make sure we heard that.
“Alright, why don’t we look at the bright side?” I ask, scrambling to think of one. “We learned more about the thief, didn’t we? I mean - yes, the last copy of the case file is gone forever, and the thief figured out that we’re the ones who started all this, and-”
“Jamie.” Aiden reaches across the console and presses a finger over my lips. “This list of real bad outcomes isn’t helping our argument.”
I push Aiden’s hand away from my mouth and forge ahead.
“My point is, the thief would have stolen the case file regardless of whether or not we were there. At least we know what really happened to it. That’s more than we can say for Callejo. We’re a step ahead of the police. A few steps ahead, really, because now we know what the thief looks like - we’ve talked to her!”
“That’s true.” Kasey sits back, chewing her lip thoughtfully. “We lost some information, but we gained some information.”
“Look,” Aiden cuts in, “I agree that we need to regroup and discuss this, but are we gonna sit in the car, or can we actually go into the restaurant? That was incredibly stressful, and I’m fucking starving.”
“Yeah, me too.” I take the keys from the ignition and slip them into my jacket pocket. “You guys have been ghosts for too long. You’re forgetting about food.”
“Yeah, right,” Kasey groans. “I could never forget about food.”
“Me, either,” Will pins on. “And I regret that there are so many foods I never got to try. Things that weren’t around when I lived.”
Kasey looks at him with curiosity in her dark eyes. “Like what?”
“Potato chips,” he says. “Donuts. Chocolate chip cookies.”
“What?” I twist around in my seat again, staring at Will with wide eyes. “Are you fucking serious?”
Aiden gives me a knowing look. “You’re upset about the cookie thing, aren’t y-?”
“You never got to try a chocolate chip cookie, Will?” I ask, pressing a hand over my heart. “Okay, that’s tragic.”
“Is that what’s most tragic about my life?” Will laughs. “I never realized how profoundly I’ve missed out.”
“Aiden, can we make a ghost cookie after we make the ghost battery?”
“Oh, my god, Jamie. Maybe. I don’t know. I can’t think, because I’m starving to death.”
Kasey takes Will’s hand, then gives us a wave. “See you guys in there!”
They disappear together.
I meet Aiden at the hood of my car, lace my fingers through his. Snowflakes drift down around us, landing with cotton softness, glittering on the boughs of the pine trees that line the parking lot. We set off towards the neon lights of the restaurant, our breaths puffing on the icy air.
I took us to the diner on the edge of town, where Raj and I had our conversation about Noah. The team needs somewhere to talk in relative privacy, and this place is small, quiet, remote.
I open the door to a rush of warmth, the smell of coffee and pancakes. A Simon & Garfunkel song plays softly as Aiden and I dust the snow out of our hair.
We head to a booth in the back, and I take the opportunity to look around. As I’d hoped, there are very few other people here.
A waiter with tired eyes shambles over to our booth, takes our order. He goes back into the kitchen just as Kasey and Will come walking out of it.
“Overshot it a little,” Kasey laughs, dropping into the booth next to Aiden. “Will is still figuring out how to transport both of us at the same time.”
“I’m getting better!”
Will slides into the booth next to me, then pauses. He looks around at the diner, a complicated expression on his face.
“You okay?” Kasey asks, reaching over to poke his arm.
“Yes, I just…” The soft lilt of his voice is almost hard to hear over the music, and we all lean towards him. “I spent a great deal of time in restaurants and cafes when I was incorporeal. I could pretend that I was there with someone, or that I was only unseen because I was one of a crowd. But now... I was invited, and you actually know that I am here.”
Will’s roaming eyes come back to us, and he blinks when he sees everyone looking at him. His gaze immediately drops to the Formica tabletop, but he smiles.
“We’re here together,” he says. “It feels different.”
Kasey smiles at Will across the table, her eyes glowing with affection. She folds her hand into his, and he traces his thumb over her knuckles.
“We’re glad that you’re here, Will,” Aiden says warmly.
Will flashes him a smile, and a realization strikes me.
“Oh - Will! This is your first double date, man!”
“Is it?” He looks at me with bright curiosity in his eyes. “That’s nice! Or - is it? What’s that?”
“Okay, hang on,” Kasey interrupts. “Let’s stay focused.”
“Yeah, good idea,” Aiden says, then turns to me. “Jamie.”
“Yes?”
“What the fuck happened?”
I launch into an explanation of what the others missed. The rushed words I exchanged with the thief, the pre-destroyed file she left for Callejo, the discovery that the cops have already made several wrong assumptions about her.
“That’s good news,” Kasey puts in. “The cops are looking for a young man. That should set them back, give us a chance to find her before they do. If they do. It sounds like she’s got her shit together, so maybe not.”
“Did she seem dangerous, Jamie?” Will asks.
“I mean - Aiden didn’t hear me in any danger. Right, Aiden?”
He gives me a skeptical look. “You honestly think I would have left you in there alone if I heard you in danger?”
“But this does not quite add up,” Will says, blonde eyebrows furrowed. “The thief is far too young to have been involved in the murder of John Botswick.”
“Right,” Kasey answers slowly, “But based on what she said to Jamie, it sounds like she has some kind of personal stake in this. She can’t be the murderer, so - who is she, and why is she working so hard to keep this covered up?”
“Kasey, do we think-?” Aiden begins, then breaks off abruptly.
Our waiter has arrived with our food, and he definitely just saw Aiden talking to an empty space in the booth. Kasey is in that space, but the waiter doesn’t know that. He’s standing there with one eyebrow arched, his tired eyes narrowed at Aiden.
“I was just, um.” Aiden’s cheeks start to color as he struggles for an explanation. “We-”
“We’ve got some ghosts following us around,” I jump in, and Aiden immediately drops his face into his hands.
The waiter nods, like he gets it.
“Don’t we all, brother,” he sighs.
He sets down our plates on the table, and heads back for the counter.
“Oh, man,” I say, watching him go. “Someone’s having a rough night. Let’s make sure to leave a nice tip, right?”
“Jesus!” Aiden says, astounded. “Why have I been bothering to hide my magic all this time? Apparently I could have just been walking around telling people, and no one would have noticed.”
“I doubt that very much, Aiden,” Will chuckles.
“Yeah, ghosts are one thing, but Guardians are another,” I tell him. “You’d be the most famous person in Ketterbridge, possibly in the world. You’d be like - Kasey, gimme a famous bi guy from history?”
“Mmm.” She thinks it over, pressing a finger to her lip. “Caravaggio? One of the most famous painters of all time. World-class artist, world-class bisexual.”
“World-class bisexual?” Aiden laughs. “Wow. I hope that’s how I’m remembered, one day. Jamie, make sure that goes on my tombstone.”
“You got it, babe.”
“I don’t know if Caravaggio is the one you want to look up to, Aiden,” Kasey says apologetically. “He was a great painter, yes, but he also got himself arrested a whole lot. Went to trial eleven times.”
I stop halfway through reaching for my sandwich, staring at Kasey.
“Arrested - for being with other men? Fuck that!”
“No,” she answers. “Mostly for writing libelous poetry and attacking people with swords.”
“Oh,” I say, as Aiden and Will both burst into laughter.
“Wow, I do look up to him.” Aiden says, barely holding it together. “I haven’t been living my best bisexual life. I can count on one hand the number of people I’ve attacked with a sword.”
“Once Caravaggio was arrested for throwing a plate of artichokes at a waiter,” Kasey informs Aiden.
“Okay, now that I absolutely wouldn’t do.”
“And he did straight-up murder a man, so.”
“Yeah, I’m on the fence about that one, as well.”
“Oh my god, shut up!” Kasey laughs, swatting a hand at Aiden across the table. “Can we please get back on task?”
“Can we?” Will asks, folding his burly arms over his chest. “Where do we go from here? We’ve lost the thief, and all extant copies of the case file.”
“That’s true,” Kasey murmurs, lapsing back into thought. “We need a new approach.”
No one answers her, so she glances up at us. Then she draws back sharply, realizing that we're all staring at her, waiting for her to tell us what to do.
“Well - gimme a minute, guys, goddamn! I’ve got to think.”
“Sorry, Kase-face, it’s just - you’re always five steps ahead of us.”
“Fair enough, but we’ve got a lot of questions to answer, this time!”
“Any ideas on which one to tackle first?” Will asks.
Kasey nods, the gears turning in her head.
“Yes,” she says. “If the thief is too young to have been involved in the murder, then… who is she protecting?”
~~~~
Kasey and Will disappear towards the end of dinner, leaving me in the booth with Aiden. I watch him across the table, my chin resting on my palm. I love these moments of respite I get to have with him. No case, no chaos, just us. I may be the so-called Energizer Bunny in this relationship, but I need his calming presence, the sense of safety that comes with it.
I think of how humans and plants breathe out what the other needs. Carbon dioxide and oxygen, a natural giving and taking, a back and forth, balance. That’s how I feel, alone with Aiden. The remaining stress from today rolls off of my shoulders like a retreating wave. The thoughts spinning around in my mind begin to slow down. I take a deep breath, and feel no need to rush it.
Thank you, Companion Plant.
I find myself just looking at Aiden as he speaks, absorbing the rumbling bass of his deep voice.
The neon lights from the diner’s sign are spilling through the nearby window, falling across Aiden’s neck and shoulders, catching on his face. Soft, colorful light, painting him. His broad shoulders are drooping slightly with exhaustion, his glossy chestnut hair uncombed by the earlier rush of activity.
His blue eyes are gazing out at me from behind the glasses. I gaze back at them.
Those eyes, the place where I always find my strength, my gravity. The perfect contradictions within them. The way they’re thoughtful and meditative, but also dreamy, sweet, open. Glinting like jewels in the neon light.
His elbows are resting on the tabletop. One massive hand is absently toying with a straw wrapper. The other is resting on the middle of the table, halfway to me. Without thinking, I reach out and take it.
He stops talking, glances down at our interwoven fingers. His hand closes around mine, and his gaze lifts back to my face.
“Are you hearing what I’m saying, Jamie?”
“No. Or - I mean - what? Yeah, of course I am!” I let him go and sit upright, my face immediately starting to burn. “You said, um - sorry, you just look - I was - looking, and-”
Mortified, I cut myself off, and Aiden huffs out a warm, deep laugh that makes my toes curl in my Converse.
Relieved that he’s not mad, I get up and join him on his side of the booth, snuggle up against him.
“Yeah, yeah.” Aiden wraps his arm around me, the warmth of his rounded bicep against the nape of my neck. “Try and be cute to get out of this, why don’t you?”
“I’m sorry!” I twist the ring on my finger, embarrassed. “And that’s not even what I’m doing, I just - wanted to be closer.”
Aiden’s teasing expression falls away. He smiles down at me, uses his arm around my shoulders to pull me in for a forehead kiss.
His phone chimes softly on the table. He picks it up, yawning.
“Oh, sweet. I just got paid.”
“Is there any sound sweeter than the direct deposit notification?” I ask, stretching my legs out beneath the table.
Aiden ruffles my hair affectionately. “Yeah, I can think of one.”
I roll my eyes and start to turn away - mostly so that Aiden doesn’t see the blush in my cheeks growing darker - but then I catch a glimpse of what he’s doing on his phone. I stop, staring.
Aiden is transferring almost his entire paycheck into his savings account. With what’s left, he can probably only afford rent, coffee, and food. Nothing else.
“What are you doing, man?” I ask.
Aiden looks up at me, confused by the question.
“What do you mean, what am I-? Oh, right.” He taps a finger to his temple, nods at me. “We have a date on Wednesday, don’t we?”
He adjusts the number he’d put in, leaving just enough more in his checking account to pay for our upcoming date. Then he transfers all the rest into his savings and slips his phone back into his pocket.
“You ready to get going?” he asks, giving my arm a little squeeze.
“You’re such a frugal one,” I tell him, getting to my feet. “Or are you saving up for a bunch of swords, so you can go full Caravaggio?”
“Sounds to me like no one should go full Caravaggio,” Aiden laughs, tossing me my jacket.
We leave our beleaguered waiter a nice tip, then step out into the darkness. As soon as we’re outside, Aiden settles his arm around my shoulders again.
“What were you saying, before?” I ask, as we come to a stop before my car. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear any of it.”
“I was just saying that this has been a really long, hectic day. I’m so worn out.”
“Mmm, I’m sorry.” I pull my keys out of my pocket, make a sympathetic face at Aiden. “Anything I can do to make it better?”
Aiden traces a fingertip along my jaw, bends to nuzzle his nose into mine.
“You could come sleep at my place,” he says. “That would make today a very good day.”
He sees the answer in my eyes, smiles, and taps my nose. He takes the keys from my hands, then nudges me in the direction of the passenger’s side.
I stand there for a moment, my love for Aiden swelling, spreading, lifting me up like wings.
The heights of loving him are so high. Sometimes it’s all I can do to land gently, on my way back to earth.
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