"Okay, you can do this." Carol breathed in a deep sigh as he fixed his glasses up against his face. He smoothed back his short hair and smiled. "Liulu, would you go on a date with me tomorrow night?" His smile turned into a sulk as he stared blankly into his mirror. "Who am I kidding, she's going to say no for sure."
"Who's going to say no?" Carol gulped as he turned around quickly to see Lauren smiling at him. He felt his face redden with embarrassment as he fixed his circular framed glasses.
"N-no one!" He grumbled crossing his arms. "You shouldn't sneak up on someone like that." The ghost smiled and shrugged before walking closer to the man.
"I didn't know you were doing anything important..." He fixed his glasses and gave him a smile. "So what are you trying to do?" Carol frowned before glancing down at the floor.
"Nothing ok..." he grumbled annoyed. It didn't help the fact that he knew Lauren wasn't going to take this as an answer.
"Aw, come on Carol. What were you doing?" The man sighed and looked at the floor feeling embarrassed. He shrugged shoving his hands in his pockets.
"W-well, I was trying to go um...trying to see if I could ask Liulu out on a date tomorrow." He grumbled rather quiet. He watched Lauren's smile fade a moment before turning into a wide grin.
"Reeally now?" The ghost laughed and held his hand to his lips. Carol glared at him and clenched his fists.
"What's so funny?" he asked in a low grumble. Lauren raised his eyebrow as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Have you ever asked a girl out before?" Carol's face turned red as he glared Lauren down.
"Y-yes!" he growled remembering a couple of rejections he had received by girls he'd asked out. Each one ended the same. Shame as his emotion as the girl laughed in his face. He quickly pushed the ghost out of his way as he headed for the door. "Oh forget it. she'd probably say no anyway."
"Wa-Wait! Carol!" Lauren grabbed a hold of the man's arm making him stop in his tracks. "hang on! Don't give up so easily." Lauren said as he chuckled. Carol jerked his arm from the ghost and turned around to give him a suspicious glare.
"Says the guy who laughed in my face."
"I'm sorry." The ghost smiled his usual "forgive me?" smile. Carol couldn't help but smile at him. "Why don't you ask me out?"
"What?" Carol felt his face get hot as he shook his head. "What the hell, you fag!" Lauren quickly threw up his hands laughing nervously.
"Hold on, you didn't let me explain." Lauren fixed his glasses still chuckling at Carol's expression. "Pretend I'm Liulu...Let's see how prepared you are at asking someone out." Carol twisted his face into a frown wondering if this this was worth it. He let out a soft sigh and shrugged.
"Why not..." He cleared his throat and brushed a hand through his hair. "Okay...La...I mean Liulu." Looking up to Lauren, he glared harshly at the ridiculous grin the ghost was making.
"Yes Carol?" The ghost batted his eyes at him which both disturbed and annoyed him. Carol tried to ignore it and carry on.
"W-Will you go out with me-"
"I can't hear you, Carol. Whaatts that?" Lauren snickered as he held his hand up to his ear. Carol growled at him.
"Will you GO OUT with me tomorrow night?" He asked much louder than he wanted to. Lauren's snicker got louder as well.
"Out where?"
"This is fucking ridiculous! Liulu doesn't act like that, Lauren!" He yelled wanting to punch the ghost in his face. Lauren smiled and shrugged.
"Hey, I was just asking. I mean I wouldn't wanna go out with someone if I didn't know where we were going."
"The movies...Let's go out to the movies." The ghost rolled his eyes.
"Naaah, there are no good movies playing." He said crossing his arms. Carol sighed.
"Stop it! You're supposed to be helping me!" He growled. Sighing, he turned back around. "Just forget it. This isn't working." Lauren's smile faded.
"Wait...I'm sorry." He smiled as Carol turned back around. "It's just fun watching you get annoyed. You know, most girls would think that you're cute when you get angry." Carol raised an eyebrow at him.
"That's kinda gay." he replied watching the smile on Lauren's face widen.
"I'll do this right. But why don't you ask her more confidently. Girl's don't like it when a guy can't be confident."
Carol frowned. "How do you know this?" The ghost shrugged as he held out his hands.
"I was watching television or something. C'mon be confident." Carol let out a soft sigh and pushed his glasses against his face.
"Okay, Liulu..." He smiled softly before giving his most confident stance. "You wanna go out with me tomorrow?" The confident tone in his voice began to fade as he finished his sentence. Suddenly the ghost jumped at him giving him a tight hug.
"I'D LOVE TO, CAROL!" Carol stiffened up feeling his face turn bright red. He gulped and glared at the man.
"Let go of me, now." He growled trying his best to struggle from Lauren's embrace. The ghost laughed as he let him go.
"So, what time are you picking me up?" he joked.
"Eight." Carol grumbled. Lauren's sudden expression of worry startled him. "Bad time?" The ghost's face twisted into a slight smile as he shook his head.
"N-no. I was just thinking...Are you ready for a date just yet? We should have a practice date." Carol frowned before shaking his head. This was just becoming weird.
"I don't think so. I think I'll do alright." he said turning around. "Thanks for the help I guess, and for the offer. I'm going to go ask Liulu out now." He began to walk towards the door, reaching for the knob when he suddenly heard a soft sigh.
"Well, what if you're sitting at dinner and suddenly you have nothing to talk about. Or what if you accidently take her to a bad restaurant and order something that doesn't settle right with you. Don't you want to know what to do if a guy suddenly decided that he liked Liulu at the theaters?" Lauren carried on into the conversation getting more dramatic as the theories of bad dates continued. Carol felt a knot in his throat as the images of Lauren's theories were forced into his skull. "And if she wanted to go to a carnival, are you sure you'd be able to win her a stuffed animal? What if she pukes on you on a ride? Are you able to control that gagging panic that comes with vomit? Are you Carol?" Lauren asked getting a little upset as he said this. "And what if she turns out to be some weird chick who likes to wear some kind of strange bondage when you're-"
"Aaaauh! Okay! Okay Lauren that's enough!" Carol flashed a glare at the man who was grinning wide at him. "You win. Alright...We'll go on a friggin' date." Lauren grinned and clapped his hands together.
"This is going to be great! I've wanted to go out somewhere! It's tiring being stuck in here!"
"NO!" Carol yelled loudly stopping the ghost from speaking. "We're having it in here. It's bad enough that I TALK to you in public. I'm NOT going to dinner and a movie with you." He growled seeing the mental image of how their date would look to others. A guy just sitting alone in a fancy restaurant talking with himself in a suit.
"Aw...Okay." Lauren sighed before placing a hand to his chin. "It'll give me time to help you prepare yourself anyway!" Carol was surprised that the ghost had given up that easily. Though he really wasn't complaining. It was nice not letting Lauren have his way for a change.
"So what are we doing?" He asked feeling his little victory fade.
"Well, you're going to cook since it's more romantic. Make sure she's not allergic to anything because that would be a disaster date. Spaghetti is always good I guess...if you watched that old dog Disney movie." Carol felt a little ashamed at the fact that he knew what Lauren was talking about. He shrugged it off tuning back into Lauren's conversation. He only heard the end of a sentence. "So she won't be weirded out or anything." He could've kicked himself for not listening. That sounded like it was kind of important. "Well anyway, I'm going to go make that chart now. Call me when dinner is done!" Lauren then ran off leaving the man alone with his thoughts.
"Why do I not have a good feeling about this?" Carol asked feeling sick. He let out a sigh and shook his head clean of any disturbing thoughts. For some reason he couldn't shake away the feeling that Lauren was getting too much enjoyment from this. He tried to ignore it and walked out the door and down the hall towards the kitchen. It wasn't like it should be anything fancy. "Not spaghetti..." Carol growled opening the cabinets. He saw boxed foods that didn't look appetizing at all. Lasagna would take too long, cereal was a little too boring; plus cereal was usually for breakfast, as well as pancakes. The canned foods were mostly vegetables so they would be a side dish. "Unless Liulu's a vegetarian..." Carol twisted his face into a frown. He was now just realizing how little he really knew about her. Though she had been around a lot longer than Lauren, he could easily name ten things about the ghost right off the bat. Maybe it was because Lauren lived with him. Not to mention, he also spent long hours of the night endlessly talking about anything and everything that he could think of. Needless to say, there were some things Carol could've lived his entire life without knowing about his strange ghost friend. Carol opened the refrigerator to see mostly left over's. Cold pizza and some meat loaf...nothing really sounded good. Carol sighed and shook his head. This was ridiculous. He finally found a packet of small steaks that were nearly thawed out. Carol decided it was probably a good bet on a decent "first date" meal. He opened up the packet and placed two steaks onto a pan that was already placed on his stove. He also opened a can of French styled green beans and dumped them into a pot that he pulled out of the cabinet. Cooking everything slowly began to annoy him, but it gave him plenty of time to think of conversations to stir up. He set the table pretending, and secretly wishing, that this was all for Liulu. She probably would appreciate this a lot more than Lauren. Especially since all of it would be just for her...not for a practice date that was meant for her. Carol set down a couple of glasses beside the plates before grabbing some silver wear. As everything was set, he returned to cooking realizing that he almost burned the steaks.
Carol was shocked that the meal wasn't destroyed. He smiled at his nicely cooked steaks as he placed one on each plate. He was placing the green beans on Lauren's plate when suddenly the ghost hurried into the room with a piece of paper. "Okay, Carol I have some tips for-" Lauren stopped and looked at the table smiling. "Wow! This looks pretty good." He grinned up to Carol. "Mashed potatoes go well with steaks too."
"You get what you get. Be happy with it." Carol grumbled as he finished serving the food out. He sat down at his place before looking at his empty glass. "Now are you finished? It's getting cold..." Lauren laughed as he shook his head.
"You sound like one of those wives off television." He said walking towards the refrigerator. Lauren pulled out a soda and opened it pouring it into Carol's glass. The man would've thanked him if he wasn't so annoyed with him at the moment. Lauren sat down across from him smiling.
"Oh, Carol darling. You cooked this for me?" He asked in a high pitched voice. Carol glared at him.
"Yeah..." He grumbled. Lauren's smile widened.
"I'm Liulu right now. Is that how you'd treat her?" Carol sighed and glanced down to his plate.
"I...I hope you like everything, Liulu." He mumbled.
"It looks great, sweetie!" Lauren said.
"Okay, can you not say that...ever?" The red haired man growled picking up his fork and knife. He began to cut his meat and ate a piece. It wasn't five star restaurant material, but it really wasn't bad. As good as any beginner, he supposed. As he chewed his steak, his attention to Lauren. "You gonna eat?" He asked.
"I'm on a diet. Girl's like me have to keep their figure." He said, his smile never leaving his face. Carol rolled his eyes.
"Seriously, Lauren..."
"I'm a ghost..." Lauren responded bluntly. "I really don't need to eat."
"Shit..." Carol groaned and shook his head. "Why the hell didn't you tell me that before I cooked for you?" He slapped his hand against his forehead. Lauren frowned.
"I thought you knew that already...I mean I ASSUMED you knew I was a ghost when you stopped pretending that I didn't EXIST." Carol glanced up to the ghost who was crossing his arms with an annoyed look on his face. He sighed.
"J-just forget it...What's the first tip on your list thing." he grumbled hoping that this would cheer the ghost up.
"Never anger or annoy your date." Lauren muttered still keeping his annoyed expression. Carol let out a sigh.
"I'm sorry that I momentarily forgot you were dead...You just kinda seem alive to me..." He muttered looking back to his steak. For a moment Lauren didn't say anything. Carol glanced up to see the ghost trying desperately to hide a smile. He pretended not to notice. "What's the next thing on your list?" Lauren gave him a blank stare before turning to the slip of paper.
"Oh, um say something nice to her. Compliment her outfit or hair. Sometimes a simple 'you look stunning' will do, but other times you need to be specific." He then looked up to Carol. "Like, if she was to curl her hair just for this particular date, tell her that you like it." Lauren said. "Even if you don't like it all that much." He added. Carol smiled looking down at his plate.
"Well, you did your homework." he said picking at the vegetables on his plate.
"Yeah. I looked up stuff for you. All the experts say that girls like it when you notice little things like their hair or that they lost a couple of pounds." Lauren shrugged. "Frankly I don't see the big deal, but if they like that." Carol laughed softly.
"Hah, I'll bet you were the kind of guy who got really pissy when someone didn't notice that you dyed your hair a different shade of purple." He said grinning at the shamed look on Lauren's face.
"I did not." Lauren growled. "Now give me a compliment before you screw up tip number one...again." Carol shrugged and glanced up at him.
"You look very nice today, Lauren...By the way, is that a new shade of Purple? You must've put that in last night." Lauren's glare became more visible.
"I'm LIULU, Carol." He reminded.
"Liulu...You look very cute today." Carol said feeling confident that his compliment was a success. Lauren smiled a little.
"That was good." he then held out his hand to him. "But, if it were any girl other than Liulu, you might wanna use a word other than cute."
"Fair enough." Carol grumbled. Liulu liked things like that, but she was pretty different from most girls. "How about...You look very pretty tonight."
"Yeah, that's good. Okay after the compliment, and after you order your food, you guys can go into a conversation." Lauren smiled. "You start." Carol felt himself freeze up. Suddenly all the things that he wanted to talk about while cooking were gone. He found himself feeling foolish and embarrassed.
"Uhh...Umm."
"Carol..." Lauren gave him a worried look. "You ok?" Carol gave up trying to remember all the things he had thought about.
"Um..." He sighed and shook his head before starring down at the table. "Yes."
"You didn't think of anything to say? Anything at all?" Lauren asked him, his worried expression turning into a frown. Carol sneered at him.
"I did..." He growled. "I just forgot..." Sighing, he pushed his glasses against his face. "Fighting monsters is easier. Let's just forget this stupid date."
"What?" Lauren smiled. "But you're doing so well. You just need some practice." He then folded his arms. "C'mon. If you freeze up on a practice date, what makes you think you're ready for a real one?"
"How do you even know I'll have a real date with Liulu?" Carol groaned as he leaned back in his chair. He felt his appetite die quickly and the worry in his head was making him quite sick.
"You can't think like that, Carol!" Lauren sighed and rested his head against his hand.
"Whatever." Carol growled glancing up to him.
"Just try." Lauren said softly. Carol's glance went from the ghost to his food. He felt sickened by the sight, and at the fact that he was still drawing blanks. After a long pause of awkward silence, the man let out a frustrated sigh and stood up.
"This is ridiculous. I'm done with this." He growled shoving his hands in his pockets. Lauren gave him a worried frown.
"Wai-"
"She's probably not going to say yes anyway, and I'm kind of used to the rejection, so I'm ok with that. What I'm not ok with is sitting here trying to prepare for something that's not going to happen any time soon." He growled feeling ashamed at the fact that he admitted this so easily. Lauren stood up as well but didn't have much time to catch him before he was halfway to his room.
"Carol!" He heard the ghost yell. Carol walked to his room and opened the door. "I'm giving this date a three, Carol! A THREE!" Lauren yelled loudly as the man shut the door. Carol sighed and locked the door before sitting on his bed. He was still feeling sick, but now it was because of the childish way that he acted. Lauren had gone through all that trouble to make a list...and did nothing but try to help. Carol closed his eyes trying to hide his shameful feelings. No, he was only too happy to find a new way to embarrass me. He thought. The silence stirred in his room making him feel uncomfortable. A sudden chill hit him, and Carol opened his eyes to see Lauren sitting at the edge of the bed. He looked rather upset. Carol frowned as he sat up.
"What are you doing in here?" He asked in a grumble. The ghost jumped before looking to him.
"I was coming to check up on you." Lauren spoke in a soft voice then gave him a smile. "You locked your door...What part of 'I'm a ghost' do you really not get?" He asked raising an eyebrow to the man. Carol felt embarrassed but tried not to show it in his face.
"I figured if you saw that the door was locked, you'd realize that I didn't want to talk." He grumbled. Lauren smiled.
"You know me better than that." He mumbled rubbing his arm.
"Unfortunately." Carol growled falling back to the bed. The ghost gave him a weak smile as the silence stirred again. Carol closed his eyes. "So...I got a three?" He asked trying to break the silence.
"Well, it wouldn't have been one if you hadn't left me before the date even began. If that were a real date, I'd have had to eat alone and everything." Lauren mumbled folding his arms.
"You don't eat..." Carol mumbled.
"You know what I mean." After Lauren said that, there was more silence. Carol opened one of his eyes to look at his ghost friend. Lauren was starring down at the floor with that same depressed stare he had on earlier. Carol felt a little guilty for just leaving. Now, he could actually see how much effort Lauren put into this. He opened his mouth to say something, but the words weren't really forming. He didn't know what he could say to make this any better. "Hey..." Lauren's voice startled the man.
"Hm?"
"Thanks for putting up with me...for the practice date." Lauren said smiling to the man. "Sorry for all that teasing and stuff I did." Carol felt the guilt rise. He should be the one apologizing. He glanced to the bed pushing his glasses against his face.
"I should be thanking you...You were only trying to help." He mumbled holding his arms as he rested his elbows against his knees. "I mean there aren't many guys who'd date their friends to help them with a girl they haven't even asked out yet." He let out a sigh. "I really shouldn't have walked out like that." He heard Lauren chuckle.
"No, you shouldn't have." Carol gave him a glare, but it faded into a soft smile. Seeing Lauren actually smiling again made him feel a whole lot better. "You were doing really well. It really meant a lot to me that you tried to let me help you." he then clapped his hands together and started up his "Liulu" voice. "I had a really good time tonight, Carol! Minus the whole leaving me at the table deal." Before Carol could respond, the ghost jumped him with an embrace around his neck. Carol gasped at the violent cold chill he was given. He didn't get a chance to yell or push the ghost away before Lauren pressed his lips to Carol's forcing the kiss on the man. It ended quickly when Carol pushed him away.
"That's the second kiss I got out of you!" Lauren said laughing.
"Uggh" he shielded his lips with his hands unable to really decide how disgusted he should be. Lauren laughed and stood up. "You fucking-"
"Not on the first date now!" Lauren said laughing. Carol glared at him and grabbed a pillow. He violently threw it at the ghost only to have it phase right through him.
"Get the hell out of here!" he growled. "I'm gonna..." Killing wasn't a threat. Carol found that out a while back. "I'm NEVER going on a date with you again!" He shouted. Lauren only laughed more as he shrugged.
"That's a good thing! You're terrible at striking conversation."
"That's it!" Carol jumped from his bed holding his fists out to the ghost. "I'm going to pound you into the floor boards!" Lauren laughed and hurried out the door of the man's bedroom.
"You shouldn't hit a girl, Carol!" He screamed in his high pitched "Liulu" voice. Carol ignored it this time and tackled the ghost to the ground. He tried to punch him, but Lauren's laughter made it hard to do so. "Told you that you were cute when you were angry." He said trying to struggle from underneath the man. "Can you get off of me?"
"Give me one good reason why I should." Carol growled. Lauren phased out sending a chill through the man as he stood to his feet. Carol glared up at him trying to shake the cold feeling from his body. "Cheater." He growled standing up as well. He wiped his lips in front of the ghost making sure that he saw the disgust on his face. "God, I can still taste you...gross."
"You like it." Lauren said smiling at him. Carol twisted his face into a frown.
"I'm going back to my room." he growled turning around quickly. As he walked to his room, he slammed it behind him. "AND I'M LOCKING MY DOOR!" he shouted locking the door as he said it.
Lauren smiled as he held his hands to his lips. It felt good having someone to be with, to talk with...to touch. "Don't you realize how much it means to me?" He asked in a voice that was no louder than a whisper. "How much you mean to me?" His smile faded as he sat down on the couch. The silence had returned. He thought about following the man, but he had bothered him enough already. Lauren let out a sigh before hearing the door slam. Carol's frustrated footsteps could be heard all the way down the hall, and as he came into view, Lauren could see an annoyed look in his face. "What's wrong?" Lauren asked smiling slightly.
"L-let's..." Carol's face turned red as he shifted his eyes away from the ghost. "Let's have another date tomorrow..." His expression was startled as he cleared his throat. "A practice one, I mean. Not like a real date or anything." he spoke quickly as if trying to cover up the fact that he hadn't put the word "practice" in the first sentence. Lauren gave him a blank stare before smiling slightly.
"Sure thing. As long as you don't leave again."
"If you don't kiss me, I won't leave." Carol growled.
"I can't make any promises." Lauren responded with a soft smile. Carol gave him an expressionless stare as if thinking of something to say.
"We'll start where we left off..." He growled. "I'm fixing spaghetti." He then turned around and headed back to the door. Lauren was unable to hide or control the wide grin that had spread across his face.
He does care! He thought as he held back his thrilled squeal that was tickling the back of his throat. Lauren could recall several times where being a ghost was nothing but misery...but for some reason, this feeling that he had...these feelings for Carol made it all seem...worth it.