I yawned and sat up on the soft towel I'd been laying on. I could feel the hot
sand even through the soft terrycloth. It was a beautiful day at Carmel-by-the-Sea,
except for the dark clouds to the West. I looked at CeeCee as she sat up too and
reached for a diet soda. She smiled at me and took a sip. As she set the can down, she
lay her head back down on Adam's chest. I grinned and thought of how, just three
weeks ago, Adam had asked CeeCee to the dance and shown her that he really did like
her. So much had happened since then. Most of all though was the fact that my
boyfriend was, well, alive.
Thinking of him forced me, much to my delight, to look down at him in his swim
trunks. He was gorgeous. Deep, dark eyes and silk hair, and then… My eyes wandered
past his sculpted face and neck, past the book he was reading about important medical
miracles, and down to his abs. I sighed inwardly and smiled again at his perfect body
and face. His name was Jesse… and he used to be dead.
Okay, fine. I admit it. Jesse was dead. The keyword there is was, as in, no
longer dead. I allowed myself to close my eyes and leaned back down to Jesse's side.
After all we'd been through, I can't imagine being with anyone else. Jesse was the one
I loved.
A loud noise woke us all from our dreamy, very not-real mindset. "Damn," Adam
said, still lying down, "Thunder."
"Suze, should we go?" CeeCee asked, as if I would know exactly what the
weather was planning on doing today.
I thought for a second. I mean, who really wanted to disrupt the perfect beach
day? Another clash of thunder reminded me that today was most definitely not the
perfect day. I did not want to go home. Most likely Doc was studying his summer
NASA space camp brochure for the two week computer camp to simulate computers on
a rocket. It was good to see Doc getting more adventurous in his computer lore but as
soon as I would walk in that door, he would start telling me about program after
program and application after application. Don't get me wrong, he's the one
stepbrother I can stand, but honestly, I've already sat through an hour of it, listening
politely. I was done for the day. But where else could we go?
"Jesse, are you open for a while to hang out at the Coffee Clutch?" I asked him.
He looked up from his book. Oh, God, those eyes. I just fell into them, like an
out-of-body experience. Trust me, I know what out-of-body experiences are like and
this was the most amazing one I've ever had. Although I've only had one other one and
it was one in which I almost died… for none other than Jesse, but still, close enough,
right? "Of course, querida"
And I just melted. How bad is that? One word and I'm gone. Querida, he'd said.
The packing up of the beach stuff and the drive to the Coffee Clutch was all blurred to
me. Ever since I'd gotten Jesse back, everything he said was so amazing. Oh, but
there was one thing that snapped me out of my daze, and quick. Into the coffee shop
came a ripped, blue-eyed hottie. I would have been totally interested in checking him
out, just a bit, if he wasn't someone I despised. "Paul," I muttered.
Jesse immediately took notice to the nightmare who had also just noticed us.
Jesse wrapped his muscular arm around my waist and pulled me close. Paul looked
unmoved at first, but I could tell by his eyes that he felt complete hatred toward us.
Well, at least Jesse. I'm just a girl he said he was in love with. As if.
Paul passed and without a word we all sat down at a booth. "What was that all about?"
I smiled as CeeCee giggled at Adam's clueless question. She was extremely
happy today I guess… plus she knew what the whole deal was with Jesse, Paul, and I.
Yesterday I had spilled it all, from the time I was two and had met my first ghost all
the way to the present. She knew more than my friend Gina, in fact.
"How did finals go, girls?" Adam asked, recovering with his usual cockiness.
"Mine are great. I aced them all!"
"You aced them all except Biology."
"Suze Simon! Honestly. I did NOT mean to flip over the lab tray onto Kelly
Prescott. Plus that wasn't even part of the final, thank you very much."
"Adam," I laughed, "It had a dead frog on it! Half dissected too! Who wouldn't
want to dump it onto her? And it should have been part of the final. Sister Talia hates
Kelly as much as you do."
The whole table laughed, even Jesse who, as a ghost and as a person had heard
the tales of Kelly's various snobberies. Accompanying those laughs was the shriek of
the very same person we were talking about.