A/n- Well, here's the second chapter. A huge thank you to those who reviewed. Your opinions are very much appreciated!
Chapter 2
Instead of following my instinct to just whip around as fast as I can, I turned toward the sound of the voice slowly. Lifting my head up to a pair of sardonic blue eyes gazing straight back at me, a timid smile reached my lips. Okay, so the smile was just an act, and it was purely because I felt a little scared too. I mean, I didn't see anyone around us. I thought hospitals were supposed to be busily buzzing with activities, but apparently not this private institute. So I was just being polite, and I didn't exactly want to start a staring match or anything. But Paul perhaps was just too thick to realize the meaning behind my expression, or he just didn't feel like facing the truth. He does that a lot, you know. The whole I'll-believe-whatever-I-want-to-believe thing. I guess one of them includes thinking I actually have some sort of romantic feelings toward him. Ugh.
Coming closer, Paul -covered in bandage from head to toe. Well, not that bad, but you know what I mean- grinned at me and said easily, "Hi Suze, what're you doing here?"
As if that's not obvious. He just wants too bad to torture me into saying whatever it is he wants to hear. And this time, I'll have to say it. Where's the harm in stating the truth, right?
"Coming to see how you're doing," I replied nonchalantly.
Raising one of his eyebrows, Paul regarded me with a skeptical, and yet amusing, look. "Finally realized that you care, huh?"
"I care about your welfare, even though you've done very little to deserve it," I said honestly.
Paul just looked at me. "I should be able to leave in just a few days. The wounds wasn't that bad. Your boyfriend obviously didn't specifically want to kill me."
It was on the tip of my tongue to inform him that that was exactly what Jesse's intentions were, but I clamped my mouth shut and just smiled at him again. Much as it pained to put on such an act, I had to please him to get what I want. Sad how now I was beginning to use the Slater tricks.
"So let's go inside," Paul said, waving toward his hospital door. "Where we can have some privacy."
While I didn't like the way he'd said privacy one bit, I didn't argue. Following him inside to his hospital room, I glanced around at my surroundings and was quite impressed.
The room is very large, with a huge screen TV and a fridge posed several feet in front of the bed. Blue velvet curtains hanged down from two massive windows right behind the carefully made up bed. The door to the bathroom was open, and it revealed a porcelain sink and tub. A toilet sat at the far corner, with a help button positioned on the wall directly at the left. Back inside the room, there were a very comfy looking couch and a couple of chairs and stools. Gesturing toward one of the seats for me, Paul himself sat down on the sofa.
"So Suze," Paul began once I chose the seat farthest away from him. "What's the real reason you're here?"
Smoothing down my denim skirt as I gingerly sat down, I avoided his gaze and instead focused on the pillow on his bed. The edges were made very nicely and there doesn't seem to be a single crease in them. I had to learn the secret so I can impress Jesse later with my superb pillow folding techniques. Yeah. Like he would be impressed at something as shallow as that.
Driving those insane and absurd thoughts away from my head, I finally met Paul's eyes. There doesn't seem to be any point in lying. Even he should at least know by now that I couldn't care less if he were alive or dead. Well, the saint in me would feel some sort of sorrow, but that'll probably be it. All he has done ever since I met him during the summer was torture my boyfriend and me. He has shown no sympathy toward any of my feelings, and he was cruel enough to leave me for the dead. Myself I wasn't really that worried about, but hello, how could he do that to Jesse? He didn't know one single thing concerning him. Well, except that he's a ghost. And that I just happens to be in love with him. But that's it. His entire opinion of him was based on only two things. TWO! Either Paul really loathes ghosts or he just cares too much about my love life. Take your pick.
And then there's Jack. His own blood brother. The little guy was scared to death that he sees dead people and thinks he's the most abnormal kid on Earth. So what did Paul do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He just let Jack suffered without offering any kind of advice or sympathy. I don't think Paul has an ounce of compassion in him. If he did, he would have at least been kind enough to explain the whole mediating situation to Jack instead of waiting for me to come along and smooth the poor guy's ruffled feathers. God knows what would have gone on if I didn't get stuck with baby-sitting the youngest Slater. Jack would most likely still be lying inside some stuffy room all day watching TV. And thinking he's destined to be forever seen as a psychopath.
Paul shouldn't have gone so far as manipulating his own brother, but he sure did. The whole working-with-murders-and-using-his-brother-to-exorcise- Jesse was too sick to even mention. Imagine what would've happened if Jack hadn't told me that he got rid of Jesse "for me". But there's a good to every bad sitch, right? Jesse KISSED me a little after I rescued him. Seriously. I almost swooned. (Kidding, I'm kidding.)
Before Paul and his family left California, Paul left me a note. Something or other about teaching a blind guy to fish and him in turn stealing all your fish or whatever. Don't ask me what that means, cos to this day I still have no idea. I don't really WANT to know, to tell you the truth. (A/n- I kind of do have a clue as to what that means, but obviously this is Suze's story, not mine. ::rolls eyes::)
So anyway, after all that has happened between us, you can imagine my surprise when Paul showed up in my school at the start of my junior year. Of all the nerve! Does the guy have stalking issues or what? He even lured me into his house, then attempted to rape me. Well, okay, not that extreme. Especially since I kind of did lead him on, with the whole kissing him back thing. But that was just my teenage hormones acting up. He should have realized that before things went too far. When I didn't want to continue our little game on his bed anymore, he wouldn't let me go and I ended up with no ride home. How my poor feet suffered...
Then that leads us to the fight. And we all know how THAT turned out.
Focusing my attention back to Paul, I opened my mouth and began to give him an answer when suddenly a ghost materialized in his room.
And sadly, it wasn't Jesse.
He, however, did not look the slightest bothered or alarmed. Shrugging those broad shoulders, he gazed far off at the horizon and went, "I got bored. There isn't much a ghost could do for fun, you know. Except, of course, the usual."
I didn't have to ask to know what "the usual" are. Ghosts performing practical jokes and never getting caught for it. How fun. And conniving.
It does get rather boring after a while, I guess. But still. He could have respected my privacy and waited! Yeah. Instead of unexpected materializing in Paul's hospital room and interrupting whatever we were doing. Which happened to be only talking. But it really wasn't any of his business anyway. If you ask me, he had no right to just pop up like that when I could've been having a heart-to-heart with Paul. Not that I was, you know. We didn't even say like 3 sentences to each other before dead guy arrived on the scene. And made a mess of everything.
"Well, thanks a lot," I snapped. "First you get into a witty sparring match with a sick pervert desperate for any kind of entertainment, then you gets us kicked out for destroying public property. Even if it wasn't entirely under your control, you could have at least TRIED to keep your temper in check. Getting involved with Paul Slater is never a good thing."
"Oh don't worry," ghost guy replied, giving me a killer grin. "It was the most fun I've had in a while."
"That," I said, giving him my most intimidating look, "is so not the point."
"And what exactly IS the point?"
"That you show no respect to the female sex!"
"Excuse me?"
"Just because I'm a girl doesn't mean you can just come and go in my presence as you please!"
"What did you expect? That I was actually going to wait around for three hours with nothing to do except poke fun at old people in parks?"
"YES!"
"Gee. Look who's showing respect now."
"This isn't about me. This is about you not having any decency and getting me kicked out when I did absolutely nothing to deserve it."
"What were you doing in there anyway?"
"That is totally none of your business."
"Want me to make it my business?"
"Stop straying away from the topic!"
"What exactly are you so fed up about?"
"That you interrupted something really important which you of course wouldn't understand in the least."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Because you broke your promise to wait for three hours!"
"Gawd, are you always like this?"
"What is that suppose to mean?"
"Just that you're being awfully annoying. If you want respect, you gotta earn it. Seeing as how you treated me when I first met you, what makes you think I was gonna listen to anything you say?"
That shut me up. Not exactly what he'd said. Oh no. Just that I was beginning to realize how snobbishly whiny I sounded. Really, I never whine or spat nonsense like I was doing just then. Either this guy has some sort of charm that make me break my own rules or I was just surprisingly mad over what happened over at the hospital.
I really thought I had a chance to find out whatever it is that Paul happens to be hiding. I was all ready to show him the sparkly new Susannah Simon who thinks control freaks are adorable kittens when HE came along and screwed up my so-called plan. To make a long story short, they were arguing (Like, REALLY arguing) over something or other about PUCK –whatever that actually is-, when Paul said something that I guess really sent Puck freak over the edge. And you know how ghosts get when they're really angry. Crash, came the flower vase. Clang, went the bathroom door. Boom, there goes the sodas in the fridge. It would have even being somewhat funny if an immaculately dressed nurse hadn't came in just then, took one look at the mess in the room, and ordered to me to get out and get out now. I had no choice but to go, dragging an invisible-to-normal-humans ghost behind me.
So the visit was a total waste. Not only did I learn absolutely nothing about Paul's many secrets, but I now also have the misfortune of getting stuck with some ghost who gets violent over a Shakespeare character. At least I think that's the Puck they were talking about. It was rather hard to follow along with their lightning paced conversation when I more or less had no idea how one statement related to the next.
"What's your name?" I suddenly asked him. We were already in front of my house now. Getting my key out of my purse, I glanced over at him.
If he were surprised at the sudden topic change, he didn't show it. "Why ask now? So you can introduce me to your parents?"
Opening the front door, I sighed. Ignoring his mockery tone, I replied, "No. Just so I call you something other than some character from Shakespeare."
"Excuse me? What does Shakespeare have to do with any of this?"
Keeping my voice low so no one in my family will hear me talking to myself and get suspicious, I slowly began walking toward and up the stairs. "You know, the whole Puck thing."
"What?" he snickered. "You thought we were talking about Shakespeare characters? How intelligent. I have to say, I'm stunned that you find me so tragic as to being obsessed with one of his characters."
"Well," I said, annoyed. "That's the only Puck that I've ever heard of. And I believe the question isn't you're tragic or not -which you actually happen to be-, but I think I asked you what your name is."
"Oh that," Puck boy said, smirking. "Why don't you just call me Puck?"
I shot him one last glare before opening my bedroom door and going inside. But after my fingers switched on the light, I blinked in surprised at what was sitting on the windowsill.
Or rather, who.
Once again, it wasn't Jesse.
But this time, it's the exact female version of him.
A/n- Mwahahahahahaha, what a lame cliffie. The choices are obvious as who it is. Jesse's mother, sister, or daughter. Hey, it could be his daughter. He had a life before he died, you know. But I guess no one wants to believe that our sweet, lovely Jesse would do something so twisted and not pay for the consequences... ::sigh::
I admit, this chapter was mostly fluff. But every book or story contains some sort of fluff in it, right? Whether it be so it'll be more interesting, longer, yada yada yada. Or it could be for you to get to know the characters better. And the whole Puck thing was just an instinct. And it really isn't the Shakespeare character, even though I'm pretty sure that Shakespeare had one. Whatever. I'm mindlessly rambling again. However sucky you may think this chapter was with all the fluffy beginnings leading toward the discovery of Jesse's mother/sister/daughter, REVIEW!!!