I never really meant to post this so late, but I suppose it works out with the Halloween theme and all... There is a lot of Livecastershipping in this chapter, but Hugh fans don't despair! Don't count our favorite rooster-head out~
Many, many thanks to all of you who have stuck with me all this time. It really does mean a lot to me. Also thanks to Shadow Panther, Eclipse130, yorushihe, kalledom, and supchild6414 for their reviews, and to Amy who left like 5 reviews! I adore every single review I get.
My Great Big Adventure
Lentimas Town was obviously not ready for the sudden spike in tourism.
Because Twist Mountain is currently closed to hikers, trainers and regular folk alike have to travel between Mistralton and Opelucid cities by plane. There's a shabby little airport here, but it is so over-crowded! This town has a population of less than a hundred, and they don't even have any restaurants! Seedy street shop tables are cropping up here and there with horribly over-priced jewelry and nicknacks, causing the whole place to just look like an overrun flea market. Not to mention the amount of red sand in the area making it look like a desert...
The flight here was not as bad as I had anticipated. Skyla, Professor Juniper, and I all managed to fit into Skyla's private jet; I was saved from having to fly on one of those giant metal commercial planes. I was still uncomfortable, but I managed to keep it under control.
As soon as we disembarked, the three of us split ways. Skyla immediately flew back to Mistralton, and Professor Juniper headed off to Reversal Mountain ahead of me to meet with Bianca, who was supposedly doing some sort of research in the caverns.
Not wanting to be stuck with the professor, I decided to hang around the airport lobby for an hour before heading out to the mountain. I am very grateful to Professor Juniper for everything, but the way she was able to read me... it was extremely unnerving.
I sat on a couch and swung my legs back and forth, debating whether or not to wait another hour before heading out. A magazine in the rack next to me caught my eye.
New Champion of Sinnoh Crowned!
Champion or king? The headline made it sound like the new champion is ruling over the entire region. Although, I suppose in a Pokemon sense, they sort of are...
I flipped through the pages to find the cover story, although I wasn't too interested in reading the article. I mostly just wanted to see a picture of the new champion.
He isn't even smiling! This purple haired twenty-something-year-old just became champion and all he can do is scowl? How ungrateful.
Or maybe he's scowling because his girlfriend? lady-friend? relative? is hanging all over him in front of the press.
Along with an exclusive interview, the magazine featured a spread of pictures from the post-victory party held at Sinnoh's Elite Four facilities.
I recognized gym leader Elesa right away; I guess she must have traveled to Sinnoh for the event sometime recently, as this magazine was printed a few weeks ago. I thought I recognized a few other gym leaders from various regions, although I am not as familiar with their names or faces (just what I've seen in passing). And of course the Sinnoh Elite Four leaders were there, along with former champion Lucas. I wonder what happens when a new champion appears. Does Lucas go back to being a regular trainer? Or does he join the Elite Four and then they kick out the lowest member of the squad? Maybe they hold a battle between all four of them or something?
Along with the Elite Four, all eight Sinnoh gym leaders were in attendance. There was a group picture with the new champion, Elite Four, Sinnosh gym leaders, and some various other people at the bottom of the page. Just from looking at the picture, it was hard to guess who trained what kind of Pokemon. The lady on the end really stuck out in her giant purple ballgown though, so assuming she is one of the gym leaders, she probably specializes in Psychic-type Pokemon...
Hey, wait a minute...
Is that...?
No way.
It can't be.
There's just no way...
Is that my dad?
I mean, I haven't seen the guy in ten or eleven years, but still...
This man with all these gym leaders seriously looks like my dad...
Unfortunately, his face is mostly blocked by this guy with a giant afro, so I can't be sure it's him. But...
My dad was an up-and-coming trainer from Sinnoh before he married Mom. Maybe he went back and became a gym leader? Or even one of the Elite Four? It doesn't even have to be in the Sinnoh region, according to this picture. The caption did not specify who was in the picture; it simply said New Champion Poses with Elite Four, Sinnoh Gym Leaders, and Various Other Regional Gym Leaders. All of those thoughts I'd had back in Chargestone Cave began creeping into my mind.
I was startled out of my stupor when the xtransceiver rang. I dug through my purse looking for it before Zorua nudged me and I remembered that it was on my wrist... D'oh.
"Curtis! Hello!" I greeted, ditching the magazine and heading outside.
"Hi, Rosa! I had some free time so I wanted to give you a call," Curtis explained with a smile.
"You aren't working too hard over there at your top-secret job, are you?" I joked, even though I was very curious. After all this time, he still hadn't told me what he does for a job...
"No, I just finished for the day. So how are you, Rosa?" he asked. "How's your Pokemon journey going?"
"Eh, standard I guess." Well, unless you want to go into the fact that I never use my Pokedex and don't care about catching all 56,249 Pokemon out there.
"I always wondered what life would be like as a full-time trainer," Curtis mused, scratching at his hat. Hmmm, now that I notice it, his hair looks a bit different today...
"I let my Pokemon battle every now and then," he continued. "I don't really have time for training, but my work takes me to various regions, and sometimes I have time for a battle or two. Rosa, we should battle someday!"
He travels to other regions? Maybe he'd know who those gym leaders in the magazine photo are... Wait, he wants to battle?
"Heh, maybe!" I offered. "Well, Curtis, I'm at the foot of Reversal Mountain right now. I don't know how good the call service is in there, so maybe I should let you go–"
"You're at Reversal Mountain?" he interrupted (and rather rudely, might I add).
"Yeah. They wouldn't let me cross Twist Mountain on foot so I had to–" Curtis cut me off again.
"You should check out the strange house," he told me. "It's near the base of the mountain."
"Uh... Strange house...? As in, a haunted house? No thanks," I replied. I had enough haunted places with Celestial Tower earlier. Besides, the sun was setting; why would I want to be in a creepy house at night?!
"Aw, come on, Rosa," he urged. "It's totally worth a look! I heard it's pretty awesome. You might even be able to find some cool Pokemon there!"
"I don't know, Curtis, I'm kind of afraid of–"
Click!
Huh? Dang it, I lost the call! I guess service is bad around the mountain as well as on the inside. Sigh... I suppose I could take a look around this house, maybe take a picture just for Curtis. I do like to see him smile...
I blushed at my own thoughts, but I quickly shook it off as I started to explore around the mountain. I seriously hoped the place was close to the Lentimas side, rather than the Opelucid side... It was much quicker to walk straight through the caverns than to walk all the way around. If I didn't see anything soon...
Aha! I spotted a weather vane off in the distance. It didn't look too far, so I decided to humor Curtis and check it out.
Before I had even reached the place, however, I stumbled upon the entire PokeStar Studios production crew.
"Rosa!" Mr. Deeoh cried. "What brings you here? I did tell you that you were done with movies for the year, right? Or did I forget to call you about that?"
The crew seemed to be packing up; they must have just finished for the day, or maybe even finished the movie all together, since they were even packing up the tents.
"No, you told me. I was just out here exploring. I wasn't expecting to find you out here," I replied honestly.
"Ah, yes, well we just wrapped up Evil Twin 2; it's set to hit theaters in October," Mr. Deeoh explained proudly. "This gives the post-production crew plenty of time to work on those special effects." He looked over at one group of people in particular and shouted, "You hear me? I expect top-notch digital CGI effects with all the time you have!"
They all nodded nervously and continued packing. I wonder if those were the actual people having to work on the post-production, or if those were the producers. Then I chided myself for even caring.
"Did you actually film inside that house or whatever's back there?" I asked.
"Of course not! The place is haunted! We just got some shots with the mansion in the distance. Best stay away from that place, kid," he added cautiously. "Weird stuffs been happening on set!"
I wondered if Kanto gym leader Sabrina had been in this movie too... Still, this was another reason to just turn back...
"Rosa! I wasn't expecting to see you here!"
I turned to find myself face to face with Christoph. His hair was extra sparkly today, and he was wearing what looked like an old military uniform of some sort with lots of detailing and buttons.
"Did you come to check out the set?" he asked cheerily.
However, I had a bone to pick with him...
"Christoph... Did you say something to Mr. Deeoh to imply that my acting sucks?"
The smile immediately fell off his face. He looked very guilty. I knew it!
"I... uhh..."
"Why the heck would you say something like that?" I scolded, turning and marching off.
"Rosa, wait!" he called, following after me.
"Are you so self-absorbed in your career that you asked the studio to cut my movies out so you could have more screen time? Really?"
I should be thanking him, really; I hated working on those movies. But still! How rude of him.
"Look, it wasn't anything like that!" he tried to explain, rushing to catch up to me. "I merely told them that you would appreciate it if they cut back on your contract–"
I spun on my heel and faced him head on. "Who are you to decide what they do with my contract? It's MY contract for a reason, you know!"
"But you said yourself you wanted out!" he replied, starting to sound as heated as I was.
"Maybe I did, but that's not the point!" I barked. "You can't go around just doing whatever you want! And how did you even know about that?"
Christoph suddenly got very flustered. "Err... You mentioned it when we did that tv show together... I think..."
Hmmm. I don't remember if I did or didn't. I suspect he inferred it rather than me saying it directly... Either way...
"Look... I am glad that my contract went down," I said, trying to calm down. "So... thank you, I guess. But next time you should ask me before doing something like that! Mr. Deeoh said they were cutting my scripts because another movie star specifically requested them to! How do you think that sounds to me? Of course, I didn't figure out who it was until my mother, the Christoph-obsessed woman that she is, told me you were filming about twenty movies this year!"
He stared at me blankly for a few seconds.
"...your mother is obsessed with me?"
"Oh never mind that! She and I don't really speak anymore, but she was a fan of yours long before you and I ever met."
"Ah, I see."
We both paused to collect ourselves, and I realized we were in sight of the strange house.
The large mansion was old and falling apart; boards had been nailed here and there and there were holes in the roof. A large iron fence surrounded the property, which was overgrown with weeds, bushes, and dying trees. The architecture was beautiful, but the place looked like something out of a horror movie. No wonder they chose to film exterior shots for Evil Twin 2 here.
"I really like old houses like this one; it's a shame we didn't film inside. Let's go check it out," Christoph suggested, heading for the gate.
"I'd rather not..."
"Aw, why not? Come on, Rosa. It'll be fun!" he encouraged, walking back. "We can go exploring... just the two of us."
I blushed from my head to my toes when he took my hand and started to pull me along. I couldn't seem to find the words to protest, even though I really did not want to go anywhere near the house. I'd reached my quota of haunted places for the next lifetime.
The iron gate was chained shut, and a large PRIVATE: KEEP OUT sign hung from the fence. Ignoring this, Christoph led me around to a side of the fence that had a few missing posts. He slipped through first, and although I tried to resist, he pulled me in after him.
"Wow," he stated. "This place must have been beautiful during its prime."
I nodded in agreement, though I wasn't really sparing any thoughts for what the place might have looked like in the past. My mind was occupied with trying to keep my nervousness to a minimum.
"Okay, we checked it out; can we go now?"
I was starting to sweat, and I really really didn't need another episode of what happened at Celestial Tower.
Christoph had let go of my hand was exploring the yard. "Oh, wow, Rosa, look at this! Such an exquisite birdbath! And the detailing of the house itself... Breath-taking architecture, don't you think?"
"Oh... yeah, sure," I nervously agreed. "It's all very nice, but we should probably get going now."
Christoph apparently decided to ignore my voice of reason; he was investigating the front porch of the house. It was falling apart badly, and part of me was afraid the house was going to crumble right before our very eyes.
"Be careful," I warned him, staying put near the gate. "That place looks like it's about to go!"
He touched one of the solid oak doors with a hand. Then, he went right ahead and opened it!
"Christoph!" Surely this was breaking and entering?! My panic swarmed full-on. "Christoph," I repeated, louder this time, "just because the place is abandoned, it does not mean that someone, somewhere does not still own it! We are trespassing!"
Christoph ignored me, of course.
He walked straight into the dilapidated mansion and disappeared from sight.
"Christoph!" I yelled, running after him. My fear would only let me go so far as the steps of the porch. "We are going to be in sooooo much trouble! Get back here, please!"
"Rosa, this architecture is amazing," I heard him say. "You have to see this!"
I shook my head determinedly, even though he couldn't see me. "No thanks! Let's just go... please?" I hoped the begging in my voice could be heard from inside the house.
"Just give me five minutes, okay? That's all, I promise!"
Fully freaked out at the possibility of having to wait out in the yard alone, in the growing darkness, for five minutes, I had half a mind to head in there after him. But the fear of the unknown stopped me. What was waiting for me in that house? Rubble, mostly likely. Dead bodies, possibly. Creepy Pokemon, possibly. Ghosts... very possibly!
I glanced around anxiously, unsure of what to do. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. I looked up to see one of the windows that was still fully intact. A face was staring at me from behind a lacy curtain.
I stared back, my breathing practically coming to a stop.
The face vanished, and the curtain fluttered.
I screamed.
Or at least, I tried to scream. With my labored breathing, it came out as more of squeak. Tearing my eyes away from the window and with my mind made up, I raced into the house after Christoph, shrieking his name as loudly as I could.
"Christoph! Christoph, where are you?!"
Directly inside the door was a grand, main entrance. It was spectacularly decorated; I could see how Christoph was fascinated by it. However, even if I wasn't having a near-heart attack, I still wouldn't be as interested. A home, to me, should be warm and cozy; super fancy-schmancy manors like this one made me feel very uncomfortable (even when they weren't haunted or falling apart).
He wasn't answering. I could feel Zorua shifting around in my bag and I tried to pat him reassuringly. But really, I was trembling.
The front door slammed behind me and I shrieked. No one was there.
"Christoph, where are you?" I shouted again. I didn't want to stay here where doors closed by themselves, but I didn't want to go any further into the house in case I got lost... or worse.
Suddenly I heard a laugh. A girl's laugh.
"CHRISTOPH!" I screamed, trying to be as loud as I could. Obviously the ghosts already knew I was here, so I didn't care about anything except finding Christoph. If I ever got out of here... his ass was soooo dead!
"Rosa, I'm in the library! The room on the right!" I heard him call. I dashed into the room and closed the double doors behind me.
The library was incredible. Shelves and shelves of books lined the walls and weaved in and around the room like a maze. Christoph was examining an old painting hanging over a fireplace. The art had faded long ago, but you could still see the outline of three people.
"I wonder who they were," Christoph mused aloud.
"Can we go now?" I asked, approaching him. "This place gives me the creeps!"
"What do you think happened to this place?" he asked, more to himself than to me. "What happened to the people who used to live here?"
"Maybe they moved away," I offered, trying to be logical and shake off the ghost behind the curtain I'd seen earlier.
"Or maybe they died..."
Of course he would say that! He was so oblivious, not picking up on my fear of the place at all. "Can we go now?" I whined. "Please?"
He finally looked at me at my last plea, and he seemed to realize I was uncomfortable.
"Oh, yeah... I guess we probably shouldn't be here."
No, you think?!
I sighed with relief and turned around to leave.
Something was missing.
"Christoph..." My voice was shaking. This couldn't be happening.
"Hmm?"
"Christoph, where is the door?" I asked, my voice cracking. This wasn't happening!
"It's right over... Huh. I guess we went a bit further in the room than I thought."
I stepped closer to him. "No, we didn't. The door was right there. It was right there a minute ago, and now it isn't. Where is the door, Christoph?!" My voice was high and shaky-sounding.
"An everlasting dark dream..."
We both screamed.
The room grew cold as the chilling voice seemed to come out of nowhere. I latched onto Christoph's arm, and he made no protests. He even seemed to be nervous himself (finally). I shrieked yet again and backed up into him as a pale figure emerged from the bookcase next to us.
"An endless dream of darkness..."
I was backing up so fast that I stepped on Christoph's toes and pushed him up against the wall.
The figure turned to us. It had long flowing hair and seemed to be wearing a dress. "Mom... Dad... Abra... Where did you go..."
The ghost faded into nothing as a roll of thunder shook the house.
"Christoph, I want to leave. Now," I said quietly, still clinging to his arm and unable to look away from the spot where the ghost had faded.
"We have to find the door..." He seemed to be unsure of this suggestion, but we really had no other option than to explore the room for a way out. More lightning and thunder spurred me to nod and look around.
In the end, there weren't any other doors in the entire room. We wandered through what appeared to be endless rows of bookshelves and knicknacks, but we couldn't find any doors. After about twenty minutes of searching, Christoph suggested we could look for a book with floor plans of the house. I neither agreed nor disagreed, though personally I'd be surprised if we found one. Who has a book of floor plans and architectural designs?
We found quite a few books about Pokemon, but nothing on the house. I finally slumped against a bookcase while Christoph was busy browsing the shelves. I couldn't take it anymore.
"I never should have come here," I said bitterly, tucking my knees under my chin. Zorua poked his head out of my purse and gave me a look. It's not so bad. At least the ghost is gone for now.
"Whoa!" Christoph said, noticing Zorua. "What a strange-looking Pokemon." He knelt down and reached out. "Hey little guy, who're you?"
Zoura turned away, snubbing him, and jumped into my arms. "This is Zorua," I explained as Christoph brushed his costume off and scooted closer. "Zorua, this is Christoph."
The Pokemon seemed to almost snort, as if he found the situation amusing. He did eventually let Christoph pet him, but he didn't seem too fond of the boy.
"I never should have come here," I repeated, listening to the storm brew outside. "Who knows how long we'll be stuck here."
"At least we're relatively safe," Christoph replied. At my incredulous look, he continued, "Well, I mean, not if the ghost comes back... but at least we're dry!"
"I can't believe I let Curtis talk me into coming here," I muttered, remembering our conversation on the xtransceiver earlier. He would not be hearing good reviews from me about this place, that was for sure.
Christoph stopped petting Zorua suddenly, and the Pokemon growled at him.
"Hey, now, don't be mean," I chided. "Be nice."
Zorua continued to watch Christoph with suspicious eyes.
"I should call Curtis back and tear him a new one for getting me into this mess," I grumbled. Actually, that sounded like a good idea...
Christoph pulled anxiously at his collar. "Is that really necessary? I'm sure the guy didn't mean anything–"
"I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!" I pulled out my xtransceiver and loaded up my contact list. Calling him would probably help me calm down, and it would give me an outlet for my anger and fear. It really was his fault for heavily suggesting I visit this place. I know that I'm to blame for actually following Christoph inside, but if Curtis hadn't been so interested in this place to begin with, I never would have gotten stuck inside this haunted house! I quickly pushed Curtis's dial icon and waited.
Zorua seemed amused or at least intrigued. Christoph looked anxious, probably concerned about the ghost coming back.
A ring rang out into the silence. Multiple rings.
Christoph hurriedly dug out his own xtransceiver and fumbled around, finally silencing it.
My call to Curtis ended abruptly.
Weird.
I looked up at Christoph, to ask what all that fuss had been about. I stopped when I caught sight of his face. He looked extremely guilty. And nervous. And I never noticed before, but he had a mole on the right side of his chin (his right).
It reminded me of Curtis.
Wait.
Curtis has a mole just like that.
Curtis has green hair just like that, only not as stupid-looking.
Actually, now that I thought about it, Curtis and Christoph looked a lot alike.
As soon as he had hung up his on his caller, my call had ended. And he looked oh so guilty.
"You..."
"Rosa, I can explain–"
I pointed accusingly. "Explain what? You lied to me!"
He'd been lying to me all this time. How... why would he do that to me?! I felt betrayed and hurt. Who does that to people? Why did he feel he had to lie about who he was? Once we met in person, when he found out I wasn't really called Rose, he should have said it then! He knew who I really was, but he felt he should be able to hide his real identity? What an asshole!
"I know, and I'm sorry," he started, sounding truly sorry. Zorua growled again.
"Why didn't you tell me when we met, huh? You got to find out who I really was, but it was okay for you to keep your real name a secret?"
"It's not like you told me your real name either," he argued.
"But I did!"
"Only because you had to!"
"Because I don't dress differently when I use a different name," I sputtered, realizing how ridiculous I'd been not to recognize him. "What is wrong with you anyway? Do you have multiple-personality-disorder or something?" Tears stung the edges of my eyes.
He looked offended. "What? No, of course not! I just–"
"I don't want to hear it! You lied to me!" I lashed out, standing up and walking away. Christoph... Curtis... Whoever, he hurried after me.
"Rosa, wait!" he said desperately, grabbing my wrist. I tried to pull away.
"Let go of me... you... you fake!" I was trying very hard not to cry. I shivered in the cold room, and all I wanted to was to be alone.
"Please, just let me explain–"
"There's nothing to explain!" I cried, still tugging at my wrist. "You lied! Apparently you felt you had to keep it a secret from me who you really were. I thought we were friends! I thought you liked me. I guess I was wrong!"
"No, Rosa, I really do–"
"In the dark dream... I heard my dad's voice..."
We both grew still as the ghostly girl rose out of the floorboards. His grip on my wrist tightened. I opened my mouth to scream but no sound came out. The ghost floated towards us, and again I backed up onto Christoph's feet. Or was it Curtis?
"What do you want?" Christoph demanded, sounding scared but determined. "Leave us alone!"
The ghost raised a withered hand and pointed at me. "The Lunar Wing..."
"I need to get out of here," I squeaked. I tugged at wrist again and Christoph let go this time.
"Stay... Please stay! Stay here with me... forever..."
The ghost flew at us. I ran like the wind. Christoph shouted after me.
I ran deeper into the maze of books, never looking back. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, never slowing down, not even when I felt like my lungs were going to give out.
Something cold and clammy touched my shoulder and startled me. I screamed and stumbled over my feet, looking up to see the ghost advancing on me.
"Stay with me..."
"No, no please, just leave me alone," I cried, crawling away. But I couldn't go any farther; I was trapped in a corner of shelves. I curled up and pressed myself as far as I could into the books behind me.
"Stay..." The ghost pressed its cold hand against my head.
I was eight years old again, trapped in that bin with the Ghastly. All the visions it gave me, all the horrors I'd forgotten... they all came rushing back. Demons, blood, fire, screams... so many screams! My body was on fire and I realized the screams were my own.
"Rosa! Hey, get away from her!"
The cold hand withdrew, but the fire remained dancing in my vision as I screamed repeatedly. I wasn't aware Christoph was beside me until I felt his breath on my face.
"Rosa, Rosa, it's gone! What's wrong? What did it do to you?" he asked worriedly, putting his hands on my shoulders. "It's okay now, you can stop screaming."
His hands gripped my shoulders tightly and seemed to bring me back to reality. The flames slowly faded away as my screams turned into sobs. So much pain...
Christoph made to stand. "Let me go get your–"
He was going to leave me. Just like what happened before. I didn't want to be alone!
"NO!" I shrieked, clinging to his arm. "Don't leave me alone again! Don't leave me alone!"
My vice grip startled him, but he knelt back down. "Don't leave me," I cried softly, pulling him closer. "Please don't..."
"Of course," he replied, before tugging me towards him.
He let me cry into his shirt for a long time. He made no complaints, merely rubbed my back and stroked my hair. He apologized several times, holding me so close as if afraid to let go himself. I wanted to close my eyes and drift away from this place, but I kept seeing the flames behind my closed lids. Is that what happened to the ghost? Did she burn to death?
"I'm so sorry, Rosa," he said, apologizing again. His voice was quiet, but I could feel the vibrations through his chest. "I didn't realize how scared you were; I should've paid more attention to your concerns. I've been an idiot... about everything. I was just... I was afraid you wouldn't like me... You liked Curtis so much more than Christoph. I was afraid you'd reject that part of me. I liked you so much and was too afraid of losing you."
He was afraid I'd reject him like that? Sure, I thought he'd been a bit stuck up as Christoph, and Curtis was much easier to talk to, but I'm not that shallow and pathetic. Did he say he liked me...?
I pulled my head away from his chest and looked up. He'd been crying too.
"You should have just told me," I said, my voice still shaky. "I wouldn't have... I mean, I liked both of you fine... That is... It's fine... Just tell me."
He nodded. "I was foolish... You just seemed so much more happier talking to me as Curtis..."
"I liked Christoph too," I added, picking up on what he was trying to say. "I just was never in a good mood at PokeStar Studios... I'm sorry if you thought that was your fault. I mean, I did think you were a bit pompous at first, but not so much later." I blushed, remembering our time together.
He chuckled. "Sorry about that."
"So who are you?" I asked, not really sure why I was being shy all of the sudden. I started to pull away, but his strong hands held me in place.
"Christoph is my stage name," he said, playing with a strand of my hair. "Curtis is my real name, and the name I use to go out in public. I don't like all of the fan attention all of the time."
"Just most of the time?" I asked quietly. He smiled when he realized I was joking. "So... Curtis, right? You could have told me... I would have accepted, I mean, I don't mind..."
His stared at me. "You... don't mind that part of my life...?"
I sat up a bit straighter, trying not to press too much into his legs. "As long as you're the same person underneath, I'm not going to tell what to do with your life. You enjoy acting and singing, and that's great. But be yourself. If you want to stay with me, you have to..." I stopped, realizing what I'd just said.
"Stay with you?" he repeated, leaning closer. I resisted the urge to run a hand through his green hair.
I gulped and gave a half-nod. "What I mean is..." I paused, struggling to find the right thing to say. I forced myself to look him in the eye and blushed some more "What I mean is... I like you, Curtis." I felt myself leaning in as he was the one to blush this time. "I like you a lot."
Curtis looked like he had been trying to find the right thing to say too. But once I leaned in, so close that I could feel each short breath he let out, I think he decided that enough had been said.
Curtis gently placed his lips on mine, and I felt as if a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders. I sighed right into him, not resisting when he pulled me even closer; I even pressed myself into him further, if that was possible, never wanting to let go. I let one of my hands finally wrap around his neck to rest in his hair, and I felt so incredibly happy right then.
We stayed that way for a long while, so tightly pressed against each other and only pulling our lips away occasionally. I'd never made out with anyone before, but I immediately decided it was an activity I loved and wanted to do as much of it as possible. I didn't hesitate to inform Curtis of my newfound idea.
"I would like that very much," he whispered, causing my heart to flip over with excitement.
For a little while longer, we forgot all about the ghost, our troubles, and the raging storm outside.