No matter how long I laid in my bed, I couldn't fall asleep. My stomach churned and I coughed up ectoplasm, the gooey green plasma-like liquid coating my palm. I sparked with electricity, and I could hear the air around me sizzling. It had to be around midnight when my phone went off, getting an incoming call. I checked the caller id and nearly knocked myself out on my bedside table. Danny. Why would Danny be calling me at midnight?
"Yeah, Danny?" My voice sounded sleep-deprived and weak, thanks to all of my coughing.
"I can't sleep. Come over," came his reply.
"What about your parents?" When we were in elementary school, whenever one of us had problems sleeping the other would get up and bug their parents until their parents finally drove them over and then we'd have a sleepover. But we were both 15; weren't we a little too old for sleepovers?
"Come in through the window. It's not like my parents will mind. They adore you."
"Alright, I'll be there soon... You better hope that I can scale your wall. Get the inflatable mattress out."
"Just sleep in my bed with me. Again, it's not like we're doing anything." Beep, beep, beep. Call ended. I sighed and got out of bed, slowly packing a bag so that I'd have clothes to change into tomorrow. Though I couldn't deny that I used to absolutely love snuggling up in Danny's arms as we slept when we were in 1st grade, I didn't see how his bed could possibly accommodate both of us with how big we were now, even with me being an entire foot shorter than Danny. I packed my mp3 player and my headphones, for just in case.
I headed out around 12:30 am, my coat not really on. Instead, I'd just put it around my neck and snapped the first button in to hold it there. Sort of like a cape, but instead with a grey peacoat instead of a bed sheet. When I got to FentonWorks, Danny's bedroom window was open and he was grinning down at me. I rolled my eyes and grumbled about how he was lucky that I hadn't changed in the years we hadn't seen each other, starting the climb up. I nearly fell about halfway up, but my instincts kicked in and I just held on with the barest tips of my fingers. By the time that I got to Danny's window and Danny pulled me in, I was terrified.
"Why did I let you convince me to come over again?" I sighed, closing Danny's window and shrugging off my coat. Danny was still grinning like he'd won the lottery when I turned back to him.
"Because you simply couldn't allow me to suffer through a sleepless night," he answered, pulling me close to him and holding me close as he laid down under his blanket. I blushed, hiding it by curling up against him. So this was how Danny was going to make us both fit on the bed. He was asleep in minutes, and I found that my stomach stopped anxiously churning now that I was here. It seemed that we were both going have a sleepless night if I hadn't come over. Sighing once more, a quietly heavy sigh, I closed my eyes and fell asleep myself. I slept so deeply that I didn't notice my ghost sense go off, nor did I notice Danny get up and leave the house through his window at three.
***line break***
When I woke up, Danny and I were all but tangled in the blanket together. I heard the snap! of a camera, and I blearily looked up to see a ginger-haired girl grinning down at me, waving a blackmail photo in my face, before she escaped the room. Well, Jazz knew I was here now. I tried to wake up Danny so that I could get out of his bed but he simply mumbled something like, "It's Sunday," and clung to me, which made me blush again.
Somehow, I managed to squirm free of Danny's hold and sit up, fixing the blanket over him and trying not to feel guilty when he frowned slightly and tried to find me. My attempts to not feel guilty not really working, I changed out of my white-tiger pajamas into my dark grey jacket, a black T-shirt, and black, thick jeans with rips on the knees and a dark red rose melting in a puddle of red liquid embroidered on one side. The rose I'd embroidered myself, sticking myself with the needles many times before I finished.
30 minutes later, I found myself waiting in Danny's room for him to wake up, just listening to music. He must have needed a lot more sleep than I did, I thought. I turned on a song called "Bubblegum Bitch" by Marina & The Diamonds and listening to it as I waited, singing along very quietly to it as I waited.
Got a figure like a pin-up,
Got a figure like a doll,
Don't care if you think I'm dumb,
I don't care at all.
Candy bear, sweetie pie
Wanna be adored,
I'm the girl you die for.
I felt myself release another small shock of electricity, something that I'd done frequently since I'd become half-ghost. Sometimes, if I focused, I could control the electricity for a few seconds before I lost my hold on it. I hadn't figured out if it was a ghost power of sorts or if it was just the aftermath of being electrocuted.
I'll chew you up and
I'll spit you out
Cause that's what young love
Is all about.
So pull me closer
And kiss me hard,
I'm gonna pop your
Bubblegum heart!
Danny shifted and curled up tighter in his blankets, apparently not ready to be awake yet. I smiled softly and took a mental picture; I'd definitely try to draw that from memory later. I resisted the urge to just reach over and brush his bangs out of his face, instead brushing my own hair with my fingers carefully.
I'm Miss Sugar Pink,
Liquor liquor lips,
Hit me with your sweet love,
Steal me with a kiss.
I'm Miss Sugar Pink,
Liquor liquor lips,
I'm gonna be your
Bubblegum bitch.
I'm gonna be your
Bubblegum bitch!
Danny woke up right about then and sat up, yawning. I paused my music and took my headphones off.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty."
Danny groaned and rolled his eyes, rubbing at them with the back of his hand. "What time is it?"
I checked my mp3 player. "11:30. Good job, you didn't wake up in the afternoon today."
"Oh, hush. Did Jazz snap a blackmail picture earlier?"
"Yeah. I'll have you know, it took me ten minutes just to get out of your bed, you were that intent on keeping me there." I smiled a little, noticing that Danny smiled too.
"That's probably why I woke up so early." We both laughed a little, neither of us too awake. I leaned over and ruffled his hair, chuckling when he batted my hand away. I stood up and left the room so that he could change in privacy, greeting Mrs. Fenton as she left her room.
"Good morning, Mrs. Fenton."
"Rose? When did you come over?" She yawned midway through her sentence.
"Around midnight."
"Of course you did." She smiled and ruffled my own hair, walking away to get breakfast ready. I didn't normally eat in the mornings, so I wouldn't be taking part in breakfast. Not unless someone forced me. Normally, if I ate before 5 hours have passed from when I woke up, I just ended up sick. Danny left his room in his normal clothes; a white shirt with red linings and a red circle in the middle and baggy jeans.
He yawned and pulled me downstairs after him. His iron grip was going to break my wrist. Jazz was already downstairs, reading some sort of psychology book. My ghost sense went off after a little bit, but I hid it by taking a small bite of breakfast (which Danny had decided I had to eat if we were going to do anything at all today), noticing that a similar blue mist came from Danny's mouth. I puzzled over that; Danny wouldn't have a ghost sense if he was human... but if he was a ghost (or at least part ghost), my ghost sense would go off around him.
I planned to figure that out later. For now, I concentrated on eating my breakfast slow enough that I wouldn't cough it up all up later.