8 Field Trip

When I got home, I slammed my backpack and shoes into their spots by the front door before doing anything else, dashing to my room in anticipation.

The journey on the bus was a lengthy affair, especially knowing my house was on the vehicle's last route as I groaned impatiently. If my seat partner hadn't blasted music through his wireless earbuds the whole time, he would have kicked me out the window since I rested against it and made noises by his ears.

Surely, though… Surely my encounter with Melina wasn't a one-time thing, right?

She said she would be there to guide me throughout the writing process, so I couldn't have exhausted all my quarters in the arcade machine quite yet. I was going to be the claw and grab that unlikely chance like that one goddamn plushie that could never be won. It evaded me during our time together, so I was going to make it up now in whatever twisted way I could imagine.

Starting today.

I threw the door to the guest room open in the middle of the afternoon, ready to set up camp for the second day in a row. If it hadn't been a Friday, then I would have had to worry about scrambling to finish my homework, but I could leave all my papers dormant until Sunday night at around eleven or so—when I would half-ass each one for the upcoming morning.

Booting up the laptop, I grabbed a white fleece blanket from the bed and curled myself up in the fetal position on a padded swivel chair by the oak desk.

I wondered…

A wicked idea came to my mind.

(Wicked? Perhaps it was more comedic…)

***

The warmth of being covered up lulled me to sleep eventually, the light of my phone unable to keep my brain entertained enough to stay awake. For heaven's sake, it was a fucking Friday night! I was going to nap as much as I wanted after a whole week of school.

I flicked my toes near the bottom of the fluffy expanse, stretching my legs to wake up some. By then, I hoped it was nighttime, and I smiled to myself while thinking how a nap was the perfect way to buy time until I could see Melina.

Staying awake, I would have quivered in anticipation and driven myself and my parents nuts! I had to know right then if my love would return for me in the evening.

Heck, it was so romantic in a sense… Romeo and Juliet met each other and waxed poetic from the side of the balcony, and I waited for Melina every night to seek me out like we were lovers. If I ignored their foolish deaths in the end, I wanted everything they had. So be it if I had to become sappier than a fucking tree to accomplish that.

While I peeked through a tiny hole I poked in the blanket earlier as an arrow loop for me to stake out the room, a blow to my shin startled me and severed the string of delusions I formed in my mind about what Melina and I would do together.

Right… We weren't even together like that…

"My fucking leg!"

A gasp followed my shouting as I pulled my knee up to my chest upon the realization that—hey—that did some damage!

(There wasn't much use in doing that. It wasn't like a thumb or arm wound that could be sucked to make the boo-boo feel better.)

"Ari! I'm so sorry!"

I immediately tossed the ghost disguise off me when I recognized that pleading voice, and had I been a dog with a tail, it would have wagged voraciously as I staggered to approach her with one dysfunctional leg.

Melina!

She came back to me! I wasn't just fantasizing. (Somewhat… I would have to pinch myself if we kissed or did something more.)

As I was forced to sit back down due to the throbbing pain I felt, I couldn't believe I ever thought my "genius" idea to disguise myself as a ghost (with black eyes made of paper to boot) just to see her reaction would work in any sense.

Hell, she just smacked the shit out of my shin! That was some kind of proof for sure!

Nonetheless, she did chuckle a little as she earnestly apologized, and that sweet sound was like honey as it graced my ears.

"I'm sorry—"

"I'm so glad to see you again, Melina!" I told her, almost too excited.

With wide eyes, she grinned at me, nodding as she was caught off guard.

"You still haven't listened to me, though."

"Hm?" I replied.

To what could she have possibly referred?

"You're in the wrong place again," she said, pointing out the sanitized appearance of this room compared to my disorderly one.

I swallowed. "Uh… I had to beg my parents to stay here, and they're not giving me a refund anytime soon."

Although Melina's eyes were piercing at first, the brown in them softened from rock to soil as she laughed. "It's fine. I had to play my role, you know?"

As much as I wanted to contribute to the happy atmosphere, I was far too puzzled to try. When it was just the two of us...

"No… I don't…?"

From the wooden door, she took dainty steps in my direction, soles barely even grazing the floor. A kitten. She was sly and agile like one.

I wondered where she was en route to as she came closer to my workshop. My first thought was that she'd pass me to toy with a lamp or some piece of decor, playful as she was, but when her gaze didn't shift from its placement on my face, I knew she wasn't going to alter her course.

Standing (or sitting) my ground, I gulped once more as her black dress swung a little behind her. It was too cute of a sight for her predatory actions. My heartbeat was going to go crazy if she came right up to me!

With a few more steps, she was directly in front of my little cocoon on the chair, and she bent her knees to level our gazes as I flicked my dark blue jeans between my thumb and forefinger out of anxiousness.

I swore, our noses were mere inches from each other as she then spoke to me.

"Love, have you already forgotten I'm a ghost?"

Then, she chuckled to dissipate the tension by some minute amount.

Why did she tease me like this? With her sweet yet intimate actions, she was as unreadable as a novel in a foreign language! (If "Oogle Translate" was the immediate reply, that was beside the point!)

My face turned entirely scarlet as she stared at me like that, and it took every bit of self-control to not pull her in for a raunchy kiss with those curved lips right there for the taking.

Placing her hands on the arms of my chair to stabilize it, she cocked her head and continued, "If I didn't 'possess' the situation per se, would I really be living up to my title?"

Emotionally, I was so flustered that I waved my hands out of embarrassment and flailed my legs a little, careful not to hit her as she had done to me.

"I-I get you now. Just—"

Right then, there was knocking on my door.

"Ari?"

*Fuck!*

My mom yelled my name several times, announcing her arrival home. I couldn't let her see me so frazzled and bashful but more importantly…

I whispered, "Melina, hide!"

Raising an eyebrow, she didn't budge in the slightest as I tried shooing her away like a mosquito.

Was she trying to get caught? And in what appeared to be a compromising position?

I would have paid a large sum just to see what rolled through her mind!

Despite Melina sitting there, laughing away, a layer of sound from the door handle caught my attention, and a waterfall of curse words almost fell from my tongue.

All I could do by then was breathe in hopes my redness would cease as my mother's face came into view.

"Ari, I just wanted to let you know that your dad and I are here. I didn't know if you wanted to eat right now or take a nap." She smiled at me sweetly, holding up a bag full of poke bowls that I could smell from halfway across the room. "By the way, were you chatting with someone on the phone, dear? I heard you talking from down the hall, but I couldn't make out what you said."

She… Could she see Melina at all?

I leaned over in my chair to look past the snarky, snickering girl in front of me—if she was really there at all.

"I'm good for now." I faked a yawn. "Super tired. Busy week. I can't believe my friends had the energy to go to the fair!"

My mother frowned as she lowered her arm. "You should have gone with them. You're always holed up in this house. Doesn't it get boring?"

*No! I need to keep working. How could doing something in the name of love be dreary?*

"I'm good," I said lazily, a sheepish smile on my face to sell the lie.

"Are you feeling okay?" she then asked. "You're sitting funny like that chair will tumble over, and your cheeks—"

"Mom! I'm fine!"

This lady…

With a frown, she nodded. "I'll just trust you on that. If you need anything—and I mean *anything*—please come and talk to me. Okay?"

I rolled my eyes. "Sure."

Clicking the door shut after blankly staring at me for a few moments, my mother left me alone in the guest room without much more questioning.

The tension in my body dissipated when I realized I was in the clear, and I let my legs fall comfortably to the ground.

That was genuinely a close one.

But a rousing suspicion came to my mind as I scanned the area in front of me for my ghostess again, only to find her resting against my desk and smiling devilishly at me after she moved out of my way a few moments ago.

Since it looked like she waited for me to break the silence, I went ahead and asked, "Melina, how come I can see you, and she can't?"

At last, Melina backed away from the work area with that same smug grin on her face. "Because I *want* you to see me."

*Geez, I sure wish that applied to me when I wanted to avoid people!*

"You can do that?" I inquired in disbelief.

"I can do whatever I want." She shrugged.

After that, she skipped around the room innocently, her frilly skirt bouncing alongside her. I couldn't help but grin slightly as I saw her in a state of bliss.

Being a ghost… It seemed like there was something carefree and liberating about it.

"What have you found out since I last saw you?"

I placed a finger to my chin, trying to recall the writing advice columns and Redlit posts I consumed instead of a snack during my fourth period.

That hunger resonated in my stomach with a growl, and the regret of not eating on time filled me despite me being empty.

"Everything I read online said that I need to experience things if I want to write them well... 'Write what you know.' I think I saw that printed like twenty times." I chuckled, pulling out a box of fish-shaped crackers from a stash I stocked the other day. "You'd think writers would come up with more creative ways to say the same thing."

Although I expected her to giggle with me, she stopped in her tracks beside the bed, staring at the messy sheets. "Is that so? A field trip?"

"Yeah." I smacked a few times. "Sounds pretty fun, actually."

Her eyes narrowing, something sinister came over her face as she appeared conflicted. I hoped it wasn't my chewing that bothered her.

"I don't like the idea," she complained flatly.

Melina was supposed to be a good writer! Wouldn't she play by the book?

She continued, "You have to stay in your comfort zone some, even if you need to break out of it eventually. It's hard to write somewhere you're not comfortable and get the wrong impression by only going someplace once."

That troubled expression was erased from her face as if she did a complete 180.

"You should stay here with me instead," she said, laughing and grinning.

Right then, it wasn't like she didn't make any sense, but the fluctuating emotions from her made me cautious. However, my simple, one-track brain gave in to her request easily with just a speck of logic from her.

I begged to spend more time with her, and that was what I wanted to do more than anything! With an invitation, how could I possibly refuse?

Shyly nodding, I said, "Then, I'll start with that. I'll see how much I can get done."

"Sounds like a plan," she replied, that eerie grin never faltering.

At that moment, the area between my legs thought far too much for me as I didn't even realize I was getting sucked into the vortex of quicksand with that one proposal of hers, soon coercing me into agreeing with everything she said.

Pushover girlfriend?

That, I was (or would be)!