The Ghost In My Bedroom - By Heather Jones Page 0,16

enough. I'm learning a lot about cooking and running the restaurant anyway, I'm almost thinking it might be something I would like to do, but I haven't been there very long, so maybe it's just a phase. I'm not sure."

I looked around at the bleachers, imagining that sweaty spring day I came out here to cheer on Ling and Alex at their graduation. I don't remember seeing Jon on stage but there were so many kids walking though, I guess I wasn't paying attention to anyone else.

"You know, I came here for Ling's graduation, I don't even remember seeing you. I guess I was really only looking out for Alex and Ling though."

"I remember you."

"Huh?"

"Well, I remember seeing you and Ling talking when I caught up with Alex. I asked him about you but he said you just came out of a bad breakup."

"You asked about me? He never said anything about that."

"I asked him not to, but he said he'd be sure to get you to come to work when he thought you were in a better mood."

"Did he now. So the other night was totally a set up?"

He smiled guiltily.

"I suppose Ling was in on it too huh?"

"I'm not really sure what he told her."

"Right."

"I think she knew."

"I figured."

"Are you mad?"

"No," I sighed. "I just didn't realize my friends were so eager to get rid of me."

"It's not like that. I was the one that was eager to meet you."

I contemplated him for a moment, wondering what I did exactly to make such an impression. Then the silence grew awkward from me not replying to him. He started fidgeting next to me. I forced myself to say the first thing that popped into my head.

"So did you go to your prom?"

"What? Yeah, didn't you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Well, like Alex already kind of told you, my boyfriend from my senior year turned out to be a total lunatic, and we ended up breaking up a few weeks before the prom. So I just didn't go."

"Why did you break up? Why didn't you wait until school was over? You would have had a date anyway."

"I know. It's so stupid. We had the talk about what would become of us once we started school, because I'm staying here and he's going away, and we both agreed maybe we should see other people since we'll both be open to all these new experiences, and he started with the whole well maybe we should have sex before we go just so it's with someone we loved and I wasn't ready and he turned into an absolute bastard and said he wasted his whole senior year on me and it wasn't worth hanging around anymore if I wasn't giving it up or something like that and we broke up and I've been avoiding him ever since." I was sort of fuming at this point, and I realized all I had just revealed in that instant. Maybe it was a bit too much information.

We sat in silence for a minute and I was wondering if he thought I was a bit of a basket case when he finally said, "I went to the prom with my cousin Kate. She's cool but she is much to in love with herself to find time for a boyfriend and she didn't have a date, so our parents sort of set the whole thing up, my mom pretty much rented me a tux and got flowers and then told me, oh by the way, you're Kate's date tonight, have fun. I actually did have fun. No one knew she was my cousin anyway."

I stared at him in disbelief. "You really went to the prom with your cousin?"

"Yeah, well, it was actually her junior prom not my senior prom. I really wasn't even thinking about going to my own, but hey, I look damn good in a tux if I do say so myself."

"I bet you do."

He stood up on top of the bleacher and offered me his hand. "But, we never had a slow dance, it just seemed a little incestuous to me. Lucy, may I have this dance?"

Even though there was no music playing I reached up to take his hand and he wrapped an arm around my waist and took my other hand in his and started swaying back and forth on the bleachers as he started humming a slow song. I had to laugh, I couldn't even tell what song it was supposed to