Andy

My Dad let out a sound similar to a victorious war hoot as we entered the city limits of Berkeley. And truth be told, no matter how excited he was for this trip, he did not enjoy the drive. Because like me, he hadn’t really been out of the state on an actual roadtrip in over sixteen years. The last time I remember him really going anywhere, was when I was six years old, he flew out to New York for a contractors convention with Micky, his boss and a few other coworkers.

I was just excited to escape the car, because the feeling of a suffocating cat was coming back to me. I had already made plans to sprint happily to the hotel the second we were in park.

Even though, California did not feel like my cup of tea, it did offer a lot of inspiring music directions, just as it had to all those before me. I’d have some spare time to sit on the beach and write, rather than being cooped up in my small, dark room.

I shook Andy’s shoulder, and as he gained awareness, he grinned, “We’re finally fucking here!” He shouted, slamming his hands against the car windows.

“We’ll go to the hotel first, settle in and freshen up before we go pick up Evelyn.” Dad said as he made a right turn at an intersection. I leaned to the side in my seat, looking out the car window at the wide, cloudless sky. It was the deepest blue, which made me smile, because it reminded me of home.

We passed business parks and apartment buildings, and the deeper into the city we got, the more the town rose up around us, with spires of department stores and skyscrapers, it felt like the busy side of Pendant, which made me wonder how long it’d fly with Dad for.

We parked in front of a six story Holiday Inn. The front doors shrouded by decorative hedge animals shaped like lions.

“To the kingdom, lions guarding castle walls...” Andy sang under his breath, I looked at him for an explaination, but he didn’t catch my gaze.

Shrugging it off, I looked back up at what would be our abode for the next couple days. Mom and Dad got out to go and book our room, and I climbed out to stretch, overly greatful to finally be done driving for a few days. We still had the trip back, which was bound to be just as boring, but for now we had three and a half days until we left. That was time to explore, shop, check out the beaches and meet new people.

Dad did say that California was rich in music culture, which meant there was a pretty good chance of meeting some likeminded individuals who liked the same music I did.

Okay.... So, maybe California isn’t as bad as I orginally thought. But as soon as I started to realize I might like it here, I reminded myself, no more Apture, no more home, no more CC, Jake or Jinxx... And instantly, I was cured. As though I’d woken from a bad dream, I shook my head, disgusted I had even considered liking it here.

“Well, it’s just as hot as I remember.” Andy mumbled at my side, a cigarette in his mouth while he dug through his pockets for a lighter. “That’s one of the unmistakable things about California, is the heat. You don’t forget how you sweat out twice your weight in water here.” He finally found the small silver Zippo lighter he’d had since we met, and lit up his nicotine death stick. Not that it really mattered what effect it had on his body, at this point...

“As predicted, we’re close to the community college dorms...” He rubbed his hands together anxiously, looking in the direction the dorms must’ve resided in.

“Why me?... If my parents wake up and find me missing here, they’re not going to take it as easy as they did at home. Because a number of things could happen to me here.”

“Abduction? Rape? Murder? Sorry to burst your bubble, but those things are everywhere. Always have been. Only difference is that you’re more comfortable in Pendant than here, making it seem far and few between the chances of it actually happening to you at home.” He took a long drain of his cigarette before thoughtfully tapping it against the bumper of the car parked beside us, “Besides, you already agreed to help me with this.”

“When did I say that?!”

“It’s part of the unwritten contract of a ghost/human friendship.” He replied with a cocky smile, putting on his douchebag sunglasses again, just as he had days before.

“Hey, wait!” I called him out, and he paused his smoking for a moment in confusion. “You said you can’t grow your hair, your spit is unicorns and rainbows, just like your tears and sweat, you don’t actually have to breathe, so what effect does the sun have on your eyes?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Uh...”

“You wear those damn sunglasses when you’re avoiding conversations.” I continued with a narrowing glare.

“No.” He corrected, clearing his throat once he’d finally come up with some sort of suitable excuse. “You’re right, I don’tneed to wear them, but I do because... Well... Who are we kidding? I look good in them.” He pushed them further up his nose, another cheeky smile blown my way before he continued ot finish off his ciagarette, which had burned down considerably during our conflicted exchange.

I rolled my eyes and sighed, leaning back against the car, crossing my arms, the breeze blowing strands of green into my eyes, I watched the front doors of the hotel, waiting for my parents to come back.

~~~

Dragging my suitcase and backpack towards the convieniently placed elevator was a task in itself. The receptionists watched me with pitiful eyes as I drug my packed to exploding danger suitcase across the floral print commercial carpet of the lobby.

A man reading a newspaper in the breakfast bar area looked up over his glasses and crumpled paper to watch my slow progress.

“Did you pack rocks?... I don’t remember you struggling that much last night...” My Mom said in concern, easily able to carry her case with one hand. I waved off her concern, “No, no, I think I know what made it so heavy.”

I was glad she didn’t pry on it, because how would I explain to her, that chances were, my ghostly buddy stored his entire wardrobe in my suitcase, too. At what point he made the exchange, I have no clue. I sighed and kept pulling it until Andy’s throaty laugh rose from behind me.

“Want help?”

I fought the urge to glare up at him. He picked it up easily, smirking, eyes invisible behind the thick black shades. “Make it look like you’re carrying it.” He said.

I lined it up with my left side, wrapping my hand around the handle, I sighed in fake relief, backed by annoyance. “Oh, there we go.” I told my Mom, she watched me in concern for another moment before nodding, and extending something towards me. I recognized it as a hotel room card.

“We got seperate rooms this week, figured you’d like your space.” She smiled at me, so did my Dad. I accepted it in confusion, “Really? This isn’t a trick or something?” I wondered, turning it over in the palm of my hand, they shook their heads and smiled. “Your room is 120. A floor above ours, unfortunately. They were pretty booked up this week so we couldn’t get two together, but they said the view from the top floor is glorious, so that should make up for it.... Meet us back here at 12:00, please. And make sure you wear a dress! We’re going to The Rose Garden.”

I enclosed the key tightly in my hand, nodding, I yanked Andy and our suitcase of rocks along into the elevator, where he hit the sixth floor button, sending us up with a series of rumbles going on around us,

“Well, that certainly makes sneaking out easier.” He breathed in relief.

“You can’t be serious!” I exclaimed in disbelief, “You still want me to sneak out, Jesus...” I groaned.

“Why is this such a problem?” He wondered with a wide grin.

“I don’t know Berkeley like the back of my hand!” I cried in exasperation and annoyance, but his response was a happy chuckle. “Lucky for you, I am. Just like the trip to the school, To, from, and maybe some singing and storytelling on the way.”

The double doors opened onto the sixth floor, and I just let him handle the suitcase, since he had an abundance of strength.

“Wait!” I stopped him again. He stopped walking, and propped his weight against the suitcase, pursing his lips patiently.

“You have plenty of strength you fucking liar. You told me that night we went to the school, you couldn’t even handle digging up the box!”

“Uh, hey, um...” He scratched the back of his neck uneasily. I narrowed my eyes at him suspiciously. “Seems to me you’re almost human... What limits are there for you? You can still be visible and do anything you want! And you don’t even have the commitments of dragging a body around.”

“I’ll tell you about it someday.” He concluded, sensing our conversation was over, he took the suitcase and headed down the hall.

“Why not today?” I demanded, catching up to him quickly. “Can’t you trust me?”

“Can’t you trust that I’ll tell you when I’m ready?” He replied uncomfortably, still making his way down the hall.

I stopped walking, and something clicked. This trip... The photo albums, all the memory lane trips he wanted to make...

“You’re trying to resurrect yourself....” I whispered in shock. He stopped walking and turned around, his face unbelieving. “Nope.” He simply replied, stopping in front of a door, he held his hand out for the key. I handed to him and h popped it in the lock, waiting for the door to recognize it.

“Well... Then will you explain what all of this is about?”

“Soon.”

“Andy!”

“I’m being serious.” He shook his head, pulling off his sunglasses, tucking them neatly on the front of his shirt, I took a moment to adjust to his hair color again. “I will tell you soon, just be patient, okay?”

I hesitated a few moments before reluctantly agreeing. “Okay.”

“Well...” He sighed, turning the handle, “Welcome to your week home.” He pushed open the door, and I was blinded by bright, California sunlight.

Notes

It's been so long, and I apologize. I know I said before I'd be getting busy, but that wasn't really all of it. Most of the time I sit down to write, I just can't make myself write this story. It was really easy and seamless to write right up until Andy came back then it just became difficult for me, because there is so many mixed signals between the characters, and it's hard to know how to make them interact after something as abrupt and traumatic as him returning after supposedly being dead.Things that I haven't even hashed out yet. To be honest, I don't know what they are haha, but I've always tried to keep them in sort of the friendzone for a while, and I haven't quite gotten to figuring out if there's more, so... Yep.

I might be updating again later this evening, it just depends on rather or not I'm able to make it to town through the snow to serve my shift at the pancake supper, which is, helping people find tables and all that helpful leadership jazz. It's really weird for me though haha because I think I have two personalities. One being the person who sits and writes and draws and is kinda anti-social. The other person being the one who is thrown into leadership/4-H stuff where you have to be all cheerful and talk to people you don't know, and acting like you actually know what you're doing. (When I don't. I just do the classic 'fake it until you make it' thing.)

shoutouts:

- ZeldaBattleBuns
- anathema
- blackveilkitty
- Allie_BVB