Falling For a Ghost? How Is That Even Possible?

“You love him?”

My eyes shifted from Austin’s to the doorway behind him. There, standing in the English doorway, was Cale. His face looked shocked, hurt, sad…angry.

“Cale…” I whispered. I half couldn’t believe my eyes. Cale was here. And what wonderful timing too! Austin shifted and looked behind himself, but to him, he’d see no one. I was the only one that could. “Where have you been?”

Cale took a few steps closer to me. “Away,” he said absently. His eyes moved over to Austin then spoke in disgust. “So this is what you prefer? You wouldn’t even give me a chance, but it’s been two weeks and you already love him?”

To hell with what everyone else thought. They all probably thought I was crazy by now anyways.
Instead, I dropped the manuscript in my hands and pointed a finger at Cale. I took a few steps towards him and shouted in his face.

“You BASTARD!”

Confusion immediately washed over his face.

“You made me a promise you weren’t going to leave me! Then less than an hour later, you do! And I didn’t even know where you were going!” I ruffled my hair in frustration. “I didn’t know when you’d come back or if you even were coming back! I didn’t know if you were still alive!”

Cale’s face went blank.

“Two weeks, Cale! Two whole long weeks without you! Do you have any idea what it’s like to miss someone so much that you can’t function properly? Huh? Well, you know what? IT SUCKS! Oh, and not to mention that you stood me up! You were supposed to be at that diner at six sharp! SIX! And you never showed! I’ve been worried sick about you!”

Cale’s expression was hard. “Like you really care! You love him.” He gestured towards Austin, who was looking quite pale by the way. “He’s your prince charming, not me.”

My eyes widened. “Are you fucking kidding me?! I don’t love him! I love him like a friend, and that’s it! You’re the one who’s too quick to judge! Maybe if you would have stayed around a little longer after the kiss, you would have known that!”

“Well excuse me for not wanting to see the girl I lo...to see some girl I thought was my soul mate kiss another guy! And right in front of me! What exactly were you thinking when you were kissing him? I bet my feelings didn’t even cross your mind!”

I stumbled for words. “You have no idea what I was thinking! I could have been thinking about you for all you know!”

Cale scoffed. “Yeah, sure, you were thinking of me as you shoved your tongue down his eager throat.”

I hadn’t realized that tears were falling down to the floor. I was so caught up with the yelling that I didn’t even notice I was crying. “Cale,” I sobbed. I finally decided to give up and collapsed to the floor on my knees in front of him. “Why did you leave me? I… I was afraid that you committed…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.

He stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Finally, he walked towards me and kneeled down on his knees in front of me. “Amy… You really hurt me. How else was I supposed to respond?”

I hiccupped and looked deep into his grey eyes that I’d missed for so long. “I’m sorry… But you have to believe me, Cale. When I said that I could have been thinking of you, I was. When I kissed Austin, I was imagining kissing you.”

Cale’s face softened and the look of anger disappeared. We didn’t say anything for a while; just stared into each other’s eyes.

“Please don’t leave me again,” I said quietly. I looked down and at the floor. “I really…I really care about you, Cale. More than you possibly know.”

His hand grasped my chin gently and pulled my face up. His eyes were soft and caring. “I won’t leave you again, Amy. If I do, you have permission to hunt me down and kill me.” He smiled lightly.

I returned the smile miserably. “Never,” I whispered.

He nodded.

Then a real smile spread across my face.

“Amy?” A hand settled on my shoulder and shook me gently. I turned around and looked up to see Mrs. Brown staring at me wide eyed and a little bit afraid. “Sweetie, are you…okay?”

I nodded, smiling, and wiped the tears from my cheeks. I stood up and noticed the rest of the class looked just as frightened.

“Perhaps you should go see a doctor…” Mrs. Brown commented.

RING RING!

The students quickly gathered their things then rushed out of the room.

“Thanks for the advice, Mrs. Brown,” I said as I left the room. Cale walked beside me.

“Lets go somewhere,” he said.

We walked out of the school and over to my car. “Like where?”

He scratched the back of his head. “Diner?” I was fixing to answer, but someone came running over to us (me).

“Hey, Amy!”

“Austin?” Oh great.

“Would you mind telling me what the FUCK is going on?”

I sighed and ruffled my hair. “Um, Austin… I don’t even know where to start. Can’t you just forget what you heard in there?”

“No.”

“Okay, here, I’ll make it short. Cale saw you and I kiss those weeks ago, he left, and now he’s back. End of story.”

“No one else was in the classroom, Amy! It was like you were talking to a ghost!”

I fiddled with the door handle of my car and refused to meet him in the eye. And when I didn’t respond all things clicked for him.

“This Cale dude…he’s invisible?”

“Uh, yeah, kind of. He’s a, um…ghost actually.”

Austin was silent for a moment. “I confessed my feelings for you in there; I told you that I loved you, and then you go and make up something like this. Ghosts aren’t real, Amy. How stupid do you think I am?”

I was speechless. “Austin, no. I’m telling the truth. Cale is a ghost-”

He held up his hand to cut me off, and then started walking away. “I don’t want to hear it. Don’t talk to me again until you drop this big charade.”

I just stood there and watched Austin walk away. He thought I was playing with his feelings. He thought what happened in English was just a big show.

I felt a pair of cold hands settle on my shoulders.

“It’s okay,” Cale said. “Just give him some time.”

I sighed and turned around, and looked into his grey eyes. “This is insane, you know that, right?”

A slow smile spread across his face. “People do crazy things…”

And in my mind, I quietly added, "When they're in love."