Misguided Ghosts

When you go to sleep at three in the morning, dragging yourself out of bed two hours later to answer the door is usually not welcomed.

Hayley trudged to the door, after pulling on a pair of jeans under her TAI t-shirt. Opening up the door to find William was definitely an ironic situation.

“Bill?” She rubbed her eyes. “Why are you here? Ryan said something about you guys being in Chicago…” She stopped at his expression. “Where’s Christine? And Genevieve?”

William looked at her, eyes wide. “They’re on the next flight out. But please, please tell me you have Ryan.”

“Yeah… he’s in the guest room. Why?”

William sighed, visibly relieved. “No one’s heard from him in days. After a week, I took the next flight out.”

“Aren’t you worried about the whole getting fired thing?” Hayley asked. “I’m on only FBR so Pete can’t do anything to me but, you’re a DecayDance band…”

William snorted, as Hayley led him inside, “Pete may be an ass but, he still has a business mind. Two of his bands splitting? That’d be utter chaos.”

Sighing, Hayley dropped down onto the sofa, dropping her head into her hands. William flopped onto the opposite couch, falling asleep almost immediately. Her last thought before falling herself had to do something about getting back to her bed….

The next morning, (or was it just considered a couple of hours later?) Hayley was again woken up by knocking on her apartment door. I guess isolating myself doesn’t really work now, huh? She thought, while rolling out of bed. Wait. Bed? Shaking her head Hayley rushed out of her room as the knocking got louder. William was still asleep on the couch, his head covered by a pillow.

Another knock on the door had her rushing again. “Hello?” she asked, pulling the door open.

“Hayley?” Christine asked, “Is William here?”

Hayley stared at her suspiciously, “You’re not going to stay here as well, are you?”

“Huh?”

“It just seems like every person who shows up at my door ends up staying here.” Hayley informed her, while leading Christine and Genevieve inside. “But are you staying here?”

Christine laughed softly, like there was some kind of joke in that sentence, “No, I’m not. But, is it okay if Genevieve does? William just got back from tour, and I don’t want his daughter missing out on spending time with him.” Genevieve looked out from behind her mother’s legs, melting Hayley’s heart.

“Of course. Before you leave do you want to wake up William? He’s sleeping on the couch.”

“Yeah.” Hayley pointed inn William’s direction, while saying something about checking on Ryan. Opening the door to his bedroom, she found Ryan sprawled under the sheets, with a full on bed head. She smiled, before turning back around. Hayley closed the door behind her and went into the kitchen, trying to avoid seeing William and Christine together. Even after three months, heart break doesn’t seem to get any easier to deal with.

Genevieve was sitting on the kitchen stool, her big eyes set on Hayley. “Mommy told me to ask you for something to eat.” She said shyly, her eyes lowered.

“Sure, princess. What do you want to eat?”

“Cereal?”

Hayley grabbed the carton of cereal and the milk, setting it down in front of Genevieve before rummaging through her cupboards for a bowl and spoon.

Genevieve mumbled something while Hayley was pouring out the cereal.

“Hmmm?”

“I said only you and Daddy and Wyan and Bambi call me princess.”

Hayley wrinkled her nose in confusion, “Bambi? Is he one of your daddy’s friends?”

She nodded her head vigorously, “Yeah. He’s really, really, tall and says a lot of words I don’t understand.” Genevieve sighed, “His last name sounds like sor-”

They both turned to look ay the door after hearing a laugh. “She’s talking about Gabe, Hayley. Bill kept calling him Gabanti and that got shortened down to ‘Bambi’.” Ryan walked over to the counter, plopping down next to Genevieve. “What’s for breakfast?”

Hayley stared at him for a second before putting a new bowl and spoon down. If Ryan was just trying to forget about what had happened, Hayley couldn’t exactly call him out on it. After all, she’s the one who spent the last couple of months locked in her apartment.

“Did I hear Bill in the living room?” Ryan asked, munching through his cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats).

“Yeah. He’s going to be staying for a while so, Christine came by to drop off Genevieve.” Hayley replied, using her chin to point at Genevieve.

“So the princess is going to be in LA for a while?”

“Yeah. I think that means that Gabe is going to be coming over a lot.” Hayley watched Ryan for a negative reaction. When he just shrugged and mentioned something about Hayley locking up her alcohol supply, she relaxed. Guess that meant Gabe was on the okay list.

Genevieve looked up from her empty bowl of cereal, and hopped down from the stool. “Where’s the bathroom?”

Hayley put her bowl in the sink and took Genevieve’s hand. “Ryan, just rinse your bowl, I’ll wash them later.” They passed Bill carrying in luggage and Christine walking outside as Hayley led Genevieve to the bathroom. After showing it to her Hayley went back into the living room where there were four suitcases lined up.

“Are you guys staying here for a while?”

William at least had the decency to look sheepish, “Just for a month or two.”

“A month or two? You’ll have to stay in the guest bedroom and thank God there are two beds or you and Ryan would have to share. Genevieve can stay in my room with me.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you Hayley!” William sighed, relieved, “Where is Genevieve, though?”

“She needed to go restroom. It’s down the hall, second door on the left.”

Hayley was slowly accumulating a deep sinking feeling that her beautiful, nicely scented apartment would start resembling a stinky, guy-perfumed tour bus.