Phantom

Chapter 9: Bestfriends Again
“I’m worried about him,” I admitted.
“Why?” Nathan asked in disgust.
“We haven’t spoken since the Green Lake incident, Nathan.”
“It’s not like it matters,” he said indifferently.
“It matters to me. I feel… guilty.”
“You feel guilty?” He asked and chuckled. “You didn’t do anything.”
“I think we should settle this once and for all. Yeah, he did do bad things to me but holding a grudge over him won’t do any good. I think I’m the only one living in the past.”
Nathan sighed. “It’s up to you if you want to talk to him or not. Do what you feel is right. If it makes you happy to befriend him again then do so and if you’re going to talk to him I won’t interfere.”
“Keith said to stay together at all times,” I reminded him.
“He lives just a couple houses away. What’s the harm?”
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Very.”
“Are you sure you won’t get jealous again?”
“I realized that I shouldn’t be jealous because I know you’re mine,” Nathan murmured and wrapped his arms around my waist.
I smiled and wrapped my arms around him. “All of the epiphany’s are kind of creepy,” I said and laughed.
He leaned in and kissed me. This kiss felt different; like he never wanted to let me go. It lasted longer than normal and although I didn’t want to end it, I had to go to Lawren’s house while I still had the guts. I leaned away and let go of Nathan.
“See you later,” I murmured.
“Be safe,” he said with a light chuckle.
I jumped off of the kitchen stool and walked to the front door with Nathan behind me.
I constantly turned my head to look back at Nathan who was standing in the doorway as I walked to Lawren’s house.
I rang the doorbell once I got to the Shaw residence. I rocked back and forth on my heels as I waited for someone to answer the door.
Mrs. Shaw peeked out of the window through the curtians and smiled at me. She unlocked the door and opened it. “Why, hello, Natalia! Good afternoon. I haven’t seen you around here in a while.”
“Hi, Mrs. Shaw. Uhm… I came by to talk to Lawren. Is he home?”
“He’s upstaires. He’s been out of it lately. Do you know what’s wrong with him?”
“I might have a faint idea.”
“Well, go ahead on upstaires. He’s in the work room.”
“Thank you,” I said, took off my shoes and ran on up the staires.
I got to the work room and the door was shut. I heard Lawren inside the room mumbling something inaudible and probably unintelligible.
“Ow!” He yelped. “Stupid freakin’ needle!”
I gently knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” He asked rudely.
“It’s… it’s Natalia,” I stuttered.
He was quiet for a moment. “What do you want?”
“Can I come in?”
“Help yourself,” he mumbled, trying to sound indifferent.
I opened the door and waved at him awkwardly with a smile. I looked around for a place for me to sit. I settled myself on a bench beside the window and patted the side beside me for him to sit. He stood up from his stool and sat next to me. We sat in silence for a couple seconds.
“Why are you here, Natalia?” He sighed.
“I want to apologize for what happened,” I murmured gently and sincerely.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” he whispered, his eyes closed. “All of our problems are because of me.”
“And for each of those problems I’m the main root.” Before he was able to object, I continued to talk. “The day’s we were together, I should never have been dishonest with you. I should have told the truth.
“When we went to the lake, it was my fault to have brought the both of you together like that.
“Lawren, we used to be so close; we were two peas in a pod. When things abruptly fell apart between us, it just happened so quickly that it was so… unfathomable. You were my shoulder to lean on, you were my best friend, you were my brother… you were my first love. The love wasn’t true because a true love would be the love of my life but despite the fact that you weren’t my true love, you were still my first. It’s hard to forget about a persons first love and I know I wasn’t yours and that’s why you got over me so quickly. At first I didn’t understand but I do now.”
“Natalia… you were my first love. I’ve loved you since the first day I met you. I’ve always tried to get over you by being with other girls but you always held a piece of my heart.
“The reason I ended us was because you were changing right before my eyes and to be honest you still are. I know that girl I love is still there somewhere but if this is just a part of you that I never knew; that’s breaking out of it’s shell, I’m willing to try to get used to it. I just want you to know that your warm heart is the best quality about you. You can change all you want but the thing I can’t stand to see you let go is your heart.” He raised his hand and pointed to my heart.
I didn’t notice that I started to tear up until Lawren wiped a tear from the corner of my eye.
“I can’t do this anymore,” I moaned, tossing my head back.
Lawren stared at my confused. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No, no. Not at all. I can’t keep this secret from you anymore! Lawren, the reason I wasn’t honest with you was because of the thing I’ve been hiding. What I’m going to tell you… do you promise to let me finish and not interrupt?”
He nodded his head slowly.
“It’s time to be honest with you.” I took in a deep breath to get ready for my confession. “Lawren, I’m not who you think I am. On the outside I may look normal; like a human. But on the inside… I’m not. Now don’t jump to the conclusion that I’m an alien or whatever but what I am would probably fit somewhere in that category.” Lawren’s face looked frightened, like he thought I was going to eat him since he already got the fact that I wasn’t human. Now he was just waiting for me to say what I was and to put that into the right words would be difficult.
“Lawren, I’m a… uhm… a… ghost.” The way I said it made it sound like I was asking a question.
Lawren just sat there. His face was expressionless.
“Lawren?”
A smile slowly grew on his face.
“What?”
“Do you really expect me to believe that?” He asked incredulously.
“Well… yeah. I do.”
“Natalia, do you really think you’re a ghost?” He chuckled.
“Lawren, I’m not kidding,” I said seriously.
“You’re crazy,” he said shaking his head and chuckling. He stood up and walked around the room. He finally stopped in front of me and asked, “how stupid do you think I am as to believe something like that?”
I sighed and stood up. “You can believe or not. It’s your choice. I’m not going to try to make you do anything. Call me when you’ve seeked your ultimatum.” I walked out the door and down the stairs.
“Natalia,” Lawren called from the top of the stairs right before I twisted the door knob. “Can you explain to me?”
I smiled. “Sure.”
I sat back down on the bench along with Lawren.
“So you’re a… ghost?” Lawren said, reminding me where I left off.
I started to tell him about from the first time I transformed to my day’s of training, being sure to not forget anything but omit the Vanburen’s. I told him everything that I’ve done and am able to do. The only expression on his face was wonder and at times it made me laugh which led him to laughing as well.
“I’ve missed you, Lawren,” I said when I finished.
“I’ve missed you, too,” he replied.
“Promise me again that we’re going to be best friends forever,” I said and stuck out my pinky with my right hand just like we did when we promised each other twelve years ago.
He stuck out his pinky as well and twisted his around mine holding my picky firmly with his. He smiled, let go of my pinky and wrapped his arms around me and I wrapped my arms around him.
The tension between us was finally gone. I was able to breathe around Lawren once again. What happened between us did happen, but miraculously, we were able to finally put it behind us.
“My best friend is a ghost,” Lawren mused when he let go of me.
“And my best friend is human,” I said, copying him.
We both laughed.
“Did you finish the dress?” I asked remembering the time a long while ago when Lawren’s project was this beautiful goddess-like dress. It was nearly finished the time I saw it and I was sure it was completed and perfect now.
Lawren grinned and stood up. He walked over to the wardrobe and dug all the way in the back right corner. He came out not holding the box I thought the dress would be in but a crumpled up large ball of cream colored and silk cloth and crystal rhinestones.
I gasped. “What happened?” I asked and slowly took the dress from his hands and unwrapped it. It was obvious that the dress has been sitting in the back of the wardrobe because of the dust that was collecting upon the dress.
“It just got a bit frustrating after a while and I decided to discontinue it,” he explained.
“But you were so close to finishing it,” I said as I smoothed out the dress on a table.
“I know,” he sighed.
I smiled.
“What?” He asked, confused at why I was smiling.
“Can you finish it? For me?” I smiled angelically.
Lawren was unsure for a second but succumbed a moment later with a sigh. “Fine.”
I clapped my hands. “I’m really excited to see how it turns out.”
Lawren shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
“You haven’t told me who the lucky girl is yet,” I said and nudged his with my elbow.
“I don’t think I’m going to give it to any girl. I’m just going to donate to my mom’s shop if I finish it.” He picked up the dress and tossed it on the chair in front of his desk.
“Well tell me when you do so I can buy it,” I said and laughed.
He turned around to face me and laid his hands on my shoulders. He walked closer to me and scrutined my face. He was getting uncomfortably close. “I’ve missed you Natalia,” he whispered.
Lawren was obviously getting the wrong impression way too quickly and before he would do anything stupid, I threw my arms around him to give him a hug. “So have I,” I said with a laugh.
That outta do the trick, I thought to myself.