Apparitions and Other Everyday Abnormalities

“Are you sure you feel okay?” Patrick asks Brendon for the ten billionth time.

“I feel great,” Brendon grins, clutching my hand. Patrick bandaged both of our cuts earlier, and now we’re trying to leave but he’s acting like a concerned mother. Spencer is waiting in the car. He seemed a bit overwhelmed after everything happened.

“Okay. Well I better let you guys get home. Call me tomorrow and let me know how he’s doing,” Patrick demands. I nod, the smile still firmly on my face and not going anywhere any time soon. “And it’s nice to finally meet you, Brendon,” he adds. Brendon nods.

“You too. I’m going to go check on Spencer, okay?” he tells me. I nod, kind of reluctant to let him out of my sight. He places a soft kiss on my lips that puts me completely at ease before heading out the door.

“Cute,” Patrick teases. I shove his shoulder and he laughs.

“Thank you so much. Really. I couldn’t have done any of this without you,” I say sincerely.

“No problem. I helped and I made some friends in the process,” he smiles. He hugs me one last time before shooing me out the door with another reminder to call him tomorrow.

Spencer and Brendon are wrapped in a hug when I get in the car. “No boyfriend stealing,” I say to Spencer, who scoffs.

“Oh, so now he’s your boyfriend?” he laughs.

“If he wants to be,” I mutter embarrassedly. Brendon climbs into the front seat and kisses me on the cheek.

“Of course,” he says quietly. I don’t even try to hide the huge smile on my face the entire way home.

***

“Yes, Mom,” I sigh into the phone, rolling my eyes at Brendon, Spencer, and Haley. “Okay, I understand. But he can stay, right?” I bite my lip in anticipation to her response.

“Yes,” she finally agrees. I grin into the phone and quickly make up some excuse about my phone dying before hanging up.

“She said yes!” I yell. Brendon squeals excitedly and tackles me onto my bed. We fall down and share a couple of kisses in between laughter. I made up some story about meeting Brendon at the park and said his parents are moving away but he doesn’t want to so he needs a place to stay, and she totally bought it. I even told her he was my boyfriend and she didn’t care. Patrick said he was going to get Brendon a new birth certificate with a different last name and new identification papers so he could go back to school. It’s a good thing Brendon went to a different school than we’re going to this year, or he might be recognized by some teachers. The papers will all be fake of course, but Patrick has connections, so they’ll be good fakes. If anyone does recognize Brendon we’ll just brush it off as a weird look-a-like with the same first name. I’ve planned this all out.

“Let’s leave before they start stripping each other,” Spencer says to Haley who pouts.

“Aw, but I wanna watch,” she grins. Spencer rolls his eyes and leads her out by the hand, shutting the door behind him.

“Finally alone,” I say, kissing Brendon again.

“I can’t believe all of this is happening,” he laughs light-heartedly. “I can’t believe it worked.”

“I can’t believe it either, but I’m so happy,” I tell him honestly. “I love you.” I’ve told him about fifty times since I got him back, but I can’t help it.

“I love you, too,” he replies with a smile, kissing one corner of my mouth and then the other. I thought that if he ever became human again we’d lose that electricity that happens every time we kiss, but it’s surprisingly still there. I guess he still has some of his ghost-like qualities, and if he is stuck with magical sex powers forever then I am totally cool with that.

“You know, there’s still something else you never got to experience before,” I start, looking at him innocently. He raises an eyebrow and I smile seductively, biting my lip.

“Oh,” he mumbles. His smile turns into a sexy smirk and he kisses me, biting my bottom lip a little. Clothes come off, kisses become wilder and before I know it, we’re both naked and breathing hard against each other’s mouths. We don’t have sex; we aren’t ready for that yet. All of this is new to Brendon, though. The sounds he makes make me bite my lip and dig my fingers into his back. I was right about this being amazing. Everything feels ten times better than it would with a normal person.

Brendon is sweet; he places soft kisses anywhere he can, running his fingers through my hair, twining our fingers together, anything to make me feel loved. I feel the love in everything he does. This isn’t like anything I’ve ever done before. This is slow, careful, sweet, and caring. It’s everything I never knew I wanted so badly.

When Brendon comes, he says my name. It sounds so perfect falling from those lips. I kiss him through it, astonished with the sounds he’s making. They’re so soft and subtle.

Afterward, we just lie tangled together under my blanket. I hold him as tight as I can because I’m so scared to ever let him go again.

“I tried to kill myself,” I whisper. Brendon breathes in sharply. “That’s what the bandages on my wrists are,” I explain. Brendon turns to look at me, concerned.

“Why?” is all he asks.

“To be with you,” I answer. He looks sad, but kind of happy at the same time.

“Let’s not dwell on the past. What matters is that everything turned out amazing,” he smiles at me.

“You saved me. I didn’t give a fuck about my life before you,” I tell him.

“Really?” he cocks his head to the side.

“After all, you’re my wonderwall,” I smile playfully. He laughs and kisses me sweetly. I sigh and snuggle into him, ready to forget the world and fall asleep with the one person I love more than anything. I drift slowly out of consciousness, and there’s nothing missing this time because I can distinctly hear the soft, unmistakable sound of a heartbeat.