Taking Risks (5 page)

             
After work, Gray and I decided that we would go see our Little Dirty Boy as soon as I woke up the next morning. His situation was a delicate one and it needed attention, fast, if we were going to be able to help. After giggling about my encounter with Risk, I shut my light out and went to sleep.

             
I woke to the sounds of crashing and my eyes snapped open. I saw Little Dirty Boy throwing my things in every direction and screaming every obscenity that he could think of. Trash and pieces of my bedroom furniture littered the floor and Gray was nowhere to be found. I was frozen in fear when Little Dirty Boys bright red eyes locked onto mine. He tossed something aside and stalked towards me yelling, “You did this!” over and over again. I was glued to my spot on the bed wondering how the hell he was trashing my house. Ghosts weren’t supposed to be able to touch things. When he was mere inches from my face I heard a voice that seemed far off.

             
“Marlee!” said the voice.

             
“Spud, what the hell?” It was clearer that time.

             
And then all of the sudden I was pulled from my dream. “Oh…That was creepy.” I said.

             
“You were yelling something I couldn’t understand and crying.” Gray said, concerned.

             
“I’m fine, it was just a dream.” I hoped so anyway. With that kind of start to my morning I was curious to see what the rest of the day had in store for me.

             
I got up and dressed myself. It was a lazy kind of Sunday, and I didn’t have to work, so I just wore my favorite lounge pants and a t-shirt that represented the Rocktop Bar and Grill. It was actually a warm morning and I took advantage of the sunlight by not wearing a jacket and taking a moment to bask in the rays of light between trees on our way back to the old town square.

             
When we go there we saw that Little Dirty Boy was nowhere to be found. We looked around the surrounding wooded area and even asked a few other lonely souls (the ones that didn’t seem so lost) if they had seen a boy that was covered in dirt wandering around. When Gray and I met back up I noticed that he had a look of defeat on his face that matched the feeling that was in my heart. If we couldn’t find the boy, we wouldn’t be able to help him before his soul was lost to a world of loneliness and anger forever.

             
As we were heading back to the house my phone chirped. I had already talked to my mom this morning and she told me that she would be in meetings all day long so I knew it wasn’t her. That only left one other person that it could be. I grinned from ear to ear before I even had a chance to look at the screen. It was a number that I didn’t recognize and the text simply said, “
Hey this is Risk.”

             
I squealed a little and typed, “
Hey, What’s up?”

             
Seconds later my phone chirped again. “
Do you realized that you’ve never actually told me your name?”

             
Oh my gosh, he’s right. I couldn’t remember ever actually introducing myself. To be fair though, I didn’t know anything about him either other than his name is Risk and he was an amazing specimen of a man.

             
“
Oh, I guess I haven’t. I’m Marlee Chase.”

             
“Nice to meet you finally ;)”

             
Oh snap, I just got a winky face from the hottest guy in the world!
I was in a daze when my phone chirped again.

             
“Can we meet up today? Maybe we could go to that coffee shop that’s around the corner from Rocktop?”

             
I so badly wanted to ask if he was asking me out on a date, but I had already repeatedly made an ass of myself in front of Risk so I didn’t want to risk it. As I was sending my reply, which said that I would meet him in two, hours I stumbled over a fallen branch and fell to my knees. When I looked up, Gray was standing beside me with terror in his eyes. I wondered what had gotten his panties in a bunch so I followed his gaze. Then I understood what he was so scared of.

             
Just about ten feet in front of us there was a somewhat transparent, red eyed, figure of a woman. I stood slowly, hoping not to spook the ghost. I tried staying as far away from those guys as I could so I really knew nothing of their temperament. I just knew they were dangerous. She looked at us with angry features and I flinched when she moved, even slightly. Gray and I stayed as still as possible for several minutes. Suddenly the ghost screamed. She screamed so loud and awful that I had to put my hands to my ears and I thought that my head might burst. After the scream faded away I opened my eyes slowly and hoped that she was gone. She was nowhere to be seen. I looked up at Gray and then back down at my phone. My giddiness returned.

             
“I have a new text from Risk. He said he could meet me in two hours!” Gray laughed a good hearty laugh and we kept trudging through the woods towards home, completely forgetting our unpleasant encounter.

             
While I was getting ready to meet Risk at the coffee shop, Gray sat behind me looking like he was struggling to tell me something.

             
“What’s up?” I asked him and raised my eyebrows so that he knew there was no hiding from me.

             
“Oh I was just wondering what’s going to happen whenever Risk catches you talking to me…or another spirit.”

             
I guess I hadn’t thought about what my abilities could do to a relationship. I always thought I would die a crazy cat lady.

             
“Oh…I’ll just have to be careful.” I tried to reassure Gray.

             
“There’s something about Risk that I can’t put my finger on.” Gray looked as though he was choosing his words carefully. “He seems to have plenty of secrets, but he also seems to be a good person. Not like that
idiot
father of his.”

             
“You don’t have to worry about me Gray, besides, Risk is the first person to ever even show an interest in me when he should be freaked out like everyone else. I believe now that I was wrong to think he was laughing
at
me that day at school. I think I amused him.” I remembered how I overreacted and ran away from Risk the day that we met and I cringed.
How embarrassing.

             
As Gray thought that over I curled my hair, not that it would stay. The curls would more than likely become a disarray of waves before I ever even left my house. When I was satisfied with my hair I applied a modest amount of makeup and huffed at myself in the mirror. I was normally indifferent to how I looked, but I wanted to look like a girl that Risk could see on his arm. Risk was out of my league and I wanted to at least attempt to measure up to the kind of girl that he
should
be pursuing.

             
Gray cleared his throat behind me as I scowled at my reflection in the mirror. “Do you want me to stay behind this time? I don’t want to be in the way or…distract you.”

             
“Are you kidding me? You’re my best friend and I
really
need your opinion or maybe even a few pointers…” I muttered the last part.

             
With his bad boy smile, Gray nodded and looked satisfied with my answer. “You really need to make some new friends. Having a figment of your imagination giving you pointers on boys…that’s just sad.”

             
Sometimes I really wished that I could punch him, but I settled for a good eye roll instead. Gray rolled his eyes back at me and flipped me off. He really hates when I do that. Gray has always been more like a father or a big brother to me than a best friend. Sometimes I wondered if he had been a father in his lifetime, he seemed to know the role well enough.

             
After a glance at the clock, I realized that I was probably going to be a little late. “Shit.” I had wanted to change my outfit again before I had to leave, but my skinny jeans and plain gray shirt would have to do. With one last good scowl in the mirror I rushed out to the Delray and headed towards town.

             
On my way to the coffee shop I quickly typed out a text explaining that I was running late and that I was on my way. A moment later he replied saying, “
K.”
What a waste of a message. One letter that’s the most impersonal way to say “Yes, I understand, thank you for letting me know.” Not that I expected him to write any of that out or to be so concerned with me being ten minutes late. I guess that it’s just a pet peeve of mine, and I know it’s a little ridiculous. I’m a girl about things sometimes.

             
When I got to the little coffee shop and walked in I saw that there was no sign of Risk. Gray and I took a seat at a booth near a window and waited for his arrival. With every passing minute I started to freak out. “Oh my God, Gray. What if he’s standing me up? What if he really
was
laughing at me at school? What if there’s a group of jocks waiting outside to publicly humiliate me?” It wouldn’t be the first time. When I was fifteen a boy asked me to a pool party and I gleefully agreed. I was never invited to parties and I was so excited. I wanted to wait until I got there to change into my swim suit so I packed a bag with a suit and towel. When I got there everyone was staring at me and when I finally found the boy who had invited me he motioned me over to him. He was sunbathing by the pool and before I could take the seat beside him he yelled, “FREAK!” and pushed me into the pool, fully clothed.

             
“I don’t think so, Spud. I think he’s a good guy.” Gray said and I bit my lip trying to keep my nerves under control so I wouldn’t bolt out of the door.

             
I waited another five minutes before I saw him walk by the window. Boy did he look good. He was wearing a green and black Green Day t-shirt with some faded-from-wear blue jeans that fit his butt just right. Whenever Risk entered the coffee shop I saw a few women take notice of him without even trying to hide it. I also noticed that he had something in his hand, a quaint bouquet of wild flowers. Gray smirked at me and I felt my face get a little warm.

             
“Hey, I’m so sorry. I saw these on the way here, and when you said that you were going to be late, I went back to pick them for you. I don’t know if flowers are proper etiquette for a coffee shop date, but I thought that it couldn’t hurt.”

             
So it
was
a date. “Oh, thank you so much. No one has ever given me flowers before. Well except for on my birthday my parents would always send flowers to school for me so I would feel special.” My inner self was shaking her head.
Stop talking!
What I
should
have said would have simply been, “Thank you, they’re beautiful” but my mouth traveled faster than my brain.

             
Risk blushed and then took his seat across from me, beside Gray. I glanced at them both and wondered if Gray being there
was
a good idea. We made small talk about the weather and ordered our drinks. Risk ordered a black coffee and I got a cappuccino. When the waitress dropped off our choice beverages Risk started in on the “Q and A.”

             
“So why do you seem to be a loner at school?” He was curious enough to ask, but not brave enough to look me in the eye as I answered.

             
“Um well, I guess everyone thinks I’m strange. I don’t ever go places with any of them and sometimes they catch me talking to myself. I suppose I’m just a sort of mystery and shallow minded people are scared of what they don’t know or can’t control. I’m content being an outcast, but it does get irritating when they shower me in milk or artificially flavored drinks.” I flashed him a smile, but he looked irritated.

             
“They do that to you? Throw stuff at you?” He had a fire behind his eyes as he asked the question.

             
“Well it’s really no big deal. Everyone’s always been kind of afraid of me. It’ just their way of dealing with it.” I wanted to change the subject. “What’s
your
deal? I’ve heard the Mean Girls whispering about you too.”

             
The fire faded from his eyes and he looked amused. “
Mean Girls?”

             
“Uh…yeah. I’ve heard them talking about you in English. About how you apparently didn’t spend an entire conversation talking about how hot they were so they decided to hate you, however, they
were
impressed by your physic.” I blushed a little at realizing just how impressed
I
was with his appearance. He chuckled warmly and looked down at his steaming cup. “Yeah I guess you can’t really talk about beauty with someone who has none. I have a very specific idea of what beauty is and apparently it doesn’t appeal to everyone.” It was his turn to blush, but he still had the courage to look me in the eye this time. It was as if he wanted to be sure to get his point across and leave no room for interpretation. I glanced at Gray who raised his eyebrows almost to his hairline in surprise, but he also somehow found enough facial muscles left to have the biggest dopiest grin ever. “
He must really appreciate Risks moves.”
I thought.