What Is My Life?
Chapter six
Jake
Instead of leaving as requested, Alex walks over and sits next to me on the bed. I sit up and lean back against the headboard as Brandon coughs on a puff of smoke, having made himself comfortable in the corner of the room.
“Can you get rid of him?” I whisper to Alex. “We need to talk privately.”
Alex smirks. “Sure. Hey Brandon, I need a minute with Jake. Can you do me a big favor and check on our inventory of cleaning supplies? The supply closet is just off the laundry room. Kayla always forgets.”
“No problem, little bro!” Brandon gives him a salute and saunters out. I think he’s just happy to be useful. Once he's gone, Alex turns to me.
I hold a finger up. “First off, don’t get any ideas, and don’t look at me like that. You want to help me. Why bother?”
He thinks about it for a second, biting his lip. I swear I see a faint blush on his cheeks. “I said don’t look at me like that.”
He lowers his gaze briefly before looking back up at me from behind his lashes. “Oh, for fucks sake.” I roll off my side of the bed and stand up. “Talk! What is your grand plan?”
He throws his hands up with a huff. “Okay! Look, I don’t necessarily have a plan. I just know that I need to help you. Maybe it’ll help me cross over to the other side or whatever. And plus, I like you, Jake. I can’t explain it.” I roll my eyes.
“I’ve been nothing but a bastard to you since I stepped into this house. What’s there to like?” I ask, finding myself wanting an actual answer, damn him.
Alex hops off the bed and walks over to stand in front of me, head barely coming up to my shoulders. He runs a slender finger down my chest.
“Well, you’re hot, and it gets lonely here. The first time I saw you I thought you were a sexy vampire.”
I grab his finger to stop its movement south. “Is that it? You just want me for my good looks?” I ask despite myself. He smiles at that and bites his lower lip again. “Stop that,” I say, and use my thumb to free his lip. He blushes a deeper red.
I take a small step back and hit the wall. I can’t do this with him. In this moment, the fact that we’re ghosts is the least of my concern. “What do we do now?” I ask.
Truth be told, I’m glad he’s here with me. I’m glad he can see me. He may be an annoying little shit, but I don’t know what I’d do without him.
He schools his expression and gets serious.
“All I know right now is that we have something invaluable. Brandon. He is our tether to the outside world. We’ll use him to gather any information we can, maybe see if he knows any psychics or witches.
If anyone can connect us with one, it'll be him.
He's into that kind of shit. We have to figure out a way to remember how we died, and we need to learn how to manifest a physical form, if that's even possible. We have to be smart about it, though. If Brandon gets killed too, we’ll have nothing.”
“And you really think a psychic will help?” I ask skeptically.
“It can’t hurt to try. My mom and I used to watch a lady on TV that could communicate with the dead, summon spirits, things like that.”
I shake my head. “That sounds like nonsense.”
He shrugs. “Maybe. But if we don’t try it, we’ll never know. If you have any other ideas, I’m all ears. I’m not exactly an expert on being a ghost.”
“Okay, we’ll try it your way,” I concede. I don't have any ideas at all.
“Thank you,” he says with a smile. “In the meantime, there are a few other things we could try…” he looks me up and down before biting that lip again.
“Not a chance.”
He throws his hands in the air, exasperated.
“Why not? We’re the only two dead guys here.
I miss cuddling, and kissing, and—” He cuts himself off with a gasp.
“Are you promised to another, Jake? Is that it? I know Kayla was ogling you, are you into her? Because I have to say, you could do better. She’s nice enough, but something tells me she’s got a crazy streak. ”
I’m about to smother him with a pillow when Brandon reappears in the doorway.
“Hey little dude. I, uh, made an itemized list of your cleaning inventory. Looks like you’re low on glass cleaner and those little pad things you use on the floor.
Also, I guess I should tell you now that the smoke detector in my room is broken.
” He shows his list to Alex, who looks it over for a second.
“Wow Brandon, I’m actually impressed. Thank you. Leave a note for Kayla to order more of everything we’re low on, please.” Brandon beams.
“You got it!”
Alex looks up at me with a soft smile. “We’ll take it one day at a time Jake, okay?”
I nod, throat suddenly tight. “In the meantime, this place will be reopening in a few days. We have a hotel to run!”
He steps away from me and heads to the door. Before he walks out, he turns back to face me with a wry smile playing on his lips. “If you change your mind about the… cuddling, let me know. I’m a very generous lover,” he says with a saucy wink.
I let my head fall back against the wall with a dull thud and watch him leave.
What a brat.