"OH MY GOD, I've actually gone insane," I whisper, rubbing my eyes only to see Sebastian still staring at me. "You're not real. Y-you can't be real because you died last year."

        Sebastian plays a single key, the epitome of nonchalance. "Okay, then. I'm not real."

        "B-but you're here! You're playing the piano and you're looking at me and you're wearing Dolce & Gabbana!" I shriek, pointing at his shoes.

        Sebastian's eyebrow quirks up, an expression I knew as well as I did the back of my hand. "So, I am real, then?"

        I lean against the door, shutting my eyes. "I swear to God if I'm being haunted by some demon—"

        Sebastian laughs and the sound is so familiar that my eyes snap open. "It really is you. You really are here."

        Sebastian smiles sadly. "Hey."

        I shake my head, pacing around the room. Was I crazy? I didn't feel crazy. My therapist would've told me if I was crazy. Right? "I don't understand this," I murmur, my feet stalling. "How are you here?"

        "Does that really matter right now?" Sebastian asks, his blue eyes looking up at me. "I mean, you came here for a reason, didn't you? Isn't it because you missed me?"

        I scoff. "God, Sebastian, of course, I miss you. It's just not every day I see my dead boyfriend playing piano in his old house."

I quit my pacing and walk over to him instead, gingerly taking a seat next to him. I reach over and grab his hand only for my fingers to fall through as if he were made of air. Sebastian sighs. "Yeah, I know. It sucks."

"So you're a ghost?" I mumble, fingering the piano keys. I was trying to be nonchalant about the whole thing. I was half sure I was dreaming, anyways.

"No," Sebastian scoffs. "I'm not some haunted soul still hanging around because I never got closure. I'm a figment of your imagination. Because you never got closure," he explains, his tone soft.

        I knew it was true but the words send a pang to my chest. "Well, obviously. I didn't get closure. Because you never gave me the chance to." I was practically hysterical at this point. "Do you know how t-traumatizing that night was? Do you know how broken what you did has left me? I don't sleep, I'm constantly freaking out, I have a damn therapist. And now I'm seeing you like a crazy person."

        Sebastian sighs softly. "You're not crazy."

        I swallow hard, standing up from the bench and leaning against the instrument instead. "I hated you. Every single day that I've spent with you gone and me still here, I have hated you."

        "I know." Sebastian's eyes are sad as he looks at me. "I know, and I'm sorry. I know that is nowhere near a good enough answer but it's true. I never meant to hurt you."

        Hot tears stream down my face. "But you did. I'm a mess, Seb. I'm a mess and I don't know how to fix it."

        He doesn't speak. His sad, ocean eyes simply stare up at me with no words. There wasn't much to say. I sat there in silence with the ghost of him as he sat there staring at the ghost of me.

        I'm not sure how long we stayed that way but the next time Sebastian speaks, his voice is sad. "I have to leave now," he whispers.

        The words pierce my heart what feels like a thousand  times. "Will I see you again?"

        He smiles up at me, a real Sebastian smile that reaches his eyes. "You want to?"

        "Of course do," I respond. "Just because I hate you doesn't mean I don't love you."

        There's a shimmering over his body. I'm entranced by the silver that seemed to take over him, but he's still smiling at me. "I love you, too."

        Then, he's gone and I'm left staring at where he had been before.

         Yep. I've officially lost it.

¥

        "B," a voice whispers, moving a strand of hair from my forehead. "B, wake up."

I roll over in bed, groaning softly. "Braylen's not here right now. Leave a message at the beep."

A few beats pass. "Are you gonna beep, or what?" a second voice says. I open my eyes to see Bethany and Bridget standing at the foot of my bed dressed in summer clothes and looking put out. "Finally," Beth groans. "He breathes."

I scrunch my nose. "What do you two or want?"

Bridget makes a face and pulls the covers off of my body. "You promised you'd drive us to the beach today. To meet our friends for the bonfire? We've been ready for, like, ever."

"Yeah, I said I'd take you at 12:30. It's, like, 9:00 in the morning," I retort, turning to go back to sleep.

"Dude, it's almost 2:00," Bethany deadpans.

I snap out of bed, suddenly awake. "What?" I ask, reaching over and grabbing my phone. A quick glance shows me that Beth was right. And that I'd missed a lot of messages.

robsssss <3: dude are you awake? call me when you can!

robsssss <3: big big big news

robsssss <3: are you in a coma? how could you not tell me first?

robsssss <3: ok ok i'll let you sleep but call me ASAP!!

hunter: Attachment: 1 image.

hunter: Hottie on Grindr! I can send you the link lil man.

dev: sorry again about yesterday

dev: call me whenever

        "Crap," I groan, clicking my phone off and sliding out of bed. "I'm sorry. I don't usually sleep in this much. Or at all, lately."

        I run my hand through my hair as my cousins glare at me. Had I really slept the whole night? I'd come home shortly after stopping by Sebastian's and—

        Sebastian.

        I whip my head around so quickly I nearly get whiplash. My eyes scan the room, looking for his familiar dirty blonde head but come up short. "Braylen, are you okay?" Bridget asks. Her voice makes it sound like she thinks I'm crazy. Then again, I guess I am looking around to see if I can see the ghost of my dead boyfriend around my room. I wasn't exactly the pinnacle of sanity.

        "No, I'm fine. Um. Beach. Bonfire. Let's go." I shrug into a shirt and pants quickly, not even concerned about whether they match. I just knew I needed to get the girls to the beach and spend the rest of the day figuring my freaking life out.

         We're in the car and on the way to the beach in less than ten minutes, the cold AC a small relief to the Malibu heat outside. Bridget and Bethany chatter the whole way over; I spend the ride thinking of Sebastian and nothing but Sebastian.

I know it wasn't normal and most likely extremely concerning seeing him last night, but it had felt unbelievably good. Seeing him, speaking to him. I hadn't slept that well in months.

I pull up at the beach and let out my little cousins where they race over to their friends. I spend a few moments watching them to make sure they were all right before pulling out with a small frown. There were far too many boys present.

"You never know. There's a good chance one of them is a complete lesbian. Maybe you don't have to worry about the boys."

The voice startled me so bad I nearly hit a green Audi. "Oh my god," I shriek, turning a fraction to see Sebastian sitting in my front seat. He was dressed differently today on a vintage t-shirt and black jeans. "Can you, like, announce yourself?"

He makes a serious face. "Ghost of Sebastian Grey ready for duty. Sir." He shoots me a cocky wink and a small smile falls onto my face.

"I didn't mean like that. But showing up and answering my thoughts is a little weird," I retort.

"Yeah, well, imagining me to even be here is even weirder." My phone blinks from the cup holder and Sebastian nods towards it. "Sounds like someone's trying to reach you."

"Oh, yeah," I mumble, suddenly remembering. "Hey, do you—"

But he'd vanished again, into thin air it seemed. I frown at the passenger seat before grabbing my phone and calling Robyn.

"Finally, dude! It's like, five hours since I texted you. Where have you been? Are you okay? I'm going to add Dev to the call for a three-way. Three-way. Haha," she rambles. I frown as I drive down the freeway, still thoroughly confused. "Okay. He's here. Say hi, baby."

There's a beat. "Hey," Devin deadpans.

I hold back a laugh. "What's up? Why have you been blowing up my phone all day?"

"So Devin, my boyfriend of a whole freaking year failed to mention that he has a summer house in freaking Miami!" Robyn gushes. "A pool, a movie room, and the house is right on the beach!"

        "Oh, uh, cool. I guess."

       Robyn laughs across the phone. "You tell him the news, baby."

       "Okay," Devin obliges easily. I smirk to myself; he was so damn whipped. "So, yeah, we have this vacation house but it never gets used because my crappy parents are so busy we barely even see each other, let alone have time to vacation. So they invited me and all my fri—"

        "They invited us all to stay at the vacation house during the week of the Fourth of July!" Robyn shouts, her voice excited and shrilly.

        I chuckle softly, pulling up to my house. "So, what, we're leaving Malibu to vacation in Florida?" I ask incredulously.

        "My parents are paying everything off and we can invite whoever we want; 5 bedrooms, four bathrooms. What do you think?" Devin asks. "And before you get into the whole, 'I can't let you pay for this because I'm so damn humble' thing, just know you're going whether you like it or not."

        I park the car and sigh. "All right, all right. I'm there. And hey, I don't sound like that."

        "Yes, you do," Robs and Devin both echo and I mentally flick them off.

        "Whatever," I groan, hanging up the phone. "Freaking bullies." I glance over at the empty car seat. Some part of me had been hoping that Sebastian would pop in. The other part wonders if I'm crazy for even wanting that.

I breathe a huge sigh and step out of the car, locking it behind me. I'm back up in my room in minutes and flop onto my unmade bed. I pull out my phone, my finger hovering over the screen. I go to my recent messages and see a couple I'd sent to Roman late last night, apologizing for breaking his nose for the thirteenth time. He hadn't responded back, which I really couldn't blame him for. Considering I did break his nose and all.

        I scroll aimlessly through my messages and find Hunter's name. I reread the message that I'd only glanced over earlier today. The boy in the picture was cute, with curly brown hair and dimples. I click it without thinking, it quickly sending me to the website and making me download the app.

         I find the guy quickly and scroll through his account. Colby Tylers. 20, former football player, lives in Malibu.

Are you really going to do this, Braylen?

I press the direct message and send a quick 'hey.' Then I throw the phone across the room and press my face into my pillow.

"Stupid, stupid," I groan out, laughing softly. There's a pause and then the phone beeps. I practically jump out of my skin as I scramble across the bed to grab my phone from the floor that it'd fallen on.

The screen lights up. 1 message from Colby. I click it without thinking.

"Holy—"

I toss the phone on my bed again, gagging as the lovely image Colby sent me flashes over and over in my head. Pretty soon, the gags turn into laughter at how ridiculous the entire thing was. I clutch my stomach as I roll over the bed, tears flowing out of my eyes. And for the first time in a while, they weren't the bad kind.