Lake Larson

The sun shined perfectly through the slit in my curtains while my alarm went off for the fourth time. I reached over and clicked my phone, knowing I missed my first class that day. Geography will have to wait, I guess. I rolled in the warm sheets, feeling a massive headache forming.

My bare feet touched the cold wood floor while I crossed to my bathroom with my eyes barely open. Leaning over my sink, I rubbed my cheeks, forgetting to remove my makeup from yesterday.

I stretched my mouth open, yawning, while turning the handle to the shower. The splattering noises filled the bathroom as steam fogged the small window above the toilet. My clothes fell to the tile floor while I tested the streaming water, feeling the warmth.

I tiptoed into the shower, letting the hot water rain on my face. A cold chilled my body while I stepped back, opening my eyes. A hazy Ian stood in the shower with a shocked expression.

"Ahhh!" we simultaneously screamed as Ian panicked.

"What the heck, Ian!" I yelled, forgetting about him.

He closed his eyes but slowly peeked one eye open as I turned away with my rear only in his sight. The water went through him, splattering on the tile wall behind him.

"Sorry," he said with his eyes lowering. "I blacked out last night and popped up here."

"Okay, well, get out!" I glanced at my hands, waiting for him to leave while I balled up in the corner, keeping my elbows in.

"What's that?" he asked, prompting me to glance and see him pointing at my upper shoulder.

"It's a scar," I whispered, looking into his hazel eyes. "What, you hadn't seen a scar before?" My voice became angry. "Now get out."

"What happened?" he asked, still not leaving the shower.

I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply. "We can talk about it later." I opened my lids, glaring at him. He smirked, dancing his gaze lower and then back up before disappearing.

I relaxed my shoulders, grabbing my shampoo quickly. As the bubbles formed on the top of my head, I could see Ian's shadow outside the curtain.

"You have a nice ass," he said with a low chuckle.

I peeked out the curtain, seeing him lean against my sink before lifting himself to sit. His eyes met mine as I quickly closed the curtain.

"Thank you," I replied. "I guess."

"So where did you get the scar from?" he asked again, not dropping the subject. "It's pretty bad looking." His voice echoed in the bathroom.

"It was a car accident," I said, touching my fingertips on the scar on my shoulder. The pink bump stretched out of reach.

"Must have been bad," he responded.

"Yeah." I looked down between my breasts, lower, nearing my belly button. The scar stretched much larger after multiple surgeries after the car accident.

"So, I've been trying to change my clothes or even take off my jacket, but I just can't figure it out," Ian said, changing the subject.

"Is there even a reason for a ghost to be styling?" I laughed, shaking my head. "Maybe you are stuck in those for the rest of your ghost life."

I turned the handle to the shower, watching the water slowly stop. Peeking out the curtain, I saw Ian standing with a towel in his hand, holding it for me. I reached for it with my body wrapped slightly with the curtain. While I brought the cotton material around my torso, stepping from the shower, I scrunched my wet hair.

"You held my towel," I said with a slight smile. "Good one."

I walked by Ian into my bedroom, shifting my sports bra on under the towel. With the cold floor on my toes, I raced to the dresser, looking for clothes. The laundry basket to the side with clothes spilling over told me I needed to visit the laundry mat. I gripped the black shirt with an older rock band logo on the front, slipping it over my head. The long shirt covered my rear while I looked for a clean pair of underwear.

The cotton material tightened up my legs while I turned to see Ian watching me. I glared at him as I grabbed a pair of jeans.

"Can you not." I jumped into my jeans.

"What?" He scrunched his brows together.

"I know you are a ghost, but this is still weird." I pointed between us. "Or am I being the weird one?" I questioned my sanity. "I guess you are a ghost, so why do I care about privacy?"

Ian kept frozen, not responding.

"But you are still a guy," I said, brushing my finger through my hair. "Do the normal rules still apply to you?"

Ian chuckled while I crossed the room back to the bathroom. As I blow-dried my strands straight quickly, I put my hair into a half ponytail. With little makeup on my face, I stepped out of the bathroom, pointing at Ian.

"Okay, ghost or not, you can't be a peeping tom." I nodded while Ian covered his mouth to hold back from laughing. "No popping up in my shower, no—"

"I didn't mean to do that." Ian pointed at me, interrupting.

I glared at him. "No, watching me change."

He shrugged. "Okay, you got me with that." He smirked, leaning against my table. "But I don't regret it."

"Ian," I said through my teeth.

He put his palms up. "Okay, I will be a decent human. Wait, no, ghost."

"Thank you." I walked to my bed, grabbing my backpack on the ground. "See you when I get back." I smiled while putting on my coat. "Please don't destroy my room trying to pick things up," I said, peeking at my college books on the ground.

"No promises," he replied with a slight wave.

My class was a long walk across campus in the cold. Even with the sun out, the clouds still covered the sun's gleam, graying the sky. The wind picked up, chilling my face, making my breath lost in my throat.

I pulled the door open to the science building, racing into the warmth. Rubbing my palms together, I breathed on my icy fingers, hoping to warm them up.

My class was empty when I arrived, and I sat in the same spot as yesterday. I tapped my hand on the desk, hearing voices in the hallway. With the embarrassment from yesterday, I'd hoped Hudson sat with his friends today.

A deep laugh had me glancing at the door to see Hudson and his friends strolling into the classroom. His smile brightened the room, and laughter washed over me. I couldn't help but smile for wishfulness, wanting to be at the other end of his laughter.

"Who is he?" Ian had me jumping in my seat while he leaned back in the chair beside me.

"How are you here?" I whispered, with panic in my voice.

He shrugged, smiling at the front of the class before putting his feet on the desk.

"Well, go someplace else," I whispered.

"It doesn't work that way," he said, prompting me to glare at him. "I can't," he confessed before he looked over my shoulder.

I turned in my seat to see what he was looking at, catching Hudson smiling at me. His hand touched the back of my chair as he watched his fingers.

"Lake, mind if I sit with you again?" he asked with a bright smile, making me forget yesterday.

"Yes," Ian said. "I mind."

I glared at Ian over my shoulder, confirming that I could only hear and see Ian.

"Of course," I replied, looking at Hudson.

He sat in the seat opposite of Ian, drumming the table with his fingers.

"Isn't he cute," Ian said in a high pitch tone, mocking me.

"Shut up," I replied, shaking my head.

"What?" Hudson questioned, peeking at me with a confused expression.

"Oh, sorry, I was talking to myself. I-I—" I glanced around with a panicked look. "I realized I forgot something in my dorm room."

"Good catch," Ian whispered with a sarcastic tone.

"That always sucks. Is your dorm far?" Hudson asked, but Professor Lewis raced into the classroom and hushed the mumbles of everyone.

Ian sat on the edge of his seat. "So, what class is this?" he asked as I glanced at him. He knew very well I could not answer him.

I pulled out my supplies, leaving my second pen at the bottom of my bag. Opening my spiral notebook, I jotted down Marine Biology with today's date, tapping my hand to get Ian's attention. He leaned closer to me, smiling widely.

"Oh, the ocean and shit!" Ian yelled while glancing around the room to see if anyone would react to his outburst.

I rolled my eyes, trying not to satisfy him, and wrote yes on the paper. Professor Lewis clicked on the projector, moving his mouse around until he found where we left off yesterday. He squinted at the screen behind him before peeking at the class.

"Homework from yesterday shows me most of the class doesn't want to pass, so I will discuss some things people missed." He eyed me. "Little to no light is in this part of the ocean," Lewis lectured, but Ian whistled loudly to the rhythm of a Backstreet Boys song.

I closed my eyes, placed my elbows on the desk, and cupped my forehead to my palm. Aggressively, I wrote the word stop in my journal for Ian to read.

"Are you talking to me or the professor because he is totally boring?" Ian asked, leaning in his chair to look at Hudson.

"Is everything okay?" Hudson whispered to me.

I glanced at him and then at my notebook. What am I supposed to say to Hudson? He only talked to me yesterday because he tried to get closer to the she-devil. I nodded at Hudson and continued writing what Professor Lewis said.

"Oh, I can read those Lake faces like a book now. What did Mr. Perfect do?" Ian leaned closer to me.

Lewis clicked off the projector. "Okay, ending class early today. See you tomorrow." He grabbed his briefcase from his desk, rushing out of the class before the students.

Everyone gathered their things in excitement while I tried to ignore Ian. He crawled on top of a desk, shaking his rear in Steve's face while singing loudly.

I stuffed my things in my backpack, seeing we were only in class for about fifteen minutes, and rushed out without Ian. Maybe I could escape him. As I walked down the hallway, glancing over my shoulder with a smile, I looked back as Ian appeared directly before me. I jumped, bringing my hand to my mouth before walking to a corner and pulling my phone out.

"You are going to make me look like an idiot one day," I said with my phone to my ear, looking at Ian.

"Yeah, that's the goal," he said, nodding his head with his mouth gaped open.

"Can't you just stay in my room like a good ghost?"

"What, and miss all of this?" He looked around, pointing at people as they walked by. "I mean, look at her." He waved his hand at a blonde girl with a short skirt. "I would die to give that one a ride." He wiggled his brows at me. "Get it? Ghost joke."

I rolled my eyes in a huff.

"What?" He stepped closer to me. "Too soon?"

I inhaled deeply. "You are—" I said, but Ian cut me off.

"Got to wait on the insult because here comes Prince Charming on his white horse." His eyes looked behind me.

I turned in time for Hudson to make eye contact as he walked my way. Awkwardly, I pocketed my phone.

"Hey Lake, sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean it that way," Hudson said.

I bit my bottom lip as I looked down at my feet. "I-I-I, it's okay."

"Stop looking at your feet," Ian said from beside me. I glanced up at Hudson as he smiled.

"You have a game on Friday, right?" Hudson asked.

My cheeks burned, causing me to glance down again. I awkwardly inhaled while I played with my fingers.

"Lake, look up. You are acting like a scared little hedgehog. Tell him yes and that you hope to see him there," Ian said close to my ear.

I glanced back at Hudson. "Yes. I-I hope to see you there," I barely said with a big smile.

"Okay," Ian said slowly. "Now, walk away before you blow this."

I looked at Ian with a confused expression.

"Keep it quiet and walk away," he repeated.

I listened to Ian and turned on my heels, walking down the hallway away from Hudson. Ian ran before me, walking backward while looking behind me. I tried to glance too, but Ian reached out for my shoulder, and for a second, I thought I felt him, but his hand went through my body.

"Don't look," Ian said. "Keep walking." He talked with his eyes peeking behind me. "He's watching you walk away, actually."

"Really?" I asked with a surprised voice.

"Yeah, I'm amazed too. I thought you blew it." He stopped and turned to walk with me. "What was that?"

My cheeks burned from embarrassment. "Yeah, I get a little shy."

"Shy! Ha!" Ian mocked. "That would have been a train wreck without me." His laugh echoed around the hallway.

"Hey, don't be mean." I walked toward the exit, getting weird stares from people.

"Lake, you froze there for a bit." Ian checked out a girl walking by. "And the stuttering!" he yelled. "Don't get me started on the stuttering."

I quickened my pace, fast walking while ignoring him. Even though Lewis let class out early, I still had my job to get to. I put my head down, racing away from Ian.

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