He wrinkles his nose. “Ghost pains. I guess.”
“Your ex?”
“Kind of.”
“Explain, or I’m not getting out of this Honda.”
“Nora and I used to hang out with Zach and Lindsey a lot.”
“Those two are hard to watch if you bone alone.”
He tilts his head back on his headrest and his chest pumps with a chuckle.
“That’s better. So, what exactly is a ghost pain? You miss her?”
“No, I don’t miss her like that,” his voice is low, and I can see he’s somewhere in his past. “I guess a ghost pain is remembering the future you once thought you’d have.” He clears his throat. “It’s nothing. I’m an idiot.”
I draw his face toward me with my palm on his cheek. “You, my friend, are a lot of things, and a smart ass at times, but not an idiot. And I hope like hell for ghost pains one day. It’ll mean I’ve loved someone hard and finally done some good living.” Slowly I lean in and press a kiss to his cheek.
“Night, Theo.”
“Night, Laney.”
#heroparty #notmrsdoubtfire #matothedamndea #newbestfriends #heworeaskirt #butlookatthoselegs #livingourrealestlife
Theo: How are you feeling?
Laney: Like I want to peel my skin off. Mom is making me wear oven mitts when she’s home. How in the hell did I contract chicken pox at twenty-one?
Theo: It could be worse. It could’ve come in as shingles. Those are supposed to be a lot more painful.
Laney: How do you know?
Theo: I looked it up.
Laney: She finally left for work, and I can’t stop scratching. I’ll give you everything in my savings to come and get at my back with a rake.
Theo: No can do. What did you do today?
Laney: Glued a great pyramid of Doritos for worship.
Laney sent an image
Theo: That’s pretty impressive.
Laney: Had to do something with my hands. And it’s gotten two thousand likes.
Theo: That many?
Laney: Do you ever check the damned page? We have almost nine thousand followers.
Theo: WTF!
Laney: Yep. Ever since the Ghostin’ the Whip post we’ve gained momentum.
Pause…
Theo: I think I see why.