You Can Find Me In The Space Between

Chapter Eighteen

"Hot dogs." Nate confidently said.

Pete, Benji, and Julie all shared a quick glance. Julie cleared her throat before addressing the room. "I am just going to tell the kitchen that we are ready for dinner. Want to join me Pete? Benji?" Pete immediately stood up next to Julie, and turned to Benji who was still seated.

Benji looked up, grinning, at Pete and Julie. His smile was met with Julie's pursed lips and pointed eyes. "Oh, um yes. I too shall join you in talking to the kitchen workers. About our food." Turning his eyes back to the rest of the group, he spoke once again. "Fear not. We shall return!" Jumping out of his chair, he started to stroll away, but stopped abruptly when he realized he had no clue where he was going. Pete and Julie shook their heads while smiling, and went to join their friend.

Once the three of them were back inside the hotel and out of sight, Pete couldn't wait to speak. "That's totally Alex, right?" The other two nodded in quick succession. "Either that, or his long-lost twin."

"Wait. Alex has a twin?" Benji asked, looking confused.

Julie ignored Benji's question, and spoke excitedly. "I didn't think it would be so easy! I mean, you guys obviously have known him longer, but Nate definitely reminds me of Alex." Julie's eyes then dimmed but she continued speaking. "But he really didn't seem to know us... it's not like we can just go up to him and be like 'Alex? Is that you??'"

"So... does he have a twin or not? How could he have a twin and I didn't know? I thought Alex and I were closer than that," Benji muttered to himself. Trying to stay positive, and not dwell on the potential of Alex having a secret brother, Benji spoke. "Why don't you two talk to him some more?"

"And what are you going to do?" Pete wondered.

Benji gave a wicked smile. "Well, I will question Fiona. They seem close, so I'll see what she knows... but maybe we should go somewhere else to talk. Maybe like a restaurant and then a movie? Do you think she'd like that?"

Pete placed his hands on Benji's shoulders, and looked straight into his eyes. "Bro. Now is not the time. But it is a decent idea – the talking to her, not the date. Jules, maybe you should talk to her, and lover boy and me will talk to Nate."

***

Dinner was over and Pete was trying to think of a way to get to talk to Nate privately. Luckily, Julie came to the rescue – as she always did.

"Nate, Fiona, I feel so bad that it's your first night here and you haven't had a chance to take in the city. The guys and I were going to go out for dessert, do you want to come with us?"

Fiona's eyes drifted to Benji. "You're going too then?" Benji gave a loud gulp and nodded his head furiously. "Well, then of course we're going."

"Uh you know guys, it's been a long day so I might just go crash," Nate said. "But you should go Fi!" Nate had seen how Fiona's face had dropped. He didn't want his friend to miss out on having a great time because of him.

"Nah, man. C'mon, we'll be fast. Plus... uh we want to..." Pete struggled to think of how to finish the sentence.

"Show you the beach." Julie finished, saving Pete for the second time in a few minutes. Seeing as Nate stayed silent, she took it as acceptance. "Great. It's settled then, we'll just get everything settled up here, and we'll meet you downstairs in a few. Flynn, why don't you join them, kay?"

Flynn nodded and started walking towards the door with Fiona and Nate close behind. As they were waiting for the elevator, Flynn chose to use the time to do a little recon of her own. "So, how long have you guys been dating?"

Even though he wasn't drinking anything, Nate managed to choke somehow. "Us! Dating?? No. Definitely not dating."

"No need to sound so offended Nate." Fiona stuck her tongue out and pretended to be angry. "But he's right, Nate and I are just friends. Or like siblings at this point."

"Cool cool cool cool cool." Flynn said, speaking mostly to herself. "And Nate, how long have you lived in England? Is that where you're from?"

Nate gave Fiona a panic-struck look. "I've lived there as long as I can remember." It wasn't a lie per se, and he hoped that would serve as an answer to her second question as well. Though he didn't feel too confident about that, based on the way that Flynn was squinting her eyes and giving him a suspicious look. Flynn then continued to ask them questions, but luckily they were all easy to answer.

Flynn's interrogation soon came an end as Julie, Benji, and Pete joined them. The drive to get ice cream was uneventful, though the band was now convinced it truly was Alex, but were starting to realize that Nate truly did not remember them. When they arrived at the beach, the sun was setting beautifully, so they found some benches to sit and watch it set.

"So... do you believe in ghosts?" Benji asked out of the blue. Julie's eyes went wide and Pete was trying to restrain himself from smacking Benji's head.

"Really Benj?" Pete muttered. Benji just shrugged in response.

Nate and Fiona looked between the two and couldn't tell if it was a serious question or not. "Um, are we talking Casper... or like... horror movie? Or Pirates of the Caribbean?" Fiona questioned. "Actually, never mind. I don't want to think about ghosts. That's just scary. Well, I guess Casper isn't scary, but someone being dead? Am I being haunted? Am I going to be possessed and make my head spin and need an exorcist? Like do I need to call Ghostbusters? But the Dan Ackroyd version – it's not that I didn't like the new version or anything, but I don't want any version where Chris Hemsworth is a bad guy."

Fiona continued to prattle on while Julie couldn't help but feeling that Fiona and Benji could probably talk for hours, and their conversation would start with pizza toppings and end up discussing if the Great Wall of China was built from the bottom up or from side to side.

a/n – I tried to find the answer, but I couldn't and I'm still stumped. But did you know it was fortified with sticky rice and that makes it extra strong??

Julie soon realized that Fiona had stopped talking, and other than Benji, everyone looked stunned by her ramblings. Pete shook his head, snapping himself out of his trance and faced Nate. "So, what about you Nate? You believe in ghosts?"

Nate had a feeling that it was a loaded question, not quite a simple yes or no type. He collected his thoughts before responding, "I don't know about ghosts, but yeah I guess you could say I believe that there's something more?" Nate thought back to the letter from Michael; "Like reincarnation or something. Sometimes I feel like..." Nate abruptly stopped talking, realizing that he was about to overshare with these strangers. How could he open up to people he merely met hours ago? Especially about something so private. He hoped that they would let it go, but sadly, luck was not on his side.

"You feel like what?" Pete asked softly.

Nate planned on avoiding the question, or giving a half honest answer, but he stopped short with his mouth hanging open. In the distance, something had caught his eye. Without knowing what it meant or where it came from, a word popped out of his mouth.

"Willie." 

"Somebody once asked; 'Could I spare some change for gas, I need to get myself away from this place.' I said 'Yup, what a concept, I could use a little fuel myself, and we could all use a little change.'"

Apparently, my husband thinks this isn't a valuable life lesson, but I disagree.