//fog\\

03:Friend

CHRIS
I stood there, still flustered at everything that had just happened. First the phone call, and then... I felt my face heat up thinking of Lucas's intentions, even though we'd had sex before. I just couldn't think about stuff like that without getting uncomfortable. That's okay, right?
I started wondering what it was about Lucas that attracted me to him. Maybe it was that careless attitude, how he didn't think twice about doing things, he didn't back down once he made a decision... Lucas was someone I admired. If you combine that with the fact that he was openly non-binary, with even his parents knowing and accepting it, and I'd never come out of the closet, you can see why I always looked up to him.
We literally met at the Queer-Straight Alliance at my old high school. Yeah. I fell for him pretty quickly. I'll admit it.
And though Lucas had agreed to "give me benefits" as a friend, my happiness about the idea was kind of fading because outside of sex, the aspect of "love" was gone from him. It made me upset, so I changed the subject mentally and started thinking about June's new puppy. A worthy distraction. Cute for cute.

As I was visualizing the dog in my head, Lucas stumbled awkwardly through the doorway, grabbing my by the hand.
"I'm going to introduce you," he explained.
"You just told me not to let her see me."
"Well I just changed my mind. She already knows you're here, and she might as well get an introduction with the amount of time you spend crashing at my place."
I rolled my eyes. "How am I going to be introduced to something I can't see?"
"Just go with it, dammit."
Well, shit. He was pretty pissed. That was all the convincing I would need.
He dragged me through the doorway and in front of the couch.
"Ok, so this is Chris," Lucas started talking to the empty couch. "He's like my best friend. We're practically dating."
I waited a few seconds while the room was quiet. Wow, Lucas, I wish I could be half as eloquent as you! ...Read that with sarcasm, please.
"Yeah. Sorry." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly and looked sideways at me. What was he talking about?
"No, but he comes over here a lot, so we'll just have to make do, right?"
He laughed a little, and kissed me on the cheek without warning. I was getting annoyed, honestly. We'll just have to make do? Oh yeah, Chris is so stupid, but I'm stuck with him, so we'll just have to make do, right? Haha, yeah. Of course.
How long was I going to stand here and listen to him talk to something I couldn't see or hear? "She" was probably going to hog all his attention too. I pushed him away and walked briskly out the door without saying goodbye. I didn't need to. He didn't deserve that much.

LUCAS
No warning. He just left. I panicked, I guess. You could say that. You could say I was really pissed. You could say it felt abandoned. You could always say I was on my period, but I don't have a vagina, so maybe you couldn't say that after all. What I'd say, though, was that my best friend seemed really mad at me. My best friend who'd stayed with me through everything had walked straight out of my house.
"It's okay. Look for him." a voice rang out and I realized it was the ghost. She climbed off the couch and stood on her toes, whispering in my ear: "he's jealous of me. I can tell. Please don't talk to me around him."
I looked at her, confused.
"He's mad because he can't see me, right?"
It finally clicked.
"Now find him before he becomes a ghost too," she said in a serious tone, then broke the act and giggled a little. She wrapped her arms around me and have me a cold kiss on the cheek.
Cold. Strange. But I'd never felt it before... It felt kind of nice, like if a human did this, it'd be amazing. Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want.
I was such a dominant partner most of the time, nobody's ever kissed me. I always kissed them.
I rustled her hair cheerfully, my spirits now lifted. I ran out the door, hopped on my bike, and started riding.

It was time to fix things.