Call Me Ghost ✔️

Chapter Forty

It's been six days.

I know that's a long time. For me, it has felt like an eternity. Every morning I wake up with an ache in my chest, and still no real direction of what I'm going to do.

Ghost has been sending me messages throughout the days. Most of them are just to check in on me, some of them are to remind me that he loves me, a couple seem like he's growing impatient. I know it's not fair to keep him in the dark for this long, but my feelings are still so conflicted.

I know he loves me. But is that enough?

The text I wake up to this morning really hurts my heart. It isn't from Ghost, but instead Mila.

Mila; Hey. I know this is weird. We're leaving for Vegas today, and I'm not sure where you and Ghost stand right now, but I wanted to check to see if you were still coming? I'm buying snacks for the road and wanted to know what you like.

I stare sadly at the text, wishing things were as easy as they were last week. I was looking forward to the road trip with everyone. But now, as I think about Mila, Tay and Dane, I can't help but feel a little resentful. None of them respected me enough to tell me the truth, just like Ghost.

Em; I won't be coming.

My stomach sinks as I send the text. His big fight isn't until tomorrow night, but they must be going early so they can get settled in. I want to be there for him so badly, but that's not fair of me. I can't show up just to cheer him on when I've been putting him through emotional hell all week. And especially when I still don't have an answer for him.

Mila; Okay... well if you change your mind we'll be staying at the Luxor hotel. And Ghost is second to last on the prelims card, so he'll probably be fighting at around seven.

Em; Okay. Thanks.

I don't expect anything else from her, but surprisingly, another text comes through shortly after my response.

Mila; I'm really sorry I never told you, Em.

I chew thoughtfully on my bottom lip, contemplating whether I should reply or not. I appreciate the apology, but there's not much good it can do for me now.

Em; You were protecting him. I get it.

A few minutes pass before she texts back.

Mila; Can I call you right now?

My brow furrows, and I wonder what else there is for her to say, but eventually I sigh and tell her yes. Seconds later the screen lights up with her call, and I put the phone on speaker as I rest my head back against my pillow with a sigh.

"Hi." I greet meekly.

"Hey." She returns, sounding just as small, which is unusual for Mila. There's a short pause where we both just sit there, until I hear her blow out a long breath before saying, "I'm sorry, again."

I shrug, even though she can't see it, "It's fine."

"No, it's not." She states, "It was shitty, of all of us, and there's no excuse. But, I want to at least try to explain. I'm not trying to belittle how you feel, because you have every right to be upset. But I'm just gonna keep kicking myself over here until I feel like I did what I could to try to fix things."

My lips tighten into a flat line before I murmur, "Okay."

She takes that as her permission to continue, "Everything that happened with Julia was so messy, Em. Like, high school drama level messy. We lost Julia as a friend. We lost Eric as a friend. Troy was never really the same, and neither was Ghost. But for Ghost, that was a good thing, because he actually changed for the better. He stopped being such a dick all the time, he got a lot less selfish, and a lot nicer to be around."