The Ghost of You [COMPLETED]

Chaos

He could feel the guys grabbing his arm, shaking his shoulder, but he had no awareness of whether they were talking to him. It felt as though he was swimming underwater, his body feeling weightless, not hearing anything except his blood whooshing around his body.

You looked the same. But also different. You'd filled out a little, which he was pleased about, because he was always a bit scared to tell you that he thought you were too skinny in college. Your hair was longer, and also slightly darker than he remembered. You were dressed differently than when he knew you. It had transformed from you being covered in colourful clothes, to ones that seemed more muted, more matured, with little pops of colour in your makeup, on your top, and in the ends of your hair which were now dyed bright purple.

There were piercings in your ear now, at the top, tiny little hoops that you never used to have. When you lifted your cup to your lips, your top slid up, creating a window to your skin where he spotted part of a tattoo on your ribs.

The two things he noticed that had stayed the same, was your smile, and the spark in your eyes as you talked with the person in front of you. You always had that spark when you loved the conversation, when you were passionately talking. He could still spot it from across the room.

He missed seeing that spark. And he missed seeing that smile. In the final couple of months before you left, he hadn't seen it very often. Not towards him anyway. And he definitely didn't see it after.

He finally snapped out of his daze when Tris' face appeared in front of him, blocking his view of you.

"Hey! Creep!" Tris said as he clicked his fingers in Brad's face.

"Wha- I'm not..." Brad stuttered, leaning to the side to see around Tris, who then snapped his fingers in his face again. Brad leant back, standing up straight, and licked his bottom lip as he tried to work out what he was feeling.

"You were full on staring."

"Thought you were over her?" Isaiah said as he smirked from behind Brad, who whipped around to glare at his friend. Isaiah held his hands up. "Got it. Touchy subject."

"Guess you're not gonna go and say hi are you?" Jeremy asked, before sniggering to Isaiah.

"Fuck off you lot." Tris said, grabbing Brad's shoulders and turning him around, turning him away from you. "Let's get you a drink."

"I'm fine. Tris, I'm fine!" Brad snapped, shoving his friend's hands off. He quickly glanced back over to where he'd seen you, but you'd disappeared now, so he turned back to his friends. He felt uncomfortable with the disappointment he now felt. "I'm fine. I'm heading to the garden."

Over the next two hours, Brad realised that he always had either Tris, Connor or James beside him. They were trying to act nonchalant, very blase about the fact they were stuck to him, but Brad knew that they were trying to act as a lookout for him. Looking out for you. What their plan was when they saw you, he didn't know. Maybe they were keeping him away from you. Maybe they were trying to get him near you. But for the next two hours, he didn't even get another glimpse of you, so he was starting to think it was the first theory.

He'd caught conversations by his college friends throughout the night, where they mentioned you, were talking about you, talking about the fact you were back. He was starting to hate how you used to get on with everyone he knew.

Then again, back then, you and him were inseparable. And you had such a captivating personality that all of his friends quickly became your friends too. It was a blessing at the time, not having to separate his limited time between you or his friends, but now? Now it was just pissing him off, because apparently you were all anyone could talk about.