Ghost Kiss

Deacon

     It's been two weeks since I kissed her. I had to. I know things could never be more but I had to, just once. I will always cherish the warmth of her lips. I don't like what she said afterward though. She made it sound like the only reason I kissed her was because she was my only choice. That's far from the truth. I'm falling in love with her.

     I've tried to fight the thoughts in my head and I know we can only ever be friends. I know that more would complicate things and be unfair to her.

     By the next morning, she was acting as if it never happened. I guess that was for the best. We've got our new routine down now that she's started her classes and the diner only works her a couple hours in the evening. Long enough for her to help through the dinner rush and make some good tips and then she comes home and, sometimes, I even help her with her homework.

     "Did you ever go to college?" I laugh. "No, no reason to. I already knew I was going to be a grunt just like my dad was, no need to go to college for that." She always came home excited with new stories to tell me about the day's events.

     One day, she came home pretty pissed off, which is unlike her. She slams the door. "Woah, what's got you all twisted today?" I ask. I'm actually kinda worried. I've never seen her this mad, I didn't even think she could get this mad. "Professor Caius gave me a D-, a D-! Can you believe that? I spent days on that paper, I did all the research, and I did the proper format. He said it 'lacked originality.' What does that even mean?" She's looking at me like I have an answer and judging by the look on her face and the steam coming out of her ears I better come up with one.

     "Did you ask him what he meant?" Wrong thing to say. "Of course, I asked him what he meant. All he said was if he has to explain it then that's why I got a D-." She throws the paper up in the air and I catch them and put them on the table to keep from having to pick them up all over the floor later. "I don't know what to tell you except to maybe try a different writing approach next time." Wrong thing to say again. "Ugh!" she grunts and just marches upstairs to the bathroom, probably taking a shower and getting into her work uniform.

     She comes back downstairs ready to go. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get grumpy with you. It's just frustrating to already have this at the beginning of the year. How am I going to pass this class if this is what he's like?" I don't like this, she looks broken. "It's just one assignment," I say to her while rubbing her shoulder. "Don't let it dictate the whole rest of the year. The next one will be better than ever and you'll pass with flying colors." She smiles at me. I'm just glad I finally said the right thing.

     She left for work in a better mood than she came home in. And I'm happy I contributed to that.