Chasing a Ghost

Chapter Three

"Oh my God, I hate myself," you groaned, rolling around in your bed and feeling like a complete idiot. You buried your head in your pillows, thrashing around beneath the blankets, absolutely torn to pieces after the way you embarrassed yourself last night. Everything was fine, up until Simon had woken you up. You thought back on your childish antics, remembering how annoyed he sounded as you forced him to have to yank you out of the bed.

"I made him want me to just leave!" you shouted to no one. If you didn't have any self control you would be pulling your hairs out over the humiliation that burned in the pit of your stomach. You could remember his eyes, his gorgeous beautiful sleepy brown eyes, looking down at you with irritation as you acted like a kid being woken up for school. God, he probably thought you were so stupid. Why would you act that way in front of the Lieutenant? The serious, mysterious and dangerous man, your superior, whom you'd tried so hard to keep your cool around.

All that, ruined.

A tear nearly squeezed itself out of your eye as you dragged yourself out of bed, wanting nothing else but to crawl back into it and hide. You peeled off your clothes and hopped into the shower, images of Ghost's face leaning into you as he tried to wake you up flashing through your mind. You moaned and groaned about it all through your shower, wishing you could go back and not drink so much. Or hell, even go back and just not act like a complete imbecile after awakening. Everything had been fine up until then.

He probably thinks I'm such an idiot.

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You spent the next few days avoiding Ghost like the plague.

You went about your daily chores in the compound, peeking left and right around every corner so if you saw him you could beeline for the exit. You were still in the throes of mentally punishing yourself for the scene you'd caused, deeply pained by feelings of humiliation every single time you thought of the man. Soap had commented on your change in demeanor after that night and even pulled you aside once to ask if Simon had "hurt your feelings or something". You'd shaken your head no, telling him that you had just fallen asleep and that was that. You really, really wanted to tell Soap how you truly felt, but didn't really think he'd understand. He'd probably feed you back with some crap that wouldn't make you feel any better.

You breathed a heavy sigh to yourself as you half-heartedly shuffled through some papers in the designated work area of the compound. The air escaped your lips in a defeated puff, and you turned around with your head down to nearly walk straight into someone.

Your heart sank the moment you caught sight of his dark military shoes. You looked up quickly, making eye contact with him for the first time in three days. He stood there watching you silently. You wondered just how long he had been standing there.

"Oh, hey L.T.," you tried to sound confident but even you could hear the awkward twinge in your voice.

"What the hell's your problem?" He said, looking down at you through long blonde eyelashes stark against black eye paint.

You stepped back, realizing that he was in your bubble. You acted confused. "What do you mean, sir?"

"I mean that you've been avoiding me for three days."

"I'm not avoiding you!" You defended yourself unconvincingly.

"I saw you turn and walk the other way as soon as you caught sight of me yesterday."

Your cheeks burned. You had really hoped he did not see that.

When you didn't answer immediately, he waved it off. "Doesn't matter. You're coming with me."