Ghost of You

GOY 2

"It's just like I remember," Nathan remarks, shoving another bite of his pancake into his mouth. "Kind of like a cloud!"

My mom laughs and places a pancake on the plate in front of me.

"Nathan, pass me the syrup!" I practically shout, excited all of a sudden.

True to his word, Nathan came over this morning to say hi to my mother before I was even awake. Of course she invited him to stay for breakfast, which Nathan took as an invite to  jump on my bed at six thirty in the morning.

"Say please!" He retorts, another slice of pancake on the fork that remains in the air, halfway between the table and his mouth.

"Please pass me the syrup, Nathan." I roll my eyes and hold my hand out, awaiting the feeling of the sticky syrup bottle in my hand.

School didn't start until eight thirty. Why Nathan felt the need to wake me up two hours ahead of time? The world will never know.

"No." He laughs and the fork with the slice of pancake finally makes its way to his mouth. "Get It yourself... Greenbean!"

My mom gasps and I hide my head on my hands as her laughter rings around the room.

"Greenbean? I haven't heard that one in a while!" She seems happy about Nathan's use of the nickname, so I decide to keep my mouth shut and maybe just punch Nathan later.

When I was seven and Nathan was a week away from the age of nine, my mom cooked a nice meal for Nathan and I to have a picnic.

The picnic was my idea and Nathan only complied because I promised that if he came on a picnic with my seven year old self, he could pick the food we take with us.

He picked green beans as one of the side dishes. Only the lord knows why Nathan would pick green beans to take on a picnic.

I threw a big fit about the green beans and how Nathan picked those because he didn't want to come on the picnic with me.

He insisted It wasn't true and as if he needed to provide proof that it wasn't, Nathan ate every single green bean in the container my mom packed.

That was the day Nathan started to call me Greenbean.

"Are you excited for your last day?" Nathan asks, the pancake cleared from his plate.

He reaches over and grabs the bottle of syrup from the right side of the table and places it in front of me.

"Today's not my last day."

I squeeze syrup all over the top of my pancake and Nathan pretends to gag.

"Today, tomorrow, same thing." He says and leans back in his chair.

"Not exactly."

"It's summer, you know?" Nathan smiles and triumphantly thumps his arm in the air, the way people do at parties.

"We're gonna have a fun summer, Greenbean."

My heart beat picks up and starts to beat so fast It feels like it'll pop out of my chest at any moment.

"Are we?" I can't hide my smile and when i look up, Nathan is smiling back at me.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" My mom chimes in. "I need you two to go to the grocery store later."

She hands Nathan a list, which he shoves into the pocket of his jeans.

"We're all gonna have dinner to celebrate Nathan's coming home tomorrow night." She beams and turns back to washing the dishes.

"What if I pick you up from school and we go from there?" Nathan turns his head to me.

"Yea. That works." I smile again and finish off the rest of my pancake.

-

I stand in line with the rest of the kids at my school, waiting to be picked up.

It isn't exactly a line, more like several groups of kids stopped in the middle of the side walk, blocking your vision.

After several minutes Nathans car pulls up right in front of me and he rolls down the window of the passenger side, shouting "Woohoo! Summer is here, baby!" 

Embarrassed, I cover my face and get in the car as quickly as I can and roll up the window.

"What in Jesus name are you doing?" I shout once the window is all the way up.

He ignores me and turns up the radio, singing along to every song that comes on during the short trip to the grocery store.

We reach a stop light about ten minutes away from the store and Nathan turns down the radio, looking over to me.

I look back at him as he opens his mouth and says "Hey, do you-" but a car horn honks behind us and he laughs "Whoops."

"Do I What?" I ask, directing my attention back to the road just like he had seconds ago.

But Nathan turns the music back up and doesn't say anything else.

When we reach the grocery store, Nathan parks in the closest spot he can find and runs ahead of me to grab a cart.

I reach the entrance before he does and a young boy hurriedly rushes into the store pass me.

Hes not paying attention as he nearly shoves into me, but I lean back and dodge him, taking note of his disheveled appearance.

Nathan gives me a funny look and says "Are you okay?"

I laugh and mutter "I'm fine" as he pushes the cart through the entrance.

"Your body looked weird when you did that. Are you bendy now?" He asks and I laugh at his use of the word bendy.

We grab everything on my moms list and head towards the cash register.

I unload all the groceries onto the conveyer belt, with little help from Nathan, and watch as he sneaks a small bag in with the other groceries.

"What's that?" I ask but he reached an arm out and smacks his hand over the bag so I can't see. 

"Oh. Okay." I laugh and turn back around, watching from the corner of my eye as he moves his hand from the package and I quickly spin around to get a look at It.

He reaches out again to cover the package but he's too late.

"Oh dear god, Nathan. Green beans? Really?"

He puts his arms up in defense and says "I love green beans." With a sheepish smile on his face.

I turn back to the cashier, a blush stinging my checks.

Behind the cashier, I see the boy again, the one from the entrance of the store. He rushes through the crowd, shoving through people, but doesn't seem to touch anyone. Everyone remains unfazed.

I don't pay too much attention though, because all I can think about is Nathan.

He loves green beans, and he calls me green bean.

"Hey, Green bean" my heart flutters. "Move so I can pay."