Laconic » a.i

3.9

//cooper//

After sleeping until the next morning, Ashton and I finally checked our phones that were still on the floor to see the missed call was from Michael. We figured if it was important he would've left a voicemail or at least blown up the phone but he didn't. Ashton still tried calling him back anyway. He was sitting at the end of the bed with just a pair of shorts on while I laid back in bed, my undergarments back on my body after yesterday's events, and one of Ashton's t-shirts over them.

"Hey, what did you need?" Ashton asked into the phone. "Shit, is he okay?"

"What?" I asked, sitting up.

Ashton didn't reply to me. Instead, he listened to what Mikey said on the phone, "So are we safe, or?...I don't know, I still don't really trust her....Uh, yeah. Are you guys at the house?...Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes. Are you guys just leaving Ella?...Wait, she what?...I didn't even know those existed! I wish we never dragged her with us anyway-" I couldn't help but feel bad for that part. It was my idea, after all but she was so unhappy at her house, "-but what's done is done....I don't think we have the room for everyone even if some of you don't sleep....This isn't a fucking kiddie camp, why would we need to split rooms by gender? We're all adults....Okay, that may be slightly true but you know I wouldn't have sex with her with you guys around....Yeah, yeah....Yeah, be right there....Later."

"What was all that?" I asked, crawling to the end of the bed. I sat on my knees and faced Ashton.

"So, Mali-Koa almost killed Luke," he said slowly, not meeting my eyes, "but then he convinced her otherwise. And, uh...something happened with Ella."

My heart sank, "What?"

"Noel saw something a few hours after the Mali thing. She woke up like, screaming," Ashton explained, finally meeting eyes with me. "None of us even knew they existed but I guess since ghosts exist that-"

"Ashton," I interrupted, "for the love of all that is good, please just tell me."

He took a quick breath before telling me, "Ella's kind of...undead too."

-

Ashton said he couldn't explain everything because he needed to go get everyone and bring them here so he put a shirt on and some shoes and left. He said he'd call if he couldn't flash back like he hoped he'd be able to -- we both thought he knew the place well enough. Everyone was coming back, including Ella who was now apparently like us. I didn't know if undead meant she was a ghost or a zombie or what.

I put some leggings on before leaving the room and going into the living room. I turned the TV on and watched How I Met Your Mother reruns until a group of people flashed into the middle of the room. I just looked at them and went back to the TV before doing a double take. Someone very important was missing.

"Where's Jeremy?" I asked, standing up and walking over to them.

Luke let go of Emily's hand and walked over to me. He held onto my upper arms, "Bridgette, I need you to listen and realize he did this for the best okay?"

"Stop, you're freaking me out." I whined.

"He had to stay back and fake a funeral," he said and I gave him a quizzical look. "He told his parents that you're both dead. He said that you left a suicide note and ran away so your body was never found. Then he said he became depressed after you were gone and he killed himself. He sent them a letter to explain it all and the funeral is in a few days. He's supposed to transport back to the house and call one of us so we can go get him."

"So my parents think we're both dead now?" I checked and he nodded. "Does he not realize I can never see them again? I can't talk to them or hug them or tell them I love them now? Did he not even fucking think about this?"

"Bridge, baby, cal-" Ashton began but cut himself off. He sighed and I could tell he was frustrated that he couldn't say what he wanted to but he walked toward and me and wrapped me in his arms. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry to cut in all this," Ella's familiar voice cut in anyway. I looked around Ashton to see Ella stepping out of the circle of people still in the middle of the room, "But I'm officially part of your little Dead Squad you got goin' on."

Part of me wanted to snap at her because I was clearly in the middle of something, but now wasn't the time to get bitchy again.

"How did that happen?" I asked, remembering no one told me.

"Apparently vampires are a thing," she told me but it sounded more like a question. "Like, how cliche is that, right?"

"Uh, we're ghosts." Michael pointed out.

"Yeah, but vampires, dude," she said. "I feel like my life's going to turn into Twilight or something. Well, if it was the last movie, I wouldn't be complaining because did you see that fight seen?"

"Ella," Noel sighed. She seemed pretty annoyed with Ella, currently, "calm down."

"Alright, Irwin, where are we crashing?" Michael asked, stepping away from the tiny crowd and looking around our apartment.

"Why do you need a place to crash if you don't sleep? Or are you asking for Annie-Bananie?" Ashton asked with a teasing smile.

"Shut up," Michael whined. I assumed Annie-Bananie was a cheesy pet name for Annie. "We don't speak of that."

Annie snorted, "I do. All the time."

"Where's Calum and Mali-Koa?" I asked, noticing they were missing too.

"Oh, shit, right," Ashton hissed. His kissed my forehead, murmuring, "Be back in a few." before flashing out.

"He's taking Mali-Koa back home," Luke explained. "She'll be safe there and Joy can help her -- hopefully -- get over Ashton. They didn't want to resort to spells and stuff but that might just be the case."

"So then why is Ashton taking them if she's not-"

"Mali's knocked out again," he hushed my worried remarks. "It may or may not have been against her will, but it was safer that way."

"So then where do we go from here?" I wondered.

"Well, Cooper," Michael breathed as he wandered over to the couch and stretched out on it, making himself at home already, "where do you wanna go?"