Love, Like Ghosts: A Bay City Paranormal Investigations Story

Greg’s shoulder. “Why don’t you let me walk you home? Just in case.”
Greg turned to look at Adrian. “Can we stay here for a few minutes? I mean, if I go back to my dorm now, he’ll probably be waiting for me, but he’ll give up pretty quick and it’ll be safe soon, so…” He shrugged. “You don’t have to stay with me if you don’t want to, I know you probably need to get home yourself since it’s so late and all. But I’m gonna hang out here for a while.”
His tone was casual, but the scattered moonlight caught the pleading look in his eyes. Adrian couldn’t have said no to that look, even if he’d been inclined to leave Greg alone with a violent ex out there in the night someplace.
“I’m staying with you. And once you feel like it’s safe, I’m walking you back to your dorm.” Feeling a little bolder in the face of Greg’s vulnerability, Adrian slid his hand from Greg’s shoulder down to gently grasp his arm. “Come on. Let’s go sit down.”
Greg let Adrian lead him through the archway and across the small flagstone courtyard to where the ground began to slope away in a series of wide, shallow stone seats toward the stage below. The two of them settled side by side on the top step.
They sat without speaking for several endless minutes. A couple of cars rolled past on the road behind them. In the surrounding woods, gusts of wind rasped the dying leaves against one another.
A visible shiver shook Greg’s body. He rubbed his arms with both hands. “Wow. It’s getting cold out here.”
Adrian took a good look at the shirt Greg wore. It had long sleeves, but the material appeared to be a cotton far too thin to keep out the night’s sharp chill. Another blast of wind moaned around the corners of the stone arch. Greg hunched over, teeth chattering, and Adrian wished with every fiber of his being that he’d worn a thinner shirt and a jacket instead of his favorite sweater.
Ignoring the wild hammering of his heart, Adrian scooted as close to Greg as he could and wound an arm around his shoulders. “I can’t just sit here and watch you freeze to death,” he said in answer to the startled expression in Greg’s eyes. “And I don’t have anything extra I can give you to wear, so…”
Greg’s expression softened into a smile. “Thanks.”
Adrian just nodded, unable to speak. Flirty, teasing Greg was eye-catching enough. Greg without his usual mask, however, was captivating. Adrian thought he could sit right there and stare into that open, unguarded face forever without tiring of it.
Unfortunately—or not, depending on how Adrian wanted to look at it—Greg sighed and rested his head on Adrian’s shoulder. “So. You never said what you were doing out here.”
“Um. I was walking home from a party.” Adrian fought to hold still. It felt so damn good to have Greg’s warm body cuddled against his side, soft hair tickling his neck. But he hadn’t been this close to anyone since Christian, and he’d never in his life held a relative stranger in such an intimate way. The conflicting urges to press closer and run away played havoc with his equilibrium.
“Tell me about it.”
For a terrifying moment, Adrian thought Greg had read his mind. “What?”
“The party. Tell me about the party.” Greg nudged his shoulder gently into Adrian’s ribs. “Sorry, is my extreme hotness scrambling your brains?”
In spite of Greg’s teasing tone, the words were close enough to the truth that Adrian couldn’t help laughing. Thankfully, the laughter broke his tension enough for him to realize that Greg simply wanted something to take his mind off what he’d just been through.
“It was a frat party,” Adrian began, tightening his arm around Greg. “Sigma Pi Sigma.”
“Oh my God, physics geeks.”
“Hey, I’m a physics geek.”
“I know. I like physics geeks. My cousin’s actually a charter member of that fraternity. Alan Reed? You know him?”
“Oh, yeah. He’s in some of my classes. Nice guy.”
“Yeah.” Greg squirmed into what Adrian assumed was a more comfortable position. “So. You were at a physics geek party. Continue.”
Adrian grinned. Weird, that he was actually enjoying himself more now than he had at the aforementioned party. “So, I went to this party, even though I don’t generally enjoy parties, because I’ve been turning into way too much of a hermit and I’d promised myself that I’d try to get out more.”
“And?”
“And, I found out that frat parties,