Unfashionably Dead

Chapter Nineteen

I will myself to Britton Plaza and pass the theaters for an action flick and a Christmas comedy before finding the pirate movie. The smell of butter-smothered popcorn wafts through the air. I inhale slowly to savor the tantalizing scent and walk through the door.

Squinting, I scan the crowd for Oliver and Jose as a commercial asking the patrons to silence their cell phones plays on the big screen. I come up empty. I close my eyes, trying to think of where I should go. Mom's place is ruled out. There's only so much Margaret I can take in a day. The beach is not an option.

Stymied, I open my eyes.

"So glad you joined us," Oliver says. "We're sitting over there."

Jose waves from the middle of the back row.

Oliver and I walk to the back of the theater. He steps aside and motions for me to navigate the row. Careful not to step on his toes, I squeeze past a teenaged boy. As I am about to squeeze past a second boy, Oliver vaults over me and lands in the seat next to the pirate. Show off. Thankfully there is another vacant seat on Jose's left.

"Has your friend arrived? I can easily take the one beside it."

"Not yet, but m'lady will be fine next to me."

I laugh awkwardly and step around him as a swashbuckling Kit Harington appears on the screen. I am enthralled by the movie until Jose rises to just below the projector. Thin, white lines appear over Kit's derriere when he is in the buff. I give the stink-eye to Jose. Kit Harington's butt is the only reason I'm halfway interested in the flick.

He throws his hands up in the air. "I only protect m'lady's virtue."

I let out a snort. "Virtue? In this town? It's like Strip Club, USA."

About half the audience turns around to shush us. The other half grumbles about the movie's cutting out.

"Are they all ghosts?" I whisper to Jose once he returns from his prank.

"You can't tell?"

"I can tell by touch. Obviously, I shouldn't go around feeling everyone, but ghosts are tangible. You and Oliver feel like humans felt when I was alive. People... well, they feel like jelly."

Jose nods. "But can you see their spark?"

I have no idea what he is talking about, and I'm sure my face reflects my confusion. The only spark I see in the theater is between Mr. Harington and his love interest.

"Take a good look at me."

I size him up. He's pretty much the same since the night I met him: dressed like a pirate, hot, and with enough swagger to make me swoon. I shift my attention to Oliver. He's the same, too.

"Now, take a look at the guy who just walked in."

My gaze turns to the man. The red and white stripes of a popcorn container come into view as he heads toward us. A large drink is in his other hand. He stands beside the teenaged boys and waits. Definitely human, but from here, I cannot see a spark.

"Looks no different than the two of you."

Jose gives a throaty laugh. "Wow. You're the first to fall for that one in a century. Don't you think you would've noticed sparks by now?"

Oliver joins the laughter.

Ha ha. Pick on the new kid.

Annoyed, I lean forward to catch a better glimpse of the guy, his pasty skin lit by the brightness of the screen. His nose is a hook, his hair greasy enough to fry an egg, but appearing to have been combed in the thirty minutes since I last saw him.