𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲

ii. i'm a ghost.

     

     THE NEXT morning, James was writing at the table as his dad cooked some french toast. He looked over his shoulder where El was standing with a sheet over her head. "Oh, Jesus!" He exclaimed and James chuckled as he glanced up. "I'm a ghost. Ooo." She wiggled her fingers under the sheet. "Yeah, I see that." Jim looks away.

"It's Halloween." El said as Jim now puts the two french toast onto three plates along with strips of bacon on them. "Sure is." Jim said and James stood up, setting his writing stuff to the side as he walked over to El. "What El is trying to say... they wouldn't see her. Do you see her face right now? No. It's-it would be fine." He says and his dad turned to them as he picked up his mug and plate.

"Who wouldn't see her?" He said as he went to go put the plate and mug down at the table and then their plates. "The..." He covers her ears. "Those fuckers from the Lab." He says and Jim sighed, turning to them again. "What are you even trying to tell me right now, James? Spit it out." He said and James sighed, putting his arms around El as he stood behind her. "She just wants to go trick or treating, dad... I can take her." He says and Jim just sat down at the table, not answering.

"You want to go trick or treating?" He looked directly at El now who nodded. "You know the rules. Both of you." He glanced up at James who frowns at that right away. "Yes, but—" "Yeah, so you know the answer." Jim simply said, and pointed to their seats. "They wouldn't see her." James argued, knowing how much El was looking forward to this day ever since he told her about it.

"Hey. I don't care. I don't care, alright? She goes out there, costume or not, it's a risk." He said and James sighed, going to sit down. "Come on, El, he clearly won't budge from his answer..." He says and El sits down with the sheet still on her. "You know the rules, we don't take risks. They're stupid and..." He trailed off. "We're not stupid." El says and James looked at her before looking at Jim.

"Exactly. Now, you take that off and eat. Your food's getting cold." Jim says and she just throws it off from over her head, glancing at James who sighed and looked away. They both sat grumpily for a while as he poured maple syrup on their french toast. "I don't like mine with maple syrup." James looked at Jim who looked up at him.

"Since when?"

"Right now..." James shrugged and Jim sighs. "Come on, listen, I-I'll get off early tonight, I'll buy a bunch of candy for all three of us and we can sit around and get fat and we'll watch a scary movie together." He says and James just slowly nodded. "I-I can get the candy... Don't have to worry about it." He smiles a bit and Jim just nodded. "How's that for compromise?" Jim asked El.

"C-Compromise?" She asked and James looks at her. "C-O-M-P-R-O-M-I-S-E. It means, like, an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions." He explained and El slowly nods. "For short, it's like something in-between, like halfway happy." He said and Jim looked at El. "It'll be your word for the day, you two still do those right?" He said and James just nodded right away, smiling.

"By 5:15?" El looked at Jim, meaning the time of what time he'll be home. "5:15, yeah, sure." Jim nodded and James looks at El. "Promise?" She looked up at him and James looks at his dad, raising an eyebrow. "Yes. I promise." He said, leaning over and James just smiled again.

"Halfway happy." El shrugged a bit and James sighed, rubbing her back before the three of them dug into their food. James watches as his dad reached out and ruffled El's curls softly making her smile and look up at him. She glances at James who just smiled at her sweetly.

"I better head off to school, I'll see you at 3:15." He said and El nods, glancing up at her. He leans down, kissing the top of her head before standing up and putting on his jacket at the door. "Have a good day..." She said as he picked up his backpack and exited the cabin. "You too, Ellie," he says before closing the door behind him.

James sat in the library across Nancy and Steve where they studied together, Luna joined them late, sighing. "Hi, sorry I'm late. How's it going?" She whispered to them. "Hi Lu," James smiled at her kindly before looking away.

"I'll be righ back." Luna tells James who just glanced at her and looked away. She goes over to the book shelves and James glanced up when Nancy's pencil lead snaps. She sighed and got up. "Is... Loony your girlfriend now or something?" Steve asked and James looked at her, smirking.

"Jealous?" He teased and Steve only stifles a chuckle, looking down. "No, just surprised... she doesn't seem like your type." He shrugs and James glanced around. "Brown hair... brown eyes... nice body. Of course she is." He said and by that, Steve glanced down at himself as James looked over at Nancy. "Man, her pencil's gonna run out of pencil." He says and Steve stands up, going to her. James watched the two head to an empty quiet room, he looks away with furrowed eyebrows.

Luna sits down next to James again, with a book in her hands, "where'd your friends go?" She asked and he sighs. "Probably to go suck each other's faces off..." He shrugged and Luna glanced down at her notebook. She scribbled something down then nodded towards it. He looked at the paper and saw the words written, is it Steve?

He looks at her, confused and she raised a brow. "I see the way you look at him..." She whispers to him and James' whole face got red. "Um... N-No, not him." He quickly shook his head, looking away, down at his notebook and textbook.

After Nancy and Steve came back, James cleared his throat as he packs up his books. "Um, I-I gotta go." He said to Nancy who nods. He gave one glance to Steve and quickly got up, leaving the library. He exits the library and walked down the hall to his locker which he quickly unlocks, opening the locker door and stood there for a minute. Was it Steve? He bit his bottom lip gently.

authors note i love his relationship with el so much already🥺

+ happy holidays everyone!! 🤍