Page 52 of See Through

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Where do you want this?”

“Wherever you think it looks best,” I say as I grab the vase of flowers from her arm, another big box in the other one. “Why won’t you let me help you?”

“Because this is your place, and I just happen to be moving into it. You don’t have to get rid of your stuff.”

“Let me at least help you carry some boxes.”

“I can’t stop you there.” She smiles. Today is officially move-in day, and it only took her a few weeks to pack up her apartment and finish out her lease. It’s probably best we chose my place, since she told me all the time that she talked to ghosts in her old apartment. All in all, the timing worked out perfectly, and I even found a use for my spare room. Aubrey is going to turn it into her office and recording studio.

After the last investigation, we both realized we can’t keep doing this to ourselves every few weeks. It gets to be a lot when ghosts can follow you home, so going forward, she’s going to do less investigating and put more of a focus on the reasons why these places can become haunted. She’s switching to a sit down podcast format, and she even has a few interviews coming up. We’re still investigating, just a little less than before.

I’m really proud of her taking a new direction with her channel. I know she’s still doing what she loves, but it’s a little bit safer. I always worried about her during our investigations. Even if they went smoothly, I was still nervous, but I’m excited to see where this new chapter takes us.

“Baby, I took the weekend off,” I say as Aubrey starts dragging more of her stuff in. “We have so much time to fully move you in. Why don’t you come sit on the couch with me?”

“Why don’t you grab these pillows and toss them on the couch?” She kicks the box towards me, and I do as I’m told as she walks into her new office with another box. I follow her, leaning against the doorframe and watching her set up her desk. “You’re staring again.”

“Am I not allowed to stare at my beautiful girlfriend as she makes her mark on our apartment? Come on, this is like a thousand dreams coming true for me.”

“You’ve mentioned that, oh, I don’t know, a few thousand times,” she giggles. “I love you, Dean. You know that.”

“I know.” I cross my arms in front of me. “I just like hearing you say it.”

She tilts her head at me, throwing me a smirk. “Don’t. I still have so many boxes to move in.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“Don’t play coy.” She shakes her head. “Look at the way you’re standing right now. You’re trying to seduce me.”

“Is it working?” I wonder.

“Yes, but I have to get my car before it gets towed in an hour.” She stops before she walks completely by me. “We can christen the apartment later. Although, the kitchen and the living room are already good. Your bed, too. Where do we have left?”

“Hmm,” I think to myself. “You bent over your desk. You bent over the sink in the bathroom. The couch. In front of the television. Maybe I’ll even use your new microphone to record how sweet you sound so when you’re gone, I can⁠—”

“Down, boy,” she whispers.

“Woof.” I grab her by the neck, dragging her body into me as her lips crash over mine. It’s frenzied and rushed, but I still slip my tongue into her mouth before she groans and pulls away.

“Come on. Let’s go get your stuff.”

“It feels like you have an ulterior motive with this.”

“No, baby, I’m being helpful. Let’s go.” I watch her shake her head as she walks out the door, and, just for a moment, I take in this place around me, one she has filled with every pink thing I can think of. I love it. I love her. I love the color pink because it makes me think of her.

Even on the days when the storms get in the way, she’ll be the one pulling me out, because that’s what we do for one another. Everything I’ve ever believed in is because of her. She is my belief. My savior. My everything. She’s pulled me out of the darkness more times than I can count, and I’m so fucking grateful I get to love her forever. When we’re ghosts, I’ll love her even harder, and in every life after that, we’ll find our way to each other. Even if I’ve never believed in that stuff, I believe in Aubrey, and that’s all I’ll ever need.

One Week Later

“It’s just a light. How will the ghosts know to come near it?”

“They don’t. It will go off when one is around. We could ask them to light it up, but I think it’s more fun to keep it on and see what happens." My brother smiles at me. “We should keep it in your room.”

“What?” My heart rate picks up. “Why?”

“Because the ghosts like you better than me. Remember that time you got all the evidence on your recorder, and I got nothing?”