Who: Caleb and ghost!Miranda What: Caleb was going to eat dinner, but... Nope. Where: His apartment When:Early evening Wednesday Oops, I meant backdated to the start of the plot Warnings: Miranda angst Status: Closed/Complete
“You’re not going to eat that in front of me, are you?” And that was all it took. Caleb’s sandwich fell to the floor. Turkey, cheese, and a slice of tomato freeing themselves from being trapped between two slices of bread, all making a glorious mess on his kitchen floor. Before he even thought about cleaning up, he spun around to find himself looking at Miranda. A big smile formed on his face.
“Hey,” Was all he could manage.
“Hey, yourself.” She smiled and hugged him and, surprisingly, he could feel it. Caleb looked at her, a little confused.
“I felt that. Are you...?” Human was what he wanted to ask. When they were in Ravenswood together they could never really touch. Now he definitely felt her arms around him. At least until she pulled away.
“Not exactly. This place seems different. I can touch things if I focus. It’s pretty cool, but...” She wrinkled her eyebrows and surveyed the apartment. “Where is ‘here’? It’s not Ravenswood. Did you leave somehow?”
Caleb chuckled a little. “Not of my own free will. There’s some kind of magic that draws people here and keeps them.” As he spoke he stooped down to clean up the mess his sandwich had made. “It’s some kind of magically charged tree stump. There are a lot of people stuck here. Hanna, too.”
“Hanna?” Miranda raised an eyebrow. “How’s she doing?”
“As well as can be expected. You’d hardly know her. She changed her hair, her clothes... Still the same Hanna underneath it all, but completely different on the outside.” It was in the way Caleb spoke about Hanna. If you listened to him, watched him speak, you would know for certain that he cared about her. It was that that brought a bittersweet smile to Miranda’s face.
“I’m glad you guys are together.” Miranda looked to her shoes for a second. “Sorry about the sandwich.” She smiled a little bit.
“The sandwich can wait. Let’s talk.” Once the turkey, tomato, cheese, and bread were all safely in the garbage, Caleb led Miranda to the couch in his living room. She followed with a pleasant expression on her face. As far as ghosts went, he probably had it easier than anyone else.