Gentlemanly Conduct

Who: Jules and Blaine
When: Evening
Where: A cafe, the streets, Jules' home

Blaine had been hunched over at the end of his bed, with his elbows on his knees. His head had fallen into his hands, and he'd been trying to remember his younger sister's face. The two of them were always close growing up, and he had been trying for nearly a week to remember something about the girl's appearance. It seemed to grow more and more difficult to remember people in his life as the days trudged on. As he saw one of her hazel-green eyes in his mind, he shot up immediately, startled by the vision of it. He couldn't get the beauty, the detail out of his head. Even as he had opened his eyes, he could see the flecks of brown and green spiraling around one another on the iris. He smiled warmly, clinging to the vision with all of his might. He could feel that it was time to go exploring, yet now that he had a reason to want to stay in, he wished it would be light just a few moments longer.

Its was a very few minutes before he could no longer hold the bright vision of his sister's loving eyes in his mind. He furrowed his brows, angry for a flash of a second. He wanted that beautiful memory back, just for a little while longer. Instead, he just let his face drop. He turned his head to eye his closet. Ah, today was Halloween. He could blend in marvelously, if he truly wanted to. Except that the moment anyone looked at him and asked, "Would you like to suck my blood?" or anything similar, they'd find themselves a bit woozy from a real loss of blood. They wouldn't even know what had happened, other than the most pleasurable nibble anyone had ever given them. Deciding just to try to not be noticed by whatever masses may be out, he just slipped on one of his favorite sweaters and a pair of black trousers. He walked toward the bathroom and picked up a bottle of mousse. After squirting a bit into his hands, he rubbed them together and looked up at the painting on the wall, where the mirror would have been. He hoped his hair looked decent, but he knew that even if it didn't, he'd be one of the more beautiful things any one of the people he'd come across would see in that night.

He walked out into the kitchen and picked his keys up, looking at them to be sure they were the right set, and then a little bit of money out of his jar. Having to push some of it back inside, he frowned lightly. He stalked toward the door and moved outside, feeling relieved at the wind blowing against his clothing. He locked the door, and started down the street, toward the busier part of town. Lost in his own thoughts, it didn't take him long to get down in front of the few businesses. It didn't seem to be as busy outside has he had expected it to be, but he was sure that it would pick up in the next thirty minutes. He walked down to a little cafe and sat down at one of their tables outside.

Today had been strange for Jules. She'd seen little flickers of light all throughout the day and on her way home, she kept thinking she saw people. Well, sort of. In this town though, she knew she should expect anything. She'd told Aiden she'd be alright when he'd left her house the last time they spoke, but she couldn't very well stay cooped up inside all the time, so after work she'd showered and changed. Blow dried her hair and left it hanging loosely. A little make-up got applied, black eyeliner making her bright blue eyes pop even more than they did normally. She'd chosen a black sweater that hugged her body in all the right places and a simple pair of jeans. She didn't have anything in mind in particular when she set out. Maybe just trying to figure out what the hell was going on around town. She thought more than once that it was just a dream and she'd wake up sooner or later. People that weren't people were all over. They didn't look the same. Paler. Ghostly. But ghosts? Possible? In Marquette, she supposed anything was possible.

She walked for a long time, passing more than one of the strange figures on her way. Some looked confused when she looked at them. Almost as if they had no idea what was going on. More and more of her thought she was just dreaming. She had to be dreaming. And in dreams you couldn't get hurt, so she decided not to run home and instead ended up at a little cafe. She was just about to go inside, tugging her jacket tighter around her, when she caught sight of the man outside. Outside. In the twenty degree weather. Even in dreams she wasn't afraid to approach a man, especially one as lovely as the one at that little table, so she walked towards him. "Aren't you cold?" she asked, flashing him a smile.

Blaine had lost himself again in his fury over remembering his past. He was now trying to remember the last time he had seen Dottie. It felt as if it was ages ago. It certainly hadn't been a short time ago, nearly third of an average human life, most likely. Loneliness was forming in a place that he liked to think of as his heart. He was forgetting completely that he had wanted to find someone, anyone to talk to. He had been wrying his hands together, his brows furrowed. He wouldn't have even been pulled out of his concentrated state, had the girl that had appeared beside him not smelled so terribly delicious. He looked up very slowly, making a mental note of exactly how the girl looked. The simple jeans showed the beginnings of her curves, the slender waist was hugged by a black sweater- a jacket defying his wish to look a bit closer at this slender shape, and right at the neck, he could almost see the beautifully thumping pulse. He took in a deep breath, composing himself before speaking.

"The weather doesn't bother me, lass. Never has, and I can't think that it ever will," he said, his accent slightly less harsh-sounding than it usually would be. He looked back down to his arms, barely covered by the thin cashmere sweater. He moved his body gently, sitting up to not seem so small or stand-offish. He slowly perked his brow. "As for you? Are you not cold?" His dark eyes flicked over her outfit once more. It didn't look as if she had on a pair of johns beneath her jeans, but he- on occasion- could remember the horrendous chill of a cold October night. He let his mouth curve into a light, simple smile. This girl looked very kind. She had a face and tone about her that seemed very caring. She had a very confident air about her, which made him very curious about the girl. He was so used to very timid humans- especially in small cities like this one.

She smiled at him and shrugged a little, fingers finding their way into her pockets. "Yes. A little." she nodded. "Which is why I was thinking about heading inside. At least get out of the cold." And away from the ghostly things she kept seeing. Darn dream. Well, what she thought was a dream. It had to be a dream right? At least her dreams had attractive men in them. "Do you always sit outside in the cold?" she questioned.

After running his hand behind his neck to rub it, as if to relieve tension. Feeling a bit odd still sitting, with the other standing almost above him, he slid it back down and let himself slowly move out of the chair, finding himself standing a little too close to the girl. He stepped away, letting his hands clasp behind his back. "I prefer to be outside, no matter the temperature," the Scot replied. He looked down the street that led back toward his house, and down at the other side of the block which seemed to be filling with people by the second. "Do you always walk alone in the darkness?" He asked cautiously. "There is a lot of evil in today's world.. and things much worse than just evil, I suspect." He leaned a little closer to the girl and shrugged. "Especially with tonight being the sort of night it is, eh?"

Jules knew better than to be walking around late at night. What with the werewolves and god knows what else. Of course she was still under the impression that she was still asleep in her bed and this was all a dream. Werewolves seemed easier an idea to swallow that ghosts. She shook her head. "Not usually." she said. "I just couldn't seem to stay cooped up tonight for some reasons. And it's Halloween. I figured there would be plenty of people out and about. Trick or treaters and such." She liked his accent. Of course, she had a thing for accents at this point, especially since being around Aiden so much. "What's your reason for being out on such a night? Brave one are we?"

Blaine looked around the area, something above ground-level catching his eye. A feint.. thing. Almost human-looking, except he could swear he was looking right through it. He blinked his attention very quickly, yet not too obviously, back to Jules. He smiled at the conversation, deciding to get as much out of it as he could, unsure of when he would next come upon someone that would hold his mind even as well as this girl was seemingly able to. Trick-or-treaters, kids.. candy. Right. The thought of the abundance of people made him feel as if he metaphorical stomach was doing somersaults. He swallowed hard, pushing the idea of warm blood trickling through his cold body and raised a brow at the girl, catching her blue eyes with his own dark ones. "What's to say I'm not the danger you could be facing?" He asked. He smiled inwardly, knowing he looked nothing if not frail against some sort of human-thought up killer, much less a vampire. His lack of body mass made it easy for him to not look like the scary, ravaging beast he knew he could be.

She raised a brow at him, looking up at him and shrugging. "Well, I approached you, so I doubt your intention was to be a danger to me." she told him. And he didn't look dangerous. At least not in her mind. And again, she thought she was dreaming, so she wasn't in any way afraid of him. And even if it wasn't a dream, they were in a public place. People were trick or treating around them. "Are you trying to tell me you're a danger to me, dollface?" she questioned.

He gave a brief, throaty chuckle and shrugged at the girl, taking a half-step closer to her. He attempted to be sure he didn't touch her, knowing that his skin being as cold as it was wasn't going to be completely explained by the very low temperature. He hoped he wouldn't have a moment of clumsiness and fall into her, or the reverse for her. His eyes staring very intensely into her, he asked slowly, articulating as well as he could within his question, "Do you feel as if you are in danger near me?" He knew that either way she responded, she wouldn't fully understand what sort of danger she was in. Even if she was slightly afraid, she couldn't grasp that she should honestly be pulling for her life.. and gods, if she wasn't scared at all- well, that could end terribly for her some day, but.. wait. If she wasn't scared at all, that was wonderful for Blaine, because he could potentially be making a friend.. or as much of what he could equate a human as a friend. A pet, more so.. But even still, if he could manage not to be creepy, or scary, or seem his age, he could have a companion.

It was a little frightening that he got closer to her, but she showed no fear. "No." she said shaking her head. "I don't." Jules answered honestly. "You haven't done anything to make me afraid. You haven't touched me or acted as if I should be afraid. Of course...," she said, glancing around at the trick or treaters walking past. "You could be some sort of murderer, scoping out the kiddies for some sick and twisted game. I choose to believe you're not so bad." she smiled. "So, are you a murderer?" she questioned.

"I was sitting in this terribly cold weather all alone, almost waiting for the poor little ones to come out and about, then, wasn't I?" he pointed out, inwardly cursing himself for continuing his creeper act. He flinched at her question. ..are you a murderer? loomed over his head, faces of countless victims flashing through his line of vision. He almost didn't even see the girl from behind his thoughts. A murderer? Well, not intentionally. Not that he wanted to be. He didn't mean to finish off those that he had in the past. He felt a brief moment of sorrow for those he had hurt, and ended. He decided to not answer the question out loud. Instead, he looked back into the cafe, and glanced back to her. A friend, he reminded himself. "What do you say we just suppose that I'm not dangerous, and I buy you a cup of hot cocoa and a light bite to eat? This place looks.." He paused to look in on the plates. The food looked and smelled revolting to him, in all honesty. "Delicious."

Jules thought about it for just a moment, contemplating her answer. "I think that sounds just fine." she smiled. "Lovely even. So, shall we? But you don't have to pay for me, sweetheart. I think I can cover myself, but I wouldn't mind the company."

Blaine's brows furrowed as he thought about a woman paying for her own meal. It wasn't how he was raised, it wasn't allowed. He'd tried to conform to the more normal way of acting for the times, but he couldn't just let a lady pay for her own meal. Besides, after decades of random work and nothing to pay for, it wasn't as if he would be going any kind of broke any time soon. He felt for his pocket, making sure the money hadn't blown out of it or anything, and moved quickly to open the door for her. "No, really. I insist. I'm uh, not hungry- so, just think of it as me paying for the meal I thought I might get. Or something. Its.. I was raised better than the young men of this.. our.. generation," he replied, waiting on her to enter.

That got a raised brow in response, but she entered the cafe anyway. Raised better than the other young men of their generation? He didn't speak like the men she was used to. Didn't act like them. It wasn't the first time a man had offered to pay for a meal for her, but she still found him slightly odd. A bit out of place even. Almost like he was from another time. "Well, I suppose I can't refuse you." she smiled. "That would be rude. Handsome man offering me a meal? What kind of woman would I be to turn you down?"

He was following the girl closely enough into the cafe to cling to her delicious smell, but not so close so as to bump into her and chill her what would probably feel close to the outside temperature in this very warm atmosphere. He stepped aside, and moved around to show the girl toward a nice little table beside the window. "Is this all right, then?" He asked kindly, pulling the chair out from the table for her. He knew that the idea of gentleman behavior wasn't so archaic that it should raise too much question, but a boy that looked as young as he did couldn't really pull off much more than my gran'-da taught me well, which had always seemed to get an odd stare, even still. He had filled journals with questions as to where the kind behaviors a man should have toward a woman had gone in this parallel universe.

"Yes." she smiled. "Thank you." It was nice to get a chair pulled out for her, a door held open. A bit odd because he did look so young to be such a gentleman. She found herself compelled to comment on the chivalry. "You're not like most of the guys I'm used to." she admitted as she sat herself down and let him push the chair in a bit. Once he'd sat, her blue eyes found his eyes and she smiled again. "I feel a little weird letting you pay for me." she admitted. "Like I'm taking advantage of your niceness or something, especially when you're not even going to eat." Jules normally didn't mind letting the man pay, but those were dates, this was a man she'd randomly spoken to and she couldn't help but feel a little guilty about accepting the offer, no matter how generous.

Blaine cleared his throat, searching the room for a free server. It wasn't terribly busy in the shop itself, especially with the constantly filling streets of trick-or-treaters. He looked back to her and smiled a small, simple smile. "Nonsense. Think nothing of it. I'm not much for food. I uh, gain weight terribly quickly if I don't stick to a strict diet," or something he lied. He looked back around the room, frowning as if it was for the lack of available service. Truly, he was frowning at his lie. It wasn't a very good lie, in the first place, and he truly hated having to lie about his food intake. Not creeping the girl out included not saying something like, Oh, yeah.. I stick to a strict liquid diet. A, B, AB, or O juices only for me, please. He flashed his eyes back to the girl, once he'd made contact with one of the workers, knowing it wouldn't be long before she would come over to him. "You're not taking advantage of anyone. I promise. If anything, you're just indulging a gentleman on his request. I might even be hurt if you don't accept. And really, order anything. Don't be picky or small-stomached just because I'm paying."

He slouched down and placed his hands in front of his face, with his elbows on the table- so as to cover his now toothy grin. This had become a habit to hide his overly long fangs when he smiled at people. Though no, he didn't look menacing on first glance, seeing even his truest of smiles looked like a lion opening his mouth to take your head off. He let his hands drop after his smile and tilted his head. "How about we'll call it even if we agree to remember one another, if we happen to cross one another's path again in this lovely little town?" He asked. "I'm very new to the area, so it would be more than fair if I was just promised an acquaintance."

Jules had never turned down a pretty face before, and this man definitely had a pretty face. "I suppose I can handle that." she smiled. "But I want something else in return. A name. I assume you have one, but I've been so rude and haven't even told you my own. I'm Juliana. Well, Jules actually. Call me Jules." For the life of her she couldn't understand why she constantly introduced herself as 'Juliana' when she hardly used her given name for much of anything aside from legal documents and bills. She held out a hand across the table to shake his hand and smiled again. "And you are?"

Name. Right. "Clark. Er, well. Blaine. Blaine Clark," he said quickly, suddenly feeling sick at the offending hand. He'd done so well to not touch her. He'd been sure to be as graceful as he could manage, and there it was. The one thing that might blow his 'not dangerous' streak. He remembered his mother having cold hands when he was young, and even his sisters, too.. but from the repellent way most humans acted about his temperature, he had to have been some sort of subzero space cooler. He sunk back into his chair, squishing his hands together between his knees. "Its a great pleasure to make your acquaintance, Jules, but I have to warn you, my hands are always ice cold. It might not be so pleasant for you, trying to get warm in here and such.." He trailed off, angry at himself, at his body. His mind raced, wishing he'd made a better choice of excuses. One would think he'd be used to this sort of thing by now, but he had never gotten very good at explaining his oddities.

She pulled her hand back as soon as he'd released her. She was too busy trying to rewarm her hand by tucking it between her knees to hear much of his explanation. "How long were you sitting out there?" Jules questioned the man. "You're practically freezing. I mean..." She frowned a little, feeling rude for her statement as she reached up with her free hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry." she said softly. "That was quite rude of me." It was then that it occurred to her that she'd never once felt any sort of temperature in a dream. Never felt the iciness like that of Blaine's hand. She couldn't have possibly been dreaming. So there were really odd things out tonight. See-through beings. Ghosts? Her eyes went wide as she looked up at the man, forgetting his cold fingers. "I'm not dreaming." she said softly, shaking her head.

Blaine looked out the window, almost certain that he had just seen two beings pass through walls. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen ghosts before this night, but even knowing his.. condition, he still felt a little weary. Were they evil creatures? Were they going to blow his cover? Not that moving would be that big of a change, but he certainly would rather get to give Marquette a chance. It seemed nice enough from the short time he'd been there. He furrowed his brow lightly, then looked to the girl at her mention of dreaming. He wasn't quite certain as to what she was talking about. Why would she be dreaming? He hadn't seen his reflection in nearly 100 years, but he most definitely didn't remember himself being dream-like. Perhaps the human girl was seeing these odd spirits, too? Just as he was about to comment on her idea of dreaming, he felt the presence of another human beside him. Oh, right. The girl he thought he'd gotten to come over much more quickly than what had happened.

"I'm not ordering, lass," he said dryly, not bothering to look up at the woman. "Get this lady whatever she orders, and quickly, if you wouldn't mind. We've been waiting much longer than I think appropriate," he said, eyes adverting up to the woman only on the last word, giving her a pointed look. He turned his eyes once again to Jules and waited on the chance to ask about her I'm not dreaming that was playing constantly through his head.

She bit her bottom lip and looked up at the woman helplessly. She didn't have much of an appetite to begin with, but the mere fact that there were... ghosts all around had her stomach tied up in knots. But she couldn't just walk out and disappear on the man. He'd done nothing, seemed to have no clue what was going on. He furrowed his brow at her and then the woman had appeared before she could explain. So she ordered the first thing she saw on the menu and a drink and waited til the woman had walked away before speaking.

"I'm sorry." she told him. "I'm... I think I should go. I'm..." But going? Going back out there. Out there where there were non-human things walking about as if they were alive? Would she really be able to do that? She sudden wanted to call Aiden, have him come get her but she couldn't do that. She couldn't have him thinking that she was entirely helpless. Couldn't have him thinking that she was stupid enough to be out late at night wandering around alone. Alone and now with a man she knew nothing about. "I think... I think I'm seeing things." she stammered, shaking her head and rubbing her eyes slightly. "I... I need to go."

Seeing things- so she had noticed the see-through people. But wait- he could have sworn that Dottie had told him that only supernatural could see supernatural. Either something was terribly wrong with his world, or this girl was different. He inhaled slowly, taking her scent in. She didn't smell different. If anything, she just smelled a bit sweeter. But wait- with all of these things just.. floating around outside, and him not remembering Dottie specifying if they were evil beings or not, he couldn't just let his only possible friend out all alone. Not that she was truly any safer being so close to him, where he was having to constantly remind himself that the wonderful smell coming from the girl was a perfume, not the aroma of a freshly cooked steak or ham.

He leaned in toward her, raising a brow. "Seeing things.. I- well, I don't want to.." He paused, trying to gather all of the thoughts that seemed to try to come out at once. "If you're seeing things, you could need to eat. You could be hallucinating, or.. even if not, it can't be good to go out on your own in that sort of mind-state."

She bit her lip again, a confused and frightened look upon her face. She knew that perhaps he was right, but she doubted she could eat a bite of anything she'd ordered. "I don't live far." she told him. "I don't... I don't want to go alone." she admitted. Jules didn't like feeling the way she was feeling right now. Any thoughts of him being remotely dangerous had completely fled her mind. She was far more concerned now with the beings... or non-beings that were just outside that door. She couldn't understand what was going on.

Blaine nodded slowly. He stood and walked over to the lady that had taken Jules' order and asked her to put the food in a to-go box for him. He handed her a random bill, but not before checking that it would cover both the meal and the tip. While waiting on it to appear in his hands, he thought about why the girl could be thinking she was seeing things. He took the box, and a Styrofoam cup from the woman and moved back to the table, standing beside it. "I'll walk you, then," he finally said to her. "Just for precaution or what have you. You know, in case you decide to pass out, or prove to be right about your.. things that you're seeing.." He waited on the girl to stand, smiling softly down to her.

She nodded and slowly stood up, her knees feeling a bit like the way jello looked, all wobbly and boneless. She pulled her coat tighter around her and let him lead her towards and then out the door. She stayed close to him, nearly touching him, mostly out of fear. She wasn't sure what all was around her. Wasn't sure what those things were capable of. Jules felt a bit like passing out in all honesty. Trick or treaters still lined the streets and she couldn't understand how they were running about when she was seeing things. And then, before her, a being practically floated down the alleyway.

The thing was all but see through. A smokey, hazy being that she couldn't describe as anything other than ghostly. She swallowed air and looked up at the man. He was taller than her, at least a good seven inches or so and she opened her mouth to speak, lips parted only slightly for a moment before she found her voice. "Tell me you saw that." she whispered, blue eyes full of terror.

He almost felt as if he could feel the warmth coming off of the girl. Her pulse was beating like a drum, yet quickening all the while. He could hardly stand the burning feeling in his throat that this girl caused. She had to be human- her smell was too fresh, too wonderful to not be. However, he became terribly uncertain when she had too seen the transparent being floating. He wanted to bring up his thought on having to be supernatural to see supernatural, but this girl was far too frightened to be anything more than a human. He attempted to place a frightened look to his face, but it was hard to be too terribly scared of the dead when you were undead.. when you were literally at the top of the food-chain. "So that is what you were seeing. I thought I'd gone completely nutters. That's why I didn't say anything." He looked around, spotting another spirit not far off. He didn't want to bring attention of it to the obviously already frightened girl. Trying to see its face with the transparency of it was difficult, but it almost looked scared, and confused. "I don't think it was here to hurt anyone, though," he said, hoping he was certain of the words he'd just spoke. He kept trying to rationalize the girl being able to see what he was sure she wasn't supposed to see, but could only think that something had to be wrong in his own world. The only thing he was sure of was that he didn't look like the terrible creature he was, elsewise the girl would have run screaming the moment she'd seen him. Or at least asked where he'd gotten his stage make-up and fangs.

Jules was visibly shaking at this point and not even from the cold air that surrounded them. "I wanna go home." she said softly as she took a step in the direction of her house, thankful that it wasn't far from where they were. She didn't care why the beings were there. She just knew they were and that she was terrified, unarmed and wanted to be in the safety of her own home.

He wanted to tell the girl that she was safe with him, that he wouldn't let these spirits harm her, but.. he was almost certain that the spirits were far less harm for her life.. save of course the heart attack she might have if he didn't get her to her home soon. He gave her one solid nod and moved along with her toward what he guessed to be the way to her house. Trying to get her mind off of the surroundings, he looked down to her and asked, "So, what's your favorite music, then? Any band or singer that you like above all others- your favorite?" Having spent so many hours alone cooped up in his house, he was sure he'd heard of every band ever formed.

"Classical." she murmured without hesitation. Her brain not really concentrating on much of anything aside from the spirits she continued to see as they walked towards her home. "Piano." Talking was helping. getting her mind off of the hazy, smoke-like people that they passed. She tried her best to pay attention to what he was saying, glancing up at him occasionally. Her mind was on Aiden. Calling him. Wanting him around now more than she had previously. "You?" she questioned.

He was admittedly surprised at the girl's answer. "Not many people.. our age, uh.. like that sort of music. That's impressive," He noted. He gave a face to say that he agreed certainly with loving the piano. He didn't so much expect Jules to ask in return, with how frightened she seemed to be. Her mind was most definitely elsewhere. When she did ask, he took a few seconds to think about his answer, and settled on, "Jazz. I really like jazz. Classical as well, but there's something about the soul that a jazz pianist can bring to the instrument that leaves me thinking about it for days after listening to even just one piece of music." He paused, peering down at her. "I learned to play just because of that. I'm not as great as someone like Fats Waller or Duke Ellington by any means," he admitted, "I do attempt to play from time to time, though."

"I play." she stated, thanking God as they turned down her street. Her house was in view. So close. She had every intention of running inside, locking her door and hiding in the closet. And maybe calling Aiden. Maybe.

As Blaine felt the relief in Jules' heartbeat at the rounded corner, he decided they must either be terribly close to her house, or that she'd stopped seeing these apparitions. Since she didn't stop moving toward the houses, he wanted to assume that it was the first as opposed to the latter. If she was still wanting to go home without still seeing the transparent offenders, he must have done something terribly wrong. Maybe he had smiled and accidentally shown his fangs. Perhaps his hair wasn't looking good. What if he smelled funny? He took in a deep breath, trying to just push the thoughts all from his mind. He wasn't sure what to say to her, so he, instead, just walked silently beside her, looking down to the top of her head every few seconds.

She approached her house and let him follow her all the way up to the door. She fished her keys out of her jacket and pushed into her house, flicking on the light. No ghosts inside. Now at least. The large piano was sitting in the living room as always, illustrating the fact that she did play the piano. And well by the looks of it if she had a piano of that scale. People usually didn't buy them for just looks. She turned around to face him once she'd dropped her keys by the door on the little table there. "Thank you, for walking me." she told him.

Blaine noted the piano, as it had almost immediately caught his eye. He decided he needed to get a new one in the near future, and start trying to play again. He watched the girl's keys fall to the little table before looking back up to her. "It was my pleasure," he assured her, contemplating an idea. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and a little card. "If you find yourself in a pickle again, don't hesitate to call," he said, pointing out his cell number on the business card. It was from his most recent attempt at freelance writing- and while the idea had failed, since he hated letting people read his writing, he had plenty of cards left. However, the number was still correct, so he didn't bother with updating the information to unemployed, please call me. He looked down at the ground for a moment, then back up, "You know, or if you just.. are bored. I'm, uh.. busy during the day, but.. I'm free any time after dark."

He cleared his throat and backed away, feeling a bit silly. Of course the girl wouldn't call or text.. and he didn't blame her. She should run far away from him! "Well, um. Right. Nice to have met you, Jules."

She smiled at him and took the card. "I just might do that." she told him. "I really do appreciate the walk home." More than he probably knew. She was still practically shaking in her boots right there in the doorway. "Maybe next time there'll be no ghosts."

Blaine smiled at the girl after a simple nod and turned on his heel. He started off from the house, not looking back. Instead, he focused on the interesting walk home he would have from these lovely transparent beings around the town. He decided on what to do with the rest of the night, and decided not to think about his first possible pal in town.