Chapter two- Return of an old friend

"Lenlee?" Ashley gasped, staring ahead at the balcony.

"In the flesh, well sorta," Lenlee chuckled, hopping down from the railing and onto the balcony floor.

"I...I thought you were dead? You...you..." Ashley could feel the tears forming in her eyes, threatening to pour out at any minute.

"Ha, I wish. Sorry Ash, but you can't get rid of me that easily." Lenlee giggled.

"...how?" Ashley asked, she was certain she was crying now.

"The power of friendship. The tears you cried on my grave revived me, you're magic. Congrats." Lenlee jokes, making jazz hands when she said that Ashley was magic.

"But... I never cried on your grave?" Ashley said, confused. She was too overcome with so many emotions at once that she didn't catch on to Lenlee's joke.

"Ouch, that hurts," Lenlee hissed, holding her heart and leaning on the doorframe.

"That is not what I meant! I mean I was sad and cried, and I'm still not completely over it. Yesterday was the first time I visited your grave!" Ashley clarified, waving her hands around. Lenlee chuckled.

"However long have I been gone? You've made yourself too easy to get to. Look at what you've become without me. Tsk tsk." Lenlee waved her finger. Ashley couldn't help but let out a light smile.

"How did you even get here?" Ashley asked.

"Well, I woke up by my grave at night, I thought I was just dreaming and I fell asleep at my mom's grave. So I walked around and everyone I came into contact with ignored me, except their dogs. Who walks their dogs at 9 pm? But anyway, I was walking and Mr. Sanders was still at the café. I tried to walk in but the door was really heavy. Then some guy opened it and walked in a few minutes later, so I quickly went behind him. I knew something was wrong when Mr. Sanders didn't say anything." Lenlee began. Ashley nodded, signaling for her to continue.

"Then I looked behind me, and I couldn't see my reflection in the glass window. I of course thought that was weird. So I tried talking to the old fart, and he ignored me. That's when I decided to go back to the graveyard, and I saw my grave and thought 'so this is how it is now'. I also saw the flowers, and I knew they were from you. So I decided to break into your house and scare the shit out of you when you woke up." Lenlee finished, looking proud of herself.

"How did you even get up here?" Ashley questioned, backing up and sitting on her bed, burying her head in her hands.

"I can fly, and everything in your house I can open normally. I always swore I would come back to haunt you." Lenlee winked at her, walking in the room and sitting next to Ashley.

"I wonder why that is..." Ashley murmured, crossing her legs.

"But I gotta say, Ash, you aged amazingly, you look how a 50-year-old should look," Lenlee teased, smirking.

"Only you can be resurrected and start being an ass right away," Ashley sighed, shaking her head and wiping the tears from her face.

"If you want, we could do the mushy gushy stuff and hug? I know you want to." Lenlee offered. Ashley smiled and hugged Lenlee tightly, who hugged her back. It felt like Lenlee was there but also felt like she was hugging air. Lenlee eventually pulled away from the hug, smiling softly at Ashley.

"You never answered my question earlier, why are you back?" Ashley whispered, holding Lenlee's hand.

"Probably because I left something unfulfilled, did you guys catch my killer~?" Lenlee queried, putting a finger on her chin.

"What do you mean?" Ashley asked, dumbfounded.

"I mean the reason I died, I don't remember how but someone probably killed me," Lenlee explained, laying back on the bed.

"Lenlee, you died in a hiking accident. You went hiking and fell off a cliff." Ashley said, looking seriously at Lenlee.

"Oh is that how?" Lenlee hummed, tapping her chin, Ashley scowled.

"How do you not know how you died?" Ashley asked, looking at the ground.

"I forgot, not my fault." Lenlee shrugs. Ashley sighs and shakes her head in disappointment. How could someone not remember how they died?

"Len-," Ashley starts to say but is cut off by the sound of the door bursting open, revealing Eric. He comes in and looks around, he gets a confused look on his face. Lenlee stares at Eric, and Ashley gets a worried look. "Eric it's not-," Ashley tries to say but is once again cut off by Eric.

"Who are you talking to?" Eric asks, still looking confused. Lenlee then giggles, Ashley looks at her confused.

"He can't see me I guess," Lenlee explains, going up to Jordan and standing in front of him.

"Hey, Ash, who were you looking at just now?" Eric prods.

"Uh, I was practicing meeting people for my job," Ashley lies. It's the best excuse she could come up with.

"Oh! Good idea. It's time to go to work, by the way, you slept in." Eric made known.

"Got it, I'll be down in 5 minutes," Ashley nods, Eric then leaves the room. Ashley turns towards Lenlee, who is looking at the door.

"Lenlee, I need to get dressed," Ashley murmurs, feeling a bit awkward.

"Oh ya, I'll go wait for you downstairs," Lenlee smiles and walks through the wall. Ashley gets dressed in black leggings and a black shirt. There would be an apron over it so it doesn't matter. She quickly does her make-up and puts her hair up in a ponytail, going downstairs.

Her parents are in the dining room. It has a long table with a white and gold center cloth running down it. The wood is dark and smooth and beautifully decorated with flower designs and lines. Breakfast is laid out on the table, her father sits at one end of the table, newspaper in his hands and a coffee mug to his right. Her mother sits at the other end, stirring her coffee with a spoon and looking out the window. Eric is sitting in one of the seats to the side, eating cereal. She sees Lenlee sitting at the table. Upon her entry, her father looks up from his newspaper.

"Good morning Ashley, how was your sleep?" He asks, picking up his coffee mug and taking a sip. Her mother looks towards her too.

"Good morning dear," Her mother greets.

"Good morning, my sleep was fine," Ashley answers, sitting down next to Eric and grabbing a bowl and the cereal. She tries not to shoot a glare at Lenlee, who is just floating over her. Ashley grabs the milk and pours her cereal.

"That's good," her father mumbles, nodding and going back to reading the newspaper. The rest of breakfast passes in silence as Eric and Ashley finish their cereal.

"Well that was probably one of the most boring things I ever had to sit through," Lenlee sighed, following after Ashley as she went to the kitchen. Ashley put her and Eric's dishes in the dishwasher.

"Let's go, Ash," Eric says, walking out of the kitchen and into the main room. Ashley follows behind him with Lenlee floating behind her.

"You know, this is cooler than being alive. I can just float around now. Imagine how much easier P.E could have been," Lenlee chuckles, floating next to Ashley. Ashley finds it harder and harder to ignore Lenlee.

Eric and Ashley step out of the door, they close it behind them, and get into a black Camry. Eric drives and Ashley sits in the passenger seat Ashley sees Lenlee in the back seat.

"Woah, that scares me." Eric gasps, startling for a second.

"What?" Ashley asks, turning to look at Eric.

"I looked in the rearview mirror and thought I saw someone," Eric chuckles, turning the keys and starting the car. Ashley's heart skips a beat and Lenlee giggles.

"Maybe he'll see me in the future," Lenlee shrugs, laying down on the back seat.

"Hopefully not," Ashley mumbled, shaking her head slightly.

"Ya, it would be pretty freaky if someone was back there," Eric laughs. Even though Ashley didn't mean to say that to him, she's glad it fit in the context. She has to start learning to ignore Lenlee when they're out in public.

The car drives the familiar route to the café. Ashley stares out the window while Eric rambles about something random, probably about the new episode to his favorite show. Ashley spaces out until she hears her name being called and a light tap on her shoulder.

"Ashley? Ashley?" Eric calls out. So it was Eric who was calling her name. Ashley snaps out of it, turning to Eric. She realizes they are in the parking lot of the cafe. Eric raises his eyebrows at her. "You seem really out of it lately Ash, you okay? I'm here if you need to talk." Eric offers, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Sorry, I'm just thinking a lot lately." Ashley sighs. She is still trying to come to terms with how her old best friend has come back as a ghost, a very annoying one at that.

"If I may ask, about what?" Eric asks.

"About everything, I'm home now and I'm meeting people I haven't even talked to in 6 years," Ashley explains, pinching the bridge of her nose with her fingers. "I'm just getting hit with a lot of nostalgia and stress about meeting people I previously knew, I was such an asshole in my final months of this town." Ashley sighs, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. She then feels a lighter hand on her other shoulder, it is probably Lenlee.

"Ash, they can't blame you for grieving." Eric reasoned, rubbing her shoulder with his hand.

"But they should, just because I was in a bad place didn't give me an excuse to treat them like I did." Ashley mumbles.

"Everyone grieves in different ways, they are grieving too. They don't blame you for grieving in your own way." Eric whispered, squeezing Ashley's shoulder reassuringly. Ashley looked up and hugged Eric.

"Thank you," Ashley whispered into his shoulder. She could feel him chuckle.

"There is no need to thank me, I'm your friend." Eric chuckles, rubbing circles onto Ashley's back.

"Ugh, I thought I would stop being the third wheel when I died, I guess I am doomed. That's probably my curse actually, forever being the third wheel." Lenlee groans. Ashley scowls in Lenlee's direction. "But, Eric is right. You were grieving, and everyone grieves in their own way. And if they are mad at you, fuck them you're awesome." Lenlee adds. Ashley can hear the smirk in Lenlee's voice.

"Alright, let's get to work," Eric chirps, then pulls back from the hug, patting Ashley's shoulder. Ashley nods, stepping out of the car. She doesn't even have to look to know that Lenlee is following behind her.

She steps through the cafe doors with Eric, as always the smell of coffee and pastries fills her senses. It's always a pleasant smell, making her take another deep breath to smell it. She sees Mr.Sanders come out from the back of the shop, holding a tray of donuts. He sees the two and smiles.

"Hello, you're right on time!" Mr. Sanders greets, setting the tray of donuts on the counter, opening the glass display case.

"Time; something he is almost out of." Lenlee sneers, sitting on the counter. Ashley goes to hit her in the shoulder but stops herself. It would look like she was hitting the air. She sees Lenlee have a victorious smirk on her face.

"Ya, I can't be late for my first day!" Eric beams, putting his hands on his hips and puffing out his chest. He always lets the smallest things get to his ego, Ashley thinks it is hilarious.

"I hope you won't be late any other day either," Mr. Sanders chuckles, sliding the donuts into the display case, then locking it. The donuts look very delicious and smell better than they look.

"Trust me, I won't." Eric smiles, going to the side and getting an apron, handing one to Ashley as well.

Ashley and Eric slide their aprons on and get to work. Ashley works the register and Eric works on making the coffee and orders. It gets quite busy an hour into their work shift, but they make it. Now, it's about two hours into their shift.

"Good job so far kids, I know I may not look like it, but I'm 86. You've been a lot of help to me, thank you." Mr. Sanders thanked, handing each of them a glazed donut.

"86 is being generous, I thought you were well over a century old." Lenlee chuckles. Ashley ignores her and takes a bite and feels like she was in heaven. Eric had tears in the corner of his eyes.

"Are you god?" Eric asked, quickly eating the rest of his donut. Mr. Sanders just chuckled.

"No, it is my wife's recipe. I don't make it as good as she did." Mr. Sanders chuckles, shaking his head.

"I can only imagine what a wonderful cook she was." Eric smiles. Ashley chuckles and takes another bite of her donut. She doesn't blame Eric for crying, the donut is just too good to be true.

"Thank you, Mr. Sanders." Ashley giggles.

"You're welcome, now back to work, you kids still have two hours left!" Mr. Sanders orders. Ashley goes back behind the register and Eric to the back of the store, Lenlee sits on the counter next to the register. Families come in, kids order hot chocolate, their tired and stressed parents order coffee. Some teenagers come in and sit down at the tables with their coffee and talk. The day continues to go by.

It reminds Ashley of when she was in high school. Her friends would come in and bother her at the cafe, especially Lenlee. Ashley can't count the number of times that Mr.Sanders almost kicked Lenlee out of the cafe. He never did because Ashley would always beg him not to. Ashley is pretty sure that even if he did kick her out, Lenlee would have found a way back in.

"You know, now that I think of it, the thing I miss most about being alive is coffee." Lenlee shared, kicking her legs in and out, as if she was a kid on a swing set. Ashley looked at Lenlee and raised one of her eyebrows as if to ask 'why?'. Lenlee seemed to get what she was asking.

"It's one of the things I loved the most when I was alive. I would have it in the mornings, but I hated hot coffee, I always preferred cold or iced coffee. That's why I came here a lot, and because you have it for me for free," Lenlee explained. Ashley smiled slightly, if only Lenlee knew it wasn't free.

Ashley would pay for it for Lenlee, but never told Lenlee she would pay for it. Lenlee would always insist on paying her back because she couldn't accept a gift if it wasn't a holiday. It was one of the things Ashley found most annoying about Lenlee.

"Great work today Ashley. Having you here reminds me of 6 years ago! I'll see you tomorrow." Mr.Sanders smiles, patting Ashley's back. She gets startled for a brief moment, being thrown out of her thoughts. She quickly relaxes though, knowing it's Mr.Sanders. She needs to stop getting startled so easily.

"Thank you, I'm happy to be here again. See you tomorrow," Ashley replies, smiling back and untying her apron, hanging it on the hook. Eric does the same.

"You know, I have to admit I look pretty hot in an apron. I should be a chef in the future," Eric grins. Ashley chuckles, shaking her head.

"You are an ok cook, you should consider it," Ashley admits. Eric perks up and smiles.

"I will consider it, I'm going on a date with Skylar tomorrow. Maybe I could impress her with my cooking skills." Eric suggests.

"Poor Skylar," Lenlee murmurs. Ashley has to force back the urge to elbow her.

"That's a great idea," Ashley encourages, starting to walk to the front doors.

"Don't leave me!" Eric called out, quickly running to her side. Ashley rolls her eyes at his antics. It's like when a mother threatens to leave her kid in the aisle of the store if they don't stop misbehaving.

Then, a man walks in. He is wearing dark blue jeans and a white shirt. The shirt has some sweat on it. The man has a fit build and short, dark blonde hair. He has sunglasses tucked into his shirt and light skin. His face has some sweat on it and his eyes are a dark brown. He has a very tough jawline.

"Oh god," Lenlee murmurs. Ashley looks up and immediately recognizes him.

"Chris?" She finds herself asking.

"Ashley?" Chris responds, looking at her in disbelief. "Holy shit it's been forever," Chris gasps.

"Ya, it has," Ashley says. Ashley is surprised that Lenlee hasn't said anything. Maybe Lenlee being quiet for once is a good thing.

"How are you lately?" Chris asks, leaning against the wall.

"I've been good, what about you?" Ashley answers.

"I've been good as well, I work with my dad in the shop now," Chris answers back. Ashley remembers his dad's shop. When they were dating, sometimes he would need to go get something from his dad. He and his dad would then start a conversation while she waited and listened to the two of them ramble about cars for an hour.

"That sounds fun," Ashley smiles.

"Who is this?" Eric asks, looking warily at Chris.

"Oh right! Chris, this is Eric, Eric this is Chris," Ashley introduces.

"Nice to meet you," Chris says, holding his hand out to Eric. Eric takes his hand and they shake hands.

"You too," Eric says back. They pull their hands away.

"Well Ashley, it was nice meeting you but I have to go. I stopped by here for some water and cool air. Let's go out for drinks later? How about 8 pm?" Chris invites. Ashley hesitates, considering their history it wouldn't be the best of ideas.

"I would, but I'm busy. How about some other time?" Ashley answers. Chris looks disappointed before shrugging and going to the counter.

"Sure, see you around Ashley," Chris waves. Ashley and Eric then leave. They step into the car then close the doors and immediately Eric turns to her.

"Was that your ex?" Eric asks, leaning close to Ashley.

"Yep," Ashley confirms, buckling her seatbelt.

"I still can't believe you ever dated him. You must have been incredibly desperate," Lenlee sneered, she was in the back seat again, laying upside down.

"Wow, your second day back and you've run into your ex," Eric gasps, Ashley rolls her eyes.

"I'll tell you more about him later. I'm kind of tired, let's go back," Ashley requests, resting her head on the seatbelt and looking out the window.

"Okay, but tomorrow you need to show me around. I don't want to look like a fool and get lost when I'm with Skylar tomorrow," Eric decided, turning the keys in the ignition and driving.

The car ride back was silent again. It was peaceful too. The tiny bumps on the road and the peaceful town. Ashley could almost fall asleep right there, but she decides to stay awake until she could sleep on her bed.

They pull up to the house and get out of the car. When they step through the doors it's empty but clean. Ashley will always admire her mother's ability to make everyone feel like they're walking into somewhere important when they walk into their house.

"I'll call you down for dinner if you want. You looked pretty tired on the car ride back," Eric observes, laying a hand on her shoulder. Lenlee is standing beside her, looking at her.

"Thank you," Ashley thanks, hugging Eric lightly then walking to her room.

She opens the door, holding it open for Lenlee, who unsurprisingly follows her. She then closes the door, she takes her hair out of the ponytail it was in, and collapses on the bed. She stares at the ceiling for a while.

"Can't sleep? I thought you were tired,"

Lenlee says. She looks over and sees Lenlee sitting on the window sill.

"I'm exhausted, but I can't fall asleep for some reason." Ashley sighs, turning to Lenlee, who walks over and sits on the edge of the bed.

"What normally helps you go to sleep?" Lenlee asks.

"Melatonin," Ashley answers, closing her eyes.

"I don't have melatonin, but I did hear your mom say something before you came down this morning." Lenlee begins. Ashley opens her eyes to look at Lenlee, who wiggles her eyebrows as if she's about to tell a scary story.

"What did she say?" Ashley questions, she is curious now.

"Toby and his husband are coming tomorrow. They're visiting Toby's parents for the holidays," Lenlee informs.

"That's good, it's been a while since you've seen him," Ashley murmurs. It goes silent again as Ashley attempts to fall asleep. She still can't sleep, frustrated, she sits up and grabs Lenlee's arm, pulling her down to lay beside her.

"Oh?" Lenlee smirks.

"Being at the café today made me realize how long it's been, and how simpler and peaceful it was 6 years ago. We used to lay next to each other all the time at sleepovers." Ashley explains, looking at Lenlee.

"If I don't end up moving on from being a ghost, it's going to be like an eternal sleepover for us. You'll probably never get rid of me," Lenlee chuckles.

"Oh god," Ashley sighs, regretting her decision. Maybe just waiting longer to fall asleep would be a better alternative than getting harassed by Lenlee.

"Good night, Ash." Lenlee smiles, Ashley turns to lay on her side, in the opposite direction of facing Lenlee. She then closes her eyes.

"You know, I miss how it was 6 years ago. Everyone was so happy," Ashley murmurs sleepily, before drifting off to sleep.