Cemetery Tours by Jacqueline Smith

really been sleeping well, but I think it’s because I’m still getting used to the apartment.”
    “Are you still liking it here?”  
    “Yeah.   The apartment is great,” she said.  Again, her answer sounded vague.  
    “What is it?” Michael asked, hoping he wasn’t pushing her too far.   She averted eye contact, like she was trying to decide whether or not to confide in him.  Finally, she looked up at him.
    “If I ask you something, will you promise not to think I’m crazy?”  
    “No - I mean yes!   I - I mean,” he fumbled pathetically, “I mean I’d never think you were crazy.”  Smooth.  
    Thankfully, Kate didn’t seem at all fazed by his less than stellar people skills as she looked him in the eye and asked, “ Do you believe in ghosts?”
    Michael had been anticipating a variety of strange questions, but for some reason, he hadn’t been expecting that.   Rather than lie on the spot as he normally would have done, he froze up like a puddle in a snowstorm and felt all the blood drain from his face.  While he wracked his brain for an appropriate response, a new voice, loud and irksome, broke the silence.
    “Of course he believes in ghosts!   Doesn’t everybody?”  
    “Oh no...” Michael muttered as a man wearing dark denim jeans, a black T-shirt, and an arrogant smirk sauntered over to them.   Everything about him screamed “obnoxious,” from his preppy, dirty blonde hair that made him look like he was getting ready for a seventh-grade dance to his stupid green Converse sneakers that were probably at least ten years old by now.
    “How are you doing, Mikey?” he asked.   Before Michael could tell him to get lost, Kate made a strange noise that sounded like a small dog with an upset stomach and dropped everything she was holding.
    “Oh my God , you’re Luke Rainer!” she exclaimed, her voice about ten pitches higher than it normally was.  Michael stared at her in horror.  Luke, on the other hand, heaved a sigh dripping with false modesty and self satisfaction.
    “Guilty,” he replied.   Then, with a smug grin, he took her hand and kissed it.  She squealed.  Luke turned to Michael.  “She’s cute.  I like her.”  Michael scowled at him.  Of all the times he could come barging back into his life, of course Luke Rainer would choose to show up just as he was trying to make things right with Kate.  
    “What do you want?”  
    “I’m back in town for the Fourth and I thought that while I was here, I’d drop in and say hi to my buddy,” Luke answered.  
    “Super,” Michael remarked lightly.   Kate, on the other hand, gaped at him with wide, starstruck eyes.
    “You’re friends with Luke Rainer ?!”
    “‘Friends’ is such a strong word...”  
    “How could you not tell me?!” she demanded.  
    “Because I didn’t think you’d know or care who he was!”
    “Oh Mikey, how you underestimate my extensive fan base.” Luke clapped a hand onto his shoulder.
    “Right, because ghost hunting shows are so mainstream, I should assume every pretty girl I meet has a secret shrine to you hidden away in her closet.”
    “Uh-oh, sounds like someone’s a little jealous,” Luke stated in an irritating sing-song voice before turning his attention back to Kate.  “So what’s your name, Lovely?” 
    “Kate.   Kate Avery.  And I love your show.  I watch it all the time.  You are just so wonderful,” she rambled, batting her eyelashes and gazing up at Luke like he was some sort of celestial being.      
    “Thank you, Sweetheart,” Luke smiled, basking in her flattery.   “It’s all because of fans like you we’re able to do what we do.”  Michael rolled his eyes.  How did anyone take him seriously?  
    “You know, I actually died once,” Kate told him, looking oddly smug.   That caught Michael’s attention.
    “Is that so?” Luke asked.
    “You never told me that,” Michael said.
    “I didn’t think it would impress you ,” she replied.