"We thought we were so cool," Cassie sighed.
----------------------------
Duplantier House, Willow Creek, 2000
"I can't believe you did that," I laughed.
"What, it was on my card," Carmilla said. "Besides, someone had to get it."
"Dressed like that?" I said. "I can almost see your nips."
"Yeah, and it's cold out there," Carmilla grinned. "I'm sure the pizza guy got the full high beams."
"... and you told him he was delivering to a 'lesbian slumber party?'" I said.
"What, it's my slumber party," Carmilla smiled, "and I'm a lesbian, so..."
"I'm confused," Gwen put in. "Why is it OK for Carmilla to show the pizza guy her nipples but I can't play naked in the rain?"
"Because it's not OK for her to... do that," I insisted, trying to ignore the image my imagination was painting.
"Oh, we won't stop you," Carmilla said, clearly not ignoring whatever images her imagination was conjuring up. "In fact, I might join you."
"Oh, Bella would love that," I rolled my eyes. "No boys, no booze, no pot, no mischief. I guarantee running around naked in the rain counts as mischief."
"Plus, you said it was cold out," Molly added.
"All these rules.. I guess it's a good thing I couldn't talk Gramma D into picking up some extra beers," Carmilla mused.
"Probably," I agreed, honestly thinking I could go for a beer right at that moment and Bella's rules be damned.
"And I have no idea where we could get any pot," Carmilla said. "Which is kind of lame if you think about it."
"Well, I don't either, so we're both lame," I chuckled.
"I don't even know what you're talking about," Gwen admitted.
Molly didn't say anything.
Carmilla pounced. "Molly... are you holding out on me?"
"No," Molly insisted. "I mean... not really. It's just... I mean, you know some kids at school can get pot. Mom can't prove it but she's pretty she knows at least one dealer."
"Names," Carmilla insisted.
"George," Molly said.
"Oh God," I groaned. "Creepy guy," I added for Gwen's benefit.
"Yeah, he's definitely into you," Carmilla said. "Hey, maybe he'd give some free pot if you..."
"I am not making out with George for free drugs," I insisted.
"So, where are we? No booze, no pot, no playing naked in the rain," Carmilla said. "I guess that just leaves boys... and count me out on that 'cause lesbian here."
"Yeah... not interested in any of the boys at school," I said, trying play it cool.
"Same," Molly agreed, also playing it cool.
This time it was Gwen's silence that drew all eyes.
"Oh," Gwen said. "No, I'm not interested in boys."
"Umm... are you interested in girls?" Carmilla asked. Did she have to sound quite so... interested?
"I hadn't really thought about it until recently," Gwen admitted. "But, yes, there is a girl I think is... interesting."
"Names," Carmilla insisted.
"Oh, I couldn't say," Gwen said. "I don't know how she feels... I mean, I think I know... but I'm still working on recognizing the difference between what Will Be and what I Want To Be."
"Well," Molly said. "Who's up for some dancing?"
"Me," I said, grateful for the out.
Much as I wanted to hear who the girl Gwen thought was... interesting, I also didn't. What if it wasn't me? What if it was!?
Dancing, at least, I could lose myself in the music and movement. I could pretend I wasn't very aware of how Gwen's hips swayed and the way the hem of her nightshirt slid against her thigh as she...
----------------------------
"Mom," Miranda interrupted. "Too much information. We don't need all the details of you looking at Gwen's butt."
"Hush, details are good," Mariah insisted.
"Anyway," Cassie continued.
----------------------------
There was a loud crash upstairs, almost directly above us, and what I could have sworn was a man's deep laugh.
Molly and I both jumped, startled, but Gwen... Gwen's look was pure, unfiltered fear.
"What was that!?" she demanded. Her voice was panicked in a way I had never, in my life, heard before.
"It's OK," Carmilla said. "Really, it's OK. I mean, it might be Guidry but he's harmless. Really."
"Who's Guidry?" Gwen demanded, suspicion and anger adding a hard edge to her panic.
"Just one of Gramma D's stories," Carmilla said, surprised. "Come on, sit down and I'll tell you."
"It's OK," I said soothingly as we sat down. "You're safe."
It was a little like calming Alexander down after he panicked over the Monster Under the Bed, but the fear in Gwen's eyes was deeper and more... real. I was forcibly reminded of why Gwen was in Willow Creek at all... her mother and grandmother, killed by intruders. Of course she was afraid.
"So, who's Guidry," I asked, turning to Carmilla.
"Claude René Duplantier Guidry," Carmilla said. "He was Gramma D's... I think he was her great uncle. Anyway, he's a relative and he lived around the turn of the century. That's his portrait, over by the TV.
"According to Gramma D, Guidry was a famous spiritualist and medium... and he was a bit of a Casanova. The story goes, he was engaged to this wealthy woman named Temperance... but Guidry was also, secretly, in love with a maid in her household, Brunhilda, who also was secretly Temperance's half-sister."
"I think I saw this on a soap opera," Molly put in.
"So, Guidry left Temperance for Brunhilda," Carmilla continued as if uninterrupted. "Temperance was so furious, she actually had a heart attack and died. Guidry was away, on a spiritual investigation... but he was found dead the next morning. Gramma D says that Temperance was so angry at being jilted that her spirit reached out and killed him!
"Poor Brunhilda insisted that her lover would come back for her. So, she just sat and waited for him... until she withered away."
"She died?" Molly gasped.
"That's what most people say," Carmilla. "But Gramma D told me Brunhilda didn't die... she withered away to a living skeleton, still waiting for her lover. For his part, Guidry is trying to reunite with her. So, on certain nights, his ghost comes back to his family house... this house... looking for her."
"So, those sounds were Guidry's ghost?" Gwen asked.
"Is that supposed to make her feel better?!" I demanded.
"No, it does," Gwen said. "Ghosts are OK."
"So, there's a lovelorn ghost banging around upstairs?" Molly asked.
"That's what Gramma D says," Carmilla nodded. "Hey, we could find out for sure!"
"How?" Molly said, suspiciously.
"Cas!" Carmilla said.
"What?" I asked, but I smiled a little because I was pretty sure where she was going with this and I was into it. I wanted to show off. All things considered, it probably would have been better if I'd just worn the little panties instead.
"You're a medium," Carmilla said. "You know how to perform to be a seance. We could call up Guidry's spirit and talk to him."
"That's..." Molly started, clearly a little nervous.
"... perfect!" I said. "Let's do it!"
"Come on. I know just the place..." Carmilla said, leading us all upstairs to call up a ghost.
