Chapter Text
“ABBY! I HAVE A GHOST!”
“…You too?”
Erin breathed out, glad to finally get this off her chest. “Yeah. Or else, somebody is really fucking with me. But I’m thinking it’s a ghost. Wait, did you say you have a ghost?”
“Yeah. Weird shit’s been happening a lot in my lab—uh my apartment.”
“Did you say lab?”
“Shhhh! Listen, are you busy today because—hang on…” Abby stopped because she heard a knock on her apartment door. She wondered who that could be, since she hadn’t ordered Chinese food. She peered through the peep-hole. “Holtz?”
Erin’s face brightened instinctually. “Is Holtz there?”
Abby huffed. “Apparently. Now shut up for a second.” She opened the door. “Holtz, what are you doing here? I never told you where I live.”
The blonde smirked. “And for good reason. You’ve got a whole thing going on here. And it’s a good thing you do, ‘cause I got a ghost. So does Patty. She’s on a plane on her way here. Who’s on the phone?”
“Erin.”
“Oh.”
“I’m still here, you know,” Erin said into Abby’s ear.
Abby winced. “Shit, sorry. So you probably heard that. We all apparently have a ghost fucking with us. So, um, I’m still—we’re still mad as hell at you, but you’re a part of this, so you’d better come down here. I’ll text you my address.”
“Already on my way.”
Abby hung up the phone and turned to ask Holtz how she’d figured out where she lived, only to find that Holtz was already poking around her workbench. “Is this a ghost lure?”
The brunette smiled at her friend, proud of herself. “Yeah. Well, it’s part of one. And I built two proton packs so far.”
“Alright, Abby! Now let’s finish this stuff before the others get here.”
The two women worked in silence for a while before Abby finally spoke. “Are you going to be okay working with her?”
“Are you?” replied Holtz, not looking up from the third proton pack.
“Okay, touché. But seriously, Holtz. I’m worried about you.”
Holtzmann sighed and put down her pliers. “My ghost left me a message. It said, ‘Don’t you regret losing her?’ and fuck it, I do. But I’m so angry she left. Let’s just sort out this ghost thing and then maybe we’ll talk about it, or maybe she’ll dash off to Harvard and I’ll be alone again. Can we just get this done, please?”
Abby’s eyes were wide, but she nodded in agreement.
Three hours later, Erin showed up at Abby’s apartment. “Jesus, you drive fast. Isn’t Harvard like five hours away? It’s been three since you called me!” exclaimed Abby in lieu of a greeting.
Erin shrugged. “My ghost filled up my gas tank, and set up my GPS for the city, so I started driving here pretty much as soon as I got in the car, which was about five hours ago. So, yeah. Didn’t drive faster than the speed limit.”
“Safety first,” muttered Holtz from the corner, where she was putting the finishing touches on the ghost lure.
“Yep.”
Another hour later, and Patty was lugging her suitcase out of a cab and up to Abby’s door. Holtz practically attacked her in a hug and Erin tried not to cry at how cold her own greeting had been.
When Patty asked where to put her suitcase, Abby made a face. “Ummmm, well I really wasn’t expecting to have three people sleeping over, so I don’t have a guest room…or a full length couch. I do, however, have a lovely full sized air mattress we can put in the living room.”
Patty gave a laugh at the idea of sleeping on an air mattress. “No way in hell am I sleeping on a bed filled with a fucking deep breath after that damn flight. I’ll be sharing your bed, Abby.”
Erin quickly realized that she was going to be stuck with Holtz on the air mattress, so she protested. “Do you think maybe I could share the bed with Patty? I had a really long drive.”
“Oh, that’s so sad for you,” said Abby with just a little bit of malice in her voice. “I think you and Holtz will be just fine sleeping together on the air mattress.” This earned a glare from Holtz, but Abby pretended not to notice.
“I could just go home in the evening?” Holtz suggested, apparently trying as hard as she could not to have to share a bed with her ex-girlfriend.
Abby gave her a look. “No. Your place is more than an hour by subway. What if we need you? Everyone is staying here until we work out this ghost situation.”
They decided to order pizza for dinner and crowded around the only table in Abby’s apartment that wasn’t covered with tools or projects. Erin tried to keep herself from looking at Holtz and Holtz focused on not running from the room. Patty could sense the tension, and she was having none of it. “Guys, we gotta talk about this ghost. Or ghosts, as the case may be. Abby, what did it do to you?”
“Oh, you know, the usual sort of ghost behavior. Knocking stuff over and all that. What about you?”
Patty rolled her eyes. “How come you got off so easy? This sonofabitch stole my car keys on the morning of my exams and interrupted my Netflix time with a viedo of Holtzy dancing.” Holtzmann grinned at that. “Although, it did buy me this plane ticket, so I guess that’s something.”
“Hang on. Erin, didn’t the ghost fill up your gas tank and send you specifically to the city?”
“Mmhmm.”
Holtz perked up. “It also told me Abby’s address. Like, the address just showed up on a piece of paper in my apartment. Oh my god. It’s trying to bring us all together.”
“Holy shit,” said Patty. “We’ve got ourselves a sentimental ghost!”
“Alright,” started Abby, “let’s lay out all the facts we know. Holtz? Anything else to add about your ghost interactions.”
Erin could’ve sworn Holtz blushed a little. “No, I’m good Abs.”
Abby rolled her eyes. “Fine. Erin?”
“Um, the uh, ghost Skype-called Holtz seventeen times,” Erin admitted.
Holtz nodded in a show of understanding. “That’s who was calling me.”
Something in Erin’s stomach lurched. Holtz had deleted her Skype contact. They used to Skype whenever Erin went home to see her family. What else had she deleted. Her number? She needed to get out of there. “Excuse me, I’ve um, gotta get some air. I’ll just be outside for a sec.” With that, she dashed from the apartment, not even bothering with the elevator, and found herself in the stairwell between the third and fourth floors of the building. That was as far as she made it before she started sobbing. Holtz hated her. She hated her. This was all her fault.
Back in the apartment, Abby slapped Holtz upside the head, and Patty kicked her under the table. “What was that for, you buffoon?” hollered Abby. “Pretending you deleted her Skype contact. That’s bullshit and we all know it. Except Erin, which is why she’s somewhere out there crying about it right now.”
Holtzmann stood up from the table and crossed her arms. “How are you so lenient with her. She fucks up and leaves you twice, and it’s like NO BIG DEAL. I have every right to be pissed.”
“Sure you do,” replies Patty, “but you don’t get to make her miserable and disrupt our whole vibe in here. Be mad on your own time, baby. This here is family time. We’re a goddamn family, and I’m gonna need you to go get that girl back up here.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“I didn’t delete your Skype contact.”
Erin lifted her head from her hands and looked up to find Holtz standing a flight of stairs above her. “You found me.”
“Yeah. Look, I’m sorry for what I said.”
“Thanks. And I’m sorry for…you know.”
“Come back upstairs with me?” Holtz asked, her face soft and relaxed, if a little reserved, for the first time since Erin had arrived.
The brunette sniffled a little. “Are we gonna be okay, Holtz?”
She wasn’t sure whether Erin was referring to the fact that they were being stalked by between one and four ghosts, or to their friendship (and possible relationship), but her answer was the same for both questions. “Yes. We always find a way, don’t we? Come on. Let’s take the elevator. I am not in the mood to climb seven flights of stairs. By the way, damn, you got down these stairs fast. Have you been working out?” She added a gentle wink for good measure, and it only felt a little forced.
Erin laughed, and a little part of her started to believe that everything was going to be alright.