Entombed in an anxious limbo, Amy performed the same series of actions over and over again, just as a panicky pit blossomed in her stomach: check the tealights, stress test the blanket fort over the bed, smoothen her little black mini dress with romantic lace trims, and rearrange the boxes from Umi...

Leigh had helped her sister prop up the fort and lights but only after Amy promised that they would watch Spirited Away inside it the very next day. "It's not fair," Leigh grumbled. "I'm gonna be stuck with Fat Aunt Felicia while you and Caleb will be sittin' in a tree –

"Leighton, don't say it!" squawked Amy, clamping a hand over her baby sister's mouth.

Through muffled titters, Leigh managed to say her piece, "K-I-S-S-I-N-Gee!" The last bit rose in a symphony as Amy mercilessly tickled her sister's soft belly. They rolled in the artfully arranged throw pillows inside the fort until Leigh had surrendered.

For the first time in her life, Amy had planned a surprise date for someone she liked. Considering that her efforts were directed toward a ghost boy with mood swings worse than a menopausal lady having a heatstroke in high Georgian summer, everything just had to be perfect. Amy smiled as she fluffed the mattress one last time; allowing her anal, control freak tendencies a free pass for the night.

"Amy, open up!" Caleb hollered from the front yard. "I'm here!"

Amy dimmed the lights in the house and bounded down the steps, careful not to kick the shot glass candles she had placed on one side. She checked her hair in the mirror by the door – the '90s blowout she had spent two hours trying to replicate from a tutorial online left much to be desired but the overall effect was decent. Her russet hair fell in demure waves over the dark dress's front scoop neckline and her makeup softened the overall look like cherry blossoms on a cold morning.

Lifting vintage sunglasses into her hair, Amy opened the door and flashed a sunny smirk. "Hey, you."

Caleb's cobalt eyes danced with disbelief. "Amy – you look, I mean – whoa!" He cleared his throat and his voice fell an octave. "You look great."

Amy was too skittish to tease him. "Come in."

As she closed the door behind him, Caleb's gaze traveled up the candle-lit stairway. "Irvine, you better not have a pentagram up there."

With that, all the tension inside Amy's body fluttered away, and she laughed. "It's worse." Amy lingered by the bedroom door with her hand on the smooth surface of its handle. "Close your eyes."

Caleb huffed. "Where are your parents and Leigh? You're actually scaring me right now."

"They're visiting my aunt on the other side of town. No peeking!"

With a grunt, Caleb obliged. "If I had a dollar for all the times you've asked me to do this –"

"You'd have three dollars," said Amy, suppressing a girly giggle when his gorgeous nose twitched with annoyance. "Now, I can't lead you by your hand and you know the room's a mess but – Caleb, don't peek! – I've cut a path through so just follow the sound of my voice...

... and now, open your eyes!"

Caleb's jaw fell to the floor. He pointed at the blanket fort. "Did you do all of this?"

"Yes! Well, Leigh helped a little... but let's go inside," Amy said, her voice high with excitement. She pulled the folds of a snowflake bedsheet that marked the fort's entrance. "After you, my Lord."

The interior of Amy's architectural wonder was just as plush as the outside. A fuzzy glow from the canopy of fairy lights illuminated the pastel pink boxes of sushi and Amy's laptop on the bed. Caleb hugged his knees, settling in. "What's all this?"

"Since we can't go for sushi anytime soon, I thought we'd do this." Amy opened a box and asked, "California temaki or lobster tempura roll?"

Caleb blinked. "That is empty."

"Well, it's not equitable for me to be the only one eating. Besides, that was one of your stipulations remember?"

"Exactly, we were supposed to go to Umi after I became normal," said Caleb. A dark cloud settled on his face. "Before we knew I was de–"

"Since that has been pushed for the time being, we are doing a mock date," said Amy. This was the most emotive bit in her preparations; it would make or break everything. "Haven't you ever played house before?"

"Of course not. And wait a minute, this is a date?"

Amy pouted. "Think of it as a test drive. An incentive for you to help me bring you back." She grabbed an imaginary piece of sashimi from one of the open boxes and brought it closer to Caleb's lips. "Now open wide."

Narrowing his eyes, Caleb opened his mouth a little. Amy pretended to feed him the piece of fish. "You have to chew, babe." Her finger neared his mulish chin but did not make contact.

Shaking his head with bemusement, Caleb pretended to chew and swallowed. "You're so, so, weird but damn that's good sushi."

Amy laughed. "See? I told you!"

"While I'm not familiar with this game... if you've made the food, aren't you the mommy?"

Gasping like she was a reality TV starlet, Amy said, "We leave obsolete patriarchal notions out the door in this house." Twirling a loose strand of her hair, she added in a breathy whisper, "But if you treat me right, I might just call you daddy."

"Try the unagi," said Caleb without a second's delay, offering her an invisible piece. If he was playing along, Amy knew she had done something right. With the limited resources at her disposal, their romantic night in was shaping up to be quite a success. He was figuratively eating from the palm of her hand.

Amy nibbled air from Caleb's hand, grimacing a little. "I'm not an eel fan but this is me proving that I'll do anything for you, Caleb Dawson. You're gonna have to try harder if you want to go all the way, though."

Caleb stared at her mouth. "On the first date?! I would never give it up so easily."

"Hardy-har."

There were no awkward first-date pauses when it came to Amy and Caleb. Their conversation was a duel of sharp banter and witty remarks, flowing from favorite shows, movies, and books to their interests, the teachers they detested, and the places they'd like to travel. Amy almost choked on her make-believe sake when Caleb said he'd love to visit the Taj Mahal.

"It's the ultimate symbol of love!" Caleb justified.

Amy guffawed. "I didn't know you were such a romantic."

They never spoke over each other and listened so intently, the outside world melted away, brick by brick, until it was just the two of them floating in a bubble of pure bliss. Soon their words became stronger, their secrets deeper, and their hopes and dreams clearer – laid bare for the other to hold for all time.

"Where do you want to go to college?" Caleb asked. "With your grades, I'm sure you'd get in anywhere."

Amy stretched on her side, putting a lot of effort into using her toe to change the song on her laptop. "... I haven't really thought about that. I was not really sure what I wanted to do with my life until..."

"Until?"

Amy regarded his sculpted face – deep-set cobalt eyes framed by dark wayward hair, pillowy lips, and that unforgettable nose. Not wanting to worry the dense boy further, Amy deflected, "What about you? Did you have anything in mind before your – er – brief internship in the pharmaceutical industry?"

Caleb turned to Amy, mirroring her. His toe wriggled near the delicate flesh of her ankles. "We used to visit my uncle's farm quite often when I was a kid. I thought of maybe applying to UGA's veterinary school..." Caleb chortled humorlessly. "With my grades and record it was impossible anyway –"

"Hey, you aren't that bad," said Amy. "I can help you with schoolwork and your application –"

Caleb held his hand up. "Please, stop." In a gentler tone, he supplemented, "I don't wanna talk about this."

Amy sobered up. A silent debate commenced inside her mind: If she ever managed to bring him back, how would they explain his rebirth to his family – the entire town, in fact – who came to his funeral? How would Caleb apply to any university with a death certificate tied to his official records? Would he have two bodies – a fresh one and another rotting away six feet underground –

Stop, Amy reprimanded herself. You have to be strong for him.

But then her subconscious reared her ugly, practical head. The rapture of her blasé promises at the fire tower had waned with each subsequent sunset, giving way to noxious doubt that was growing like ivy, roots sinking into the crevices of her head. How long will you keep deluding yourself for his sake?

The overture of a headache bloomed around her temples. Sitting up, Amy ran her hands through her hair and let it fall gracefully as Caleb watched. One of her favorite slow songs was playing as she observed him over her shoulder. "Dance with me."

"I can't."

Amy set the volume to maximum and shimmied out of the blanket fort. Smoothening her dress, she held out her hand. "Yes, you can."

"I don't feel like it," Caleb mewled from inside, refusing to budge.

Amy swayed hypnotizingly to the beat of the song, mouthing the lyrics, never taking her eyes off Caleb. "This could be our song," she purred.

"Pfft. This is not our song."

"You won't know unless you get here."

Never one to back down from a challenge, Caleb got out of the fort and stood like an immovable mountain in front of Amy. A tense tick strained his jaw as he gently cushioned her cheek. Caleb looked so real, so close that Amy, forgetting all about the many painful barriers that separated them, deliberately reached for his stubborn lips with hers.

When they kissed, Amy felt the sun explode in her chest. The minuscule space between them wasn't enough to stop the burn from rioting across her body, scorching every muscle and bone in its path. Caleb hummed with disapproval but didn't move away, just as desperate for her touch as she was for his. Through her tears, Amy kissed him, willing her love and pain to reach him, if even for an invaluable second.

It did not.

Caleb deliberately stepped back and Amy could breathe again. Her lips felt hot and tingly like they'd been stung by a colony of bees but they weren't swollen.

"I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have, darlin'," Caleb said, his eyes solemn.

Amy wiped her wet cheeks. "It hurts me more to see you like this. To not touch you."

Before her eyes, Caleb was withdrawing into a dark, lonely sphere inside his head. "You should let me go. I don't need your help finding what happened to me now."

"No!"

"Amy, listen to me for one second and use your brain." A vein on Caleb's neck bulged as his voice rose in distress. "I'm dead! There's no way you can bring me back!"

"No! I will not believe that," Amy cried. "Even if the Grim Reaper himself comes to take you, I will not let him!"

"You're being unreasonable. Crazy."

Amy jabbed her finger in Caleb's face. "No! You're being too negative! If you can bitch about crazy things, well guess what? There are plenty of things on the other side of this insane spectrum too."

"What are you even saying?"

"I don't know!" Amy yelled. "You can't leave me. End of discussion."

They were both heaving ragged breaths like they had just washed ashore. Amy knew she was being delusional, irrational, batshit crazy, and pathetic, begging on her hands and knees for a guy to stay. But how could she not? It was Caleb! And despite whatever he said, he needed her.

"I won't let you spend an eternity alone, Caleb," Amy vowed. "As long as I am alive, I'll keep trying. It's the least I can do." Her voice lost its harsh edge. "Don't push me away, please."

Caleb massaged his neck and held Amy as close as he could without hurting her. "You will tire of this soon. I know it."

"Never."

"You stubborn little donkey," Caleb sighed, laying down his weapons. "What did I do to deserve you?"

Amy loosely wrapped her arms around his waist. The tiny hairs on her arms prickled. "Yeah, you really lucked out."

Caleb let out a broken chuckle and kissed the top of Amy's head.

Her laptop's battery had discharged completely. They slow-danced to silence, breathing in, breathing out; just within reach, just without comfort.

It was a while before Amy spoke, shattering the sacred armistice they'd drawn. A gnawing thought had latched onto her consciousness and wouldn't let go. It was a possible prediction of the future that scared her senseless. "Caleb... promise me something. If we... if t-there are things we don't know about... if something does appear –"

"Shh, it'll be alright –"

"No, you're not listening to me!" Amy breathed in deeply, stabilizing her voice. "If the Grim Reaper does come, promise me that you'll run. If we end up in a conflict and it feels like we'll lose, promise me you will leave me and save yourself."

"No way in hell –"

"He won't hurt me, I think." Amy frowned. "I'll hold him off while you get away."

Caleb grew agitated again. "How can you be sure –"

"I don't know... out of that maddening scenario, this is the most logical hypothesis," said Amy, her eyes searching his face for absolution – her contradictory demands had stopped making sense a long time ago. Amy was searching for a needle of reason in a haystack of delirium. She sat on the bed. "Promise me, please."

Caleb perched beside her, steepling his fingers over his knees. "There's only so much crazy I can take in a day, Ames."

Amy rubbed the exhaustion out of her eyes. "Caleb..."

"If the Grim Reaper comes, I promise I'll run away," he began, measuring his words with judicious care, "but you have to promise that if I do you won't look for me again."

"You can't be serious," said Amy, wide awake now. "Not this again –"

"If he takes my soul," Caleb continued, "you will move on with your life."

"You're being absurd."

"You started it!"

Somehow, all of their arguments ended this way – in a stupendous stalemate of he-said-she-said. After a lengthy bout of silence interposed only by a chain reaction of yawns by both teenagers, Amy crossed her fingers under the duvet and relented.

"Fine! I will move on and marry Ashton and have loads of his babies –"

Caleb's outburst was sudden. "Who asked you for the specifics?!"

"I thought that is what you wanted," Amy muttered. She had to admit – with his flushed face and frightful scowl, jealousy looked good on Caleb.

"Anyone but that indecisive dork," said Caleb. "I swear I'll find a way to haunt you again –"

"See? That's all I want! Some faith that we will find each other somehow. Was that so hard?" Amy tried to ruffle the petulant baby's hair but her hand deviated.

Caleb adjusted his hair as if she had messed it up. "Seriously... promise me that you'll be okay, Amy."

"I promise we'll be okay," Amy said, kissing the corner of his lovely mouth. The more she did it, the easier it became to bear.

He tapped the other side of his face. "And that you'll take me to the old fire tower tomorrow after school."

Laughing, Amy kissed him. "I promise –"

Caleb tapped his nose. "And you'll sleep topless tonight."

"And I promise I'll sleep – hey!"

Caleb grinned and retreated inside the fort. "It's getting late. Charge up your laptop, we have a movie to watch."

After cleaning up the burnt-out candles and other evidence of her amorous evening, Amy changed into her pajamas and got under the covers with Caleb. Technically, he floated on top of them but made up for this corporeal inadequacy with his surprisingly nerdy behavior. He knew everything about Harry Potter, constantly yapping trivia as they watched the third movie – Amy's favorite – cuddling close as best as they could.

Just before she fell asleep, Amy mumbled, "I hope Henry shows up tomorrow. We can finally get some answers out of him."

Caleb closed his eyes. "Fourth time's a charm, eh? Now go to sleep, I think I hear your parents downstairs."

As Amy turned off the lights, they heard Leigh yell, "She has become fat! WHY CAN'T I SAY IT TO HER?"

"Young lady, you are grounded!"

Amy and Caleb laughed, holding each other near.

✧

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this steamy bonus chapter. What song do you think Amy and Caleb were slow-dancing to in front of their blanket fort?