Paranormal Agency BOOK 2 : THE FUNERAL HOME.

Of all the people to call her at five in the morning, Alison never would’ve guessed it’d be Josh. But maybe she should have, knowing his tendency to wake her up at ridiculously early hours of the day. She yawned. Damn was she tired.

Still, it had been awhile, and it was nice to hear from him. Josh was as good looking as he was nice, with blond hair and blue eyes. He was tall and well-built and had a knack for cooking. He was naïve and he was adorable too. She had fallen in love with him at first sight, and even if she didn’t want to admit it, she was in love with him still. It was a feeling she hadn’t had in a very, very long time. Being around him made her feel like a teenager again.

But unfortunately, he had a cute little girlfriend named Elizabeth and that cute little girlfriend appeared to be there to stay. Too bad.

“Hello?” Josh said from the other line. “Alison?”

“Josh,” Alison stammered, trying to keep the nervousness out of her voice. “How are you?”

“The usual. Depressed still, to be honest. Doctor put me on an anti-depressant,” he admitted. He was referring to his mourning over his sister Emily’s death. “Sorry to dump that all on you.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Alison said, shifting uncomfortably from her place on her bed, cell phone in pressed to her ear. They were all sad about Emily. Both her friend Marissa and Alison had been close to the woman.

“Actually,” Josh spoke gently, “that wasn’t what I was going to say. I was going to ask you how you were doing.”

“Oh, I’m okay. Just working. The usual.” She wanted to say more but she stopped. Her chest ached. Guess Marissa was right. She was still in love with Josh. Damn it. And she had tried so hard to get over him too.

“What are you working on right now?”

“A haunted morgue, believe it or not.”

“Ouch,” Josh said in response. “You scared.”

“A little bit actually,” she admitted. “I mean, I don’t usually do that. I’m pretty used to the supernatural… but this job… it’s a little different from the others. I’m not feeling as confident as I usually do.” Her bottom lip began to twitch as she spoke and she put a hand to her mouth to cover it. Why did that always happen to her every time she talked to Josh? She felt nervous. Her palms were sweating, the air felt tight in her throat, and her lip was only twitch more and more the more he talked. It was embarrassing and uncomfortable. Thank God he couldn’t see her right now. “What about you?” she asked. “What have you been up to?”

“Relationship issues,” he said. “It’s been a disaster. I should probably have expected that though. Me and Elizabeth are having problems.”

“Really?” Alison was surprised. And they had looked so happy. She cleared her throat trying to stay calm. Was it wrong for her to be just a little bit happy about that?

“Yep. We just don’t see eye-to-eye on things. It’s not working out.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m all right,” he replied.

Did that mean Josh was single? She had been so depressed ever since she had found out that Josh had already had a girlfriend and Josh and Elizabeth had seemed so in love that a breakup between them came to Alison as a huge surprise.

Did Alison actually have a chance with him now?

She had no idea. She really hoped so. It had been years since she had been in love to the point that the feeling almost felt foreign to her. She wanted him so bad it hurt.

“I saw you on TV by the way,” Josh said.

“Oh,” Alison replied, feeling surprised by the reference to the CRYSTAL show. “I didn’t know you were going to watch.” She leaned forward in the bed, smiling to herself. She was dressed in grey sweatpants and a white tank top. Her messy hair was tied into a ponytail. She looked like crap that morning but she had never felt better.

“I thought you did a really nice job. You looked very professional.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m glad you thought so. I appreciate that.”

“Anyway, I gotta get to work now. I’m supposed to be there in about ten minutes and I have about fifteen minutes of driving left to do. I have to let you go for now… but… you know, we should really get together sometime. It’ll be fun.”

With that, he hung up the phone, and Alison was left confused and with her mind racing in every direction imaginable. Was this really going to happen? Did she have a chance with him?

She went downstairs, cell phone still in her hand. She stopped when she saw Greg in her living room. “What are you doing here?”

“I let myself in.”

“I told you not to do that anymore.”

“Sorry.”

Alison rolled her eyes, but she was in too good of a mood right now to dwell on it. She smiled, walking the rest of the way down the stairs and joining Greg in the living room. “Good morning.”

Greg raised a brow. “Uh, yeah. Hi. What’re you doing up? It’s still dark out.”

“Josh just called me.” She dropped the phone onto the coffee table.

“Oh, Josh.” Greg looked annoyed. “Please. Not him again.”

“Greg,” Alison said. “You know how I feel about him. Be nice.”

“Yeah but he’s not interested. Remember? He has a girlfriend.”

“He said they’re having problems.”

“They are?” Greg asked, looking surprised.

“It must’ve just happened lately.”

“And so what?” Greg asked. He narrowed his eyes at her. “Fine. So he’s single. Who cares?”

“Why don’t you like him?” Alison complained. “He’s really nice.” To think, she had been in such a good mood but Greg had just managed to annoy the hell out of her anyway.

“I just don’t,” Greg replied.

“Meanie.” She stuck a new cigarette in her mouth and lit it. “You know what? I’m not telling you anything anymore. Jerk.”

“Oh come on,” Greg moaned, putting a hand to his forehead. He looked aggravated. “Don’t be like that. I’m just… I’m just looking out for you. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’m not going to get hurt,” she muttered. “Just drop it. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”