The Ghost in Apartment 7b

She blushed, and shook her head. "No - it's just that I like guys, and you aren't bad-looking." She blushed even more and looked at the floor, wishing it would swallow her up. "No - just friends and roommates."

"I don't really mind - how about just a general overview first?"
 
Everything thats happened in the last 90 years... thats a tall order. "A lot..." he said "Really a lot..." he was getting away from the subject of her liking him, yeah that seemed like a good idea. "Two world wars for one thing, we came so close to having another on too with Russia.. uhh The U.S.S.R. I think you still called it. Civil rights movements, Korean war. Vietnam... Men went to the moon, theres now so many machines floating up there they use them to send tv all over the world in seconds. Oh and.." he went to the table and picked up his phone. "This is a telephone I can call anyone with it from anywhere in the world and if I wanted to I could be on the other side of the world in 20 hours by plane.... Wait right here.."

He rushed to his bag and dug though it finding his history textbook. "I dropped this subject but if you want to read this you can, it will tell you a lot."
 
Her eyes bugged out at all this information - a lot had happened since she was alive. "Whoa." She whispered. She took the book, and flicked through it, staring at all the information. She came to the section on women's rights, and she grinned widely. "Yes! Finally women got some equality with men!" She had been a feminist when she lived, but she had been shunned because of it.

She sat on the table, and flicked through the book some more. She was so engrossed in it that she didn't realise that she was floating upwards towards the lamp hanging from the ceiling.
 
"Well they to in theory but reality is always a little move complicated... Uhhh Florence..." he jumped and made a grab for her ankle while trying not to see up her skirt. "You floating a little high over there." he missed her ankle and almost fell over a chair. "The light!"

He didn't know if it would hurt her or if she could he hurt but he was jumping up onto the table and putting his arms around her waist just in case. "Ninety years to get used to floating and you still don't have it down?"
 
At the sound of his voice, she glanced down, and squealed with surprise. "Oops!" Suddenly she was being pulled down by her waist to the table. "Apparently not. I usually do, but when I get really into something, I tend to forget about things like staying on the ground." She giggled, and sat back in the seat.

"Thanks anyway for bringing me back to earth." The phrase sounded funny and she laughed.
 
"Anytime you need it." he said pulling her down to 'stand' on the table with him. "So long is I don't need to tie you to a chair or something..." he realized this was the most he had ever touched her and lat go quickly even though it felt the same as last time and looked away his hand going to the beck of his neck. "I should get off the table." he said going down to sit on the side and slip off. At least facing away from her the colour in his cheeks was hidden.

"Just be careful alright?"
 
"Yeah." She softly said, watching him. Even though she couldn't see his face, ghosts had an extra sense for emotions, and right now she could sense he was feeling embarrassed about something.

"Hey - you ok?" She asked him, confused about why he would be like that.
 
"Yeah fine." he said dismissively "But... we should get started if we're ever going to finish.." he wanted to keep himself bust at least for a little bit until he could figure out why he was starting to like Florence. She was sweet and inquisitive and acted nothing like to though a ghost would but, she had been dead for 90 years and ... she was dead. That was a major issue. He also didn't know her that well. There was also the 'Hey mom, dad meet my new girlfriend.' thing and.. he didn't even want to think about sex with a ghost.

He groaned, this was not happening, it couldn't be. "I guess I'll clean and unpack the bedroom first, then the kitchen. Feel free to read."
 
Florence piped up at that point, "I'll help - I haven't much else to do anyway." She stood and half-floated half-walked into the bedroom again. She waited to see what he was going to start off with, so she didn't put something where it wasn't supposed to. "So... are you just basically unpacking everything?"
 
"Want to at least wipe everything off before I put any of my stuff on it." he said fishing a cloth from his bag and going to the bathroom to wet it. He came beck out and opened the cupboard and started wiping it out in preparation to pack it with clothes. He wasn't a germaphobe he just didn't know when last it had been cleaned and what he put in there he would have to wear.

"What do you usually do when you clean?"
 
Florence nodded and stood up. She retrieved a cloth from the bathroom - she always kept one in there - and began to wipe the chest of drawers. "Just this - and I would usually do it every week or so but I just sort of lost track of myself, and forgot about it for a while. It was last cleaned about two weeks ago, I think."

She wiped along the top, and then started on the inside of the drawers themselves.
 
Once his cupboard was cleaned out he packed it and admired their handiwork. Floor can wait until I get a vacuum cleaner." he stepped out of the bedroom and stopped. He had done the kitchen the day he arrived so there wasn't much point in doing it again. Something was getting to him though. "I'm the only person you've seen or spoken to in ninety years.."

He didn't know what to feel about that, honored would be one way but hesitant by the same token. It was like meeting a new room mate and finding out they already knew more about you than you did them or being forced to go out on a date with someone who didn't want to either.
 
She glanced up from the floor where she knelt, cleaning out the bottom and last drawer. "There's one down in the store in the basement." She suggested helpfully.

"And yeah - pretty much. I wasn't much of a social butterfly even when I was alive, and now I am dead - so is any social life I had. I usually don't mind being alone, but sometimes it can get a but lonely. I was really surprised when you moved in, but a happy surprised. I had had the apartment to myself for about thirty years, so it was exciting to get a new roommate." She flashed a smile at him, and stood up.

Florence didn't know how he would react, but she really liked him already - he was sweet, good-looking, and he hadn't freaked when he saw her for the first time, which was a major bonus point.
 
He was out the door and heading downstairs in an instant. The basement/laundry room was dark and he should be bringing his clothes down too but ... he was distracted... and worried. He saw the old vacuum and grabbed it hoping it still worked.

He knew he was starting to like Florence.. she was sweet, helpful and talking to her a made him feel happy in a way. But he had just broken up and it wasn't right to catch someone on the rebound. What if it didn't last.. there were a lot of what ifs.

He carried the heavy machine up the stairs and back into his apartment. It came with its own extension lead and he plugged it in starting in the hall and happy to have a task to distract himself and the noise of the motor.. Still he smiled at her when he caught sight of her and felt a small pull in his chest.

'Gregory Dunsen, you are an idiot.'
 
She straightened up, and watched Greg leave, a smile of amusement on her face. He really was so funny..... She dropped the cloth back into the sink, and flicked on the radio - something she never usually did. Music came blaring out, and she found that she actually liked it! She began to dance around the apartment, her eyes closed, and her mouth curved wide in a grin.

She didn't realise he was there until he turned on the vacumn, and she jumped. "You scared me!" She scolded, still grinning though.
 
"Quoth the ghost to the man." he said "Irony there you know." he grinned and shoot his head looking down at the vacuum as he slid it over the carpeting. He worked quickly but thoroughly and in the tiny hall he was done in no time, then he moved into the bedroom. "When we're done here we can dance." he said half jokingly "If you're willing to come down to my level." he grinned again at the double meaning.

He got on his knees to vacuum under the bed and blushed when he realized his ass was in the air. But he ignored it and just finished as quickly as possible.
 
She laughed at that, and continued to dance around. She went into the kitchen, and then back into the bedroom. She noticed him leaning down, and tried not to check it out, but it was hard to resist.

Instead she just turned around, and sank into the splits. "Being dead gives you great flexibility!" Florence informed him with a smile.
 
Finally done with under the bed he straitened up. "Just the kitchen and bathroom left and they'll need mops.. I'll take this downstairs." He disappeared and carried the vacuum downstairs. It was strange living in such and empty building. No sounds, no people.. it felt like he didn't belong, like people didn't belong. Like the building was better left empty and forgotten.

The appartment may feel like home thanks to Florence but the rest of the building felt cold and foreboding..
 
Florence stood up and thought for a moment. She then had a brilliant idea - she would do something for Greg! She floated quickly into the kitchen, and pulled out some food. She was going to make lunch for him.

She turned the oven on, and poured some sauce into a pot.
 
He pushed back open the door and stepped into the hall, already feeling better. "I think theres something living in the basement.. not a pet of yours is it?" he asked entering the bedroom and finding her gone. "Florence?" he called out checking the bathroom and finding it empty. He shrugged and stripped off his shirt and put the water in the shower on, he'd shower and then start his paper. She'd be around when she was ready.