It’s not fair.

It’s not fair! How can someone out there so perfect for you move across the street just a year after you’ve moved into your forever home, claiming they’ve been looking everywhere for their forever home, spend all this time getting to know you and telling you they want to spend more time with you, only to find out after getting your hopes out that they come from a family of ghost hunter? 

“It’s not fair!” Molly cries, planting her face into her pillow. “I can’t just walk right up to him and say I never want to talk to him again!”

“Well that’s easy!” Scratch replies, and Molly peeks out from her pillow to see him floating beside her with a big grin on his face. “All you gotta do is pull him aside after school, sit him down at a desk in an empty classroom, and get right up in his face and tell him how much you hate-”

“Because I like him, Scratch!” Molly shoots up in bed, just barely avoiding sending Scratch flying across the room with the motion. “I want to talk to him! I want to be friends with him! Maybe I want to be more than-” she quickly cuts herself off, slapping her hands to her face as a pink flush rushes to her cheeks. She buries herself under her blanket, and despite its usual ability to block out the light from her room, she can still see the gentle glow of Scratch’s ectoplasm as he moves to sit down on her nightstand.

“That is a tricky one,” is all he says, tapping a finger to his chin. “At least Libby didn’t completely believe in ghosts and we could just hide from her whenever we wanted, but this…”

“You’re not helping!” 

“Kidding, kidding” Scratch raises a defensive hand in the air. “Geez, just trying to lighten the mood here” he pinches at his temples. “Look, Moll, I hate this as much as you do! You think I like going back to having to hide out in here all day? Especially with the Ghost Council thinking they can just pop in whenever they please? I don’t!” he sighs, and Molly’s about to give up on the conversation altogether and roll over on her side before Scratch reaches out and places a hand on her shoulder. “But,” he emphasizes, “I make do, because that’s what works for me. If there’s anyone out there who can do more than just make do because she wants the solution where everyone can be happy together, that’s you. I believe in you, kid.”

Molly smiles at that, and sits up in bed. “Thanks, Scratch”

“Yeah, yeah,” Scratch waves her off. “Now, come on, let’s go get some food or something. I’m starving.”

Molly laughs awkwardly. “Actually, uh, I think I just need to get some air. You go on ahead without me”

Scratch looks surprised by that, but shrugs it off just as quickly. “Alright, suit yourself.” He waves goodbye, and phases through the floor in pursuit of the kitchen. 

Molly waits where she is for a few moments, just long enough that she’s sure she won’t run into him again, and then she slips down the hatch door of her room and heads for the backyard. Once there, she looks around to make sure none of her other family members are looking for her, and she slips through the gate to the front yard. 

She plops herself down on the front steps of her home, and stares longingly at the house across the street. It doesn’t look like any of them are outside, which is good, but it almost hurts her how much she wishes she could go over there and talk to them right now.

Or, uh, just Ollie.

She’d be okay if it was just Ollie.

Molly feels a blush rushing to her cheeks again, and she groans as buries her face in her knees.

They’re the last piece to our forever home puzzle! A best friend family!

It’s not fair.

It’s not fair that the perfect family moved in, it’s not fair that the son her own age is so cute and sweet and understanding and practically the second half of her that she’d never realized she’d been missing, and-

“Molly?” 

The warm, buttery sound of Ollie’s voice slices through her thoughts, and she nearly jumps a mile out of her skin as she pulls her head from her knees to see where the voice came from. He’s on the sidewalk just on the edge of her family’s home, looking like he wants to come closer but unsure if he’s allowed. “Are you okay?” 

“Me?” Molly’s voice squeaks, and she clears her throat before trying again. “Me? Y-yeah, just getting some fresh air and all that, you know?” She laughs awkwardly, and does her best to pat down her clothes and her hair to make herself look presentable. “Where are you coming from?”

Ollie smiles, and takes that as an invitation to step closer. “Oh, I was just going to check out the bandshell! I just had to see it with my own two eyes after you gushed so much about how you, uh…” he pauses, and Molly’s eyes must be playing a trick on her because he looks like he’s blushing, “...enhappified Brighton by fixing it up” he rubs at the back of his head, grinning shyly. “It’s really beautiful! I can see why you called it one of Brighton’s main attractions in your pamphlets”

Oh he needs to stop being so cute, it’s unfair, it’s unfair it’s- “Oh!” Molly grins. “Thank you! You know how it is with wanting a space for everyone to feel like they can come together and all that.”

For some reason her choice of wording makes Ollie frown, and he comes closer until he’s at the base of the front steps. “Yeah…speaking of coming together, that’s, uh, actually what I wanted to come by and talk to you about. Mind if I sit?” he gestures to the empty spot beside Molly, and the blush comes rushing back to her face full force.

“Y-yeah! Go right ahead, plenty of room” she beams, and has to choke down a squeak when he sits close enough beside her that she can smell his hair product. She grips at her skirt with both hands and prays that he doesn’t notice.

“Great! great,” he replies just as awkwardly as Molly feels. “So, uh, about the cookout our families had the other day…”

Oh. Oh no.

“What about it?” Molly squeaks. “I thought it was great! I had a lot of fun! Didn’t you have a lot of fun?” 

Ollie’s face falls at that reply, and Molly’s eyebrows raise in surprise as he starts to curl in on himself. “...That’s what I was afraid you’d say” 

Oh corn, why did that make him sad? She was fully prepared for suspicion, or for him to brush off her comment, but now his feelings are hurt? Oh corn, she hates making the people she cares about sad, she’s not good with responding to sad, what could she have possibly said to upset him? She knows she was acting odd, but that’s making him sad? 

“What do you mean?” Molly frowns, and she wants to reach out and touch his shoulder but isn’t sure if she’s allowed. “I thought you said you were having a good time too?”

“I mean…” he sighs, “I really was having a good time! I really liked getting to know you. I was excited to hear more about you,” he smiles shyly, and brushes his hair out of his eyes with his wrist before he continues. “But…as soon as I mentioned being a ghost hunter, something…changed. You didn’t want to show me your room anymore, you didn’t want to tell me anymore stories about what it was like when you first moved here, you didn’t even want to come look for ghosts in the basement with me. It was almost as if you wanted to avoid me. And I…uh, I know it’s not exactly  my place to ask this, but…”

Uh, oh, here it comes. Molly’s bracing for impact. Is there something you’re hiding from me? Why are you so weird about ghosts? Do you have a ghost living with you? Are *you* secretly a ghost? 

“...Does that bother you?” he curls in on himself even further. “Or rather, uh…do…I bother you?”

…Except for that. Molly was not prepared for that.

“What?” Molly sputters, grabbing his shoulders to force him to look her in the eyes, and okay, yeah, he’s definitely blushing. “Of course not! What makes you think that you bother me? You’re like, my kindred spirit, or something! I made a faster connection with you than I have with almost anyone else I’ve ever met!” 

Ollie starts to smile, but it drops just as quickly. “It’s just…most kids don’t take kindly to ghost hunting, you know? I got made fun of for it a lot at my old school. They’d call me things like ghost kid or spooky boy because they could never get past what my family does for a living. We can’t help what we’re into, you know? But classmates are harsh. They either don’t believe in ghosts altogether and make fun of me for wasting my time, or they do believe in ghosts, but they say I take the fun out of it by explaining things about ghosts in more detail than they’re used to hearing.” Ollie pushes Molly’s hand off of his shoulder, and turns away to avoid eye contact. “The whole reason I even told you we were ghost hunters in the first place was because you seemed really into ghost stuff too, and I thought you’d be different, but…” 

He sighs. “I don’t mind if it bothers you, honest. I just want you to be honest about it.”

He curls in on himself one more time. “And, really, it’s okay if it does bother you, honest, because…this has happened before. I’m used to it.”

Oh no…oh no, no, Molly’s getting very intense deja vu from this and she doesn’t like it. 

“Ollie, I…” she starts, but her voice fades out before she can finish that train of that. What even is the solution here? She can’t just spill the complete and honest truth, because even if by some miracle Scratch was willing to cave and reveal himself again, he’d be putting himself in genuine danger, and Molly knows she doesn’t want that. 

But she can’t tell Ollie she doesn’t like him, either, because that would also be lying, and it would break her heart to pieces, because she really really likes him, and if she’d have it her way they would be-

She shakes that thought out of her head, face flushing pink. “Ollie, that’s not it at all. Of course you don’t bother me. The ghost hunting thing was…a surprise, but I’d never make fun of you for that. I love ghost stuff! I’ve got charms and stickers all over my phone, see?” She says, and hands it to him so he can take a look for himself. “None of what happened had anything to do with me not liking you, or trying to avoid you, or any of that, because the truth is that I…” she pauses to make sure she doesn’t accidentally give away too much of the truth in that department, the blush on her face becoming more evident the longer she speaks. “I really like you.”

The blush on Ollie’s face deepens, but he’s not quite back to smiling like she’d like him to. “I really like you too,” he mumbles, “and I really want to believe you, but…” his voice fades out, and he’s back to burying his head in his knees. 

Molly looks around for some kind of idea, because she really does want to make it clear how much she likes him and wishes they can still be friends in spite of, well, everything, and she’s about to head inside to look for some way she can show that to him, but then an even better idea comes to her.

“Here,” she whispers, reaching out and tapping him on the shoulder with something closed in her hand. “Take this”

Ollie blinks, unsure of what to make of it, but when he realizes what it is his eyes widen. “Your bracelet?”

“My good luck charm,” Molly smiles. “This bracelet’s been with me through countless moves, and it’s always been there for me. I know it’s silly to get so attached to an object, but…” she smiles, “I want you to have it. As a token to show how much I like you”

“A-are you sure?” Ollie whispers, his eyes sparkling with awe, and it’s taking a lot of inner strength not to just lean over and kiss him on the cheek right now. 

“Yeah!” Molly beams. “I want you to have it.”

“But what about-?”

“Nah, don’t worry about me” she smiles, nudging him gently with her elbow. “I can always make more of these. Friendship bracelets are my specialty, after all. This one was special to me, but I want you to have it because you’re already special to me.”

Ollie giggles at that, and he’s making it harder and harder for Molly not to just grab him and kiss him right then and there. He hesitantly takes the bracelet from her and puts it in his jacket pocket, makes a quip about safe keeping, and you’re already special to me too, and yeah, if Molly’s not allowed to kiss him by the end of the month she’s going to lose her mind.

Once that’s settled, Ollie sighs and leans back on his hands. He seems to be satisfied with that, so Molly sighs with relief and mirrors his posture. It’s not a permanent solution, but for now, at least he knows that they can still be friends and spend time together, which is good enough for Molly. 

“So…” Ollie says a few moments later, breaking the silence of them just enjoying each other’s companies. “I’ve read your pamphlets on the best tourist spots around town, and how to help out the community, but now I wanna hear your input on what to do for fun.” He flips his fair towards her again, and if Molly didn’t know any better she’d swear he was doing that on purpose. “What would you recommend as the best places to go as a local looking for fun?” 

Molly taps at her chin while she momentarily contemplates the question, and her whole face lights up when an idea comes to her.

“Oh!” she beams. “My best friend and her mom actually own the bookstore downtown. I dunno if I can get out of some family stuff I have going on today, but would you wanna maybe check that out sometime next week?”