(Lolita) Goodbyes

I haven’t seen Tristan since, or should I say he hasn’t seen me.

Although he made that grand gesture of saying “Idon’tseeyouanydifferentlysopleasedon’tworryaboutbeingaghostbecauseIdon’tcare,” I know that he must care, even if it’s just a little bit. I decided to give him a bit of time to think about it. And I also needed a bit of time to gather some more courage.

Anyway, today, everyone was busy preparing for the graduation event in between the hours that Maisha and Rahim didn’t have shifts. And by everyone I mean Tristan, since he’s the only other REAL staff around here. It was decided months ago but Scanta, being the procrastinator he is, avoided it until the last minute. Now they were scrambling to set everything up. It was supposed to be a “surprise” but honestly Maisha definitely knew the minute she heard that bald bastard open his big fat mouth talking about “decorations” and “highschool milestones” to Tristan.

Rahim, on the other, definitely didn’t take the hint.

He didn’t even question it when Scanta told him to make a cake and enough pastries/sandwiches for 30 people for today… for his OWN PARTY. Terrible really. Scanta had his employees slaving away while he sent “handmade” (and, might I add, very very ugly) invitations to all the regulars, and of course the highschoolers, whether they were graduating or not. I sat watching Tristan struggle with the tables as pearly beads of sweat formed on his forehead. The blistering heat from outside drafted in and Scanta refused to fix the air conditioning, so the cafe felt like an oven.

The cafe was closed for the party and people started filing in by 5 pm. Of course, the highschool kids would be the last to arrive.

The first to walk through the door was… Kai?!... I thought he was ill?

“What’s up! I’m cured!” he high fived Scanta. Oh dear, he should have stayed ill, why would he ever want to come back to this place? Although, I guess I’ve noticed everyone comes back sooner or later.

Scanta threw up his hands, “Kai! You’re no longer diseased! How wonderful!” He shoved a box of party supplies into Kai’s hands without any hesitation, “Can you help us set up?”

That prick! Making a recent patient work for free while he draws stupid faces on the balloons? How typical, I shook my head.

Kai, being the good former employee that he was, took the box and got to work. He looked around for a bit before asking “Where’s Wabong?”

Scanta chuckled, “Oh, you haven’t heard? No one knows, they’re searching for him.”

Being the ghost and the gatekeeper of the cafe, the last I’d seen of him was when he went down to the basement to get something. Last I checked, he never came back.

Kai laughed apprehensively, “Well yeah. No one ever knows where Wabong is.”

Scanta left the conversation at that, and disappeared into his office.

Eventually, he came back to the main room, with yet another box. He waited until Tristan was in his line of vision to pull out that HIDEOUS red and green curtain. Tristan’s face went pale the second he saw it (well, paler than usual).

“Don’t. Don’t even.” he glared at Scanta. “Put that away.”

I sighed. He’s so cute when he’s mad.

Scanta gave him a sinister grin. Without a word, he pranced away to use it as a table cloth. Tristan ran his fingers through his golden hair, poor thing. He looked so stressed.

As if on cue, the bell at the front door rang. The second arrival was a group of 4 girls with colourful hair. Scanta exclaimed, “Oh! If it isn’t Cherry Plaid!”

We all looked over at Scanta, who was holding a lightstick. God no. Wait, where did he get that from?

“Welcome, girls! I saw the new comeback!! Your HBS stage was great!”

He started dancing to the song, “Baby, baby, call my name!!”

Tristan screamed.

He dropped an order of croissants. Shoot!

I stopped it midair before it hit the ground.

They all stared at the floating plate.

Tristan flinched. “L-Lolita?”

I froze. I hadn’t even made myself visible.

“Oh! The ghost right?! Cool!” the purple-haired girl said excitedly. Huh? How did she know?

“Are you there Ms. Ghost? Can we see you?” the blonde girl called.

“So Scanta really wasn’t lying!” said the silver-haired one, “Show yourself, spirit!!”

Ugh. Of course it was Scanta who told everyone.

Well, I’m a little happy they aren’t scared of me...but what should I do now? I quickly set down the plate at a nearby table and backed away.

Scanta stopped dancing. “Ms. Ghost is having a lover’s quarrel right now, so she doesn’t want to show herself,” Scanta smirked, looking at Tristan.

“T-That’s not it!!” Tristan stammered.

Mind your own business, Baldie. I was about to dump the punch bowl all over his bald egg head when Rika and Coco walked in.

Tristan and Kai immediately retreated to the kitchen while Rahim was already preparing an order of “NON FAT, NO DAIRY, NO MEAT, VEGAN, EXTRA CREAM, EXTRA EGG, GLUTEN FREE, OAT MILK MATCHA LATTE WITH EXTRA FOAM! AND WITH A FROG DESIGN AT A 45 DEGREE ANGLE ON TOP!” as Rika likes to say.

Rahim took out a protractor to make sure the frog was at the right angle, and then rushed it over to Rika’s table. She seemed satisfied enough to silently take the drink and sit down. Rahim gestured for Coco to sit and chat with him, but he politely declined and sat beside his mother memorizing lines for some show script. He kept glancing over at the door as if he was waiting for someone.

A few minutes later Lucky arrived alone, and set down her things beside Rika.

“...Is Kulsum with you Ms. Lucky?” Coco asked hesitantly. Poor oblivious kid, he didn’t see what went down at the cafe a couple weeks ago.

Rika shot him a look.

“No dear, sorry to disappoint. She’s with her father right now.” Lucky said.

Coco quickly took the hint and didn’t press any further. Instead he sulked alone at the frog table, until Maisha, Jessica, and Sana walked in.

Scanta let out a huge, dramatic gasp.

“No! We forgot to hide!!!! TRISTAN THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!” Scanta shouted, pointing his finger accusingly at Tristan.

“What?? How is thi-”

“Ugh, you’ve totally ruined the surprise!” Scanta whined.

“Um…” Maisha interrupted holding up the invitation card with Scanta’s awful doodles. “Is this supposed to be a surprise? Because the invitation literally says ‘top secret grad party! Don’t tell anyone! SHHHH,'' she read it out word for word.

We all looked at Scanta.

“Oh…. oops,” he shrugged, “anyways! Who wants some brownies!”

Everyone ignored him.

“Also, we still have two full weeks left of school… so… yea,” Maisha added.

Scanta had already retreated to the snack table. He was ravaging through the sandwiches -the ones that HE DIDN’T MAKE- when Trevor walked in. He said hello to Scanta before sitting at the frog table with everyone else.

I moved closer to hear their conversations. I liked all of them a lot. Sometimes I wondered if we would've been friends in school. Was I like them once? Did I go to school and talk about my favourite movies and shows like they do?

I don’t remember.

“I think Beins Gate definitely deserves the hype, I mean it’s a masterpiece in it’s genre.” Trevor commented.

Maisha nodded “Ok ok, I respect that even if it’s basic. But there’s this new one called Bonny Boy that’s shaping up to be pretty great as well. The animation’s clean.”

Sumaiyah chimed in, “Yeah! I watched a couple episodes. Hmm, and since we’re on the topic, I’d definitely say The Girl Who Leapt Through Clocks is my favourite movie.”

Scanta (ugh) crept up behind them and just had to add his two cents “Yes! Time waits for no one, isn’t that right?”

They all nodded so that Scanta would go away, and continued chatting.

“Hmm I like paranormal or like… isekai stuff. You know, like parallel worlds. Be-zero’s pretty great,” Akaash’s voice put the conversation on hold. They all turned to look at him.

“Kash! You’re always sneaking up on us!” Jessica exclaimed.

Maisha squinted, “....Akaash… You like isekai?”

“Yea-”

Sudden loud thumping footsteps could be heard on the other side of the cafe.

“Oh, forgot to mention, my sister’s here too. She just walked in.”

I turned to see Mishti stomping around talking to, (or maybe arguing with) Maruto. I hadn’t even noticed him and his parents walk in among all the noise. She flailed her arms around and almost hit the water vase but I moved it just in time.

“WOAH!!!! Did you see that!? Masuke, the vase moved on it’s own!”

Oops.

“Shut up! Ya actually believe that there’s a ghost here? I knew you were a blockhead!'' She noticed Maruto’s parents smiling threateningly at her and decided to stop talking.

Maruto paid no attention to her. “Wow, look at all these cool decorations! I love the balloons.” He turned to Scanta and the others to make an announcement. “Thank you all so so so much for this party! I feel so aw-nerd!”

“BRO? This isn’t for you, you dimw… you stu …you...” Mishti huffed out of frustration. “You’re not a graduate. This is a graduation party,” she pointed out.

“I AM! I gra-ju-at-ed from grade 3, duhhh. Masuke, you can be so silly sometimes!” Maruto laughed.

Before Mishti could retort, Kulsum and her dad walked in.

“Mark! Kulsum!”

Lucky noticed and excused herself to go to the washroom. I wonder if they knew they’d run into each other. That bald bastard, he knew what he was doing, inviting them both. What an instigator!

Akaash left the group to go speak to Scanta about something. Rahim went around taking pictures with his journalist camera, which he showed excitedly to Sanchez and Anastasia. DJ McDizzle was also invited to provide the “music.” He stayed very, very far from Anastasia. In fact, I could see him trembling as he turned the dials on his mixer.

The party was in full swing. Even John Doe had shown up. He tried manhandling Scanta to let him play his “George” album (or whatever it’s called), but Scanta refused since Dazzle was already here. John Doe did NOT look happy about that.

I drifted from table to table listening in on the conversations and banter that filled the cafe. Every once in a while, I’d refill the punch, and one of the kids would say “hey look, it’s a ghost!” The truth is, I wanted to celebrate with everyone. I wanted to be normal. Maybe I should make myself visible. They won’t know, right?

Also my dress today was very cute. It would be a waste not to show it off.

As soon as I became visible… no one really noticed. Except for Tristan. He looked at me with such joy that I felt silly about ever thinking I should hide.

He happily rushed over with a drink in hand and offered me one.

“I can’t,” I giggled.

His cheeks were flushed red, “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think about it.”

How adorable, I gave him a reassuring smile.

Once he was done mumbling, he took a deep breath to say something. He looked at me expectantly.

Yikes. I have a bad feeling about this.

“Listen… Lolita. I didn’t get to say this p-properly last time but I’ve thought a lot about this. Like trust me, I’ve thought it over. I know I’m an a-average guy... in every single way. I get it. But I like you and I want to be with you.” A few people had turned their attention towards Tristan’s bold confession.

I looked at him, exasperated. “I don’t think you quite understand. I’m a GHOST. I don’t age, I’m not even human-”

He shook his head, “I get that. But I’m saying I want you to know that I accept you.”

“Tristan, I-”

He desperately grabbed the air where my arm was. “I told you. I don’t care, I want to be with you.” He took a deep breath, “I still love you! Do you understand?”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“Lolita, I love you!”

The cafe grew silent. Scattered gasps could be heard.

Wait, is something wrong?

I looked at Tristan’s face as it morphed from desperation to horror. I followed his gaze, he was looking at my hands.

I looked down to see that… I was … evaporating? Disintegrating? I’m not sure what the right word is but wisps of myself drifted into the air.

Ah, I see.

I was disappearing.

“No, this can’t be happening. W-what the hell??? What is happening? Lolita? Are you okay?” Tristan’s voice was painfully shaky.

For some reason, I didn’t feel upset. I didn’t feel anything, to be honest.

Passing on didn’t hurt the way I expected it to. All the years I spent dreading this exact moment, and yet I finally felt happy.

A calm serene feeling took over, like the weight of all the years I had spent here lifted off of my shoulders.

I looked up at the shocked faces that watched me. I wanted to reassure them, but I knew they would understand sooner or later.

Tristan’s mouth opened to say something but my smile seemed to stop him. He looked surprised, and his mouth shut slowly.

I gave everyone one final look. “I think it’s time I say goodbye.”

And just like that, I was gone.