Just Like Heaven

Chapter 1

"Sweetie, I've shown you at least a dozen apartments over the last few days. Surely, at least one of them will do," Jennifer said as her son turned down yet another apartment.

"None of them were quite right, Mom," Justin said as they climbed into his mother's car. "Isn't there anything else you can show me?"

Jennifer sighed as Justin looked at her with sad, puppy-dog eyes. "All right, I'll call the office and see what else they have."

Justin grinned as his mother made the call. While he knew he shouldn't be so picky, this was his first apartment on his own and he wanted it to be just right.

"Well, it must be your lucky day. There's a listing on Tremont that just opened this morning."

"Okay, let's go," Justin said. He didn't know why, but he had a good feeling about this one.

~ * ~

Justin waited anxiously while the building custodian unlocked the loft and slid the heavy, metal door aside. As soon as he walked inside, he knew that this was it.

"I'll take it," Justin said, standing in the middle of the room and turning a full circle.

Jennifer gave her son an astonished look. "Justin, you haven't even seen the place yet."

"Mom, it's a big, open room. I can see everything from here."

Deciding her son wasn't going to look any further, Jennifer took it upon herself to check that everything was in order. Coming back from her inspection of the bathroom, she found Justin stretched out on the sofa as if he already lived there.

"The listing says the furnishings come with it, even the dishes in the kitchen." Jennifer read from the paper on the kitchen counter. "It's also a month to month lease, so if you change your mind, you won't be stuck with it for long."

Justin could tell his mother wasn't pleased with the place. "Mom, it's fine. In fact, it's better than fine; it's perfect."

"I don't suppose the fact that it's close to Liberty has anything to do with that."

"I can't imagine why a hot, young, gay man, such as myself, would want to live near the gay center of Pittsburgh," Justin replied with a grin.

Jennifer's huff of distaste fell on amused ears.

Justin couldn't help but laugh. "I could have taken the job offer in San Francisco instead."

"You're right, sweetheart. It will be nice having you in the same town after all this time."

"Come on, Mom. Let's go sign that lease before someone else gets hold of my dream place."

~ * ~

Justin was at his easel in his new loft, engrossed in his painting when an expletive from behind him nearly sent him through the ceiling in fright.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing? Those are 320 count sheets you're using as a drop cloth."

Justin spun around, clutching his brush to his chest as the tall, brunet behind him continued to rant.

"For that matter, what the fuck are you doing in my loft to begin with?"

Justin finally found his voice. "What do you mean, your loft? I live here, asshole."

"The fuck you do!" the brunet said. "Now, pack up your paint set and get the fuck out. This is my place and I'm not into chicken. Especially one that gets paint on my expensive sheets."

"Look, I signed a lease for this place yesterday and paid my deposit. I'm not going anywhere," Justin said, thinking he understood what had happened. "I bet those damn realtors didn't even check that the place was already taken."

"I don't know what game you're trying to pull, but I own this place." The brunet began pacing around the loft. "That's my Italian leather sofa, my Mies van der Rohe coffee table…"

Justin rolled his eyes as the taller man listed all the expensive furnishings in the living room then headed for the bedroom.

"…and here is my fall Armani collection---"

"Something wrong?" Justin asked as the brunet came to a standstill in front of the open closet door.

"Where are all my clothes? And my shoes?"

Justin almost laughed as the brunet began going through the clothes. He wasn't going to find a single Armani anything hanging in that closet.

"Old Navy… Gap… Fuck, what is this? The Salvation Army collection?" the brunet asked.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with my clothes," Justin said in protest. "Some of us aren't so insecure that we have to hide behind a designer label."

Justin walked towards the kitchen to wash the brush that was still gripped in his hand, continuing to fume as he did so. When he turned back around, the brunet was gone.

His heart racing, Justin searched the loft trying to find where the man had hidden himself. A chill went down his back as he stared at the still locked and closed loft door, having found no sign of the taller man who claimed to live here.

Willing his heart to return to a normal speed, Justin pulled out the stash of weed he had been smoking earlier and flushed it down the toilet. The stuff must have been laced with some hallucinogenic. That was the last time he'd buy any shit from Anita.

~ * ~

Justin woke, slightly hung over from the several shots of Beam he'd drunk after his 'visitor' had disappeared the night before. He stumbled into the bathroom and turned the water on as hot as he could take it, hoping it would help clear his head. All he needed was to start his new job looking like he'd been on an all-night bender.

Deciding he could move his weekly shave up a few days in honor of his first day at Kinnetik, Justin wiped the steam off of the mirror. The brunet's face appeared in the mirror and snapped, "Get the fuck out of my loft."

Justin spun around only to find he was alone. Racing to the doorway, he looked around, but his visitor was gone again as mysteriously as he'd appeared.

Dressing as quickly as possible and looking over his shoulder the whole time, Justin finally escaped the loft with a sigh of relief. That damned Anita was going to get a piece of his mind the next time he saw her.

~ * ~

"So, how was your first day at work?" Daphne, Justin's best friend, asked as they ate dinner. "Meet anybody interesting?"

Justin made another non-committal answer, his mind obviously somewhere else.

"Okay, spill. Who is he and does he have a straight brother?"

"What?" Justin asked, finally tuning into the conversation. "Who is who?"

"The guy you're mooning over." Daphne said. "Your mind has been somewhere else since we sat down. That can only mean one thing, now tell me all about him."

"It's not what you think." Justin said, although he had to admit, for a hallucination, the brunet had been hot.

"What is it then?"

"I've, uh, kinda been seeing someone." Justin said.

"Well, it's about time. After Robert, I didn't think you'd ever get back out there."

"No, I don't mean like that."

"Like what then?"

"I mean, like, seeing someone… in the loft."

Daphne looked puzzled, then understanding dawned. "You mean, someone who wasn't really there?"

Justin nodded.

"So… were you high at the time?"

"Uh, yeah, a little." Justin said.

"And you didn't invite me? I'm hurt." Daphne said. "Maybe his straight brother would have shown up."

Justin laughed, relieved that Daphne didn't think it was anything more than the pot he'd smoked. He'd begun to wonder if he were going insane. "Sorry, I got rid of the rest of the stuff. A little too realistic for my taste."

"Well, we just have to find you the real thing. Then you won't have to stay home getting stoned and dreaming them up."

"Daph…" Justin said with a whine.

"Come on, Jus. It's been two years. You need to meet someone. You need to have fun. You need to get laid."

Justin sighed as Daphne began to tell him about the latest guy she wanted to fix him up with. There were some things he hadn't missed when he'd been out west and interfering females were one of those things.

~ * ~

Justin collapsed on the bed without bothering to undress. He and Daphne had drunk way too much, gotten way too silly and had way too much fun for a work night. Now he just wanted to be unconscious for a few days.

"Fuck, no, I don't think so," an exasperated voice broke through the fog in Justin's head.

Justin managed to crack open one eye to find the irate brunet standing by the bed. "Can we do this another time? I'm too tired to argue tonight."

The hallucination did a credible job of looking affronted, then began a tirade which caused the pounding in Justin's head to increase exponentially.

"Do you have any idea how much I paid for that duvet? The least you could do is take your filthy clothes off before going to bed."

"At least I'm not using it as a drop cloth." Justin muttered.

"And have you ever heard of a dishwasher? Or a coaster? Or hanging up the towels after they're used, not tossing them on the floor?"

"God, you're worse than my mother."

When no more accusations came his way, Justin opened his eyes, hoping his guest had disappeared again. No such luck.

"Listen, kid." The brunet said in a calmer tone. "I don't know who you talked to, but it's obvious that they either made a mistake or lied to you about my loft being for rent. Why don't you give me their name and I'll see if I can straighten this whole mess out."

Deciding that it couldn't do any harm to have the hallucination call his mother, it might even be interesting, Justin gave him the information. "By the way, I'm Justin."

"Brian." The brunet replied, then walked over to the phone on the kitchen counter.

Justin sat up in amazement as the man's hand passed right through the phone. He slowly walked over as Brian continued to try to grab the phone to no avail.

"What the fuck did you do to the phone?" Brian said.

Justin shook his head slowly. "Nothing."

"I'll just use the one in the living room." Brian said, then stormed off in that direction.

Justin stared at the phone, then turned toward the living room. He wasn't surprised when he didn't see Brian anywhere.

~ * ~

"Thanks for coming." Justin said to Daphne as she walked into the loft carrying a stack of books.

"What, and miss meeting a real, live ghost?"

"I don't think ghosts are alive, Daph."

"You know what I mean," Daphne said. "Here, I picked up some books that may help us get rid of your, uh, guest."

"I think he considers me the guest," Justin said. "And not a very welcome one at that."

The friends made themselves conformable on the couch and looked through the books, barely stopping to eat the Thai that Justin had ordered.

Daphne finally threw her book down in disgust. "I'm not getting anywhere, how about you?"

Justin looked up and yawned. "Well, this one says that you should tell the spirit that they are dead then convince then to walk towards the light."

"So, how do we get him here to tell him?"

Justin shrugged. "He just kind of shows up whenever I…"

"Whenever you what?"

Getting a devious look on his face, Justin picked up his chopsticks and held the take-out over the couch. "We'd better be careful eating on this expensive, leather sofa, Daph. We wouldn't want to drop any food on it."

"What the fuck are you doing eating on my sofa?" Brian said. "Aren't those my ivory chop sticks? Do you have any idea how much those cost?"

Justin smirked in triumph. "Took you long enough. I wanted my friend to meet you." He introduced Brian and Daphne, then his smile faded as Daphne gave him a puzzled stare.

"Jus, I don't see anything."

"Nothing?" Justin asked "He's right there. You believe me, don't you?"

Daphne nodded her head while she looked around the room, trying to find the person Justin had spoken too.

"You can see her, though, right?" Justin asked Brian.

Brian frowned. "Of course I see her; she's getting Thai on my sofa."

Justin glanced over to see that some of Daphne's food had fallen onto the leather.

"What did he say?" Daphne whispered.

"That you're messing up his sofa." Justin hastily wiped the offending food up.

"You'll need to get the leather cleaner out to do it right." Brian said. "And don't forget the conditioner. I don't want it getting cracks."

"Fuck you! Don't you get it? It's my sofa now. You're dead; a ghost."

Daphne watched wide-eyed as Justin began a one-sided argument with the unseen visitor.

"First the phone, now this. Who put you up to this? Mikey? Emmett? Ted wouldn't have the balls to pull a stunt like this." Brian said.

"It's not a joke. Walk towards the light already."

"Light? What light?" Brian looked around as if searching. "There's no fucking light. I'm not dead."

"What's he saying." Daphne asked.

"He doesn't believe he's dead. He says there's no light."

Justin turned towards Brian. "How do you explain the fact that you couldn't pick up the fucking phone then?" Justin walked over to the phone and picked it up himself. "And I can."

Brian tried to pick the phone up again, but couldn't.

At the end of his patience with the specter that apparently only he could see, Justin began a tirade of his own. Startled by Justin's sudden vehemence, Brian began to back-pedal as Justin advanced. "Tell me where you go all day? What do you do when you're not here bugging me? When's the last time you saw any of your friends? Or went to work? Or ate? Or slept? When was the last time you changed clothes?"

Pausing for a breath, Justin stared at Brian, breathing heavily. "And explain to me how the fuck you're standing in the middle of the friggin' kitchen table?"

Brian looked down to see that his lower body was no longer visible due to the kitchen table obstructing the view. Like the phone, he had gone right through it. Hastily, he removed himself from his odd placement. Seeing the satisfied smirk on Justin's face, Brian's anger broke loose.

"I think I would know if I were dead. I certainly wouldn't be hanging around here with you." Brian walked towards the wet bar and reached for a drink, only to have his hand pass through the bottle. "Fuck!"

Justin poured himself a drink and smirked at Brian as he knocked it back.

"That's my liquor you're drinking." Brian said.

Justin poured another one and held it out, taunting the ghost. "Only the best, I see."

Brian reached for the drink, determined to wipe that grin off Justin's face. His failure only increased his fury.

Justin jerked back as Brian's hand passed through his. Even though he hadn't felt it, it was rather unnerving.

Noticing Justin's reaction, Brian grinned and grabbed at Justin's crotch.

"Stop that!" Justin cried, jumping back.

Brian swiped at Justin's face, smirking as Justin dodged his hands.

Daphne's mouth dropped open as Justin began ducking and weaving across the floor, batting at something she couldn't see.

Brian laughed as Justin tripped and fell on his rump.

"Laugh it up, ectoplasm-boy." Justin said.

"At least you fell on the well-padded portion of your anatomy." Brian replied.

"Justin, what's happening?" Daphne asked.

Justin pulled himself to his feet. "He's just mad because he knows I'm right." He looked at Brian who was now waving his hands in front Daphne's face to see if he could get a reaction from the girl.

Deciding that Daphne really didn't see him (or was a really good actress), Brian sprawled in a chair. "Okay, genius, if you're so smart, why am I here? If I was going to haunt someplace, I would have thought it'd be the backroom of Babylon. At least that would be interesting."

Justin sighed and returned to his spot of the sofa. "He wants to know why he's still here." He told Daphne.

Daphne looked around futilely. "Uh, Jus. Where is he?"

Justin pointed to the chair, idly wondering how Brian could be 'sitting' in the chair when he had walked right through the kitchen table.

Turning towards the chair, Daphne spoke hesitantly. "The books suggest that you're still here because you have unfinished business. If we can figure out what that is, then you should be able to move on."

"What if I like it here?" Brian asked. "After all, if my mother is right, the alternative isn't all that appealing."

Justin winced. "You're not staying here."

Daphne glanced from the seemingly empty chair to Justin. "He doesn't want to go?"

"He's not staying here." Justin repeated, bending over to pick a book up off the floor. When he glanced at the chair again, Brian was gone. "Fuck, I wish he'd stop doing that."

"What?"

"Disappearing."

Daphne sighed and opened a book. She wasn't really sure if she should believe her friend was seeing a ghost or not, but stranger things had happened and Justin seemed fine otherwise. "Don't worry, Jus. We'll figure this out."

~ * ~

Justin was sitting at a bar nursing a beer while he debated going home and facing his unwelcome houseguest. He'd been totally unnerved this morning when he'd turned in the shower to find Brian standing partially in the stall with him. The way Brian's eyes had raked over his naked body left Justin hard as a rock, but too embarrassed to do anything about it. Jacking off while the ghost watched just didn't seem to be a viable solution.

"He can't cross over."

Justin looked up as an oddly dressed transvestite took the seat next to him and started laying out Tarot cards on the bar. "What? Who are you?"

"Mysterious Marilyn and your 'guest' isn't ready to pass into the beyond… at least, not yet."

"How do you know about that? Has Daphne been talking to you?"

Mysterious Marilyn smiled, "It's all in the cards, sweetie."

"Yeah, well, do the cards tell me how to get rid of him?" Justin returned to his beer, not really interested in the soothsayer.

"You're asking the wrong question, dear."

"Huh? I thought the cards were supposed to give answers." Justin replied. He figured the woman was a fraud who just wanted money.

'They do, but you must ask the right question. And even then, the cards are only a guide. It's up to you to fulfill your destiny."

"Whatever. So what's the right question?"

"You have to figure that one out."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"Perhaps, if I meet this spirit, I might be able to read the situation better."

Justin sighed, wondering how much this was going to cost him. Then, remembering the shower, he decided it didn't matter. Whatever the cost, it would be worth it to have Brian gone. It couldn't hurt to at least try.

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