Yasmine laughed a little as she walked over and grabbed the pot lid from the floor. She offered it back to the ghost as she stood up, smiling at him.

“Haha, everything alright, Monty?” She couldn’t see the man, but she knew that it wasn’t like him to drop things suddenly.

Everything was not alright with Monty. If the shame he felt wasn’t enough, the fact that she was nearly inside of him in the most literal sense burned at his sensibilities. He couldn’t feel anything, and she wouldn’t be able to feel him as long as he didn’t go solid. But having the small, busty woman so left him anything but focused, especially dressed as she was.

“J-just tryin' to get this damn ladle out of the soup. You can set the lid on the counter for now.” His voice wavered as he tried his best to focus enough to grab the spoon out of the thick soup. As boiling as it was, each time he attempted to make a small part of him solid to grab the metal serving spoon out, he actually made it colder, sapping away the heat around his ghostly flesh.

“I’m not gonna get any of your ghost germs from your hands being in it, am I? Haha, need any help? I think I bought some tongs I can use.” Yasmine offered with a small laugh as she got closer to the pot and stood on her tippy toes to try to see inside. When she looked inside, she saw not the usual clear broth of a normal chicken noodle but a murky, thick white broth, like a chowder. She raised an eyebrow at it, officially unsure of what the man was making anymore.

It was at this time that Monty remembered that he was a friggin' ghost and could fly. So he did just that. He maneuvered himself so that he was floating parallel to the stove. It seemed like the perfect plan until it wasn’t. From this angle, she could see the bit of hidden flesh hiding under the stretched out collar of Yasmine’s t-shirt. He just couldn’t win, and her feminity was thrown in his face no matter what angle he put himself at.

“Yes, please.” His voice was a defeated groan, which made her a little concerned.

“No need to worry so much about it Monty. I'm sure the soup will still taste great.” She figured that was what was getting him down. So she turned and grabbed the new tongs she bought out of the bag of groceries. Removing them from their package, she gave them a quick clean in the sink and went back to the pot of soup. Once again standing on her tippy toes, she reached over the lip to not burn her arm on the pot while fishing out the spoon.

Monty floated downward, moping slightly, looking back at her. He watched as she cutely bit her tongue and closed one eye as she attempted to get the utensil out with the tongs. His smile returned as he watched her, feeling a small warmth in his being of cold.

“Almost…. got it!” She cried out in victory, holding the large serving spoon that was dripping with soup with the tongs over the pot.

“Great, thanks a bunch. It's hard for me to grab onto things when they are surrounded by other stuff.” He said sincerely, reaching over and taking the spoon from the tongs. He quickly swiped off the soup from the handle with his other hand before turning it ethereal and letting the soup fall back into the pot.

“No problem, I like to help-Owch!” Yasmine quickly yanked her arm back, hissing with pain, grabbing at the underside of her forearm. “Damn it, shoot, shoot, shoot.” She bemoaned, trying not to curse after having accidentally bumped her arm against the hot stock pot. She had been such a klutz lately.

“Yasmine!” Monty yelled, setting the spoon on the counter. “Are you alright? Did you get burned? Where is it?” A mild panic was in his voice as he floated closer.

“I’m alright, I’m alright. I just stupidly touched my arm to the lip of the pot when I pulled it back. It’s not a big deal, it just stings a little. Honestly, I'm just glad I didn't knock down the pot when I did.” Yasmine said, trying to smile and calm down the panicking ghost, lifting her arm to look at the small burn mark that was like a short line across the bottom of her arm.

“Even if it isn’t a big deal, that doesn’t mean we should just ignore it. Here, let me see.” Monty then reached out and placed a hand across the burn mark. His ghostly form quickly sapped all heat from the area, killing the pain of the burn for a moment but bringing the sting of his icy touch. Thankfully, he knew to let go quickly.

“Nngh… thanks.” She said, wincing slightly from the cold spot that slowly started to warm back up after he let go.

“I’m not done yet.” He said humorlessly to her as he extended one finger and barely ran it from one end of the burn to the other. The touch was kind of like a soft ice cube gently caressing against her skin. Yasmine’s face flushed slightly as she imagined him gently stroking her arm, sending a shiver through her body, partly due to the cold, of course.

“Alright, it should be numb for a bit. I still have some ointment left in the bathroom, let me-”

“No, no, I got it, Monty. You still have to finish the soup. I will get it. Thank you.” She smiled, reaching over until she found his hand and squeezed it. “I’m lucky to have someone as sweet as you for a roommate.” With that, she let go and left the kitchen to get some ointment for the burn.

He watched her leave for several moments, even after she was out of sight. It wasn’t until he heard the sound of something bubbling loudly that his attention was pulled away.

“The soup!” He cried out, quickly grabbing the spoon again, stirring the pot once more to keep it from boiling while turning down the heat a little as well. He couldn’t help but wonder just what the heck was going on with himself when it came to Yasmine. Never before had he ever felt even an inkling of real lust, love, or even interest in anyone that had come around in the last fifty years, plus he’d been a ghost. Yeah, he cared about Yasmine as a child, but that was more of just a sense of duty and a way to entertain himself and the small girl. That was the only way he'd been able to wipe himself from her memory.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He knew that if he'd had more than just a memory of what emotions were back then, it might have caused him to do something crazy. He would never admit it to her, but he feigned most of his emotions for the sake of the small child he’d kept watch over. Something had happened to him, and he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing. But ever since he'd been reunited with the girl, now a woman. Each day, it became more and more obvious to himself that he was no longer faking it to make it. These were real.

Monty tried to push these thoughts from his head. He was a ghost. There was no need for someone of his kind to have these desires and feelings. Yet, they seemed to be constantly rearing their ugly head each time he was pushed into some awkward situation with Yasmine. Putting the final touches on the soup, he poured all his focus into that instead. Once it was to his satisfaction, he made a bowl for Yasmine and used a pair of oven mitts to carry it. It wasn’t that it was too hot to carry, but he didn’t want to sap the warmth from the soup.

“Yasmine, food is-” He was cut off as he turned around to see that Yasmine was standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. She grinned at him as he faced her, holding the bowl.

“Did you know that you mumble to yourself when you cook? It’s kinda cute.” She said with a soft giggle before turning and heading to the living room to sit down. Monty didn’t follow right away, though. He was a bit mortified that she had been watching him long enough to pick up something he wasn’t even really aware of. That was another thing that had been happening a lot that really shouldn’t. The feeling of embarrassment. But these emotions were so strong that they were stopping him in his tracks. Why was a ghost, getting friggin’ shy? To make it worse, it felt stronger than ever since this morning.

After regaining his bearings, he floated out of the kitchen and brought the bowl into the living room, where Yasmine was already sitting cross legged on the recliner with her phone out. As Monty approached, he watched as she flipped through a bunch of videos playing on her screen.

“Man I need to get wi-fi set up here asap, the data out here is so slow.” She grumbled as she had to wait for a video to load. But as it continued, Monty couldn't help but comment

“Oh wow… you can get recordings that clear on those things now? What happened to all the little pictures made of small blocks?” He commented, a little distracted, but quickly moved to set the bowl of soup down on the coffee table, then floated back over to Yasmine, the oven mitts phasing through his hands and falling to the floor as he didn’t care about them anymore.

"Haha, you mean pixels? They are still around, but just not used for more than sending emoj- uhh smaller pictures to people."

“Oh, okay, but what’s a Why-fly?” Monty asked, his voice coming from right beside her as he stared at the phone in amazement, the little loading circle on the center of the screen entrancing him with how smoothly it moved. Yasmine leaned away a little to look at the empty space where the voice came from.

“Umm, it's Wi-Fi, and it's basically the internet.”

“Oh, I have heard of the internet before. Your parents would always talk about how your grandfather needed to get it so they could help him better. But he always said that he didn’t need or want it. Do you need it?” Monty asked, slightly monotone as he watched her screen.

“Oh, there are people dancing on your screen, wow!” He jolted in amazement at the crystal clear and smooth picture quality. He wasn’t so dense to think they were in the phone or something stupid, but he had no idea that technology had come so far to be able to load up videos like that on something so small.

Yasmine giggled a bit at how excited Monty was getting. A beaming smile crossed her face as she settled back in, not minding the ghost’s presence in the slightest.

“Haha, yes, Monty, but I actually need the internet, partially for work. It's something that everyone in the modern era needs. It's how we get things done anymore. I can get just about everything and anything from the internet, from food to building materials and everything in between. Here, why don’t you hold this while I eat? " she said, holding the phone out to the ghost.

Monty looked over at Yasmine in slight shock, her smiling face showing no signs of mistrust or worry. Again, he felt a surge of emotion that he wasn’t supposed to feel. Reaching out slowly he gently took the phone from her, their fingers brushing against one another for a moment. As he held the device, he watched in awe as a trio of girls danced in front of him on the screen.

“T-thank you Yasmine, I… I don’t know what to say. The fact that you would trust me with such a thing… I promise I will take utmost care with holding it.” He was being serious, which was probably why Yasmine started to laugh a bit.

“Haha, it's just a phone, silly. They really aren’t that expensive anymore, and they are more common than the landline my grandpa had. He was stubborn like that. I actually think there are more cell phones than people at this point.” She leaned forward and took the warm bowl of soup. It was thick and full of diced veggies and hunks of shredded chicken. It was different but smelled great. “What kind of soup is this?” She asked but got no response. When she looked over she saw he was still watching the same video as it looped over and over again. By his silence, she was pretty sure he was just staring at it.

“You, uhh, really like those girls, huh?” She teased the ghost, who responded quickly after that.

“Huh, what? No, I was just amazed at how long these girls could dance for and repeat every move over and over so perfectly. Kids sure are amazing these days.” He said in slight awe as he looked back as the girls once again started their routine as the video replayed.

Yasmine burst out into laughter, unable to hold back the giggles that came to her. She set the bowl on her lap while she covered her mouth with a hand to try and keep it contained. Monty just looked over at her in confusion, not sure what was so funny. His eyes were unable to keep on her, though, as they continued to be drawn back to the video on the phone, not wanting to miss the ending, if there was one.

She continued to laugh for a bit longer before finally settling down and taking a deep breath, a few more chuckles escaping her as she did. Clearing her throat, she finally calmed down.

“Monty, the video loops. It just keeps playing over and over until you pause it or move on, see?” Yasmine reached over and tapped the phone’s center, and the video paused right away. Monty’s eyes bulged slightly at this, and the feeling of embarrassment sunk in yet again.

“O-oh, well, how was I supposed to know?” He said sheepishly.

“Haha, I guess it makes sense that you wouldn’t, but it was just so cute and funny that you thought they were just doing it over and over, I couldn’t help but laugh, I'm sorry. Here I will scroll for you since I’m guessing your fingers won’t really work with the touch screen.” Yasmine then reached over and swiped up on the screen, and a new video started playing. It was some lady with long nails making some kind of kids' craft with everyday household objects. This, of course, was also amazing to Monty.

“So… you just swipe your screen up whenever you want to see something different?” he asked in a stunned tone. Taking his own finger, he tried but had no luck as he dragged it up on the screen. His frown at this, of course, went unseen, but it vanished as he was quickly lost in whatever craft the woman was making. Yasmine just smiled at the man, and he went silent again. She would get her questions answered later, but for now, she would let him have his fun.