Adventures of a Graveyard Girl by Milda Harris

could totally get used to this making up after an argument thing. It was totally amazing and awesome and great. I'd even give up Wired's peanut butter banana milkshakes if it meant this could last longer. And, then suddenly I was pulling away from Ethan. What was wrong with me?
    "Um," I managed, my brain trying to assemble its thoughts into a cohesive statement, "Where do we stand on the whole investigating Madison's murder issue?"
    Ethan looked at me blankly like he didn't understand what I was saying at first. Wow, did me kissing him have that effect on him too? I felt a giddy happiness in my stomach, but it quickly disappeared as I started worrying about why Ethan wasn't answering my question.
    "So?" I prodded.
    "Uh," Ethan ran a hand through his hair. It was great hair, but I stopped myself from running my hands through it and getting both of us distracted. Ethan took a ragged breath. "I'm not thrilled with the whole investigating thing, but..."
    I could take a but! What was the but? Ethan was hesitating again, like he was deciding something.
    "But what?" I asked.
    Ethan frowned at me, "But I'd like to investigate with you."
    I was surprised. That was so not something negative. I'd rather have Ethan on the case with me, holding my hand, stealing kisses, making out in parked cars. Oh wait, we didn't need to be investigating a case to do that. I smiled.
    Ethan smiled back at me and I felt a weight lift off of my chest, "You can be like my sidekick."
    Ethan's smile quickly turned into a frown, "What about partner?"
    I smiled at him, feeling silly. "Nah, sidekick. Definitely sidekick."
    Ethan looked at me sideways, studying me and then I saw the corners of his mouth turn up wryly, "You want me to be a wacky sidekick, don't you?"
    "Yeah," I grinned. "That would be pretty great."
    Ethan looked at me.
    "What?" I asked.
    "Should I wear a costume?" Ethan asked.
    "Sure!" I said, thinking of all the cute Ethan costume sidekick possibilities. There was something adorable about the thought of seeing him in a cape like a superhero or a trench coat like Mulder and Scully wore in The X-Files .
    "Okay. So, just one more thing then: What's the pay for a good sidekick these days?" Ethan asked as seriously as he could, but I could tell he was trying not to smile.
    "Kisses!" I said, taking the bait, and leaned in toward him.
    Ethan laughed and kissed me back and then pulled away to look at me, "So, where are you in the investigation anyway?"
    I recapped all of what I knew so far to Ethan. I was glad when he stopped me to claim that even he had thought Julia Morgan coming onto him was really weird because he had never talked to her before and that, just in case I wanted to know, he was not at all interested in her. Good.
    Other than that, Ethan listened and nodded in all the right places and didn't distract me with kissing even once. At least, not until after I was done giving him all the details.
    As we broke off from kissing again, Ethan looked at me seriously. "So, you still haven't talked to Casey Hunt, then?"
    "No," I said. "She hasn't been at school. I heard she was out sick."
    "I think I can get to her," Ethan said.
    "Really?" I asked. "How?"
    Ethan shrugged, "We used to date."
    I felt my stomach drop out from under me. I had just been feeling so confident and un-jealous about our dating relationship. That was fast. Now my stomach was churning wearily.
    I didn't know that Ethan had dated Casey. Where was I when that happened? I mean, I hadn't been stalking him or anything, but surely I would have heard they were going out if they had been an item.
    "When did you date her?" I asked.
    "Freshman year," Ethan said, "But we're cool now. I have a plan."
    I was definitely not going to like this plan. I was not going to like it at all. Not even one little bit. My stomach hurt. No, I was so not going to like this plan, even if I knew that we had to talk to Casey Hunt to move forward in the investigation. Maybe I really should have dropped the