Grim Crush (Grimly Ever After) by S.L. Bynum

to.”
    “Why?”
    “Other humans would see the object floating in midair…”
    “Oh. Right.”
    I stared at his hand on mine. “How do I feel to you? Your skin is warm. I know mine isn’t.”
    “Yours is neutral. It’s never warm or cold.” Shilah spread out my fingers with his, placing our palms together. His fingers were slightly longer than mine. I had to admit, my golden-like skin tone against his bronze looked amazing together.
    “Sometimes I wish I was human,” I whispered.
    “Being human isn’t all fun, you know.”
    “But you get to live . You can just hang out for a whole day or a whole week even. You don’t have to work all the time. You can listen to music and read books and drive a car and accomplish dreams and fall in love…” Those last three words slipped out before I could control them.
    Shilah slid his fingers in-between mine, staring into my eyes. “Couldn’t you do some of those things if you wanted to?”
    “Maybe…” My heart was beating erratically again.
    Shilah hesitated, then took his other hand and cupped it around my cheek. His touch seemed almost electric again. Gosh, I could not take the way he was looking at me. I felt like I would melt.
    When he started leaning toward me, I turned away, hopping off the bed.
    “Um–uh…I-I think I should leave and let you get your rest now,” I stuttered without looking at him.
    Shilah sighed. “I guess I do need to go to sleep since I have school in the morning. But I don’t want you to go yet.”
    I looked at him. He didn’t seem upset that I’d pulled away from him. “Are you sure I won’t keep you awake?”
    “I don’t know. I just want you here. You don’t have a soul to reap, do you?”
    “Not for another hour. Fine, I’ll stay until you fall asleep.”
    Shilah crawled under the covers of his bed. I sat on the soft rug on the floor, my back to his bedside table.
    He lay his head on his pillow, staring at me. “Will you meet me near the stream after school tomorrow?” He frowned then. “I might have homework to do when I get home, so maybe around five?”
    I realized something. “Don’t you have any friends you’d rather hang out with sometimes?”
    He looked guilty. “I’ve been abandoning my friends the last few days. They’re getting suspicious, too. At lunch on Friday, they kept questioning me.” He grinned. “They think it must be some girl I’m abandoning them for. I was going to introduce them to you, but…” he trailed off.
    I felt horrible. “I’m complicating your life, aren’t I? I can’t meet your parents or your friends and they’re going to wonder where you go all the time. It would be much easier if you did find a human girl to spend time with–”
    Shilah reached out and grabbed my hand. “Xia, I don’t care about what would be easier. I like hanging out with you.”
    “Why? Because death is so much fun?” Sarcasm invaded my voice. I didn’t know why I was trying to push him away. I guess I wanted him to live a normal life, and he couldn’t do that being friends with me.
    He scrunched up his face. “No. I like hanging out with you because of your weirdness.”
    I slipped my hand out of his and smacked his arm as he laughed.
    “No, seriously,” he said when his chuckles subsided, “you’re different from other girls. You don’t care about lame stuff like the hottest movie actors or what outfit you’re going to wear. You also make me laugh and you care about people, even though they’re dead people.”
    I was touched. “I didn’t know you thought those things about me. Would you be offended if I said the only reason I was first interested in you was because you’re a reaper-seeing human?”
    Shilah feigned surprise. “Oh! I thought you were interested in me because of my good looks.”
    I shook my head, smiling. “Yeah, right. Anyway, now I like you because you accept me for who I am. You’re nice and you have a good sense of humor too.”
    He sighed. “Still no