Amanda Ashby - You Had Me at Halo

Holly realized her eyes were shut and she opened them up and looked around the room in shock. “That’s why I wanted to see him so bad up in heaven. To tell him it was an accident and that for the last six years I’ve worked my butt off. I guess that’s not going happen.” Holly sniffed. “I don’t even know why I’ve told you…well, not that you’re here, but I’m pretending you are. Actually, that’s another thing I’ve discovered about you, Vincent Ryan Murphy. You’re a great listener.”

“Thanks,” Vince said in his trademark drawl, which caused Holly to fall off the bed in shock.

Unbelievable.

“Hey,” Vince complained. “Don’t stand up so quickly. It’s making me dizzy. I’ve been knocked out remember.”

“I thought you were still knocked out.” Holly tried to mask her mortification as she reluctantly sat back down again. “How much did you hear?”

“Well, you did mention how brave and strong I was.”

“Oh, God,” Holly groaned. “I was only saying that stuff because I didn’t think you were awake.”

“You said I was a good listener,” Vince protested.

“I was being rhetorical.” Holly gritted her teeth; an action that Vince immediately reversed.

“Well, I thought it was nice. Besides, since you’ve found out all of my secrets, it’s only right I know a few of yours. Is that why you told me?”

“Maybe,” she admitted. That and the fact that after tomorrow Holly wouldn’t remember them herself and it sort seemed wrong to just let Dr. Hill wipe them away. Perhaps it was like a last confession?

She vaguely remembered a long ago Sunday school lesson where the vicar’s wife talked about the dark night of the soul. Well, Holly was guessing she’d had one of them. Though did it count if the body was dead? Also, she had the feeling the person was meant to come out the other end of the experience feeling cleansed and pure, but that wasn’t quite going to happen either. Holly was going to come out of this without a clue what her middle name was, let alone whether she liked chocolate (yes), The OC (very much) or the Backstreet Boys (as if).

“Hey.” Vince groaned and Holly realized he was looking down at his knuckles. “Don’t tell me I’ve gone from being a womanizer and a criminal to now being a thug?”

Holly studied Vince’s hand. Boy, Todd’s face had really made a dent and the three middle knuckles were now red, raw, and throbbing. She hadn’t even noticed, or if she had, she’d probably found the pain comforting compared to how she was feeling on the inside.

“So I guess you’d better fill me in on what’s happened since I’ve been gone.”

Since she’d already told him her darkest secrets, it seemed petty to try and keep him out of the loop. “The short version is that Todd and Rochelle Jackson have been having an affair behind my back and after he was rather rude to me, I punched him.”

Holly could feel Vince biting down on his lip to stop from laughing. “I see,” he said in a constrained voice. “You hit Todd.”

“In the face,” Holly clarified.

“Always a good place,” he agreed and she could feel a small smile starting to tug at his lips.

“It’s not funny,” she moaned. “I really messed up. Todd was furious and that’s not all. We forgot to drop those laptops and manuals off to Peterson’s and even though Andrew went and did it later on, I think it might be too late. What if I’ve cost you your—”

“Holly.”

“But—”

“But nothing. This isn’t about me, so stop worrying about that and let’s concentrate on you.”

“Your restraint in rubbing it in is a wondrous thing,” Holly agreed before letting out a long sigh. “But as for me, well it doesn’t really matter. If I can punch Todd in the nose, Dr. Hill’s wiz bang machine is going to know I’m not over my issues. In fact I’ve probably collected even more emotional baggage since I’ve been here.”

Not least of which was the fact she kept thinking of how much nicer it felt now that Vince was back. Surely that was a thought that couldn’t do anyone any good.

“So that’s why you were getting all deep and meaningful before, wasn’t it?” he said softly and Holly nodded.

“I didn’t mean to go on,” she apologized.

“I’m glad you did. I feel like I know you.”

“Yes, well I feel like I know you as well,” Holly retorted as she caught sight of all of his medical notes. “And I want to know more about this heart condition of yours. Why haven’t you been taking your medication? And if I’m in your body, then why don’t I feel sick?”

For a moment Holly thought Vince was going to swear but then he just shrugged. “I have been taking the meds. I just made sure you were asleep when I did it and I didn’t mention it in order to avoid a lecture just like this,” Vince said lightly. “Besides, all I did was faint, it’s been happening on and off for ages.”

Holly shook her head. “I don’t believe you. Dr. Hill said he made a mistake when he put me into your body, but I don’t think he did. You see I saw the purple lights around your head when I was in heaven. That means you were meant to die. It says so in the rulebook. Did you know it was happening?”

“To be honest I was more concerned about the dead girl who was in my body when I came around,” Vince quipped. “As for why I was fine, well I couldn’t tell you. So quit worrying. There’s nothing wrong with me apart from the fact my heart beat isn’t quite normal.”

Holly felt stupid for doing it but she found herself putting Vince’s hand on his knee and squeezing it. “You’re heart works better than most people I’ve met. Don’t you forget it.”

For a moment Vince didn’t say anything before suddenly lying down on the bed. “It’s been a long day,” he said gruffly. “Probably better if we get some sleep.”

It was the sound of the birds outside the window, which caused Holly to wake up with a start. At first she couldn’t quite work out what was going on, but then it all came flooding back to her.

She had punched Todd, which meant she had probably taken three million steps back from sorting out her issues. She doubted even if she did find out what happened and clear her name, that heaven would give her a second chance.

She had really screwed up big time.

“Hey.” She jumped at the sound of Vince’s voice. “I’ve got something for you.”

“You have?” Holly fought back the surprise. Perhaps she should’ve got something for Vince as well? A thank-you-for-letting-me-use-your-body gift. Though she must admit that off the top of her head she couldn’t quite think of anything appropriate.

She felt Vince lean over and reach for a packet of photographs. “What are these?”

“I thought you might want to have a look,” he said as he opened them up for her. The first one was of him sitting under a tree with his guitar under his arm and a smile on his face. Man, he was pretty hot looking when he smiled. No wonder Amy had been making such a play for him, unrequited though it was.

Vince only paused on it for a second before flicking through the rest.

“Ah,” he finally said. “Here we go.” The photo was quite old. Vince only looked about eight or so and he was surrounded by a gaggle of friends.

Holly studied it carefully. Was it a birthday party? The next one was the same, but the one after featured him with a small girl who had huge brown eyes and…Hey…Holly had a dress just like that when she was a kid…and the little white shoes sort of looked familiar as well…

No way.

She dragged the photo up to her face to study it more closely. But it was true. Here was photographic evidence that she and Vince had been friends. Well, for one day anyway.