“They’re doing it again.”

“Ignore it Frank,”

“But they’re playing that damn music again. I can feel it in my bones it’s so loud!”

“No you can’t. You don’t even have bones,” Fiona Grant chided her involuntary roommate before carefully going back to finish her lipstick.

“R.I.P., Rest in PEACE. How’s a guy supposed to get any peace with that loud racket going off every hour!” Frank was pacing now. Well, as much as you could pace as a ghost. It was more of an ethereal float back and forth across the room. 

“Why don’t you just go rattle some chains or knock some shit over then,” Fiona offered sarcastically. Frank just grumbled incoherently at her and then at the loud kids downstairs. If he was this insufferable dead, Fiona could only imagine what he was like alive. Still, a girl could do worse for a roommate. He mostly just grumbled about kids these days or slept in his easy chair. Frank was more of a fixture, like a lamppost or a nice rug, than a roommate. Plus the social security checks that arrived every month, paying for the apartment, didn’t hurt either. 

“...and they knew how to dress too!” Fiona just tuned into Frank’s morning rant at the last second.

“Hmm?”

“You’re clothes! You look like you’re going to a funeral again. Black this, black that. No, no women back in my day, they knew how to dress for a man,” Frank said, settling down into his large worn easy chair he refused to let Fiona throw out. 

Fiona just rolled her eyes at his comments, grabbing her bag and keys. “Black is classic, it never dates. Plus it adds to the whole vibe don’t you think,” she said cheekily to a dismissive wave of Frank already falling asleep. “See you later you old crook,” she said already halfway out the door. As cranky as he was, Fiona liked having Frank around. He was the first real ghost she was able to talk to without them disappearing on her. And once he came, he never wanted to seem to leave. She still remembered the first time he popped up out of the wall ranting and raving at her for cashing his checks. Fiona didn’t know what was keeping him stuck in their apartment, but neither of them seemed concerned with figuring out how to get him to pass on. 
[hr][hr]
From the little bell above the door, to the mint green faux leather covering the booth and stool seats, “Rosie’s Place” was the epitome of a dive. But Fiona loved it, and the free coffee didn’t hurt either. The young woman slipped into her favorite booth, the one right across from the waitress station. “Hey Charlie, how was last night? You almost off?”

Her best friend Charlie, a leggy blonde who in her little uniform looked more like a model than a waitress, came over with two cups a pot of coffee. 

“I’m gonna quit. I’m gonna march right back there and quit,” her friend started before she even sat down. “I mean I have rent coming up but I can be late again...right? Fuck, I can’t quit. I want to, but fuck…”

“You’re gonna be stuck here forever. You might as well change your name to Rosie now, save us all time,” Fiona said taking a long sip out of her cup. Her phone buzzed next to her, but she made no attempt to answer it. 

“God, could you imagine. I should probably go get some blue eyeshadow too...maybe start doubling my smoking,” Charlie said, putting her head in her hands, letting out a huge puff of hair, sending her bangs fluttering up.

“Speaking of a smoke...can I bum one?” Fiona asked, already reaching out for one.

“You said you were going to quit last week,” the blonde said, still passing one over though from the front of her apron.

“I’ll quit when you quit Rosie’s,” Fiona countered. They both had promised to stop smoking years ago, but neither lasted more than a month. Fiona picked up her phone, taking one more sip of her coffee before heading outside for a drag. She absent mindedly flipped through her various social media, before opening up the email from Ellie. Shit, she was going to be late. With a wave through the window at her friend, Fiona set back to her apartment quickly to grab her go-bag. If she could time it just right, she should be able to hit the red line and would only be five minutes late. Okay ten.