“Wait you like girls?”

”Wait you like girls?”

It was going to be a peaceful night, but the universe decided that Molly would not be able to sleep tonight. She tossed and turned in her bed bored out of her mind. Then she got a brilliant idea.

“Hey Scraaaaaaaaatch” she cooed, a sudden purple-pink glow pulling the ghost from his slumber and out of the dollhouse.

“What is it this time Molly McGee?” He stated, clearly irritated. She chose to ignore that.

“Welllllll I couldn’t sleep” she started.

“And?” Scratch knew there was more coming.

“And we’ve been living here for 5 months already”

“6 now, actually.”

“And me and you have never played 20 questions!”

“Sounds boring, I’m going back to sleep” he tried to float back to his bed, but the grabbed his arm.

“Pleeeeeease?”

He turned “what even is 20 questions?”

“It’s a game where you ask each other questions, switching every turn 20 times”

“And why would I wilfully play this game?”

“Because I’ll give you my breakfast tomorrow” He raised and eyebrow. “It’s my dad’s special crêpes~”

“Sold, you go first” Scratch settled down, he’d be here a while.

She grabbed a notepad and split it down the middle with a line, then wrote their names on etheir side. It was the same notepad she used for the best friend chart. “Ok ok, how long have you been a ghost for?”

“Hm… I think it’s been 63 years now?”

“Woooow, that’s almost the average human lifespan!” She put a mark under her name as if to keep track of how many questions were asked.

“My turn to ask you now huh? Hm, have you ever joined any sports team before here?”

“Nope! We never stayed somewhere long enough for tryouts, wouldn’t be worth it anyways since I knew we were moving soon anyways” she said that so nonchalantly, as if moving that amount of time was normal. Scratch would never admit it, but he felt bad for the kid.

“Alright my turn!” She checked a line into the paper under his name. “Do you have a skincare- I mean ectoplasm routine?”

“Molly.”

“Yeaaaaahh?”

“Why would I have a skincare routine”

“I don’t know! I’m curious!” She said, clearly offended.

“Uhg, well if you must know, I do brush my teeth and wash my face with water before I sleep. Nothing special”

“Awh that’s sad, Ooh! I know what we should do! We should totally have a spa day and put on face masks and do our nails!”

“Molly, you!e getting off track” he wanted to keep her as focused on this as possible so he could go back to sleep.

“Right right, sorry! Ok…. check!” Another line was drawn under her’s then his. Until she had finished and he had 1 one more.

He yawned, their game had lasted much longer than he wanted it to, even if he kept her on track. “Only one more! What shall he ask?” Molly’s energy hadn’t dampened in the slightest, much to his dismay.

“Hmmmmm” he spoke, pretending to be in deep consideration while he actually fought off sleep. “Have you ever had a boyfriend?” The question was simple enough, he was bound to ask right? But the meer idea of dating the opposite gender made her cringe internally. Suddenly she thought of Libby, ‘why now? The question was about boys, not girls. Nobody even knows I’m lesbian’ she thought to herself, “Molly? Helllooo? You in there?”

Scratch’s words sent her back into reality, and she realized she had been zoned out for a little too long. Molly quickly scrambled to find words. “I uh- nope! Never dated anyone ever! Let alone a boy! I- I don’t even like them anyways!” She tried to make an excuse for her delayed response. She words ‘I don’t even like them anyways’ slipping out of her mouth.

Scratch stared at her for a moment. “Wait you like girls?” He questioned what he’d heard. Scratch had always thought Molly of all people would be straight, well he hadn’t really thought about it up until now but her? She was always reading teen-magazines or watching crappy rom-coms or getting in the business of her classmates’s crushes, he’d never have suspected she liked girls. ‘Everyone has surprises I guess’ he’d shrug to himself.

“shit!”she’d whisper-shout, cringing. She hadn’t wanted anyone to know yet, let alone Scratch! What would he think of her now? She had a fearful look on her face, wondering if he had the beliefs of many men from his time.

“You good, kiddo?” He’d ask, concerned. He’d never seen her scared of him in any way, it was unsettling.

“Do- do you hate me?” She’d ask, uncertain.

“What? Where’d you get that idea?” He was worried now, why would he hate her over that?

“I just, I don’t know I just thought that because.. well..”

It finally clicked for him. She thought he’d hate her for liking girls because most people form his age did. He floated over, hanging an arm over her shoulder. “Look Molly, I know I’m not good at this reassuring this but, I’d never ever hate you for liking girls, ok?”

She nodded, then proceeded to crush him almost to death again with a hug. “Molly- huggin’- pretty- tight- there-“ he strained.

“No I’m not” she sighed, and then finally yawned. “I think I’m gonna sleep now, ‘night Scratch!” She stretched as she stood wandering over to her bed. But he had one more question to ask.

“Is there anyone you like right now?” He’d ask and she seemed to freeze for a second, then quickly flop onto her bed and said all-too-fast. “Goodnight!”

He had a strong hunch she liked someone and an even strong hunch he knew who it was. This would not end today.