Ghostbusters

"I like it, I think. You should look at your own outfit before you laugh too hard, though." Confused, she looked down at her usual cosplay outfit.

"The spear suits you. You killed that thing?"

"Umm... Yeah, I guess."

"Good," she nodded, as if she talked about such things every day. "I bet you're some kind of hero over there."

"Ah, not that I'm aware of. Let's say they were a bit unenthusiastic in their celebrations."

"No one gave a shit?"

"Exactly."

"Aliens," she huffed in fake contempt. "You just can't trust them."

"Right? What about the rest of your group?"

"Similar effect. The main problem is solved, everyone disappears."

"So it's disbanded?"

"Yes. No need for it, now that the thing is gone. We never really liked each other anyway."

My newfound intuition told me we were dancing around the main topic.

"How long have you been waiting for me?"

"Oh, well, a few hours, give or take."

"In here?"

"Sure. Where else could you reappear?"

"But it's spooky as fuck in here."

She just nodded.

"But you kept waiting," I stated the obvious.

Again, she just nodded, suddenly looking incredibly fragile, shy and beautiful.

"For me?"

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Months. I never knew how to tell you."

"I, ah, don't think I'm the same as I was back then. I mean, the super-rational calculating guy. You know..." I hoped she knew what I meant better than I did.

She giggled again. This was very different from the giggles of the people who watched me trying to surf. I decided that I rather liked it. But only from her.

"You know, I don't think you're clueless any more. I never really thought you were, deep inside, but things are out in the open now. I like it."

Now that my emotions were unearthed, or activated, or whatever, I realized many of the positive ones were focused on her. I felt an incredible attraction to her, but couldn't put the right label on it, nor did I care. Instead, I just grabbed her and kissed her. I sensed she was shocked, but didn't resist at all.

"So do I. Shall we go home?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered, and looked incredibly happy.

I briefly thought about Irina again, beginning to understand what she had tried to achieve. Cheating on me with an unattractive yoga teacher wasn't the way to go, it turned out. A cosplay troupe, a couple of ancient bio-weapons and an alien civilization had worked much better. I hoped she was happy, wherever she was, and I was glad it wasn't anywhere near me.

As we left the building, I summed things up. I had fought and defeated two old, evil bio-weapons, I had made contact with a few odd aliens, I had travelled to another world, I had posthumously defeated my overbearing father, rediscovered my emotions to a frightening extent and found the love of my life.

All in all, it wasn't a bad day, I decided.

As always, many thanks to Randi and George. I am famous for moaning about having no plot for events, but this event theme was particularly difficult. Luckily, Randi came up with the core of a plot idea and did a final edit. George was once again nice enough to polish the story, as only he can.