Two Deaths and Photo with The Ghost

At that moment, Carlton came out of the house and walked onto the porch, fresh from a shower, his hair still damp and slightly disheveled. His thin body was clad in flannel pants and a fuzzy sweater that emphasized his slender frame. With such an appearance, he strongly resembled the lover boy from a B-movie. His wide-eyed smile and cheerful gaze indicated that he had no idea what Bobby and Emily had just discussed.

"Well, how is my beautiful muse?" he said with a wide smile, holding out his arms as if to embrace her.

Emily looked up, noticing his enthusiasm, but didn't step back.

"Am I your muse?" she asked with a sly smile. "Since when?"

"Ever since you came into my life," Carlton continued without a trace of embarrassment, still smiling. "You inspire me even to such trivial things as going out onto the veranda with wet hair."

Emily burst out laughing.

"That's a compliment, of course!" she teased him. "For my sake you risk catching a cold... at midday in summer!"

Carlton, beaming with his own confidence, took another step closer to Emily, spreading his arms wide as if he was going to hug her right then and there.

"You don't understand, Emily," he said, looking at her with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You're my inspiration! Look, even Bobby is sitting there looking thoughtful, although usually all he cares about is comics and sweets.

Emily raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Aha, so I am also responsible for your brother's sudden seriousness?"

"Definitely," Carlton nodded, looking as if he had just proven some complex theorem. "You have such magnetism that even the most persistent of people break their concentration."

"Ha-ha," Emily chuckled, shaking her head. "That's all very nice, of course, but you're clearly missing something."

"So what?" Carlton tilted his head to the side, as if trying to solve her riddle.

"That you completely forgot about the party we had planned for tonight," Emily began to explain. "I had all my friends excited in advance about having a dance party at your house to the music of The Doors, and you seem to have forgotten everything!" Emily finished, drilling Carlton with a reproachful look.

Carlton blinked, then ran a hand through his damp hair, clearly trying to remember what party he was talking about.

"Uh-uh-uh... I didn't forget, I was just tidying myself up so I'd look as fresh as a cucumber!" he said with noticeable uncertainty in his voice.

Emily sighed, rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Oh, this talent of yours for getting out of trouble," she said, shaking her head in disappointment. "We agreed a week ago!"

Carlton adjusted his sweater, clearly uncomfortable under Emily's gaze, and smiled widely, trying to turn it into a joke:

"Oh, my dear, I was in the bathroom all this time on purpose to look like a real gentleman! You don't want your friends to see me in a bad light, do you?"

Emily shook her head and chuckled.

"A gentleman who forgets his promises - that only happens in the movies, my dear!"

"What are you talking about!" Carlton feigned horror. "This is, by the way, a carefully planned strategy!"

"Strategy?" Emily raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms over her chest. "What is it?"

Carlton nodded as if he was thinking, and then said importantly:

"Create intrigue! I'm waiting for the moment to impress everyone with my perfect... uh... plan."

Bobby, who was watching this scene, couldn't help but snort.

"You're getting out of it as if you were given homework on Matesha, and instead you started playing on the console," he added, looking mockingly at his brother.

Carlton raised his hand dramatically, as if calling for everyone to be quiet, and said with mock importance:

"Shut up, child prodigy! The adults are working!"

Bobby snorted, a mischievous grin crossing his face.

"Yeah, 'work,'" he muttered under his breath, loud enough for Carlton to hear. "If talking nonsense is work, then you're a master of conversational laziness."

Emily laughed and slapped her hand on the arm of the chair, barely holding back tears of laughter.

"Oh, Bobby, you clearly won this round."

Carlton looked at the ceiling with mock sorrow and put his hand to his heart.

"Well, here I am again, defeated by an eight-year-old genius," he said in a tone of insulted innocence. "How am I supposed to live with such a younger brother?"

"Patience is a virtue, my brother," Bobby retorted without batting an eyelid. "I advise you to start training."

Emily laughed, giving Bobby an encouraging pat on the shoulder.

"Oh, Carlton, it looks like your little brother has officially become the king of sarcasm in this house."

Carlton, trying to maintain the remnants of his dignity, chuckled:

"You know what? You two just conspired."

"We're a team," Bobby said proudly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh, team," Carlton pretended to be hurt. "Emily, you betrayed me!"

"It's not a betrayal, it's a choice," she replied with a smile. "You just have to give Bobby a chance sometimes. He clearly won't let you down."

Carlton pretended to be hurt to the heart and put his hand to his chest, as if he wanted to show how much the words hurt him.

"It's not nice to plot against your brother's girlfriend! It's just meanness!"

Emily laughed and playfully nudged him in the shoulder.

"Mean? Seriously? You say that like Bobby and I are plotting to take over the world."

"Perhaps you are doing that too," Carlton narrowed his eyes, as if suspecting something much bigger in this conspiracy. He shook his head and continued with exaggerated seriousness: "And yet it all started with small things: jokes about colds in the summer heat, teasing about the party... And now you are making plans to replace me in my own house!"