Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1 'A Plan Forms'

Julie was turning over the white shirt in her hands for while, reflecting.

It had been the morning after their performance at The Orpheum. And while still reeling from the night's events- their performance, her nearly losing the guys- she woke up in high spirits.

She couldn't quite place it, maybe last night was the beginning of a brand new chapter for her and her band.

Something possessed her to go through her mom's trunk the first thing in the morning. She had made plans to try and preserve the dahlia flower she received from that kind stranger and she would keep it here in the trunk, just needed to make some room. 

She had opened the trunk and there laying on top of the pile of clothes was the Sunset Curve shirt Flynn found a couple days ago.

She couldn't help but smile at the love and care her mother had put into making the shirt her own, admiring the bedazzles all over the band logo.

She could only imagine what her mom would be thinking now- her daughter playing with a band she had been a fan of when she was younger. 

Julie shrugged and thought, 'What the hell?' and decided to put it on this morning. It would be fun to surprise the guys with this. 

She wore it with some nice overalls and tied her hair up. She did a little spin in front of the mirror and it sorta stunned her just how comfortable and how all put together her outfit looked.

She left her room and ran down the stairs, passing her brother who immediately acknowledged the shirt.

She had an inkling that Carlos knew about the guys. They haven't really gotten around to getting the talk, but the look they shared when they crossed paths meant he was aware of the boys' identities.

Sliding by the kitchen and grabbing a piece of toast, she headed for the studio. 

Luke was having a blast goofing off with Reggie and Alex, exercising their newfound strength. The past week had been taking a toll on them all due to the magical, cursed stamps that Caleb branded them with.

But anyway, they had spent the entire morning just running around, playing music, explored the town a bit more now that they weren't faced with the threat of being erased from existence.

It was sad that it had to take another brush with death to force them to be more grateful of their afterlives, but here they were trying to recreate the lift they did with Alex the other day. Reggie was currently on the table ready to leap into Luke and Alex's arms. 

They heard a knock on the studio doors and in walked Julie munching on a piece of toast.

"Good morning, guys!" 

"Julie!" They rushed forward and enveloped her in a hug.

Yeah, they could do that now. Be corporeal. They have been able to, in the past, interact with 'Lifers', as Alex called them, but only for a little bit. Like when Luke gave Bobby, or Trevor whatever, a wet willy. Or when Alex played with Carrie's wig during her performance.

But now for some reason they could interact with Julie with no problem. No concentration or practice needed. 

Which seemed like a pretty sweet deal, especially for Luke. 

Still encased in the hug, Julie tried to speak. They were reluctant to break apart, just appreciating how warm Julie was, but they eventually had to so they could hear what she had to say. 

The girl bent over, catching her breath after being squeezed by three ghosts.

"Whew, I'm still getting used to that. But how are you guys feeling?"

"Incredible!" Reggie exclaimed then went for an experimental playful punch on her shoulder, "Ha! Still can do that!" 

"Would you calm down please? Don't hurt her," Alex stepped in, "I apologize for him again. I think he's just tired of punching me," 

Julie rubbed her shoulder, laughing, "No. All good. But no other problems, right?" 

Luke opened his mouth to say something but his gaze was fixated on what Julie was wearing. He pointed at the shirt, causing the guys to take notice. 

"Woah!" Reggie took Julie by the shoulders and inspected the shirt closely, completely thrilled, "Check this out! Haven't seen one of these in-"

"25 years? Give or take?" she finished for him. She gave a little twirl, which was unnecessary since everything was on the front, but she felt pretty good wearing it and wanted to show off. 

Alex feigned holding a camera, taking photos like paparazzi and Julie played along, enjoying herself a bit more.

"The sparkles are new. I dig it!" the blonde complimented.

"Where did you get it?" Reggie wondered, extremely curious. 

"My mom's trunk. I guess she was a fan of yours or something," 

"That explains our demo in the loft," Alex deduced, "But you look great in our gear. Doesn't she, Luke?"

Luke blinked, his words getting caught in his throat. For the first time in a long time, he was utterly speechless. He wasn't sure what had come over him.

Back in '95, Luke had always felt some sort of pride when he saw fans sporting their gear of course- t-shirts, hats, pins but he didn't really share the same excitement Reggie had when they would see girls where their stuff.

'It's like when the quarterback's girl wears his letterman,' Reggie had tried to explain to him once. But he didn't think that analogy applied to a bunch girls who they didn't know personally, who would hang around the stage doors waiting for autographs and who they would probably never really see again. 

But seeing Julie wearing the shirt was different.

He started to feel all warm inside, which was impossible since he was a ghost. And whatever heart he had was buried 6 feet under with the rest of his body in some plot.

But how come it felt like it was still inside him, beating so fast that he felt the need to sit down for a moment. 

He realized that it had been quiet for a beat too long.

"Uh... y-yeah. Yeah." he stumbled through his words, trying hard to play it cool. "Looks... good." he drew out the vowels on 'good' a little too long.

Luke crossed his arms and tried to lean against the wall but faltered and he had to force himself to get upright again.

So much for playing it cool.

"Okaaay?" Julie raised her eyebrow at the boy, "Thanks." she said nearly mimicking his odd tone. 

"Anyways," Reggie clapped his hands together, "Now that we're physical... at least to you. You wanna jump off the table and have us catch you? It's fun, I promise," 

Julie winced at the thought, "I think I'll pass. We don't know if this thing is permanent. I wouldn't want to find out while I'm falling through the air and cracking my skull open." 

"Good point,' 

Julie walked over to get her bag off the couch, "I came in here to say hi before hanging with Flynn. She wants to take me out to celebrate our performance last night." 

"Aww. Can we come?" Alex asked. 

Julie had to politely decline, "Sorry. It's a me and Flynn thing, but I'll bring her back here later today though." 

"Sweet. We'll catch you later," 

"Yeah," Julie was almost out the door, "And don't worry about practicing or anything. I think we should take some time to relax." 

"Agreed," Reggie said, "Especially after last night..."

Then she went outside and exited through the gate, calling out a farewell. The boys waited a minute before Reggie and Alex descended upon Luke. 

"So...," Alex gestured in the space Julie had stood only moments ago, "you think that it looks goooood on her?" he teased. 

"That was the longest I've ever heard you not talk when Julie was around," Reggie ruffled Luke's hair, "I think we just found a way to shut him up." 

Luke grumbled, "Not funny, guys," before stalking off to his couch and collapsing into the cushions.

The guys followed him and sat on either side of him.

"Now you see what I mean?" Reggie wiggled his eyebrows. He clearly didn't forget their little 'letterman' talk from years ago, and Luke didn't want to dignify that with an answer.

"Wait what? You can touch them now?" 

Julie and Flynn had met up at the same cafe that the band played at only a week ago. She had just finished detailing what happened last night after the Orpheum.

Julie could see the gears working real hard in Flynn's mind, trying to understand how it all worked. 

"So... was it the power of love and friendship that broke the magician's curse?" Flynn stuffed a forkful of pancakes in her mouth, "That sounds too much like a fairytale." 

Julie had to agree with her there, "It was weird. I just remember being so scared. I knew that I did have to let them go... but I felt like it was happening right in front of me. At least I wasn't there to see my mom..." she trailed off. 

Flynn nodded, understanding. Julie continued, "At least, there was something that could be done about it. But they were so stubborn. Just needed to say goodbye properly this time and I... was able to hug Luke. Able to hug everyone and it somehow got rid of the stamps," 

"Oh boy," Flynn let out a gasp, "This is a game changer." 

"What do you mean?"

"You know how I kept saying that Luke is a waste of time. That no matter how cute or nice he was...he's pretty much just air?" 

Julie rolled her eyes, "I vaguely remember you telling me that... multiple times." 

"Hush," her bestie leaned in to whisper:

"Well, now he isn't totally air anymore, is he?"

Julie instantly turned red at the insinuation. She waved it off, "Nooo. I mean. We're just friends."

"Just saying, Julie. It's gonna be harder to resist him now. I could totally see him just brush up against you all friendly like. Then's he gonna wanna hold your hand, put his arm around you. Maybe he''ll give you a little kiss-" 

"Okay!" her outburst caused the other cafe patrons to look at her, and she slumped a little in her seat, mouthing sorry to everyone.

She whipped her head around to glare at Flynn, "We get it. We get it." 

Flynn was thoroughly amused by this, "And you live with him too, so it's gonna be hard to avoid him." 

Julie had thought about the implications of now having this ability to make contact with the guys.

At first, she would have to get used to running into them and not through them, but that wasn't something that happened much before last night. But yes, eventually her mind had drifted off to Luke.

The way she had held his face in his hands, how his skin had been cool to the touch but still very much there. How he had pulled her in the tight embrace, sensing his reluctance to let her go.

There was a huge possibility of having more of those moments. Hopefully not as intense. 

They dropped the Luke subject for a little so they could dig into their food a bit more. They soon finished and left the cafe to take a nice walk around the shopping plaza. They walked arm in arm, skipping like in Wizard of Oz down the paths, talking about anything and everything. 

It was when Flynn dragged Julie into a store to go shopping that her shirt was addressed once more.

Flynn was holding up a pink blouse to her chest, checking to see if it would fit, "As much as I like you repping your boy, this shirt would probably be a better fit with the overalls." 

"Repping my boy?" She looked down at the sparkly Sunset Curve shirt and remembered the weird interaction between her and Luke from this morning- all because of this shirt.

Oh.

She must have made quite an expression because Flynn was looking at her expectantly. Julie had to pull out of the store and explain what happened that morning.

Flynn burst in a fit of laughter after hearing the details. 

"Like his brain short-circuited or something?"

"Yeah. Why was he so crazy about me wearing the band's old merch?"

Flynn grabbed her chin and gave a little pout, "Oh honey. He's a guy. And guys, for some reason, love it when their girlfriends where their stuff. Obviously," she pointed to the shirt, "that's not his. And it's the band's T-shirt, not like the name 'Luke' is sprawled out on the shirt." 

"But he was the frontman. And this band was, is, like the most important thing to him," she rationalized. 

"It's an ego thing. You know, the cheerleader effect. The girlfriend wearing her man's letterman jacket or whatever to support him, like she's his biggest fan,"

Flynn sighed, "Masculinity is so fragile. But basically, he got a taste for what it would be like if you were his girl and he totally freaked," 

"What... like freaked out by the idea?" Julie sounded so downtrodden. Was the idea that weird to Luke that he'd react like this?

"Oh no, he's into it. Like really into it. Trust me," Flynn reassured

"But like..." Julie thought back to the deer-in-the-headlights expression on Luke's face, "it was kinda funny. You should have seen his face!" 

"I bet! Please wear it when you're performing, I'd love to see it," 

Julie tried to imagine Luke being so gobsmacked that he couldn't play guitar. That would be too mean.

But the idea Flynn was suggesting, doing this again in front of Luke, was starting to appeal to her. She couldn't help but feel some sort of satisfaction messing with him this morning, even if it took her a while to figure out that she had been doing it.

There were countless times when Luke would often surprise her with his ghostly antics-  popping into her room, appearing at school, talking to her when she was with her family- which all left her feeling flustered and trying to explain her weird behavior to everyone.

It was embarrassing, trying to make sure she didn't look crazy in front of people.

And, it was hard to pull one over Luke too if she ever tried to do it by any other means. He was such a chill, easy going guy that normal pranks would merely amuse him.

Julie would be foolish not to seize this opportunity to get back at him. 

"Ooooh," Flynn could see a plan forming in Julie's mind, "Something's brewing!" 

Julie had a little evil glint in her eyes, "I think we can take this even further." 

"How?" Flynn rarely saw Julie get all mischievous like this, She couldn't be any more proud of her right now.

"You'll see,"

And with that, the girls quickly left the shopping center to get to work on Julie's plan. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 2 'Operation Purple Shirt'

Julie and Flynn had set the plan in motion the day before, immediately right after they came home from their outing.

They had hung out with the boys which was fun, even though Flynn wasn't able to see them. They could still interact with objects if they tried hard enough and they were able to hold up a written dialogue between them. 

It had been interesting interacting with Luke after realizing what kind of effect the band shirt had on him. She had made the conscious decision to swap shirts, just to see if it really made a difference. And it did. Luke had been more of his usual self around her. His usual charismatic self. 

She had to enact the plan with Flynn there. Her bestie had somehow been able to goad the ghosts into a game of basketball outside, pitting Reggie and Luke against each other to do so.

It was a good enough distraction for Julie to climb up to the loft of the garage and sift through the bag of clothes the boys had kept up there.

She was still confused on how clothes work when it came to ghosts. Turned out they could put on anything on their bodies and it would disappear along with them, but once discarded- it was visible to everyone. 

Her face had contorted in disgust when she had opened the garbage bags to find Luke's clothes. These boys needed to do laundry, ghosts or not.

She only grabbed one article of clothing, it would be far too noticeable if she took more and she didn't want to be found out so quickly. She needed to make what she was doing be spontaneous.

It also helped that Luke thought she was this sweet girl that wouldn't be evil enough to orchestrate a plan like this. 

She had quickly stuffed the shirt in her bag and made it out in time to watch the boys play basketball. Flynn had been weirded out by it because all she could see was a basketball bouncing around and dribbling by itself but enjoyed it nonetheless.

Julie had winked at her, signaling that she got the shirt. 

She had gone to bed later that night too eager to begin the next phase of her plan. She knew she would definitely get a reaction out of him from what she would wear tomorrow and she couldn't wait to tell Flynn all about it afterwards.

Luke leaned against the piano, scribbling down possible song ideas.

It was a new day and the group had agreed to a band practice for today to run with the momentum that their latest performance brought on.

They were already getting calls from interested parties for possible new gigs, and maybe even management. So, they needed to be on their A game from now on.

His guitar was slung over his shoulder and he had to keep his guitar pick in his mouth so he wouldn't lose it so easily.

He stopped writing and did a once over of the room. Reggie was tuning his bass over by the couch while Alex was seated in his stool, tapping out some experimental beats. Then, Luke checked the time on the wall clock. 

"Has anyone seen Julie?"

"Uh... nope," Reggie uttered, not taking his eyes off his bass, "She couldn't be out. She knows we have practice." 

"Chill out, guys. She's probably in the house," Alex said. 

Luke frowned, "It's not like her to be late," he remarked, then he went back to try and get some lyrics down on the page.

Then, he heard footsteps and the dragging of the garage doors opening. A hint of lavender perfume filtered through the air. Without looking, he knew it was Julie.

A small smile let out, despite the pick in his mouth, "Hey Jules, I've got this cool idea I wanna run by you. I- "his eyes flickered over to her and what he saw made his heart stop. 

Julie waltzed in sporting his long sleeved reddish-purple button up, pairing it with her shorts. She even had her hair up in a high ponytail so everyone could clearly see that it was, in fact, Luke's shirt. 

Luke couldn't help but let his eyes wander.

The shirt was big on her; it was baggy on him too. For reasons he could not explain but her smaller frame paired with a shirt two sizes too big for her- her letting it drape off her body like a pseudo dress, her having unbuttoned the shirt enough to see her collarbone peeking through- had his breathing out of sorts.

He thought that the Sunset Curve shirt was something but this... this-

She was actually wearing something of his and was making it look good.  

Her entrance drew the attention of Alex and Reggie too who both did a double take when they saw what she was wearing.

Julie seemed to be the only one not making a big deal about it, breezing through the room to pick up her mic to bring it back to her keyboard.

Once done setting her station up, she finally looked up and addressed the guys. 

"Hey, sorry I was late. Behind on laundry, had to try to find something to wear," 

Reggie started pointing at her, not sure how to bring it up, "Um... does she know that's-" 

"Shh," Alex held his hand up, looking on the scene with much interest. 

Luke had to steel himself as Julie made her way towards him. She was at the opposite end of the piano. She rested her elbow on it, propping up her head to stare at him intently.

The sleeves of the shirt were so long that it had to be folded up un order to tuck her hand under her chin.

She looked so adorable in his shirt.

Was he gonna let her keep it? He didn't have the mental capacity to even think of anything right now, let alone make choices... serious, important choices...

"What ideas did you wanna run by me, Luke?" she asked like how she normally would.

Did she not know what she was wearing? What she was doing to him?

"W-Well," he was off to a rocky start.

He went to go point to the lyrics he had been working on but the pencil slipped from his fingers, clattering on the floor.

"Sorry. Didn't meant to- uh," he had opened his mouth a bit too wide and the guitar pick ended up falling out, landing on the floor as well.

He hurriedly stooped down to gather his things. He had them in his hands when he rose, but not before bumping his head against the bottom of piano, which shouldn't have happened since he was a ghost and everything. 

Once Luke had made it back up, wincing in pain, Julie was chuckling slightly at him. He inwardly cringed, thinking about the scene he had just made, about how it happened in front of Julie and the guys of all people.

It made him wanna retreat to the floor, crawl under the piano, and wait out whatever he was feeling. 

Alex had came out from behind his drums to join Reggie on the couch, "What do you think is happening?"

Reggie shook his head slowly, still entranced by the whole thing. They had just watched their friend- the one who could charm the pants off of anybody, who was so suave and confident with anyone he talks to- make a complete and utter fool of himself in front of the girl he was crushing on.

"I don't know...but I never want it to end," 

Alex grinned, their hands meeting in a fist bump, "Me neither."

Chapter Text

Chapter 3 'New Accomplices'

Julie was confident that the plan would work. 

But she didn’t know that it would work that good. 

Throughout the rest of practice, Luke could not keep his eyes off her. He did tend to look at her a lot while they played music, mostly since she was the lead and they had a lot of duet moments throughout their songs. But when they weren’t even playing, he had kept up the staring act and was failing to be discreet.

She had purposely danced near him during their practice, retreating to the center once he had moved too close, which she knew was driving him crazy, like she had done during their performance of ‘Great’ only days ago. 

Once they concluded, Julie bid the guys a goodbye- making sure to give them each a hug before she left.

She nearly lost it when Luke tentatively returned the hug, not sure where to put his hands and ended up awkwardly patting her shoulder. Alex had to cover his mouth to keep him from snorting in laughter. Reggie had to leave the room because this was all getting too much for him. 

She ran up to her room in a flash and called up Flynn. 

“So?” her bestie knew immediately what she wanted to talk about, “How did it go? Did he drool? I bet he did. Tell me everything!”

“Jaw. Dropped.” she punctuated and she heard squealing on the other end. Julie relayed what happened in detail- how his jaw literally did drop and how he had been strangely tangible when he hit the piano.

“And he said ‘ow’? I thought he was a ghost? Does his head hurt?”

“His pride must have hurt worse,” Julie joked, “Oh man, I thought I was gonna feel guilty afterwards. Like he kept messing up his parts during practice…” 

“But it was too much fun? Wasn’t it?”

“A little…,” she paused, “No. Yeah. A lot,” she ended up admitting. 

“So what’s the objective for tomorrow?” 

“Not sure… I do want to do it again, just not sure if I should just have a gap in between my pranks so it would be when he would least expect it,” 

Julie didn’t want Luke to start getting used to this idea and be all ready for her when he pulled this stunt again. She had already worn the band shirt yesterday- it might be obvious if she did it again tomorrow.

Besides, they did have a gig coming up soon and the band needed a fully functioning Luke then. 

Flynn hummed, “But do you know what you’re gonna snag from him next?”

“Well… it depends,” 

“Depends on what?” 

“When I get to sneak in and get something else,” 

Julie heard a ‘tsk tsk’ from the other end of the phone, “I told you. You should have grabbed two things at least!” 

“Well I couldn’t fit two pieces of clothing in my bag!” Julie reclined on her bed, bummed that there was already a snag to her plan, “And it’s not like I can ask the guys when they’re not gonna be in the studio.” 

The guys kind of just did whatever, not really having a set schedule besides keeping up with rehearsals.  

Alex would often go look for Willie, but since getting the Orpheum gig, she heard that they haven’t seen the skater ghost. It all just depended if Alex would risk getting discovered by Caleb if he ever tried to seek him out again, but most likely he was gonna stick around in the studio. 

Reggie, on the other hand, would spend a lot of time inside the house trying to talk to her dad and mess with Carlos. His schedule was more fully formed than the other guys', always making time to watch cooking shows on the couch with her dad on certain nights. 

But Luke, her target, was the wild card.

He was always at the studio. But there would be times when he would pop up down by the beach and chill, explore, or just do whatever. And there were the times when he got a bit homesick and would visit his parents. He wasn’t as sad returning to the studio from these visits anymore, but she could tell it always took a lot out of him so he wouldn’t make a point of going so often. 

“You know what? I’ll figure this out later. I need to get some homework done,” 

“Oh yeah. Monday,” Flynn shuddered, “I’ve got too much to do. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” 

With that, Julie hung up and tried to keep the image of Luke’s wide-eyed expression out of her mind while she worked on some calculus. 

Luke had his fingers running through his shaggy locks, pacing around the studio in a similar manner to Alex only weeks ago. 

What was wrong with him?

Since when did he get this worked up over someone? And just for happening to wear his shirt? 

Luke had had some experiences with girls in the past, but any relationships he had were doomed from the start when he would be too busy jamming on his guitar to plan decent dates.

It had never gone past the first few dates and definitely had never reached the ‘giving her his jacket when she’s cold’ stage. 

So handling this, this, was all too foreign to him. 

He couldn’t help but think Julie was doing this on purpose. But why would she? And how did she come across his shirt anyway?

He was not the cleanest or most organized person, especially between him, Alex and Reggie. But he would have remembered if he had shed that shirt and discarded it in the house offhandedly. 

“So…” Reggie had finally decided to poof back to the studio, “Are we... ,” he tried to gauge the mood of the room, “Are we gonna talk about that? Or are we just gonna pretend that it didn’t happen?”

“The second one. Definitely the second one!” Luke chose, still walking back and forth in a straight line across the room. 

“I just wanna know,” Alex leaned against the garage doors, “how did it feel boinking your head against the piano? It looked like it hurt,” 

“Like it really hurt,” 

“Thank you, Reginald!” Luke growled, getting real annoyed at the bassist’s contribution to the conversation. At least, Alex was asking a really good question. 

“And I don’t know. It just did,” It had never happened before, feeling any pain ever since they became ghosts. Well, with the exception of Caleb’s stamp shocks. 

“Do you think… there’s more to all this ever since two nights ago?” Reggie speculated, “Like, yeah. We can touch Julie now. But do you think that now that we can… we can not only just feel her but -”

“Feel like Lifers do?” Alex finished, his eyes widening, “I thought I was going crazy. But I thought I’ve been feeling things… like a lot more,” 

The guys were puzzled, so Alex had to elaborate.

“After being, you know, freshly dead, I was feeling things. Emotions but without …” he roughly gestured to his stomach, “all the body business. No butterflies in my stomach but I just… somehow know whenever I was anxious,” 

“Is that whenever Willie is around?”

“Not the time, Reginald,” Alex copied Luke's gruff tone.

He cleared his throat before continuing, “But I think that’s what’s happening. All the physical sensations that come with being alive, head bumps and whatnot… we got it.” 

“Dude, we’re still ghosts though. See?” Luke stuck his hand through the wall seamlessly as if he was made of air. 

“But when aren’t we like ghosts?” 

When we’re with Julie…

It all made sense. 

That also explained all the heightened emotions he had been feeling around Julie as of late. And how he was able to hit his head against the piano. And why he was reacting… badly to things that wouldn’t have normally.

That meant he had to be careful, not to let his emotions get unchecked whenever she was around. He might do something stupid. 

He eyed the piano. 

Well… maybe something even more stupid. 

But Julie was proving to make that difficult for him. He hoped that the girl wouldn’t try anything at their show coming up in a few days. He recalled how he played during today’s jam session- it wasn’t his best. 

He didn’t think he could let a girl distract him from the music.

But then again, he had never met a girl quite like Julie. 

It was later that night when Julie, in the middle of going through her stacks of assignments on her bed, heard a couple knocks on her door. 

“Come in!” Then all of the sudden, Alex and Reggie poofed at her bedside, spooking her slightly,

“I thought you were gonna pass through like you always do. Geez!” 

The two boys shared a look, like they knew something she didn’t. 

“We weren’t sure we would be able to,” 

“What do you mean?” 

Alex explained his theory to Julie who listened carefully, surprised that she hadn’t given the piano a thing from this morning a second thought. It was, in fact, a huge deal- like with the ‘being tangible’ thing. 

“Okay, so not only that, but your emotions-? I’m not following,” 

“We were pretty emotional before your afterlife-saving hug,” 

“Some of us more than others,” Reggie muttered. 

“But like, it had never been as overwhelming. We were able to keep a lid on it,” Julie raised an eyebrow, “weeell sorta. But… it’s now we’re feeling everything with full force!” 

“So…” Reggie and Alex knelt beside her bed, “whatever you’ve got planned for Luke… it’s gonna totally mess him up.” 

“Pssh. What?” Julie denied, “What do you mean?”

“This!” Reggie pinched the purple shirt she was wearing, “Stealing his clothes and making him go nuts!” 

“That’s not-,” Julie looked down at the apparently offensive garment. She didn’t know that Luke’s reaction to her wearing his things were gonna be worse than she initially thought.

“Are you guys telling me I should stop?”

The two boys shared another look, but of the devious variety this time around. 

“Oh no… the exact opposite actually,” 

Wait what?

She was confused. She thought to keep this whole thing between her and Flynn was because she was aware of the guys’ bond. They died together and had each others’ backs. If they knew, they would have just told Luke what she had been up to.

But right now, they wanted to conspire against him. 

“Why?”

Reggie stared at her incredulously, “Well why not? It was hilarious. Never in my life, I have ever seen him act like such a dork!” 

“The best!” Alex agreed, wheezing in laughter and soon all three of them were rolling around laughing. 

“I th-thought…” Reggie could barely speak, he was giggling too much, “I thought he was… gonna choke on that pick.” 

“Uggh. Look. I love Luke. He’s family. But there are times when he could be so… so-” 

“Cocky?” Julie threw out there. 

“Yes!” Alex agreed wholeheartedly, “So sick of him always pulling tricks on us. The amount of times I’ve sat down just to realize that there was an unpeeled banana stuck in my back pocket. Always making us look like fools,” 

“We could never get him back either! But he has sat on his throne untouched for too long now!” Reggie’s dramatic monologue had Julie shushing him in case Luke had been nearby. 

“Where is Luke anyway?” 

“Mall food court. Just wanted to browse. I swear he loves to torture himself,”

Alex clapped his hands together, “Anyway, so we’re here to say: Whatever you need to throw him off his game,” He slung his arm over Reggie, “we’re in.” 

“So in! Who else would know his favorite clothes than his boys, right?” 

Reggie had a good point. And now that she had accomplices within the ghostly trio… 

“Then what are you thinking of grabbing for me when he isn’t looking?” 

The boys huddled together for a minute to figure out which would be the next article of clothing she should wear. She heard a murmur of agreement upon them breaking apart.

“We got the perfect thing,” That was the cue for Alex to disappear and pop back in her room holding up the proposed garment. 

“Yep,” Julie said, taking it in her hands, playing with the material, “This is definitely a Luke shirt!” 

Then Reggie made a noise, “Ooh. Why stop at just the shirt?” The bassist made his exit and reappeared, tossing the famed orange beanie to her. She caught it, grinning from ear to ear. 

“Oh this. This,” She visualized how she could put these two to good use for tomorrow, “This is gonna be good.” 

Chapter Text

Chapter 4 'New Developments'

Luke sat on Julie’s bed, wondering why she had called him, and only him, up there. 

Normally, Julie didn’t want any of her ghost buds in her room but Luke assumed that when she sought him out this would be one of their songwriting sessions, or some musical assimilation lesson where Julie would show him songs from this decade for fun. 

He figured the latter when he had walked in (after politely knocking and receiving no answer) and heard music coming from her thin computer- the laptop. Though it didn’t look like any laptop Luke had ever seen...

It was a tune he had heard before somewhere. He ended up humming along to it, but for the afterlife of him he couldn’t remember any names of any songs recorded after ‘95. 

He wondered where Julie was. 

Then at the thought of her, she suddenly appeared in front of him, wearing the purple shirt she had been wearing yesterday.

His purple shirt.

Her hair was down though. And the long sleeves had been rolled up to her forearms. 

“Hey Luke,” 

He eyed her warily, mentally asking how she got in front of him so fast. A new song started to play… it sounded familiar too, a melody he might have come up with a while ago. 

There was something strange in this atmosphere, although nothing in the room appeared to have changed. There was something not right about this and he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Instead of greeting her in return, Luke jumped to his feet. 

“Julie. I just need to know…” he started, already sounding distressed because it had been racking his mind. Like with her dream box, he had been dying to get the answers. 

He pointed to the shirt, “Where did you get that? How did you-”

A finger made contact with his mouth, silencing him. 

Julie had crept closer, her eyes boring into his own. She was smiling at him as she retracted her hand, “Don’t you like it though?” she asked, coy. 

“No. I mean… I do. Like…” he croaked out, “It’s nice. Like really nice. But can you just tell me why?”

Julie reached up to play with the collar of his flannel, tracing some nonsensical pattern up and down around his shoulder. Then without warning, she pulled him closer to her, nearly toppling him. They were close, noses inches away from bumping into each other.

“It’s because it’s yours…” she whispered “And that’s what I wanna be. Yours .” 

The shivers that ran through him just then when he heard her utter those words. He raised his hand to cup her face, much like how he did nights ago, right before he was to disappear into oblivion. 

She leaned into his touch, fluttering her eyelashes at him. Her hand went to the back of his neck, guiding him, pulling him down until his face met hers in a kiss. 

He was surprised but it subsided the longer he concentrated on the feeling of her soft lips. Eyes closed, he craned his head to deepen the kiss, the hand not caressing her face was wrapped around her waist in an instant. 

She draped her arms over his shoulders, her whole body pressing into him, she might have been on her tiptoes, but he was too busy caught up in the sensations of having Julie, having her in this moment.

This must have been something that he had been wanting to do ever since that day she helped him make amends with his parents. The extra mile she would go for her friends. For him. Her brown eyes staring up at him, that beautiful smile, doing so much to make sure he was okay. 

He had never wanted to reach out and touch her so badly than right then, but his hands just ended up passing through like they were nothing… 

Now that he was tangible to her, there was so much that they were able to do… He would lie if he said he hadn’t thought about it in detail. 

The one kiss turned into a flurry of them, with him whispering her name during the short intervals so he was never able to fully catch his breath before having her lips on his again. 

“Julie,” he kept repeating almost like a mantra, “Julie, Julie, Julie” 

He never wanted this to end. 

CLAP

Luke’s eyes snapped open to find Alex and Reggie watching him in horror. He saw that Alex had brought his hands together to make a resounding clap inches away from his face. 

“Guys?” he rasped out, “What is it?” 

He lifted his head to discover his body reclined on the living room couch, a blanket covering him that must have been put on him while he was asleep. 

Wait. Asleep?

He sprang up, now fully alert. Like he should have been because…

Ghosts never sleep.

There was no reason to. He hadn’t been able to sleep ever since he died. He had tried, though never being the type to value sleep when alive, but he wanted to feel more normal, having somewhere to rest his head at the end of the day. He thought he would never be able to do it...

“Dude!” Reggie’s voice was bringing him out of his post-slumber stupor. 

“I know!” he was freaking out. Although, he really didn’t want to believe in Alex’s theory that they were somehow 'evolving' as ghosts, feeling like the Lifers do, but if this wasn’t a sign then he didn’t know what was. 

He sat back down on the couch, trying to place his memory. He had come into the house to try and somehow see if he had left anything in there… like his clothes perhaps because he was foolishly trying to solve the mystery behind Julie and his shirt. 

“We can sleep now, which I don’t know whether to be glad or disappointed,” Alex said, “Like we can get tired now?”

“I guess,” Luke did feel pretty well rested from night in the house. 

“Hey, were you able to dream?” Reggie asked, “that’d be cool. To dream again.” 

Luke blinked the sleep from his eyes, flashes of Julie came to mind- her hands on him, her flirty eyes, her lips… 

“Uh…. no. No actually,” 

He would die (again) if his friends ever found out what, or who, exactly he was dreaming about. 

“You sure? You looked pretty stuck in dreamland… you kept mumbling something,” 

Julie. Julie. Julie

Luke had to resist the urge to bring his hand to his face, embarrassed that the tail end of the dream where he kept saying her name made its way back to his friends. 

“Sounded like ‘chewy’... or did you say ‘drooling’?” Reggie went on, “Or maybe it’s-”

“Julie” Alex said suddenly. 

“Wait. What?" Luke spluttered, "I did not say ‘Julie’."

The drummer’s eyebrows knitted together, pointing to the window, “Uh no? I was just gonna say Julie’s back home from school.” 

Luke’s insides began to churn, he wasn’t sure if he could look at Julie in the eye right now. Especially after imagining what he had been imagining last night.

But then the latter part of Alex’s sentence set in. 

“You’re telling me I slept through half the day?” He ran to the kitchen to look at the clock and it was in fact three in the afternoon.

“Why didn’t you guys wake me earlier?”

Reggie shrugged, “We didn’t know you were in here. Besides, you looked adorable." 

“I’m home!” Julie’s voice could be heard from the doorway, “Flynn’s here!” 

“In the kitchen!” Reggie responded giddily. He kept throwing amused glances at Alex who returned them with the same energy. 

“Now what are you guys on about?” 

“Nothin,” they said in unison, which only added to Luke’s puzzlement. Those two were in on something that he wasn’t.

Then Reggie grabbed onto Alex’s shoulder, expressions shifted to ones of glee and amazement. The drummer lifted a closed fist to his gaping smile, clearly looking over Luke’s shoulder. 

“Hey Ju-lie!” the two singsonged. 

Luke whirled around, hoping to glean some knowledge on his friends’ weird behavior from Julie but with one look he knew that question would have to wait. 

“Woah,” the word escaped him before he could think. 

Their singer had done it again. Had stolen his clothes. 

Somehow she was able to grab his clothes without him noticing. Today’s number was his white ‘Landed in the USA’ tee, one of his favorites out of all his sleeveless shirts. His mind immediately went to how she even went to school looking like that, wearing that! It had those wide armholes!

Well not as bad as some of his other shirts, but still. 

When she shifted her upper body to drop her bag down on the floor, he caught a peek at the sports bra she was wearing underneath, which may have been what gave her a pass at school, but Luke found it completely unacceptable for her to be showing this much skin going about her classes. 

God, he sounded like his dad whenever he would snip the sleeves off his shirts. 

Luke knew what guys are like in high school- he was still technically a high school guy himself. Unlike yesterday, when it had mostly been his total surprise that had him acting all ruffled up, some strange form of jealousy coursed through him thinking about Julie skipping along the hallways, looking the way she did, in front of other guys. 

Other guys? What was he thinking? That would mean that he was her guy for there to be ‘other guys’.

While Luke was going through his inner turmoil, he had completely missed her fixing the orange beanie on her head. 

That too? My hat?!

It topped the voluminous mass that was her hair and it really tied her whole outfit together, with the addition of some dangling earrings - Julie did make his clothes her own.

The heart murmurs were back in full force. Just seeing her so comfortable in his clothes, acting confident was something that Luke couldn't help but be drawn to.

He was starting to sweat this time around, quite subtly on his forehead, hidden by the mop that was his hair. But his brown locks were on the verge of clinging to his skin.

  He was making the conscious decision to stay silent, for fear of saying something stupid, but he should be more worried about his whole body anatomy in general. He had been a total klutz yesterday when he would normally have better control over his hands and his head.

That all had gone out the window when Julie just had to wear his shirt. 

“Hey everyone,” she said cheerily, still oblivious to Luke’s predicament. He nodded at her, the safest thing he could do at the moment. 

She must have had some inkling on what she was doing, right? The first time was a one off, she had just found the old band shirt. The second time… was a coincidence. But then, for the third day in a row, she was wearing his stuff.

He kept wanting to read her smile, to weed out the truth of what she was getting at, but it was the same old, radiant Julie smile to him. 

Julie turned to Flynn, who Luke, if completely honest, had totally forgotten she was there, “It’s the guys.” she clarified, in case she seemed crazy talking to an empty kitchen.

“Yeah. I know, ” It was the way Flynn said it that had everyone observe her carefully. 

It was because she was looking right at Luke. Not like last time when she acted like she could see them and would give wayward glances around the room thinking she was talking directly to them.

Like she was looking at him, reacting to his dumbstruck face taking in Julie's outfit. 

Her eyes were wide but as Luke made moves side to side, just to check, the group was shocked to see her pupils followed.

“Holy crap,” Luke, Alex, and Reggie said together. 

Flynn could see them. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 5 ‘The Boys Meet Julie’s Dad’

Julie kept looking between Flynn and the guys, completely awestruck at this new development. 

Her bestie ran up to Luke and immediately stuck her hand out, passing through him. Then she did the same to Reggie and Alex, eyes still wide in alarm as she kept pushing and retracting her arm. 

“You know that if it worked the first time-” Alex held his hands up in futile, knowing that her hands were just gonna go through, “It’s not gonna change all of the sudden.” 

“But-” Flynn widely gestured at the boys, “Yes ghosts. No instruments.” 

“No instruments” Julie echoed. That was true and that was really the only time when the boys could be seen by other people. 

The rush of pulling another fast one on Luke subsided, she was concerned. What Alex was talking about- how the boys were changing as ghosts- that was what was happening here.

She had thought it was all about emotions and physical pain, but she didn’t think that would affect how they could be seen. 

If Flynn could see them then who else could be able to now? 

“Julie? Is that you?” her dad’s voice carried into the kitchen. 

Uh oh. 

Her hands clutched at her forehead, freaking out. The boys were just as panicked, well apart from Reggie, whom Alex had to clamp his mouth to stop from talking back to Ray. It could turn out to be the one conversation where Ray could actually hear him. 

Flynn seeing them was one thing. She already knew about them being ghosts. Her dad knowing was a whole new level.

She didn’t think she could have it in her to try to explain the sudden appearance of her hologram band. They were in town visiting? , she could say. But then her dad would want to talk to them, shake their hands- Nope. Just nope. 

They need to go right now. 

The footsteps were coming down the stairs. They didn’t have much time. Julie rushed forward, corralling the guys to the dining room to buy them some time. 

“Poof. Studio. Now!” she hissed, pushing Luke who was walking too slowly. 

He kept wiggling about, trying to turn to her, “Julie- we need to talk later-” 

Julie didn’t have time to even think about what that could mean. She made a noncommittal noise and shooed them off. They poofed just in time, right when her dad rounded the corner and entered the kitchen. 

She and Flynn leaned ever so casually on the island, “Heyyyy dad.” 

Ray smiled, giving her a kiss on the forehead and gave a friendly nudge to Flynn. He looked about the kitchen, “Huh, I swear I thought I heard other voices down here.” 

“Really?” Julie’s voice went high and Flynn looked like she wanted to throttle her. 

Her dad turned his back to them while he grabbed some juice from the fridge. Flynn kept mouthing something to her, holding up her phone. She caught on. 

“Oh, uh. I have been just talking to the guys. Video chat.” That seemed to be the typical excuse. 

“Why did you hang up?” he came back with a couple glasses, “You’re not embarrassed by your old man, are you?” he joked. 

“No. No! That’s not why,” 

Flynn emitted a tiny squeak and kept repeatedly smacking her in the chest. She turned to her, exasperated but she had a mini heart attack when Reggie’s head popped out through the front door. Her dad was luckily too busy shuffling through the cabinets to notice.

He wanted to talk to her dad that badly, huh?

The bassist’s entire body passed through. He kept making reassuring hand gestures that roughly translated to ‘I got this’ as he swaggered on towards them. 

As her dad was about to close the cabinet and see him, she ran around the island to hop onto the sink counter just as Luke had done when he had shown her ‘Bright’.

Her dad faced her direction instead, slightly stumbling back at how fast Julie had appeared in front of him. 

“How could I be? I talk to them about how great you are like all the time, dad,”

Her dad held a hand to his heart, “You talk about me?” 

“Yes,” she smiled but had to spare a quick glance back at Reggie. Now, Luke and Alex made an appearance, both trying to reel their friend back and drag him out the front door. 

“In fact, I know for sure they’re just dying to meet you,” she said through clenched teeth. 

The colloquialism did not go unnoticed by the guys who stuck their tongue at her before they managed to wrangle Reggie to the ground, making an unmistakable thud. 

Her dad craned his head to seek the source, “What was that?” 

The boys were still piled on the ground, hidden from their vantage point.

“Uh, not sure. But, uh, like I said. They would just love to talk to you,” 

“And I’d love to talk to them,” Her dad’s eyes were alight with joy, “Would it be much of a bother if you’d call them again? I think it’s high time that I thank them for all they’ve done for you. For this family.” 

“Aw, Ray,” She heard Reggie whisper before Luke and Alex pressed his face against the carpet to shut him up.

Flynn immediately coughed and cleared her throat to muffle the sounds of the boys still struggling. 

Julie knew of a surefire way to get the boys of the house, but it was gonna require some quick thinking and great acting on the boys’ part.

“You know what? That’s a good idea!”

The boys' heads snapped up and Flynn was looking at her as if she had just sprouted two heads.  

Julie got her phone out, “I’m going to call the boys on my phone,” she tapped her screen aggressively while maintaining eye contact with Flynn, hoping she would get the hint. 

Her bestie had been perceptive and was out the door in seconds, signaling for the boys to follow. But they stayed put, still clueless. 

“And then the boys, wherever else they are in the world, are gonna pick up and we’ll video chat,” she drew out her words to really drill it in their heads.

Alex nodded, patting the rest of the guys on the backs before they all poofed out. 

“That’s great, sweetie!” Ray exclaimed, rubbing his hands together, “I can’t believe I get to finally meet the band,” 

Julie’s face hurt, keeping up with all the smiling she was doing for her dad. She tapped a couple times on her phone, hearing it ring, “Me neither.” 

Luke and the boys poofed into the studio. Like they were supposed to in the first place. He and Alex threw a dirty look at Reggie, who nearly blew it for them. 

“I just wanted Ray to see me!” he defended. 

Then Flynn came bursting through the double doors, holding her phone up.

“And he will. We’re gonna video call them. Alex,” the blonde stood up straight, still not used to being addressed by Flynn, “grab your banner and hang it up in the loft.” 

“Right away, ma’am,” He snatched up the old band banner, flipped it over, and poofed up to the loft, hanging it in front of the windows up there, instantly darkening that half of the building. 

“Why are we doing this?” Luke asked. 

“Because,” she shooed them in the direction of the ladder, “you’re supposed to be in another country, doofus.” 

That did make sense. They couldn’t look like they were calling from the studio. Luke didn’t dawdle this time getting up to the loft, mostly because, for a teenage girl, Flynn was intimidating. 

“But cameras haven’t been able to capture us before!” Reggie pointed out, pacing around the loft. 

“If I could see you, then I’m pretty sure the phone will too,” Flynn called up to them. 

All three of them were waiting for Flynn to climb up. They heard her phone ringing. 

“Okay, guys this is it! Scooch!” she made the boys huddle together and she aimed her phone at them, the lit up screen in their direction, “Swipe to answer it!” she whispered. 

Reggie was in the utmost front, and, with the most experiences with phones from this century, he dragged his fingers across the screen. 

Luke had to bite down on his amazement watching the screen transition so quickly to Julie’s face. 

“Hey, guys!” 

They waved, pretending that they haven’t seen her in a while. 

“Julie!” 

“Long time no see!” 

“He-llo,” Reggie said in some indiscernible accent. Alex and Luke face palmed. 

Flynn was still holding the phone, probably wishing she was anywhere but here for this. Julie blinked at them, trying so hard to be unfazed by whatever just came out of Reggie’s mouth. 

“Um… so listen, just wanted to say hey and to finally introduce you to my dad!” she angled her phone so that now her dad’s face took up the screen.

The man was so genuinely happy to see them. Julie then introduced them by name.

And it was so surreal, that to Ray, it was his first time talking and interacting with them, when Luke felt like he already knew so much about him. But Reggie even more so.

“Hey fellas,” 

“Mr. Molina, so nice to meet you!” Alex began, “Julie tells us so much about you.” 

“Yeah, like your interests in photography, how you make your eggs in the morning,” Reggie rattled off, having dropped the accent. He gasped, “Did you get the promotion?” 

Julie laughed a bit too much at that, “I really do tell them soooo much about you.” 

“Oh, well,” Luke wasn’t sure if Ray was laughing out of courtesy or he really didn’t mind that these three guys just happened to know about his business. 

“It looks pretty dark over where you’re at,” Ray remarked. 

“Uh… yeah, it’s night over here,” Luke explained.

Then the camera on Julie’s end moved so that Julie was now in view along with her dad. His mind lapsed seeing her wearing his clothes for the second time today that he had forgotten to speak. 

He watched her play with his orange hat, a bit impressed that it was able to stay on since she had such voluminous locks. It was still a loose shirt on her but it just seemed to fit her body in a really really flattering way…

“Uh, uh… y-yeah… it’s all good… all good, ah...” he licked his lips. Was it really hot in here? How come his mouth felt dry.

“Just the way Canada is, I’m afraid,” Reggie had to finish off for him. 

Ray hummed, confused, “It’s nighttime in Canada right now?” 

“Uh, uh, “ Alex scrambled for an explanation, “We’re way, way up north. Like we can’t see the sun sometimes up here.” 

Reggie nodded, playing along, “Like north north. Like in the middle of nowhere almost,” 

“Huh. I’m surprised that you guys have good service out there,” Ray addressed Julie now, “Didn’t you tell me that about that one dance you were all supposed to play at? That was due to connectivity issues, if I’m correct? And then at the Orpheum right?” 

He looked at Luke for that one, referencing how he kept flickering in and out of the venue. He ducked his head, not wanting the attention on him when he was simply not functioning at the moment.

Julie better turn that camera away from her right now-

“Yes,” Alex confirmed, “Connectivity issues… with the world wide web and the computer network and… yeah.”

That tech jargon sounded pretty good to Luke, but Flynn kept making sour faces at them. 

“Hopefully that won’t happen anymore. You all sound so great together,” 

“Yeah!” Luke’s sudden outburst scared Reggie right next to him, “uh, yeah,” he tried again lower.

He was finding his voice after all the word vomit from earlier, “I think things will be different now, sir. So different. Now that I can touch your daughter.” 

Everyone in the loft gaped at him.

He was still coming out of his Julie-induced haze that he suffered a temporary lapse in judgement at the worst possible time. He had completely forgotten for a second that Ray had no knowledge of ghosts and what they were capable of now that Julie could interact with them. 

His wording hit him with full force and he turned crimson instantly. 

“Wait, no! I mean- get in touch! Get in touch with your daughter,” he said hastily, “And by ‘I’, I mean,” he draped his arm around the boys, “‘we’. We can get in touch with Julie.” 

He tried to give a convincing smile but he was too mortified to have said all that in front of her dad! He forced himself to look at the screen and he could see Julie averting her gaze.

Yup. He really could never face her again after this. 

“Yeah…” Reggie shot a weird look at Luke, “We can get in touch with her better now. People are coming in and adding more… satellites?” He glanced at Flynn for confirmation but she was refusing to even look at them at the moment. 

An odd silence followed, Ray processing what the boys were talking about, probably blocking out Luke’s portion of the conversation. Either they did a good job with the tech talk or Ray was just as clueless to how modern technology worked because he was satisfied with the answer. 

“Well… that’s good. Good to hear,” Ray finally said after a moment, “I should get going now. It was nice finally getting to meet you boys. I just wanna say,” he took the phone from Julie so that he was directly talking to them.

“Thank you. I’m not exactly sure how you did it, but you were able to help my daughter at a really important time in her life. She now gets to do what she loves and gets to share that with the world. And for that, I’m grateful for you three.” 

Ray just had to do it. He always had to hit them with the heartfelt words. They all smiled. 

“Julie’s done the same for us,” Luke had to say, despite still feeling embarrassed, “She’s helped us too. We’re… lucky to have Julie in our, uh, lives.” 

“She’s pretty special. We should be thanking you for that,” Reggie’s words had Ray grinning from ear to ear, “You’re… such a good dad. Just thought you should know.” 

Luke and Alex shared a look unbeknownst to Reggie. Luke clapped the bassist on the back encouragingly. 

“Why thank you. That means a lot,” 

On that note, Julie eased them into a goodbye before ending the call. Once the screen changed back to Flynn’s screensaver, Luke tore off the band banner from the window, letting the light stream through once more. 

He had to get out of there. It was a matter of time before the laughter and the teasing started.

He poofed out without a word. 

Julie ended the call, picked up her backpack and was ready to go up the stairs. Her dad thanked her for having the chance to meet the guys. And if the conversation had been strange or off putting for him, he never mentioned it. 

She was about to head up when her dad called her back. 

“That’s new,” he stated, referring to her outfit. 

Throughout all the excitement of the past 20 minutes, Julie had forgotten that she had been wearing Luke’s clothes still. 

She had gone through the entire school day wearing his clothes and it had been strange. 

Apparently the outfit Alex and Reggie had put together for her was the same one Luke wore when they performed ‘Bright’. And those who were there, especially the girls, had definitely remembered.

She kept getting approached by classmates she’d rarely talk to and asked her about the ‘hottie with the guitar’ today and she couldn’t pretend she didn’t notice their knowing glances. 

“Yeah. Just trying out some stuff,” 

“I think it looks great. Man, I guess you’ve spending so much time with the boys, you’re starting to dress like them now,” 

“Psh,” Julie waved off before racing up the stairs, texting Flynn to meet her in her room. She came around the corner and was about to enter her room when Luke decided to drop in right in front of her. 

Their chests bumped into each other and Luke had to grab the wall to keep them from meeting the ground. She had dropped her backpack in the struggle which alerted her dad. 

“Julie? Are you okay up there?”

“Yeah, I’m fine!” she called, still facing Luke. She didn’t realize that his shirt was bundled up in her fists when she tried to steady herself. Her body was pressed up against his and the two of them ouldn’t seem to tear their eyes away from each other 

The ghost straightened up, guiding her back to a regular standing position.

She retrieved her backpack from the ground, “I, uh… have to do homework.” she whispered. 

“Yeah. You, uh go ahead,” 

It was safe to say that Luke was still trying to get his mojo back, which made Julie glad that the outfit didn’t go to waste today. 

Her hand was on the doorknob when the ghost slowly approached, resuming their close proximity from their collision. She waited with bated breath to see what he was about to do. His hand reached out, touched the beanie to pull it up, adjusting it. 

“There,” he breathed, “Perfect.” His fingers lightly danced the side of her face as he pulled his hand away, and for a second, Luke had retained his signature charm. But his demeanour turned bashful and he poofed out. 

Julie threw open the door to her room, shut it, then leaned against it, catching her breath. Her heart had been racing, thinking that Luke was going to confront her then and there about the clothes. But he didn’t look like he was about to bring it up anytime soon. 

She was starting to rethink the whole point of this if Luke was okay with the idea of her wearing his clothes. And now, he was getting bolder with his casual touches too. She wasn’t supposed to be the one getting all hot and bothered here!

Julie needed to wait this out for a few days, long enough for Luke to miss it but soon enough that he would be caught off guard. She walked to her calendar posted near her bed. Their next gig’s date was circled in red. 3 days from now. 

Now there was a perfect opportunity....  

Chapter Text

Chapter 6 'Topic of Touching'

Flynn turned to Alex and Reggie once Luke made his abrupt exit, brows furrowed and eyes ablaze. 

“Did you enjoy the improv, boys?” she needled, hand on her hip. 

Alex shook his head furiously. He did not enjoy that. At all. 

Now that his feelings were heightened, his anxiety spiked with each question Ray asked them. He couldn’t believe he was able to come up with half of the things he had said. Up north in Canada? He would have to look that up later, to see if that had any basis. Maybe Julie had some encyclopedias lying around or something. 

Reggie, on the other hand, was content. He got to actually talk to Ray, the man who had been sort of a source of comfort for him during this already turbulent afterlife. Even though it had been obviously his fault that they had to resort to all the camera tricks, he didn’t mind getting ragged on by Flynn or Alex. Like Luke had said days ago- no regrets. 

Flynn slipped her phone in her back pocket, then proceeded to rub her temples, 

“When the girl says ‘poof’, you poof dammit!”

She could not deal with these ghosts. How did Julie do this all the time? Good thing she was here, taking on some of this stress on her behalf. 

“Sorry,” Alex mumbled. 

Reggie shrugged, “I’m not,” then he poofed down to the lower level. Alex joined him a second later, leaving Flynn to climb down the ladder by herself. 

“You all need to get your stories straight for next time!” she told them once on ground level, “I won’t be there to help you!” 

“Help?” Reggie scoffed, “You just held the phone while you let us drown in our lies! Poorly made lies, yes. But still!” 

“I’m not supposed to be in Canada, you ghoulish goof,” she huffed and crossed her arms, “He’ll recognize my voice.” 

Flynn shouldn’t be away for too long. Hopefully, Ray didn’t notice anything too weird when she had run out of the front door with no explanation. But this was the same guy who had believed these ghosts were a hologram band from the northern part of Canada. 

Her angry tirade began bubbling down as she stood there looking at the boys. It was hitting her again that this was the first time they were able to have a conversation face to face, without Julie having to relay what had been said between them. 

She knew she had been the one to go off on how they, especially Luke, were not real. And even after seeing them perform with Julie, it was like watching the animatronic band play at Chuck E. Cheese, disappearing once the curtains close and completely forgotten when it was time to cut the birthday cake. 

It was hard to imagine them having feelings and problems of their own. 

But then she remembered how Reggie looked when he was talking to Ray. And that Ray was talking to him right back. He felt seen and he had been was so happy. He just wanted connection, she couldn’t blame him for that. 

She was beginning to regret raising her voice, but that was what she did when she was under so much pressure. It was hard keeping Julie’s secret, but that was she needed to do, as her krazy-glue of a best friend. 

“Look,” she approached Reggie, making sure not to pass through him. She knew he felt weird about that, “you almost got caught. Julie doesn’t like lying to her dad like this, but she was forced to go through all this trouble. I’m just saying, you should be careful next time. Okay?”

“Please?” Alex built on, “Please don’t make me lie like that again,” he practically begged Reggie. 

Reggie sighed. He did hold some regret for worrying Julie, “Fine. But I least did way better than Luke!” 

Alex made a face, recalling Luke’s huge blunder, “He actually said, ‘touch your daughter’. He basically said that he wanted to touch Julie. In front of her dad! ” 

Reggie busted out in a fit of laughter, startling Flynn and Alex. 

Flynn felt a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. In the midst of all the stress-inducing things she had to witness while holding the phone for the boys, now looking back, seeing Luke say stupid stuff was a highlight for sure. Seeing him turn from level-headed, collected Luke to a bumbling mess at the sight of Julie- 

No wonder why Julie wanted to mess with him. The results were priceless. 

And Julie had totally undersold it. That boy had got it bad for her. Real bad. 

She started to chuckle once Reggie had gotten to the point where he was hyperventilating and clutching his chest. ‘Touch your daughter’ he kept trying to say with a straight face but couldn’t get past the first word before letting the laughter overtake him. 

Alex eventually gave in, hands on his knees, laughing his head off. 

“It’s- It’s,” he began, trying to regain his breath, “getting worse!” 

Reggie had to take a moment to recover. He had to sit down, wiping tears of joy from his eyes, “The guy graduated from stuttering to completely saying the wrong things at the wrong time! Ha!” 

“Wait!” Flynn held up her hand, while the remnants of their laughing fell away, “What do you mean ‘getting worse’? Do you…,” she brought her voice down to a whisper,“...know?” 

The boys mobilized, swarming around Flynn in seconds. Alex kept glancing at the doors, in case Luke was to walk in at this very moment. 

“You mean the plan?” Reggie clarified, “Julie’s plan. To get at Luke?” 

Flynn nodded. 

“Yeah. How do you think she was able to put together her outfit today?” said Alex. 

“That was you?” She was impressed. Julie did look amazing in it today, caused a bit of locker talk on who Julie’s new man was. 

“Yeah. Made sure to grab Luke’s favorites. Because we know it would drive him crazy,” 

“Let’s say you definitely achieved that goal,” she confirmed which satisfied Reggie. 

Her phone went off, so she took it out. It was a text from Julie. Her eyes pursued the message and, now since the guys were involved in their little operation, she showed them the text. 

“‘Need to wait off the next outfit. Next time- concert’” Alex read aloud, “Oh. She wants to wear his clothes during our show!” 

“That’s not gonna… break him is it?” Reggie was now concerned. This was supposed to be all fun and games. And telling from their last rehearsal with Julie wearing Luke’s purple shirt, he didn’t want this to cost them future gigs if their guitarist couldn’t perform well. 

Flynn waved it off, “He’ll be fine. I think, with the right clothes, it’s gonna sooo elevate your show.” 

Then, Reggie was beginning to understand, taking his words from a while ago into a new context: “Sometimes… a little fire can make things better on stage.” he repeated again, this time in front of Flynn. 

Alex snapped his fingers, “Bingo!” 

Flynn rushed to the garage doors, pulling it open just enough to peer into the driveway, “Luke’s not gonna come back anytime soon, right?”

Alex shook his head, “He’s too embarrassed to show his face here. I think we’re good,” 

“So, you go and get his clothes,” Flynn suggested, shutting the doors, “We’re gonna pick out Julie’s concert outfit while he’s gone.  And I get final say!” 

“No fair!” Reggie said, indignantly. 

Flynn shook her head, “Please. Picking out his favorite clothes is one thing. But making sure my girl is serving looks-that’s my job.” 

Alex had brought out the garbage bags full of their clothes from the loft. She opened the bag and sifted through the different articles,” 

“What about this?” Alex held up one of his other sleeveless shirts, the one with the Rush band logo. 

Flynn tossed it aside, “Too predictable. Let’s not do a repeat of looks.”

“Repeat of looks? Half the stuff in here looks like that!”  

“Oh! I think we got it,”

Reggie held up the long, acid-washed denim duster coat that Luke had worn when they were messing with Bobby. It definitely had that ‘90s old school vibe- which was so Luke. 

Flynn picked up the lower half of the garment, inspecting its details. There were tears in places and it was pretty long. She was iffy on it, she didn’t want Julie tripping on it. Then again, Flynn could always convince her to wear some boots with a higher heel than normal, just to give her the extra inches. 

“This could be it. Very performance ready,” Flynn already had some ideas on how to style Julie’s hair and what she could wear along with it. 

The boys agreed with her. They finalized their choice and Reggie helped Flynn find a bag to put the coat in, just in case she ran into Luke on the way back. She said goodbye to the guys, ready to return to Julie. 

“Flynn,” she heard Alex say before she was out the door, “Thanks,” 

Flynn smiled, “No problem. It was... “ her eyes flitted between Alex and Reggie, “nice to see you.” 

That amused the boys, the double meaning not lost on them. 

Flynn headed out, closing the garage doors. She spun on her heel to jet back into the house when she suddenly bumped into Carlos who had been standing in front of the studio doors. 

“Hey!” the boy cried out. 

“What are you doing here?” Flynn asked, holding the garbage bag closer to her. 

Carlos kept trying to peer behind her, “You were talking to them, weren’t you?” 

“Talking to who?” 

“The ghosts,” 

Flynn cooed at Carlos, ruffling the boy’s hair to which he immediately frowned, “You’re being ridiculous. There are no ghosts.” 

Julie had told her that she and Carlos hadn’t been able to talk about the boys yet, but she wasn’t sure what Julie was planning to say to her little brother when the time came. But whatever it was, denying was the best option for now. 

“I’m not an idiot. I know. And I know you’re planning something.” 

Flynn’s face froze, “Planning what?” 

“I,” he started confident, index finger in the air, “don’t know what yet.” he ended flatly. 

“Then maybe you should put your paranormal investigation skills to use then, and figure it out,” Flynn joked before walking past the kid and making her way to Julie’s room. 

She was trying to put enough distance between her and nosy Carlos that she hadn’t been able to hear him say one last thing:

“Oh. I will.” 

Days passed since the video call fiasco, since the last time Julie had worn anything of Luke’s and things had gotten back to normal. Sort of. 

It was strange to pass her dad in the morning and for him to ask about the guys, like actually using their names. And she had to quickly think of responses when he would ask very specific questions about the guys’ living situation. 

How many hours of sunlight do they get up there? What Canadian province were they in? 

Luckily, Alex’s story… kind of checked out. And she was able to answer these with what she was able to Google the night before.

But things between the band have been good. They had gotten in so many run throughs for their concert tomorrow. It was gonna be a showcase of a couple acts besides them, so it would be fun to interact with other musicians. Well, at least Julie could interact with them.

Maybe she could pull another video call trick if any one of them wanted to talk to someone that wasn’t her and her inner circle. But after what a certain guitarist said to her dad… she was hesitant to let the guys near any form of tech from this decade. 

Speaking of which, Luke had disappeared for most of that day after the video call before coming back as if nothing had happened. Julie wanted to ask, but she figured in doing so she wasn’t going to get a straightforward answer since she knew he was trying to save face. 

She would have to leave him some dignity, right? 

But whatever conclusion he came to while he was gone, it seemed to have fuel a lot more subtle touches between the two of them. Luke probably thought he was being slick, but Julie was more than aware of his stray fingers wrapping around her shoulders to move her aside so she wouldn’t get tripped up on their cables during practice. 

Or when he would lean against her so casually while he played his guitar. Or when he held the door open for her and had his hand on the small of her back, guiding her gently into the studio. As if she needed help to walk into a room. 

It was quite the sensation, feeling his touch. It was still a bit jarring, he tended to run colder than she was- with him being a ghost and all. 

During one of her writing sessions at the piano, she must have stretched or something because the bottom of her shirt rose, exposing her back, and Luke had come up from behind her to see what she was working on. The tiny gasp she let out when he placed his hand on her back made Luke retract his hands almost immediately. 

It had been awkward for a while before they got into their brainstorming for her new song, and they were vibing as they usually do when writing together. 

It was hard for Julie to articulate at the moment but his touch was akin to a light breeze, the kind that heralded in the autumn season- her favorite time of year. She, honestly, really liked it.

She didn’t think she could ever tell him that though. That would be… overstepping it. 

Yeah, as if stealing his clothes and parading around in them in front of him wasn’t overstepping. 

She had gotten his coat from Flynn the other day. Coincidentally, Julie had been eyeing that particular piece of his for a while now. It was one of the more ‘out there’ things that Luke had and, even though she had been thoroughly pissed at him and boys when he had worn it, she had wondered what it had been like if he had performed at her dance in that. 

She could picture it, flapping around behind him while he glided around the stage- looking like a total rockstar. She hoped to emulate that kind of image tomorrow night. 

But she was worried. Was she taking this too far? This was a performance and if Luke couldn’t keep up during the rehearsals, then how was he gonna fare tomorrow? Everyone had kept reassuring her that it was going to be fine, with even Reggie claiming that Luke would always somehow know how to put on a good show even if he hadn't practiced in a week. 

But then again, he had never seen Luke get tripped up as much as he had when seeing Julie wear his clothes. 

It was nighttime and she was making rounds of her front yard and backyard, trying to see this thing through before she went for bed. She didn’t think she was going to come across the one person she’d rather not see right now. 

Julie could hear the faint strumming of a guitar coming from the porch swing nestled between overgrown shrubs and Carlos’ favorite oak tree. 

For years, he had been trying to convince their family to build a treehouse up there, but her dad didn’t have the heart to disturb the bird nest up there. Besides, her mom had loved sitting there, listening to the chirps. She had said it had been the only thing she preferred listening to in the absence of any music. 

Careful to not squash the plants, she approached the ghost. He kept playing even when he noticed her coming to join him, glad to see her. She grinned back at him, maneuvering around the guitar so she could settle beside him. 

“Hey,” 

He dropped his strumming hand, his attention solely on her, “Hey. Couldn’t sleep?” 

“Was just about to, actually. Need to rest up. You know, for the show tomorrow,” 

Luke slipped off his guitar strap and rested his guitar face up on his lap, the neck stretching out over Julie’s, “Yeah, it’s gonna be great. Best to save your energy.” 

Julie leaned back, “Hm… I’m curious. Do you guys even sleep? Do you even need to?” 

Luke’s foot slipped at the question, sending the bench on its back and forth motion and Julie instinctively grabbed onto his shoulder, yelping at the sudden swinging. 

“Sorry. Sorry. My bad,” He kept saying that more and more each day, Julie had speculated. 

“Didn’t know that was a loaded question,” 

“It… uh, it isn’t,” Luke tried to say, “I mean… we’re not supposed to but…” 

“Is it another perk from my magical hug? You slept didn’t you?” 

“... yeah,” 

She could tell there was something he wasn’t telling her, but she didn’t want to dig in too deep on that. Maybe he had a nightmare or something. He was a ghost after all, nothing short of traumatic things to look back on- like their untimely death for instance. 

“I’m sorry,” Julie said, “I know that life has been already so complicated for you guys. Well-”

“Afterlife, you mean?” Luke corrected, smirking. 

She rolled her eyes, “Yeah. Your afterlife has been pretty crazy. And now, there’s all this new terrain. With your feelings, now the sleeping, and… well… there’s obviously… you know...” 

“... the touching?” he had scooted closer over to her, raising an expectant eyebrow at her, the smirk full on display. He had said it in a similar fashion to when he was referring to their ‘interesting little relationship’ last week. 

Julie leaned over to decipher his expression, but all she knew was that his hazel eyes were trained on her and she paralyzed. It was like he was expecting her to comment, to goad her into revealing exactly what she thought about him touching her, maybe to reveal some other things as well. 

A week ago, she would have been all shy, in total denial, because Luke… had this way about him. He was the kind of guy who was charming and he knew it, and by admitting that she was drawn to him was just fanning the flames of his ego. It was like he had the upper hand the entire time. 

It was terrible to think because obviously Luke was sweet, but there were times when certain aspects of his personality shone through and it would rub her the wrong way. The whole thing at Trevor’s? Definitely one of those times. 

With this whole tricking Luke plan, everyone around her had been saying that he was so into her, that he had it so bad for her and that was why she was having this effect on him. Julie had never been as confident in herself to really feel like she could hold some spell over a guy like Luke. 

But there was the more self-conscious part about her that was wondering if Luke’s interest in her was merely a challenge, that even as a ghost who had been out of the game for 25 years, he could still get a girl to fall for him. 

But Julie was different now. She had this whole new confidence whenever she was on stage, but now she was getting that same feeling whenever wearing his clothes. Just knowing that she could turn heads, to grab Luke’s attention- it admittedly fueled her own ego. 

She realized she didn’t have to give him the upperhand, she had the power to turn the tables on him. She didn’t want to submit to his charms so easily. 

“Touching me? Like how you told my dad a few days ago?” she found herself saying, throwing him off kilter. 

His eyes widened, his suave demeanour falling apart before Julie’s eyes. Groaning, he hid his face in his hands, “Slip of the tongue, Julie!” his words were muffled by his hands, “Please don’t bring it up again.” 

She giggled, “I won’t. And neither will my dad. But I won’t promise the same for the guys and Flynn.” 

“They’ve been ragging on me non-stop about it! I must have sounded like such a-”

“Pervert? Just a smidge,” Luke was sinking further and further into the bench, he could simply fall off if he got any lower, “Woah, woah. I won’t talk about it again, Luke. On one condition.” 

He lifted his head, curious, “What?”

Julie picked up his guitar and held it as if she was about to start playing, “You teach me.” 

She honestly had no idea where she was going with her ‘one condition’, but having the instrument here was pretty convenient. She had always wanted to learn, since it was her mom’s favorite to play, but she had never gotten around to it. And it may be a fun way to spend some time with Luke… 

That lifted his spirits, “Really?” He jumped off the bench, and it moved slightly until he stopped it. He was already kneeling in front of her, about to give her a rundown.

“Yeah. But, maybe some other time. It is getting late,” she reminded him. 

“Oh yeah. Of course,” he stood up, and held his hand out for Julie to take. She rose, holding Luke’s guitar carefully as she did. 

She handed it back to him and his hand had wrapped around hers in the process of getting it back, but their hands froze in this position. Their eyes were locked on each others’. 

“Um… Luke?” 

“Yeah?”

It was the sight of their hands on the neck of his guitar that jostled something in Julie’s mind, “For the show tomorrow. You need to remember that you’re a hologram.” 

“Of course, Julie. That’s our cover,” 

“That means… we can’t…” 

His eyes landed on their hands still holding onto the guitar and it dawned on him, “Right. Right. Don’t worry about it. I won’t. We won’t… yeah.” 

Then with that, she released the guitar and started stepping over the plants to return to the main path around her house. 

“Goodnight, Luke,” she called back to him, “And if you do sleep tonight, I hope you have sweet dreams.” 

Luke put on his guitar strap, shooting her a small wave, “Goodnight, Julie. Sweet dreams to you too.” 

She nodded. Then she ambled down the path until she had reached the front door. It wasn’t until she was back in her room, about to head to sleep that she peeked out the window above her bed to see Luke still on the porch swing, not playing his guitar, just simply sitting. 

She tapped on her window and it got him to look up. And Julie would lie if she said that the smile he had given her didn’t make her heart skip a beat. 

She went to bed, not with the anxious knots in her stomach that she would usually have the night before a show, but instead she did what Luke had hoped for her and had some sweet dreams that night. 

If those dreams had involved shaggy brown hair and hazel eyes- well, that was for only her to know.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7 'Performance Attire'

“Soundcheck for Julie and the Phantoms!” 

Luke tapped rhythmically against the catwalk railing suspended over backstage, getting pumped. He and the boys ended up there while exploring the venue that they would be playing tonight. 

And since they were still unsure of whether or not their tangibility and visibility was due to their proximity to Julie, they didn’t want to chance running into crew members and the other performers and made sure to be a considerable distance from Julie. 

The former frontman was in such a good mood today. Even after suffering from another round of embarrassment, albeit mild this time, in front of Julie last night at the porch swing, he somehow ended up with the job as her own private guitar instructor for the foreseeable future. 

That meant more time he could spend with Julie. 

He had already lined up their first lesson next week, and he had so many ideas on how to proceed. He could tell that Julie could be a fast learner. She was comfortable with the piano, so the conduit between the mind and the fingers is already so strong. 

The keeping the strings down might prove to be a challenge, but he knew just which warmups to get her used to it. Maybe get her to run out and buy some of the starter books he had when he was younger…

He was getting way ahead of himself. He needed to get through this gig first. 

It had been quite the preparation for this show. That was because the earlier practices had been… rough. 

And it was all due to Julie commandeering his shirt. It really threw him off his game. He would catch his fingers slipping and letting strings loose at the worst moments. His voice cracked and he stumbled through some of the lyrics. Lyrics that he wrote!

Once, his guitar pick became a problem- it kept sliding out of his fingers! He had never done that since he was a scrawny, sweaty 12 year-old kid. 

But Julie had a way of getting him to act like a young boy in the throes of puberty. Just… completely lost when it came to hormones and girls and whatnot. That was such a terrible, awkward period and he doubted that it had gotten better for kids in 2020. 

It seemed that Julie had stopped wearing his clothes. Thank god. It’s been some days since and he was able to get back into the groove of things. His playing was right where it should be, and he was able to get through his lyrics. He was feeling pretty confident he was going to rock that stage. 

Speaking of which, they were much needed on stage right now. Julie had already come out and started playing piano. It was almost their cue. 

He whistled behind Alex and Reggie, jabbing them both in their sides to get them going. The two immediately straightened up, then gave each other some look that Luke didn’t have time to discern because they poofed on without him. 

Okay. Luke wasn’t stupid. 

He could tell something was up. He felt like the whole house was in on something that he wasn’t. At first, he thought it was due to him disappearing at key moments. Maybe something had happened while he was out and usually he would be filled in on whatever stupid antics Reggie and Alex pulled as soon as he popped back in the studio. 

But that hadn’t been the case for the past week. Now, whenever he entered the room, the guys would immediately stop talking, even daring to appear guilty. 

And then there was Flynn, who was over a lot- whenever he passed her and Julie talking in the yard- the same thing happened but they had a better way of throwing him off their scent. 

Those two would actually spark a new conversation entirely and would then include him in said conversation….. until he realized that it required having been present in society within the last 10 years for him to even keep up with what they were saying. 

It did work. He would inevitably leave once he discovered he had absolutely no idea what a ‘Channing Tatum’ was. 

And now Carlos… well that kid was always up to something. But it seemed that he had some scheme going on. He spied on the kid getting a shipment of cameras, he left quickly once he saw him open it. He did not want to get involved with whatever that was. 

He just wanted to know what was up. But he was beginning to suspect that it was about him. 

Letting a frustrated growl, he poofed down behind the curtains right after Flynn set the projector on. 

He and the band went through their set list with great ease. It was kind of weird to have the crew and the other bands stop what they were doing to watch them, their hologram band, perform. He bet they were gonna be real disappointed that they weren’t going to see any of their typical ghost tricks now that Julie can’t simply pass through them. 

But the poofing in always got them talking. 

In between their songs, they had to disappear once Flynn turned the projector off. Gotta keep up that illusion. During these times, Julie would get approached by some people. One of these reprieves brought along a member from one of the other bands to come up to her and they struck up a conversation. 

Luke leaned out, sticking his head out of the bars. Just keeping an eye on Julie, he kept telling himself. 

But maybe it was because this band member- a guy- was shaking her hand, leaning over to whisper something in her ear and making her laugh. 

“Is that guy from that one group?” Reggie slid over, noticing where Luke was looking. They had sat through the other bands’ soundchecks so they had a feel for their sounds. He had recognized the one talking to Julie. 

“He had a great voice. A bit of a bluesy sort of deep tone.” 

“Oh really, Reggie?” Luke uttered in a clipped tone. 

A deep voice too, huh? He knew that his own voice ran closer to an alto, something he had been self conscious about when he had first started singing, but he made up for it in his guttural raspiness to achieve that punk sound he wanted. But still… a deeper voice could complement Julie’s in a way that his couldn’t… 

Alex appeared on his other side, “Kind of handsome, isn’t he?” he commented. 

“No,” Luke’s hold on the railing tightened, “I think handsomeness is objective.” 

“Nah,” Reggie dismissed, “This guy is universally hot. I mean look at him!” 

And look Luke did. He then witnessed a new development unfolding in front of him.

Standing side by side now, Julie and the guy each pulled out their phones. Were they-?

“Ooh, Julie’s snagging his number. Nice,” Alex nodded, impressed. 

“ Or. Or she could be showing him a video or a picture of a puppy? Phones do that nowadays, guys.” 

Reggie walked a bit further down the catwalk to get a better view, “Nope. They’re totally exchanging contact information.” 

Luke couldn’t contain the ugly feelings that began festering once he saw Julie hit it off with some guy. It was oddly similar to what he had been feeling when he had found out Julie had gone to school in one of his sleeveless shirts..

He couldn’t bear to look at this anymore, for his own mental health’s sake. But he couldn’t just up and leave, they needed to run over one more song. 

Then he heard the sweet sound of Julie’s laughter echoing throughout the room. The guy had probably said something funny to her… 

Forget this. He was gonna go to the bathrooms or something until it was time to get back. Pushing himself away from the railing, he glared at his friends before poofing out. 

Alex and Reggie, once Luke made his exit, shared a satisfied smile. 

“Things are going according to plan,” Reggie confirmed, fist-bumping Alex. 

They needed to prime their guitarist for that little fire they needed on stage. Flynn had come up with the idea- Julie had no clue. She was honestly being friendly to the other musicians. But it was up to Alex and Reggie to get Luke's jealous streak going, planting those pesky thoughts in his head. 

This was all just to ensure that Luke not only gave the band a good show…  but would also ensure that they got a rise out of him once Julie debuted her new look.

It had been hours after their soundcheck and Julie was in the middle of getting ready in the dressing room while the other bands were performing for the audience.

She had been having a blast talking to the other bands. It definitely differed from the Orpheum when she had been worrying herself into a frenzy over the boys not having shown up yet. She actually got to take some time to get to know the other musicians, swap social media handles, and just all around support one another.

Of course, everyone wanted to know about the guys, but she didn’t really divulge too much into them in case they wanted to try and look them up on social media. Flynn was getting around to setting up accounts in the boys’ names though but nothing too concrete to share. 

She was currently eyeing the tall boots that Flynn had brought in for her. She already got the rest of the look down. She was wearing Luke’s denim duster with the red lining, her hair half up- her natural curls accentuated to give a fuller look, got her white crop top and the leggings- 

“Are you sure about this?” Julie had never worn heels that high, let alone perform in them. They weren’t too bad, nothing like stilettos. It was a pair of platforms that was almost borderline steampunk. 

She should have at least practiced going out on stage with them. Why didn’t she? 

Flynn had Julie sit down on the chair and made her buckle the boots on. 

“We both know that coat’s a bit too long on you. We gotta make sure you can wear it,” 

“Alright,” Julie needed to commit. She had been doing well so far. Here’s to hoping that she was in good hands and that they wouldn’t flop today because their guitarist was too busy picking his jaw up from the floor to play. 

She shakily got to her feet. She was slightly taller than Flynn now, which was a good sign. But she was not used to this much weight holding her down. On top of the height, these boots felt clunky. 

She tested with a few steps around, slowly getting the hang of it, but kept getting assistance from Flynn. But overall, she could manage on stage. She just needed to keep her movements minimal. 

Then, they got the five-minute warning from one of the crew members knocking on the door. 

Well… here goes nothing. 

The boys had been enjoying the show so far up in the catwalk, this time the ones in front of the stage. They had been chilling near the lighting fixtures until it was time for them to go on. 

Luke had sat a few feet away from Alex and Reggie, still pissed at the two for getting under his skin talking about the guy who had been talking to Julie. His band had just concluded their set…

It was okay, he guessed. 

The crew was currently testing the keyboard and mics. Luke could see that Flynn had set up the projector in the back of the venue earlier, and true to their word, the crew members hadn’t touched that piece of machinery. Although they were probably curious to how that little box was going to make three holograms pop out. 

Then the announcers’ voice came on, hyping up the crowd until it was time to call out Julie. 

“Give it up for Julie and the Phantoms!” 

Luke held his guitar, waiting eagerly for Julie to come out and start playing. 

But when she did come out, all the symptoms from days before all came hurtling towards him: the warm insides, the butterfingers, the heart stutters, and if he opened his mouth to speak, his words would just end up in a jumble. 

No, no, no, no. Not now. Why now? We need to perform!

Julie strutted on stage, a bit awkwardly at first, but she steadied herself at the piano and began introductions. Luke could not focus on what she was saying, only on his denim coat she was wearing. 

He didn’t think she could top his shirt and hat combo, but she had the nerve to wear one of those cropped shirts so her midriff was out on display. 

This girl, he swore to God, was going to be the end of him. Well, aside from the hot dog that had definitely been his end. But at least dying by hot dog gave him some dignity. 

Then Julie just had to start playing the keyboard, and her beautiful voice emerged, rising from the stage and reaching him. It was the first time he heard Julie’s voice in the acoustics of a packed venue, as part of the audience. He got chills. 

She rounded the keyboard, having plucked the mic from its stand and started swaying, the ends of the coat flowing behind her. She raised her head heavenwards as she powered through a high note, during which she caught his eye. 

Luke nearly dropped his guitar when she cocked her head to the side and gave him a wink. 

“Dude! That’s our cue!” Alex reminded him, pushing him off the railing. 

Luke poofed in time and landed on the stage, along with the rest of the band. Once Alex got the beat going, he jumped right in with the guitar. He gripped his instrument real tight this time, and somehow throughout all the sweating, he was able to retain the melody. 

Focus. Just focus Luke

But no, he couldn’t just go on playing and singing- he needed to perform. He left his mic and strode to the front, just daring to get close to Julie but not exactly getting up in her face like they usually did- he was a damn hologram, right? 

Julie beamed at him when he did, though she kept inching backwards toward Reggie’s side of the stage. He raised an eyebrow at her but all she did was motion him over with her index finger. 

She was beckoning him to her, and when he came to her with no hesitation, even though he might not be able to return to his mic to sing his part, he knew...

He was unbelievably at the mercy of Julie Molina. 

She threw him a bone and thankfully held out her mic at him for his turn with vocals. He leaned over, but she kept toying with him, pulling the mic away just as he made the move to get closer to it. He knew what he must have looked on the stage, like a dog hanging on her leash. 

Oh that was how she wanted to play it. 

Forget the band. Forget the audience. His eyes zeroed in on her, a hungry look in his eyes. And if his signature singing growl came out stronger than usual, then so what? It was all for her anyway. 

Once finished with his part, she grinned and spun on her toes, her back was to him. They rocked forward together, Luke trying not to get caught up in the ever moving coat. 

Julie was really taking full advantage of its flowing capabilities- making sure to swing her hips around for it to flap around behind her and it was driving him crazy. She looked like a goddamn superhero up here. 

It now struck Luke that he had completely forgotten to tell himself to focus on playing. Just letting his hands go and muscle memory take its hold, but there was something extra. He found himself shaking his guitar more and more, getting increasingly bold with his movements as he jammed to the song. 

Whatever was happening between him and Julie on stage, it was supercharging his performance, every strum more electric than the last. He finally took in the audience, their cheers deafening, borderline rioting. They knew what was up. 

The real kicker was that guy from earlier, him and his bandmates had been watching the show offstage. Luke could see him, eyes wide at the show they’re putting on. And while Julie was facing away from them, Luke jutted his chin at him before carrying on with whatever he and Julie had cooking. 

Somehow, seeing the look on that guy’s face really did it for him. Provoked, he hovered Julie’s shoulder, singing into her mic, but mostly so that she could feel his hot breaths against her neck. 

She got with the program real quick and she faced him, pushing the boundaries of their closeness, the mic the only that separated their mouths. Wide grins were plastered on both their faces. 

But what happened next surprised all of them. Julie backed up and, spurred from the adrenaline, she tried to do another spin. She had gotten tripped up over the boxy boots and she teetered, falling backwards mid-singing. 

Luke didn’t think. He rushed forward, dropping the guitar and letting it hang off his neck. Within moments his arms were around Julie, cushioning her from a nasty fall. 

The drums lagged, marking Alex’s shock. Reggie, to his best effort, tried to keep it going but by now the audience’s cheers were mixed with confused murmurings. 

Julie, however grateful for the catch, looked like a deer in headlights. She still had the mic in her hand and she wasn’t sure what came over her, but she kept singing. The show had to go on. If they stopped then the audience would know something was amiss for sure. 

Luke sobered up, realizing his mistake. He had to do something real fast. 

He set Julie upright. Then he picked up the guitar and poofed out before the audience’s eyes, then reappearing in the aisle, a bit ways off from the stage. That was a real treat for those who got terrible seats. 

The crowd went ballistic. 

People surged at him at all sides, reaching out to touch him and, fortunately, their hands passed through his body. Which sorta unnerved him while he was playing, but it was nothing he couldn’t handle…the real workout had been what he and Julie were doing not too long ago. 

It was time to close the song, so he reappeared on stage alongside Julie and let the last chords reverberate into the night. 

Everyone was on their feet, cheering for them- possibly one of the best receptions they had received in their time together as a band. 

Luke had to take a second to look at Julie. He wanted to convey everything he wanted to say in just one stare. To apologize for his massive screw up, to see if he had fixed things or just made things worse. 

To see if she felt what he had felt right before she tripped. 

She looked at him right back, her eyes soft as if to say ‘it’s okay’ or ‘thank you’. Luke wanted to take her hand in his, wanting to give her as much comfort as her gaze was doing for him, but he wouldn’t make that same mistake again… twice in one night. 

Even though it had caused a total lapse in the show, nearly exposing the band’s secret, Luke didn’t regret flying to Julie’s side. He would die (again) then let her get hurt. Even from something as minor a trip-and-fall. 

They played on for the rest of the night without another incident. Flynn had filmed this one, and so did many others apparently, and he had a feeling that people were gonna be thinking about this night for a while. 

He, for sure, was gonna think about this night for a long while.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8 'The Ghost Toaster'

Julie could not believe that had happened. 

And she was not referring to her tripping, falling, and having to be caught by Luke. She would… get to that later. 

The days leading up to their gig had left her feeling anxious. She didn’t know what the outcome of her little stunt was going to be, whether or not she was gonna blow this whole showcase for them because Luke couldn’t keep it together when he was around her. 

She definitely did not expect him to leave it all on the stage like that. Once they started performing, and the audience was on their feet, it was like the switch flipped and Luke had been able to maintain his amazing stage presence. 

It had been different this time around. Like he had turned up his magnetism. Like way up. She couldn’t help but be so drawn to him in the moments when he was singing into the mic, leveling his eye contact- something primal emerging when his voice came out raspier than usual… like damn.

It had been all fun and games at first, her really feeling herself in the denim coat and teasing Luke by moving the mic around, forcing him to inch closer. 

But Luke gave it to her right back. She had shivered considerably when he leaned over her shoulder, while her back was facing him, and sang into her mic. She swore that she could still feel the ghost of his breath lingering on her neck- no pun intended. 

The energy between them on stage that night, it had been elevated. Mutual. Electric.

Maybe she had been onto something last week when she said that they made each other better… 

And then she had to get a little too bold with her movements and had to trip. 

What a lovely treat that might have been for the ghost guitarist to have an armful of Julie coming his way all of the sudden.

But his arms, wrapping around her securely, protecting her- it nearly made her skip out on her words, on her singing. She couldn’t forget that smile that broke out on his face, relieved that he was able to save her. His hazel eyes shining brighter than it ever had before...

She wanted to stay there in his hold forever. 

But then she remembered- oh yeah, there was a crowd of people there watching. Watching their hologram band perform. 

It was good, quick thinking on Luke’s part that salvaged the rest of the song, but now she and the others were left with the aftermath of that little slip up. 

They were in a band circle, now including Flynn this time around, back at the studio hours after their performance. Flynn was showing her Instagram feed to everyone, reading off people’s reactions to when Luke had caught Julie. 

“ ‘wait, I thought they were holograms???’ ’ “, Flynn read one comment from the video someone had taken of that fateful moment and then another from when Luke had appeared in the audience, “ ‘my hand passed thru him. OMG’. We have people here split on whether or not they’re holograms… and some people are starting to think Julie is one.“ 

“She clearly isn’t!” Reggie made a face at that, not sure if that made sense. 

Luke leaned over to read the comments. He frowned, “What does ‘swol’ mean?” 

Julie immediately flushed, “Uh... that’s not important.” 

The guitarist kept scrolling through, “That word keeps popping up though. Swol, swol, so swol...” 

Although Julie did share the majority of their fans’ fascination with Luke’s arms, she did not want to get into it right now. 

Alex had been trying so hard to refrain from doing his signature pacing around the room, “We’re blown. We’re blown. They know!” he kept muttering, shaking slightly. Reggie had to put a hand on him to stop him from full on vibrating. 

“What are we going to do? We need to put out an official response or else everyone is gonna be left making their own conclusions,” Flynn said, already pulling up the band’s official Instagram page, “We need to contain this.” 

Luke was beating himself over what happened, but Julie didn’t blame him. None of them did. She blamed herself. If she hadn’t gotten too caught up with this Operation: Snag His Clothes, then they wouldn’t be in their current predicament. 

“I’m sorry guys,” he kept on saying, but they wouldn’t have it. 

Alex calmed down enough to rub his friend’s back comfortingly, “What were you gonna do? Let Julie fall?” 

“We would have done the same thing, man,” Reggie assured. 

Julie looked at Luke, “Thanks for that by the way,” she said with earnest, smiling. 

That seemed to make him feel better. He nodded,  “I, uh… wouldn’t be able to forgive myself I let you get hurt.”

“But you didn’t. You did good today, Luke.” 

It was quiet, the two of them just looking at each other and smiling. Flynn had to clear her throat to get them to pull focus. 

“Um… we need to say something! Julie, what’s the story?” 

Julie never had been that good at lying. She was surprised she even made this far without anyone calling her out on her obvious far-fetched tales of boys from another country playing in her hologram band. Ghosts was probably the more believable excuse in comparison. 

But unlike all the other times when she had been put on the spot and was able to call upon some sorry excuse- 

“Uh, uh, I got nothing!” She honestly had no way to explain it away. She was still overwhelmed by the response online and maybe by a certain guitarist’s performance…

She looked to the boys but they were essentially cavemen when it came to modern technology. They were just as clueless as she was. 

Then doors of the studio opened and in walked Carlos, holding up his phone. The sight of him broke the band circle when the boys scattered in different directions. Flynn had no idea what to do so she ran to the couch along with Alex. 

Julie ran towards him “Carlos! What are you doing here?” 

“And here she is, folks!” Carlos had pulled his sister in view of his front facing camera, and Julie just realized that he was currently streaming to a sizable audience on Instagram, “My sister. Yes. The Julie from Julie and the Phantoms.” 

She quickly put on a smile and waved to the camera, all while shooting questioning looks at her brother, “What is this-?” she tried to say to him under her breath but he kept going. 

“How many of you guys saw her show tonight? Pretty crazy right?” 

“It was… so crazy,” she followed up through her clenched smile.

The boys were staring between her and Carlos, wide-eyed. They were smart enough to stay silent, or else Carlos’ audience would find out that the holograms from Canada were magically in town after their show. 

Carlos laughed and hit Julie on the shoulder, playing up his on-screen charisma, “Oh you. I know all of you out there are wondering how she nailed that cool effect, you know faking contact with one of her holograms?” 

Uh oh. Where was he going with this?

“Lemme tell you now that my dear old sister has been practicing holding herself like that for weeks. You guys know that scene from the Matrix- you know the one- I swear she’s been watching that everyday trying to perfect her Neo, like-” Then Carlos mimicked the falling back motion and pretended to dodge bullets like in the movie. 

Julie piggybacked on that surprisingly good excuse, “Yes! Yeah, gotta really work my core to really make that hologram ‘effect’ happen.” 

The hearts kept coming in and telling by the comments, everyone had seemed to have bought it. But then there came the comments where people were requesting her to do it again right now for them- she needed to bounce. 

“Well, thank you Carlos for having me on your live. But I gotta go handle some post-show business,” she hugged him before waving goodbye at the camera. 

“No. Thank you, Julie! But that’s gonna be it for me too, everyone. Thanks for watching!”

Carlos’ smile blended into a smirk as soon as he ended the stream, “You owe me big time.”

Julie sighed, “I know. I know.” She sounded annoyed, but she was pretty thankful for the save. 

Carlos’ eyes swept around the room, finally taking in the boys who were still visible due to being near Julie, “Now if it isn’t the boy band. It’s about time we meet.” 

“Hey Carlos,” The boys chorused in monotone, almost kind of unsure how to greet him. They were slowly emerging from where they were hiding, joining Julie in the center of the room. 

“Hmm… Which one of you used my computer?” 

Alex and Luke pushed Reggie forward, as if to offer him up as sacrifice. He stumbled forward and turned to glare at his friends before cowering at the young boy.

Did he really think Carlos was gonna burn his soul out or something? Julie thought. 

“That’d be me…” he admitted. 

“And the blinds. The sheet? That you too?”

Reggie looked down“...guilty.” 

Carlos bore a serious expression on his face as he meandered toward the bassist, “Well well well….” Then all of the sudden he grinned, “Can you do it again?” 

“W-What?” 

“Listen, if I catch your ghostings on film for my channel, it would blow up!” he pitched. 

Reggie sighed in relief, and was now matching Carlos’ enthusiasm for the prospect of a paranormal centered show,

“Woah… I mean, I did have some ideas that I didn’t get to try out when your Tía was here. Like where I would start picking up objects and-” 

“Okay!” Julie did not want to entertain this idea even further, taking Carlos by the shoulders and ushering him out the door, “Shouldn’t you be going to bed?” 

“Shouldn’t you be telling me about the ghosts?” he shot back as Julie shut the doors. 

Julie grimaced as she pushed him in the direction of the house. She kept forgetting to have a sit down with Carlos and explain to him the nature of ghosts, “I’ll tell you sometime. I promise.” 

“You better. And you better tell me what you’re all planning. Flynn’s been acting really suspicious,” 

“What? We’re not planning anything,” 

She didn’t want to tell her brother about her plan to get Luke all flustered. She would have to explain why and just- it was too weird to be talking about it with him. And knowing him, he would totally tease her about her obvious crush on Luke… and now that he could see them and talk to them-

What if he tells Luke about all the embarrassing stuff she does? Or worse, tells him about her crush on him?

So many things could go wrong if she told Carlos.

Her brother shook his head, “Can’t believe you’re able to lie about your ghost friends for this long. You suck at lying,” 

“Ugh. Look, I’ll tell you about the ghosts soon, alright? Now go to bed before I tell dad! She said, just wanting to be done with this conversation.  

“Fine. But I have my ways of finding out!” Then her brother stormed in the house. 

Julie came back to the studio to resume band circle only to discover that they were one member short. 

“Where did Luke go?” The boys and Flynn shrugged. 

“I think he still feels pretty guilty about what went down tonight,” Reggie figured, “Probably out taking a stroll or something.” 

“Really?” Julie’s heart felt heavy at that, “Even though we kept telling him it was okay?” 

“Like I said before… he just loves torturing himself,” Alex sighed, setting down his sticks by the drums. 

Julie sighed, putting her face in her hands, “Look, I think I took it too far this time.” 

Flynn came forward, “No, girl. It was me. I got you those boots, you probably could have still worn his coat without it. Should have had you test it beforehand too.” 

“No way,” Reggie said, “It was me and Alex. We sorta got into Luke’s head before the show. We made him think you were interested in one of the other musicians from earlier.” 

“Wait, was that why he was… he was all-”  Possessive? Wanting to keep her close? Well, it was on brand. She had witnessed it before, when she was talking to Nick in the hallway and he kept joking about his appearance and made light of Nick’s crush on her. 

She had been annoyed when he had done that, but… what he did on that stage… it sorta egged her on. Like it thrilled her as much as it did charged her performance and her toying with him. 

Wow, this can not be healthy. 

“Guys, we need to take a pause on this,” she finalized, “We had our fun, and I’m sorry for roping all of you into my plan to drive Luke crazy by wearing his clothes. But we nearly got found out tonight. It could have jeopardized our career as a band. The band is way too important to sacrifice just so we can get our little moments of amusement.” 

It wasn’t fair to humiliate Luke at a particularly crucial time for the band. She didn’t want to cross a line where she was both embarrassing him and ruining their shot at success.

And to him, this was his second shot, his last shot to achieve his dreams. She didn’t want to rob him of that. She knew just how much it meant to him…  

“Aw. So you’re saying we should stop?” Reggie asked, “I totally understand why, but we could still do this. Just not at gigs, right?” 

Alex was on Julie’s side for this one, “She does have a point though, Reg. When we’re not doing gigs, we’re practicing for them. That boy literally cannot function when she wears his stuff! Our cover was almost blown here too. With Julie’s dad. When… uh… he s-said…. You know...” he had to repress his laughter at the thought of what Luke had told Ray. 

“Come on, Julie. You sure you wanna give up moments like that?” Reggie gestured to Alex trying to control himself but ended up chortling. 

“We could do it again some day. Maybe at a time when we’re not so busy trying to get this band to the top, right?” 

Flynn nodded. She only wanted what Julie thought was best for her and the group, “Besides, he’s gonna be expecting it now if we do it so often. It’s not gonna pack quite the punch.” she pointed out. 

“Yeah. that’s true,”

“I guess,” Reggie said, “Honestly surprised that he hadn’t caught on yet. I think I would have noticed if you guys were all conspiring against me.” 

Alex was skeptical, “Hmm… would you?” 

“Now guys, it’s getting late. Me and Flynn are gonna be getting on with our sleepover. I’ll catch you guys in the morning,” 

Alex pulled her in for a hug, followed by Reggie. Then the boys tried to bump elbows with Flynn but with little result, but she appreciated the gesture anyway. They bid each other goodnight and then the two girls left the studio and went inside the house. 

Carlos munched on his French Dip sandwich in his room, watching the group’s conversation from his tablet with much interest.

He knew that it was going to be hard trying to get a camera in the studio, who knew what ghost would be there and catch him in the act. But thank goodness for that gig to keep them all out of the house while he set up a few cameras that he ordered. 

Julie had been doing what he had asked her not to: ghosting him. Ghosting him about talking about the ghosts.

Who were they exactly? And why where they here? And why were they playing in a band with her in the first place?

Did she not trust him or something? 

And even after he had helped her out with her hologram thing tonight, she still wouldn't talk to him about this. And also this plan that she had going on. He could have helped! Messing with a ghost was just as fun as trying to bust one. 

But no, she still left him out of it. Left him out of one of the coolest things to have ever happened in this family. 

Thanks to his detecting skills though, and some leftover Christmas money from Abuela, he got some of his answers. 

Now what to do with this newfound knowledge? 

Carlos had a few ideas, but overall, Julie was going to wish that she would have included him in her plan. 

Luke poofed into the house some hours after their band circle. 

He had been doing that a lot, bowing out to get some time to himself. To get some time to think about Julie and her effect on him. 

He had always been known to be very protective of his friends. When Alex got kicked out for being gay, Luke was right there with him, ready to take him home- to his real home with him and Reggie. And when Reggie had been getting bullied at school, guess who was the one to roll up his sleeves and make sure no one hurt his pal again? 

That was what he thought he was doing, protecting Julie, making sure she didn’t get as much as a scratch, forgoing any caution- because it was Julie. 

But it seemed every time he held her and touched her, it just caused more trouble. 

He had been so stoked to finally be able to interact with Julie, but the last few days made him realize that it had been much easier to hide him and the boys when they were just quiet, intangible masses. They would have to hide from her dad now when she was home or keep out of her way when they were performing. 

One day it was gonna get too much for Julie to handle, to maintain the different lies she was spinning and she would soon regret ever letting these ghosts into her life.

The girl could barely relax in her own home, always worrying which one of them would walk in at the wrong moment and get caught by her dad or her aunt. 

Maybe he needed to give her space. Especially since he hadn’t been able to keep his emotions in check when he was around her. The whole enhanced feelings thing was wreaking havoc on their relationship and he wanted one, a special one with her. 

He crept into the living room on the way to the kitchen. He had a nightly routine where he would open the fridge and try his luck in eating something.

It was similar to how when he had used to live with his parents, him coming home in the middle of the night and raiding the fridge before he got caught. Was nice to sorta recreate it.

Before he could head to the kitchen, he saw both Julie and Flynn sound asleep on separate couches in the living room. They must have been having their sleepover down here, or at least tried to squeeze in a movie before they went to Julie’s room, from what he gathered by the TV still turned on. 

Luke smiled at the sight of Julie snuggling against one of the pillows, her right cheek all squished.The moving colors from the TV reflected on her face, her expression serene but kept scrunching her up nose as if she was having a dream or was subtly reacting to the light emanating from the screen. 

It was pretty cute. 

He needed to turn the TV off but didn’t want to make noise that would wake her or Flynn. So he opted for trying out the trick that Willie had shown them. With a flutter of his fingers, he directed his hand at the TV and it blackened, powering down. 

“Yes!” he whispered, nearly pumping his fist. He had been trying to get that trick down. Now that was a ghost evolution that he wouldn’t mind getting behind. 

Julie stirred and Luke froze, thinking it had been his voice that got her turning. But when her hands went for her arms, rubbing them down, Luke realized Julie must be cold. The first floor could be pretty chilly, according to Ray- he himself never had noticed. 

Another perk about being a ghost: never getting too hot or too cold.

Yet, it still didn’t stop him for going for one of his jackets or flannels like the one he was wearing now. It was his trusty plaid one. He remembered how this ratty old thing had gotten him through many outdoor gigs in the fall, even ones where it had rained. 

Seeing Julie there, in only her school T-shirt and shorts with no blanket, Luke shed his flannel and laid it gently over Julie’s body in hopes it would warm her. 

She gripped onto the garment as soon as it was draped over her. And if Luke didn’t contribute it to be a trick of the dark, he would have recognized a small smile playing on Julie’s face when she inhaled and subconsciously recognized his scent. 

He reached out to push strands of her curly hair away from her face but stopped.

Distance, he reminded himself. Even as it pained him to do so, he backed away from Julie’s sleeping form and tried to go to the kitchen. 

Tiptoeing, he got as close to the front door when he was spooked by a shadow casted down the staircase. He clamped his mouth as he stumbled back in surprise, still not wanting to wake Julie. He was already to hide in case it was Ray, but the figure presented himself as Carlos. 

His shoulders sagged, relaxing. At least Carlos knew about him and the guys. But why was he up so late? 

The boy raised his fingers to his lips and motioned for the ghost to come upstairs. 

What? Why? Luke mouthed at him, but Carlos said nothing, only continuing to direct him to follow him. 

Luke knew that Carlos was way over his head when it came to combating ghosts and stuff, but it still kept him on his toes just in case one of these days he did find out a way to subdue them. He probably shouldn’t follow him, especially since the kid needed his sleep, but Luke was too curious to leave this be. 

So, he caught up with Carlos on the stairs and the kid led him into his room. Now, Luke had never gone into his room before, never really having a reason to. But he was here and now that they were away from the sleeping girls downstairs, they could talk normally. 

“So…,” he began awkwardly, “Why did you want me to come up here?” 

Carlos crossed his room to his desk, “Do you know what I hate the most, ghost boy?” 

“It’s Luke, by the way,” 

“Yeah, yeah, ok Luke. Do you know what I hate the most?” 

“Uh… not wanting to clean under your bed?” Reggie had told Luke that once. It was a random thing to have overheard, but Luke could relate.

“No,” Carlos was in front of him now, holding one of those things that looked like an oversized phone, “It’s being left out of things.” 

“Yeah… that sucks,” 

“And knowing that you’re being left out, that everyone else is in on something that you’re not? Doesn’t that make you mad?” 

Luke stared at the kid in awe. How did he know? That was exactly what he had been feeling for the past week. And now at the mention of it, it rekindled that same frustration. 

“Yeah. Yeah. It does,” he found himself saying, getting more and more upset. 

“I know how you feel, Luke. So that’s why I think you should know,” He held up the tablet and was queuing up something on the screen. 

“Know about what?” 

“This,” Then Carlos pulled up a video of his friends in the studio, and pressed play. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 9 'Luke's Turn'

“Look, I think I took it too far this time.” 

Luke was currently watching what had happened right after he had left the band circle. 

When Carlos had brought forth the video on the screen and he saw that it was his friends talking in the studio, Luke was instantly creeped out about the fact that Carlos had been watching them.

He should have known that those cameras that he saw him with this week were gonna be used to spy on them. He was going to keep this in mind now that they were visible around Julie: that they were all gonna be caught on Carlos’ cameras… 

It was terribly unnerving to find out that your every move was being monitored by a 12 year old.

He looked to Carlos, appalled, “This-” he pointed to the video, “is weird! Like, a total invasion of privacy, man. You’ve been watching us?” 

The boy merely shrugged, “I just put this camera up tonight. And this is the only thing I got. I swear,” Then his small hands pointed at the screen, forcing him to face the tablet again, “Now, shhh. You’re missing the important bits.” 

Of what? Why was he showing this to him? 

It didn’t sit right with him to watch his friends have a private conversation… 

From what he gathered, Julie blamed herself for the way things had gone down at their show tonight. And he didn’t enjoy listening to her guilt-ridden words. It wasn’t her fault- it was his. But then in the video, Flynn wanted to claim the blame, and then Reggie which was absurd. 

He honestly didn’t see the point of this and he wanted to bow out soon, not wanting to listen in anymore. 

That was until he heard his name. 

“We sorta got into Luke’s head before the show. We made him think you were interested in one of the other musicians from earlier.”  

“What?” he voiced his surprise aloud. They did that on purpose? And for what? He knew that the guys liked to mess with him, even more so nowadays. He found it weird. Weird that they were connecting his little moment of jealousy to his slip up on stage. 

Was it? The gobsmacked expression on that musician’s face may have caused him to get more up close and personal with Julie on stage, which may have goaded Julie into doing that spin to keep spicing their performance up. But that was too coincidental. 

“Wait, was that why he was… he was all-?”  

Luke couldn’t place the expression on Julie’s face when she said this. But he could compare it to a bit of a dreamlike gaze. She might have been probably reminiscing on their performance. He had wondered what it had been like for her? If she had been feeling that chemistry that he had felt when they were rocking that stage earlier. 

Then, Julie from hours ago just shook her head and sighed, resignedly. 

“Guys, we need to take a pause on this,” 

Luke didn’t realize that it had been inching forward the more Julie spoke and he was beginning to notice things. The way the others had looked to Julie, looked to her guidance.

He knew that he had called her ‘boss’ from time to time, but from looking at their friends’ stances when talking to Julie, it had seem like she was calling the shots. 

And again- but for what? 

Then… she said it. 

“We had our fun, and I’m sorry for roping all of you into my plan to drive Luke crazy by wearing his clothes…”  

Wait. 

Hold on.

Just for one freakin’ second. 

“W-wait. Pause this. Can you- can you pause this?!” his words sped out of his mouth, whilst rapidly pointing at the device, uselessly until Carlos did what he asked. 

He stared at the screen, Julie frozen mid sentence. His mouth hung open as he struggled to articulate all the thoughts running through his head-

Julie had been deliberately taking his clothes just to get a reaction out of him? 

He had this nagging feeling in the back of his mind that that was the case… but he didn’t want to believe it.

Julie was many things: easily irritable, musically gifted, just so darn beautiful sometimes that he couldn’t stand it. But an evil mastermind? He didn’t think that she could do something like this. 

He didn’t think she could do something like this to him . 

So she knew! She knew the effect her wearing his clothes had on him. And she kept doing it! Kept teasing him!

All the word vomit, and the butterfingers, his heart beating out of his chest, the vivid dreams- she wanted that to happen. 

God, she must have been so amused by him making a complete and utter fool of himself in front of her this past week. 

And to have Alex and Reggie in on it? Flynn, yeah it was a given. But his boys? They partook in his torture? And they knew him so well. That was how they were able to get in his head in the first place. 

Oh no. They probably knew which clothes would have amplified his reactions tenfold. Like his ‘Landed in the USA’ shirt- they knew that he loved wearing that shirt! And involving the beanie- that was icing on the cake. 

Was this revenge for all the pranks he had pulled on them? Come on, it was just a couple of unpeeled bananas here or there. It had never gone as far as to embarrass them in front of people they had feelings for!

He could feel his eyes rapidly blinking, his initial confusion now making way for the feeling of complete and utter betrayal. 

“Luuuke,” Carlos waved a hand in front of his face, “Hellooo. You still there?” 

He snapped out of it and then swatted the kid’s hand away- or tried to. He was still a ghost. Carlos was fascinated by how their hands had missed each other, like cutting through smoke. 

“Woah. Like I feel you but I don’t feel you at the same time. Wicked...” then he went to go pass his hand through Luke’s arm, but the ghost was not having it. 

He pulled his appendage flush to his chest, “Hey!” 

Luke was starting to understand why Julie had been so adamant about boundaries.

It was because she had grown up with Carlos for a brother. 

The kid felt bad about getting all up in his ghosty business, “Okay. I’m sorry… this must be weird for you.” 

“Yeah, no duh!” his voice raised an octave as he became more indignant, “Which part? This or the fact Julie and the guys are out to make me into a total buffoon?” 

Carlos set his tablet down on the bed, and made a motion for Luke to hunch down so he could look at him directly in the eyes. He did so, reluctantly. 

“If you’ve been paying attention, she had just said that they were taking a break from pranking you.” 

“I guess they’re finally feeling guilty for going through all this trouble!” He flapped his arms around, his hand gestures unhinged. 

Oh. 

No wonder Julie blamed herself for what happened tonight. It must have been about the coat. Julie had been more than aware of how her tricks were affecting his playing leading up to tonight. She didn’t know if by wearing his stuff on stage was gonna tank the show or not.

If her fall hadn’t happened then it would have been his sweaty palms that would have muddled up his guitar playing. She had chanced the outcome of the show just because she wanted to distract him with his clothes. 

Was he mad? Mad that Julie had risked their show, the trajectory of their career as a band, all for a prank? 

A little. Not gonna lie. 

But in the video, she had shown remorse. Enough so that she decided to pull the plug on their operation, which he did appreciate somewhat… it did give time for things to go back to normal, when he didn’t feel like he was the butt of the joke.

“You know what this means, right?” 

Luke made a bee-line for the door, arm outstretched to grab the doorknob, “Yeah. It means I’m gonna go over to the studio and give Alex and Reggie a piece of my mind! And I’ll confront Julie in the morning!” 

Why was he walking to the door in the first place? He could have just poofed. Ugh. He was really too frazzled at the moment to think. 

“No,” Carlos clapped his hands together, “It means they don’t have anything planned. Here’s your opportunity.” 

“I’m not following,” 

The young boy sighed, as if he needed to break it down in simpler terms, like a teacher to a student, 

“You get Julie back. Have your revenge,” 

“Revenge?” 

Luke surprised himself. The idea had not even occurred to him until just now when Carlos suggested it.

Before dying and getting caught up with being a ghost, whenever he would get got, he is already halfway out the door, with a water balloon and a strong throwing arm ready to unleash hell. 

Dying had definitely not mellowed him out. 

Maybe it was because it was Julie and not one of the guys that he didn’t immediately think of getting back at her. 

He might be out of his depth with this. His go-to's were gross and childish. Maybe because it always worked on Alex and Reggie that he continued to be so juvenile and never thought about diversifying his methods. 

Okay, if she were to do this though he needed to play this differently. He needed to elicit the same response from her. He needed to get her worked up over him.

Unfortunately, as much as he thought Julie’s clothes were nice, stealing her overalls or one of sweaters was not gonna cut it. 

Well… he had kind of been doing it already. Getting her worked up that is. But it had been subtle touches and lines that ever so toed the boundary between friends and something more which yielded minimal results.

He could probably cite the time when he had touched her back as the last time he really got a response- but he wouldn’t count it because it hadn’t been intentional. 

But the close contact- maybe he could use that. 

Okay, the more he was thinking about it, the more he was loving the idea of getting Julie back. 

“Wait,” Luke paused, “Why are you so into me taking revenge on your sister?” 

Carlos sat on his bed, sighing, “She still hasn’t told me about you guys yet. Like, she kept saying she was going to talk to me but doesn’t.

He crossed his arms, glowering, “Probably too busy with her plot against you, I bet. But I don’t like being left out of this insanely cool secret.” 

Luke smirked, “So you’re petty.” 

“Pretty much.” 

That got a laugh out of the ghost and took a spot next to the kid on the bed, “Good thing. Because so am I.”

“Does that mean you got something up your sleeve already?” 

“I’m… I’m getting there.” Luke had the right idea. Just needed to know which direction he was going with this. 

Come on, Patterson. Think! 

What was gonna throw Julie for a loop? He needed to think back on the times when she was awkward or blushing.

What would make her blush? 

Then he remembered earlier tonight. It had happened for a second, but he caught a slight pink on her cheeks after he had mentioned this. 

“Carlos. What does ‘swol’ mean?” 

“Swol?” the kid chuckled, and Luke wasn’t sure if it was at the word or at him for not knowing what that was, “Wow, you really are old, aren’t you?” 

“Hey! I’m not old!” 

“Just old-fashioned. My bad,” 

Ouch. Right when Luke was just about to like the kid.

“Anyways, what does it mean?” 

“It’s like… it means muscular. Like,” Then Carlos made a ring with his hands to measure his biceps, “Your arms for example. Swol.” 

“Huh,” he said, a growing grin on his face. 

So… Julie thought he was pretty muscular then. Even though it had been what most of their fans have been commenting under their video, she seemed to agree, even flushing at the thought of his arms.

He swore he had caught her staring at them from time to time, whenever he would reach for the pencil over her shoulder while they were writing songs, or whenever they’d accidentally bump into each other and her first instinct was to seize his bicep… 

Well, he did show them off more than the other guys did. As one could gather from the many shirts without sleeves that he owned. But he couldn't just simply wear his usual shirts. He needed to go bigger. 

His eyes met Carlos, the kid recognizing the moment when Luke had gotten his lightbulb moment because it was the same roguish spark he had whenever he concocted a scheme.

They grinned at each other. 

“You got it?” 

“Definitely.” 

“When are you going to do it?” 

Luke kicked back onto the bed, hands folded under his head, “Oh, I got the perfect occasion.” 

Julie arrived at the studio on time. Picking up her mother’s guitar from its stand, she greeted Alex and Reggie a good afternoon. 

It had been a whole weekend since their concert. A whole weekend since Julie had called it quits for their Luke plan. And she had to say, it had been relaxing.

Not having to worry about which outfit of his she could pull off or dedicating time to sort through the plan with either Flynn or the guys. It had been nice.

She had spent this weekend chilling and catching up on some school work. She even had some extra time to spend with her family, playing board games and cooking up one of her mom’s old recipes. 

Although, she couldn’t say that her mind had been completely absent of Luke-related thoughts the past few days. When she had woken up the morning after the concert, on the couch instead of her bed upstairs, she was stunned to find herself wrapped up in Luke’s flannel.

Flynn had given her so much flack for it when she got up.Her bestie had even pointed out that out of all of the things she had worn from Luke, this was probably the first time he had given her something of his to wear. Or to use as a makeshift blanket. It was a nice sentiment, Julie thought.She wanted to thank him.

But she unfortunately had to withhold from wearing it out to see the guys in the studio because she was not going to do that to Luke anymore.

Instead she had folded it up and placed it at the foot of her bed, in case he had asked for it back. He didn’t though. In fact, he didn’t mention the flannel when they would talk. 

Her and Luke’s relationship had been intense this week. The weekend had kind of toned it down, especially since she was wearing her own clothes for once. 

They didn’t get much band practice in this weekend, opting for a break until they could figure out what to do for their next gig. So she didn’t get to spend as much time as she had wanted with the guys, so she had been looking forward to her guitar lesson with Luke. 

She had wondered what kind of teacher Luke would be. That boy sure could be so passionate about music that she didn’t know whether he would be the kind to be excited and very encouraging or very impatient, wanting you to nail it fast so he could show you more cool stuff. 

Reggie was reading a book on the couch, one of Julie’s old required readings from last semester, but he needed something to entertain him while Ray was at work. Meanwhile, Alex was tidying up the studio, something that he tasked himself with ever since he had a handle on his tangibility. 

Julie plopped onto the piano bench, plucking the strings absentmindedly. The sound brought Reggie out from his reading, “Ooh, your lesson is today, right?” 

“Yeah. Kinda nervous,” she admitted, “Not sure if I’m gonna be completely terrible at this.” 

Alex gave an assuring touch on her knee as he passed by with a feather duster, “You’re gonna do great. Luke’s not gonna put you through the ringer.” 

“He’s even taught me a little bit,” Reggie said, returning to the story. He flipped a page, “The only problem you’re gonna have is trying to understand him when he’s talking so fast. Like, we get it, you’re so into it, but speaking is not a race.” 

They all laughed at that. 

“Hmm… where is he any way?” Julie peeked at the time on her phone, “We were gonna start at 4. I had to book it from school just to make this.” 

“Who knows?” Alex made Reggie lift his feet off the coffee table so he could dust there, “Maybe he’s running on ghost time?” 

“Oh, like he’s gonna be 3 hours late then?” she shot a pointed look at the two. 

Alex clicked his tongue, “You’re never gonna let us forget that, aren’t you?” 

“Nope,” she said, popping the ‘p’. 

She went back to strumming nonsense chords when she heard that familiar whooshing of a ghost poofing in. 

“Good. About time. I was getting wor-” she lifted her gaze to address Luke but quickly ended up choking, her eyes grew to an enormous size. 

Oh my god

Luke showed up to their lesson alright. 

Shirtless. 

Like actually- like no shirt. There was just… nothing covering up his torso. Like at all. 

Julie’s breath hitched while she beheld his bare chest. Luke was not too bothered by the fact that he was only wearing his jeans, his ridiculously low rise jeans that had the waistband of his boxers exposed.

He was currently taking a big yawn, stretching out his arms before bringing his hands behind his head- just really working those muscles right in front of her. 

“Hey Julie,” He smiled, teeth showing, still leaning back into his stretches. 

The Lord was testing her. 

“L-Luke,” she couldn’t even get through his name, her mouth that dry. She coughed, attempting to dislodge whatever glob of spit that got stuck in her throat when he first poofed in. 

“Oh no. He did not,” she heard Alex bemoan. 

Reggie, still oblivious to the situation, waved at him, “Hey Luke, did your shirt disappear while poofing too?” 

Alex face palmed. 

Luke shook his head, his brown locks moving slightly about his forehead so that Julie could see his striking hazel eyes better. He sauntered to the instruments and picked up his acoustic, and Julie swore that he looked even more attractive holding that guitar in his current state. 

“Just thought to go without one today, boys. I've been... misplacing some of them nowadays, actually.” His stare fixed on Julie as he said this. 

Crap.  

Does he- Does he know?

Julie gulped as Luke set his guitar ontop of the piano and circled her. 

He was playing it off as if deciding which side was best to stand in: In front of her so he could make sure the fingering was lining up, or maybe behind her so he could show her how to properly hold a guitar. 

Either way spelt torture for Julie. 

She was trying so hard not to oggle, even when his chest was inches away from her face. Her eyes went to Alex and Reggie, pleading silently at them for help. 

Reggie gripped Alex’s shoulder, both of them observing safely from a distance. They feared for her as well. Alex grimaced while shaking his head, Don’t fall for it, he seemed to be conveying to her. 

Luke pivoted on his foot, granting Julie a reprieve as he spoke to his friends.

“Do you mind if we got the studio to ourselves? Wouldn’t want to distract you from your book, Reg.” 

Reggie peered over at Julie, she had her hands interlocked, shaking them at him, begging him to stay. But Luke must have been sporting some expression because whatever protests Reggie had, died when his eyes met Luke’s. He backed away without a fight. 

Alex, on the other hand, clenched his jaw and showed a bit more resistance. 

“I was in the middle of cleaning, man. I could still stick around.” 

Julie saw Luke getting into a comfortable stance, crossing his arms, “I was by the pier just now. And guess who I saw?” 

Oh no. 

She had a feeling she knew who Luke was referring to.

She couldn't believe that he would pull the Willie Card on Alex! Reggie groaned as both he and Julie watched Alex completely disregard any tasks he had, now focused on Willie. His resolve was cracking. 

“Best to get to him now. Before he gets back to Caleb, right?” 

Oh, he was evil. 

Alex hadn’t been able to see Willie ever since the day they nabbed the Orpheum gig, they all knew he wouldn’t resist the chance to talk to him. They didn’t even know if he was bluffing or not, just saying stuff to get everyone out of the studio so it was just him and Julie. 

But Alex’s pragmatism went out the window. He poofed out, seeking Willie. 

“I’m just… I’m just gonna be in the living room... “ Reggie said, backing away from the studio. Then he cupped his hands, “Be strong!” was his whispered advice to her before he shut the doors behind him. 

Well, there went her accomplices. 

Luke’s attention was now on her and she forced herself to smile, even though she wanted nothing more to scream. She could already feel herself sweating, regretting having worn a sweater today. 

He moved towards her, ever so slowly. She was not going to make it out of his lesson alive, she could already tell. 

“So Julie, ready to start?” 

Chapter Text

Chapter 10 ‘Challenge Accepted’

Julie was done for. 

She was completely done for because here she was, in the studio, alone, with a shirtless Luke. 

A week ago, that phrase would have been like one of those self-indulgent dreams she could never disclose to anyone, not even to Flynn. But now it was her worst nightmare because that boy was doing everything in his power to get her worked up. 

It first started once Alex and Reggie had left and Luke had taken to standing beside her. Note that she was still seated, so dumbfoundedly frozen on the piano bench, clutching her mother’s guitar like a lifeline, so she was completely at eye-level with his slightly toned abs. 

This was the first time she had seen him without a shirt and she had never expected to be so up close and personal when she finally did.

Not like she had been anticipating looking at him without a shirt, but her eyes kept picking up the different ridges that lined his chest- his abs-for one thing.

They were not as defined as his arms, but it just gave a hint of Luke’s effort he had put into his form. She had wondered if he had worked out? Or if he was just so active that he was as toned as he was. 

She couldn’t see him going to gym and putting in reps at a bar. Maybe it was the years of performing and being one’s own roadie. Lugging his guitar everywhere, pushing around amps- that was more likely...

She heard him clear his throat from above her, “Hey Julie?” 

Her head snapped up to see Luke’s lips curled into a smile that she could only describe as smug. 

Oh my god, he had totally caught her staring at his abs. 

If the universe decided to smite her where she sat and kill her instantly, that would be much appreciated. Then she would turn into a ghost and poof out far, far , away from here.

Trying, and failing, to be nonchalant she responded.

“Yeah?”, her voice ended up an octave higher than normal but it beat her stuttering of his name from earlier. 

“I just wanna know what you already know about the guitar?” he leaned against the piano, scratching the back of his neck as he asked the seemingly normal question, “You’ve had any experience?”

He really was making any excuse to curl his arms, wasn’t he? 

“I haven’t. Had any experience, that is,” she answered, wanting to wince at how chopped up her answer was. 

“Really?” he gave her a once over, “A girl like you?” he winked.

Her palms had gone sweaty at that and she hardened her hold on her instrument. Julie had a feeling that he was no longer talking about the guitar… 

“I mean… I tried it,” Julie said before she could stop herself, “At like, uh, camp.”

Luke raised an eyebrow, “At camp?” 

“Yeah. Music camp,”  

Which was true. Danny Zimisky, he had been in the cabin next door to hers at Los Feliz’s Summer Music Program. It had been Spin the Bottle. He had tasted like strawberries. 

“Right. I thought so. A girl like yourself, so musically inclined...” Then Luke went around her and bent down so that his face was floating next to hers. His hands went to blanket hers on the neck of the guitar, guiding them into position on the strings, 

“Good thing, I’m here to teach you. So you can get some more experience-” He turned to her, his breath tickling her ear, “-with the guitar, that is.” he finished. 

She shut her eyes, immediately tensing from the sensation. She was refusing to look at him and his stupid cocky grin and his stupid muscles…

Just so stupid.

But with eyes closed, she could tell that he was smiling, or winking or whatever he thought would get her to swoon. But nope. She was going to follow both Alex and Reggie’s advice and not fall for it. And to stay strong. Right. 

Oh god, please let it be 5 already.

Reggie couldn’t get through his book once he had gone into the living room, his mind left behind in the studio with the friend he had known forever and the friend who needed his help the most.

He had given up reading 5 minutes into his new chapter, and instead just sat on the couch, waiting for Alex to come back. 

Turned out that was sooner than he thought because Alex had poofed in, looking as if Christmas had come early. Reggie could assume that Luke had not been joking and actually did see Willie out on the pier. 

“That fast, man? How was he?” 

Alex grinned, shaking the sand off his clothes, “He’s good. Doing ok. But we couldn’t talk for very long,” 

“Caleb?”

The blonde sighed, “Caleb, yeah. But we’re gonna meet up tomorrow.” 

Reggie elbowed him, playfully, “Ooooh. A date?” 

“I dunno. Kinda hoping so,” 

Reggie couldn’t help but be happy for him, but then he remembered the dire situation at hand. 

“That’s great and everything, Alex, but we totally abandoned Julie in her hour of need,” 

Alex sighed, taking a seat on the couch next to Reggie, “I know. We totally blew it. But we can’t just get back in there.” 

“Why not?” 

“If we could, then why haven’t you done it already while I was gone?”

“Because… because,” Reggie leaned in, “...Luke scares me.”   he whispered. 

Alex knew that feeling all too well. Even though he had stood up to their friend for a little while before getting… distracted by Willie, he had been the subject of many pranks by dear ol’ Luke. 

He would never forget the one time that he had tried to get him back. He had de-stringed the guy’s guitar while he had been away at some doctor’s appointment. It had been very silly and those strings could be easily replaced.

But when Alex had gone to school the next day, he had opened his backpack to find a dead bird in there. 

He still had questions to this day. 

“Exactly. And he’ll find a way to spin this whole vengeance thing around on us,” Alex predicted, “How did he find out about the plan? We have been so careful. Inner circle only.” 

Reggie nodded in agreement but noticed Alex’s fixed stare on him, just lingering a little too long.

“Wait. Do you think I had something to do with this?”

“Do you even know what ‘discretion’ means, Reg?” 

“I so do! What if it was you, huh? You talk too loud and maybe Luke overheard you?” Reggie scoffed, “It’s always gotta be me. Why couldn’t it be you or Flynn?” 

“Okay, Flynn would never,” 

Wait a minute. 

“Flynn!” they said simultaneously. 

“She’ll know what to do!” 

“Maybe…” Reggie patted himself down, searching his pockets until he had found it. A slip of paper with Flynn’s number on it. 

She had given it to them so they could reach her for band-related or Luke-related issues, “We call her over here. She’ll go to the studio, she’ll interrupt those two-”

“-And she’ll say that she and Julie have plans or something and she can make her escape!” Alex finished off. It was perfect because Flynn was definitely not scared of Luke like they were. 

“Yes!” Reggie scrambled around the room, looking for a phone. He went to go check the kitchen when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.

He spun in that direction and found Carlos ducking down to avoid being seen on the stairwell. 

A little too late there, buddy. 

“Carlos!” 

The boy remained hunched over, “Uhhh, Carlos isn’t here right now!” 

Alex came up from behind him to see what was going on, “We can see you, dude.” 

The boy resigned and stood back up and ran down the stairs, passing through Reggie to get to the kitchen.

The bassist followed, “Hey, Carlos. You wouldn’t happen to know where the phone is?” 

“The phone?” 

“Your landline,” Alex clarified. 

Carlos gave them a weird stare, “No house has those anymore.” 

“That’s crazy! But what if you need to call someone?”

“You use your own phone,” Carlos held up his own as an example. 

“But what if,” Reggie drew out, “you don’t have one… because you’ve been dead for 25 years?” 

“Then you borrow someone else’s,” 

“Can we borrow yours?” 

“No,” 

Alex put a hand on his hip, low-key glaring at the kid, “Well, why not?” 

“I have my reasons…” he said in a cryptic manner as he grabbed a bag of chips from the pantry. 

“But what if we were to tell you that Julie is in trouble?” 

Would he really leave his sister hanging like that? Reggie wondered. The kid had saved her the other day with a good cover story for their hologram mishap, so he obviously did care. 

Carlos hummed, pretending to consider it, “Maybe if she had been the one to tell me about you guys and I wouldn’t have to find out myself… I would help her.” he said, obviously miffed. 

The bassist stomped his foot, “Man, people in this house really be vengeful today,” Reggie remarked sullenly. 

Alex nodded along. Weird that they had both Luke and Carlos being so petty today. 

Then his eyes widened as it dawned on him. 

He advanced at Carlos, “You! It was you who told Luke!” 

How the kid was able to find out was beyond him. But it was too much of a coincidence for Carlos to be withdrawn from them right when Luke had enacted his revenge plan.  

The kid had been hanging around them the whole weekend, just talking their ear off and wanting to learn more about being ghosts.

Carlos had even tried to film a ghost video with Reggie but Julie had been home this weekend so they were unfortunately all visible. 

What good was a visible ghost for a ghost toaster, huh?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he denied, then he booked it up the stairs, with chips in hand, in an attempt to evade their questions. 

But he should have known that there was no running from ghosts because Alex and Reggie poofed in, cutting him off from entering his room. 

“Nice try, little man,” 

“I admit to nothing!” Carlos yelled before running through them into his room. The ghosts were hot on his trail, not letting up. 

“Look you gotta help us out. Luke needs to be stopped!” Alex begged. 

“Why should I help you? Maybe I’d want to help Luke instead!” 

Reggie surveyed the room, quickly looking for an edge. He had spent a lot of time inside the house keeping tabs on both Ray and Carlos, he knew he had the perfect ammunition they needed to force Carlos’ hand. 

He poofed to the other end of the room, swiping a piece of paper from a stack, before returning by Alex’s side, “Don’t make me do it, Carlos.” He warned, waving the leaflet like a flag. 

“What is that?” Alex inquired. 

“This,” Reggie presented it to the drummer, “is the math test that Carlos told Ray that he passed so he could get that new video game he wanted. But as you can see here-” 

“Give it back!” Carlos lunged at him but phased right through his body. 

Reggie raised the paper over his head, keeping it out of arms’ reach, “Now, now Carlos. I thought we were cool. I thought we were going to work on ghost stuff for your Youtube. But you just had to pick the wrong side of this war!” 

Carlos kept jumping up to reach for the flunked test, “Dude, not funny. Give it to me!” 

“Then call Flynn and tell her to come down here,” Alex piggybacked off Reggie’s threat, “Or else this test is gonna end up on your dad’s desk.” 

That stopped Carlos. He stood there, fuming. He couldn’t believe he was getting blackmailed by a ghostly boy band right here in his own home. And right after he had been sworn to secrecy by Luke… 

But this was like the third time he had flunked a test, he was going to get grounded for sure. Especially for lying about it. He knew that he should help a fellow prankster in his pursuit for revenge, but… his Xbox though… 

Sorry Luke… Carlos thought. 

Begrudgingly, he took his phone out and began dialing Flynn’s number…

Luke’s arms, his bulging arms, were encasing her, like a protective cocoon? More like a handsome, ghostly prison. 

This was a hostage situation. 

Luke had been searching for something he could tune her guitar with, to make sure it was ready before she started playing anything. She had offered to look up an app on her phone, even to go as far as to reach for it on piano but Luke took gentle hold of her wrist, keeping her from going for it. 

“It’s okay. I’ll just do it myself,”

Then he would be back behind her, this time fiddling with the tuning keys with one hand and have his other hand reaching over her shoulder to play the strings, effectively trapping her. 

The heat she could feel all over her body, the sweat that had her sweater clinging to her almost like a second layer of skin, it was getting too much. It was strange because Luke’s touch was like a cool breeze, but it didn’t stop her nerves from overriding her body’s simple functions. 

She was grateful though. Wearing a sweater was a better alternative to wearing a thinner shirt, a short-sleeved shirt, because then she could have really felt Luke’s bare chest pressing against her back… 

Oh no, she was sweating more now at that thought. 

She dared to look at him while he tuned the guitar, and she couldn’t help but be drawn to his look of concentration as his ear picked up on the subtle changes to the sound whenever he tuned each string. He did that little nose scrunch and pout whenever he plucked a sour note. 

It was pretty cute. 

His head turned to face her, narrowly bumping their foreheads together, that was how close they were to each other. Julie could feel the corners of her mouth perk up into a genuine smile, which Luke returned, his hazel eyes glittering in earnest. 

For a moment, he had shed his cocky pretty-boy persona and was looking more like the kind of guy that she wouldn’t mind scooching just a tad bit closer to… 

“I think…” he began, his husky voice hypnotized her. She was looking at him attentively, hanging onto every breath he took, “I think we should have you actually play now.”

Julie blinked, snapping out of her daze.

Yes, that was what they were here for. A guitar lesson.

She nodded as he came back around and she was welcomed to the sight of his bare chest again. 

He clapped his hands together, “Alright, now I was thinking maybe we can just start off with some basic chords, but I also kinda wanna show you this drill I did when I first started out. I think it would really help.” 

Her upper body loosened up, relieved that Luke was less inclined to get her flustered and was more interested in actually teaching her things. 

“I’m up for anything.” 

“Sweet,”

He dropped to his knees. He reached for her fingers on the neck of the guitar, “You know how you do scales on the piano, think of it like that. Or just imagine you’re playing every key from start to finish.” 

He pressed her fingers, one by one on the first four frets, “I want you to pluck the string on the top every time you put down a finger on a fret. You put one finger down at a time, okay?” 

“Do I need a pick?” 

“No. No pick for now. Just use your fingers. This is just to get you use to holding the string down,” 

“Got it,” Julie set out to put her index finger down on the first fret, then she plucked the top string and the note that came out reverberated oddly, the sound muddled. 

Luke wiggled closer to her as he moved her finger slightly down the guitar neck, just so it was on the verge of entering the next fret, “Try now. You gotta really hold it, Julie.” 

It was tougher than Julie had thought it was going to be. Instead of her hands meeting the sleek ivory of a grand piano, it was getting pseudo-sliced by these strings that would definitely leave marks behind. But she tried it again, the sound coming through better. 

“Nice,” he complimented, “Now you’re gonna do that for every fret, for every string.” 

Julie continued with the drill, slowly making her way down the neck. It didn’t sound great every time she plucked the string, but it was something. Luke didn’t laugh or rush her, he merely observed and intervened when he could. 

By the time she finished with every fret, on every string, she released her hand and examined the marks on her fingers. She winced, “These fade, right?” 

“They do eventually. Replaced with some gnarly callouses though. Uh, here,” He helped her take the strap off her guitar and moved the instrument on top of the piano next to his. 

They both got to their feet, standing about a foot apart from each other. He offered his palms for her to examine. Gingerly, her fingers grazed the pads of his fingers and felt those callouses he was talking about. 

“Woah,” she remarked, “If I stick a pin in there would you even feel it?” 

“If you did, then yeah,” 

Julie chuckled softly, “Right, since I’m the only one who can touch you.” 

“That you are,” 

Julie just about had her time poking at Luke’s callouses, but for some reason she kept her fingers on his hands, just tracing the lines on his palm. Her mom had dabbled in a bit of palm reading, mostly to entertain people at parties, and she had picked up some of it. 

Her finger followed along his life line. It dominated his hand. Long and uninterrupted. According to her mom that meant the person was a keeper. Someone who had your back always, though she didn’t need to read his palm to know that. 

Luke had been silent this whole time which was interesting. Her view shifted from his hands to his face.

He gulped, without meaning to and Julie wondered if it was because whatever funny things he had planned to keep her on her toes were no match for whatever moment they were sharing right now. 

It was too intimate… touching someone’s hands like this, in this methodical way, as if she was studying him to find out what made him tick.

But he didn’t need to worry about that since Julie had completely given up trying to read his palm and just ended up playing around, coming to relish the texture of his hands, calluses and all. 

In a bold move, she massaged the widths of his fingers to relieve some tension. It must have relaxed him so much that a quiet moan left his lips before he could stop himself.

They both froze. 

Julie eyed him, a smirk now growing on her own face. 

Interesting.

No, no, no. 

Luke was currently undergoing inner turmoil. He didn’t know that her touching his hands like that was gonna trigger that kind of a response out of him. 

This was not how this was supposed to go. He was supposed to show up like one of those underwear models and get Julie all bothered. It had been working so far, he knew how much she had been eyeing his chest and arms when she thought he wasn’t looking. 

And he had to admit, that was much of an ego boost, and it got him working that old school charm. He had never seen Julie stumble her way through her thoughts as she had done in the only 10 minutes they had shared. 

Then, he had figured he needed to actually teach her something about the guitar while they were here. He didn’t have enough ‘reclining, flexing- showing off his muscles' tricks to last an hour, and it would get old real fast, so might as well. 

And for the time being, he had momentarily forgotten his lack of shirt and just got into the lesson, getting invested in Julie’s progress.

But he just had to show her his callouses. He just had to interrupt their lesson and now it had led to this. 

Just the way her hands felt, so warm and soft- it had just been a really long time since someone has touched him the way Julie just had. Well, he could get pretty physical with Alex and Reggie but they would never think to trace or caress his hands. 

Maybe it was because his hands had done so much for him. He had been working them to the bone even after he died. He didn’t think that they needed this much care and attention until Julie just made a move to soothe years of relentless guitar playing from his hands… 

But as nice as this was, Luke needed to switch back to channeling Wahlberg swagger if he was going to get in the last word. He was not gonna let Julie turn the tables on him, especially with all that she had done to make him look like a fool in front of everybody. 

He let her have her little moment of triumph, but he wasn’t done yet. 

Although initially embarrassed, Luke recovered quickly but still feigned the emotion. He mimicked his flustered reflexes and yanked his hands back towards him as if he was going to make a self-preserving getaway, but he had taken hold of Julie’s hands and tugged her along for the ride.

Squeaking at the sudden movement, Julie stumbled into him, her hands held up to brace herself from the impact. Her palms were planted on his pecs, her face near his as she looked up at him, her mouth forming a mortified ‘O’ when she realized their awkward positioning. 

He made it oh so better when he wrapped his arms around her, keeping her flushed against him. 

“Whoa, I’m sorry, Jules,” he said looking down at her, “I d-didn’t mean to. I-” 

Oh yeah. The stuttering was a nice touch. She was more embarrassed than combative because she read it all as an accident.  

Julie violently shook her head, switching between looking down at where her hands were touching his bare chest and to his face. She was utterly red-faced as she tried to reply to him. 

“I mean, it’s fine. It’s fine. Nearly fell again, I guess,” she craned her head to take in his bare arms snaked around her waist, laughing uneasy,  “Looks like you got me.” 

“In more ways than one,” 

Julie furrowed her eyebrows the second he dropped the act, “I don’t understand.” 

“I think you do,” Then he brought his lips down to her ear, making sure to lower his voice, and spoke slowly:

“It’s not nice to take other people’s things, Julie.” 

Her body stilled, he could sense it from how close he held her. Luke pulled back in time to see Julie completely gobsmacked. If she had doubts of him finding out about her plan, then he hoped had made it clear just now. 

“Luke I-” 

“I’m not mad,” he cut in, “Oh no.” 

Julie wriggled in his hold, trying to escape, but the friction it was creating with their bodies had her growing even more crimson, “Then why are you doing this?” 

“The same reason as you…” he smiled, almost menacingly, “Because it’s fun. It’s fun seeing you get like this. For me .” 

His gaze fell on her lips, instinctively. His focus returned to her eyes soon after. 

He had shown weakness today already, he wasn’t going to make that same mistake, if the gaze had lingered just a little bit longer… 

Instead of subduing her into a bashful silence, his words only provoked Julie, fire blazing in her brown eyes. 

“You really think you’re all that, Luke? You think you can get me worked up with your half-assed plan,” she poked his chest. Hard. “Oh wow, you’re shirtless. Real lazy.” 

“But it worked, didn’t it?” 

“You’re so infuriating.” 

“Me? You’re the one who started this whole thing!” 

“Because you never get got, dude. You need a taste of your own medicine!” 

“Taste of my-?” He laughed in disbelief, “Like you can even get on my level, Jules.” 

It was Julie’s turn to scoff, “Humiliating you in front of my dad and the boys wasn’t enough for you?” 

Luke scowled, “Hey! You said you wouldn’t bring it up again!”

“Yeah, in exchange for a guitar lesson. But all I learned today was how to get marks on my fingers and that you have some weird hand thing-” 

“Well, I learned that something happened at camp," he teased, “Why don't you tell me all about your experience at camp, Julie?” 

Julie said nothing, glaring at him. He must have been shooting the same look back because he didn’t remember a point when his expression had tightened. 

They were clearly going to be here all day, exchanging blows and not really getting anywhere. 

“Look, can we just say that I totally bested you with one move and we’ll call it a day?” 

Julie had earlier claimed that the Lord was testing her, but right now Luke Patterson was testing her patience.

All that ugly behavior that she detested was out on display, teasing her and coaxing her own monstrous side to come out and engage. 

Yeah, Luke had been a total force with the one gimmick, and yeah- she had been bested today. But that was just it. Today. She could just get him back for this and he would really be sorry. 

Before, she had been so gracious to stop the pranks for Luke’s sake. But now that the boy had thoroughly pissed her off with his smug attitude, she wasn’t going to hold back. 

She was going to absolutely wreck him. 

“Or…” she pursed her lips, “We keep this going until one of us wins?” 

Luke hummed, “I’m listening…” 

“I’ve got more tricks up my sleeve than you know what to do with, Patterson. You’ve made your move,” she cocked her head, “And tomorrow, I’ll make mine.” 

“Good luck topping this, Julie.”  

“I plan to. Just watch.” 

He got all up in her face, smirking,  “Good.” 

She jutted forward until their noses touched, “Fine.” she shot back, with as much attitude. 

“What is going on here?” 

Their heads swiveled towards the open garage doors and saw that Flynn had walked in with Alex and Reggie behind her.

Julie and Luke looked back at each other and realized the kind of compromising position the others were catching them in. They were wrapped up in quite the embrace and their faces- only centimeters away from each other…

They sprang apart, Julie pushing Luke away while he moved to the opposite side of the studio, rubbing at his arms. Alex and Reggie’s mouths hung open at the sight. Flynn merely raised an eyebrow, but Julie knew that she would get the rant later on. 

“Flynn? What are…” she cleared her throat, fanning her face to get rid of the redness, “What are you doing here?” 

“We have plans, silly!” Her bestie smiled, whilst her thumbs motioned at the ghost boys at either side of her, “Alex and Reggie totally just reminded me about them.” 

Luke was in the process of putting the pieces together when Julie just went with it, needing the excuse to get away from the shirtless guitarist. 

She ran towards Flynn and hugged her tight, “Thank you.” she whispered, whilst looking at Alex and Reggie who gave her a thumbs up. 

“You will explain later,” Flynn’s hushed words volleyed back. They pulled away, smiling as if they hadn’t said anything. 

“Hey Julie,” Luke called after her just before she could escape, “Nice job on your lesson. Same time next week?”

He wore a seemingly normal smile, but Julie knew he was gloating. 

“Definitely.” she smiled, waving at him.

Oh, he was so going to get it. 

Flynn gave Luke an odd look, “Where is your shirt?”

He tried to explain, “Oh, yeah, it’s-” 

“Put one on,” the girl cut him off, not the least bit impressed, “You look ridiculous.”  

Julie put a hand to her face to keep from laughing at Luke’s stunned expression. Alex and Reggie did the same, but not showing as much restraint. Oh, how much they loved Flynn, the only one who did not put up with Luke’s crap. 

Although it had definitely not been her day, Julie could take solace in the sight of Alex and Reggie laughing and teasing Luke, now emboldened after watching Flynn demolish him in less than 10 words. 

“Yeah, man. Be decent.” she could hear Reggie rag on. 

“There are ladies present,” Alex tutted, “For shame.” 

Julie and Flynn shared a laugh as they walked away, with Julie throwing one last wave at the boys, before they exited through the gate.

She knew she had to give Flynn the rundown on what just happened and to maybe collaborate on her next phase of the formerly canceled plan. After all, she needed to do something tomorrow. 

But apparently, as of right now, she had plans with Flynn. 

Flynn grinned, “Hmm… ice cream?” 

Julie linked their arms together, “Ice cream.” 

And off they went. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 11 'Shaking It Up'

“So let me get this straight,” Flynn began after tossing her empty cup in a nearby trash can, “The plan is back on, but now Luke knows and he’s out for revenge?”

Julie and Flynn had been walking back from the ice cream shop when Julie finished filling her bestie in on what happened between her and Luke at the studio. This little trip had started out as an excuse to escape Luke’s clutches but it turned out to be a much needed treat. 

Julie was nursing her double scoop rainbow sherbet in a waffle bowl so she could only nod in response. 

Flynn took a moment to process whilst taking Julie by the shoulders and guiding her down the street because the girl had been in this sort of daze ever since they left the house. 

Julie had been too caught up in her thoughts on the way to the ice cream shop that she kept tripping on the sidewalk or ran the risk of bumping into joggers or getting pummeled by oncoming bicycles. 

She couldn’t think about what was going around her, too preoccupied with figuring out how to get Luke back after he had completely embarrassed her in the studio. All the winking, him pulling her close against his bare chest… she was surprised her brain still worked after all of that. 

But in the midst of formulating a revenge plot, Julie wasn’t able to shake the image of Luke’s eyes drilling into hers or his self-satisfied smirk the moment he revealed his intentions. 

It’s fun seeing you get like this...For me

Quickly, she brought another spoonful of her ice cream to her mouth, hoping to offset the blush seeping into her cheeks as she recalled that seductive whisper. 

She didn’t know what rattled her more about that little interaction, to be caught red-handed or the way she had been played. 

Luke had very valid reasons for wanting to get her back. She did steal his clothes. But she had always had the boys sneak it back in the bags. And every embarrassing thing he had done last week- yeah, that was on her. And that explosive show that nearly blew their secret- that was made worse by her wearing his coat. 

She got it. She should have anticipated some sort of retaliation. 

But it was how far Luke was willing to go that scared her. Well, maybe ‘scared’ wasn’t the right word. Just it had unsettled her. But in a good way. In a way that she didn’t want to admit that she liked...

The boy had no shame, just cruising by with no shirt and kicking the boys out, even going as far as to seek Willie to make it happen.

And the icing on the cake, him pressing her against him that ended up in a heated exchange of blows and threats that might as well have been the pre-chorus to a steamy makeout session if Flynn hadn’t walked in on them. 

If she had angled her head and moved an inch or two closer then maybe…

Flynn had already asked the embarrassing questions on the way to ice cream and even at the shop to which Julie demanded that she would talk quieter. 

“You keep saying it was like a nightmare, but Julie, we both know that you wouldn’t mind spending the rest of the hour like that,” Flynn had said earlier, “Are you sure I was saving you or was I interrupting something gooood?”

Although having completely shut down Luke’s big headedness, Flynn would have let the lesson go on uninterrupted, as long as she got to witness the drama. She was all for it, saying something along the lines of watching a scene from a CW series. She lived for those. 

But ever since Flynn said that, Julie couldn’t help but compare Luke to those shirtless heartthrobs in those teen dramas. And if he had been on her screen, she would have been completely invested. For the plot, she would tell herself and not for the purpose of ogling at him in every gratuitous shirtless scene...

Ugh. She needed to get Luke out of her system so she could properly focus on how to ruin him tomorrow. 

The ice cream helped a little. But the longer she held her frozen treat, the more her hands compared the slight chill to Luke’s skin and she was getting all of those flustered thoughts all over again. That pushed her to practically inhale the rest of her sherbet and chuck the waffle bowl entirely in a trashcan. 

“A brain freeze isn’t going to help, Julie,” Flynn remarked, “An idea for tomorrow would be great. What were you thinking?” 

Julie scratched her head, “I have some stuff, but I wanna talk about it with Alex and Reggie. I feel like I need their insight on which idea would really drive Luke up the wall.” 

“No!” Flynn interjected, startling Julie, “We can’t involve the boys in this now that Luke knows.” 

“Why?” 

“If Luke was able to get those two out of the way for your lesson without moving a muscle, then he would know how to get them to talk. If you tell them something, Luke would make Alex and Reggie sing like ghostly canaries,” 

Flynn had a point. Julie could totally picture it. If Luke interrogated Alex and Reggie, knowing their weaknesses and all after being in a band together for years, the plan would be blown before it even got started.

But no, she should have more faith in her boys. They would never fall prey to Luke’s tricks. 

Right?

Flynn, whose hands were still on Julie’s shoulders, spun her around to face her. 

“You don’t need them. Remember you’re the talented Julie Molina. You can sing, draw, dance circles around anybody. Own it. And use it.” 

Julie smiled at Flynn’s encouragement. She really knew how to cheer her up. And what she said was true. She had all these skills. Maybe they could be put to good use in the plan. 

“Thanks, Flynn. I think it’s time we get back home,” 

“He’s decent, everybody!” Alex shouted, applauding upon Luke’s return. The guitarist had come down from the loft after finally having put on a shirt.

Reggie let a loud whoop and clapped as well, as if wearing clothes was a huge feat for Luke. If the frown on his face was any indication, their friend was not amused in the slightest.

They milled around the open entrance but they moved towards the sitting area once Luke shut the doors. 

“Boys,” he addressed them formally, “You might wanna take a seat.” 

Alex had a feeling where this conversation was going but did his best to keep the mood light. 

“Psh okay, dad,” 

The blonde tried to communicate with Reggie but he was already giving away his guilt. The bassist refused to make eye contact with either of them. The two of them were on the couch with Luke sitting on the coffee table. He had his hands folded, his line of sight bouncing between his friends. 

“I know,” he said, the most serious either of his friends had seen him. 

Alex chuckled nervously, trying to diffuse the tension, “Know what? Luke, you’re acting weird. Like whaaat ?” 

Luke shook his head, crossing his arms, “C’mon. It’s just insulting at this point.” 

There was no use in hiding it anymore. The drummer sighed, “What are you going to do?” 

The ‘to us’ was implied. He was absolutely certain that he and Reggie were not going to come out of his unscathed.

Luke smiled, uncrossing his arms and planting his arms on either side of him on the coffee table.

He rocked forward, “Lucky for you guys, my current target is Julie. But don’t think that I’m letting you both off the hook just yet.” 

Yup. Called it. 

“Although…” the guitarist continued, “if you decide to-  let’s say, I don’t know- switch sides? Then I’ll make sure that when it’s your turn, I’d go easy on you.” 

“So what you’re saying is if we continue to help Julie, we’d be punished. But if we help you, we still get punished?” 

“But not as bad,” Luke emphasized. 

“I hate both options,” Alex frowned, “Why do you even need our help? You got Carlos already in your backpocket. Who would know better than to mess with Julie than her brother?”

“That’s true. But you’re my pals. We lived together. We died together. My brothers for all eternity. We got each others’ backs, right?” 

Oh this guy, Alex thought, pulling out the big guns with the whole ‘dying tragically together’ thing. 

Pathetic. 

“Yeah, we do...Up until one of us puts a dead bird in someone’s backpack,” 

Luke groaned, ‘C’mon, are you still on about that? That was like 25 years ago.” 

“Why you gotta say it like that? We both know that felt like last year!” 

Yeah, Alex was still upset about the incident. It made him wary to open any bag or pouch for the following weeks. It may be the reason he had trust issues… 

But Luke hummed thoughtfully. He must have figured that it was no use in trying to appeal to him.

Now the shaggy-haired brunette had his sights set on their bassist. “Reggie, you’ve been awfully quiet…” 

“What? No!” Reggie’s body went rigid, blinking repeatedly at the ground, “Just, uh, just thinking.” 

“I see,” Luke left the table, walking towards the amps.

He picked up his journal, flipping through the pages, “You know what, Reg… I’ve been thinking about something too,” He stopped, having found the loose leaflet tucked in its pages:

“Don’t need a house or a roof…” he sang, reading off the lyrics, “I just put on the saddle, lace up my boots“ 

Alex spun to face Reggie, the boy was, for a more contemporary term, shook. He had looked up when Luke started singing the song, mouthing the words along with him, eyes wide.

“Cuz home is where my horse is” 

Once Luke had finished the excerpt, Reggie shook his head, “No. You wouldn’t...” 

Luke smirked, “If you join me, we record it.” 

“Reggie, don’t do it!” Alex clutched the boy by the collars of his flannel, but he would not look away from Luke. 

Oh Luke just had to, didn’t he? That guy just knew that Reggie would be easier to crack than him. Nothing was more appealing to Reggie than to have his country album dream realized...

“My banjo can come out to play?” Reggie whispered, already holding his hands out to summon said instrument. 

“Yes, Reggie,” 

Alex panicked because Reggie looked like he was considering the offer. Luke returned to the table, nearing the bassist. He wore his best charming smile, hoping it would seal the deal. 

Reggie’s mouth kept opening and closing, struggling to voice his thoughts. He looked at Alex. Then at Luke. Then Alex again. 

Uh oh. Alex sensed something wrong. He could see a million of contradicting thoughts swimming in that boy’s mind- his face starting to get red. From the stress? From the pressure of blowing Julie’s chances of success? 

Then all of the sudden Reggie screeched in frustration, scaring both him and Luke. The bassist  jumped to his feet crying “No, no, no!” whilst stomping his feet. 

Alex gave an accusatory glare at Luke. The guy broke Reggie, “Look what you did!”

Reggie whirled around on Luke, the floodgates having opened, “I will not engage! I will not engage! Someone needs to teach you a lesson Luke, and that someone is Julie!” 

They stared wide-eyed at Reggie’s sudden volume change, Luke made a move to comment but Reggie kept going:

“It’s about time you get pranked!. And when she gets you, you best believe we’re going to be in the front row, laughing our heads off! Ha!” 

Luke stood up abruptly, causing Reggie to stumble back and shrink. 

“ Ha… ha.., ” he muttered, quieter and more frightened. 

Luke clenched his fists, probably upset that neither of his friends were going to back him on this.

His expression closed, he shrugged, movements exaggerated, “Hm… so that’s how it’s going to be, huh? Same for you, Alex?” 

Alex couldn’t help but feel guilty that they were taking Julie’s side. If it was anything other than this prank battle, he would be in Luke’s corner. No doubt. 

But this, right here, with Luke trying to bribe Reggie with the song, distracting Alex with Willie, intimidating them with the threat of a much worse prank,  was a total nightmare. It was a testament to how intense Luke could take this. 

Hopefully with the crushing defeat that Julie would inevitably dish out, the experience might  humble their friend. And would make him think twice before pranking the rest of them again. Even if it meant going against him, he would be happy to have a hand in that.

Even though, Luke was not one he would want to cross… 

“You bet,”

A mirthless laugh came out of Luke's lips, “That settles it then.”

He poofed to the loft before coming back down with one of his hoodies. He was heading out the door, back towards his friends, “If you need me I’ll be at the park.” 

“Why the park?’ 

Luke turned around, one of his signature  mischievous grins fixed on his face. 

"To scout for some more dead birds. Duh,” He winked before poofing out of sight.  

Crap . 

Julie and Flynn had managed to return to her place before it got dark. They greeted her dad and Carlos in the living room. Flynn made a face at the young boy, and Julie all of the sudden remembered that Flynn had told her that the boys found out that Carlos was conspiring with Luke to get back at her. 

She gave her brother a fake smile and he returned it. She made the gesture of ‘I’m watching you’ and he did it to her back. 

Ugh. He wasn’t being creative. 

Then the besties walked up the stairs and went for her room. They opened the door to Alex and Reggie, eagerly waiting for her arrival.

Ignoring the urge to yell at Reggie to get off her bed, Julie noticed the worried looks on their faces. On Reggie more so than Alex even though the blonde was doing his usual anxious pacing. 

“Guys, what are you doing here?” 

Alex clapped his hands together, bringing them to his lips, still migrating from one end of the room to the other, “Luke’s gonna bring the hammer down on us once this is all over.” 

Julie set her bag down as her and Flynn reached the boys, “Wait, so you guys-”

“Are still with you. Yes,” Reggie said, though something in his voice felt wrong. He wasn’t present. Not mentally, even though he had responded to her. 

Julie was honestly so touched that the boys were sticking this through with her. There was a part of her that figured that given their history Luke would manage to win them over back to his side.

But that meant she was dragging them down with her if this all went sideways. She didn’t want to be the reason why there was a riff in their friendship. 

Flynn eyed Alex, suspiciously, “This could be a trick.” 

“Would I be faking this level of panic, Flynn?” 

The pacing and the slight tremor in his voice seemed to check out because Flynn was ready to start discussions on Phase 2, “Now what?” 

Julie was about to start, but she couldn’t help but take concerned glances at the bassist, who seemed to be the only one not actively paying attention to her. Something was up. 

Reggie would be the first one to get this conversation going, him being the most enthusiastic about their plan. Now he was sitting there quietly, as if he was trying to disappear from their little meeting. 

“Um… Flynn, maybe you and Alex should take a walk around the house,” she whispered. 

Her bestie was confused until Julie kept nodding her head at Reggie slumped on her bed. 

“Since I’m nearby, you could still see Alex and talk to him. Just make sure you’re out of sight from my dad in the living room. Looks like Alex could use the mileage for his pacing,” 

She swore she heard the drummer muttering something about ‘birds’ as he went along. Yeah. A bit of fresh air would do him some good. 

Flynn nodded then went to follow Alex’s pacing pattern, “Hey would you rather do this outside with me?” 

Alex then saw Julie approach Reggie and sat beside him on the bed and he got the message.

Reggie hadn’t really been the same since Luke had asked them to switch sides, since Reggie's sudden outburst at Luke.They had been waiting in Julie’s room afterwards but he wasn’t able to get more than a single word response out of him…

“Uh. Yeah. Yeah definitely,” He followed Flynn to the door, “Oh hey, just curious. Why weren’t you fazed by Luke being shirtless?” 

Flynn opened the door for them, “Oh right. Let’s just say… he’s not my type . You know?” 

Alex grinned, catching on, “Ah. I knew there was a reason why I like you.” 

Flynn rolled her eyes and the two left the room. 

Julie waited a moment before trying to talk to Reggie, just to ease him into asking what was wrong. 

“Hey,” 

Reggie faced her, trying to smile to his fullest but failing, “Hey.” 

“Are you good?”

“Yeah. Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” 

Julie tilted her head, channeling the look her mom would give her when she was obviously lying to her face, “Reggie, something’s on your mind. Clearly,” 

Reggie scoffed, “That’d be a first, wouldn’t it?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Julie, be honest. I’m an idiot. I mess things up,” 

She shook her head, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, “You are not an idiot, Reggie. What brought this on?” 

He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply, “It’s just… I know that I’m not really fast on the uptake. And sometimes, I do things that make it harder for us, harder for you, Julie.” 

Julie wondered if he was talking about the time when he had wanted to talk to her dad, the event that kickstarted the awkward, impromptu video call. Well yeah, it had brought on challenges.

But she didn’t bring it up again after that incident. She knew how connecting with her dad meant to Reggie. She wouldn’t want to shame him for that. 

“When Luke kicked us out, and we figured out he knew about the plan. Alex thought I had done something… I mean, I wouldn’t blame him. I’ve let things slip before, but…” 

“It still hurt,” Julie nodded, understanding, “To be the one they blame when things go wrong.” 

“Yeah,” Reggie rubbed his palms together, fidgeting, “You should have seen Luke in there at the studio, really trying to convince me to join him. He didn’t waste time with Alex. He focused on me because I’m the weak link, using ‘Home is Where My Horse Is’ to get me to betray you…” 

Julie wanted to punch Luke for that move. What a low blow. Julie could see why Reggie was upset. He was sick of not being taken seriously in the group, and with Luke bribing him with the song that Reggie had poured his heart and soul into, the same one that Luke wouldn’t even give a second glance otherwise- it felt like a slap to the face. 

“Reggie,” she said gently, “Have you told the guys that you felt this way?” 

He shook his head, “I know they don’t mean to do that, but-” 

“But nothing. It doesn’t matter if they didn’t mean to, it still stings,” 

“Maybe. One day I will. It’s just… even though I told Luke that I was on your side. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to be involved. I’m gonna let something slip, or he’s gonna try to bribe me again and I don’t know if I’m going to be strong enough to say no,” 

Julie smiled sadly before pulling Reggie into a hug. 

“We still need you, Reggie. You’ve contributed so much. The beanie idea, the whole thing with Carlos. You’re a huge part of the operation.” 

“Really?” he mumbled into her shoulder. 

“Totally,” 

They broke the hug and Julie went to fix the wayward collar of his flannel. It must have gotten messed up during their embrace. It was right then, that Julie had an epiphany. 

The past hour and a half, Julie had been formulating a plan. She knew that she would need to do something different, some new things that Luke would not be able to anticipate. He would probably think she was going to keep going about it like she did before.

But this had to to evolve into something bigger than just Luke’s clothes, but that meant that her preferred reaction was not guaranteed. 

This could end up being a disaster and that would only give Luke more ammunition over her. He would never let her live it down. 

But she had to try. 

She looked at Reggie, her face brightening, “Reggie, you definitely need to be a part of the plan for tomorrow.” 

“Huh, why?” 

“You play an important part in the beginning,” 

“Oh. Wow. Okay,” Reggie nodded, his enthusiasm slowly returning, “That’s cool. What do you need me to do, boss?” 

“First thing, I need you to do is-” Julie got interrupted by a notification on her phone. She took it out of her pocket and read the message. She groaned. 

Reggie peered over, “What’s wrong?” 

“Oh nothing,” Julie waved off, “It’s just something about dance class,” 

“From school?” 

“No, it’s this Latin dance class that I take,” she explained, “We’ve been on break for a month but I just got word that we need to learn a dance before our next class coming up soon.” 

“Woah, that’s cool. Didn’t know you did that.” 

Julie shrugged. She had been doing it for years now. Her dad had gotten her into it. She had been nervous at first because a lot of it was partner dancing and some of it required getting a bit too close and personal. 

But overtime she had gotten more confident in her dancing abilities and she ended up really enjoying the classes. It really made her feel connected to her Puerto-Rican roots. 

“Yeah, that’s something I’ll figure out tomorrow. But right now, we got to plan,” 

Luke had gotten up really early the next morning, just wanting to see what Julie had thought up this time around. 

He had spent most of last night just trying to get away from Alex and Reggie. It wasn’t like he was mad at them, even though it was conveyed that way.

They were all still friends, but it was still a weird feeling having them choose Julie over him, the guy they have known since forever. 

It should have worried him though. He had tried to get them on his side the other day only to have it backfire in his face. Those two were so confident in Julie’s skills that even with the threat of getting just as bad of a pranking, they still sided with her. 

But nah. He was pretty sure that nothing was going to top what he did the other day. Julie had gotten so flustered the other day, he was already calling an early win. 

And now that he knew what to expect, just Julie wearing some sort of article of clothing of his, then he could be better at controlling his reaction. There was only so much Julie could do with his clothes. 

He waited until Ray had gone off to work before setting up shop in the kitchen. He sat on the island while trying to attempt to eat an apple from the fruit bowl. No progress so far, but he held on hope. 

Soon, the other guys joined him. Both trying their luck with breakfast. Alex had been able to peel an orange but just couldn’t seem to get it in his mouth. Reggie frowned at his own apple, trying to see if he could even throw the peels into his mouth… nothing. 

“Mornin’ fellas,” Luke greeted. 

The boys hummed, not really giving him a worded response. 

“C’mon, I’m not mad at you guys” he nudged Alex and Reggie, “Just sad that you wouldn’t partake in the fun.”

Alex, always the mediator, was the first to speak, “We really shouldn’t let this prank war get in between us, alright?” 

“Exactly,” Luke couldn’t agree with him more. 

Reggie slowly nodded, “I mean, we should establish some ground rules.” 

“How about we go on normally in between pranks, okay?” Alex proposed, “And during that time, no one from either side should ask about the pranks the other side is planning.” 

“No eavesdropping on the other team,” Reggie suggested. 

The boys kept making noises of agreement. The rules were pretty solid. Hopefully, the people partaking would be just as willing to follow them. 

Luke made note of the time. It was nearly time for Julie to come down the stairs, already dressed for school, to eat her breakfast and leave. 

He strutted over to the fridge, not too stressed about what Julie had in store for him.

He decided to go for a drink of orange juice. Another doomed attempt but maybe it would take this time. He had a good feeling. 

“Alright, I bet that Julie is gonna walk down the stairs, wearing my flannel that I gave her the night of the concert. I know she still has it,” he speculated while retrieving the pitcher from the fridge. 

“The orangey brown one, right?” Alex asked. 

“That very one,” he shook his head, laughing, already thinking about the look on Julie’s face when she sees him barely reacting to her outfit choice for the day. 

He could still appreciate how she looks because yeah, Julie was still going to dress nice and he would still think she was cute in whatever she would wear anyway. But it wouldn’t be any different than how he would react on any other day prior to last week. 

“I don’t know, Luke,” Reggie voiced his wariness, “She could have grabbed something else of yours to wear.” 

Luke picked out a glass from the cabinet and set it down on the island. He poured himself some juice, “Nah, I’m sure of it,” 

They heard footsteps. 

“Oooh, here she comes. Just watch,” 

Luke raised the glass to the lips just as Julie’s hair became visible above the stairs.

It must have been his lucky day because he could actually feel the juice in his mouth- it was holding. He was straining to find the taste, but it was still a win. 

But then Julie emerged from around the staircase. 

“Oh, hey. Morning, guys!” 

Luke took one look at her, ready to behold his baggy orange flannel, ready to make a snarky comment as soon as he swallowed the juice. 

But that was not the case. 

His brows shot up, his eyes widened at the sight of Julie, and with the shock he ended up spewing the orange juice out of his mouth and onto the kitchen.

What the hell?!

He wasn’t sure if that was his inner monologue screaming in his head or Julie saying it due to the big mess that he had made in the kitchen. 

Juice dripping down his chin, he could hear the boys laughing at his expense. Reggie, more than Alex. It made sense. 

Because Julie wore a flannel today alright. But just not orange. 

But just not his. 

She tied the red flannel around her waist and scrunched up the sleeves of the leather jacket she was wearing up to her elbows all while assessing the damage Luke’s spit take did on the counter tops. 

Luke couldn't believe it.

Julie was wearing Reggie’s clothes. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 12 'Operation: Reggie'

Julie, hip cocked and glaring, was annoyed. She pointed at the mess, “Are you going to clean that up?” 

“Right, right!” 

Luke scurried to the sink for the paper towels and started blotting up the orange juice on the kitchen island. He certainly didn’t bring enough sheets and he grimaced at how sticky his hands had gotten. Luckily, the splatters on the floor didn’t need much paper towel. 

He looked back at the boys, who were still laughing their heads off at the sight of him on his hands and knees wiping down the floor.

Alex, grinning stupidly, glanced between him and Julie, and then mimed something with his hand- a sort of throwing motion before pulling back. 

When he realized that it was meant to resemble a whip, he scowled at the blonde. 

Very funny. 

And then he dared to watch Reggie. 

His friend had the audacity to pretend to be surprised once Julie made her grand entrance, but now he was practically radiating looking at Julie wearing his signature jacket and flannel, directing a nod of approval her way. 

Luke couldn’t believe he didn’t see it coming. Julie wasn’t bluffing- she did have some tricks up her sleeve. But never in a million years would he have anticipated her switching gears and wearing Reggie’s things, like why?

From his view on the ground, he kept looking up at Julie, who after commanding him to clean, didn’t pay him any mind, instead going over to greet and hug the boys. And if his mind was playing tricks on him, he swore she had lingered a little too long when embracing Reggie. 

Luke brought himself up from the floor, after effectively cleaning up his mess. He returned to the kitchen island where the others were, leaning against the counter with his palms outstretched slightly. They were still sticky. 

He pursed his lips, nodding at Julie’s attire. 

“Nice… uh, flannel you got there.” he mentioned the piece of clothing tied around her waist much like how its original owner would.  

The girl had been chatting with Reggie when she received the compliment. She reared her head back as if she finally noticed his presence there behind her. 

Julie grinned, picking up the sleeves dangling off her waist in a sort of mock-curtsey, “Oh why thank you, Luke.” 

That would have been real cute any other day, but Luke wasn’t having it. He remained nonchalant though, not wanting to alert Julie to his utter discomfort. 

“Yeah. It’s real cool and all,” he scratched his head with the back of his hand, “Interesting choice though. Out of all the other flannels that you have in your closet.” 

“Not really much of a decision,” 

“Huh, you don’t think there’s another flannel you could be wearing?” Luke pressed, obviously talking about his, the one she still had in her possession. The one that would have definitely given him butterflies if she had worn it today. 

He could picture the loose fitting shirt barely resting on her body over the tank top she was wearing currently, eventually slipping off the slope of one shoulder. He could see himself restraining from lightly drumming against the exposed skin, relishing in the warmth her touch always gave him. 

Her hands would be disappearing in the sleeves, making him want to scoop her up in his arms because she would look so damn precious for him to not be close to her. The orange would have complimented her skin much better...   

Julie puckered her lips and tilted her head, pretending to think about it. “Nah. I think I look better in this one.” 

Her eyes contracted to give him a mean, vexing stare. That and her smile made a killer combo that had Luke clench his jaw. It was getting increasingly difficult to keep up with this fake courteous smile.

He could feel the inner corners of his eyebrows sink, ready to full on glower the moment Julie would spin around and walk out the door. 

Reggie piped up, “Red definitely suits you, Julie.” 

“Aww thank you,” She retrieved her backpack from the dining room table, “But as much as I would love to stay and watch you guys try to eat, I gotta book it to school soon,”

She was drawn back to Reggie, leaning over and swiping his unfinished apple, “I’ll have that.” 

Reggie didn’t protest when Julie took a bite, just giving her a fond expression.  

They were sharing food now too?  

“Are we still on after school?” The bassist asked Julie. 

“Totally! We got a lot to work on in so little time,” 

Luke straightened up, “On what?”

“Julie has agreed to help with the arrangement for ‘Home is Where my Horse is’,” Reggie filled him in. 

Alex groaned, as if he had known already but realizing he couldn’t participate, “I totally would lend my beats, man. But I got my thing with Willie today.”

“Only piano and banjo then?” It didn’t seem like a viable ensemble for recording a song, but Julie and Reggie didn’t find an issue with this. 

“Flynn has been teaching me how to use GarageBand. We’ll be fine,” Julie supplied. 

Luke scrunched his nose. Am I supposed to know what that is?  

She already had a garage band: him and the guys! 

This whole thing was not sitting well with him. Julie was going out of her way to help Reggie record his country song?

Well, there were no limits to the girl’s generosity, but it was so deliberately part of Julie’s plan, isn’t it? Especially with this coming right after Luke trying to bribe Reggie to join his side using the same song. 

And Luke definitely did not miss the lack of an invitation for him to join in. Nope. He was pretty sure he was being pushed out for a reason. 

“Yo...Orange,” he could hear Alex mumble. 

“You’re right, Alex! I think Julie would be better suited with something orange”, Luke couldn’t help but let out, his bitterness now on full display.

Maybe like a certain orange flannel? Or a certain orange beanie for instance… 

“No, bro,” Alex’s words were muffled, “Orange!” 

Luke pivoted on his heel, wondering what got Alex all excited. He was completely floored from what he was witnessing. 

Alex was chewing on his orange slice. And swallowing it. 

“You can eat?”, gawked Reggie, “You’re totally eating right now!” 

“I know!” The blonde giggled before devouring the rest of the fruit.

Luke and Reggie exchanged an expression, and they immediately dug into the bowl of fruit and, to their glee, they were able to copy Alex’s success. 

Meanwhile, Julie blinked repeatedly, trying to rationalize why this was happening at all. Luke didn’t question it, especially when he munched on his apple, savoring the sweetness. 

“You guys are definitely changing as ghosts,” as all she could surmise, as if that hadn’t been what was happening for the past few weeks now.

The boys tried to respond but their mouths were stuffed with food that it wouldn’t have come out clearly anyway. 

Alex swallowed, punching his chest to make sure he didn’t choke. Could they even choke? 

“Maybe it’s because Julie’s in the same room. I mean, we’ve weren’t visible to Flynn unless you were in the room,” 

“Yo, could you please stick around then, Julie? Please?” Luke winked at the boys, “Spaghetti leftovers anyone?” 

“B-But-” Reggie wiped his mouth with his sleeve, “You don’t even need to be in the same room as us for us to be visible. Look at video calling your dad in the garage with you still in the kitchen for instance. And Alex walking around the house while you and I were in your room last night...” he listed off examples. 

Luke coughed, a piece of apple getting caught in his throat. 

Reggie was where last night? 

Luckily, nobody noticed him slip up, all too busy trying to figure this out. But he was going to ask about that later...

“Well, that’s different. I guess, eating requires more… effort? More power?” Julie did her best trying to figure out why the boys can suddenly eat.

She would have investigated further if Flynn wasn’t blowing up her phone it seemed, probably wondering where she was. 

“I’m happy you guys can eat, or at least while I’m around, but I need to go,” 

The boys dropped their fruit and went to give a last hug to Julie before she left. Luke had his arms wide open for his turn but Julie’s face contorted in disgust at his hands.

“They’re still sticky, aren’t they?” 

He sighed. She probably didn’t want to ruin Reggie’s jacket, he thought, frowning.

So they settled for an elbow bump, which soured Luke’s mood. And right after getting so stoked about being able to eat without bargaining their souls to an evil magician too.  

Julie made her exit. 

“Wow!” Alex exclaimed, tossing the remnants of his orange into the trash since there was no use in finishing without Julie there, “First, I get to watch Luke projectile spit juice in front of Julie. And I get to eat?”

He brought his hands to his head, reclining against the kitchen cabinets, “I feel double blessed today!”

Luke huffed and brushed past the other two to wash the stickiness off his hands. It didn’t take long for Reggie to slide in next to him. 

“You’re awfully quiet, Luke,” 

The guitarist had to repress a scoff upon hearing his friend repeat his words from yesterday, and with the same needling tone in his voice no doubt. 

Luke was currently working the soap into his hands aggressively without sparing a peek at Reggie, “It’s not gonna work, you know. The spit was a one-off.” 

His friend hummed, not buying it, “Sure, it is.” 

Then Reggie clapped his shoulder with such force that it nearly sent him tumbling forward,  “Now, if you don’t mind. I got a banjo to break in.” 

He heard him poof out, and Luke quickly wiped his hands with the nearest dish towel before chucking it at the counter in fit of frustration. 

Alex whistled at the display, “Oh, this is interesting.” 

“What?” 

Alex came from behind and rested his hands on the other ghost’s shoulders, a stark contrast to Reggie’s rough touch moments ago. 

“I love you, Luke. But everything heading your way is well deserved,” And with that Alex waltzed out of the kitchen. 

He called out after the drummer, “Which is?” 

Alex circled back, bringing a finger to his lips, “Rule number 2.” he said with a smirk before leaving the house altogether. 

Right. Luke mentally grumbled to himself, No asking about the prank...

For the rest of the week, Luke couldn’t go anywhere in the house without seeing Reggie and Julie together. 

He thought this was gonna be for the day. That she was going to wear Reggie’s clothes once and would help with ‘Home is Where My Horse is’ and be done with it.

But oh no, they were constantly by each other’s side while Julie continued to do both of those things. 

Whenever they would rehearse now, Julie would pull Reggie aside, wearing his leather jacket no less, and would always show him whatever piece of pop culture that he thought he may be interested in.

She would do that for all of them, with Julie having to be the one to introduce a group called ‘Destiny’s Child’ to Alex earlier this month (Now Luke had ‘Bills, Bills, Bills’ stuck in his head courtesy of their beloved drummer. It was catchy, not gonna lie). 

But this week had been exclusively Reggie’s lessons in modern day television. Luke was displeased to discover that Julie shared Reggie’s interest in cartoons (oh sorry “animated masterpieces” as he had been previously corrected). 

He had stumbled upon them on more than one occasion curled up on the couch in the living room, on nights when Ray had tucked in early of course, taking turns watching each others’ favorites. 

“Can’t believe they turned Legos into a movie!” he had heard Reggie’s voice, clearly ecstatic by the graphics of the film. Luke may or may not have been peeking from the doorway spying on the two on one of these nights.  

“Wait till you see the Lego Batman movie. Best Batman movie in my opinion. Oooh, check this out,”

Julie had scooted over to show Reggie something on her phone, Luke couldn’t see what was on her screen but it amused the two so much that they were falling over themselves in laughter. 

Luke hadn’t remembered gripping the entryway as hard as Carlos claimed, the boy having observed him pitifully from his spot in the kitchen and shaking his head at him.

But he did remember zeroing on the TV with such disdain that he had surprised himself when the room went dark- the screen having powered down. By itself. Well… not really. 

Carlos gaped at him, “Did you just-?” 

“Run!” he had hissed at the kid and they bounded for the stairs before Reggie and Julie could figure out what exactly had interrupted their movie night. 

That had not been his proudest moment. 

And not only were Julie and Reggie watching things together, they were cooking together. 

Before they died, Reggie had been pretty skilled in the kitchen.

The bassist had been a saving grace whenever there seemed to be nothing to eat at home after a particular grueling rehearsal. But he always knew what to make out of virtually nothing, and the results were always tasty. 

He and Alex had sprinted into the kitchen when they had caught a whiff of something delicious. They had found platefuls of lasagna already out on the table and Julie and Reggie donning matching aprons, goofing around while cleaning up their supplies. 

Luke would have definitely said something if it weren’t for the food, but he had to sit through an entire dinner with Julie and Reggie huddled over on their side of the table, exchanging private jokes that went over his and Alex’s heads. At least Alex didn’t mind, watching the scene in amusement.

When Julie had gotten up to get dessert for them, Luke jumped in and volunteered to get it instead.

Alex raised an eyebrow at him as he made sure to circle the table the long way in order to reach the kitchen, squeezing in between Julie’s chair and the wall and placing a stray hand on her shoulders almost protectively before going off and getting dessert. 

It was him trying to pass through. No biggie, he had told himself. It definitely had not been a response to the way Reggie had been interacting with Julie.

Nope.  

And if he had kicked the casual touching up a notch with Julie as of lately, that was just pure coincidence. 

It was when Luke and Alex were washing the dishes that night, which was customary for those who hadn’t toiled over the food, that the blonde had called him out on his recent behavior. 

“It’s pretty genius, actually,” Alex noted while he rinsed the first few dishes and passing it off to Luke, “Reggie and Julie put you in a bit of a tough spot, haven’t they?” 

Luke was well aware. 

It was no secret amongst the group that Luke was a strict follower of the Bro Code.

Although they all hadn’t shown much of that solidarity yesterday, with Luke threatening to prank the hell out of them and with the other two choosing Julie’s side over his, he was a firm believer that nothing came before the band, so therefore nothing came before his friends- his brothers .

Not even girls. 

Back when they were alive, during the rare moments where both Luke and Reggie had their sights set on the same girl, Luke was the first to step aside, would never dream of pursuing someone Reggie liked. This in turn would have Reggie do the same thing and no one ends up with the girl. And it never bothered them. 

Like Reggie had said to Julie once, they always had each other. 

Jealousy never seemed to be something he could feel around Alex or Reggie. But watching Reggie and Julie for the past few days, getting all close- it stirred up some ugly feelings inside.

Ugly feelings that he had hoped to never fully act on because the other guy was none other than Reggie. 

Luke didn’t respond, drying the dishes with a towel. He pretended to be more focused on trying to scratch off a stubborn morsel of cheese on the plate.

Alex kept going, “It would have been easier if it had been any other guy, right? Easier to get petty and nasty if it was someone like, Nick, for instance. But oh no… it had to be one of your best buds.” 

Luke wasn’t dumb, he knew Alex was getting into his head. He was clearly lording over him the fact that he couldn’t act on his instincts- the harsh teasing, the childish but spiteful tricks- because Reggie was one of their own.

He would have definitely wedged himself between them on the couch during their watch sessions and would have been really obnoxious. 

But he couldn’t. Reggie would anticipate these tricks as well and it would just give those two the satisfaction of him playing right into their hands. 

If it had been some classmate at Julie’s school or some nameless musician at their showcase, then it would have been a different story. 

And it was making him crazy. 

“I’m not jealous of Reggie, alright!” 

“Then, why don’t you want them hanging out?” 

“They can hang out. I’m not stopping them,” Luke shook his head, “And Reggie wouldn’t… he wouldn’t-” 

“Wouldn’t what?” his friend set down a bowl in the sink to face him, “Betray you? That’s kind of hypocritical of you don’t you think?”  

“Got something to share, Alex?”

“You were kind of a jerk on Monday,” the blonde told him, bluntly, “Doing what you did with Reggie’s song? The only reason you would think about recording it is to get him on your side in this prank war, and not because you actually like the song. The song he poured his heart into.” 

Luke let the towel lose as he processed what Alex had just said. 

He hadn’t even considered what really made Reggie snap yesterday, and hearing it from Alex put it in perspective for him. 

Now he imagined what it had been like if it had been him.

He worked hard on all of his songs, and to have someone dangling to promise of having his melodies realized to get him to jump through hoops would be so degrading. Insulting. Especially if it was made to betray his friends. 

And he had done all that to Reggie. 

After the whole Bobby thing, he should have known better than anybody how each song was precious and how any business involving songs was super personal.

But he had been so narrow sighted- his main goal nowadays was to try and get back at Julie- and that made him less of the good friend that he was supposed to be for Reggie.  

“Crap,” Luke said, hanging his head down, “I did do that…” 

“Yeah, so don’t blame him for wanting to hang out with someone that indulges in his interests rather than shooting them down.”

He dug his face into his hands, “I messed up big time.” 

“Yeah, you did,” 

“And here I am just letting myself get carried away because I’ve been so paranoid with this whole prank thing going on.” 

“Yeah. The prank,” Alex said before turning away from him suddenly, returning to the task at hand. 

He thought it would be best to not tell Luke that most of what Julie and Reggie had been doing had not been part of any prank at all… 

Julie and Reggie had occupied the living room after dinner. 

They were currently huddled together on the couch, sharing earbuds as they listened to their latest cut of ‘Home is Where My Horse Is’.

They had been in the middle of watching Thundercats on the TV (Reggie’s pick) when Julie had remembered to do a final listen of the song before they really polished the track tomorrow. 

Julie had been having a blast with Reggie. 

It was fun yet challenging to work on a song in a genre that had not been her wheelhouse. Although, she was a Swiftie, so she felt that had contributed to her overall excitement for tackling this song. 

It had originally been part of her plan to get back at Luke because what a dent to his ego when he got replaced as both her fashion inspiration and writing partner, but Julie was honestly having a good time. 

She had learned so much about Reggie this week and was surprised that they had a lot of stuff in common and he made a very lively watching partner.

Normally she would watch stuff with Flynn, but her bestie never really got into her love for animated media and they always opted to watch more rom-coms rather than something like Treasure Planet or Spongebob. 

But Reggie was down for anything involving animation, and it was so cool to watch some of the classics with him too. Reggie had been offended when she had referred to them as such because to him they had been on the air only yesterday.

But it would bring her such childish joy whenever she would bring up 'vintage' or 'classic' around him nowadays...  

And the cooking had surprised her. No wonder why Reggie had been so interested in learning her dad’s ribs recipe and the whole French Dip thing, he was genuinely a chef at heart.

They thought it would have been fun to surprise the boys with lasagna tonight to kind of celebrate them being able to enjoy such a meal now. 

It had been quite the week, that was for sure. 

Once the song came to a close and after volleying ideas back and forth on how to improve it, Reggie sank into the couch, watching the action on the screen but kept peering over as if he could see Luke and Alex in the kitchen from all the way over in the living room. 

“Hey Julie,” he whispered, leaning in, “you never told me the rest of the plan,” 

“Huh?” 

“You just told me to lend you my clothes and we make plans to work on the song. Has this,” he pointed to the TV, “been a part of it?” 

Reggie couldn’t help but feel as if this had all been for show. He really was having a good time with Julie. She was like the sister he never had, and it felt so… rewarding?

Yeah, rewarding to hang out with someone who didn’t shame him for watching cartoons at his age and someone who was super invested in his foray into country music. 

He didn’t want this to stop once they were done pranking Luke. 

It seemed that what he said made Julie sad for a split second, before her features scrunched up, “Oh… that was it. Just the clothes and the song.” 

“What? So, we’re not watching cartoons together to get back at Luke?” 

“No, Reggie,” Julie reached over to give a gentle squeeze on his knee, smiling at him, “I just like watching these shows with you.”  

Reggie beamed, pleasantly surprised. “Aww. Sweet. I like watching with you too.” 

They heard a rustling noise from near the stairs. Reggie looked and saw Luke trying, and failing, to hide behind the stairwell. The guitarist was particularly focused on Julie’s hand on his knee. 

Reggie found it hilarious, “But try telling him that this isn’t part of the plan.” 

She giggled, entertained by Luke’s conflicted expression. Poor guy was torn from being happy that Reggie was enjoying himself with her and being totally envious that he wasn’t on the receiving end of these casual touches. 

“See, Reggie. You don’t even have to try and you’re still moving this whole operation along,” 

Reggie was lighter than air at this point, both metaphorically and literally since he was a ghost. He really appreciated Julie incorporating him into the plan, and he didn’t even have to do anything but be himself and it really helped. He felt useful by being nothing more than Reggie. 

And he even got a watching buddy, an almost finished song, and a lasagna out of it too. 

“Wanna drive him even more crazy?” He summoned the remote and flipped through choices on the streaming service until he found a new show to watch, “He hates Ren and Stimpy .” 

Reggie picked a very special episode and skipped to the end. Soon, the song ‘Happy Happy Joy Joy’ filled the room. 

Luke was not even trying to be discreet at this point, letting out a long groan at hearing the annoying music, even going as far as banging his head against the wall before poofing out. 

Julie and Reggie completely lost it, doubling over on the couch and grabbing onto each other. 

“I-I half-expected him t-to... turn it off like he did last time,” Julie said in between giggles. 

“I know right!” 

With that Reggie switched it back to Thundercats and they enjoyed being in each other’s company for the rest of the evening. 

Luke had been working up the nerve to go into the studio the next day.

He had spent some time away from the Molina household, trying to figure out the best thing to say to Reggie, but he had lost track of time and ended up poofing back on the driveway hours after Julie was due to be home after school. 

He opened the door quietly and heard the soft sounds of a banjo playing out of a speaker. Luke almost went in but he loitered by the entrance, just listening to the song.

Reggie’s voice filtered through and he could hear the longing in his words, just wanting to be out and free and be himself, but taking comfort that home was wherever his horse was. 

Luke figured that the band was this horse that he was speaking of. Which made what he had done on Monday weigh heavier on his conscience.

He waited until the song was just about over before he could make his presence known. The door swung open and Reggie looked up from the laptop set on top of the piano. 

“Hey,” Luke started. 

Reggie waved back with that signature smile of his. 

He stepped tentatively into the studio, “It’s, uh, sounding pretty good.”  

“Thanks, man,” 

Then Reggie waved him over to the laptop and Luke could see this fancy schmancy program that Julie had been talking about. All these bars that were meant to represent the different sounds- it was fascinating. 

The bassist was clicking through the window, showing Luke all the different components. They were able to add in drums without the assistance of Alex and even managed to add a fiddle or two into the mix.

“All this tech stuff is insane. You could put together a song without even picking up an instrument. Kinda got worried for a second, thought I was gonna get replaced.”

Luke had the same sentiment too. But just not when it came to the music.  

“Look Reg, have I told you… that I’m sorry?”

His friend shifted in his seat so he could look at him clearly, “For what?” 

“You know…” 

Reggie crossed his legs and gripped his chin mockingly, “No, I don’t.” 

Luke laughed, glad to hear Reggie ribbing on him for the first time in almost a week, “For the other day, you dork. I… shouldn’t have used the song to get in your head,” 

He interlocked his hands, nervously carrying on, “I didn’t think it was strong enough for the lineup. But I see you’ve gone out and proven me wrong.” 

“Oh, so you like it now?” 

“Of course. Because it came from you,” 

Reggie cocked his head, “But the lyrics?” 

Luke got silent, but Reggie was looking at him expectantly.  

“Well… I mean…” The guitarist really didn’t want to get into exactly what he thought about the strength of Reggie’s lyrics. He was looking around the room. “Oh, um, where’s Julie?” 

Reggie laughed, not taking offense to Luke’s aversion of the subject, “She’s at her dance class.” 

“Doesn’t that happen during school?”

Luke frowned at the mention of the dance class, the one where she had to dance with that pretty boy Nick. But he didn’t know that it was an after school thing too.  

“Oh she takes this Latin dance class over on Hodge Street. Remember when that used to be a grocery store?” Luke nodded but gestured for Reggie to continue. 

“She was just telling me that she’s been taking these classes since she was, like, 10. And has done a ton of dances like salsa and a whole bunch of stuff I couldn’t remember cuz it was in Spanish. She hasn’t told you about it?” 

“No. She hasn’t mentioned it,” Luke could feel his insecurities getting the better of him.

He scratched the back of his neck, “Since… when have you guys been talking?” 

“Since I’m not too busy pranking her, I actually took the time to get to know more about her,” Reggie smacked Luke on the chest in jest, “You should try it sometime.” 

Luke was up in arms about that, “No way you know more about her than me.” 

“Just because you write songs together doesn’t mean you’re the resident Julie expert,” Reggie crossed his arms, “Who was her first celebrity crush then?” 

Luke blew air out of his mouth, “I don’t know. Slater from Saved by the Bell?” 

“That was like everybody’s celebrity crush, come on. But wrong. It’s Robin,” 

“Like Batman’s sidekick Robin?” 

“Remind me to show you Teen Titans. He’s much cooler there. Trust me,” Reggie said matter-of-factly, now suddenly in the know-how of these new TV shows that Luke had no clue about. 

“But like knowing her celebrity crush doesn’t mean anything,” 

“It may be just one thing, but eventually, if there comes a day that you two, I don’t know, get together, it would help to see if your chemistry goes beyond music.” 

Reggie held his hands up as if to emote, ‘I’m just sayin’ before he slinked back into the side of the garage where their instruments were. 

Huh. 

It occurred to Luke that he had been so busy testing the waters between him and Julie and even going as far as to engage in this intense prank war, that he realized that he didn’t get a lot of one-on-one time with Julie. 

Apart from their heated guitar lesson, he hadn’t been able to talk to her this week. And it was weird getting to know all these new things about her from watching her interact with Reggie and even hearing it from Reggie himself. 

He thought he knew all that he needed to know about Julie. That she was the kind of person who would do anything for her friends- that he respected. And the fact that music was not only her passion but her life- again, he could fully relate.

And of course, that she was effortlessly beautiful that it hurt...

Maybe it was because he had never been in a relationship long enough for him to really get to know all the little things about the other person and doing so was new territory for him. 

Forget about the prank war for a second, he wanted to make things work with Julie, for as long as he was here in the land of the living. Reggie was right, he needed to see if he and Julie were compatible…

But how?

It was now Friday and Julie was passing through the school hallways conversing with Flynn. It had been the first day this week she had gone without wearing anything of Reggie’s which was nice.

Julie loved Reggie, but she could only wear his leather jacket so many times before she missed being able to move her shoulders freely as she would in her typical sweatshirts. 

They got to their lockers right when they were paid a visit by the resident demon herself. 

“Oh great. Someone finally did their laundry,” Carrie quipped, with her Dirty Candy members not far behind her. 

Julie tried her best not to blush at the scrutiny of her outfit.

Everyone had been taking notice of her change in style ever since she had worn Luke’s clothes that one time and the rumor mill had been alive with all the insinuations of Julie’s relationship status.

It was only made worse when she started wearing Reggie’s things. 

Flynn cut in between the two of them, glaring at the blonde, “Don’t listen to her Jules. Someone’s just jealous that you’re able to pull it all off.” 

Carrie looked at Flynn up and down, “As if your style expertise is warranted, Flynn.” 

Julie didn’t have time to spectate the intense stare down between her bestie and her former friend, trying to get her books for her next class. 

Things had been weird between the three of them ever since the night of the Orpheum performance.

Well, yeah Carrie’s comments continued to be a constant fixture of the negative aspects of her school experience, though Julie couldn’t help but notice that they weren’t as deprecating as before. 

Even now, as Carrie made note of her outfit, Julie might have been crazy but it seemed like she was trying to warn her.

Carrie had been the subject of locker talk in previous years when her sexuality had come into question, and if she hadn’t been Trevor Wilson’s daughter she would have gotten more crap about it. 

But still… that was back when Julie and Carrie had been friends and she had witnessed firsthand how those rumors affected her before the girl took it in stride and reclaimed the narrative. 

She turned around, still weirded out how long Carrie and Flynn were still staring each other down. If she squinted, then it almost looked like how she and Luke had been earlier this week. That same fire was in their eyes. 

Carrie pulled her attention away from Flynn and back to Julie, “You better be careful, Julie. Wouldn’t want people to think you’re getting… ‘involved’ with the boys in your band. How unprofessional.” 

With the increasing popularity of her band, people were able to make the connection between the clothes she was wearing and the guys. Now people were asking her when she would start wearing pink and carrying a fanny pack… 

But there it was again. Thinly-veiled advice but with a shot of smack. It was enough to get Flynn and her to question the girl's motives while everyone else around them thought nothing of it. 

“Why? You and Kayla dated,” Flynn called her out on the hypocrisy. 

“It didn’t last long. And that was before we started taking Dirty Candy seriously,” 

Julie thought it was best to step in now that they were running out of time during the passing period.  

“Thanks for your concern, Carrie. But it’s kinda impossible for me to get ‘involved’ with my band seeing as though they live in another country, remember? They’re like thousands of miles away,” 

Then the gaggle of Carrie’s friends let out a gasp and were bracing against each other. A few of them were pointing to something down the hallway behind Julie.

Soon, majority of people in the hallway were reacting the same way, emitting awestruck noises and finding that wing of the school insanely interesting all of the sudden.  

Carrie craned her neck to see, “Uh- huh,” she raised an eyebrow at Julie, “Then who’s that over there?” 

Julie had never swiveled around on her heel so fast in her life. 

You gotta be kidding me.

She had to be dreaming because there was no way that this was happening right now. All she could see was trouble. 

The same trouble who wore orange beanies and cutoffs and was making his way down the hallway to meet her, narrowly dodging the students who tried to reach for him.

But the crowd mostly parted for him, obviously starstruck by the hologram guy that decided to pay a visit to their school. 

Flynn froze next to her which was an indication that she was seeing this too.

“Hey Julie!” 

If they were anywhere else, Julie would have let herself enjoy the way her heart fluttered at the smile Luke was giving her and only her.

But no, she was still terrified.

This was too high profile- everybody knew who he was and no doubt would try to high-five him or ask for an autograph, only to find that he was no more than cute air. 

“Luke!” she said, trying so hard to school her panicked expression, “What are you doing here?” 

The boy reached forward and grasped her hand, “I got something I wanna ask you,”

Then he gave a small wave at Flynn, Carrie, and the rest of Dirty Candy, “If you’d excuse us, ladies.” he said with a dazzling smile, and Julie swore Kayla nearly swooned. 

Then he pulled her aside. 

“But why do you gotta do that here?” Julie could hear the sounds of phone cameras clicking all around them, this was definitely not as private of a conversation as Luke was hoping to have. 

“Uh… it couldn’t wait. And I didn’t wanna ask Carlos to text you this,” 

She was already trying to tug away from his gentle grasp, “I’m gonna be late for class. You’re gonna make all these people late. Whatever it is you can tell me-” 

“Julie, would you want to go out with me later tonight?” 

Her mouth hung open. 

Did he just-? Did he really-?

Luke had just asked her out… 

Chapter Text

Chapter 13 'What If's' 

The first thing Julie did was survey those hazel eyes for any signs of the joke, the smarminess that would have clued into this being part of a prank.

Because this seemed all too perfect with his big entrance, directing everyone’s attention to them, towards her , and getting all clammy-handed by how he had taken her by surprise  and just straight up asked her out in front of half the school. 

She was, undoubtedly, all around embarrassed by the whole ordeal. 

Ignoring the many eyes and cameras probing into their supposedly private conversation, Julie still looked at Luke, who was biting his lower lip and how the edges of his brows were pushing together, waiting anxiously for her reply. 

Her lips parted at what she was witnessing. 

Luke Patterson was nervous. 

Oh my god. This was really happening. This was real. 

She resisted the urge to turn back and shoot a look at Flynn, but that meant revealing her ineptitude to dating in front of Carrie and Dirty Candy too. 

And we couldn’t have that, can we?

Before she could answer, Luke’s inability to stay silent prevailed. 

“I mean, like totally casual. It doesn’t have to be… you know, like a date. If you don’t want it to be,” he tried to salvage, as if coming on too strong was the reason she wasn’t responding so quickly, “But, it’s just you know… I want us to hang out. Just the two of us.” 

Julie arched her eyebrow at the way Luke blew out ‘just the two of us’. Oh how she so badly wanted to bring up her week with Reggie, just to see how Luke would flounder in coming up with any other reason for wanting to spend some time with her. 

But again, people were staring, and she was kept from revealing too much of what occurred at home with her ghost boys. 

But wow. It was finally hitting her- the idea of actually going out on a date with Luke. 

She never thought this could happen even though she was very, very , keen on the idea. 

There were so many factors why they couldn’t, with the obvious being that the guy’s body, in all actuality, was not here in front of her being all cute and nervous, but buried 6 feet under, decomposing as they spoke- and she really, really tried so hard not to think about that too much. 

But that was before all this messiness that was his ghost evolution, that was before they could touch, before he could be seen, and could eat… which meant the reality of going out to dinner and a movie was not far out of reach. 

He was rubbing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb, and it was like he was more real to her in the moment, standing here visible at school.

For a split second, she could imagine a life where Luke was very well alive, where he would have been a student in her grade. And if she could step out of the weirdness that was her life, the energy generated by the spectating student body was similar to those watching a promposal. 

Prom with Luke. That was very much a possibility now, the thought ballooning her insides, her heart floating as she imagined him slipping the corsage on her wrist, pulling her onto the dance floor… maybe sharing a kiss by the end of the magical evening- 

She was brought out of her daydream by the hushed cooing and goading courtesy of her classmates. 

“Say yes! Oh my god,” 

“If she doesn’t, then I will. Damn,” 

“He flew all the way here to ask her out? How romantic!”  

Julie laughed, uneasy. She really wished Luke waited until she got back home or something to do this because this was making it absolutely difficult to say no. 

Not like she wanted to say no in the first place. But the feeling of having dozens of eyes on her didn’t necessarily make it easier to say yes either. 

She tucked her hair behind her ear, “Sooo… casual, right?” 

“Y-yeah. Nothing too fancy. Just gonna keep it chill,” 

“And what...would we be doing?” 

“I thought we would grab a bite to eat. Your choice,” 

“Are you sure about that? Wouldn't you want to show me around your regular haunts?” 

Julie mentally berated herself for yet another ghost-related pun. She really was hanging out with Reggie a lot, wasn’t she? 

“I would. Unless you wanna go to a luxury condo complex where my favorite burger joint used to be, “Then he lowered his voice, “I still don’t know my way around town after all, since I’m Canadian and everything, eh?” 

The mention of their poorly put together cover made Julie giggle, unwittingly creating the illusion that Luke must have said something flirtatious to her in whisper. It didn’t help that the boy wiggled his eyebrows as he did. 

“Hm… would you be on time? I would not like to be kept waiting,” 

This brought out a laugh and shake of his head, although she heard a twinge of guilt filtered in there. 

“I don’t have much of a track record with punctuality, actually.” 

“Yes, timing is definitely something you need to work on,” she pursed her lips in the direction of where the majority of the students were gathered to watch them instead of hurrying along to their class, her included. 

“But for you, Julie, I will be on time. I promise,”

And when he shot her that smile, the one she had gushed over to Flynn time and time again, Julie couldn’t bear to string him along any more with these questions.  

“I guess me and you meet up at the studio at 7:30 then. We’ll walk to the Paper Lantern,” 

Julie’s eyes widened, her own straightforwardness surprised even her as much as it did everyone present. 

Luke’s brows shot up, his smile full on blinding, “That’s a yes?” 

She nodded, barely containing her own excitement with a full on, teeth-baring, laugh, “Yeah, dude.” 

“Yes. Yes? ” Luke whispered, still processing.

The way his voice had grown soft instead of howling out in rejoice made Julie’s heart skip a beat. It only got worse when he pulled her in closer and she had expected a hug, but he merely stared at her, with a look she couldn’t name.

But it gave her the jitters and pushing the limits of her smile. 

The whole hallway seemed to go ‘awww’ once they heard the good news, and Julie thought that that was it. That they should disperse and go off to class like planned so she could relish in the moment properly with Luke, just letting herself get lost in his oh so dreamy hazel eyes… 

But that was when all hell broke loose. 

“Oh my god, do you think he’s here already-?” 

“No, no, no. Luke! Dude!” 

Both Luke and Julie stiffened at the familiar voices echoing through the hall. 

Julie was going to be sent to an early grave because in came running were Alex and Reggie from the other end of the hallway.

The two’s shoes skidded along the tile from rounding the corner at great speed. They  stopped dead in their tracks as everyone’s focus turned to them. 

“For crying out loud,” Julie could hear Flynn growl from ways away. 

Then one of Nick’s lacrosse buddies yelled, “It’s the rest of the Phantoms!" 

The bell decided to ring at this moment. And the crowd finally began to move, the majority of them had broken off and went to their classes, but the rest lingered in the hallway, although not as stationary as they were when watching Luke and Julie. 

All polite pretense that had been reserved for Luke suddenly went out the window at the sight of all three of the boys, sans projector. They surged forward, in the direction of Alex and Reggie, manic screams and squeals filled their ears. 

The two ghost boys clung onto each other, wearing the same scared expressions. Reggie made a staggered step forward but was held back by Alex who shook his head. 

They couldn’t poof out in front of everyone. They were stuck. 

Julie knew what was to happen, and Luke might have gotten an inkling too. Hands still entwined, they booked past  Flynn and the others to get to the rest of the boys before the crowd did.

Julie let go of Luke and she started to usher the boys to the nearest exit before their fans swarmed on them. 

They only made it about a few feet before someone, Julie’s chemistry teacher, popped out from the nearest doorway. 

“Now just where do you think you’re going, Ms. Molina? Class has just started,” 

Julie looked helplessly at the boys, “But, I need to-” 

“Attend class or else risk another attendance infraction?” Damn. Julie knew that her sleeping in at Flynn’s still had repercussions. 

While still under the teacher’s harsh stare, Flynn came up from behind her and hauled her over to their chemistry classroom before Julie could let out an apology at the boys.

But by the time she turned her head, all she saw were the blurred figures of the students chasing after the Phantoms. 

“No running in the hallways! Get back to your class!” Their chemistry teacher called out after the students, “Unbelievable!”

After useless attempts to wrangle up the stream of students, the teacher had to excuse himself to call Principal Lessa to handle the situation. 

Julie bucked under Flynn’s hold as she tried to go back to the hallway, “The guys-” 

They were going to get caught. The moment someone would try to touch them then game over. They were done. She had to help them escape!

“They need to be as far away from you as possible, remember,” Flynn said in a low tone, “Otherwise they’d still be visible, right?” 

Julie had been elated about her date with Luke, now she was insanely worried about the boys.

They couldn’t poof out to get far enough because they were in a school full of people and as long as they were here, they continued to be seen and fawned over by the mass majority of the student body. 

There was still so much that could go wrong- like her principal now getting involved- and she had to clamp her eyes shut from all of her worries bouncing around in her mind throwing her off center. 

“But what if- what if they disappear and people see?” 

“Then those idiots better get out of sight before getting out of sight. How far do you think they need to be before they’re invisible again?” 

Julie remembered hearing Alex say that the moment she had been a good 5 minutes into walking to school when the boys would cease to appear in front of other people. Carlos had been present for this experiment and he had been able to confirm watching the boys slowly fade into nothingness before his eyes. 

“School’s not big, Flynn. They have to be out the door and down the street,” 

Julie knew it wasn’t going to be easy. The boys had no clue where anything was at her school, but they needed to find an exit or go somewhere more secluded to poof out. Fast. 

Her window of opportunity closed when her teacher had returned from calling Principal Lessa and she was forced to take her seat, forced to go about the day like normal.

God help my boys , she prayed before opening her textbook to the assigned pages. 

Because there should only be one thing taking up her thoughts at the moment. Not their secret getting out. Or balancing chemical equations. 

It was what the hell she was going to wear to her evening out with Luke… 

Luke clearly hadn’t been thinking when he thought to go pop by Julie’s school to ask her to a private outing. 

But he had been driving the guys crazy the night before trying to work up the courage to even ask her at all. Alex and Reggie, although supportive, so kindly told him to stop being chicken and do it first thing in the morning. 

Because this was huge. This was Luke making the first step in trying to make something worthwhile with Julie and he didn’t want to mess it up like he had done with other relationships in the past. 

Ever since Reggie had planted the thought of getting to know her in his head, Luke was faced with the horrifying realization that next to music, her family, and his mental catalogue of her almost imperceptible facial expressions and other quirks- he didn’t know a lot about Julie. 

He had figured that they knew all the deep stuff already, sharing the same pain when it came to their moms for instance, that all the little fun facts about each other would come naturally later. 

Newsflash. It did not. 

Reggie was right about another thing too. Luke had been spending so much of his days thinking about Julie, how to get her back, how to get her riled up that he had completely forgotten about actually talking to Julie. An actual conversation, not banter. 

Luke had gotten so wiped out from agonizing over the best way, the best time to ask Julie that he had ended up falling asleep and not waking up until Julie had gone to school. 

Now, he could have done the smart, patient thing and simply wait until Julie had retreated to the privacy of her own home to ask her. 

But he was Luke and he had to get it done before he lost the nerve. He had thrown out all caution to the wind when he waltzed into Los Feliz High School.

He hadn’t cared that people were seeing him, he just needed to find Julie. And when he had, he didn’t pay them any mind when he broke the question. 

And she had said yes. 

She said yes!

A part of him was guilty for putting her in such a compromising position- as if he hadn’t already during their… interesting guitar lesson on Monday. He hoped she didn’t say yes because of their audience. 

But her infectious laugh when he had been slow on the uptake was on repeat in his mind… even when he was on the run from a pack of fans at his heels. 

He and the boys were racing through the hallways with no idea where they were going but just kept trying the least occupied corridors in an attempt to put some distance between them and the students so they could poof out.

But everywhere they went there was some student or teacher hanging about, not counting the kids behind them. 

“Okay… so when I said that I wanted to live like a ‘rockstar’, this was not what I had in mind!” Reggie huffed, his naturally flushed face getting redder the longer they ran. 

Alex shot daggers at Luke, securing his fanny pack to his chest so it didn’t bounce around when they came across the stairs to the second level.

This move didn’t as much deter the students from chasing them still. 

“You just had to, didn’t you, Luke?” the blonde hissed, “What was wrong with a note? A text? No one does anything in person nowadays!” 

Luke howled, feeling the adrenaline from the chase coupled with his pre-date giddiness, “But where was the fun in that?” 

“I hope your few minutes of triumph was worth it!” 

Luke laughed. Didn’t Alex get it? It was Julie. 

Of course it had been worth it. 

“It’s not my fault, you two decided to follow me!” 

“We had good reason!” Reggie yelped as his flannel nearly got caught by a screaming girl. 

“And that is?” 

“You’re you! ” 

The crowd was gaining on them. 

“Get back, you!” Alex warned the mass of students, unzipping his fanny pack. He pulled out granola bars and started chucking it, feeding the sharks, “You wild beasts! Go on. Get!” 

It worked momentarily, the people in front crouched down to retrieve their new Phantom souvenirs, slowing the rest of then down. 

Reggie’s face contorted in disgust, “Those better not be 25 year old snacks!” 

Alex shrugged, throwing in some sugar packets into the mix too. And Luke watched as one hit a dude square in the eye. 

They careened around the corner and Luke, hyped up from the chase, ran to the ledge overlooking the atrium, “Come on!”

And he vaulted over, landing with a resounding bang onto the floor below, alerting his presence to the two campus security guards who proceeded to chase him in circles around the area. 

“Oh hell no!”

Both Alex and Reggie remained on the second floor, but the sound of incoming students spurred the drummer to make a hasty decision and jumped, screaming in the process.

Now he got Guard #2’s attention and joined Luke in skipping onto the tables trying to avoid them. 

Reggie, afraid of heights, gripped onto the railing, wanting to so badly to poof down there if not for the security guards. But the sounds of dozens of footsteps flooded his senses and he realized that there was no time. 

His head snapped to the sea of faces coming around the hallway. His flight-or-fight went berserk and instead of hopping over, he immediately cowered and shut his eyes as the crowd would soon descend upon him.  

“Look!” 

He braced himself. This is it. Goodbye cruel world!

Whoosh. 

Huh? 

Reggie felt the sensation of his body dispersing into the air like a cloud. Then it happened again. And again, repeating in rapid succession that for a second it was like he wasn’t even there, his form never undisturbed long enough to be put back together again. 

They were passing through him, but he could hear no gasps of surprise. 

He cracked an eye open and nearly ghost peed himself once he was face to face with a guy, who clearly did not show signs of distress upon seeing half of Reggie’s body disappearing into his. 

“I’m invisible again?” he jumped back confused.

And sure enough, no one was paying him any mind. At first Reggie thought they were too busy being entertained by the security guards falling over themselves trying to corral Luke and Alex. 

But he waved his hand in front of a student who was filming the scene below with their phone and nothing. 

Luke slid past a security guard, and spun around in time to witness what happened to Reggie. 

“What the-woah!” Luke had to bend over backwards to avoid Officer Grabby Hands. 

“Get over here, kid!” 

“Reggie!” Alex called out, and Reggie was able to slip past the students and head down the stairs. Even when he was right there in front of the security guards, they had paid him no attention. 

Alex, on top of one of the tables, noticed Reggie’s invisibility while very much aware of his own visibility while the guard made a move for his shoes.

“How. are. you. doing. that?” He stressed each word with a skip and ballerina spin to avoid getting caught. 

He was a pretty ok dancer, but this was getting ridiculous. 

“I don’t know!” 

Officer Grabby Hands pressed his mouth against the radio strapped to his shoulder. He was calling reinforcements. 

“Boys, we gotta move!” Luke would sure hate to be caught and reprimanded. He had a date to get ready for, he didn’t have time for this!

Alex leapt in a pseudo- split over Guard #2’s head and landed on the floor, earning a round of whoops and cheers from their fans still on the second floor. The blonde jokingly took a bow before gesturing to Luke and Reggie to follow him down another hallway. 

No sound of jingling keys and radio static followed them into another stairwell, which gave Luke some hope. Maybe they had tired them out. 

They were on a lower level now, still within the school, but it seemed to be void of any classrooms or people. As the boys ran down the hallway, they saw it was more of the recreational rooms, like weights and locker rooms. 

They stopped to take a breather in front of a bobcat mural.

“Coast is clear?” 

Luke craned his head down the hall they had just come out of. No signs of life. 

“Yep,” he answered Alex. 

Now the blonde turned onto Reggie, demanding answers.

“I honestly don’t know what happened, guys. One second I was there and then I wasn’t,” 

“You were invisible again. Even though Julie was still nearby,” 

“I just curled up into a ball and just hoped that no one could see me,” 

“Well it worked,” 

“New ghost power?” 

Reggie nodded,  “No doubt.” 

Luke had to start making a list because all of these new abilities and rules were starting to get jumbled up in his head. But they need to talk about this later. 

“No one’s here. I think it’s safe to-” 

“Safe to what?” 

“AHH!” They all screamed upon hearing the new voice chiming into their conversation. They whirled around and saw, to their horror, Carrie sashaying towards them along with the one girl from Dirty Candy. 

The boys held onto each other as Julie’s rival stopped in front of them, hand on her hip, eyes narrowed.  

“What’s it to you?” Luke sneered at the girl who had been a thorn in Julie’s side for so long. 

The girl diverted her attention to her manicured nails, almost disinterested at the Phantoms’ presence.

“Just curious. You’re trying to leave, aren’t you?” 

The guitarist nodded, not easing up his hostile stare. 

Then Carrie shot a look at the girl next to her, and she opened a nearby door to reveal a utility closet. 

“You might wanna get in there within the next minute or so,” 

“Wha-?” 

“The wrestling team is gonna be coming back from the gym soon,” The other girl explained. 

The boys didn’t budge. 

“Why are you helping us?” Alex asked, suspicious. 

Carrie grinned, “I have my reasons. Now scoot,” she shooed them in the direction of the closet. 

Reggie didn’t need to be told another time, not wanting another run-in with the Los Feliz student body. He scrambled to the doorway, leaning against it as he smiled at Carrie’s friend. 

“Uh, hey. I’m Reggie,” 

The girl combed her hair to the side nervously, reciprocating the smile, “I’m Kayla.” 

“And I’m late for World History!” the blonde demon clapped, “Chop. Chop.” 

“Jealous?” Kayla retorted at which Carrie rubbed her temples. 

“Girl, you can date whatever himbo you want. Even if it is one of Julie’s Phantoms…” 

Alex pushed Reggie into the closet before he could work some of his ‘magic’ on Kayla. 

“Uh… big fan,” he admitted to the girls, rubbing the back of his neck. 

Carrie tossed her hair back, “Why wouldn’t you be?” 

“Because you’re a spoiled brat that keeps messing with Julie,” Luke cut in, glaring at her, “Why should we trust you?” 

“You’ve got no other choice, Sleeveless,” 

She had him there. They couldn’t exactly poof out right now in front of them. 

He stepped into the closet begrudgingly, but before Carrie could close the door she leaned in to whisper something: 

“You, know I’ve always preferred ‘Long Weekend’ to ‘Get Lost’,” 

Luke stared at her dumbfounded. She winked and fluttered her fingers in a farewell, hammering home that she did not expect them to re-emerge from the closet after she had closed the door. 

Once, they were in total darkness and they heard the thundering steps of the wrestling team passing through, Luke grabbed Alex and Reggie’s shoulders tight. 

“We gotta poof now,” 

“But Carrie-” 

“Trust me,” 

He didn’t need to see their faces to know they nodded. And together they got the hell out of Los Feliz High School. 

Hours later, Julie collapsed onto her bed with Flynn belly flopping next to her. 

“Oh my god!” she screamed into her pillow, although muffled. 

The day she had today. 

The pure pandemonium that was lunch and her remaining passing periods. Everyone kept coming up to her asking about the boys, some jokingly scolding her for not telling them that they were going to be paying a visit, just all around prying for more information about her Phantoms. 

The comments from a few girls who had brought up her and Luke and claimed they had ‘totally called it’ were enough to make her eat lunch in the music room instead of the cafeteria. 

Before the end of the day though, she had been called into Principal Lessa’s office to discuss the chaos the boys had created and sternly reminding her that there was protocol for having visitors at school.

She had been let off with a warning, but if she catches the boys coming back here without prior notice that they were all to be reprimanded. 

Julie thought she could leave it all behind at school, but the whole thing wasn't restricted to just Los Feliz. 

Footage of the boys at school circulated online and now everyone in LA knew the Phantoms were in town. The band had a steady following and their Instagram and recently created Twitter was a buzz with their fans’ hypothesizing this sudden band visit. 

She had been a total mess coming home from school, steering clear of the studio as if she wasn’t supposed to see Luke ahead of their set meet up time.

Her attempts at tackling her homework leading up to their date had been laughable, even with Flynn there helping her with Chem. 

Julie had completely given up work by the time 6 rolled around and she was faced with the daunting task of getting ready for her date, not-date- whatever- with Luke, which was mainly why she had invited Flynn over. 

They had gone through every potential outfit choice in her closet but nothing was right. She knew it was casual, but that didn’t mean she had to look like a shlumpy pile of trash. Right?

She was going to be standing next to Luke, who much to his credit, could roll out of bed with the clothes he was wearing the night before and still be attractive. 

Frustrated, she had face planted onto her pillows, hoping for some miracle. 

“Sweetie, you’re gonna mess up your hair,” Flynn gently coaxed her out of her moping and she now sat up in her bed. 

“Flyyyyynnn. What am I going to do?” 

“Look, you’re gonna look amazing in anything, Jules. Trust me. I don’t think the clothes matter right now,” 

Julie let out an exaggerated gasp, “Did you just say that? Fashionista of Los Feliz High?” 

Her bestie shoved her and Julie laughed as she bounced onto the pillows once more. 

“But seriously, Jules. As much I want to be happy for you because I totally am! This is your first date,” 

“Which is why I’m freaking out so much!” 

Julie was extremely nervous because this was all just super new for her. And to have her first date ever be with a ghost? That was just another thing to tack onto her list of worries. 

Instead of dealing with the pressure of keeping up fun conversation and reading body language, she was legitimately concerned that her date would trip and end up falling through a passerby… 

“What if something goes wrong? What if I do that thing where I bit the spoon because Carlos always said that was weird. I mean, I could always just do without and use the chopsticks. Does he even like Chinese food? Oh now that he could eat and digest things, do you think he could still have allergies? I don’t know what foods he’s allergic to-!” 

“Breathe, Julie! Breathe!” 

She obeyed and stopped to inhale and exhale at Flynn’s set pace. 

“Sorry,” 

“No need to apologize,” Flynn fiddled with her fingers, “I don’t think this is something you want to hear right now, but I just have a bad feeling about tonight.” 

“You’re absolutely right. That is something I would very much not want to hear right now,” 

“Hear me out though. Don’t you think it’s a little odd that Luke asked you out so publicly? The way you were getting so flustered with everyone’s eyes on you? Doesn’t that sound a bit like the kind of prank he’s going for?” 

Julie sighed, “The thought did cross my mind. And I was super embarrassed, but I don’t think he’s joking. He was nervous when asking me-” 

“He pretended to be nervous when he pulled you towards his bare, hunky chest though. And it’s supposed to be his turn to get you back. Why couldn’t this be it?” 

Julie really hoped that this was an actual date and not some convoluted plan to get back at her, but she knew Luke well enough to know that this wasn’t something he would do, especially when they were risking a lot to have a fun night out. 

“If it was a prank, then the asking me out and playing hide n seek at school was enough already to get me embarrassed,” 

“True. But still. I don’t want to see you get your heart broken,” 

She smiled and motioned her bestie over so she could give her a big hug, “I know, and I love you for that Flynn. I will be fine.” 

The girl giggled into her braids, “Why you look at that? You don’t seem so nervous about it now.” 

Then Julie’s phone alarm rang. She had 30 minutes left to get ready. 

“Crap!” She shot up from her bed, startling Flynn, “I still need to figure out clothes and makeup!” 

Flynn hummed, rummaging through the pile of clothes on the floor they had already gone through, “Fashionista Flynn is on it.”

She really had to think about this one. 

What do you wear to a date with a ghost from the ‘90s?

She found a simple black dress and inspiration struck. Suddenly, she shoved the garment into Julie’s arms and ordered her to change. 

“Trust me! Pair it with your black combat boots,” And once Julie went into the closet to put on the dress, Flynn sped to the vanity, grabbing a thick, black velvet choker. 

“You sure about this?” She heard Julie from the closet. 

“I would die before I let you leave this house not looking like a snacc!” 

“Are you saying I don’t already look like a snacc?” 

“Girl, please. If you weren’t my best friend, I would have taken you out years ago!” 

Julie laughed, already knowing this, “You can’t handle me.” 

Flynn looked up in time to see Julie walk out in the dress and her jaw dropped. 

“Hell yeah, I can’t handle it. Damn, Julie!” 

Julie rubbed her bare shoulders, feeling self conscious wearing a dress with spaghetti straps, “Really?” 

“Good thing your date is already dead. Because he would absolutely die!” Flynn handed her the accessory, “But you do need one more thing though to tie it all together.”

“This better include a jacket or a cardigan!” 

Flynn smiled, “Oh yeah. Something like that...” 

Unbeknownst to the girls, boys were not having an easier time getting Luke ready for his date either. 

“You are not going out in your cutoffs!” Alex ran around the room, waving around Luke’s Rush shirt, “This is a date! At a restaurant! You’re not going to 7-Elevens!” 

Luke tried to get his shirt back but the drummer had some inches over him and couldn’t leap up to reach it, “But that’s my lucky shirt!” 

“Didn’t you die in that?” Carlos brought up from his place on the couch.

Luke had called the younger Molina over to bring a comb, and to ask him if date etiquette had changed since the ‘90s. 

Reggie had given him a look of disbelief when Carlos came, “The kid’s 12? You think he knows about dates?” 

Said kid scoffed, “I bet I know more than you do, cowboy,”

Alex had instantly liked Carlos again after that, attempting to high-five him despite his ghostliness for the sick burn. 

Luke once again tried for his shirt in Alex’s grasp, but the blonde threw it back up onto the loft. Then Carlos tossed the drummer a garment, to which he passed onto Luke. 

He unfolded it and saw that it was a simple short sleeved denim button up. 

“Dad’s old shirt. He wouldn’t miss it,” Carlos clarified. 

Reggie tsked, sitting next to the kid, “Is that, like, a major date faux pas though? Wearing her dad’s clothes?” 

The shirt burned in his hands and Luke tried to give it back to Alex, “He’s right. That’s too weird!” 

“But you have no time!” 

“I got time!” Luke flipped off the cap to his cologne, that had been conveniently stored away with the rest of their things in the loft and spritzed it all over his body, “You’re acting like I haven’t been on a date before.” 

“Well you haven’t been. On a good date that is,” Reggie leaned over to Carlos, “Wanna hear the stories?” 

“He does not!” Luke interrupted before Carlos could say anything.

“Oh yeah. Remember Catherine?” Alex brought up which caused everyone but Carlos to wince. 

“What happened?” 

Reggie clapped his hands together “We will tell you all about it after we finish up your video tonight.” 

Right, since Julie was gonna be out of the house Carlos and Reggie were gonna get a jump on their ghost videos for Youtube, with Alex supervising both of them. 

Alex forced Luke to take the shirt in his hands, “Sorry. We know how much tonight means to you. And we really want it to go well too.” 

It was at his friend’s gentle tone that had Luke sigh. 

“What if I mess this up?” 

“Well… you can’t really die from the mortification,” Luke glared at him, “ But you won’t. Mess up that is. Because it’s you and Julie. This is just a formality. You guys have chemistry. I’m sure it will translate.” 

He nodded, clapping Alex on the shoulder. He seemed to always know what to say to calm him down. He decided to put on Ray’s shirt.  

Luke couldn’t help but feel that there was just a lot riding on tonight. If things went well, then maybe… maybe he and Julie could move past this ‘will they/ won’t they’ business and be more definitive to what their relationship was.

But if they didn’t, then the band dynamic would suffer because of it, and music was super important. To both of them. 

He came out of the bathroom after changing into his date attire, having combed his hair so it wasn’t too over the place and he was met by endearing gasps from Alex and Reggie. 

“Dude! You look amazing!” 

“Hubba hubba,” 

Luke laughed, actually not minding this change in style. He had looked over himself in the bathroom mirror and was pleased with the results. 

“Should I give a little twirl?” 

“Twirl, baby!” Reggie hollered, hands cupping around his mouth while Alex made the spinning motion with his finger. 

The guitarist complied and spun around on his heel, slowly giving them a show. This earned wolf whistles and appreciative whoops from his boys and an eye roll from Carlos. 

Luke gave a shy wave, “Stop it! You’re making me blush.” 

“Okay,” Reggie got all serious, “You better have her home at a reasonable time, young man.” 

Luke appreciated his friend’s concern over Julie. By now he had realized that what Reggie felt for her was nothing more than how an older brother would be towards his sister. 

“I will,” he promised. 

"And no funny business?" 

"Dude!" 

"That's not a 'no'," Reggie continued, egged on by Carlos. Some serious brother vibes coming from that side of the room. They really enjoyed being protective of Julie if it meant embarrassing Luke too.

Luke ducked his head, feeling his face heat up. He didn't want to give those two any more ammunition against him.  

“You’re paying right?” 

Luke lifted his wallet hanging off his jean chain, “Hopefully it’s not ghost money. But, apparently there’s no shame in the girl paying too. Right?” He directed this at Carlos. 

“Right," the boy confirmed, "And you better bring me back some dumplings. You owe me for my services."

Alex grimaced, “But still man, we need to get our funds together. Maybe get new clothes that didn’t become moth chow during the past 25 years.”

Reggie peered over at Carlos’ tablet, “It’s time! It’s time!” 

“Guys, should I just go knock on her door? I know she said she wanted to meet here, but don't you think it's more gentleman-y to go to the house? But what if Ray answers it, then I’d have to explain myself and I don’t know what Julie would want me to say. Did she tell him that she was going out tonight? Oh man, he’s gonna noticed the shirt-” 

“Luke! Breathe!” Everyone cried out and he immediately obeyed. 

“Sorry. First date in 25 years,” 

Then, they heard a knock on the studio doors, and Flynn opened it slightly. She popped her head in, “Is lover boy ready?” 

“Yes,” 

Flynn nodded in approval at his attire which was a huge compliment for Luke, “You clean up nice.” 

“Thanks, Flynn. But, uh, Juile-?” 

“Porch swing,” 

“Whew. Ok,” He hopped around, psyching himself up. Waving a goodbye at the guys, he phased through the doors and started heading in the direction of the swing when Flynn abruptly inserted herself in front of him. 

“If I find out this date is anything but… Nothing, and I mean nothing , will protect you from my wrath. Got it?” 

Luke gulped, “Understood.” 

“Good,” Then she walked back into the house. 

Yeah. Flynn definitely scared him. And he wouldn’t wish to do anything to get on her bad side… 

But she would have nothing to worry about. He fully intended to make this a special night for him and Julie. 

He approached the side of the house where the porch swing was, where he and Julie had their conversation the night before their last concert, where their hands met on the neck of his guitar, where he had bid her sweet dreams only for him to see her in his dreams later that night. 

Luke’s hands were balled up into fists as he tried to quell his nerves. 

Come on, you got this!

“Julie?” he called out before she was in clear view. 

“Over here,” 

His feet went on autopilot, like it usually did whenever he heard Julie- always drawn to the music that was her voice. And when he finally got close enough to see her, underneath the garden lamp post light, Luke held his breath. 

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. He could only see. 

And what he saw was absolutely beautiful. 

Julie stood there in the thick of the overgrown plants, almost looking like a flower herself but twice as radiant. She had her hair up in a high bun which drew Luke’s attention to her hoop earrings and the choker first which was so ‘90s. 

But the wave of nostalgia didn’t end there, oh no.

She was wearing a tight black dress that ended just above her knee and on top, a few sizes too big was his flannel, the one he had given to her to keep her warm, the one he wanted her to wear at the start of this week. 

His imagination couldn’t compare to what was in front of him. Her whole outfit seemed to take Luke back to ‘95 and his mind wandered to places he wouldn’t dare to before.

Like what if somehow he and the boys didn’t die? What if Julie had been around by some warp of the space time continuum? 

If he had seen her dressed like this, then he would have definitely come up to talk to her, maybe invite her to check out his favorite record store that was long gone by now. They could be listening to tunes on his walkman on the way back from a Sunset Curve concert... 

Oh god. He really loved how the ‘90s looked on Julie...

Nothing had prepared Julie to see Luke in that shirt.

She thought he was gonna go for his usual style, which of course she clearly didn't mind. But this... he was making an effort to look more 'done up' as Flynn would say. He was going through the trouble to do this for her. 

She smiled, recognizing it as her dad’s old shirt, which should have put her off, but she was oddly charmed by it. 

Maybe it was because it had been her mom’s favorite out of her dad’s shirts. She felt a flicker of sadness remembering that her dad no longer wore it out anymore, but it was quickly replaced with a deep appreciation for how good Luke looked in it. 

It hugged his form so well and the color was still his signature blue, which she absolutely adored and brought out the coolness of his eyes. 

Damn, she was a sucker for those eyes… 

And if it weren’t for his very dated haircut, Luke looked like he could fit in very well in 2020, which made Julie feel a certain type of way, as if the idea of her and Luke, despite everything, could be realized. That it could be her new reality. 

They could actually pursue this.

Luke held his hand out and helped her out of the plants and onto the pathway. 

“Wow,” they said simultaneously to which they both laughed. Well, it was good to know that they were able to impress each other… 

“You-” Luke couldn’t get words out, “Just… incredible.” 

Julie blushed, “But you, Luke. You look incredible too.” 

“Is this not weird for you? I could change?” 

“No. It’s fine. You’re fine,” Julie gestured to her outfit, “Is this okay? You never really asked for it back, but-” 

“More than okay. Trust me,”

Again, Julie was at the mercy of Luke’s appreciative gaze, those cursed hazel eyes. She should have worn this flannel sooner then if it warranted such a look over… 

Minutes passed, just them admiring how the other one looked under the lamplight. 

“Well…” Luke cleared his throat and offered his arm, “Shall we?” 

Julie looped hers under his, “We shall.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 14 'The Date...Finally'

It couldn’t have been a more beautiful night, Julie mused as she strolled along the street with Luke. 

It was the perfect Californian autumn, and it couldn’t be more… well, Luke. The more she observed her surroundings, taking in the night scene, the more aware she was of the boy beside her. 

The easy breeze that whipped around her stray curls carried along the smell of his cologne, of which he had apologized for spraying too much all over his person, but Julie didn’t mind one bit. The crunching of the few leaves on the ground drew her attention to how their steps coincided. On the same foot. On the same beat- just like how they are when they would play music. 

They didn’t talk much on the way to the Paper Lantern, and at first it had Julie all worried. Was she supposed to initiate the conversation? Was he not in the mood to talk? They had never lasted a minute of silence, always hashing out lyrics or humming the same melody between them or, nowadays, getting at each other’s throats in playful banter. 

But what they lacked in words, they made up with their constant eye contact. As much as Julie looked out onto the streets, in both admiration and seeking out the path that would lead them to the restaurant, her eyes never strayed from Luke’s for very long. 

How could she? They were too captivating. And when coupled with that shy little smile he had been giving her ever since they left her house- it said enough already. They didn’t need to say words. 

Julie knew that there was something about being out in public together just the two of them that was both thrilling and anxiety-inducing. By the time they had reached the storefronts, they transitioned into hand holding, making it easier to weave through people on the sidewalk if needed to. 

She took advantage of this moment to play with his hands again. Not like she had done before. She was more subtle this time, mimicking the thumb circling motion that he had done on her earlier. 

Julie was startled when Luke jerked his hand back, and she feared that she must have triggered something like before. But seconds later, his hand returned, only this time interlocking their fingers rather than their cupped formation before, squeezing it tight. 

“It’s right up here,” she broke the silence upon seeing the red neon sign from a couple blocks away. 

“Yes! Finally!” Luke exclaimed, rubbing his belly, “I’m so starving, it’s like-” 

Sensing what was coming, Julie groaned,  “Please don’t-” 

“-I haven’t eaten-” 

“-Luke, I’m begging you-” 

“-in-"

"-to stop-"

"-25 years.” 

The shaggy haired boy traded his tender smile for a sly grin as Julie shot him an unimpressed look. She nearly dropped their hands at that. 

911, here to report a murder. Yes… the victim: the romantic ambiance. Suspect? A really corny joke. 

Luke let it hang in the air for a bit before Julie gave in to a slight uptick at the edge of lips. She tugged him onto the street with no notice. Hearing him yelp in surprise was enough to make up for that poor excuse of a joke. 

“You know that’s not even true,” Julie remarked, “You ate this week.” 

“Oh, I know, but I had a feeling you were going to love it when I said it,” She nudged him and he laughed. 

Okay. At least, she wasn’t as nervous as she thought she was going to be. The cheesiness that was Luke Patterson’s humor did really put her at ease, so she was grateful. 

“You’re okay with Chinese food though? I wasn’t sure if it’s up your alley,” she double checked. 

“Of course. I wouldn’t have survived late night writing sessions with the boys if it weren’t for The Soggy Noodle’s famous kung pao chicken,” 

“The Soggy Noodle?” 

“Or should I say Starbucks. That’s where it used to be,”

Julie winced. She didn’t like inadvertently bringing up how much the city has changed since '95. There were times, like earlier today, when he would make light of it, but she knew he would get a little sad about not being able to go to the places he loved. 

“Well, you’re gonna love the Paper Lantern. They hand make their noodles, and there’s a window out in front where you can watch them get made,” 

“I think watching would make me more hungry,” 

“Oh, you’ll live,”

It was Luke’s turn to wince, “Now who’s cracking the ghost jokes?” 

“Shut up,” she pouted.

They were coming up on the restaurant and Julie could see that it was pretty busy out on the front.

It was a Friday night after all, and more often than not, people were forced to wait outside if the waiting area was full. Julie had to do that once, but at least watching the noodles getting kneaded, stretched, and put into boiling water made the time pass. 

Luke took in the crowd, “We came on a bad night, I guess. Is it always like this?” 

Julie opened her mouth to answer, but, out of nowhere, a shriek pierced the night. They visually sifted through the mass of people to find the source- a girl-who was staring back at Luke and Julie. 

“It’s them!” she yelled, giddily, which caused everyone in the crowd to turn their attention to the couple, who immediately shared the girl’s zealous attitude at the sight of them. 

Julie’s stomach dropped, “Uh-oh.” 

She heard Luke sigh next to her. 

“We’re not eating out, are we?” 

“We can. Maybe we’ll go somewhere else-?”

Then the crowd mobilized, and Luke’s grip on her hand tightened, “Nope. Not risking it.” 

They took off back the way they came- not easy when the streets were already bustling and Luke had to maintain the illusion of solidity, but they made do. 

Oh god, why did she have to say the name of the restaurant in a hallway full of teens with phones out… 

Luke was doing most of the leading this time around, already having one experience of running from a mob under his belt,

“Quick,” he whispered and they ducked into a small alley. 

Julie was escorted behind a lone trash can, but once she squatted she realized there wasn’t any space for Luke, who remained at the front. 

“Please hope this works,” he murmured to himself. 

That was when the gaggle of fans whizzed by the alley, blissfully unaware that the people they were looking for were right there. Even when a few of them had taken the time to stop and check the alley, but they couldn’t even see Luke right in front of them. 

Once the last of them had left, Luke told Julie it was safe to come out. 

“What happened?” 

“I’ll explain on the way back,” He popped his head out the alleyway to check for any wayward fans, “I think we’re in the clear. But did you see that one guy? He has a T-shirt of our faces? Like how?” 

That tidbit boggled her mind for a second, “I guess we had more hardcore fans than we thought,” 

“Whoa. And all from a couple of videos and gigs?” 

“Seems like. Oh!”

Julie whipped out her phone and, just to entertain her anxiety. She thought to search up any hashtags regarding her and the band on Instagram. And lo and behold, multiple posts and stories regarding her and Luke’s big date tonight and where they would be popped up. 

She showed Luke the screen. He framed his face with his hands in both fascination and terror, “They know where we are? It's that easy to look us up?” 

“Welcome to 2020,” 

“I don’t think we’re gonna be going out anywhere tonight,” Luke said dejectedly once they came upon a fan's story where they were seen out on the street walking to the Paper Lantern. 

“I’m so sorry, Luke. I just had to say where we were going when I should have let you know when we got home,” 

“No, it’s my fault. I didn’t think things through,” Luke shook his head about, slightly tusseling his once-combed through hair, “Uh… Uh… we can go back to yours?” 

“Back home?” 

“We can have a picnic in the studio? Yeah! And I, uh, uh, I could make you something?” 

“You? Cooking?” 

“...Yeah?” The way his voice pitched higher than usual had Julie thinking even he was not totally sure of that idea. 

Julie had seen this boy burn pasta. But she appreciated the sentiment. She appreciated that he was really making sure this night wasn’t a total bust, that he was so invested in this date that he was willing to make a mess of himself and the kitchen. 

“That’s sweet, Luke, but I think we’ll still have Paper Lantern tonight,” she pulled up a food delivery app on her phone, “We can order it now and by the time we’ll get back we wouldn’t have to wait so long.” 

The boy resigned too quickly, “Definitely. Way better than what I would have made…” 

They huddled in front of her phone as they picked their food. 

Julie learned that no, Luke did not have any food allergies. And Luke appeared to be surprised to learn that she herself was allergic to shellfish. She raised an eyebrow when he ordered extra dumplings

“For Carlos,” was his explanation. Alright, this boy was winning more points on this date for thinking about her brother. 

And on that note, Julie made sure to order some extra stuff for the boys and Flynn as well. Her and Luke fought over the bill, but it ultimately had to be her to pay for it because he did not have a debit card or bank account to his name. 

Once, the order was confirmed. Julie made a call to Flynn and had her find Carlos. Most likely the boys were with her brother, and she wanted to let all of them know that plans changed. She could hear Carlos’ utter disappointment to them coming back so soon, but hopefully the dumplings would prompt some forgiveness. 

Then, Luke asked to borrow the phone while on call with Carlos. She watched his figure retreat further into the dark alley so she wasn’t able to listen in. But he was most likely trying to make sure Carlos and the guys stay out of the studio. 

He came back a few moments later, a smile on his face. 

“Ready to go?” and he offered his arm like he did before, determined to continue this date despite their destination being the house they always seemed to be at. 

In a bold move, most likely from the culmination of Luke being so god awfully thoughtful tonight, she ignored his extended forearm and went straight for his hand, fingers entwined. 

Luke eyed their hands, emitting a shaky laugh that Julie could only read as him being overjoyed but trying not to show it. 

They cautiously made their way back to the residential area. The whole walk they were making up for the lost time so instead of content silence, they were talking and Julie got to learn more about yet another new ghost ability. 

“That would definitely make hiding from my dad easier,” 

Luke hummed, thoughtfully, “Is he gonna be there when we come back? Because how will you explain the food coming by?” 

“He’s got a late night at work. Kind of another reason that I had Flynn over too, so she could watch Carlos and the guys while we’re out,” 

“So he doesn’t know?” 

“Nope. Normally in this case, I'd say I was going to Flynn's because that'd be the only place he'd let me go at this hour. But since she's back at the house, he would have called my tia to come and watch Carlos while he’s at work, and, well, you saw what happened the last time she was over…” 

“Ghost Toasting,” Luke affirmed, “Gotcha,” 

Julie’s gaze fell to the ground, “I couldn’t exactly tell him I was going on a date.”

“Oh. Would he be the type to, like, hang by when you’d answer the door? Give the shovel talk with an insane hand-numbing death grip?,” he wondered, obviously recalling from his own experiences.“...I could see Ray being the dad in his chair near the window the whole night, waiting for you to get home, watching me like a hawk...” 

“Uh… I wouldn’t know,” She hoped that Luke couldn’t sense how her palms were slicked with sweat at this point, the first instance of her getting nervous during their outing...

“I’ve...uh, neverbeenonadatebefore,”

There she said it, albeit in a rushed fashion. But she did. And since the universe hated her, she had to be out with the one guy who could understand speed speech. 

“Wait? Really?” 

She refused to look at him, “Yeah…” 

“Oh,” 

It went quiet. 

Seconds passed. 

“...I almost cooked for you,” 

An ugly snort came out of Julie’s nose, “Y-Yeah. You nearly did.” 

“Oh god. That would have definitely ruined things,” he bemoaned, “Julie, if I had known that this was your first date, I would have done something way, way better than a garage.” 

Julie leaned into him before swinging their hands between them, “It’s great, Luke. No really. This is a step up from what I’m used to in the past.” 

“Cool, cool,” 

A calming silence followed, and Julie was able to recover from her bout with embarrassment. But then Luke had to hit her with an unlikely question. 

“So in the past… do you mean… camp or...?” 

Julie threw her head back groaning, “Oh my god. I was hoping you would forget.” 

“I don’t think I could ever forget what happened that day…” Then out came that smirk, the same one he kept giving her during their charged guitar lesson. 

But she wasn't fazed, “Me neither,” And Julie gave a purposeful squeeze to his hand. 

He shivered involuntarily. Smirk gone.

“You’re cruel.” He said, yet he didn’t let go. 

“Says the guy dredging up my past romantic exploits!” 

“Exploits. As in plural?” The twinge of jealousy was very much present.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” 

“Yes. That’s why I asked,” 

“Well, if you must know it was a summer fling. Well, as much of a summer fling as it could get between two 13 year olds. All because of one game of Spin the Bottle-” 

“Damn, Julie,” he whistled, “Did not take you for the type to play such games,” 

“Please.You’ve probably done worse, Mr. Rockstar,” 

“No. Not really. I was the poster child for good behavior,” Julie pursed her lips, brow raised, “Alright, I would hole myself up in my room, perfecting my playing. I had no time to deal with all of that. ” 

“Sounds pretentious,” 

“Sounds like dedication, Jules,” he retorted, “But how did it go for you and ‘Summer Camp’?” 

“It was fun. Mostly swimming, goofing off in the mess hall, playing music with each other. He played violin. Sometimes just sneaking around to get some moments alone. He was sweet...” 

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ coming up,”

“It was all fine and good...until I found out that he had a girl back home,” Although, the memory didn’t really bother her much these days, a sigh escaped her before she could stop herself, “Imagine my face when she came up to visit…” 

“Yikes,” Luke muttered sympathetically. 

“Oh my god, this is supposed to be a date and here I am talking about a guy I kissed,” 

“Hey, I brought it up. That’s all on me,” Luke said, sounding suddenly ashamed for making Julie talk about it.

“I mean, I ended up okay in the end. Because, well, the best part was that, Flynn, actually, went to camp with me too-

Luke grinned, catching on, “I think I know where this is going,” 

“He’s a heavy sleeper and somehow rolls and rolls of saran wrap had been stolen from the mess hall...”

“Classic,”  

Julie erupted in fits of giggles, remembering Danny’s little incident, leaning against Luke who was just as amused, “The poor guy couldn’t get out of bed...so-so he had to go to the bathroom in-” 

“-Oh my god-"

“-He was stuck there for hours!” 

They turned onto the street leading up to the house, now making sure to quell their laughter so they don’t alert the neighbors. 

“I know better than to piss off Flynn. For her to pull a prank off like that,” 

The lingering giggles stopped short when Julie picked apart the memory more carefully, “Well, it wasn’t just her. Carrie helped too.” 

“Really?” 

“Back when we were all friends,” 

She smiled wistfully at how Carrie had been on the same page as Flynn, both wanting to make poor Danny suffer because he had hurt her. Flynn had to be the one to hold Carrie back from doing more extreme measures. Wow. Things had really changed between them. 

“Now lemme tell you, Carrie definitely knows her way around a prank, especially with the socials. She posted the embarrassing picture online so his girlfriend found out. You know for a second there, I thought she was the one who sicced those fans on us back at the Paper Lantern, trying to ruin our date,” 

“Right,” Luke shuffled his feet into a weird jaunt, as if the topic of Carrie was making him nervous for some reason, “Well, if she did, then she failed. We're making the best of it.” 

They neared the house now, and soon were walking through the gate leading down to the studio. 

Julie checked her phone, for Paper Lantern’s ETA, “Okay, the food should be coming soon and just in time too.” 

“Great. We can wait in the studio,” Luke, now weirdly eager, guided her along until they reached the double doors. 

“Um… okay?” 

Using his free hand, he managed to pull the doors open with gusto. 

She stepped from behind Luke, expecting to see the studio in its usual state, but what she saw made her gasp. 

On the floor, where the coffee table had been, was the most inviting pile of pillows and blankets that Julie had ever seen. It was a mix of the pillows and cushions from the living room, the studio, and even her bedroom, as she was able to pick out the familiar lilac coverings. 

And, from first glance, Julie thought that the lights might have been left on, but no- the studio was fully illuminated by hastily hung up string lights from her room and a ridiculous amount of candles scattered around- a couple surrounding the blanket area, on some tables, and even on the piano. 

But to top it off, music was softly playing from one of the stereo systems and she noticed that her laptop had been hooked up to it, one of her playlists pulled up on the screen. 

“What’s- what’s all this?” Julie stammered, eyes darting around to each new change to the space. 

Luke led her to the mass of blankets and they sat down, sinking into the soft fabrics. Julie didn’t realize how much walking they did that night until she tucked her feet under her and brought a pillow to her chest, not wanting to get up for a while. 

“This,” he directed her attention to another surprise: A plate of brownies from the kitchen were placed in front of them, “is making the best of it.”

“Brownies… are my favorite,” 

Luke’s hazel eyes sparkled, “Really?” 

Julie nodded, ready to pick one up and devour it. She angled her body towards the plate and noticed a scrap of paper with some writing next to the brownies. 

“Not 7-Eleven. Enjoy,” she read aloud. 

Luke wagged his head, “Oh, Alex.” 

“He did this?” 

Then Julie remembered Luke’s phone call. He must have had the guys, and maybe even Flynn and Carlos assemble all this while they headed back here. 

Julie was absolutely floored by the display. It looked like something out of a YA novel, like a fairytale. Luke had been keeping a close eye on her the whole time, gauging her reaction, when honestly- she had no words. 

The ballooning of her insides from earlier at school made an encore, and she was feeling lighter than air at this point, floating up to the heavens if she could. 

That was how Luke made her feel, she realized. Everyday. But he had really outdone himself this time, and she was filled with the overwhelming urge to wrap her arms around him, keeping him close.

Because with a guy who would do things like this for her, she wasn’t going to let him slip away. 

“Luke. Thank you,” 

“Anytime,” The finality in his tone let Julie know that he absolutely meant it. 

He bit his bottom lip, eyes flickering between their joined hands and her face. She held her breath at the intensity of his gaze, and she was tempted to draw closer to him even as they sat right beside each other on the blankets. 

An alert on her phone broke the tender moment. 

“That means the food’s here,” she whispered. 

Luke’s eyes went for their hands one last time before he was forced to part, “I’ll go and get it.” 

“I’ll come with you,” Julie offered, ready to stand up, but Luke gently pressed on her shoulders. 

“You’ve done a lot of walking. And running. And hiding. I’ll get the food, take some to our friends, and I’ll be back.” 

“Oh ok,” 

He got up to leave, but before closing the doors, he sneaked one more look at her, or at least tried. But when was Luke ever subtle? His line of sight was more directed downwards, at his flannel that she was wearing. 

Prompted by his undivided attention, Julie’s hands found their way to the lapels and she made the move of snuggling deeper into his flannel, making a show of breathing in the fabric, as if trying to catch his natural scent from his possession or if it had collected some of his cologne from tonight. She watched him take a sharp intake of breath. 

“You’ll be the death of me, Julie Molina,” his voice was low and it resonated deep inside her.

She didn’t have it in her to crack a joke about street dogs, instead letting him leave to retrieve their food from the house. 

Once the doors closed, Julie let herself breathe properly because what was that? She didn’t know what came over her when she did that in front of him. 

Yet she didn’t regret it one bit. 

Looking around the studio, curling up in the comfort of the pillows and blankets, Julie had to throw out her earlier statements regarding the evening. 

Romantic ambiance restored. 

Luke had to resist the urge to skip around, pump his fist into the air, and let out a crow of pure joy.

So far so great! This date had not been a total disaster. He had promised himself that this would be much different than all those lackluster dates he had been. The guys and Flynn had come through and really done up the place so it wasn’t just some garage pig out, so a major plus right there. 

Julie was allergic to shrimp. She loved brownies. 

He had learned so much already, and he couldn’t wait to resume their date, to learn even more, after grabbing the food. He honestly couldn’t bear to be apart from her for too long, so he had poofed into the house, still thinking about Julie…   

Julie had never been on a date. She went to music camp. She played Spin the Bottle-

She loved wearing his flannel… 

Something about how Julie enveloped herself in his flannel, watching her take comfort in his clothes- it was like coming home. The feeling you would get after a long, trying day, taking refuge in your blankets. He witnessed Julie's face breathing in his scent from his shirt, and it filled him with such pride, humble pride to be oxymoronic, that she found solace in something of his. 

Now, one day he hoped that he had the honor of actually being that for her- home. 

It was settled. He could do without that one particular flannel. It was hers. 

Although he was already having trouble giving her things of his that didn’t already belong to her… 

Luke had greeted the delivery guy at the door and collected the food. Luke was relieved to know that the money that he used to tip was real and tangible once he had pulled it out of his wallet. 

He had set it all down in the kitchen before dividing up which was his and Julie’s and which was everyone else’s. 

He was currently climbing up the stairs with a box of food, heading to Carlos’ room. He knocked on the door, and the kid opened it. He could see Alex and Reggie in there as well, but they were too busy engaged with something on Carlos’ monitor to notice him. 

“Here ya go,” he passed over the box, grabbing the box of egg rolls reserved for Flynn. He would have to take it to her in Julie’s room.   

Carlos, always vigilant, checked the contents. Satisfied with what he sees, he air-shook Luke's hand. 

“Pleasure doing business with you,”

“Share with Alex and Reggie too," 

The kid rolled his eyes, “Ugh. Fine.” 

“How’s the ghost video going?” 

“Good until you two came back. We were finally getting somewhere!” 

Luke would really have to make it up to Carlos, who couldn’t seem to catch a break when it came to his Youtube channel. Maybe he could star in one of his videos one day… with Julie’s permission of course. 

“Just keep them occupied,” he referred to his friends, “Don’t need those two crashing on us,” 

“Yeah, we’re playing on my Switch.” 

Luke wasn’t sure what that meant, but from what he could see of his friends, he assumed it was some sort of gaming console. 

“Eat Blue Shell, you jerk!” he could hear Reggie’s voice bellowing.   

“Reggie, Reg, REG- NO!” The drummer had been defeated in the race, collapsing onto Carlos’ bed while Reggie performed a victory dance, with the usual hip shaking. 

“Well…,” Luke stepped back from the door, “I’ll leave you to it.”

The door closed, and Luke spun around only to bump into, well more like pass through, Flynn. She had been watching his interactions from across the hall, but had moved in front of him at lightning speed. 

“Flynn! You scared me!” 

“I scared a ghost. Funny,” she said, although it didn’t seem she find it so. She was eyeing him warily, as if he had been doing something suspicious just now. 

“Um… Here's your egg rolls.” 

She snatched them out of his hands, “Thanks. Now I will be getting back to my Chem homework. Don’t keep her waiting, Luke.” 

“Right…” 

He poofed down to the kitchen, so happy to have escaped whatever that was with Flynn.  

Taking the second box of food, he returned to the studio in record time. Julie helped him in getting the door open in case he wasn’t able to phase through with the food perfectly intact. 

Luke had been super hungry earlier, and then with the craziness that was evading their fans, he had almost forgotten about it. Now smelling the food, Luke was all ready to dig in. He tore into the handmade noodles before they even opened up all the containers, wanting to see what all the buzz was. And oh boy did they taste good. Heavenly, even. Julie had not been kidding. 

He told her this to which she shoved him, “Why would I lie about noodles?” 

They sat in their cozy corner of the room, chowing down for the next however many long minutes- Luke wasn’t counting. They were swapping stories left and right, really making up for time spent pranking each other, planning to prank each other. 

The more they spoke, the more Luke was adding to his mental archive of everything involving Julie:

She didn’t have a quinceañera, but if she did the scheme would have been purple. No contest.  

And that she was obsessed with shoes, but not like heels or anything like Luke had seen with girls in the past, but like sneakers. (He could tell that even though the combat boots tied together the whole ‘90s thing, she would rather be sporting her Nike’s)

She was afraid of the ocean. Like deathly afraid. (“We don’t know what’s down there, Luke!”)

Her favorite song was something her mom had written a long time ago, and to her nothing could really compare… except for maybe ‘Edge of Great’, to which Luke had to calm down his organs or whatever, because that was his favorite song of theirs to perform. For reasons. 

Luke gazed at the girl in front of him with barely concealed fondness. Her cheeks were puffed up with rice and chicken but she was adamant in continuing the conversation, hands waving with chopsticks twisted in her fingers while raving about one of her favorite movies. 

Man, it was refreshing to hang out with someone who was just as passionate as him. He had been on many dates where the other person would honestly tone down their enthusiasm or was just flat out passive when they talked, as if being genuinely excited would be a total turn off.

But it would never be for Luke. 

Julie had to stop mid-chew to explain the plot of the movie- a Spider-Man one.

Or from what Luke was trying to understand… about multiple Spider-Men… ? 

Whatever. Luke made plans with her to watch it sometime soon. Along with Reggie of course.

And in return, he was going to introduce Julie to Bill and Ted. His kung pao chicken had nearly fallen out of his mouth when she had admitted to never even have heard of Bill and Ted. So he had taken upon himself to fill her in. 

“Phone Booth time machine, killer music, famous historical figures- how could you have not heard of them?”

“Oh wait, I think I have heard of them,” Julie interrupted him while describing the plot, “They’re coming out with another one, right?” 

“Hold on,” he raised a finger, “A third Bill and Ted movie?” 

“Uh.. yeah?” 

Luke dropped his chopsticks into the now empty container, “It’s decided. We’ll watch all the Bill and Ted movies, but you and I are going to see the third one in theaters.”

Okay, he was pretty sure he had just asked her out on another date. This one had practically just started, and he worried that Julie would tell him to slow his roll or something. 

Julie merely laughed, “Whatever you say. It better deliver. It sounds insanely cheesy.” 

“That’s what makes it good!” 

Good food. Good company. What more could Luke ask for? 

“What is one thing,” Luke began, resting his back against the couch, “that you think I don’t know about you? And not your dance class because Reggie told me.” 

Julie had migrated from the floor onto the couch, laying down on her stomach with her chin propped up by a pillow and facing Luke. It was like they were at a slumber party, exchanging secrets. 

She had definitely been in a similar position whenever Flynn would be over or vice versa, which was a testament to how easy it was to talk to Luke.

She could tell him anything and feel like she was being heard. Never a moment where he seemed disinterested. He was running on the same level of energy he had when they started talking and it hadn't wavered, so she never thought she was boring him, even when she had the tendency to ramble on. 

She shifted her chin in her favorite pillow, contemplating what to say. 

“Well… I think this the best time to tell you something kinda embarrassing…” 

“Oh really?” Luke turned so his body was parallel to the couch, “Consider me totally curious.” 

What a dork, she thought. 

“So you know how Carrie and I used to be friends, right?” Luke gave a quick nod, “So we would often go to each other’s houses a lot. We would hang out, watch movies, play dress up, and… rehearse…”

“Rehearse?” 

“Yup,” She pushed herself up until she was kneeling on the couch. With a flourish of her hands, she struck a struck the best popstar pose: 

“We’re the best! No doubt! Check it out, yeah, we make 'em say 'wow',” she sang. 

Luke’s eyes grew comically big, “No way.”  

“Meet the original Miss Purple of Dirty Candy,” 

“Y-You? What? Huh?” 

Julie was sure his brain broke. His mouth was rapidly opening and closing, and he kept blinking. 

He must have been having trouble picturing her in one of those pastel wigs and sparkly outfits, dancing to the most superficial of lyrics.

She did too. If it weren’t for the pictures her mom had taken during one of their little showcases they put on for their families, then she wouldn’t have proof it even happened. 

“Yeah. It hadn’t been a serious thing. Something we would do occasionally for fun. She was always way more into it than me and I didn’t want to keep doing it. So I didn’t mind when she started her own group when we were still friends…” 

Luke snapped out of his daze, “And that was… how long ago?” 

“Like middle school,” 

“And you guys sang that same song back then?” 

“Yeah…” Julie buried her face in her hands, “That’s not even the worst part.” 

“I doubt there’s anything worse than what you told me,”

She spread her fingers out, to sneak a quick look at him as she revealed more: 

“I… sorta helped write ‘Wow’,” 

Luke choked, “You’re lying.” 

“No, really! Cross my heart and-” she stopped herself short. 

Luke smirked, “And what, Julie?”

“Ughhh. Do I really make these ghost/ death references all the time?” 

“Pretty much,” 

She would need to curb that habit for sure, “Anyways, I did. I help write ‘Wow’, and no, I was not credited and I’m thankful.” She leapt off the couch, believing that she deserved a brownie for all her trouble. She bit into the gooey chocolate fudge, “Your turn.” 

“Me?” 

“Yeah, you! Don’t think you can get out of not sharing something embarrassing!” 

Luke sighed, “Of course. I had it coming didn’t, I?” 

He waited until Julie had snagged the plate of brownies altogether and had plopped down next to him on the floor before starting. 

“So, you know the song ‘Crooked Teeth’?” 

“The Ode to Reggie? Yes, I’m aware. He’s still butthurt about it by the way,” 

Luke made a face, “Not my best moment. But he totally deserved it at the time!” 

“It’s a good song! It’s hard to believe that a classic hit from my childhood is about Reggie. And also that it’s written by you,” 

Luke introduced you to rock... 

It was crazy to think that the boys had an influence on her life years after their death and years before she got to meet them. 

“I guess in a way, I’ve always been a part of your life. Through music,” 

A soft smile sprouted on her face, “Like Luke Patterson was meant to play in the soundtrack that is my life.” 

Like it was meant to be. 

Luke must have had the same thought running through his mind because he grinned widely at her, stumbling through his words and having to start over his story. 

“Anyway, uh," he emitted a shy laugh, "There’s a reason why I wrote it. You think Reggie’s this sweetheart, but he had been super annoying in middle school. The kind of person who thinks a joke could never stop being funny, milking it for weeks and months- especially if he knew it pushed your buttons,” 

“I’m starting to get that vibe from him,” 

Luke looked away, “He, uh, kept making fun of my braces. When I had them. So I wrote a song about how he cracks bad jokes with bad teeth. Meant to be funny. Didn’t think it would have caught on. But good thing he thought it was for Alex.” 

She frowned, “But Alex has great teeth,” 

“Yeah, but they’re kinda-” 

“Small,” They chorused together. 

Luke pounded his fist into the blankets, “Which makes them so freakin’ perfect!” 

“Right? Like what the hell?” 

They stewed in their Alex envy, until Julie focused on the important detail of the story. 

“So...you had braces?” That explained that award winning smile. It took work, “Pics or it didn’t happen.” she demanded, busting out that old phrase. 

He shook his head, seemed to be embarrassed by his secret, “Perks of being a teenager before all this internet stuff. All evidence is locked away in dusty old boxes and scrapbooks. They would never see the light of day.” 

“Oh god, remind me to never show you my Insta feed. I have posts on there since I was in middle school,” 

“You were probably adorable,” 

“Middle-school, brace-faced Luke was a total babe magnet too, I bet,” 

“Nah,” he combed his hair with his fingers, his focus elsewhere, “No one wanted to mack with railroad tracks over here.” 

Well, her perspective of Luke changed tonight. She had figured that he was just naturally charming, with the looks to boot too. Of course, he had been a shy, insecure kid. No one had the confidence they had now if they hadn’t gone through some rough, uncomfortable transitions...

“I mean, I was super insecure about my teeth back then too,” she added. Luke faced her again. 

Julie was better about it now.  But there were days when she would be dissatisfied at the slight gap between her two front teeth. She would cover her smile with her hands or would try not to laugh as hard, but it would have been a shame for her not to be happy and not show it.

Something her mom had instilled in her whenever things got so bad. 

“Those days, my mom would be there, ready with some piece of advice that were pure poetry,” she called back to the ‘happiness’ talk, pensively, “The ‘Rose Prose’, my dad and everyone who knew her would call it. It wasn’t just for songs…” 

“Your mom’s name is- was Rose?” 

“Yeah,” 

“But…” Luke’s eyebrows knitted together, “dahlias…”

Julie laughed, “Sorry if that’s off brand for her. But my mom was never one to follow people’s expectations. She had always made her own way. I really admire that about her,” 

She didn’t expect to be going on about her mom so much tonight and her heart spasmed with longing for her. Her mom would have known what to do when prepping for a date, would have helped her and Flynn pick out an outfit- a lot of things really. 

All the things her mom could have been here for… the many years ahead of her where she would have to wrestle with that- prom, graduation, her wedding, when she would start a family of her own- 

She had been mentioning her mom all night with no problem, she didn't know why she was getting like this. And now? Out of all the other times? It had to be when she was on a date? She couldn't afford to get emotional, but... 

As if sensing her on the precipice, Luke layered her hand with his, grounding her. 

“Wish I could have met her,” his voice the quietest Julie had ever heard, “She sounded pretty incredible.”  

“She would have loved you,” she attested “A fellow wild spirit,” 

Julie’s eyes shut, recognizing her mistake as soon as the words escaped her mouth. She was fully brought out of her mourning reprisal at Luke's teasing grin. 

“Now that was… the fifth ghost pun you made tonight, Miss Molina,” He leaned forward, maintaining his low volume, “I’m keeping count.” 

“Are you gonna penalize me or something?” 

“Or something,” 

Luke was on his knees then, crawling over to her and Julie’s heart stopped once his face was about a short breath’s away from hers. Was he going to-? She could only stare back at his calculating visage, waiting. He definitely peered down at her lips... 

Then his arm stretched out and he slid the plate of brownies out from behind her,  “I’m afraid I’ll have to confiscate dessert.” 

Julie gawked at him. This boy! He really had her for a second there. 

“Nuh-uh, you are not coming between me and my brownies,” her hand shot out to pick the treat up, but Luke kept pulling the plate away.  

“You need to learn your lesson, Jules,” 

She hopped to her feet and tried again, going as far as climbing on top of Luke, still seated, to reunite with her one true love. Her fingers met the moist block of fudge, but Luke- devious Luke- swooped in, stole the brownie from her grasp, and stuffed it in his mouth. 

She scrambled off of him, “You did not just do that.”

Luke guffawed at the glare she was driving into him, his teeth smudged with brownie bits. 

“Alright, alright,” he swallowed, then chose another brownie in the pile, holding it out for her as a peace offering, “Here.”

Julie went to take it, but he catapulted across the room, in the direction of the piano. 

“Luke!” 

The ghost poofed out and in while the brownie was in the air. He landed on top of the piano, catching the treat in his mouth with perfect precision. He winked at her, then poofed back at her side, keeping the rest of the brownies hostage. 

Oh this was how it was going to be? 

She didn’t play when it came to brownies. 

Julie called out a war cry, colliding into Luke, taking him by surprise. With one hand carrying the plate like a fancy waiter, he tried to step back, avoiding all the candles on the floor while Julie pushed against him, fighting for a brownie. 

He ended up bumping into the piano, discarding the plate on its surface. Julie maneuvered around him, but she felt hands on her waist and Luke hoisted her up and spun her around in a circle. She squealed, egging on Luke’s already boastful laugh. 

Wait. 

Right then Julie developed the strangest sense of deja vu. 

What they did just now. 

It jostled a memory inside her…. Well, not really a memory, but more of a daydream. The kind of daydream that had plunged her into her deep infatuation with the ghost in front of her. 

Julie was conveniently facing away from Luke while he carried her, so he didn’t catch her cheeks reddening upon reminiscing the dance they had never shared, the song they had never sang… 

Crap.

Okay. Luke panicked. 

He had tried to kiss her. 

Everything had been going swimmingly. 

Too swimmingly. 

He had been anticipating the other shoe to drop, the moment when things would go wrong because that had been the way it had been for the last few dates he had been on. Was either a spilling of the drink, the oversharing, even mixing up names on one memorable occasion. 

Catherine. 

He definitely remembered her name now. 

Especially when the rest of the date had been so terrible- with her getting annoyed with him for not having a car and with him trying so hard not to fall asleep when she went on about the difference New Coke and Coke II (they were the exact same thing, he had tried to tell her, but she wasn’t having it).

She had been a nightmare to deal with, and she had basically forced him to give her a kiss goodnight. 

That had been his last kiss before he died. 

So one could imagine why he had decided to chicken out the last second and incited World War III with Julie. He was 25 years rusty with this. He would rather be punching bag to Julie’s brownie obsession than pulling her in for a sloppy kiss. She deserved better than that. 

He set her down after going a couple rounds of him holding Julie in his arms, suspending her off the ground. 

She slapped him on the shoulder, her face flushed, “You’re psychotic.” 

“You attacked me!” he chided. 

“It’s brownies. Luke. Brownies!” 

“And you say I’m childish,” He walked back to the piano, blocking her from the plate and he felt a tugging sensation from his back pocket. 

He turned around to find Julie holding the scarf he had hanging from his pants, “I, uh, didn’t think that through.” 

Luke clicked his tongue, “Did you think you were gonna slingshot me?” 

“Kinda?” 

“You know it’s not tied to anything right?” 

“I know that now,” she said, sheepishly. 

He put his palm out, gesturing for her to fork it over. She returned it. Luke bunched up the silky material in his hands, “Thank you.” 

“You always have that hanging out your jeans,” Julie speculated, “Can’t believe you don’t get tripped up over it,” 

“Many close calls with this. Especially when I have to hop off the bus,” He stuffed it in his back pocket, “It’s my mom's.” 

He didn’t know why he brought it up, he tried not to think about his mom too much these days. Especially when he really couldn’t do anything about his current situation. 

“Yeah, I, uh, used to get really bad stage fright when I was a kid,” Luke confessed. The only ones who ever knew about this were his family- the boys included. Maybe it was fitting that Julie could finally hear about this now. 

“Really?” 

“Any Thanksgiving pageant or spelling bee- I was sweating through my shirts, I couldn’t get the words out- I would freeze up there. At a Johnny Appleseed play, there had been an incident...” 

“What kind of incident?” 

Luke stuck an index finger in his gaping mouth, producing retching noises. 

“Oh,” 

“Yeah,” 

The spewing of orange juice earlier this week had been way better than whatever had shot out of his 10-year-old mouth backstage, right before his cue to go on. 

“I remember running out, crying and my mom had pulled me aside and, like good on her for trying to reason with me to come back to the auditorium but I was a mess. But she gave me the scarf she was wearing and told me it's a ‘good luck charm’. If I have that thing with me, then I was gonna be fine,” 

“Did it work?” 

Luke lifted the tailend of the fabric, rubbing it between his fingers, “Oh yeah. I walked back to that auditorium and killed it as Farmer #2,”

That got a chuckle out of Julie. 

“Thought it was magic. It flipped a switch, and I eventually loved being on stage. For the longest time I thought it was legit, so I’ve had it on my person ever since...” 

Look, Luke didn’t want to put the blame on anyone, but he thought it was a bit hypocritical of his mom to dissuade him from being a musician when it had been her that put him on that path, giving him the boost he needed. 

While in the midst of rushing out of the house, the last night he had spoken to his mom, he almost let the scarf loose, not wanting to have anything to do with her anymore.

It must have been the time crunch, he had told himself carefully avoiding the fabric getting caught in his bike wheel as he sped off.

But it was the symbolism of it- the one time he had felt his mom had his back. Of course, he had gained retrospect since his death, and he was aware that wasn’t the case.

Yet, everytime he would let it swing behind him or tie it around his arm, it was a piece of his mom right there on stage with him. 

He sniffled, running a hand down his face, “Sorry. This is supposed to be a good time we’re having here, right?”

Of course, he had to dampen the mood, unloading all his mom baggage onto Julie, when it was his job to make sure she wasn't upset thinking about her own mom. 

“We are,” she insisted, “I like hearing more about you. And I get it. Some nights ...it’s easier to talk about them.” Julie must have figured out the running theme of tonight too. 

“I can’t complain,” He didn’t want to compare their situations,  “I can still visit her, see her-” 

“But it’s not the same. It doesn’t necessarily make up for 25 years of not being there,” Julie stepped forward, cradling Luke’s hands which were still holding onto the scarf. 

“You’re allowed to grieve, Luke. For all the time you could have had with her. For moments that could have been. It’s okay,” 

Her words caused him to look up at her, “I didn’t know that’s what I was doing. Grieving. Didn’t know the dead could grieve.” 

Julie nodded, “I didn’t know the dead could play instruments and form a band. There’s a lot of things we don’t know, but that doesn’t mean they’re not true. And it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt still.” 

Luke let out a shaky breath… she was right. So many unknowns in their situation and things would just suck, like 17 year olds dying and girls losing their moms. Things that he would need to deal with, but it was good to know he wasn’t alone. Even though it wasn’t all the same, he and Julie both lost their moms. 

Julie went on, diving into the much needed talk about grief. She spoke about how it was never static or regular, it happens when it would happen. No more of a rhyme or reason than what universal rules that decided to take their loved ones from them. 

But everyday was a gift, she concluded. And everyday was an effort to come to grips with that. Everyday was another chance to find connections to their loved ones, a chance to feel closer to them. 

He marveled at Julie’s words, how she came to put him at ease with no hesitation. Leave it to Julie to help him see the dark times through. 

He must have been staring at her unabashed awe at this point because the edges of brows pulled together, trying to read into his expression, “What is it?”

“It’s just…” He chose his next words carefully. How could he begin to let Julie know how much she meant to him?

 “...I think... I’m starting to get a feel for what a ‘Rose Prose’ might have sounded like,” 

Her eyes crinkled at the reference. She smiled. 

Then Julie closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath, and Luke chose this moment to rest his forehead against hers, and they inhaled and exhaled, on beat, in harmony with each other. 

“Julie…” Inhale, “Thank you,”  Exhale. 

She inhaled. “It’s nothing-” Exhale. 

“It’s everything. Really, thank you.” 

Luke broke their union. He circled back to the piano. Acquiring a brownie, the biggest and probably the most moist out of the pile, he was in front of Julie once more.  

“Here,”

Julie let out a wet laugh, probably bolstered by the tears caught in her throat. He knew because the same sound came of his mouth in response to hers. 

She picked it up, side-eyeing him for any possible last minute tricks. Then she tore it in two, giving the other half to Luke. 

“To loved ones,” she raised her portion. 

Luke bumped his piece against hers, “To loved ones.” 

This night… of course, like with many things involving him, the band, and Julie, didn’t happen as expected. 

But he wouldn’t have it any other way, he mused as he raised the brownie to his lips.

Chapter Text

Chapter 15 'It Gets Complicated'

Julie was on cloud nine. 

Here she was on the piano bench, sitting next to Luke and eating brownies. Like, all three of her favorite things in one place. 

Tonight was amazing. So what if they didn’t get a chance to go out and eat at a restaurant? Chinese takeout in a garage still made for a memorable evening. 

She leaned against Luke as they split the last brownie. He laughed at her forlorn expression as she finished the gooey, fudge delicacy. With her face resting on his shoulder, she could feel the rumble of his amusement.

“We’ll make more sometime, I promise,” he assures, taking the plate and rising from the bench. Julie didn’t miss how her body reacted to his absence. She almost reached out to pull him back down beside her. 

“I don’t take promises lightly. You know that, Patterson,”  

“Yes, I do,” He ambled across the garage to pick up their empty takeout boxes, “And seeing as though you nearly assaulted me for one, I’m going to make it my personal mission to make sure you have your brownie fix.”

How come that was the sweetest thing she had ever heard? 

Julie didn’t want to be any more of a lazy bum, so she went to help Luke clean up, much to his protests. But seriously, she did attack him for a brownie and inadvertently made him revisit his mom issues. 

Cleaning up their trash was the least she could do. 

She was just about done stuffing their used napkins into the greasy boxes when Luke smoothly swiped the trash from her hold and ran off to the bin down the driveway, “You snooze, you lose!” 

“You’re ridiculous!” Only Luke would make a game out of cleaning trash, but she saw that it was his way of spoiling her. 

As if he hadn’t already done so tonight. 

Her fingers had come in contact with the sauce in the takeout boxes- that and mixing with fudge residue equated to a trip to the bathroom. 

Once she was done washing and drying her hands, she came out to an empty garage. Luke must still be out. So Julie skipped back to the piano bench, and thought to entertain herself for a bit before his return. 

She pressed a key, mindlessly. 

Well, maybe not mindlessly. 

Luke lifting her up and spinning her earlier triggered something: that cursed daydream.

The one that made her feel lie Jennifer Grey to Luke’s Patrick Swayze, the one that solidified her crush on the ghost-

The one with this song. 

She didn’t know how the hell she came up with a duet on the fly, but she did. And the lyrics stayed with her. 

There hadn't been a need to scribble it down for her dream box, and that terrified her. Never had the song made itself known to her that fast, and with such clarity, with such passion . Admittedly, when her crush on Nick was still in effect, she tried to write such a song for him. But the results ended up being as short and straight to the point as that one Vine Flynn showed her a long time ago. 

This song got ‘Hey, I think you’re really cool. I like you a lot’ beat in terms of emotional intensity.  

Her hands worked the keys like she did after that dance class, playing the simple melody but this time seeing if she could bolster it with the addition of the left hand. It didn’t sound quite right, she had to hum until her left hand got with the program and matched it. She was surprised how quickly that was remedied. Like the song was meant to come out. 

She closed her eyes and let herself get lost in it. Even after weeks since it happened, she was playing the song as if its conception was yesterday. She sang it softly under her breath, getting used to the words paired with her playing, and her head oscillated, tracing the paths of her fingers, left to right, then back to left. She was swimming- no, floating along with the current the chords created. 

It was like no other experience. 

It didn’t last. 

A thud to her right and a presence sidled next to her, “What’s that?” 

“Luke!”  

Her fingers spasmed, creating a discordant earache out of the beautiful melody she was working with. She retracted her hands as if she had been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to do, and she slammed the piano lid down, making them both jump. 

She rested her elbow, nonchalantly, “What was what?” 

Real, smooth, Jules. 

"That there. What you’re playing,” Luke ignored her weirdness and lifted the lid, “Is that a new song?” He had that sparkle in his eyes, and Julie did not want to deal with ‘songwriting’ Luke right now. 

“Oh that? No. No, no,” 

“You’ve been holding out on me?” he joked, playing random keys. Her reluctance in answering must have said it for her because Luke turned his head sharply, an almost hurt expression on his face, “Wait. Really?” 

As much as Julie was ready to throw the hypocrisy card (because he didn’t show her all of his songs either), she didn’t want to bring up Emily so soon after talking about their respective losses. 

But telling the truth instead? That was also not an option. 

“It’s not like I don’t want to show you!” she tried, “It’s just not…” meant for you to hear. Ever. “... ready.” she smiled, probably unsuccessfully. 

Luke eyed her warily, “Julie, you come to me humming chords and say that’s a song. With lyrics written on a napkin from the cafeteria.” 

Okay, she did that one time. It turned out to be a bust anyway, but it hadn’t stopped Luke from giving the lyrics everything he got. 

It didn’t stop Luke now as he was stoked at the prospect of a new song. 

“Look, you don’t even have to have lyrics yet, in case you didn’t have any- uh… hold on-” He ran for his acoustic and was back in record time. 

“Are we really trying to workshop a song now?” This was a date. No talking shop, right? 

“You can’t really control when inspiration strikes now can we? And you know as well as I do, that you gotta get it down or it will be lost forever! Now, uh, what key is it?” 

Yeah. There really was no stopping Luke at this point. 

She resignedly played the melody once more, refusing to make eye contact because if she did, she might lose it. 

“Keep playing that, and I’ll just-” He slung the strap over his shoulder and started riffing off her playing. 

She honestly didn’t know what Luke expected to come from this. It wasn’t like it was going to- 

Oh my god. 

Luke had started off strumming but then last second started finger picking some notes. 

And it sounded just like she heard it. In her head. 

She abruptly stopped, halting Luke's own playing, “Julie?” 

“How did you-?” She was at a loss for words, “I mean, that is exactly how I pictured it.” 

They called her a witch, but what kind of sorcery was this? 

Luke shrugged, “Well, we’ve been writing together for a while now. I’d like to think that I know what's in your head,” 

I hope not 

“Huh?” 

Did she say that aloud?

“Nothing,” she covered up, “I mean, keep it going.” As much as she wanted to keep this song a secret, there was no going back. 

But the way their instruments sounded just now. She would lie if she said it didn’t appeal to the songwriter in her. 

She was curious. To see if there was some sort of telepathic connection or some greater cosmic force involved in this exchange. 

Luke seemed pleased at this development, “You got it, boss.” 

He played his part and Julie followed. 

Then the words came out: 

“The truth is finally breaking through...two worlds collide when I'm with you…” 

She made the mistake of glancing at Luke as she sang, his eyes have been on her the entire time. There were no words to describe the look he was giving her. It both rattled her and encouraged her to keep going. 

“Our voices rise and soar so high… We come to life when we're…” She let her notes hang, signaling for Luke to do the same. 

“In perfect harmony,"  

She took a breath. 

“That’s.. That’s, um, different,” 

“Yeah,” 

“Good! A good different, I mean,” Luke stumbled through, not wanting to give her the wrong impression, “It’s just Sunset Curve, we never had stuff like that.”

That gave her pause. If Sunset Curve didn’t have love songs, then that meant Luke had never written one before. Or at least one that he was meant to put on stage. 

This was new to both of them. That comforted her in a way, to know that she wasn’t the only one floundering. 

“Do you have more?” 

“Yeah,” 

“I’d love to hear it,” 

Her insides were screaming not to show him, because he was going to put the pieces together and realize how deep her feelings went.

But what they could create together… she couldn’t deny him when everything just sounded so right . 

She patted a spot on the bench, “Come here.” 

Luke walked over, a bounce in his step. They shared a smile as he took his place next to her.  

Then Julie played more for him. 

“Video games today, man,” Alex belly flopped onto Carlos’ bed after another round of getting his ass-kicked by Reggie at Mario Kart. 

But who could blame him? He was still figuring out the controls. Carlos had done the best he could, but left the boys alone to see what they would do. 

The results were entertaining, and it was the first time Carlos didn’t mind not being able to play. If waiting for his turn meant watching Alex and Reggie fawning over the graphics and getting overwhelmed about how fast everything was, then he would do it again. 

Carlos couldn’t wait to show them their Kinect. He had a feeling that Alex could redeem himself in Just Dance. 

Reggie made a noise of agreement, handing the controller to Carlos, “On a whole other level! Remember how stoked we were to go to the arcade?” 

“And when you finally got the Sega Genesis?” Alex reminded, and the ghosts sighed, wistfully. 

Carlos’ ears perked up, “Sega? Like Sonic?” 

“Yes, Sonic! You still have Sonic here?” 

“Oh yeah. They made a lot more games. They even made a movie this year,” 

“A Sonic movie?”  The two older boys shouted in unison. 

“Please tell me it’s not like a Super Mario Bros ,”  Reggie shuddered. 

Now it was Carlos’ turn to be educated, “They made a Mario movie?” 

The two were glad to know that this kid knew not of the existence of that terrible, terrible adaptation. 

“We don’t speak of it.” Alex still had war flashbacks of Bob Hoskins in that mustache… 

“But can we show you?” Reggie begged, gesturing towards Carlos’ tablet. 

He was just sick enough to expose Carlos to the monstrosity. He had to know what the kid thought. And apparently, Youtube had everything. Maybe at least the trailer. That would be enough without traumatizing him. 

“Yeah. I wanna know now!” Carlos’ curiosity was piqued, “But I need to put all the Switch stuff away first. Pull it up and we’ll watch it.” 

“Oh I’ll help!” Reggie assisted in turning off the monitor, “Alex, can you use the thingy then?” 

Alex nodded, now finally getting the chance to work the tablet without Reggie’s guidance. The technology was still too foreign for him, but he would like to know how some if it worked. It would make talking to Willie easier. The guy kept bringing up stuff from the last decade. 

He wished he knew what a ‘yeet’ was. It was, like, the skater’s favorite word. 

Alex would have to look it up later. But for right now, he was trying to find the Youtube among the apps. He couldn’t remember what the symbol was for it, so he ended up choosing one with an icon that resembled a camera- since he was trying to look for videos, right?

He tapped it, and the screen shifted… 

To the studio? 

Oh, he must have pulled up Carlos’ videos instead. Probably something he shot with the tablet a while ago. 

But hold on. 

Alex brought the screen closer to him. 

Luke and Julie were in the shot, sitting at the piano. 

Alex was about to ask how long ago was this, but then he took note of Luke’s denim shirt. And the candles and the pillows. 

His eyes widened and he nearly dropped the device. 

This was happening right now. 

Alex found his voice after a sudden coughing fit, “Um… Carlos? Carlos! ” He turns the tablet to face the others, “What’s this?”  

Carlos froze, “Crap,” 

“Language!” Reggie channeled his best Ray voice. Then he squinted at the screen, “Wait- is that-?” 

“Nothing!” 

Carlos tried to take the tablet, but Alex hopped onto the bed, using his height and ghostliness to his advantage. 

Not this again , Carlos grumbled to himself. 

“That’s-that’s the studio,” Reggie’s mind was catching up to what he was watching, “Why is that the studio? Why are we watching the studio? Watching Luke and Julie?” He gasped, “Oh my god!” 

“You’ve got a camera in there?” Alex all but shrieked. 

Reggie waved Alex over and he tossed the tablet over to him for a closer look. 

The bassist analyzed the footage, mouth hanging open. The angle at which it was shot, it was overlooking the garage. It must have been stashed in the loft somewhere. How could they have not noticed?

“You’ve been spying on us?”

Carlos sighed, “A little.” 

The admission only upset the ghosts even more. 

“It was about trying to see what you guys were up to! As ghosts. That’s… actually how I found out about your plan. For Luke,” 

“Luke knows about this?” 

He nodded, “But I haven’t been spying on you for him! If that’s what you’re wondering! Just wanted to get some ghost footage of you guys while Julie’s at school. Here,” 

He reached for the tablet, this time Reggie let him have it, much to Alex’s cries telling him not to. 

Carlos brought up past footage just as Alex hopped off the bed and huddled with Reggie. He scrolled through, much to the ghosts’ horror, countless hours of videos. They caught glimpses of the thumbnails, and sure enough they were in at least half of them. 

Fair enough, there were some videos of the instruments floating around since Julie wasn’t nearby to make them visible for the camera. 

Then, Carlos chose another video- one where the boys were visible. 

A video started playing of Alex dancing around, thinking he had the studio to himself. Britney Spears blasted in the background and he copied the ‘Oops I Did it Again’ choreography . 

Reggie stifled a laugh but was immediately silenced by one look from Alex. 

“And, uh, you didn’t think to delete the footage of us when Julie is here?” 

“Some of them,” Carlos smirked, trying to elbow Alex (and failing), “But I’m keeping this one.” 

They watched as Last Week Alex tripped on his feet and knocked out the outlet wall plate in the process. 

“Oh my god.” The drummer was beyond mortified. 

Carlos then switched it back to the live footage, to give Alex some slack. 

Then Reggie asked the question on all of their minds:

“You even have the guitar lesson?” 

Carlos heard that there was a shirtless Luke involved and… he had seen Riverdale once. He really didn’t want to see any of that going on with his sister. If he had known that was the revenge plot, then maybe he wouldn’t have encouraged Luke to do it… 

“I would have deleted it, but then I’d have to pull it up and I really… really don’t want to watch it,” 

“ We’ll do the honors then! We’ll delete them all!” 

Then, Alex reached for the tablet, but Carlos had a strong grip on it, and the two were struggling against each other. Reggie, unsure what to do, started holding onto the tablet, tugging it towards himself. Now, they were all yelling at one another to let go. 

Flynn chose this moment to burst in, “Guys! Be quiet! We don’t know when Ray’s gonna be-” 

The boys stopped their fighting at Flynn’s sudden arrival. They paused long enough for her to see what was on the screen. 

“You guys didn’t!” Infuriated, she stormed over and snatched the tablet out of their grasps, and saw her best friend’s date being streamed, “Oh I knew it!” she waved her index finger at them, accusingly. 

It all made sense, Flynn thought. Seeing Luke in here earlier, hearing Carlos say ‘pleasure doing business with you’ as if they had struck a deal- she knew that the whole asking Julie out in public was some weird convoluted way of bringing her to the studio without getting suspicious. 

Alex shook his head, “Flynn, it’s not what you think!” 

“I knew better than to think that you guys were gonna be loyal to Julie! This is a prank and you’re all in on it!” 

What was going to happen? What was Luke going to do? Flash his abs and this time get Julie’s expression on camera? Once she got her hands on that ghost (or not, but she would try)- 

Reggie had his hands up in surrender, “No, no, no. We’re not- this isn’t-” 

“Flynn, we had no idea about this. This is all Carlos-” 

“Hey don’t blame it all on me!” 

“Your cameras! You’re responsible!” 

“Guys…” Reggie whispered. 

“We didn’t know the date was gonna be here!” 

“No difference! There’s still cameras! What else have you seen us doing!” 

“Hey… um… guys…” Reggie tried again. 

“But the whole thing at school today, embarrassing Julie- all three of you idiots were involved!” 

“That doesn’t mean we’re in league with Luke!” 

“Everyone! Shut up!” 

The group turned to Reggie, heaving, face red. He was pointing at the screen. 

“Look!” 

“Life can be so mean… but when he goes, I know he doesn't leave…” 

Luke had to jump in, “It’s all from one perspective?” 

Don’t get him wrong, this song that Julie wrote (and managed to keep from him, he still wasn’t going to let that go), seemed to be already well formed and realized. The lyrics were… raw. He had never seen Julie write like this. He could tell it was from the heart. 

And if it was from the heart, then that meant this wasn’t just some generic song, some song that any songwriter could write, void of all personal experiences and feelings- this song was real. 

Whoever Julie wrote this for… incited all these feelings inside her. 

Luke could only hope… 

Pushing all thoughts on the subject of this song, Luke focused on the mechanics of the song. That was easier to sort through. 

The song was great, but there was something missing.

Or something that she was deliberately keeping from him. 

“Yeah. So far,” 

Luke didn’t believe her, but he didn’t want to press. If he did it wrong, then she wouldn’t be so keen to share anything like this again. 

“I just think, since it’s called Perfect Harmony… don’t you think you need a complimenting vocal,” 

“A...duet?” 

The lyrics, Luke noticed, was a call. It needed a response. It needed dialogue to really elevate it. These strong feelings being sung needed to be reciprocated. They had to. He knew this in his soul. 

“I, uh, didn’t write the other part,” Again. A lie. 

“I can take a crack at it,” Luke offered. He ducked his head, rubbing the back of his neck,  “It would help… if I knew what the song is about.” Whoop. There it was. 

Ah. He just had to, didn’t he? He didn’t intend for that to slip out, but he wanted to know. 

He was riddled with anticipation. 

Julie’s hands left the piano in favor of rubbing them together. Was she nervous? 

“Well… it’s a love song,” she said finally. 

He chuckled, “I figured,” 

He plucked up the courage to look up, trying not to look so desperate. But his need to be closer to her betrayed his composure. He found himself drawing near. 

“Did you have… anyone in mind when you were writing this?” he whispered.  

Julie’s face was getting clearer now. The faint blush she applied to her already glowing cheeks, the sweep of her eyeliner, her eyelashes fluttering at him like they did in his dream. 

The corners of her mouth lifted, “I should know better than to lie to you…” 

“See, you’re catching on..” 

“Is he finally going to do it?” Reggie was biting his nails nervously as they all watched Luke get closer to Julie on the piano bench. 

He really should feel bad that they were witnessing such a private moment- but come on! This was Luke and Julie! He had to know!

The others, apart from Carlos, seemed to share the same sentiment because it had all been silent until now, all of them focusing on the screen with much interest. 

Alex nearly shoved the others out of the way so he could see better, “Oh my god, I think they’re going to-” 

Luke said something, they couldn’t hear. There was no sound. And then Julie said something that made him smile.

Then the guitarist turned away. The group collectively groaned. 

Carlos was on the opposite side of the room, shaking his head at everyone, “I thought you guys don’t like spying. Privacy, right? Boundaries ?” 

“He has a point! This is wrong!” Flynn said. 

This was a sign to stop, right? Before they saw something that they shouldn’t. 

“But why aren’t you looking away?” Reggie retorted. 

“I need to make sure your ghost friend doesn’t do any funny business with Julie!” she reasoned. It was true. There was a part of her wanting to strangle Luke, but then there was the side of her, albeit the romantic one, that wanted to see her best friend land the guy…  

Alex, now coming to his senses as the voice of reason for the group, needed to nip this in the bud, “Guys, they don’t need an audience- come on, let’s turn it off.” 

“Yeah, agreed,” 

“Totally,” 

Yet none of them exited the app. 

They kept watching.  

“ We say we're friends, we play pretend…”  She sang, hoping that Luke got the hint. 

She was beyond done with caring if he knew. This boy had been giving here these tender glances, working to make sure this song lived its fullest potential. He came in close again for the second time that night, and pulled away once more. 

Julie wanted nothing more for him to finally make the move. The tension had been building between them all night, maybe for all the time that had known each other. The dam was going to burst, but who was going to deal the final blow? 

Luke nodded, “Oh, it’s about a friend?” 

“Uh huh,” 

She folded a stray strand of hair behind her ear, scooting closer to him. 

“Do I know them?” 

He slid further up the bench. 

“Definitely,” 

Luke scrunched up his nose, “Is it Nick?”

“No,” She giggled. 

“Reggie?” he dared to ask. 

She pursed her lips, borderline puckering.  

“Warmer,” 

“Oh really?” Luke’s voice was down to a whisper, yet it sent the same ripples through her as if it were him belting out their songs. 

Then she caught it. His eyes flickered to her lips, before tearing his gaze away to lock eyes with her, but he had yet to advance. 

Everything in his stance screamed ‘Watch out, I’m going to kiss you!’ But his eyes- his eyes said something else. Whether Luke knew it or not, but the same nervous energy from when he asked her out was ever so present. 

Okay, Julie decided. 

It would be her to deal the final blow. 

“Damn, they are so close!” Flynn screamed at the two’s close proximity, wondering why nothing was happening yet. 

This was worse than sitting through any of her favorite CW shows. Because this was real. Her best friend’s heart on the line. Whatever would happen, it was gonna ripple throughout their lives. 

Carlos finally got out of bed and joined them, still judgmental, “You guys think I’m weird for having the cameras…” 

Reggie’s face was twisted in concentration, trying to read his friends’ lips on the screen but failing, “Wish we could hear what they’re saying.” 

“Nah, it definitely would sound something like this:” Alex slouched, emulating Luke’s slightly shorter stature, “Oh Julie, I want you to be my girl. See, I’m wearing a shirt with sleeves just for you,”  he said in his best Luke impression, which brought out a snort from Flynn. 

Reggie wanted to play along, “Oooh right. And Julie would be all like: ‘Luke, even though you’re technically as old as my dad-’ ” 

“Stop! Just stop right there,” 

“She would definitely not bring that up right now,” Flynn said, “Besides, it would be like ‘Luke, I totally doodled you in my history notes because I think about you all the time, ’” 

“‘Julie Patterson’?”

“Hyphenated,” 

“Molina-Patterson?” Reggie repeated the surname to get a feel for it, “Hmm… it could work,” 

“Can’t they just be Mr. and Mrs. ‘Bleh’?’ because I’ve had enough of this,” The young Molina squeezed his way through the teenagers surrounding his tablet, “Besides, if you want to hear what they’re saying, there’s a button. Just wait til’ I’m out of the room-”

“We are so not listening in on this!” Flynn interrupted. Now that was crossing the line. Knowing Luke and Julie, their conversations were way more personal than anything that could be shown on camera. 

Alex searched the screen for the button Carlos was referring to, “I’m insanely curious-” his hand was out, but Reggie slapped it away. 

“Oh no, you don’t,” He was on Flynn’s side this time. He had wanted to know before, but something about the way Julie and Luke were looking at each other just now- it didn’t feel right. 

Alex wrestled the tablet out of Flynn's hold, “I just want to know if he said something stupid-” 

“Just turn the damn thing off, Alex!” Flynn commanded, hands on the tablet, pushing it down to her level but Alex showed resistance. 

“Careful!” Carlos cried, now jumping into the fold to protect his precious tablet. 

The kid was getting roughed up in the scuffle, springing Reggie into action. His hands joined the others on the device, “Watch out for Carlos, guys! Really-?” 

The group tugged the device in their respective directions, moving around the room, spinning in a circle. 

It got out of hand. 

But Alex remained on top. His fingers darted out and pressed the button. 

Unfortunately, it was the wrong one... 

“You have an idea yet?” 

Julie’s voice at this decibel should be illegal… 

Luke’s heart, or whatever, was beating rapidly as Julie brought her face close to his. She was making the move...

The tips of their noses touched. 

“I think I’m getting there...” 

“Maybe… maybe I can just show you…” 

Her hands rested on the bench as she leaned in, and he was done for. Luke closed his eyes, letting her take the lead, too overwhelmed to even meet her in the middle. 

This was actually happening. 

He could feel her breath tickling his face. She was really close- 

EEEEEEK!

Luke’s eyes flew open just as Julie’s expression contracted. He had to pull his focus away from just how close Julie’s lips had been to his (like barely a finger’s width between them) to find the source of that high pitch squeaking. 

“What was that?” Julie asked. 

Then, It happened again, but this time it was the telltale sound of something being switched on, followed by microphone feedback. 

There was static. 

And then there were voices: 

“Give it back!” 

“Perverts! All of you!”

“Alex, turn it off!” 

“I really don’t want to see my sister kiss anyone! Please for the love of God!”  

Luke felt cold all over. 

Oh no. 

He looked up at the camera, the small one that Carlos had hidden up in the loft, now remembering its existence. 

“Where’s that coming from?” Julie hurried around the piano, tracking the tinny voices of her friends to the ladder. 

“Julie, no-” He found himself saying, but she already climbed up the ladder and was face to face with the camera. 

“What the hell?” 

“ Guys, shhh,” Reggie’s voice filtered through the tiny speaker on the camera, “ I think Julie found the camera!” 

Julie frowned, “Umm… yeah!” 

“Did she… did she answer back?” This time, Luke could hear Alex on the other end. 

“Oh no. You pressed the Speaker button, you idiots!” Carlos exclaimed. 

“No. It’s for the sound. Like you said,” 

“That’s this other button!” 

Flynn sighed, “Oh my god, they heard us... ” 

Luke got up until he was in the center of the shot, “ Are you kidding me? Guys!”  

They had been snooping on his date? Violating their privacy? How much did they hear? He was absolutely fuming with all these questions that his friends sure owed the answers to. 

He opened his mouth to shout another round of angry interjections when he saw Julie descend from the loft, her whole body rigid. 

“Luke?” her voice was strained, and he knew something was wrong. 

She looked at him. 

Then at the camera. 

Then back to him. 

“No,” he said, making his way towards her but she sidestepped him and went for the exit, “It’s not what you think-” 

She whirled around, “Did you know about the camera?” 

“Julie-” 

“Did. You. Know?”

Luke sighed, “Yes, but-”

“And you still had us be in the studio?” 

“Yeah, I didn’t want to get us hounded by fans!” 

“We could have gone somewhere else, Luke!” She was shaking now and Luke reached for her, but she kept walking backwards towards the door, “This is all some convoluted plan. The being out in public, the thing at school,” she muttered, more to herself, “Flynn was right…” 

No, no, no. He didn’t mean to- oh this looked bad, so bad. 

“Was getting me to kiss you gonna seal the deal? Gonna declare yourself the winner? Get it on camera?” 

“Julie, I would never-” 

“I’m not mad, Luke. You got me. I can take a defeat with dignity,” She said, although her eyes were brimmed with unshed tears. She brought the sleeve to wipe them off, sniffling as she did so. 

She looked down at her arm, and the girl’s face recoiled at the sight of the sleeve. Luke watched, his heart wrenched out of his chest, as Julie slipped off the flannel and threw it at him. 

“I’m just- just gonna go. Umm… congrats. You really had me there,” She turned to the loft, “Hey Flynn?” 

“Yeah, Jules?”

“When dad gets back, can I sleep over at yours?” 

“Of course, ” 

“Julie,” he called for her but wasn’t having it. 

Then she pushed against the doors and ran for the house. 

He could hear her faint cries as she left. 

“Luke,” 

Clutching his flannel against him, he didn’t notice when Alex and Reggie had walked over, flanking his sides. 

“She thought the date was a prank,” Luke mumbled, the words breaking him. 

He couldn’t bring himself to get angry. Not at the boys. Not at Julie. Like how could Julie think so little of him that she resorted to that kind of conclusion? None of that was on his mind right now. 

All he cared about was that every intimate moment they shared tonight, the secrets they’ve told each other was framed as deceit. 

Julie would look back on her first date to find it all tainted. 

And he didn’t know how to undo that.  

Alex was the first to say something,“We’re so… sorry,” 

“It’s fine,” 

“Are you-” 

He cut Reggie off, “It’s whatever. Just…” he sniffled, “Just help me clean all this up. Yeah?” 

His friends nodded and wordlessly blew out candles and collected the pillows off the ground. Luke moved sluggishly to the couch. 

He sat down, with the flannel in his hands. This flannel- the garment that was just beginning to bring such joy whenever he saw it, was now a painful reminder of how always managed to screw things up with the people he cared about. 

Luke chucked it as far and as hard he could. It landed somewhere in the loft. 

He hoped he wouldn’t stumble upon it soon...

Chapter Text

Chapter 16 ‘It’s Official. It’s War’

“I’m an idiot, Flynn,” 

“No, you’re not,” 

“I should have known…” 

Julie furiously wiped away the streaks of tears on her cheeks, sniffling. Flynn rushed over to the bedside table to retrieve a tissue. She smiled at her bestie before accepting it. 

They were at Flynn’s, running a couple streets over as soon as Ray had made it home. 

Thank god for her dad, who had recognized something off but still let her go to Flynn’s at this hour. His intuition probably told him that this was a particularly sensitive girl-issue and that an impromptu sleepover was the best solution. 

Julie had changed into a pair of Flynn’s sweatpants and a t-shirt that she had left behind the last time she had been over. They sat cross legged on the bed as she tried to blot up the second round of tears that came creeping on her suddenly. 

This had been one Cinderella kind of night. 

It had been perfect. 

She had the dress (albeit short and black rather than a poofy blue gown), the guy, a beautiful backdrop- she had an amazing time. 

But then the clock struck twelve, and the magic boost of confidence she had cultivated for the past few weeks ran out when she the sobering truth had been revealed to her- 

She was still in a prank war. And Luke would do whatever it takes to win. 

Like with that whole thing with Reggie and ‘Home is Where My Horse Is’, a not so favorable part of Luke’s tenacity shone through and it really upset Reggie. Yes, he had apologized afterwards, but to even take it that far in the first place-

She really didn’t want Flynn to be right. She vouched for Luke this time around, never believing that he would actually stoop to this level- to document their date for posterity… to have clear proof that he had been able to charm Julie into kissing him. 

It made sense that it was what he was gunning for, the natural conclusion to their back and forth. A sign that the other person conceded and the victor would have been successful in eliciting such a reaction. What a trophy… 

And after all they had shared with each other tonight, all the deeply personal things that she wouldn’t divulge with anyone else- 

Maybe that was why she was taking it so hard. 

Julie had been really vulnerable tonight, and it had been a long journey for her to reach a place to feel comfortable, to feel confident amidst all of her raging insecurities that she harbored early in the month. Insecurities surrounding her love life in particular…

She clearly hadn’t lucked out in the love department, and it had been a sore spot- not with her summer camp fling, not with Nick- 

And as difficult to admit, and even though Luke would always prove how much he really cared about her, and even though Julie knows how much he cares about her, there was always going to be that tiny part of her that would be waiting for the shoe to drop. To always anticipate the fallout, the breakup, the goodbye- 

Because good things, good people, weren’t meant to stick around in her life for too long. 

It was a dismal mindset to have, she was aware- she had spoken to Dr. Turner about it. But that was the gamble, having feelings for a ghost- and she had set herself up for disappointment in the first place…. She had brought this onto herself… 

Julie really wanted to believe that the whole date was indeed a date, Luke hadn’t given her any indication during the night that alluded to some sort of hidden agenda. 

But looking into his eyes, when she had asked about the camera, there was definite guilt embedded in the hazel.

No matter how amazing it was, it did not change the fact that Luke knew about the camera. 

He had known and didn’t tell her, and from what Flynn had told her, didn’t tell anyone . She had no idea how long had it had been up for. Imagine what kind of stuff that they had captured if it had been up for more than a day, a week- weeks, all the embarrassing moments that had happened- 

Like their guitar lesson. 

Oh god, if he had that on video- 

Julie buried her face into her hands at that mortifying prospect. 

Flynn rubbed her best friend’s back, wishing she could just snap her fingers and magically make everything ok. 

And as pissed as she was at Luke for this whole fiasco, she was more upset that Julie was so upset. 

The lyrics ‘If somebody hurts you then I’m gonna get hurt too’ weren’t pretty words. Flynn really felt for Julie. It took all her might not to cry along with Julie. She had always been a sympathetic crier, the habit intensified whenever around her best friend.

It literally hurt to watch Julie go through this. Even after that terrible year, Flynn could never get used to it. If she had it her way, she would make sure Julie would never hurt again. 

“You were right. We were due for a prank and here it was…” 

She winced. Flynn did not want to be right, but it was her job as the cynical one out of the two of them to ground her best friend. It totally gutted her to see Julie so defeated. That was not how it was supposed to be. 

With a disgruntled huff, Julie chucked her crumpled up tissue at the trash can across the room, “Can’t believe I was this close to kissing him!” 

“Can’t believe you haven’t done it already,” Flynn gesticulated in the direction of her house, “That! Right there? Was the Tumblr moodboard of dream dates- you’re welcome by the way.” 

She did her best to lighten up the mood, which only brought on a half-smile that could have also been read as a grimace. 

“Were the boys in on it?” Julie asked. 

“No. I don’t think so,” 

Flynn could safely say that neither Alex nor Reggie had a clue, given not knowing how to even operate basic 21st century tech like Carlos’ tablet. And also their genuine surprise at watching the events of the date unfold before their eyes. 

Her blame on Luke was still in question. Although Flynn only caught the latter part of the date and couldn’t hear a word, she wasn’t blind. Luke had been making goo-goo heart eyes at her best friend the whole time, none of that shit-eating, smarmy attitude that she saw after the ‘Guitar Lesson from Hell’. 

He really was, to the fullest extent of the word, wooing and wanting to woo Julie. Genuinely trying to make her smile and laugh, just- giving her a good time it seemed. 

Flynn was confused. 

But not as confused as Julie. 

Julie reclined onto the bed, hands folded over her chest, contemplating. Flynn joined her side, head docked on her shoulder, a gentle grip on her forearm. 

“I actually had a really great time tonight. Now I can’t think about it without feeling like… like I’ve been cheated somehow,” 

Flynn sighed, noting the late hour, “Look, let’s forget about the date. We’ll drop it for now and when you’re ready to talk about it again, we will. But-” 

“I need to get him back,” Julie blurted out.   

“Okay, you’re flip flopping here, Jules. I thought you were mad at him,” 

“No. Get back at him. And I am. I am mad. Dammit, I am mad,” She sprang up from the bed at the confirmation. 

Yes, she was mad. At Luke, yeah. But also mad at herself, for responding like this. To let herself get backed up into a corner and cry when she could have just retained her boss lady attitude that she had been building these past few weeks, and stand her ground. 

“The only consolation to all of this is that I didn’t kiss him. He didn’t beat me. It’s my turn now,” Julie was out of bed now, on her feet, declaring the end of her pity party. 

That was the only thing keeping Julie from curling up in a ball and sulk.

The prank. 

He got her. Now this was her chance to settle the score. 

“Why get mad when I can get even? I’ve been playing it cute this whole time. I need to take it a step further,” she was already formulating her next move...

Stealing his clothes, yeah, that was nice. Her tactic had always been being coy, playing up that girl next door vibe, which would take Luke by surprise. But now, Luke had a good idea of just how devious she could be when it came to planning and would be more prepared. 

Cute was not enough. Cute could not simply overpower Luke’s effortless attempts to get her flustered, mostly using his body to do so (and what a body it was- she was pissed but she could… appreciate). And she had already tried the jealousy route. 

Maybe… just maybe, the only way to beat Luke… is to take a page out of his playbook. 

Flynn, on any other occasion, would so encourage this petty streak Julie seemed to be getting into, but her girl needed to pace herself. It hadn’t even been an hour, and there was so much left to the puzzle that Flynn needed to solve before she could make her input. 

“Ok, ok. We’ll talk shop later,” decided Flynn, cocooning her hands around Julie’s and leading her to her bathroom. She ran the faucet. 

“We need to give you a rinse, give you some comfy, fuzzy socks, and we’ll watch a movie. I asked my parents and they’re cool with you staying the weekend, so there’s plenty of time to hatch something.” 

Julie splashed cool water onto herself. And face refreshed, her vengeance simmered down upon experiencing the greatness that was her best friend. It wasn’t until now that Julie realized that she would dread to come home and see Luke and everyone else so soon. 

A weekend away was what she needed. And it would give her time to figure out her prank, the faintest hint of a plan already blooming in her mind. 

She beheld her friend, arms sneaking up behind her back and tugging her into a grateful embrace. 

“You’re honestly the best person I know,” Julie whispered into Flynn’s braids. 

The hug tightened and she could feel a kiss on her temple, “And you’re the best one I know,” Flynn withdrew and booped Julie on the nose, “I got you.” 

“Thank you,” 

“Now…” Flynn rushed back to her room and procured two DVDs, “ Legally Blonde or 10 Things I Hate About You ?”

Luke hadn’t moved from the couch in the past 12 hours. 

Legs folded in pretzel formation, back hunched, chin resting on his fists, he fixed his glum stare into Alex’s drum set. He might have slept during this time, but he couldn’t tell anymore. 

He really wanted last night to be a dream. 

That had quickly shifted into a nightmare. 

Unfortunately, he couldn’t wake up and move on. 

Last night really did happen. He had gone on a stellar date with Julie- the first time he had enjoyed himself on the date ever. The first time he had gone on a date where the girl didn’t end up getting food spilled onto her lap, or gripe about his lack of table manners, or ask for concert tickets. 

Unfortunately, it had been the first time his date stormed off crying. 

And his luck with dating continued… even into his afterlife. 

Luke Patterson was doomed to have disastrous dates. 

He and the boys had been speedy in the dismantling of the decorations, but had held off returning the pillows, lights, and the laptop- not finding it the appropriate time to go into Julie’s room. Not when she had yet to leave for Flynn’s. 

And after she and Flynn took off, Luke was able to keep one pillow at least, leaving Alex and Reggie to finish. Carlos would have helped but since Julie was no longer within the vicinity- he could no longer see or hear them. 

The pillow was currently propping up his elbows. He might have cuddled with it the night before once Reggie and Alex had conked out. 

Maybe screaming into it too. 

And maybe breathing in the apple scent that would have stemmed from Julie’s shampoo. 

He missed her. 

He messed up. 

Alex and Reggie found him in the morning, still dressed in his clothes from the date, reeking from excessive cologne and sadness, totally out of it. 

“Hey, buddy,” Alex yawned, the sound causing his brows to crease, not acclimated yet to this new ability of sleep. He fell against Luke’s right, while Reggie took the other. 

“Hey,” his voice was hoarse after not having spoken since Julie left. 

Reggie patted him on the back, “I’d ask you how you’re holding up-” 

“And I’d say ‘I’m fine’-” 

“And we wouldn’t believe you,” Alex finished. He sighed, his hands folded in front of him, his leg nervously bouncing, “I’m so sorry. It was me. With the whole speaker thing. Got caught up with all the excitement and it got way out of hand.” 

“No, it was me,” Reggie intervened, “I had everyone watch. We should have stopped. We should have turned it off from the beginning,”

Julie was right. He and the boys really need to learn what ‘boundaries’ even mean. Now they overstepped, and it cost Luke and Julie a chance to be happy. And to be happy together. 

‘Wow’, Reggie thought, ‘We suck. Worst wingmen ever.’

“Look, we’ll take full blame for what went down. We could talk to Julie when she gets back-” 

“Yeah, you don’t have to worry about it, Luke. We’ll clear it up,” 

“Carlos will help too. He felt so bad,”

“And Flynn could back us up. She was there. Julie would listen to her for sure,” 

Luke sighed, “No need.” 

“How come?” 

“Because it really was my fault,” 

Alex’s brows drooped. He and Reggie shifted their bodies so they faced Luke, “What do you mean?” 

The guitarist bonked his head with the pillow, repeatedly, muttering, “Stupid, stupid, stupid…” in between blows. 

Reggie pried the pillow from his hands and hurled it across the room, crashing into Alex’s hi-hat, toppling it over, earning a cry of protest from the drummer. 

“But it isn’t. We wrecked the date,” he insisted.

“No, I did,” Luke attested, gaze casted downwards, refusing to look either friend in the eye, “Or at least… me a week ago wrecked it…” 

The boys were silent, urging him to continue. 

“Well…” 

Luke was just about to head down stairs after his talk with Carlos, a skip in step as the thought of his plan to get back Julie filled him with unbridled glee, ready to bust it out during their guitar lesson. 

One leg phasing through Carlos’ door, he called out a ‘thanks’. He owed it to the kid for not only filling him in on Julie’s plot to steal his clothes but also not even trying to stop him from retaliating. 

“Wait,” the young Molina summoned him back. 

Luke backtracked, “Yeah?” 

“You’re not mad? That I have these cameras up?” 

He shook his head, “Dude, if it weren’t for these cameras, I wouldn’t have known what was going on. And like you… I don’t want to be left out.” 

“Cool,” Carlos smiled, relieved, “Cuz, I wanna see if I can get some ghost action with these. Some floating objects or something.” 

“You probably need to wait til Julie goes to school for those. You know, so we would be ghost-ghosts again?” 

“Gotcha,” Carlos set his tablet on his bedside table, settling into his sheets. His hand stilled when reaching for the lamp to turn it off- 

“You’re not… gonna tell Julie or your ghost buddies about them, are you?” 

Luke could hear the twinge of fear in the young boy’s voice. Carlos did not want to get in trouble. He had already used up gift money and past few months allowances to get these cameras- and the wrath he would undoubtedly face from Julie ‘Boundaries’ Molina… 

But he had nothing to worry about, Luke was no snitch. And like previously stated, he owed this kid. They were definitely gonna be useful, at least for him and Carlos, when getting back at the others. 

And if Alex and Reggie were on Julie’s side, then- sorry, boys- Luke was not gonna tell. Some payback needed to be reserved for them too. And once he was done with Julie, those two were so gonna get it…. If that meant relinquishing some of his privacy, then Luke would gladly do it. 

Cuz he was petty. 

Carlos was too. 

They understood each other. 

Working a smirk, Luke pressed a finger against his lips, “We’ll keep this between us. And who knows? Maybe we’ll need it… to get more information.” 

“We?” 

“Yeah, dude. We’re a team now. Team ‘Not Left Behind’,” 

If Julie was able to recruit his brothers, then Luke couldn’t see anything wrong with doing the same with hers.

Carlos grinned, absolutely living for this, “Yeah. We’re a team. But we need a new name,” 

“Work in progress,” 

“Thought you were supposed to be the songwriter,” 

“Hey!"

"Not your best work," 

"Brutal. Go to sleep,” 

“Fine. Goodnight,” The kid relented and curled up into bed, closing his eyes.  

Luke took the initiative of shutting off the lights, “Goodnight, Carlos. Nice scheming with you.” 

Then the ghost left the room, rubbing his hands together. Oh he couldn’t wait to use that camera footage to his advantage. And imagine what it could capture this coming Monday for Julie’s guitar lesson… 

Luke was a step ahead and, pretty soon, he would come out on top. 

And it was all thanks to Carlos and his cameras… 

Alex was no longer at Luke’s side, pushing himself onto his feet and pointing at him, accusingly, “So you were gonna use those cameras to spy on us!” 

“Woah, Alex. Chill,” Reggie could see Luke was not proud of it. And he was already in such a state because of the night before. Ignoring the betrayal for a second, the bassist quelled their drummer. 

“Let’s- let’s just hear him out for a second,” he suggested. Then he looked at Luke, calling his name until their eyes met, “So?”

“It was all before we made the rules. Before I-” Luke swallowed audibly, “I took things too far with you, Reg. About your song. Last Week Luke was… intense. He would do anything to win and that meant betraying your guys’ trust, violating your privacy and just being an all around-” 

“Asshole?” Alex offered. 

Luke couldn’t even dispute that, “...yeah,” 

“But Carlos said, he wasn’t spying for you,” Reggie remembered. 

“I told him not to. After we set up the rules. I didn’t even look at any of the footage since the night he exposed you. But I guess he kept it rolling for his own agenda…” 

“And you just… forgot? Forgot to mention it?” 

The visual of Alex dancing alone in the studio to Britney Spears had the drummer sweating under his collar. That and hours and hours of other stuff Carlos that were saved on his tablet. 

So, who could blame Alex that he was just slightly miffed that Luke had the chance to spare him from humiliation but didn’t… 

“I guess the initial excitement of scoring a date with Julie had to completely override, well, everything,” 

Luke knew that was a weak excuse, but it all had slipped his mind. That was the truth. 

Luckily, these were his brothers here with him. They had their fair share of experiences with his chaotic and cluttered mind.

A sigh left Alex before he returned to the couch, “Yeah… I get that.” 

The couch started to feel crowded, so Luke traversed the width of the room, collected Julie’s pillow, and hugged it, the sweetness of apple swarming his senses. 

“How could I even begin to beg for her forgiveness?” Luke asked, “Did you see her? Didn’t you… hear her?” 

Watching Julie run to the house was not unlike how he watched her run away from him at her school’s gym. His heart ached both times, and he vowed to never let that happen again. 

He had made her upset. He had made her cry. Because of a mistake he made when he had been competitive, spiteful, and awful. 

Before neither Alex nor Reggie could toss their suggestions around, the double doors opened, rendering everyone frozen.

Flynn, bearing a duffle bag, made an entrance, not acknowledging any of them. She started collecting Julie’s notes on her keyboard and tucking it under her armpit, humming to herself. 

“Could she- can’t she not see us?” Reggie voiced aloud the room’s thoughts. 

Luke crept closer to Flynn, snapping to try and get her to turn around. No response. 

“Wait, so if she can’t see us, then that means-” 

Flynn was at the exit, most of her body already disappeared behind one of the doors. Her head poked out, eyes dancing around the whole room, “Yo ghost dudes. If you’re here. Letting you know Julie won’t be back until Monday. See ya.” 

What?

Luke tried to pursue Flynn for more information before remembering it was no use. 

Julie was still at Flynn’s? 

His fingers raked through his hair, curling around his locks and threatening to uproot them, the gravity of the situation punching him the gut once more. 

Julie didn’t want to come home. Not even to pick up her stuff. She was going to be gone. For days. 

“Well…” Reggie gave a weakly formed smile, “You have a few days to figure out what to say to her?” 

Yeah, Luke mused darkly, the freakin’ bright side. 

The moment Flynn closed the studio doors, her neutral expression dropped, in favor of one fixed into one of anger. 

She allowed herself this. This one moment of unrestrained display of emotion after having to pretend that nothing was wrong. Flynn maintained her scowl as she left the Molinas’ driveway, until she spotted her dad’s car parked in front of the house. 

Opening the back doors, Flynn found Julie sitting in her seat, fidgeting with their friendship bracelets. 

“You okay?” 

Her bestie glanced up, smiled, and said ‘yeah’, like a liar. If she had been fine, then she would have retrieved her stuff from the house herself, not sending Flynn to get them for her. 

Flynn dropped the duffle bag and the composition homework onto Julie’s lap. The girl immediately unzipped the bag and rifled through the contents,“Did you get it?” 

She raised an eyebrow, “Do you doubt me?” 

That got a chuckle out of the other girl. Mission accomplished, Flynn, she told herself. 

Julie peeked in and saw her short black heels and the dress she used for their school’s dance class amidst other clothes and needed toiletries. 

“Thank you,” 

Don’t thank me just yet...

Flynn kept that to herself (amongst other things) shutting the door and sliding into the passenger seat so her dad could take them all back to her house. 

She didn’t tell her what she heard in the studio just now. 

She didn’t tell her that she had to pretend not to notice the boys. 

She didn’t tell her how livid she was. 

Flynn was just about to give Luke the benefit of the doubt, but then she had to roll up to the garage at just the right moment, right when he basically incriminated himself in snooping via the cameras. 

He had not only known about them, but he had planned to use them to spy on their team. And if the timeline tracked- they definitely would have captured the steamy guitar lesson on camera. 

How could that not have been planned? And from what Julie had told her, she would absolutely die if any of that footage came out. 

She peered at her best friend from the rearview mirror. Julie caught her gaze and she smiled. 

Flynn was gonna make sure to keep that smile on her face for as long as possible. No one would ever mess with either half of Double Trouble. 

Cute air or not, Luke deserved to get knocked down a peg, and Flynn just might have to get up to some revenge of her own…

Two days passed. 

Two long days for Luke. Two short ones for Julie. 

While the ghost moped around the Molina house, not even bothering to write new material or even pick up his guitar to keep himself busy, Julie’s schedule had been booked, switching time between Flynn’s and at the dance studio for her Latin classes. 

Either way, Monday came, and Luke had appropriated Alex’s ‘model strut’, pacing the entire length of the studio, anxiously awaiting for 4pm. Every so often, he would pause to check his watch, remember that it had stopped working the second he came back from the dead, then resumed his pacing. 

“You good, man?” Reggie inquired from the couch, at almost the same exact spot when they had been watching Alex pace. 

But this time instead of Luke beside him, it was Alex. He stared at Luke, wondering if he had looked that sad while doing it… or if it was Luke being Luke… 

“No. No he’s not,” Alex said, “Our guitarist is malfunctioning because Julie is coming home today.” 

“Maybe, it’ll be ok. It’s been days, she’s had some time to cool off. She’ll hear you out,” 

Luke hadn’t been able to write songs, but what had been filling up his journal lately had been drafts upon drafts of apologies because he had to do better than a three-part harmony ‘I’m sorry’. 

(And it definitely didn’t have its desired effect the last time they had used it…)

It had been a lonely past couple of days. Even with the guys here. 

Alex would sometimes visit Willie somewhere, and Luke didn’t know, maybe, being adorable with each other. The drummer had kept mum about these get to gethers. All they could gather was the dream-like gaze he would always return with. 

But Luke hadn’t the energy to tease him about it… 

That was how bad he was feeling. 

And Reggie was in his own little mood too. Since Julie was gone, neither Ray nor Carlos was able to see or hear him. (Good for the former, sad for the latter). 

He kept wanting to hang out with Carlos and play video games, but it was hard getting the kid’s attention, and the bassist didn’t want to be rude and use the console himself… 

Luke needed to make things right with Julie. It felt wrong not having her there. He was a ghost, yes, and he could have poofed over to her at Flynn’s, but she had made it clear she needed space. And he should respect that. 

This was the longest they had ever been apart. It would drive Luke bonkers waiting for her to come home from school, like how he was right now, but this was something else entirely. 

It was kinda like how after he had discovered his love for music and guitar, once it was in his life, he didn’t want to live without it. 

It was like that with Julie. 

And speak of the devil- 

The squeak of the hinges followed by footsteps interrupted his pacing, rousing the boys from the couch. 

“Hey, guys,” chirped a weary but jovial Julie. She set her backpack down near her keyboard bench. 

“...uh hey?” Alex greeted back, wary. Even Reggie was too afraid to wave back. 

Meanwhile Luke was… lost. Did he miss something? Because Julie seemed normal. Like nothing happened this weekend. 

Julie wasn’t even avoiding eye contact or making it awkward. She even smiled at Luke while she unloaded her notebook and papers onto her keys, “Sorry, I was a little late. My history teacher had asked me to stay behind to talk about something. So, we ready?” 

She only received blank looks. 

“Rehearse? It’s been a while,” she clarified. 

Reggie was the first to snap out of it, latching onto the idea quick and sprinting towards his bass, “Uh, yeah. Let’s- let’s do that.” 

Alex, at a snail’s pace, trooped to his set, eyes darting between Luke and Julie cautiously. 

“Julie,” Luke moved to her hesitantly, distracting her from setting her keyboard and mic up, “Can we talk first?” 

She nodded and Luke led them outside. He could feel the boys’ stares drilling into his head when he closed the garage doors. 

They faced each other, underneath the basketball hoop, reminiscent of their conversation pre-band circle the day of the Orpheum performance. 

“Are you-” he coughed, “Are we okay?” He gestured to the space between them. 

Julie grinned, “Yeah. We are,” 

“It’s just that- when you left, we weren’t exactly at a good place,” His hands were stuffed into his jean pockets, his left leg tapping, jostling the chains dangling from his belt loop in a distressed rhythm. 

“I, uh, just wanna say that I’m, like- I’m so sorry. I, uh, never meant to-” God, he had prepared this. He had written out so many versions of an apology, all to be thrown out the window the second those brown eyes were on him. 

He inhaled and exhaled, shaking his nerves out. 

“I wanted that night to be perfect,” 

Her head tilted, and the grin brightened up somewhat, “And it was.” 

Julie wasn’t lying. It had been. For a while. And that was honestly what she wanted to hold onto throughout this reflective weekend. It had happened, it had surpassed anything she could ever daydream herself. 

“You didn’t plan for what happened to happen, I know. And it’s okay,” she said, to which Luke let out a smile. 

Then it was gone. 

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here...” 

Two steps forward, and Julie was suddenly in his space. Her smile, marked by the shadows of the trees, transformed, less sweet and more… 

...wicked. 

It should have been scary, he should be quaking right now, but goddamn it, he was too entranced. So he settled for widening of the eyes, gaping of the mouth. That only seemed to intensify her smirk.

Now Julie’s hand was on his shoulder, lowering him, and he obliged, until he was near her height. Closing in on his ear, she whispered: 

“I’m not holding back next time,” 

Oh how satisfying that was, Julie thought, pulling away and seeing that Luke’s eyes had fluttered closed, the boy trying (and failing) to clamp down a shiver. 

It had taken him a moment to actually process what she said. 

When he did, the hazel reappeared, “What- hey! It wasn’t a prank. You know it wasn’t-” 

“Shh,” She placed her finger against his lips, effectively shutting him up. 

Julie had not been prepared for how wet his lips were mid-sentence, or just how soft they felt against her skin- it almost made her lose her cool because- wow. But no, she retained her boldness, enjoying the way Luke was so still- 

She really threw him off kilter with this one. 

His eyes could not grow any bigger at this surprised and very intimate form of contact. He could do nothing, couldn’t move without pressing against her finger and making it all the more… heated. It would have been the closest thing to kissing her, and Luke was not ready for that right now- oh no…

“I think... I deserve my turn now. Don’t you?”

What? Logically, it was his turn. He still very much had his turn. No prank. No switching turns-  

But he was in no position to argue right now. Not when he was at Julie Molina’s mercy once more…

He didn’t ponder about it for too long before he found himself nodding.  

“Good,” Julie withdrew her finger, but not before letting it drag down his lips a little, sending Luke into a tizzy. 

Satisfied, she skipped ahead of him, hands on the door handles, “The boys are waiting for us. And we have the new song to run through, right?” 

Luke gulped, “Uh, yeah. Right.” 

“Come on,” 

Once she opened the door and perched herself on her bench and the boys visually picked apart his stupefied state, Luke was left wondering- 

What the hell just happened?

Things between him and Julie had been business as usual for the next few days. 

The best way to describe it as an uncanny valley of sorts. Everything was normal, or so it seemed. Only the minute differences would throw everything off once you zeroed in on them. 

Although Julie smiled at him, would talk to him, would workshop songs with him- it had all felt purposeful. When it came to acting, it was always a mixed bag with Julie, either her lies were flimsy at best or she would be delivering an Oscar-worthy performance. No in between. 

He figured the latter was happening, but he wasn’t sure he could dispute it. Not without sounding crazy. Reggie had been vocal about it, “Aren’t you happy? She’s not making it weird.” 

She wasn’t. No, it was in fact Julie not making it weird which was making it weird. 

He had tried to explain this to the bassist, but he didn’t understand. Maybe it was because his interactions with Julie had been purely natural. Along with her interacting with literally anybody else but him- Alex, Carlos, Ray, Flynn- 

Now Flynn...

Flynn was the one blatantly acting weird in front of him. 

He could tell that when she greets him, that the smile wouldn’t make it to her cheeks, to her eyes. She would regard him only in a group setting, never by himself, and did her best to veer Julie away from spending any more alone time with him than necessary… 

He figured that since Julie had forgiven him (or did she, Luke was still very confused about that), Flynn was taking longer to warm up to him still. And he accepted that. Honestly, Luke preferred if Julie had reacted the way Flynn did: slow to grant him into her good graces. 

At least that was more navigable than, whatever this was… 

Like yeah, he should be grateful that Julie was even giving him the time of day and seemed to enjoy doing so, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that their relationship had shifted, figuring to be way more complicated than before. 

But no matter what, they were all part of the band, and there was band business they needed to tackle. 

Apparently, the past few weeks, Flynn had been hard at work creating online presences for the boys, to really sell that they were three Canadian guys in a hologram band. 

This Luke found out poofing in the garage, finding Reggie and Alex hunched over the old phone Julie had lent them the day before. 

This whole tech stuff was never really Luke’s forte. Out of all the boys, he was the only one too set into his ‘90s ways. 

It was cool and all, finding out about Youtube and Spotify. But if it didn’t involve solely music, then Luke had no inclination to learn about how it worked. 

He didn’t share the same enthusiasm Reggie and Alex seemed to have as they browsed through whatever website they were on. 

Luke was off to play darts, let the boys have their fun. 

But Reggie tried to wave him over, “Dude, there’s so many people on here. So many fans that are already following us.” 

Now that piqued Luke’s interest. That was… really good. They had an audience. An invested one at that. 

Alex could tell they had him hooked and continued, “We could upload videos and pictures, basically promoting ourselves on here-hey!”

“It’s my account, we’re on. Remember!” Reggie hogged the phone, typing some response, “‘Tell… your… friends…. There. Sent.” 

Turning the phone around, Luke and Alex could see Reggie update the bio on some site. His tag name was reggie.the.phantom95, and they could see that he had already a solid 5k people following him. 

“Five… thousand?” Luke couldn’t fathom that many people. Wait, no, that was like… a stadium’s worth of people, “What is this?” 

“I believe it is called The ‘Gram,” Alex said, “Willie says that’s what we should call it. Instead of saying ‘Instagram’.” 

‘Gram’, Luke tested the word on his tongue, trying to get used to it. Trying to get used to all of it-

Sorry he was still hung up on five thousand people wanting to know what Reggie was up to. 

“I have 5.2k,” the drummer bragged, searching up his profile and presenting it to his friends. 

Scrolling through, Luke could see that there already was a grid of photos. Some of Alex, some of all of them performing, some generic photos that allude to some sort of life before their hologram band- a snowy landscape that Luke figured was Canada? 

“Flynn already set up our accounts. Didn’t she run yours by you?” Reggie asked. 

Luke shook his head, “No,” Apparently he was due for a talk with Flynn soon, because he clearly had a lot to learn. 

Reggie took back the phone, tapping at the screen. He frowned, “Are you sure? That’s weird because you already uploaded stuff to the ‘Gram- oh,” 

Luke neared him, “What?” 

The bassist squinted at whatever’s on the screen, yelped, and slammed the phone against his chest, “Uh...nothing.” 

“This I have to see,” Alex wanted to know what got Reggie all strange, and he forced the device out of his friend’s hands and took a gander at the screen.

His amusement fell, “Oh.” 

Reggie peered over at it one more time, cringing, “Yeah, you definitely did not post this, Luke...” 

“What guys, let me see-” Luke stormed over to the couch, demanding to see what was on the phone. The phone was out of Alex’s grip in seconds, before either of the boys could fight him for it. 

“Wait, Luke-” 

“No, no, no, no-”

“What the hell?” Luke cried. 

There on the screen was his face. 

But like the worst possible face he could actually make, and Luke could pinpoint exactly when this happened. 

Julie and Flynn had introduced the boys to something called the Beanboozled Challenge … 

Luke didn’t remember what god awful flavor he had tried, but it had been the most revolting thing he had ever put in his mouth (hot dog included). He had spat it out onto the floor, swiping at his tongue to get the taste out, and overall was not having a good time. 

His face had been contorted into an odd shape, tongue sticking out, gagging, eyes bugging out. It honestly didn’t even look close to his regular face, but there it was. 

As not only a post in this photo grid, but as his profile picture as well. 

That was the face people were seeing when they would click onto his account! 

“That is...not the most flattering picture, Luke,” Alex uttered. 

“None of these are!” Luke scrolled through the grid on the luke.the.phantom95  account and it mostly consisted of really terrible pictures of him taken at the wrong time, only some had to do with the band or Canada. 

“Um… is this a bad time to also say ‘check your follower count’?”

“Holy-!”

8k. 

8… thousand… people were following him?!

He clicked on the garish Beanboozled picture, and was stunned that it had gotten over 12 thousand likes and a great deal of comments- some of them confused to find out that this was the guitarist for Julie and the Phantoms, but mostly poking fun at his face. 

Oh my god. 

This was mortifying!

Alex winced, “Looks like Julie got you back...”