Work Text:
The plane landed on LAX at 8am sharp. She put her sunglasses on, smirked and headed to the door, greeting the beautiful day LA was giving her. She left the plane and went to grab her suitcase. She was glad she was finally home after 3 years away. She surely missed her baby girl, who’d be 16 years old by now but not her husband.
Grabbing her suitcase and ready to pick up a cab, she didn’t know where to go first. Home? Maybe she could look for an apartment or go see if the guys in the record label need her today. No, she needed to go home, to face the one she liked once upon a time and maybe resolve things out.
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Carrie arrived home from school. She had a test today so she got home a little bit earlier than usual. Her dad wasn’t home but she could smell fresh coffee coming from the kitchen. Going there, she saw someone siting on the counter drinking coffee and watching one of her Youtube videos.
- Mom?
The person sitting there just turn to look at her with a huge smile on her face.
- Carrie? Care bear?
- What are you doing here?
- Ahm… it’s my home… I’m back home.
- But… but…
- Oh, come on honey, just come here and give your mama a big hug. I missed you so much!
Carrie just threw herself on her mama’s arm. They hugged for a long time, both with tears coming down their faces.
- Hey… where’s Julie?
- At home? I don’t know. I’m not her friend anymore.
- Why not? You guys were inseparable…
- I don’t wanna talk about it, mom…
- Ok. Whenever you’re ready honey. So, tell me… how’s Nick boy?
- We… broke up…
- Oh sweety… I missed so much, but I’m here now. And I’m not going anywhere. I’m here to stay.
- In this house? With me and dad?
- Hm… not really.. You know, It’s complicated… we… I don’t know… too much stuff, past stuff, regrets and sorrow… and loss. But I’m back – hugging her daughter like she’s her life anchor. So, tell me how’s school. And your group… Tell me everything!
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Ray was doing the dishes listening to Julie and the guys rehearsing on the garage. He was happy for her. After the loss of her mom and her not playing for a year, that was a kind of constant in her life. She was smiling again. It still freaked him out that the boys in the band were ghosts, that they could see them and touch them, but still… he was happy. The band stopped playing now.
He heard the familiar pop behind him and looked to see who was there. Of course it was Reggie.
- Hey Reg, need something?
- Ahm… just… to… ahm… need help?
- Sure… take a cloth back there and help yourself. – another pop, Alex – Hey Alex…
- Hey Mr. Molina… can I help too?
- Sure… - looking between both boys with a suspicious expression – Are Julie and Luke…
- They had an idea for a new song… we just didn’t want to bother them.
- Oh. Ok. I’ll go check on them when we finish here.
- No! – both boys said at the same time and then Alex continued saying – they need this time to figure some things out.
- Yeah, that’s what I’m more afraid off – the boys look nervous now and shy – Boys, I know they like each other. It’s all over their faces. I’m cool with it, really. I just need to tell Julie not to stay up too late and some other stuff… dad stuff.
- Ow.. ok – and they continued to help Ray out in the kitchen when his phone rang.
He looked at the name on the screen frowning a little bit. Why was she calling him so out of nowhere? He answered.
- Hello?
- Hey Ray. Long time no see.
- Yeah… how are you?
- Back. Listen, I really need to talk to you… can I go by tomorrow? I know it’s a little bit sudden but I need someone to talk too and figure some stuff out.
- Ok.
- Right. Ahm… I’m really sorry about Rose. She was one of my closest friends. I’m really sorry I couldn’t be here when she… ahm… passed. But I had no choice. If I stayed here longer, I was going to implode.
- I understand S. Come by at 9am tomorrow, we can talk over coffee.
- Ok. Cool. See you tomorrow! Bye!
- Bye!
After they hung up, he noticed the boys, looking at him with a huge grim on their faces. He just tryed to do the “what are you looking at” face and said:
- It’s just a friend! ROSE’s friend. Nothing more. You guys will like her… she’s a producer. Maybe I can ask her to produce a demo for you guys. Whatcha think?
- Sweet! – Reggie said with a huge smile on this face.
- Now… go do whatever you guys usually do. I’m going to watch TV. Tell Julie not to stay up late this time. We have a visitor tomorrow at 9.
- Ok! – both said pofing out.
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She was sitting inside her closet, still mesmerized that Travor aka Bobby hadn’t thrown her things out or burned or whatever. She had a box on her lap, her dream box. She inhaled and exhaled trying not to let her anxiety get the best of her again. She need to be strong for the things that were going to happen on the next few days. Opening the box she stared at the contents smiling. A guitar pick, a bracelet with a heart in it and a pair of chipped drumsticks. She smiled fondly at it. Next she found a pair of wedding bands, a ticket concert from 1995, a card with “best big bother ever” written in it, a picture with her and 4 boys all smiling at the camera. She was so young, they were so young – she tought letting a tear fall. Underneath all that was what she was really looking for: her prenup agreement. She grabbed that, skimmed its content quickly and thought to herself looking at the picture: I’m gonna set things right this time, even if it’s the last thing I’ll do with my life.