The River Styx - jatp/reggie

1.14

as styx was driving back to julie's after school, all she could think about was how she was going to tell reggie about her feelings. she figured he already knew about them, since they kissed and all, but she didn't really know how to approach the subject.

julie spent the ride explaining to her that she was going to go give luke's song to him mom, but styx could stay and hang out in the studio with the guys.

when she arrived at the studio, the only one there was alex, sitting on the couch spinning his drum sticks lazily.

"hey, what's up?" styx asks, flipping onto the couch beside him.

"just hanging out." he says plainly.

"where are the other guys?" she glanced around the room. she had come out here hoping to talk to reggie but he was no where to be seen.

"i don't know, i think luke went to his parents." he shrugs, his voice still in a flat tone.

"oh, that's gonna be interesting." she mumbles to herself, thinking about how julie would react to seeing him while she's there.

"what do you mean?" alex sits up slightly in his seat, turning to her.

"julie just went there to give lukes mom his song." she explains slowly.

she wasn't sure if she should actually be sharing the information, but she didn't think they'd mind too much. he probably would have found out soon anyways.

"oh wow." alex nods, slouching back in his seat. "that is going to be interesting."

styx noticed that alex seemed off. she wasn't sure what exactly was wrong but she knew he wasn't acting like himself.

she assumed it might have something to do with willie. he told her he'd been avoiding alex since the night of the dance. she wished she could help him but she wasn't exactly sure how to comfort a ghost who got ghosted by another ghost.

"are you okay?" styx asks hesitantly. he looked at her quickly and as soon as she met eyes with him she knew the answer was no.

"i'm alright." he says quietly, turning away from her to focus on the spinning drum stick in his hand.

"are you sure?" she asks, and after a moment, alex shook his head 'no'. "is it about willie?" she raises her eyebrows, but became confused when he shook his head again. "then what is it?" she sits up in her seat, turning her body to face him.

"i- i can't really tell you." he says softly, making her even more confused.

"why not?" she asks quickly, and alex glances up at her briefly.

"because luke doesn't want julie to know." he mumbles awkwardly and styx roll her eyes.

"i don't really care what luke wants, tell me what's going on." she tells him stubbornly, making him let out a small chuckle.

"it's just," he starts, trying to think of an explanation. "so willie came by." he says.

"isn't that a good thing?" she questions, raising an eyebrow at him.

"he came to tell us, uh, okay you know that club willie took us to?" alex stutters on his words and styx nods for him to continue. "well the ghost, caleb, that willie said could help us talk to trevor, it turns out he's not a great guy." he explains, and styx feels a pit begin to form in her stomach. "he put this stamp, thing on us and it's zapping us with these, jolt things, and uh," he pauses, trying to collect his thoughts. "oh, you know how i told you about how we have unfinished business?"

"alex, you aren't really making sense." she tells him quickly and he sighs, setting his drum sticks down.

"okay, basically, if we don't play the orpheum soon, we're gonna die, again." he doesn't meet her eyes, only focused on looking at his hands in his lap. "but like, a different kind of die. we just won't exist anymore." his voice is quiet, and styx felt like she couldn't breath.