Shards of a Star || Reggie Peters

05 | This Band is Back

I look up to see where the Peters home used to be, now stood a bike shack

"Man, a bike shack? Really?" Reggie asks dejectedly "I walk over to him and wrap an arm around him comfortingly

"look, the Meyerson's house got turned into a noodle shop!" I point out trying to making him feel better.

"yeah! But a noodle shop is so much cooler than a bike shack! They couldn't have turned mine into a pizzeria or something?" Reggie mopes.

"They tore down the whole neighbourhood," Alex says softly

"guess my folks are gone..." Reggie says to no one in particular

"No, everyone's gone" Alex points out, "25 years, just gone, friends, family, Bobby... everyone"

"Bobby, that's right... guess that vegetarian lucked out, what do you think happened to him?" Reggie ponders

"He probably just got old like everybody else and moved on" Luke speaks up, a hint of anger in his tone

"dude how are you so casual about all this?" Alex asks throwing his hand around in the air. One of Alex's many nervous ticks would be hand gestures whenever he was nervous or anxious about something, he would start babbling and throwing his arms and hands around. "Don't you wanna find out what happened?"

"ok, let's be real for a second, it's not like we were that close to our families. My folks always regretted buying me that guitar, Reggie, your parents were literally a fight away from a divorce, Alex, I- Your parents were never cool again after you told them you were gay. Lexi was the only one of us who had a decent relationship with your parents but being more loyal to Alex, you were drifting in the same direction as me and my parents" Luke says, all in one long breath.

"Ok, none of us had it great. Alright, but at least we had something! You know? Now what do we have? Alex huffs "And before you say cool teleportation skills, just know that I am no entirely ok with that either. All right! It tingles... In weird places" Me and Reggie both give him looks of judgement.

"No, I'll tell you what we had, Its what we had since the day we came together. Guys, we have us. We're the only family we're ever gonna need. You know what else we have?" Luke asks

"I'm gonna guess death breath," Reggie says, a small smile on his rosy lips from telling the joke... his lips, normal lips, that just happen to be soft and pink, I think to myself, giving myself a little pinch

"I was gonna say our music you dork" Luke chuckles "We have our music, you guys. People, actual people can hear us play! Sure, they can't see us but they can hear us! If I had my guitar I would play for all these people right now." Luke declares "Just like we used t down at the pier"

"They can't tip what they can't see" I pout rolling my eyes

"It's not about the tips Lexi. It's about playing our music connecting with people. Making a difference in their day."

"Love the inspirational speech, Luke," I wink with a grin

"I just wish I had my guitar" He moans, ignoring my sarcastic comment. With a small fash, his acoustic guitar appears in his hands, the impact making him stumble back, and turn on the spot.

"That was rad how did you do that?!" Reggie asks in awe

"I-I don't know! I mean, I wished I had my guitar, and then it came into my hands!" Luke exclaims looking up and down form us to the guitar in his hands

"I-I-I wish I had a puppy," Reggie says, clenching his eyes shut, holding his hands out in front of him, "A hamster?"

"Ok," Alex says exasperated

"Pizza?" Reggie asks before giving up and throwing his arms up in the air in defeat. "hmph" He moans, kicking the sand with his foot before flopping onto the floor moping.

"Hey, I think I know something that will cheer you up!" Luke says nudging me and winking, looking pointedly at his guitar, wordlessly telling me what he was about to do. Luke starts playing an upbeat tune, which although wasn't one of our official 'sunset curve' songs, we had nicknamed it 'the band's jam'

"Come on Reginald," Alex sings playfully, before starting tapping along to the rhythm with some body percussion.

"A one, two three four!" Luke yells out excitedly

"Can you? Can you hear me?" Reggie starts reluctantly singing, grabbing my outstretched hand to heave himself up off the floor.

"Lound and clear" I sing back

"gotta get, gotta get ready" Reg sings, jumping up onto a bench

"cause it's been years" Luke sings with a big grin plastered on his face

"Oh, this band is back
Oh, this band is back

Whoo, ooh, ooh, ooh
Whoo, ooh, ooh, ooh
Whoo, ooh, ooh, ooh" We all sing, jumping around on free chairs and tables as people near us on the beach start jumping around to our beat

"Can you (yes, we can)
Can you hear me
Loud and clear?
We gotta get, wanna get, we gotta get ready
'Cause it's been years, hey

Oh, this band is back
Oh, this band is back" I sing, leaning over a table at which two people were sitting

"You won't find the speaker. It's direct spot audio, Heard about it in a TED talk" The boy says cockily, trying to impress the girl he was sitting with making me roll my eyes, reminded of Bobby.

"Whoo, ooh, ooh, ooh
Whoo, ooh, ooh, ooh
Whoo, ooh, ooh, ooh
Whoo, ooh, wee, ooh"

•••

After singing a couple more songs, We all poof off the beach and back into the garage,

"I'm bored" Reggie moans, sitting up form the sofa he was lying on,

"Let's go find Julie!" I say

"Yeah, she seemed to be in a much better mood this morning!" Alex agrees, we all race into the house, and run up the stairs. We pause not knowing which of the door led to Julie's room.

Luke steps through a door, just to immediately step back out,

"little brothers room," he says. I turn to another door, and step through it, inside was a large spacious room, filled with shades of pinks, oranges and purples. It wasn't obnoxiously pink like a young girls room through, it was al perfectly planned out. As I continue to look around the room, Alex pokes his head through the door

"I assume this was the right room?" He laughs, before allowing the rest of his body to enter the room, followed by Luke and Reggie. We all fan across the room, Luke goes towards some shelves and stars looking at the contents on them, while Alex goes to the dresser, and starts trying to pick up random photos of Julie and her family. Reggie jumps onto the comfortable bed, followed by me jumping on top of him, making him grunt, and whack me on the head with a pillow

"What are you all doing in my room!?" A loud voice rings out, making us all freeze and look towards the doorway.