I've Had The Time Of My Life

Chapter 2

Julie sighed sadly. But her eyes shot up to meet Luke's when she heard him continue to speak.

"But while we were there we found something."

Julie nodded impatiently for him to continue. He scratched the back of his neck. Not a great sign.

Luke now let out a sigh of his own. "So as we were looking around like we normally do, we found a note. Um and it was from Carlos."

Julie's breath hitched.

Luke saw the fear and hope in Julie's eyes, but continued on, knowing it wasn't going to make her feel better.

"Essentially, he said we should stop looking for him, and that Caleb was going to let him see your mom soon."

"That was it?" Julie sounded hurt.

"Pretty much."

"Luke, what are you not telling me?"

Luke made his way over to Julie's side. He tentatively reached out to hold her hand, though he stopped when she quickly pulled it away into her lap. Luke's hand awkwardly fell to his side. "He said he isn't coming home, and that he's finally happy. He... he said he never wants to see you again... Jules I'm so sorry." He reached out to wipe the tears off her cheeks, and thankfully, Julie didn't move away this time.

"I just don't get it," Julie said through ragged breaths. "This doesn't sound like my Carlos... Caleb must – must have done something to him."

Luke didn't doubt that Caleb would do something to mess with Carlos' mind, but he didn't want to worry Julie with that. "Let's focus on the positive Jules – we know Carlos is alright!" Julie gave Luke a look. "Okay, well maybe not alright, but we know he's safe. It's a start."

Julie nodded and gave Luke a small smile. It was the first one she had all week, so he was going to take it. "Thanks Luke," she pushed her hair behind her ear. "I know we have a lot to talk about... like some stuff we said the other night." A blush rose on both of their cheeks remembering their confessions. "And I'm sorry if it seems like I'm avoiding you... it's just..."

"A lot. I get it Jules. But um, I meant what I said. I uh I love you Jules, so um I'll be here when you're ready." He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and poofed out of her room.

Julie couldn't help but wonder where they would be if they had just been up front with each other sooner about how they felt. But for now she had other things to think about. She didn't know how she was going to do it, but she had a plan.

***

The boys had decided to not go to work for the week – they explained there was a family emergency, and realistically, since they were all part time, it wasn't the end of the world.

Knowing this, Julie went downstairs to Alex's room. She was about to walk into his room, when she heard him talking to someone. She tried to hear who Alex was speaking to, but she accidentally bumped the door, causing Alex to say something quick and then open the door.

"Hey Julie," Alex said, looking flustered. "Is everything okay?"

Julie peeked around the room and didn't see anyone, but she did notice the phone in Alex's hand. With everything that had been going on, Julie had forgotten a certain someone had wanted to know more about Alex. For the second time that day, Julie smiled. "So... who were you talking to?" Julie asked in a sing-song voice.

"Me? Talking to someone? Nope."

"Alex, I heard you on the phone... was it Jax?"

"Uh um whaaaaaaa? Jax? Who is that again? Um..." Alex was looking anywhere but at Julie. She crossed her arms and gave him a knowing smirk. Alex looked down, knowing he couldn't fool her. "He's fine. And he says hi."

Julie jumped on Alex's bed and demanded to know more.

"Really Julie? I mean, there's more important stuff going on right now... has Luke talked to you yet?"

"Yeah, I know about the note. And I'm actually working on an idea about that, but I could use a distraction. I could use some friend time. Flynn reminded me recently that I can get a little too caught up in my own thing and miss what's going on with my friends. Reggie is either always cuddling Butter, or trying to cheer up my dad, and Luke... well I wanted to hang out with you!"

Alex gave Julie a gleeful smile and joined her on the bed. "Okay well he messaged me a few days ago, but I'm still getting used to all of this text messaging thing, so I called him instead. I think he was a little caught off guard with that, so I didn't know if I messed it up. It's weird, people carry their phones with them everywhere, but apparently no one uses them to call each other..."

Alex continued to talk to Julie about Jax and how it was nice to talk to someone. Alex still was being pretty guarded though, the whole Willie situation was still fresh.

"And then there's the whole ghost thing."

"What do you mean? Like how are you going to tell him that you died?" Julie said with a laugh.

"Well, yes. But also like, a lifer and a ghost? That seems impossible." Alex immediately realized what he said and panicked. "Obviously not for you and Luke though! You guys are different. You're the exception to the rule!"

"It's okay Alexander. I know what you meant." Julie reassured him with a smile.

Julie needed this. She needed a break from all the crazy that was going on. Granted, talking to her ghost friend who died 25 years ago only to come back after she played a cd, about him crushing on one of her oldest friends, well that wasn't necessarily un-crazy.

They smiled contentedly before Alex's eyes lit up. "Wait! You said you were coming up with a plan!"

"Okay...so I'm still trying to figure out the finer details, but I have an idea but you can't tell the guys, especially Luke." Julie had a hard look in her eyes that honestly scared Alex a bit.

"Julie, you know Reg and especially Luke want to help you." Alex sounded nervous. If Julie was telling him not to tell Luke about this plan, it likely meant that she was going to do something dumb, dangerous, or dumb anddangerous.

"I'm going to go to the Hollywood Ghost Club. And you're going to help me."

Yup. Dumb and dangerous.