I've Had The Time Of My Life

Chapter 13

a/n – we're almost all on the same timeline. Or at least the majority of people being at the same timeline.

One thing Carlos hated was being underestimated. Sometimes his teachers would do it at school. Once they realized he wasn't an exact copy of Julie, they sort of gave up on him. It wasn't fair, but it had become a regular occurrence. But right now, it was a good thing. The two ghost guard guys were much more focused on Willie. Based on the way they were talking, it sounded like they knew Willie, but didn't like him. Almost like they were taking pleasure in dragging him through the halls – they wanted to take turns. Carlos was trying to think of what to do when he realized one of the guards was holding his arm. The ghost was holding him. Which meant Carlos should be able to touch them to. One way to find out.

Carlos stopped walking, and his guard turned to face him. Carlos swiftly brought his knee up to the ghost's groin. Alive or dead, Carlos assumed that would hurt. Sure enough, the ghost doubled over. The other one was so caught off guard that Willie punched him in the gut.

Willie flipped his hair over his shoulder and smiled as the two guards were incapacitated on the floor. "Nice move dude," Willie said. "But we should probably hurry – someone probably heard us."

Carlos gave a small smile. As much as he loved Julie, he really liked having these older guys in his life to act like his brothers. Though he was a little suspicious of how close Luke was getting to Julie. If Carlos safely got out of here, he was really going to need to have a talk with them about their little relationship. He was the (second) man of the house, after all.

Willie motioned for Carlos to follow him down the hall. They walked quickly and quietly, hoping to avoid running into anyone. They did have to duck into a closet at one point, but only for a brief moment. Carlos had spotted all sorts of cleaning and electrical supplies, though he barely had time to explore before Willie decided the coast was clear. Willie visibly relaxed when neared the ballroom. Caleb could be heard singing one of his favourite songs, which meant that he would be soaking up the applause, and would give them the best window to run.

Carlos, trying not to become distracted by the splendour of the show, was looking around them for something, anything, that could help them. Meanwhile, Willie watched Caleb from a distance. They needed to time their exit, making sure that Caleb wouldn't see them. Willie was about to tell Carlos that their opportunity to run to the elevator was coming up, when he noticed Caleb eyes sweep over to the opposite side of the room. He followed Caleb's sightline to see a familiar blonde standing near the back. Alex. Willie knew their window was closing, and Carlos needed to leave now.

"Hey Carlos," Willie whispered. "I need you to do me a favour and tell Alex I'm sorry for everything, okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"Just promise me, okay?"

"Okay. But you can tell him yourself once we get out of here." Carlos said. He looked at Willie, and noticed that Willie was putting on a fake smile. And before Carlos could ask what was wrong, Willie turned and ran back down the hallway they had come from, causing loud noises, gaining shocked reactions from the crowd. Carlos crouched down, as heads spun, looking for the source of the sound. With the music stopped, Carlos could hear Caleb speaking.

"It sounds like the next act is almost ready to come out and put on a great show. I will go get them now."

All of a sudden, the room went pitch black. Carlos realized that Willie must have run back to the closet and shut off the electric panel. Carlos wished he had his night vision goggles that he had gotten for ghost hunting – it was impossible to tell where he was going, especially in a room he had barely been in. He crawled around in the dark for a moment before the lights turned on revealing a room full of panicked ghosts and lifers. It was evident that the lights going off had not been part of Caleb's show. Caleb was fuming. He did not appreciate his show being interrupted like this.

His anger was felt throughout the room. Everyone waited to see how they were supposed to react.

Realizing all eyes were on him, Caleb gave a forced smile to the crowd. "We seem to have a slight electrical problem. I'm afraid we will need to end the show earlier than I originally hoped for. Make sure to come back tomorrow night for our New York City finale! You will be able to find us in Amsterdam starting next week." He waved his hands with flourish, and disappeared.

People began to head to the exit, whispering about the strange situation that had occurred. Carlos was about to follow the crowd and attempt to blend in, when a hand grabbed his arm.

***

Reggie poofed into darkness. Before he could let out a scream, the lights turned on. Caleb looked furious. Reggie watched as Caleb tried to control the situation. Unable to do so, he told everyone to leave. Caleb turned his head, making it seem as if he was talking to the whole audience, but Reggie noticed his eyes linger on Luke.

Unsure of where Alex went, Reggie started to make his way through the crowd towards Luke. The club was practically empty by the time Reggie was only a few tables away. Luke looked up and subtly shook his head at Reggie, telling him to stay back. Reggie was confused, and was going to ignore Luke's order when he noticed Alex on the other side of the room. Deciding to give Luke the benefit of the doubt, Reggie made his way over to Alex. Seeing as Caleb had seen them, and was still gone, they didn't feel the need to be quite as sneaky.

Reggie had almost reached Alex, when someone beat him there.

"Hey Hot Dog."

Alex had his back to Reggie but slowly turned at the sound of Willie's voice. Reggie practically squealed with delight as he saw Alex was holding onto Carlos.

"LITTLE DUDE! Man we were so worried about you. Why did you leave? I didn't mean to hurt you. I've just never had a little brother before so I don't know how to act so you gotta tell me these things okay. Now can we please go home? Butter misses you. And Ray too, obviously. Oh an Julie. But also me. So let's go home and then play Mario Kart. I'll even let you win!" Reggie rambled, all while wrapping Carlos in a tight hug.

"Reggie," Carlos said, smacking his back. "Can't... breathe..." Reggie let go with an embarrassed chuckle. "Plus, I don't think it's called letting me win, if I beat you every time." Carlos said shyly. He didn't think Reggie would have been so upset by his running away. He felt so guilty. He was going to make it up to Reggie. Carlos missed his mom so much, she had left a big hole in the family, but now, Reggie, Alex, and even Luke had filled that space.

Reggie and Carlos were animatedly talking about the merits of different Mario Kart drivers, trying to ignore the dangerous situation they were in. Meanwhile, Alex just stared at Willie, trying to figure out how he felt about his appearance.

Deciding he wasn't ready to talk to Willie, Alex turned back to Carlos and Reggie. "C'mon guys, let's get Luke and get out of here."

"Luke's here too?" Carlos asked.

"You'd think he would let us leave him at home? No way little dude." Reggie replied. "No, he got here before us though. He was sitting with some random man near the front – and I guess they're still talking, cause Luke told me not to join them." Reggie gestured to the table where Luke and Michael were sitting.

"Uh oh." Carlos and Willie said at the same time.

"Life has many ways of testing a person's will, either by having nothing happen at all or by having everything happen all at once." Paulo Coelho