𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐃 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 － 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑔𝑖𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠

𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚝𝚠𝚘

Julie chuckled a smile on her face now, "You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah." He said smiling, he grabbed his coffee.

"Back to "best dad ever."" Reggie smiled.

"We'll go tell the guys." Leila told Julie, glancing at Reggie who nodded in agreement.

"Have a good day at work, Ray!" Reggie called to Julie's dad despite knowing he wouldn't hear him, "It's cool. You don't have to answer. Just..."

Leila chuckled, "Cmon Reg." She said grabbing his hand and poofing out with him.

♫♪♫♪

Reggie, Alex, and Leila sit on the couch alone and bored after Luke left to talk to Julie about song choices.

"So what do we do now?" Reggie asked messing with the sleeve of his jacket.

Leila shrugged.

"I'm gonna go see Willie." Alex grinned.

"Ooooo." Leila teased laughing when Alex shoved her before getting up and disappearing.

"And then there was two..." she chuckled.

"Yeah. What now?" Reggie asked bored.

"You a little bored Reg?" She asked laughing.

"Maybe a little." He admitted grinning. "You wanna work on a song?" He asked bright and hopeful.

"Reg..." Leila trailed off quietly.

"I know you don't or can't but I figured... it's just us, you know?" He responded with a soft nervous smile.

She sighed grabbing onto his hand, "Reg I would love to work on a song with you but I can't."

"Why?" Reggie asked confused. "Why can't you?"

Leila looked down, "I—"

"And don't tell me you just can't." Reggie told her cutting her off, "I get that there's some things you don't wanna talk about it Ballerina, and that's fine but... it's just us. So can you please just..: tell me? Talk to me?"

Leila sighed, shaking her head.

Reggie looked away, "I get it I shouldn't have pushed." He said half-heartedly.

"I had cancer, Reg." Leila admitted quietly. "Lung cancer. That's why I couldn't sing before my death and why I can't sing now."

Reggie stared at her wide eyes. "What?"

Leila looked down, "The only time I was able to dance or sing or do anything with music after... after I found out was in that stupid club." She looked at him biting her lip as tears welled in her eyes, "I don't know if I'll ever be able to play music with you guys again."

"But... I—" Reggie cut himself off going quiet. He didn't know what to say.

"Have you— have you told anyone? Alex? Luke?" He asked.

Leila looked down, shaking her head, "I've been wanting to tell Alex but he's busy." She shrugged.

"He's never busy for you." He shook his head.

"I don't want to waste his time." Leila told him, looking up, "He can't change this so... why bother?"

"Because Leila, we care about you and this..." he shook his head, "It's big. And it's hurting you."

"It's doesn't hurt anymore." She shook her head in protest.

"Leila you can't sing, or dance." Reggie said, "It hurts and you have never lied to me before so please don't start now."

Leila looked away unable to deny it.

"Hey." He called, "Thank you for telling me."

Leila looked at him smiling softly, "I wanna tell you everything Reg. Always have."

"Then why don't you?" He asked.

"It's not always so easy." She shrugged, tugging on her sleeves.

Reggie looked down in understanding.

"You should really tell Alex you know. Luke too." He told her.

She nodded, "I know just... need to find the right time."

He shook his head, "There isn't ever a right time for this, Leila, you just gotta do it."

"Yeah... I know." Leila told him, grabbing his hand she held it in hers as she smiled softly.

Reggie began to lean in, Leila doing so as well whether it was subconscious or not, they were inches away from each other's faces, their eyes, their lips...

And then Leila pulled away, a sharp pain hitting her. "I have to go, Reg. I'll be back." She told him getting up.

He furrowed his brows, "O-okay."

She smiled weakly before disappearing.

♫♪♫♪

On the streets of Hollywood, Leila grabbed onto her chest as she stumbled backward, there were many people around but nobody noticed her. Good, that meant Caleb's ghosts weren't following her at least. Not that she would even notice in her state.

"What's happening—" she got out through sharp breaths, "I didn't go to the club, why is this happening?" She asked herself confused and in pain.

She groaned as another wave hit her and she ducked into the alley as she spotted one of the ghosts from the club nearby, luckily they hadn't noticed her and never did.

She slid down the wall of the alley, landing on the cold hard stone floor below beside a trash can, "what do I do?" She whispered tears in her eyes.

She didn't know.

All she knew was she was in pain, alone. Again.

♪ 𝟷,𝟸𝟹𝟶 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 ♪