So This Is Love ~~~~ R.P.

ix. Catching Up

"So Jaiden," Alex starts as we make ourselves comfortable in the studio, "how's life?"

"Um well, I don't think I have one, so good I guess." I chuckle. This was nice. It was like old times where we would just sit in here and talk for hours. 

"I can't believe it's been twenty five years since we've died." Reggie said breathlessly.

"Believe it dude." Luke said as he sat next to me, throwing his arm on my shoulder. He smiled at me, "I missed this."

"Me too. But just to clarify, I've been dead for twenty four and a half years, so..." 

"No fair!" Reggie protested. 

"Uh, yes fair! I didn't go and get food poisoning from weird hotdogs that came from the back of a van."

"Why are you still on that?" Luke groans, obviously embarressed. 

"Can you believe how lame that is? 'Oh yeah, I died from eating a hotdog'" I imitated. 

"Yeah, well- uh...There are some very good explanations for that." Reggie stated.

"Name one."

"Uh..."

"Exactly."

"Well...how did you die?" Luke asked naively. 

"Hit by a car." I say quickly. I didn't like lying to the boys, but I couldn't let them know I had killed myself. 

"Ouch. Sorry Jaiden." Alex said sympathetically.

"Don't be."

"So," Luke said to stop the start of an awkward scilence, "what did you do when we were gone."

"You really want to know? I mean, it's not really a story for children."

"We aren't children!" Luke said, his voice cracking.

"Yeah, right. Well..." I trail off and meet the three pairs of puppy dog eyes staring at me. "Okay, okay. Well, it was really hard at first. I didn't wan't anything to do with music. Like, I couldn't even bring myself to listen to it-"

"But you did eventually, right? Like got back into music?" Luke interrupted my story.

"Yes, but not as quickly as you would think. It took me a year to pick up my guitar again. I hadn't written a song before that. But then I wrote a verse, then eventually I wrote a song."

"Wow Jaiden. Well,  at least you got back into music, you can't live without it." Reggie said. "Maybe you could sing you could sing us that song sometime?" His voice goes high at the end of his question.

"Haha, well... we'll see." I say softly.  

"Yeah...wait...how did you end up in a car accident then?" Alex asked. Luke had started to walk around the studio, examinating everthing. 

"Oh uh--I was taking my driver's test and someone ran the red light. Drunk driver, I think." I said quietly.

"Hey Jaiden!" Luke called from the loft. "Isn't this your guitar?"

"What?" I mumble and go to where he was, with Alex and Reggie following close behind. 

I climbed the ladder to the loft and saw my light blue electric guitar sitting on a stand. 

"How did- I don't--what?" I question confusedly. I was shocked. 

"Maybe you left it here before you died?" Reggie said, trying to rationalize the situation.

"I didn't. But even if I did, why is it still here? Wouldn't have Julie and her family gotten rid of it?" I say. 

"I don't know. Julie knew your name too, didn't she?" Alex asks.

"Yeah, I don't know why." I say, remembering what occurred about an hour ago. 

"Ughh all this thinking hurts my brain." Luke groaned as he edged toward the ladder. "C'mon, let's go see what Julie's doing." 

The boys followed him down the ladder, but I stayed in the loft. Why is my guitar here? How did Julie know my name? Why am I here? How is this even possible?

"Jaiden?" Reggie calls as he pokes his head in the loft. "You coming?"

"Uh yeah, it's just..."

"Yeah I know you're confused. You probably feel like you're going to vomit, right?"

"Uh, weird example, but yeah. " I giggle.

Reggie blushed as I approached the ladder. Our hands touched as I grabbed the ladder. We made eye contact for a second and then Reggie climbed down quickly. Butterflies slowly erupted in my stomach, something I hadn't felt since the summer of 1994. I smile as I climb down the ladder where Reggie is waiting for me. He hesitates before asking,

"Ready?", somewhat uncertain. It seemed like he wanted to say something else. 

"Yeah." I reply.

As we walk out of the garage, our shoulders brush against each other. I look down to see Reggie hesitantly reaching to grab my hand. Looking back up, I grab his hand with mine and walked toward Luke and Alex like nothing happened. Even though it was silent, I could practically hear Reggie smile. 

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a/n

ayoooo second update of the day!! (and probably the last). sorry if that was short, i kinda needed some fluff in there. uh oh! Jaiden lied. thats not going to end well. but also, how does julie know jaiden, and why is her guitar there? and YAYYYY WE GOT SOME JAIDEN AND REGGIE FLUFF IN THERE. this chapter was all over the place tbh. which ship name do you prefer for jaiden and reggie: jeggie or raiden? comment!! this story is about to get interesting...hehehe......

See ya on the flip side

~ S ♡