𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐀𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐆 ; Luke Patterson

III. NEW BEGINNINGS

It wasn't too much of an inconvenience, but Luke was simply bothering Dahlia for fun.

"I do cheer. It's not that fun, but it takes up the majority of my time." She replied, crossing her arms over her chest as Luke widened his eyes.

"You're a cheerleader?" Luke questioned, his voice raising an octave as he grinned slightly.

Dahlia raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah."

"Do you have like...any hot cheerleader friends? Asking for Reggie, not me, obviously." He said, a joking tone as he spoke, ruffling a hand through his hair.

Dahlia scoffed. "Not any that would want to date a ghost."

"Ouch, Molina. I'm wounded." Luke said, pressing a hand to his heart as he rolled his head back dramatically.

"Good." She said, taking Luke's moment of distraction to gently push his aside, opening the fridge door. Luke was quick to come up from behind her and peer peer her shoulder as she did so.

"Can ghosts even eat?" Asked Dahlia a moment later, noticing Luke's longing stare at the leftover Chinese food that sat in her fridge.

"Nope," he answered, popping the 'p', "just want to see what you got."

Dahlia left the door open for him to weirdly stare at the food, the cold stick of butter in her hand as she opened the cabinet to grab a piece of bread.

The silence slowly began to grow awkward as Dahlia slid the two pieces of bread into the toaster, clearing her throat to catch Luke's attention. She knew the ghost hadn't gone searching for her for no reason, so she subtly asked why, watching as Luke scratched his neck as he tried to think of a satisfactory answer.

"We heard your sister didn't get back in the music program, and Alex had this idea to help her, so I was looking through my old songbook to see if I could find a song for her- and I found one. It's perfect for her range...but I never got the chance to finish it. And I remembered you have killer writing skills, and I was wondering if you'd be interested in helping me get it done?"

Luke's eyes were hopeful as he stared back at Dahlia, lips pouted as he waited for her reply.

"I told you, I don't write music anymore." Dahlia said, her tone firm as she noticed Luke's shoulders slump as his face fell.

He looked like a kicked puppy as she rejected his request, a slight tugging feeling in her stomach as she avoided his eyes.

Dahlia had assumed Luke was going to poof out, and that would be that. Instead he shook off the rejection, straightening his shoulders as he cleared his throat.

"I'm not asking for you to write music again. I'm just asking for your help. Don't you want to help your sister?" He tried again, and Dahlia rolled her eyes as the bread popped out of the toaster.

Dahlia groaned. She couldn't stand when people attempted to guilt trip her; it never worked and she just felt bad. Instead, she turned to Luke, crossing her arms.

"You really want my help?" Asked Dahlia, Luke shrugging as he nodded, "then we have to establish some rules. Rule number one; if you really want my help, don't play that card, guilt tripping doesn't work on me. Rule number two, I suppose I can find some time in my so very jam-packed schedule to help you if you asked nicely." Dahlia said, grabbing a knife as she began to spread the butter over the toast.

She could see Luke nod in the corner of her eye as he poofed in front of her.

"Please?" He asked, batting his eyelashes as Dahlia narrowed her own. His blue eyes were piercing into hers as she straightened her posture, throwing her hands in the air as they landed on her lap with a light smacking sound.