[1] Blank Slate || Julie and the Phantoms ✔

CHAPTER 27: Miss You

The boys apparently devised some sort of plan with Willie because the next day Julie got a call from the Orpheum managers.

"You should be getting a call right...now!" Alex announces.

The phone doesn't ring.

"Well that was underwhelming," I comment, still in a bad mood from my fight with Luke. Alex didn't deserve my attitude, but I couldn't help it.

"Okay," he says. "Right...now!"

He and the other boys point again at the phone with enthusiasm. Julie grins, expecting something to happen. The ringtone begins playing and she screams in joy.

"Yay!" Julie's hands fly into the air in celebratory motion.

"Nailed it!" Reggie says and Luke gives both boys a high five with a proud grin.

I tear my eyes away from him, grief washing over me. I'm going to miss him so much. All of them.

Julie breathes in and out, calming herself down to speak. She picks up the phone and answers, "hello?"

"Hi, this is Tasha from the Orpheum in Hollywood," the woman replies. The group begins leaping up and down with excitement and I can't help but smile. Alex runs across the table and Reggie and Luke are swinging their arms around. This is going to be fun. "Is this Julie of Julie, Lila, and the Phantoms?"

Julie cuts everyone off with a sharp motion from her arms. We freeze. She picks up the phone again. "Yes, it is."

"Hi," Tasha responds. Luke grunts like Let's gooooooo. "Are you available to open for us tonight?"

"Yeah, totally!" Julie exclaims.

"Okay," the woman replies, not matching our enthusiasm. I watch in amusement as Reggie and Luke lift Alex into the air like he's an airplane.

Boys.

"Thank you so much!" Julie squeals. She hangs up. "We're playing the Orpheum, baby. Yeah!"

I fist-bump her and we laugh as the guys fly Alex around who looks like he is having the time of his life.

"Yeah! I'm swimming!" Alex moves his arms around in the air and I burst out laughing.

"What song should we start with?" I ask after the craziness has died down. "It's nice that you're all happy, but we have to get to business. This is important, it's our one chance to all play the Orpheum...together."

I'm choked up on the last part. Luke makes eye contact with me and I can tell he's sorry about our fight, but doesn't want to admit it.

I'm sorry too. Part of it was my fault because I'm scared. Hopefully we can patch things up before he leaves.

"How about 'Stand Tall'?" Julie suggests. "I love that song and we sound killer with the ending harmonies."

"Good, that sounds like a plan." I nod.

"Sounds good," Reggie and Alex agree.

"Sounds good?" Luke questions. "Sounds good? Wake up! I wanna hear it sounds awesome! This has been our dream for as long as we can remember! I know this isn't how we wanted things to turn out, but we gotta be all in tonight."

I feel like the last part is directed at me. Why doesn't Luke understand that I don't want a fleeting romance that will leave me broken?

"I...I get it, I get it, but it's hard," Reggie admits. "Do we even know what's on the other side when we cross over? Do we all still get to hang together?"