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

CHAPTER 26: Hurt

"But I'm standing here say that it's worth it!" Luke has always been the one for dramatic, inspiring speeches. "And what if we find another way to escape the curse?"

Tonight I don't have any time for that. I'm trying to save our hearts.

"There is no other way! Willie is right." I can feel tears forming in my eyes. "I committed to the club and Caleb Covington will force you to do the same or murder you. Remove you from existence! If I was the one to keep you from crossing over because you're reluctant to finish your unfinished business, I would hate myself."

"It would be my decision to stay."

"Fine, fine." I wave my hands in the air, spinning around. I can't look at Luke right now. It's too much for me. "Let's pretend for a minute that you can stay and all of our problems with Caleb are gone. What do we do then, huh?"

"Play music together forever," he replies.

"You don't get it!" I feel like sobbing in a pile of teenage mess. "I'm alive! I'm going to age! You're staying seventeen forever and I'm already physically eighteen regardless of the fact that you were born four years before me."

"So what? You'll grow up just like Bobby and forget me?" Hurt is evident in Luke's eyes. "Forget all of us? Move on, have kids. Write new music."

"What am I supposed to think?" My voice is breaking as my heart does. "I can't stop time."

"I'm starting to think that you have other reasons for wanting us to cross over. You want to get rid of me, not save me," he accuses, eyes going bloodshot for the second time tonight. "You're not losing me that fast!"

"I'm not trying to get rid of you!" I helplessly reply in despair. "I'm thinking realistically."

"Then don't! Ghosts aren't realistic, right?" he asks. "But I'm here."

"You are," I agree.

"We don't even know if you'll age," he continues. "We don't know if the reason you can see us and touch us is because of Caleb's magic. It could be because you died and were shocked back to life. You could have a foot in two worlds."

"Maybe," I murmur.

"If Caleb still owns your soul, don't you think he would have done something to hurt you again by now?" Luke reasons. "Willie said that he was using us to get to you. That means that before us Caleb had lost his hold on you."

"You think I'm free." My voice is barely above a whisper.

"It makes sense. If he felt that he needed to own three more ghosts souls to control you, then maybe you're more powerful than you think, Lila Mae." His words resonate in my mind. "If you really care, don't give up on us."

Then something hits me. "You don't believe that you can cross over, do you?"

"What do you mean?" Luke asks, scrunching his eyebrows together.

"You aren't sure that the Orpheum is your unfinished business," I realize. "Or maybe you don't think that you'll get a chance to play there. You're trying to convince me to be with you because you don't think you'll exist in a little while."

His eyes widen, confirming what I was thinking. "That's not-"

"What? So you were just going to disappear, die again and let me grieve?!" I'm furious. "Don't I get a say in anything? Wouldn't it be better to join Caleb's club?"

"Not if it meant an eternity without you." Luke's words stop my heart, but thankfully not literally.

"What?" I mutter.

"You heard me."

"You're insane," I say under my breath.

"Maybe," he says with a grin. "I'm crazy for you."

I shake my head in disbelief at him. How can he be happy and joke around at a time like this?

"Or maybe we could all go to the club together," Luke suggests. "As a last resort."

I stare at him incredulously.

"Then how do you think Julie would feel?" I ask. "She has already lost so much. We can't abandon her."

"Well, if she really wanted to, she could come with us."

"Now I know you really are crazy." My life is a mixture of shock and horror of the decisions we're having to make. Everything doesn't feel real. At least I wish it wasn't real. "Julie can't leave Carlos and Ray. You know that she wouldn't."

"I know." Luke's eyes are downcast.

"Luke, you can't ask her to be like us," I reason. "Julie is a good kid."

"I don't know why I'm trying," he mutters.

I can tell that Luke is about to leave.

"Wait!"

"Why should I?" he asks. "You've made it clear how you feel."

"Luke..." I start.

"Don't. You said you didn't want us to be together because you don't want us to get hurt." Luke stalks over to me and grips my face with his hands. "It's too late for that."

He teleports away, taking the last word with him. I don't even get the chance to respond. If I had, I don't know what I would have said.

Guilt bites me.

I hurt him. I hurt him when he had just shown me his most vulnerable side.

I feel like crap.

I'm updating for tomorrow early. I hope you liked reading this chapter.

xoxo,
Lynn