Hold on, I still want you

3

"Julie, what is going on here? What just happened?"

Julie groaned out some complaint about the floors as she picked herself up and looked at her father standing on the other side of the island counter. Honestly, with all the yelling Julie was doing, it was a miracle Ray hadn't come downstairs much earlier.

"What was that? That was your bandmate, wasn't it? The singer?"

"The singer?" Luke echoed. He turned to glare at Julie. "You didn't even tell him our names? How rude."

"Shut up, Luke," Julie hissed, side-eyeing him furiously. This was all his fault.

"Luke?" Ray repeated, frowning at Julie.

"Oh. Uh, Luke is . . . He's. . ."

"In the band," Luke prompted, raising his eyebrows.

"In the band."

"Yeah, I know but -- but he was right there. Wh-- where did he go?"

Julie took a deep breath. She didn't try to come up with a lie. She knew she was caught and it's not as if she could lie much better when she knew she had a shot. "Dad, there's something I need to tell you."

"Yeah, clearly!"

"The boys in my band . . . they're not holograms."

Ray nodded, having seen Julie attacking a very non-holographic person.

"They're ghosts."

"Phantoms."

"Yes."

"Okay, but that doesn't . . . wait, you don't mean actual phantoms, do you?"

Julie nodded.

"As in people who are dead?"

Julie nodded again.

"He's not taking this very well, is he?" Luke asked.

Julie shook her head almost imperceptibly. "Dad? You okay?"

"Wh-who else knows about this? Flynn? Does Flynn know?"

Julie nodded. "And Carlos met them the day after the Orpheum. He sort of figured it out on his own and then he put me on the spot asking me about them."

"Uh huh . . . and where do they stay?"

"In the garage."

"In the--! Why?"

Ray's incredulous tone confused Julie. Was he mad or not? "Um, they . . . like it there?"

"We do," Luke confirmed, nodding even though Ray couldn't see or hear him.

"Why could I see him earlier? And the yelling, you two were yelling like you and Carlos when you use each other's things without asking. I only noticed a difference when I remembered Carlos is playing games in his room. He's still here, isn't he? Luke, that is. Why can't I see him now?"