Our Connection • • Julie and The Phantoms

Chapter 3: "Something Great"

I finish singing and look at Luke, who's already looking at me. "That was beautiful, Y/n! Why didn't you tell us you could play and sing?" Alex asks while still leaning on the piano. "I uh stopped. After my parents passed away." I tell them, immediately making their faces drop.

"Y/n. We're so sorry, we had no idea." Luke says, giving me a sad look. I wave him off a bit and shake my head. "You guys better get rehearsing. Your show is tomorrow night." I move onto the couch and sit with my legs crossed. The boys waste no time getting to their instruments while Julie walks to the piano. They rehearsed quite a lot and I ended up dancing and jumping around with Julie. It was pretty hot in there so I slip Luke's flannel off my shoulders. I lay it across the armrest of the couch, just as I had found it the night he'd given it to me.

"I love that top. Where did you get it from?" Julie asks, sitting next to me on the couch. "It's too revealing. Her little boyfriend at school was eating her up with his eyes." Luke butts in, sitting on the other side of me. "You clearly were too if you had such a problem with it." I say to Luke and he rolls his eyes playfully. Julie shakes her head at us and smiles a bit. "You two sound like an old married couple." She says. I gasp and look at her. "We do not!" Luke and I say at the same time. She laughs even more as Alex and Reggie walk over to join us. We all talk a bit more about school and how our days were. Reggie said he messed with a girls drink while she was trying to take a picture of it. Alex explained how he tried to stop him so the poor girl could just get her perfect angle. I shake my head at them and smile lightly. "How was your day Luke?" I ask, looking at him. "I visited you at school then I came back here to write songs. That's about it." He says and shrugs. "Can I see a few songs you've written?" I ask. He looks at me as if he's uneasy about the idea but slowly stands up, walking over to his stuff. He grabs a black notebook from it and walks back over to me. "You don't have to-" I look up at him. "It's fine. I don't mind." He says softly, sitting back down next to me. I take the book from him and carefully open it to the first page. I flip through it, taking in each detail and lyric he put on each page. He was so passionate when it came to writing. You could tell this is what he loved to do.

"Unsaid Emily? This seems like such a beautiful song. It's clearly something great. Why haven't you guys performed it?" I ask, smiling softly while I read the lyrics. "It's about.." Reggie starts but Alex hits him in the stomach very hard. "Ow!" He groans and leans over, holding his stomach.

"Sorry, sorry. Bad reflex." Alex says sheepishly, smiling at us. I shake my head at them before looking back at the songs. After I finished looking, Julie yawns and stands up. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight guys. Y/n, you're welcome to stay the night inside or outside with them. Whatever you want." She smiles and pats my shoulder lightly before walking out of the studio. "Alex, let's race to the beach." Reggie says before poofing away. "Damn." Alex mumbles before quickly disappearing after him. That left just Luke and I. Funny how it usually ended up being us together on this couch at the end of the night.

"Unsaid Emily.. that song is about my mom." Luke says, looking down at his hands. I look over at him. Luke was much more serious then he usually is. He jokes and laughs but I could tell this subject was not a joking matter. "We left things on a really bad note. We were fighting and I left. She hated the fact I was in a band. I wrote this song because it was my biggest regret not ever apologizing to her. And my dad." He says, playing with the rings on his fingers a bit. "They would be so proud of you Luke. So proud of you." I say softly. He looks at me and the light reflection makes me notice the tears welling up in his eyes. He blinks and a tear rolls down his cheek slowly. I got caught up in the moment, I forgot he was a ghost. My hand moves up faster then my brain realizes but instead of going through him, my thumb gently wipes the tear from his cheek.

"Y/n.." He trails off and looks at me. "You just touched me." He says quietly. It finally registers and my eyes widen. "I touched you Luke." I cover my mouth and stand up quickly. "I need to- I'll be right- I've got to go." I stutter before quickly grabbing my stuff and rushing outside. I run into Julie's house, pushing past her dad. "Hey Y/n." Ray calls out after me, kinda used to this. I run upstairs to Jules' room and quickly go inside. "Julie, I touched Luke." I breathe out while clutching my sides. "You did what?" She stands up from her bed, disregarding her homework. "Luke and I were talking and he started crying because it was about his mom and I reached my hand up to wipe his tear away. I touched him." I explain to her as quickly as I can. Her jaw drops and she grabs my shoulders. "Do you know how crazy this is?!" She asks, staring at me with wide eyes. "I just touched a ghost! Yes I do!" She shushes me and I nod, knowing her dad could be listening to anything we say. We sit on her bed to talk about things more before falling asleep in the middle of the night.