The River Styx - jatp/reggie

1.15

she wanted to say yes, to be strong because she knew the boys were the ones in real pain, but she couldn't speak. styx felt tears begin to form in her eyes again and she just shook her head and looked down, hugging her arms around herself.

reggie immediately wrapped his arms around the girl, pulling her to his chest and gently rubbing her back. she sobbed into his shoulder as he lead her across the room to the couch.

she sat between reggie and alex, still sobbing. luke made his way across the room to sit in the chair across from them. the boys watched her carefully while also glancing at each other with confused looks.

"what's wrong?" reggie repeats softly and styx sits up slightly, wiping under her eyes.

"my- my dads just told me," styx took a deep breath, trying to find the strength to say it out loud. "that julie's mom, is my biological mother." tears continue to fall from her eyes as the boys absorb the information.

"woah." alex lets out a sharp breath. styx nodded, still sobbing slightly.

"and then what?" luke asks hesitantly.

"and then i left." she explains, wiping under her eyes. "they lied to me, for 17 years, and then they wait until a year after she had passed to tell me." styx shakes her head.

her anger was beginning to build and she didn't want that. she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down as reggie continued to rub circles on her back.

"did they explain why they told you now?" alex asks softly.

"because of the band." she answers quietly. "they said that since i'd been feeling so close to julie and music, they thought it would be a good time."

styx watched as all the boys faces fall, all looking slightly guilty. she wasn't trying to make them feel bad, she loved this band. but they all knew if they hadn't showed up, her life wouldn't be nearly as messy as it is now.

none of the ghosts knew what to say. they just glanced at each other, all of them wondering what they could do to make the girl feel better.

"i don't even know what to say." alex says, and styx looks at him. he offers her a small smile, hoping that might make her feel even the slightest bit better.

"it's okay," styx nods, taking a deep breath. "you guys don't have to worry about me."

"we'll always worry about you." reggie tells her, making styx smile slightly. the other two boys nod in agreement.

"are you going back?" luke asks, speaking for the first time since styx had arrived.

"not tonight." she shook her head.

"does julie know?" he asks, his voice almost in a whisper. styx shook her head slightly, making all the boys faces fill with nervousness.

"i don't know what i'm going to do." she mumbles, rubbing her hands over her face. "but i'm not going to worry about any of that until after tomorrow."

her voice became more confident as she continued talking. a big part of her was just changing the subject because she didn't want to talk about this anymore. she still couldn't even figure it out.

"for the next twenty-four hours, nothing matters except how amazing we're going to be playing the orpheum." she tells them, her voice somewhat excited. the boys all perked up slightly, small smiles growing on each of their faces.

"you wanna go there?" reggie asks with a smirk, looking to the other boys.

"to the orpheum?" she questions, raising an eyebrow. "won't there be people there?"