STARDUST ⭑ LUKE PATTERSON

six

EMMY SAT IN JULIE'S STUDIO, swinging her legs back and forth over the edge of the piano she was sitting on. Reggie and Alex were trying their best to explain how Julie can see them, Luke writing music somewhere that wasn't the studio. The latter didn't know Emmy was hanging around, coincidentally missing her every time. Deep down, the boys knew it was wrong to keep this from Luke, but they felt selfish. They wanted Emmy back.

"Yeah, so people can see and hear us, but only if Julie performs with us," Reggie rambles. "They think we're some hologram band from Europe, but it's kinda cool that people can still hear us play, even if we are dead."

"I didn't know no one else could do that," Emmy says. "I play the piano in my house all the time and just assumed any ghost can do that."

Alex shoots up from his place on a bean bag. "You still play?"

"Occasionally."

"That means you still write songs then, right?"

"No." But she said it too quickly.

"Play us a song!" Reggie shouts. "You must have something after all this time."

"I don't."

"You're lying," Alex whines.

"Sorry guys. I don't have fingers."

"Play with your toes," Reggie suggests.

"I hate you both," Em sighs dramatically before hopping off the piano. Her actions solicited loud cheers from the other two as they walked over to crowd her by the instrument.

Emmy takes a seat, fingers feeling out the keys of the piano. Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she realizes she needs something. She looks to Alex, making grabby hands at him. Instinctively, he unzips his fanny pack, delving inside to retrieve one of Emmy's scrunchies. She tries to bite back her smile, only allowing a tight lipped smirk to appear. After all this time, the routine was still there.

Taking the hair tie, she brings her hair back, pieces of purple falling out as always because Emmy never liked to tie her hair too tight. "Make fun of my singing, and you're both dead."

"I'm genuinely trembling in my boots," Alex retorts.

This time, Emmy couldn't help the grin that overcame her features.

Hesitantly, she began to play, one slow note after another. She looked up to them for a brief moment before shaking her head. Just like that, her hands start to play a familiar melody and she feels herself melt into each chord.

"I'll take what you got, got got,

I know it's not a lot, lot, lot

Cause I just need another hit

You're the thing that I can't quit..."

Her voice pours out like velvet, wrapping both Alex and Reggie in warmth at the sound. They never thought they'd hear it again.

"You got what I want, want, want

Here and then you're gone, gone, gone

If you told me that we were through,

You know that I would break the truce..."

Through the commotion, none of them heard the third person walk back into the room with a worn, black notebook in hand. His smile drops at the sight of her, sun beaming down through the glass windows and illuminating her in such a way that makes her angelic.

His excited hands fall down to his sides and he tilts his head. His hazel eyes take her in silently because he knew there would be no other time to just appreciate Emerald Rosario for all she does, all she is. Not after that night. Not after what was said.

"I want to breathe you in like a vapor

I want to be the one you remember

I want to feel your love like the weather

All over me, all over me..."

Luke lets himself be carried with each note, listening to every inflection of her voice like it was the last time. The last time he ever heard her was two nights before their big fight, while they sat in the studio and wrote a song together. He didn't know that was the last time then, so he never basked in her.

But he would do that now.

He would drown in her forever, if he could.

"I want to print our hands in the pavement

Savor your words, I won't ever waste them

Look in your eyes and know just what you miss

So lie to me, just lie to me..."

Leaning onto Alex's drum kit, a sudden crash emits from the cymbals colliding with the floor and Luke's yelp as he falls down with it. A broken chord plays from the piano, Emmy shooting up from the bench, almost toppling over.

"Hey!" Luke shouts, wincing at the volume. "Hey," he repeats quieter, too quietly. "H-Hi." He gives up, shrugging his shoulders and grinning at them with his lip between his teeth.

"Luke!" Reggie forcibly cheers, neck snapping between him and Emmy with so much force, he got whiplash. "I thought you were writing some new songs somewhere, not here."

"Y-Yeah," he stutters again, finally ripping his nervous gaze from Emmy. Her shoulders tense at the action, almost feeling hurt that she couldn't captivate him the same way she used to. "But I...I, um, needed help with this one part."

A silence falls over the four of them, which was quite strange. All this time of being friends, it was never this quiet. Even during sleepovers, the room would be full of Reggie's snoring or Alex's sleep talk. Nothing had ever been able to silence them.

"Hi, Em," Luke murmurs, scared of the way her name still rolled off his tongue so easily.

She tries her best not to smile, but she couldn't help but let a small one show. "Hi, Lu," she whispers back.

"I-I like that song."

"Thanks." It's about you.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

onlyphans:
well hello hello, chapters 7 and 7 1/2 are gonna be WILDDDDD but in the mean time ..... emmy and luke 🥺🥺
also vapor by 5sos????? absolute banger and i feel like old 5sos has the same vibes as sunset curve so their songs will be a big part of emmy's songwriting