• • • • • • •
charlotte stretched her arms and yawned. it was earlier than usual for the boys to be up and making noise, so she made her way down the ladder to see what was up.
alex was practicing his stick tricks. luke plucked away at an acoustic guitar while reggie jotted in a notebook next to him, leaning over to murmur something every once in a while.
"morning, boys." she gave them a tired smile.
"hey, char." reggie looked up from his notebook. "how'd you sleep?"
"i'm guessing she didn't." luke wiggled his eyebrows. "is that reg's flannel?"
"shut up, dude." alex kicked his friend from across the coffee table.
"i'm really sorry about him." he said to char.
"it's fine. patterson's just jealous of me." she pushed luke's legs off of the couch and sat down.
"so that's what you two were doing last night." he teased. "i thought i heard something."
reggie closed his notebook and hit luke in the face with it.
"you're the worst."
luke pouted and rubbed his cheek.
"whatcha guys working on there?" she nodded to the notebook that reggie tossed onto the coffee table.
"it's our songwriting notebook." luke said, picking it up. he leafed through a few pages and frowned. "home is where my horse is?"
"that's a gift." reggie smirked.
"for the last time, reg, we're not releasing a country album." he rolled his eyes.
"let me see." charlotte giggled and snatched the notebook out of his hands. she snickered at the country lyrics, and flipped to the next page.
"little things," she raised her eyebrows, "girl almighty," she flipped to the next page. "i want to write you a song..."
she read a few of the lyrics out loud.
"one to make your heart remember me, so anytime i'm gone you can listen to my voice and sing along..."
she looked up as reggie's cheeks flushed red.
"who wrote this? i didn't know you guys were such romantics."
"we're-we're not." reggie protested, and reached for the notebook. with one last glance at the messily written lyrics, she closed it and handed it back to luke.
"i mean, those two..." he pointed to the last on and 'little things', "are all mushy and stuff. i don't know if i'd call girl almighty a love song." luke explained. "reg thought of it after he met-"
"i saw this girl on sunset the one day." reggie interrupted and shot him a look. "just, ya know, walking down the street."
"it looks cute. can i hear it?" she asked.
the redness from reggie's cheeks was fading. the three boys looked at each other, and luke shrugged.
"you wanna take the lead?" he nudged reggie and started to play a groovy little chord progression on his acoustic.
reggie nodded and cleared his throat while alex sat up and tossed his sticks onto the coffee table.
her light is as loud as as many ambulances as it takes to save a savior oh, whoa whoa whoa,
luke and alex came in with their signature three-part harmonies on the whoas.
reggie was fiddling with the rings on his fingers as he sang, trying to avoid looking at charlotte.
she could see his cherry-red face anyway.
she floats through the room like a big balloon, some say she's such a fake that her love is made up, no, no no no,
alex started a sort of drum beat on his legs, and nudged reggie, encouraging him.
let's have another toast to the girl almighty!
with a sliver of his newfound confidence, reggie pointed to char and winked.
let's pray we stay young, we stay made of lightning!
charlotte let out a nervous little giggle and bopped her head to the beat.
am i the only, only believer?
reggie got up from his spot on the couch and pulled char to her feet and into the open space next to the couch. his hair flopped in front of his forehead in wavy strands. he grinned from ear to ear as he sang only inches from her smiling face.
there's something happening here, there's something happening here,
the only, only believer?
he spun her around to the sound of their harmonies and her laugh, pulling out all his best dance moves. she threw her arms around his neck and swayed to the beat with him. charlotte didn't care that his turns were clumsy or that he came dangerously close to stepping on her toes-she was happy listening to him sing and letting loose.
there's something happening here, i hope you feel what i'm feeling too
alex and luke shared a knowing glance.
"think he's figured it out yet?" luke asked.
"definitely not."
i get down, i get down, i get down
on my knees for you
reggie dropped to his knees dramatically, still holding char's hands in his.
i get down, i get down, i get down on my knees, i get down on my knees for you
luke strummed the last few chords, and it was charlotte's turn to pull reggie up to his feet, laughing.
"that was killer." she grinned. "and you wrote that about some girl on the street?"
reggie combed his hair back out of his face. "uh, yeah. just kind of...one of those songs that just comes to you."
his face reddened again, and luke snickered. he knew who it was really about.
"yeah. with the right inspiration, reg writes like a mad man. he's had some rad ideas the past couple days." alex added, giving her a not-so-subtle look.
"i wonder why that is..." charlotte mused.
"yeah." reggie chewed a bit of dry skin off of his lip. "i wonder."
alex heaved a tiny sigh and shook his head. charlotte was really, truly clueless.
she was smart, there was no doubt about that, but when it came to whatever was going on between her and reggie, she definitely wasn't at the top of the class.
"so," she sat down next to luke, "what are you guys doing today?"
he shrugged. "we have rehearsal with julie at like, 3, but nothing else. we'll probably just hang out till then."
she hummed. "is that what you guys do every day? just sit around?"
she couldn't stand the thought of doing the same exact thing every single day. there had to be some variety in their afterlives.
"yeah, i guess." luke leaned back into the couch. "we don't have much else to do."
she wrinkled her nose. "we should do something. i mean, you can't just live the same day over and over again."
charlotte stood up and scuffed her feet along the floor as she thought. there was a lot to do in los angeles, but they needed something low-key.
reggie clicked his tongue, waiting for her to come up with something.
"oh!" she whirled back around to face them. "i know! we can go to the beach!" she grinned. "you guys have swim trunks, right?"
"yes!" alex nodded, but luke and reggie shook their heads.
"really, guys? no swimsuits?" char frowned. "whatever. we can go to the thrift store real quick and grab something."
she sighed, a satisfied smile forming on her face.
"what do you say? beach day?"
"beach day!" alex jumped up from his seat.
"yeah!" reggie agreed, then lightly smacked luke's arm. "c'mon. you can take a break from writing for one day."
"alright, alright."
"yes!" char giggled. "i'm gonna go change, and then we'll head to the store."
char popped back up to her loft. she rooted through her dresser drawers until she found what she was looking for-her favorite bikini, the lilac one she bought the summer of '95.
she pulled a pair of shorts (daisy dukes, as her mom would say) out of the drawer and snapped her fingers. reggie's flannel, her shirt and sweatpants from the night before appeared in her hands. she tossed the shirt and pants into her laundry hamper, but stared at the flannel for a second. she thought about giving it back, but decided to keep it just a little bit longer. char rolled the sleeves up and pulled it on over her bikini top, then popped back down to the boys.
"am i ever gonna get that back?" reggie cocked an eyebrow at the unbuttoned shirt.
"i wouldn't hold your breath." she replied with a tiny smirk. "you guys ready to go?" she grabbed her backpack.
"let's hit it." luke said.
all four of them popped out of the studio.
char brought them to a street corner consignment shop. alex was already changed into his bright pink swim trunks, and he went straight for the accessories section, looking through all the pairs of sunglasses. charlotte pushed her own to the top of her head, then lead luke and reggie to the swimsuit section.
"ooh, i like these." luke held up a very brightly patterned pair of shorts.
he flicked through the rack again, then grabbed a pair of red and white floral ones. "reg, you should get these."
he tossed the hanger to an unprepared reggie, and the hanger clattered to the ground, making the shop attendant look around in confusion.
"you guys!" char quickly picked them up and stuffed them into her bag. "you have to be a little more careful. you're gonna give the poor man a heart attack." she scolded.
"just put them in here." she held her bag out to luke, and he folded the trunks up and stuffed them into her bag.
"are we gonna pay for these?" reggie asked.
"of course we are. don't worry." she fished a little wallet out from the bottom of her bag, then pulled out a $20 bill.
"alex!" she called.
he turned around, a huge grin on his face, along with a pair of bright pink sunglasses that matched his shorts.
"what do you think?" he tilted the glasses down and wiggled his eyebrows.
"i love them." she laughed. "you ready to go?"
he tucked his sunglasses into his fanny pack and popped over to the three.
charlotte was tucking her wallet back into her bag, and she twirled her finger around in a little circle, making her $20 fold up on itself. when the shop attendant looked away from his desk for a second, she sent it sailing through the air and landed it on the counter.
"sweet." reggie muttered.
"dork." charlotte rolled her eyes, and waved for the boys to follow her as she popped out of the store.
• • •
the sun stayed high in the sky as the hours creeped by slowly. luke and alex were shocked to find out that they could still get wet, and were even more delighted when char figured out how to dry them off with a wave of her hand.
"you're seriously powerful, char." luke remarked as he dropped down onto the sand next to her. "like, you just do all this stuff without even thinking about it."
"it's nothing. like you guys playing with julie. i can't control it." she pushed her sunglasses onto the top of her head. "i bet at least one of you could do the telepathy thing if you really tried."
luke scoffed. "we're not that worried about it. we've got you to move stuff for us."
"yeah, you better not be going anywhere anytime soon." reggie crossed his legs and sat down in the sand.
"i promise i won't leave you guys." she giggled. "i've known you for three days, and i already get the feeling that you'd be lost without me."
"five days." alex corrected. "by the way, this," he gestured to the sandy and sunny place around them, "is one of the best days we've had in a while."
"yeah, definitely." luke agreed and fell back onto the sand. "i hope this day never ends."
"if only char could freeze time." reggie joked.
"yeah, don't give her any ideas." the blond grabbed his hat and smoothed his hair underneath as he put it on. "can't have her one-upping us too much."
"you've gotta come in the water, char." luke changed the subject. "it's seriously nice."
"i'm not really an ocean kind of girl. that was more blake's-or, um, my-my friend's thing."
reggie glanced at her. he hadn't forgotten what she said the night before.
she had been-or maybe still was-in love with her best friend. that hit him particularly hard, and it wasn't just because he was surprised. he definitely felt something other than just shock-he was something in between jealous and sad.
but, there was another side of him that was happy for her. he was happy that she trusted him enough to tell him how she felt. he meant what he said: he wanted to know the real her, the one that only she saw.
that meant knowing the girl who had fallen in love with her best friend-and maybe, possibly, hopefully, the girl who would fall for him.
he snapped back to reality.
"come on, char." alex was saying as he pulled her to her feet.
"yeah, we won't let you drown." reggie added, then furrowed his eyebrows. "wait..."
alex sighed. "dude. we're already dead."
"okay, fine, fine." she laughed, and started to walk down to the water. "but if anyone tries to dunk me, you'll be sorry."
"ooh, i'm so scared." luke hid behind alex and clutched the drummer's arm dramatically.
"you should be, mr. 5'4"." she stuck her tongue out at luke, who gasped.
"i am not 5'4"! i'm 5'8"!"
"and proud of it, apparently." alex snorted. "you know, that's really not that tall." he informed luke matter-of-factly.
"she's, like, 5'2"!"
"yet i could still take you down if i wanted to."
she teased.
"oh yeah?" luke frowned, then narrowed his eyes. "try to take this down!"
he raced towards her, but she dodged him, laughing, and shoved reggie in front of her to avoid luke.
reggie let out a laugh, but instead of getting in between char and luke, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
"reggie!" she yelped, still giggling, as he ran down towards the water.
she just laughed, her protests drowned out by her own giggles and the boys chattering behind her. before she knew it, charlotte was plunged into the water, and she came up to the surface, spluttering but still smiling. reggie slicked the dripping wet hair away from his face and smiled a cheeky grin.
"sorry. i couldn't help myself." he grinned.
"mark my words, peters," she laughed through her words, still trying to catch her breath, "i'll get you back for that."
for hours, the four ghosts stayed there, doing all the things normal teens would do on a day at the beach. alex and charlotte teamed up for a few chicken fights against the two guitarists, all of which they won (char was a lot stronger than she looked). they played go fish, the only card game they knew, for an hour or so, and then, they finally had to leave.
charlotte dried them all off with a flick of her wrist, then grabbed her backpack, and they popped back to julie's studio.
• • •
julie looked up at the four ghosts coming through the door.
"where were you all day?"
"we went to the beach." alex grinned, showing off his hot pink sunglasses. "and i got these!"
"very nice." julie giggled.
"it was great." reggie smiled as he picked up his bass and plucked a few strings. "char's got the best ideas."
"and, i've got this killer idea for a new song." luke grinned and sat down right next to julie, humming out a melody while he played some chords.
julie and the phantoms rehearsed for hours on end, and charlotte drifted off to sleep to the sound of her favorite band.
• • • • • • •
word count: 2649
sorry this sucked
not luke being abused in the beginning😳alex is NOT HERE for the bullshit
i picked girl almighty cuz it gives me this band is back vibes-luke with the acoustic, alex with his weird body drumming, reggie being an absolute cutie, alllllllat
yes i am using ALL one direction songs cuz baby...they just fit any situation and are very much char and reggie vibes
currently watching the show again and all i have to say is owen joyner
if you haven't watched charlie and chevel's cover of shallow...
first of all what are you doing SECOND OF ALL go watch it it made me cry
also i like created this chapter in my mind and had a really hard time getting it down into words so that's why this took so long and it's so short i apologize...it's not exactly how i wanted it to turn out but we gotta move on baby😌✋
anywho
vote and comment and i'll love you forever
or don't. whatever.
all i'm saying is that y'all better watch out for your shoes.....👟🤏✨
xoxo, gossip girl