𝐬𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐝 ✰ 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐠𝐢𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬

𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

• • • • • • •

charlotte phased through the garage door, still holding reggie's hand. she could only imagine the looks they would get from alex and luke, but by this point, she was used to their relentless teasing and jokes. they were like her brothers now, especially alex. she loved the kid, even though he and luke snickered anytime she and reggie so much as looked at each other. she really didn't care what they were about to say. holding reggie's hand felt safe and warm, and filled her empty stomach with butterflies. she gave his hand a quick squeeze as she tugged him through the garage door.
a satisfied smile grew on his face as he realized that she wasn't letting him go.

he would've held on to her forever if he could.

whether she felt the same way was a mystery to him. he thought she might, but in the back of his mind, there was her voice.
"i was in love with her."
was. maybe that meant she wasn't anymore. maybe that meant she could like him the way he liked her.
god, he hoped she did. he prayed she did.
this was the biggest feeling he'd ever felt, and his ghostly body wasn't big enough to  keep it inside anymore.
he had to tell her.

"reggie?" char waved her free hand in front of his face. "did you hear what i said?"

"yeah, whatcha thinking about, reg?" luke looked over from the back of the couch. "not used to pretty girls holding your hand?"

alex didn't tell him to shut up this time, and instead laughed along, wiggling his eyebrows at charlotte.

"i'm getting used to it." reggie replied with an embarrassed laugh.

charlotte blushed, feeling him squeeze her hand a tiny bit.
alex noticed the minuscule gesture, and he silently gasped, his eyes going even wider while he stared her down.
she gave him a pointed glance, and disentangled her fingers from reggie's.

"so, you're done with overdrive songwriting mode." she flopped down onto the couch and looked up at alex with her head in his lap.
"play me something."

"didn't we just serenade you the other day?" luke groaned.

"yes. and i loved it. " she poked his cheek, then sat up and nodded towards alex's drumset. "come on. you must be dying to play something for someone."

reggie was already up and plugging his bass in.

"reggie's ready to go." she giggled, then nudged the other two with her foot.
"i know you love the attention, patterson."

"shh, you'll hurt his ego." alex pressed a finger to his lips as he stood up. he twirled his stick through his fingers while luke got up to tune his guitar.

"most of them are songs we need julie for," the lead guitarist explained, "but there's a few that we wrote with just us in mind."

"we're keeping sunset curve alive." reggie grinned. "just in case."

she giggled. "okay, so what are you playing for me?"

"reg had this idea after you told us you skipped
class a lot." luke said. "it's called good girls."

she raised her eyebrows, a little skeptical.
"you better not be insulting me."

"nah. you'll like it." reggie winked as alex counted them in.

do, do do, do do do, do do do

reggie started to sing, that rock edge to his voice coming in spades.
he leaned back from the microphone and pushed his hair away from his forehead, then played the beginnings of a bassline while luke made his way towards the front of their little stage area.

she's a good girl, she's daddy's favorite
he's saved for harvard

alex pulled his mic towards him and spoke, grinning at char.

he knows she'll make it

luke laughed and kept singing.

she's good at school, she's never truant
she can speak french

reggie nodded towards luke and spoke the next line, bopping his head while he kept the bassline moving.

i think she's fluent.

luke grinned, and charlotte moved to sit on the arm of the couch.

'cuz every night she studies hard in her room,
at least that's what her parents assume,
but she sneaks out the window to meet with her boyfriend, here's what she told me the time that i caught them

reggie came back to his mic just in time for the chorus and all three of them singing.

she said to me forget what you thought,
'cuz good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught,
so just turn around and forget what you saw, 'cuz good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught

charlotte got flashbacks to their concert-just a week before all four of them died. she loved the rock sound, and though she loved julie, it was getting a little lost in their new sound.
reggie pushed his hair away from his sweaty brow to take the second verse.

well, she's a good girl, a straight A student,
she's really into all that self improvement,

luke elbowed the bass guitarist.

i swear she lives in that library

the lyric made charlotte burst out in laughter while reggie kept singing.

but if you ask her she'll say:

alex interjected yet again as he cut the drums out for a split second.

that's where you'll find me!

char shook her head, knowing that she wouldn't be caught dead in a library.
luke must've read her mind as he sang the pre-chorus.

but if you look then you won't find her there, she may be clever but she acts too square, 'cuz in the back of the room where nobody looks, she's with her boyfriend

alex rolled his eyes.

she's not reading books...

char feigned an offended gasp, then mouthed the words along as they sang this time. she had to admit: it was hella catchy. the three of them were really good songwriters, not to mention how much she loved watching them play together. they performed like it's what they were born to do.

she said to me forget what you thought,
'cuz good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught,
so just turn around and forget what you saw, 'cuz good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught

reggie never stood still, always bouncing around or doing a funky little shuffle step with his bass. luke had insane stage presence when he sang, like he was meant to be a lead singer all along, and alex was just absolutely killing it back there on the drumset.

good girls are bad girls and good girls are bad girls, good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught

they played the chorus once more, and reggie came over to dance around charlotte while he played. she sang along once again, watching his hands expertly strum out the chords, wondering how he did it so easily.

she said to me forget what you thought,
'cuz good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught,
so just turn around and forget what you saw, 'cuz good girls are bad girls that haven't been caught!

luke hit the last chord, then dramatically bowed. his bandmates followed suit while char cheered and clapped for them.
the lead singer pulled his guitar back over his head and set it down in the stand, then grinned.
"ya like it?" he asked. "lyrics by all of us, chords by reg and i, beats by alex. obviously."

"he credits other people!" she gasped. "modesty is not a quality i would've pinned on you, luke patterson."

"yeah, don't let it get to his head." reggie rolled his eyes and smacked the brunette's chest before falling into the space next to char.
"you really liked it?"

"not exactly what i was expecting, but, yeah." she nodded. "i loved it. i know i've said it before, but you guys are really good."

"we know." luke shrugged.

"and the ego's back." alex muttered.

"so, do you guys have a gig yet?"

luke shook his head. "i think julie's dad is still pissed at her for sneaking out. she doesn't want to step over the line again."

"i don't know, ray's kinda been stressing for the past couple days." reggie said.

"ray?" char repeated.

"yeah." reggie pressed his lips together, holding back a smile. "i kinda like hanging out with julie's dad. he's pretty cool."

"he's a dad." alex blinked at him.

"well, yeah, but, i-it's a good pick me up. he's a very positive person." he stuttered as he justified his weird habit.

char cracked a tiny smile. "that's really cute."

"you're really cute." reggie shot back, grinning, which made alex and luke groan.

"dude." luke rolled his eyes. "come on."
he gave reggie a pointed look, and they had another one of their silent, split second conversations as charlotte watched.

these boys really knew each other, she noticed.

they could practically read each others' minds, and they had an annoying habit of doing it right in front of her.
charlotte looked down and tapped her foot, waiting for their little conversation to be over.

"okay, where's julie?" alex changed the subject. "she should home by now."

luke broke the gaze between he and reggie to shrug. "i dunno. let's go check in her room."
he popped away, the other three ghosts close behind him.

"guys!" julie yelped as the four materialized in front of her. her pencil clattered onto her calculator screen. "you can't do that!"

"do what?" luke teased, then jumped onto the bed next to her. "whatcha workin' on?"

"calculus. i have to get my grade up after i missed that test." she said, picking her pencil back up and  and twirling it between her fingers.

"but we have rehearsal." luke said.

"rehearsal is going to have to wait. i'm swamped with homework tonight."

"so don't do it."

"luke!" char shook her head. "you're a terrible influence."

"didn't we just sing you a song about being a bad girl?" reggie pointed out.

"that doesn't mean julie has to be one." she said.

"so that was you guys i heard in the garage." julie looked back to her homework. "it sounded good."

"it was more sunset curve vibes." alex noted. "not really a julie and the phantoms song."

she nodded, now chewing on the end of her mechanical pencil.

the four ghosts stood there awkwardly, waiting for julie to say something. after a few long seconds, she looked up at them.
"what?"

they looked at each other, nothing to really say.

"no rehearsal tonight. you guys can go."

"oh." reggie frowned. "what should we do, then?"

"i don't know, watch netflix or something."

"uh..." alex furrowed his eyebrows, "what's netflix?"

julie sighed, then pointed to her laptop on her desk. "someone grab that for me."

luke went to reach for it, but before he could even touch it, the laptop was floating through the air towards her, guided by char's steady hand.
julie grabbed it out of the air and opened it up, then tapped a few keys and handed it back to charlotte.
"here. you can watch movies and stuff on it."

"sweet." she smiled. "thanks, jules."

"yeah. now, seriously, go. i have work to do."

char gave her a mini salute, then popped away, the sunset curve boys in tow.

the four reappeared in her loft, and she flopped down onto the futon, laptop in hand.
reggie, alex, and luke stood there uncomfortably, glancing around at their surroundings.

"you guys can sit down." she said, offering the spaces next to her.
reggie took the place to her left, while alex and luke squeezed into the space on her other side.

"what's on here?" reggie nodded to the screen, filled with shows and movies and documentaries. they were logged into julie's profile, scrolling through a list of comedies.

"everything, it looks like."
she squinted at one of the movies.
"mean girls."

"that's a lot of pink." alex let out a laugh. "let's watch it."

"it looks like a chick flick." luke complained.

"aw," char pouted sarcastically as she clicked the play button, "how will you ever survive?"

"yeah, luke," alex added, a huge smile on his face, "might have to resuscitate you just so we can kill you again."

reggie shushed char and alex's giggles, already absorbed in the movie.

"this was kinda like clueless." char noted as the movie ended. "did you guys see that?"

"oh, i wanted to." alex said. "it came out, like, a day before we died."

"yeah. blake and i saw it the day before the concert."

"i thought you were grounded." luke said.

"school hadn't called my parents yet." she shrugged.

"wait, wait." reggie said. "we died in the summer. school wasn't in."

"summer school." char wrinkled her nose. "i was trying to get a head start on some of my credits." she grimaced. "i'm guessing you guys dropped out?"

"yep." he nodded. "right at the end of junior year."

char nodded, then turned back to julie's laptop screen. "you guys want to watch something else?"

"sure." reggie said.

alex glanced to the time: 10:27.
"nah, it's kinda late. i'm tired."
he shot luke a glance, and the guitarist stood up after him.
"me too. good night, you guys."
luke and alex popped downstairs, and char could hear their whispers from below as she pulled her legs in and crossed them.

"okay." she put julie's laptop over on reggie's lap. "i made you watch a chick flick, so you to choose this time."

"alright..." he squinted at the screen, scrolling through the countless movies. char peeked over his shoulder, but he pulled the laptop away. "it's a surprise."

she let out a giggle. "okay, keep your secrets."

he spent at least ten minutes scrolling, raising his eyebrows, giving charlotte suspicious looks, and making her laugh, then finally turned back and set the computer between them.
charlotte recognized the movie immediately-one of her favorite films as a teenager.

"the princess bride?" she raised an eyebrow. "you could've picked anything."

"i'm a sucker for a happy ending." he shrugged.

"you know what i think?" she asked.

"what do you think?" he teased, and turned to face her, their noses almost touching.

"i think that you're just a hopeless romantic." she smirked.

"i am not."

"you wrote a song about a girl you saw on the street." she said matter-of-factly.

"and guess who that girl turned out to be?"

"winona ryder." she joked.

"no, stupid." he ran his fingers through his hair. "it was you."

"ha, ha." she rolled her eyes.

"seriously." he pressed. "it was, like, three days before we met. i told you i recognized you right away."

"mmm, yeah, okay." she shook her head and turned back to the screen.

reggie sighed. he stretched his arm out on the back of the futon behind her, and put his attention back to the movie.

char shifted closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder while she watched, making comments and teasing reggie every time westley and buttercup kissed.

the credits started to roll, and reggie thought to himself: this was his chance.

"hey, char..." he murmured. "char, i gotta tell you something."
he glanced down and saw that she was fast asleep on his chest.
he sighed quietly, careful not to wake her.
"good night." he whispered.

• • • • • • •

word count: 2554

i ❤️ alex
that's it, that's the tweet
hehe anyway

so i have a spotify dedicated to character playlists and i'd love for you to check it out here are some of the links:

reggie:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5He6Pq3HS2Ck3lpDaoViay?si=5i2dCuOHQpu85J4fRNP_Pw

alex:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6pXNdHD2d3HNevQl7v57Z9?si=JL7GRv9nSWqyCvc7zVZ6Sw

luke:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4KZMxUen1FV73clSEyQprb?si=qybjLzaiSuSTy23kjEnOzg

willie:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7dhUxQ3aAPohRJOOmuUTJE?si=lKcYmis6SAi4tqfiFPI2xg

currently i am obsessed with the alex one so definitely listen to that

as per usual vote and comment
ily guys

until next time!