𝚂𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗
𝙾𝚘𝚣𝚎 𝙲𝚑𝚎𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚢
'𝚒𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝.'
"Look, we add the echoes during the chorus, then when Julie comes in with the melody, it's gonna sound perfect." Luke said as the band rehearsed without Julie while she was at school for the day. They were practising 'Edge of Great', a song that Luke and Ash had wrote when they were alive back in ninety-five. In the middle of their song, Ashton looked up to the garage doors, and saw Willie's head at the window before he ducked back down.
"Hey, Willie's here!" Ashton said cheerfully before running up to the window to see him.
Alex got up from his drums. "Again? What's that all about?"
"I don't know." Luke shrugged clearly not interested. Alex and Ash made their way out of the garage in time to stop Willie as he began to skate away.
"What's your problem?" Alex asked him as he pulled his skateboard up from the floor. "It's like you're tracking me down just so you can keep running away."
Willie sighed, "I wish I could explain, man, but I can't."
"That's not good enough." Alex voiced firmly, this was one of the few times Ash had seen him like this, and it was intimidating. "I mean, you've been acting weird ever since Caleb's club. You know, I thought we were having fun together."
"Yeah, me too. It sure sounded like it when I heard you were screaming in museums together." Ash mumbled.
"We never should've met." Willie told him.
"Wow, that hurts." Alex muttered, his eyes tearing up.
"Uh, that was extremely rude." Ash spoke up, not wanting Alex to deal with it.
"Hey, I'm sorry, Alex. I really am." Willie placed his arm on Alex's shoulder.
"No you're not." Ashton scoffed.
"I gotta go." Willie placed his skateboard down.
"Woah, no!" She shouted and placed foot on top of the skateboard to prevent him going anywhere. "I used to think your hair was super rad, but apparently that's the only thing rad about you. You lead Alex on! Not cool, man."
"Ash, its okay." Alex mumbled, but she ignored him.
She continued shouting at him, "I know you skate, but I had no idea you could pull a stunt this good!"
Alex grabbed her hands, apologised for her behaviour and walked backwards into the garage. He bumped into the doors as he watched willie skate away.
When Ash was finally placed back down, she felt the cold ground beneath her feet, despite her white converse with doodles on them. She turned to Alex with a shocked expression, "Why did you pull me away! I was defending you!"
"Ashton Gray Brooks." He chuckled. "As much as I love you, you sure know how to take things too far. He wasn't doing anything wrong."
"Are you kidding me?" She scoffed, "The guy rejected you! Well, he didn't say it in words, but he did do it! He was being rude Alex! I was just telling him what he needed to hear!"
Luke walked up to her and leant against her back as he spoke softly , "I think we should continue practise." He said before things got blown out of proportion.
They began playing right where they left off. Half way through their rehearsal, they heard the drumming get out of hand and Ash turned around to see Alex hitting his drums repeatedly in a random order aggressively.
"Alex, you all right?" Luke asked him and slung his guitar over his shoulder.
Alex nodded, trying to convince himself he had everything under control, "Yeah. Yeah, why?"
Reggie sighed, "I know it's tough, man. People say you never forget your first ghost. Maybe it's right. But... I'm sure there will be others."
"Yeah. Thanks, Reg." Alex smiled.
"And, Alex, you're a great drummer and a great guy, OK?" Luke steped closer as he complimented the blonde. "There's gonna be so many more guys for you."
"Yeah, you've got someone somewhere." Ash assured him as she placed her guitar in its stand.
"Easy to say when you and Luke have been in love for years." Alex muttered to him, which Ash's face started to turn red at.
"I wouldn't let all that stuff get in between you and what you love." Luke advised.
"I don't know, man." Reggie shrugged. "Sometimes a little fire can make things better on stage. Like you and Julie." Ashton tensed up at the mention of the girl.
"Uh, wha... What is that supposed to mean?" Luke began to get flustered at the comment.
"Come on. Everyone can see the way you look at her when you sing. You guys ooze chemistry." Reggie said passionately.
"You should never say 'ooze' again, but, yeah, I agree." Alex added to the conversation. Meanwhile, Ash stood behind him and waited for the subject to change.
"OK, no. It's gotta just be his superpower, right?" Ashton tried to convince herself the guys didn't think Luke would be better off with Julie.
"I have chemistry with everybody that I sing with." Luke said, moving closer to Ashton. "Seriously, watch."
"Ah!" Reggie stopped him. "That's cheating."
"Cheating?! It's not a game, Reg." Ashton rolled her eyes.
"It is when you two have more musical chemistry than any of us." Alex added. "You've gotta try someone else."
"Jeez, chill, dude." Luke held his hands up in surrender and exhaled as he moved to his last option: Reggie.
"Uh..." Luke then began to sing the song they planned to perform at the gig that night. "I believe... I believe that we're just one dream." He placed his hand on the back of Reggie's neck and brought the bassist's face closer to his own. "Away from who we're meant to be. That we're standing on the edge of... Great." Ashton saw Reggie swallow hard and the heat rushed up to his cheeks as Luke proved his point.
"Wow." Alex sighed happily at the two of them. "I see chemistry."
"That was pretty hot." Reggie admitted, his voice cracking at Luke's actions. Luke kissed two fingers and pressed them to Reggie's and made his way to Ash and did the same, except his fingers lingered a little longer. She tensed under his touch and shivers sent themselves down her spine. Luke quickly turned around and put his guitar back over his shoulder.
Reggie cleared his throat and adjusted his bass strap on his shoulder. "Girls. Am I right?"
"Yeah." Luke chuckled as he started to play his guitar lightly.
"No." Alex laughed from his drums.
Ashton re-strapped her guitar across her chest. "Maybe." She shrugged as she pulled her pleck out her back pocket as Alex counted them in for the final run of the song.
"Two, three, four!"
After a few hours, the band finished their rehearsal, and took a fifteen-minute break. In those fifteen minutes, Ash decided it was time. She politely pulled Luke away, and poofed them into Julie's bedroom where they had more privacy.
"Are you sure we should be in here? Julie said she didn't want us to go in her room?" Luke asked as he made a beeline for the door.
Ash stopped him quickly, "No, wait," He turned around slowly, "I thought it would be a good time to talk? If you want to."
"Uh, yeah. Sure." He nodded and walked further into the room again. "What about?"
She rolled her eyes at his obliviousness, "Luke, come on. We both know what happened and it needs to be discussed."
"Right, that..." He nodded, "You first?"
"Okay." She took a deep breath and sat on the edge of Julie's bed. "I know we both said stuff at the club, and I just want to be the first to say thank you."
Luke lifted his head with a confused expression, "Thank you?"
"No, you're supposed to say you're welcome." She chuckled.
"I mean, you're welcome but... what exactly did I do?" He asked as he took a seat beside her.
"Well," Ashton started, "for saying all those nice things about me. It really made me happy to be myself. I'm glad you like me for that."
"I just thought, you were saying good things about me, so I'd return the favour." He said softly.
"Did you mean what you said?" She looked down to avoid his gaze as he answered.
Luke smiled softly and nodded, "Uh-huh. Bobby really wouldn't let me date you. He would kill me every time I did so much as watch you perform. But I couldn't help myself."
"So even when we were alive, you still liked me in that way?" She asked another question.
"Yeah, I, uh, did."
"Well, that's nice of you. I'm not used to people liking me like that, so it's nice to know." She told him.
"Thanks?" He said, a little confused as to where the conversation was going. "I guess. So, what do you want to do about it?"
"I don't know, Luke. What about Julie, and your chemistry?" Ashton sighed.
"T-That's just on stage, Ash." He assured her.
She lifted her head up and scoffed, "You and I both know it's a lot more than that."
"Okay, I admit it." Luke paused. "Julie and I have been closer lately."
"Exactly." She nodded.
He moved closer to her and wrapped an arm around her, "But, listen, you come first, Ash. You always have and always will. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Julie. Either way, it wont work out between me and Julie. I'm a ghost, she's a lifer."
"Then I don't want anything to happen between us." Ash shook her head. "At least not until you figure out your feelings for me and her. I don't want you liking her but being with me. You'll be confused, I don't want that for you."
"Ash, I know that. But we have an eternity together. It's better to start off now."
"And you've got an eternity to sort your feelings out." She smiled softly before leaning into his side where she leant her head on his shoulder. "For now, I don't want it to be awkward between us. Friends?"
"Are you kidding me? Best friends!" He chuckled and pulled her into a hug tightly.
Julie got back from school that night and she immediately asked Ashton to help her get ready for their Garage Gig. She agreed, of course, wanting the girl to look amazing at her official local debut. When they were in Julie's room, Julie began squealing.
"What on earth is going on?" Ash chuckled as she followed her around the room. "Did Nick finally ask you on a date?"
"No. Better!" She grinned, before announcing, "I'm over him!"
"Oh, Jules, that's amazing. There's no point in hanging onto guys." Ash celebrated with a clap and a dance. "How?"
"I got a new crush!" Julie told her. "And... I need you to keep a secret. It's one of your band mates."
"Oh, this is totally cool! Reggie's been needing someone for ages!" She grinned. "I'll never tell him."
"Oh, no. Ashton, it's not Reg. He's lovely, really. But I was in my dance class and I was dancing with nick. But the entire time, I was thinking about Luke. He walked through the mirror!"
Ashton's face fell at the mention of Luke's name, "Oh, are you sure? Maybe it was a dream."
"No, this was definitely real. I could feel him, we danced together." Julie paused, "I really like him, Ash."
"Th-That's good. Good for you. I've gotta go get ready for the gig." Ash stood up and walked out the room, hearing Julie call behind her.
"I thought you were going to help me!"