𝙽𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗
𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚅𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐
'𝙸 𝚊𝚖 𝚜𝚘 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞, 𝙻𝚞𝚔𝚎.'
"Is this seat taken?" Willie asked as he poofed into the Orpheum beside Alex and Ashton. Alex nodded quickly and he sat between the two on an amp.
"This whole thing sucks." Alex groaned.
"Yeah, I messed up." Willie sighed.
"No, it's like you said, you know, you didn't have a choice." Alex told him, "I mean, Caleb owns your soul."
"Yeah, you couldn't help it." Ashton spoke up.
"No. No, still, I know what he's capable of. I brought you guys right to him." Willie took a breath in, "When you guys asked me, I should've just skated away."
"I would have still followed you." Alex chuckled.
"Of course you would." Ash rolled her eyes.
"Man, I would do anything to take back what I did to you." The skater told them, just as another jolt hit. Ashton had got used to them; they came so frequently. But lately, they'd been getting worse. "I am so sorry. I mean, did you guys figure out what your unfinished business is?"
"Not like it's gonna happen. We have to play here." Alex looked around the abandoned stage.
"The... the Orpheum?" Willie asked.
"The Orpheum." Ashton confirmed.
"Yeah, I mean, we were two hours away from getting on that stage the night we died." Alex nodded.
"Until we ate some hot dogs, that I'd warned them about many times, but they refused to listen to me." Ashton sighed.
"You guys were gonna be legends." Willie told them.
"We were." Alex and Ash nodded in sync.
"Uh, hey, I've gotta go. Luke wanted me to help him with something, that okay?" Ash leant over to tap Alex's knee.
"Yeah, sure." He nodded. "Try not to kiss him!"
"I won't, Alex." She assured him. Alex was one of the only people who knew Ashton liked Luke, and he proved very trust worthy.
"Does that mean that you won't try not to kiss him or that you won't kiss him?" Alex questioned with a smirk.
"That's for me to know, and you to never find out." She told him before poofing to where her and Luke had agreed to meet up. She walked up to the porch and saw a familiar face pacing up and down in front of the door.
"Luke!" Ashton exclaimed and jogged closer to him. "You good?"
"Uh, yeah, I just wanted someone to do this with and I thought... who better than you?" He chuckled, as Ashton recognised a girl walking up to the porch.
"Julie?" She asked, looking the girl up and down.
"What are you doing here?" Luke questioned.
"OK, look. I... I just wanted to know more about you, you know, just curious. Um... So, I came here last week on your birthday." Julie explained, wording it as best as she could.
"You were spying on us?" He scoffs. "Even after all your speeches about boundaries? You were spying on us?"
"It was a private conversation, Julie! We were busy together!" Ash told her.
"I know." Julie nodded. "I'm sorry. It was wrong. But I'm worried about you, Luke."
"You don't have to be." He told her, leaning against the railing. "I've got Ash to help."
"I get it." Julie stepped forward, and Ashton could see how hurt she was by Luke's words. "I know how hard it is when you want to speak to someone you love and can't. I feel that way every day."
He sighed as he looked down at her, "I don't even know what I'd say to her, even if she could hear me."
"Yes, you do." Julie nodded in an attempt to encourage him, "You've already said it. Trust me." He nodded to himself and rang the doorbell hesitantly. He moved away and began pacing again.
Ashton grabbed his hand and sent him a reassuring smile, "It's okay." She told him, rubbing the back of his hand with my thumb.
The door opens, and Mitch answers the door, "Hello. Can I help you girls?" He smiled softly at Julie.
"Hi. I'm Julie." Julie introduced herself so she was no longer a stranger to the man. "Um... I believe you had a son named Luke?"
"Yes, that's right." He smiled, remembering the seventeen-year-old boy. "And you are again?"
"Julie Molina." She repeated. "Um... your son's band used to play in our family's garage? When I was cleaning out, I... I came across this song that he wrote and we figured you might be interested?"
"Well, yes." Mitch nodded. "Uh, please... please come in. I'm... I'm Mitch."
"Nice to meet you." Julie smiled up as she walked in, leaving enough room for Luke and Ash to come in through the door hesitantly.
She pulled his hand and smiled up at him, "You got this. I'm here with you."
He took a deep breath, "Yeah, come on, let's go."
"Can I, um, get you something?" Mitch asks as the three entered the living room.
"Oh, no." Julie shook her head politely. "Thank you."
"Is this your son?" Julie picked up a picture of a young boy.
"Yeah, that's Luke and his best friend." Mitch smiled at the fond memory. "They were only thirteen."
The photograph was of both Luke and Ashton on his birthday, dressed up as rock stars, like they'd dreamed of being since the age of eleven. Luke was holding his guitar and Ash had a microphone in her hand as they posted together.
Ashton looked up at Luke, who was smiling at the picture. She squeezed his hand and grinned at the memories they shared.
"Do you have any other children?" Julie asked as she placed the frame down.
"No." Mitch shook his head, as a woman came in.
"Did I hear the doorbell?" Luke's mom says, looking at Julie and I.
"Um, this is Julie." Mitch introduces us.
"Hello, Julie." She grinned. "Oh, that's a beautiful sweater." She touched Julie's colourful knitted jumper.
"Thanks. It's my mom's." Julie smiled.
"Julie lives in the house where Luke and the band rehearsed." Mitch informed his wife. "She was just telling me she found a song that Luke wrote."
"It's a song about a girl named Emily?" Julie asked, wondering if it sounded familiar to either of them. Luke seemed to tense up at the name, and his breathing hitched before Ash pulled him close for comfort.
"Emily..." Luke's mom whispered, bringing a shaky hand up to her mouth. "Oh... I'm Emily."
"Then I think your son may have written this song for you." Julie passed her the papers. Ashton could hear Luke's faint singing mixed with sobs beside her as the three teenagers watched Emily read the song about her.
𝚄𝚗𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 𝙴𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚢
𝙿𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝙱𝚢: 𝙻𝚞𝚔𝚎 𝙿𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗
Luke:
First things first
We start the scene in reverse
All of the lines rehearsed
Disappeared from my mind
When things got loud
One of us running out
I should've turned around
But I had too much pride
No time for goodbyes
Didn't get to apologize
Pieces of a clock that lies broken
If I could take us back, if I could just do that
And write in every empty space the words "I love you" in replace
Then maybe time would not erase me
If you could only know I'd never let you go
And the words I most regret are the ones I never meant to leave
Unsaid Emily
Silent days, mysteries and mistakes
Who'd be the first to break?
Guess we're alike that way
He said, she said
Conversations in my head
And that's just where they're gonna stay forever
If I could take us back, if I could just do that
And write in every empty space the words "I love you" in replace
Then maybe time would not erase me
If you could only know I'd never let you go
And the words I most regret are the ones I never meant to leave
Unsaid Emily
If I could take us back, if I could just do that
And write in every empty space the words "I love you" in replace
Then maybe time would not erase me
If you could only know I'd never let you go
And the words I most regret are the ones I never meant to leave
Unsaid Emily
After the song, there was a poofing noise, and Luke's hand left Ashton's sighed, signifying he had left the house. Ashton turned away and followed after him, not knowing if he wanted to be alone or not. She found him on the porch, sniffling to himself as he regained his mannerisms.
"You okay?" She asked, keeping her distance in case he wanted some space.
"Uh, yeah." He turned to face her swiftly. "That was... intense."
"I get it, Luke. I'm happy you did that." She smiled softly. "I'm proud of you. Seriously."
"You have... no idea how much that means." He told her with a weak grin. "Thanks for coming with me."
Ashton shrugged, "That's what I'm here for. Whenever you need me."
"Hey." Julie greeted the two when she came out.
"Hey." He responded, looking out to their front yard.
"I'm sorry for overstepping." Julie stepped forward.
"No, I... I just had to leave." He exhaled. "That was..."
"I know." Ashton said as she pulled his head to rest against her arm gently.
"You don't have to say anything." Julie assured him.
"Yeah, I do. Uh... I didn't have many regrets in my life except for running out on my parents. Especially my mom, so... thank you." He smiled softly at her.
"You helped me feel more connected to my mom, so... I wanted to do the same thing for you." Julie told her.
"And I had no idea, so..." Ashton shrugged. "I guess I can't take any credit, this was all Jules."
"Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to tell you. Flynn said the video that my dad made is trending on YouTube." Julie chirped up, and Luke looked back with a confused expression.
"That's a good thing." Ashton told him. "That means people love our music. We'll definitely be getting calls from managers now."
"There's something Ash and I have to tell you." Luke said turning to Julie.
"Oh... OK." Julie nodded, waiting patiently.
"We figured out that the have unfinished business." Luke said. "That's why we came back as ghosts."
"Oh. What is it?" Julie wondered aloud.
"We have to play the show we never got to play." Luke informed her.
"At the Orpheum? That makes sense." She nodded. "But how come?"
Luke and Ash winced as another jolt hit them, aggressive this time. Ashton toppled over into the house wall as Luke stumbled into the porch fence.
"We don't have a lot of time." Luke told her.
"What was that? Are you OK?" Julie ran up to Luke, trying to help him in any way possible.
"We did something that we shouldn't have. The night that we missed the dance, we met this ghost, and he put this curse on us." Luke groaned.
"And if we don't do what he says, then those jolts will destroy us." Ash continued.
"Then you gotta do what he says. What does he want?" Julie asked frantically.
"He wants us to be in his house band for eternity." Luke sighed. "But if we can play the Orpheum soon, then we can avoid all that and actually cross over."
"Cross over?" Julie echoed. "As in, like what? Like go to heaven?"
"Hope so." Ash chuckled in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"That's what we're banking on." Luke nodded lightly.
"So it's either you cross over, be in his band for eternity, or be destroyed by those jolts?" Julie recalled.
"Yeah." Ashton shrugged. "Guess so."
"How are you so calm about this!?" She exclaimed. "You're going to be destroyed!"
"We just need to focus on the boys right now!" Ashton told her. "The boys are a priority to me! I don't care what happens to me. They need to be safe."
Luke poofed them back to the garage, and they saw the other two guys sitting around lazily. The two shrugged and joined them. Luke lifted Alex's legs up and placed them above his own. Ashton took a seat on the floor between Luke's legs and rested her head on his knee. Reggie was playing discordant notes on his bass as he stared at nothing and zoned out.
Alex began trying to balance his drumstick on his chin, and soon enough, Reggie stopped playing his guitar and passed it to Ashton, who took over the annoying twanging of the bass, using Reggie's red and white guitar to create the ugly noises. Luke sighed as he looked down at the girl, and weaved his fingers through her own and his spare hand combed her hair out of boredom.
"Snap out of it!" Julie yelled, making her presence known as she entered the garage. Alex, out of fear, dropped his sticks and fell to the floor.
"Jeez, I think you broke Alex." Reggie voiced.
"I think Alex was already broken." Ashton muttered.
"Hey, it's nice to have Julie shouting at us rather than Ash for once." Alex chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.
"Do you guys want to cross over or what?" Julie shouted. "Get it together!"
"They're never gonna let us play the Orpheum." Luke sulked as he pushed Alex back on to the couch. "We're nobody."
"We're less than nobody." Reggie sighed. "We have no bodies." Luke snapped his fingers and points in Reggie's direction, showing his agreement.
"You're so not funny." Ashton chuckled.
"Someone once told me that you don't ask for permission." Julie said. "You book gigs by doing."
"That was me." Reggie announced proudly.
"No, it wasn't." Julie corrected him, followed by Luke repeating her words exactly.
"Yes, it was." He muttered to himself.
"It was me." Luke mumbled with frustration.
"Hey, don't worry." Ash told him, straining her neck to look up at him.
"This isn't over." Julie told them. "We were brought together for a reason: to help each other."
"Yeah, but like Luke said, people don't just play the Orpheum because they want to." Alex said.
"People don't, but ghosts do." Julie smirked.
"Who cares!" Ash scoffed. "It'll take us forever to get that gig."
"Not if our boys get to good work." Julie grinned. "And it'll be easier with Willie's help."
"Oh hell no!" She shook her head. "There's no way he'd help us. He's the reason we're even in this situation."
"Hey, let me talk to him." Alex looked over at her. "He'll help us."
"It's worth a try." Luke nodded.
"I mean, what's the worst that could happen?" Reggie agreed.
"Uh, I don't know Reg." Ashton looked back at him. "The Orpheum might not be our unfinished business, we could not cross over, and we all get destroyed by ghost jolts after our gig."
"Way to break the vibe, Ashie." Luke sighed.
"Look, you told me that these guys are the biggest priority." Julie told her. "We need to focus."
"Right." Ash nodded. "Let's get to work then."
《Amy Speaks!》
I'm so sorry this
one was short, I
didnt know how
to incorporate Ash
into this, but yeah.
I hope you enjoyed
it. Also the last few
chapters is coming up.
Eek! Okay.