𝚃𝚠𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚢
𝙻𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝙶𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚋𝚢𝚎𝚜
'𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚊𝚝 𝙾𝚗𝚎𝚜.'
"Look, don't worry, guys. Willie said he'd get us on that marquee." Alex assured the band as they waited outside the Orpheum, where Panic at the Disco were due to play that night.
As soon as Alex requested Willie's help, he agreed eagerly. He said that he'd do anything to take it back, and that was him repaying them. The plan was to stall, but not injure, the opening act so that Julie's band could play instead.
"This is gonna work, right?" Reggie asked Luke.
He responded very optimistically, "It has to."
Another jolt hits them, and you could tell Caleb was getting ready to destroy them, all the guys groaned, but Ash's legs gave out and she collapsed on the floor. Luke came to her aid and held her upright as she panted heavily to regain her breath.
"Hey, are you guys OK?" Willie asked as he poofed back in.
"Yeah." Alex panted. "Yeah, it's nothing we haven't felt before."
"How'd it go?" Luke stumbled up to him, Ashton by his side.
"Well, when that opening band wakes up, they're gonna find their bus
200 miles outside of Vegas-" He turned around to show the group the jacket which he stole from the band, "-with no chance of getting back in time. Don't worry, Ash, I got you a little something too. To make up for being an idiot?"
He threw the girl a red jacket similar to the one he wore, except hers had a lot more patches in many shapes and sized.
"Apology accepted, now I've got a souvenir from today." She grinned, handing it to Reggie so he could help her put it on. Ash slid her arms into the sleeves and pulled it over her back. "Whatd'ya think?" She turned to show the guys.
"Suits you." Alex smiled.
"Amazing." Luke smirked, pulling her into his side before turning to the rest of the group, "And that means there's probably a promoter upstairs right about now freakin' out."
"Nah. This is Hollywood, man." Willie smirked. "I'm sure he's being very professional."
"I know... how much you're risking." Alex smiled. "Thank you, Willie."
"Yeah, you're not that bad after all." Ash grinned. "And your hair is still super cool."
"I told you, I'd do anything for you, Alex." Willie said, with a heavy breath both boys ran at each other and joined together in a hug.
The others took it as a cue to leave, and moved back a few steps to start their own conversation.
"How are you two finding all of this?" Reggie looked between Ash and Luke.
"As best as we can." She shrugged. "I still have no idea what's going to happen, but I have to make sure Caleb doesn't get us."
"Bring it in." Luke said, and threw his arms around both of them, tightening his embrace as if he didn't want to let go.
Willie skated off, and Alex lingered around for a minute, watching his last glimpse of what could've been.
"Alex, you all right, man?" Reggie asked as they walked closer to him.
"Yeah, he was pretty important to you." Ash said as she wrapped her arms around Luke's waist from behind and rested her head on his shoulder.
He nodded slowly, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm OK."
"Well, thanks to Willie," Luke grinned, placing his hands over Ash's, "Panic at The Disco needs an opening band. Then I guess someone up there needs to know we're available."
The four of them poofed into the room above, to see a lady at a desk, and a man freaking out like mad. He kept hitting the phone against the box and shouting at whoever was on the other end of the call.
"No... No, stop. Stop! Stop! stop saying the bus drove itself!" He said firmly to the receiver.
"Yeah, Willie was right." Reggie grinned. "This guy's a total pro." The four ghosts snickered at the comment as they figured out a plan.
"All right, boys. Let the magic happen." Luke said, before turning to the blonde. "Alex, no dancing."
"Hey, I like his dancing." Ashton frowned.
Alex sent her a smile, and began walking across the room, spinning like a ballerina at some points. The others followed lazily, letting him have his moment.
Luke guided Ash with his hands on her hips, making sure she didn't fall over anything. Alex knocked over the lady's pencil pot, and she immediately leant over to collect the clutter that had spilt on the floor.
In the short time, Reggie typed the band's details into the YouTube tab that was open, and began playing their 'Edge of Great' performance Julie posted.
Alex took one of the pens and wrote down the band name and Julie's phone number on a pad of paper beside the laptop.
Luke grinned at the sight of mischief before him as she held onto Ash tightly. The two observed their friends messing around before the woman sat up.
"She's coming." Reggie said, ushering the group sideways so the lady could sit up again. When she did, Ashton pressed 'play' on their performance so that she could see the band in action.
"Tasha! Get me CJ." The man said once he slammed the phone down and ended their call. "Tell him I need a band to open in three hours."
"Sure, but you might wanna check this out." The girl, who the band now knew as Tasha, turned the laptop to face him. "Somehow this video started playing
on my laptop. It's got half a million hits in just two days."
"Who are they?" The man asked, clearly intrigued when he saw the ghosts poof in on screen.
"They're a hologram band." Tasha informed. "They call themselves 'Julie and the Phantoms'."
"Tell your friends." Reggie and Ashton smirked at the same time, causing them both to erupt in giggles.
"Oh you're too adorable." Luke muttered to her as she leant into his chest behind her. Her giggles immediately stopped as she blushed and cleared her throat.
"Where are they located?" The man asked.
"Our very own City of Angels." Tasha told him.
"Book 'em!" The man announced, and the band celebrated.
"Sure, I just don't know how to-" Tasha saw the number Alex had written down on the paper and stared at it in shock.
"Your handwriting is better than mine." Luke scoffed as the woman copied out the number clearly.
"Definitely. Yeah." Alex nodded.
"I've been saying this since the beginning. If Alex was our handwriting manager, then we wouldn't have been called the Fat Ones." Ashton chuckled before the ghosts poofed back to the garage.
As soon as they entered, Julie was pacing, bombarding them with questions immediately.
"Oh my gosh! What took you guys so long? Did Willie do it? Did you talk to them? Did they watch? Did they like us? Are we playing? Someone answer! Why's no one talking?"
"Whoa! That's a lot of questions!" Reggie stopped Julie. "Luke, you wanna take this one?"
"Take a seat." Luke gestured to the couch, which she sat down on quickly. All the ghosts dropped down on their knees to crouch at the coffee table. "It's fine. Everything's fine."
"Yeah. You should be getting a call right... now!" Alex pointed to the phone, which didn't light up.
"This is why I should've done it." Ashton sighed. They all shared a look of disappointment before he tried again.
"OK. Right... now!" Alex announced, and the ringtone played, and Julie started screaming. "Nailed it." The guys and Ash high fived. Julie stayed grinning at them, as the phone kept ringing.
"Go!" The phantoms encouraged her to pick up.
"Oh! Um..." She cleared her throat. "Hello?"
"Hi, this is Tasha from the Orpheum in Hollywood." The woman answered, and they all started celebrating.
Ash jumped on Alex's back, and he ran around the room with her, celebrating as Luke and Reggie danced badly. Julie was on the couch jumping up and down wildly.
"Is this Julie of Julie and the Phantoms?" The woman asked, and Julie threw her hands around to signal them to stop screaming. They all froze in position, and waited for Julie's answer.
"Yes, it is."
They resumed the frantic celebration, Alex threw Ashton off his back and she ran into Luke and grabbed his arms, jumping up and down with him excitedly.
"Hi. Are you available to open for us tonight?"
As Luke let her hands go, Alex took a running leap at the two other boys, and jumped at them. Both boys caught him expertly and lifted him up high in the air. They began twirling him around in circle. Ashton joined Julie on the coffee table, jumping up and down - gently not to break it.
"Yeah, totally." Julie grinned. "Thank you so much."
"See you then." The woman ended the call and they jumped off the table to celebrate.
"We're doing it!" Julie exclaimed.
"We're playing the Orpheum, baby! Yeah!" Ash giggled as she ran towards Reggie and pulled him in to a hug as they celebrated.
About an hour later, the band (minus Julie) were gathered around the piano talking about their set list for tonight. Ash leant backwards and her head rests against Luke's chest as his hands wrapped around her waist tightly.
"Julie and I were thinking we'd start with 'Stand Tall'. What do you guys think?" Luke suggested.
"Sounds good." Reggie sighed.
"Yeah, great." Ashton nodded weakly.
"Sounds good?" Luke scoffed. "Dude wake up! I wanna hear 'it sounds awesome'! I know this isn't how we wanted things to turn out, but we gotta be all in tonight. This is our second chance at playing the Orpheum!"
"I... I get it, I get it, but it's hard. Do we even know what's on the other side
when we cross over? Do we all still get to hang together?" Alex said.
"You... You guys are the only family I have." Reggie told them.
"Yeah, I mean, I don't know what's gonna happen either, but..." Luke sighed. "It's not like we have a choice." They all stumbled back as we get hit by jolts again.
"I'm pretty sure we do. And it rhymes with the Hollywood Ghost Club." Reggie groaned.
"No, no way." Ash shook her head.
"Are you ready?" Julie asked, walking into the garage with a green bag with her clothes in. "What's wrong?"
"Yeah. We just got rocked pretty hard by one of those jolt things." Alex told her as the band moved forward.
"Pretty sure I ghost peed a little." Reggie complained, and the band sent him very concerned looks.
"But we're fine." Luke assured her.
"Luke, can I talk to you?" She asked, moving out the way and in to the yard to have more privacy. He left Ashton's side to follow the girl, leaving Alex, Ash and Reggie.
"Are you guys nervous?" Ash asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. They both nodded silently. I'm gonna miss you. I just wish there was another way for this to happen."
"If we could go to Caleb's club without it hurting us, I would instantly." Reggie sighed. "We... we only have tonight, then we cross over."
"Which is why we're doing it. I want you us all to be safe and well. And hopefully, when we do cross over, we'll all be together."
"Of course." Alex nodded as he placed his arms around her neck and clung onto his best friend for dear life. Ash wrapped herself around him, and squeezed him tightly, not wanting to let go.
"I'll miss you... if we don't end up with each other on the other side." She sobbed into his shoulder as Reggie joined the hug.
"Hey, hey, don't say that." Reggie told her. "We're going to play this gig, then cross over, and it'll all be okay when we do."
"You guys might not be there with me." She shook her head.
"W-we will, I promise." Alex said. "We will be there, with our instruments, and you'll remember everything about us."
"Promise?" She looked up. It was very uncommon for Ashton to cry to them. Being the oldest out of all of them, she was usually too busy with their feelings to deal with her own.
"Pink promise." Reggie giggled, holding up his hand for her to shake pinkies with him. Alex and Ash connected their fingers with his, and Luke and Julie walk back in.
"Hey, can we talk?" Ashton looked up at Luke, who nodded reluctantly and they went to sit on the chair in the corner of studio.
They sat across from each other, just waiting for the other to break the silence between them. Julie was deep in conversation, occasionally glancing over to where Ash and Luke were sat.
"So, how're you feeling about it all?" Luke asked quickly.
Ash let out a sigh, relieved that he has spoken, "The gig or you?"
Luke took his time to think about what it could be, "Both." He was more worried about whether her feelings for him had left, but he wanted to hear how the Orpheum suspense was treating her.
"I'm a little nervous. You know, the day we died, I walked into the Orpheum with my head held high and was stoked to play there." She paused, "But now, under these circumstances, I'd rather die again than play there."
He could only frown at the girl's words, confusion taking over him, "Really? This is out second chance, Ashie."
"I get that, and I see how happy you are to play the Orpheum again. But in all honesty, I'm scared. We've got no idea what's waiting on the other side. You heard Reg; you three boys are the only family I've got. I mean, now that Bobby betrayed us all."
"I'm sorry about that." Luke said. "I didn't think he'd turn out like that."
"I did." She chuckled. "It was inevitable. He was jealous of how you could play your riffs, sing the songs, be that sweaty, and have chemistry with me and look so good while doing it."
"About that... do you still-"
"Yes." She answered quickly, cautious of Julie hearing them. "Do you?"
"Yeah."
Ashton felt her heart race as he confirmed his feelings, "And what about Julie? What are you going to tell her?"
"The same that I told you. It's not fair for her to be with me for three hours. It wouldn't work. I'm a ghost. She's a lifer. But, with you, I know it's worth my time." He smiled. "These past couple months have been-"
"Wasted." Ash finished. "We've wasted the time here, Luke."
He shook his head defiantly, "They've been wasted, I agree. But, with you here beside me... I'd say they've been better. Perfectly wasted with you."
"You think?" Ash looked up.
"Yeah, I do. And I don't care what Julie, Bobby, or the other guys say. We're playing that gig tonight, and you're gonna be right beside me the whole way through." Luke told her firmly.
"We're playing the Orpheum." She grinned. "I guess you filled your promise to my little brother."
"I guess so." Luke nodded. "So what does that mean?"
"I don't know, what on earth could that mean Luke?" She chuckled as they both leant in.
Ashton saw Luke's lips lift up into a smirk before he whispered, "It means, we're one step closer to doing that."
"Excuse me?" Ashton scoffed. "We've got the gig."
"Yeah, but we haven't played yet. We thought we had the gig in ninety-five." He told her. "And then we died."
"You're so annoying." She rolled her eyes and stood up to join the rest of the band.
Julie's hands hovered over Alex's and Reggie's as she closed her eyes, trying to savour the moment they were sharing. Ash joined them, and held onto Alex's and Luke's hand as they did their band circle tradition.
"We don't know what brought us here, but... what we do know is, you're a star, Julie. And just because this is our last night together, it doesn't mean we won't be watching you from above... or..." Luke gestured to the floor beneath him, making Julie laugh gently, "Now let's go rock this show. Let's give 'em a night they'll be talking about 'til the sun comes up! Legends on three." Luke put his hand in the middle of them. "One."
"Two." Ash placed hers on top, Reggie's followed quickly.
"Three..." Julie and Alex finished the ceremony.
"Legends!" They chanted, raising their hands into the air together, laughing as they finished. Ashton pulled Reggie, Alex and Luke into her and shared a hug as a car horn went off, startling the group.
"That's my dad." Julie said, picking up her bag. "He's driving me there so I'll see you guys soon." Shortly after, Carlos walked into the garage.
"Have a good show, boy band." He clapped his hands as he stared around the garage.
"Who you calling boy band?" Luke leant his hands on his knees as he bent down to the boy's height.
"Not a boy." Ash raised a hand, despite the fact that he couldn't see her.
Carlos gestured to his eyes before pointing at the empty space between Ash and Alex. Luke followed, swinging his body around slowly to where he pointed. Carlos laughed, before Ray called him and he rushed out, smirking as he left.
"How did he find out about us?" Reggie gasped.
"I don't know, Reg. Maybe it was the blinds. Or you know what? The blanket." Alex listed. "It could've been any number of things you did in that house."
"It doesn't matter, you guys." Luke said, putting his arm around Ash. "We're not coming back here anyways."
"And where is it that you think you're going?" A voice came from behind them, and they turned around to see Caleb Covington sat gracefully on the piano.
"What are you doing here?" Luke exclaimed.
"This is our studio." Ash stepped forward, Luke grabbed her hand to keep her back.
"Such hostility!" Caleb gasped. "I'm just here to congratulate you on your big night. Not everyone gets to play the Orpheum."
"No. OK, we know that it's your stamp that's hurting us." Reggie told him.
"We already told you, we have a band. We don't wanna join your little club." Luke said.
"Yeah. And you can't make us either." Alex paused to clear his throat, clearly intimidated by Caleb. "...Sir."
"Right." Caleb clicked his tongue. "You're crossing over tonight. So exciting! Funny thing about the cross over, no one really knows what's waiting on the other side. Whether you'll all still together, or whether Luke will still get to see your sweet, precious Ashie. But I know what's happening on this side."
He kissed his hand and blew some dust at the four of them, and they were suddenly transported to the place only known as The Hollywood Ghost Club.