"Come over so we can celebrate."
"Can't do that. Great for the guys, really, but I'm on my way to the Hollywood Ghost Club."
Warning: language, crappy parenting. Read at your own risk
JESS must feel like this all the time. Reggie hates it.
Every bone in his body feels like it's vibrating while his body itself weighs down like stone. When he takes a breath, the vibrating increases as he falls further into the ground. Pain radiates everywhere, despite the continued jolts.
He doesn't know how Jess does it.
The three bandmates lie on the ground of Julie's garage, hidden in shadow. Luke is the one to hear the approaching footsteps, shushing all of them.
When the door opens to reveal Julie, moonlight shines through the new opening. "I..." Julie sighs. "I know I already said this, but, uh...thank you, guys."
The words fall from his mouth before he can stop it. "You're welcome."
Alex groans as Luke smacks him, saying, "Dude—"
The lights flick on, and Reggie looks over to see Julie all alone. "W-Why...Why are you here? I-I thought—"
A painful jolt rocks through them. Reggie starts to cough as he clutches his side, his gaze drifting up. He wishes the butterflies were here now; he wishes Jess and Justin were here now. He wants to say goodbye or be held or something.
"No-no! I thought you crossed over!" Julie exclaims as Reggie reluctantly pulls himself up using the nearby chair. "Why did you cross over?"
"I guess playing the Orpheum wasn't our unfinished business," Alex replies.
"Point Caleb," Reggie adds.
"We wanted you to think we crossed over, so we pretended to," Luke explains with tears rolling down his face. "We just...we had nowhere else to go. We didn't want Justin to know."
"We thought you'd go straight to bed," Reggie says with a sigh.
Alex sends him a look. "Yeah, well, I knew she was gonna come out here, but nobody ever listens to me—"
Another jolt of pain sends Reggie leaning over his legs, gasping for breath.
"You have to save yourselves right now," Julie demands, reaching towards them. "Go join Caleb's club, please! It's better than not existing at all. Please just go. Go! Poof out! Do something! Please! Do it for me o-or Justin and Jess. Please—"
Reggie shakes his head. "We're not going back there." Though, in the back of his mind, he knows he would for one person. If she was still there, he'd chance everything.
Luke takes a few weak steps forward. "No music is worth making, Julie, if we're not making it with you. No regrets."
Julie lunges forward, hugging Luke tightly as they both cry against each other. "I love you guys," Julie whispers, but they all hear her. Suddenly, her grip loosens as she leans back, wide-eyed. Luke is glowing.
The same way Reggie thought Jess was when he saw her in the art studio.
"How can I feel you?" Julie asks, taking Luke's hands in her own.
"I-I-I don't know," Luke replies as he gently shakes his head. He takes Julie's face in his hands as she does the same, wiping away a tear that had fallen down her cheek. Taking her hands once more, Luke looks back at Alex and Reggie. "I-I feel stronger."
"Alex, Reggie, come here."
They gladly approach for a tight group hug, but Reggie can't help but feel like they are missing people, namely Justin and Jess. He can tell by Alex's expression that he feels the same.
Slowly, the pain starts to ebb away, leaving Reggie breathless. In a good way, this time. "Whoa," he sighs. "I-I don't feel as weak anymore."
"Yeah, me neither," Alex says. "Not that, you know, I was ever that weak."
They all thrust their arms into the center and watch in awe as the Hollywood Ghost Club stamp that has been haunting their lives disappears into the air, the rest of the pain along with it.
"What do you think that means?" Julie asks.
Luke chuckles. "I think the band's back."
"You guys think we can try that hug thing one more time?" Alex asks tentatively. Reggie laughs to himself, already spreading his arms around Julie and Luke. "Hugs are good."
"I like this," Reggie says with a sniffle.
"Me too." Julie grins as she tightens her grip. "We played the Orpheum! Woooo!" They jump around in a circle, laughing the entire time.
It takes a while for all of them to calm down from the excitement of being free from the stamp. Still, something nags at the back of Reggie's mind as he wipes away any remnants of the tears that, minutes ago, were streaming down his face.
"We should call Justin!" Julie says, already tugging her phone out. "He thinks you guys crossed over. Plus, we'll tell Jess. She's gotta be with him, right?"
Reggie's heart drops into his stomach.
"Shh! It's ringing," Julie grins up at them but falters at their expressions. "What? What happened?"
"Julie?"
"Justin!" Julie calls out, still eyeing the boys as she puts the phone on speaker. "I have some news."
He hesitates. "Is it...did the boys cross over?"
"No, but we got the stamps off!" Julie says as her whole face lights up.
Once again, Justin seems to pause. "That's great. The boys with you now?" Something in his voice is off—angry.
Julie frowns, probably at the tone of his voice. Reggie doesn't blame her—he would too. "Um, yeah, we had a group hug when the stamps just floated away. We can touch now! Come over so we can celebrate."
"Can't do that. Great for the guys, really, but I'm on my way to the Hollywood Ghost Club."
"What?" Alex exclaims. "Why there? Don't go there, just come here."
"Can't do that, Alex. You see, when people neglect an important detail, it tends to piss others off. For example, Caleb Covington? Didn't think that was important?"
The boys exchange nervous looks. "Jess asked us not to tell you," Luke replies.
"I'm sure she did. Any idea where she is?"
"What, she's not with you?" Reggie asks. His dead heart thumps against his chest.
"Nope. Haven't seen her since before the performance. So, I'm going to go have a word with Caleb Covington," Justin sneers out the name. "in about five seconds because I'm here. Gotta go."
"Justin, wait—" Alex shouts, but the boy had already hung up the phone.
Julie slowly lowers the phone as she looks at them. "Guys, where's Jess?" She whispers.
"We don't know," Luke replies as Reggie runs a shaky hand through his hair. "She helped us get away from Caleb to get to the Orpheum. We thought...we thought she'd just be with Justin. I mean, where else would she be? She said she'd meet us there."
"We can't just leave Justin," Alex says quickly. "He doesn't know who he's dealing with. He could get hurt." Reggie can barely listen, his mind running abnormally fast. "I'm going."
"What?" Luke asks. "Alex, hold on a minute—"
"No!" Alex shakes his head. "If Jess could punch Caleb then we can go back there and get Justin out before anything bad happens. I'm going with or without you. Are you in?"
"Obviously. Reg?"
Reggie looks up, but the dread spreading through him doesn't let him speak. Only when Luke shakes his shoulder does he nod. "Let's go."
"Be safe—" Julie's voice is the last thing on his mind as the three of them poof into the place they fear more than anything.
They find it completely deserted.
Some of the lights are still on, the stage is as it was when they left. Justin sits with a piece of paper in his hand at one of the tables directly facing the stage; his shoulders remain hunched as he crumples the paper between his hands, letting his head drop to the tabletop.
"Justin!" Alex yells, running over to him with the others not far behind. Reggie looks around nervously, hoping to see a butterfly somewhere—anywhere. "Justin, hey! We gotta go. This is a bad place, ok?"
Justin slowly looks up at the boys, tears running down his face. That makes Alex stop, and it makes the whole room start to spin for Reggie. As Justin stands, letting the paper rest on the table, his voice comes out soft, yet terrifying. "When I got home, there was a letter on my dresser. Wanna know what it said?"
Reggie's eyes fall to the paper on the table. He wants to read it—he wants to know.
"Jess made a backup plan. Didn't tell any of us," Justin's red-rimmed eyes fall on the stage behind the boys as he slowly approaches it, shaking his head. "You aren't wondering why those stamps disappeared? Or why Jess is nowhere to be found?"
It clicks in his head; it feels like a punch to the gut.
"I once told her to be selfish, you know? I felt bad at the time, but now?" When Justin turns to them, the amount of hurt on his face...Reggie looks away. "I wish I told her more."
Alex chances a step forward, but Justin shakes his head. "She traded herself for you guys, so you know. Enjoy the band."
He tries to leave, but Alex grabs his wrist. "We didn't know—"
"I honestly don't care." Justin rips himself away. "What's so ironic about this is that I probably could've saved you myself if I had known it was him, but no one fucking told me. I had to read it in that fucking letter." His eyes dart to the letter itself. "I get that Jess was scared, but you three should've told me."
Justin looks over at the stage with a glare. "I could've talked to him or something," he whispers almost to himself before shaking his head. "It does make sense now. Dad always liked drama. Why should death stop him?"
"Where are you going?" Alex asks.
"I'm going to find Jess and find a way to get her back from my dad." Justin snaps. "As for you three... Congrats on living. Really, I'm glad you're all still here. But stay the hell out of my way because I will mow you down if I have to. Don't follow me."
With that, Justin races to the exit, only pausing at the threshold. "Take a look at the letter," he says without looking at them. "She left something for Reggie."
Then, he's gone.
Reggie doesn't know what the others are thinking. Alex looks heartbroken while Luke just holds his head in his hands as he sits on the floor. Reggie is the only one who approaches the table, sitting where Justin was minutes earlier and taking the letter in his hands.
It feels wrong to read it. Instead, Reggie reaches for the abandoned envelope and takes out a folded piece of paper, gingerly smoothing it out. On the front is a drawing: it shows Reggie playing his bass surrounded by fans, alone on stage except for the butterflies fluttering above his head. There is even a butterfly patch on his guitar strap, right next to the Julie and the Phantoms one.
He feels numb. Just like when he found out about the phantom pains. How didn't he see this? Why did he leave for the Orpheum gig instead of look for Jess? He should have looked for Jess.
As he flips the drawing over, he sees a small, smudged message in the lower corner. A tear slips down his cheek.
You owe me a song -JN
✿ ✿ Author's ✿ Note ✿ ✿
I have an epilogue, but yes, I ended such a happy show with sadness. MWAHAHAHAHA! You'll just have to wait for Nexflix to RENEW! Manifest it into being!
Hope you enjoyed!
-L