𝟐𝟓. 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐘
( CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE ) — 𝐋.𝐏.
Just as Ricky Bowen had been glued to Indigo's side each and every day, Luke Patterson had found himself appearing outside her hospital room like clockwork. At first, he, Alex, and Reggie would all visit together, paying their respects to their beloved friend who they desperately prayed would be alright.
But Luke never went inside. He stood at the doorway each time, almost as if there was an invisible barrier that prevented his feet from moving a mere inch within.
And as Alex and Reggie's visits slowly began to lessen over the six days, falling down to a mere once, maybe twice a day, to check on her condition, Luke never stopped appearing at her door. Like a lost puppy peering within, his eyes always fell upon the unconscious girl, focused on the rise and fall of her chest and continuous beep that he was sure would drive him crazy if he wasn't so dependent on that being the indication that Indie was alive.
Over the growing days, Luke felt a brewing resentment for the living boy. Ricky was able to stay by Indie's side, Ricky was able to hold her hand and talk to her, Ricky was the one all the nurses and staff had been talking about — claiming how bittersweet it was to see the love he had for the girl and wishing them well.
And Luke couldn't help it. It wasn't necessarily the fact that Ricky had grown clingy with an overly suspicious behavior for being just a friend, it was the aspect of wanting to be him instead. Oh, how he would give anything to be living.
But more than that, he would give anything to ensure Indie woke up. Even if she miraculously became a ghost, allowing for the concept of them to be more of a reality than ever, he knew that was not something she would want. It was too soon for her story to end, Indigo deserved to live as her life had just properly begun.
On the sixth day, Luke had a growing bubble of anxiety that began to brew in the pit of his stomach. Since the early morning, he had been phasing in and out of the hospital, merely popping in the check that Indie was ok but never going inside. And upon his fourth check-in, he lingered by the doorway as Ricky wasn't alone this time around.
Luke teleported in to see an unfamiliar girl sat across from Indie's bed. He watched the soft smile appear across her lips, eyes holding a glimmer of amusement as well as joy staring at Ricky.
"You like her, don't you?" Gina Porter spoke, the words echoing through Luke's ears like a bad song.
The silence that followed didn't help Luke's mind. He stood at the door, brows frowned attempting to grasp what conversation they were having and how it led to this. It couldn't be true, Luke desperately attempted to trick himself into believing that. After all, Ricky Bowen was Indie's best friend. Hell, he even helped get Luke and Indie together, both knowingly and unknowingly. There's no way he'd be that naive to help the girl he had a raging crush on like that... would he?
"I think I'm in too deep to just say that,"
The latter words that followed Ricky's confession were blurred from Luke's mind. Swarmed through a whirlpool of emotions, the uttered admission was the final blow to set the anxiety that had built over the edge. Shallowly stepping back, Luke swallowed harshly while his gaze bored into Ricky's laced hand with Indie's.
Ray and Carlos Molina had passed through the unknowing ghost who blocked the doorway. The duo greeting the teens within, hugs shared while Julie lingered outside the door. As Ray began to speak to Ricky warmly, the Bowen boy having soared and passed with flying colors to get Ray's stamp of approval for whatever he'd become to Indie in the future, the two engaged in easy conversation as Gina focused on speaking with Carlos.
"Luke?" Julie whispered, doing her best to not gain the others attention. Turning his head, the clear emotions that washed over his face were enough to indicate something was wrong. Subtly gesturing for him to move so she'd be able to peer inside the room, Julie knocked on the wood of the doorframe holding up her phone. "Hey, Flynn's calling me, I'll be back," She told the group, passing small greetings to Ricky and Gina, while they nod back in response to the excuse.
Sparing an obvious look to Luke, Julie then turned around and began to make her way down the hall. Ensuring that she could hear his footsteps following behind hers, the Molina girl guided them to the vending machines, an area that had a less convince of foot traffic while placing her phone to her ear. On the outside, she would appear to be on a phone call as she spoke to her ghost friend without problem.
"What's wrong?" Julie asked, quickly cutting to the chase as Luke blinked, momentarily taking a second to process everything that had happened in the mere few minutes. Attempting to gather his thoughts, the wide range of emotions that ran through him caused the ghost boy to shake his head, a scoff leaving his lips in disbelief. "Luke?"
"I knew it," He mumbles out.
"What're you talking about?" Julie questioned further, face contorted with confusion.
"Ricky," He breathes out, a bitter laugh escaping from his throat.
"What about Ricky?" She repeats. "Why do you look like that? You like Ricky,"
"He's in love with Indie," Luke blurts out, the words spilling from his lips with an edge. The sharp dryness that evaded his throat from admitting the words fueled further resentment to build within him but Julie merely blinked, slowly processing the sentence with the gears turning in her mind.
"I'm sorry—" Julie starts, shaking her head. "What?"
"He's in love with Indie," Luke repeats. The girl let a small hum erupt from her throat nodding along.
"One more time,"
"Ricky is in love with Indigo,"
"Right ok," Julie nods. "I'm not following,"
"Julie," Luke sighs, patience strung far too thin to entertain the conversation further.
"Luke," She echos in the same tone. "Where did you even get that idea from?"
"I heard him Jules!" Voice significantly louder than before, Luke frustratedly ran his hands through his hair while Julie flinched at the proximity of his voice. "He was there talking to that girl and then he just, he just—" Stumbling over his words, Luke wasn't able to finish his sentence. Instead he let out a frustrated groan, beginning to pace the hallway as Julie's eyes followed cautiously.
"Luke," She spoke softly, taking a hesitant step toward the ghost boy. "I know hearing that the person you're in love with has someone else that loves them too isn't the best feeling, but why are you so upset right now? Ricky.. he respects Indie, and he respects you. If you're worried about something happening, you shouldn't be. Indie loves you, right? That's all that should matter,"
Luke didn't bother to spare Julie a second glance. Mumbling a short two words between the two, he left the air stiff causing her heart to sink in realization as he phased away and out of sight.
"He's alive,"
Julie allowed herself to take a seat on the empty bench that was placed against the wall. Softly rubbing her eyes, the girl let out a deep huff. Sending a quick text to Alex and Reggie, giving them a lack of context on the situation but urging them to at least talk to Luke if they see him, she looked down the hall.
Should she talk to Ricky? Should she ask him if it were true? Maybe Luke misunderstood, maybe he heard something wrong. He was always a little impulsive, perhaps he was just jumping to conclusions.
No, deep down Julie knew that wasn't true. She had seen it herself, suspected it long before Ricky was able to even admit it aloud. Flynn being the main cause of her suspicions way before she would've second guessed.
With a pensive sigh, the girl stood up once more. Shaking off the overwhelming thoughts, she opted to place a smile on her lips and head back to the room. Luke and Ricky could wait, for now, all that was needed was for Indie to wake up.
. . . . .
True love sucks. That was the conclusion Luke Patterson had come to. From the moment he was born, the narrative of fairy tails and Disney Prince's saving the beautiful princess was something that hadn't changed.
But the truth of it was, love doesn't end happily ever after. In fact, love was quite messy, quite stupid, and above all, love brought an immense about of pain one couldn't fathom until they've truly been in love.
Being a teenage ghost stuck at 17 made it all worse considering his true love was a living girl meant to stay alive. A boundless emotion brought Luke his first, and last, love but he couldn't help but curse the gods for providing him with a hopeless end. The reality of it was, no matter how much they loved each other, they were never meant to truly be.
So yeah, love definitely sucked.
"Hey.. bud," Alex's familiar voice filled the void of silence. Barely lifting his eyes from the floor Luke had spent the last twenty minutes staring at, the boy doesn't give a further sense of acknowledgment. Sharing a look with Reggie, the two ghosts hesitantly made their way into Julie and Indigo's room where the third sat. "What's going on in here?"
Alex was met by silence once more. Luke merely shrugged his shoulders, clutching the cardboard box against his chest while one hand held a half eaten Twinkie from said box. Sparing a glance to Reggie for help, Alex sat down on the bed as the other cleared his throat and placed himself down directly in front of Luke, forcing the boy's line of vision to be filled by a red flannel and boyish grin.
"Hi," Reggie spoke softly, attempting to lighten the air only to get a bored look in response. "You got a little something right there," Pointing to his own lip, Reggie indicates where the white frosting was collected by the corner of Luke's mouth. Reluctantly lifting his hand, the boy swiped away the sugary substance before resuming in his emotionless state.
Flickering his gaze back to Alex, Reggie's shoulders sunk. 'I give up,' he mouths, a small huff leaving his lips before laying down on the hardwood floor. Quite soon followed, with neither ghost knowing what was the means of Julie's urgent text and their final friend to add to the trio seemingly refusing to talk, the boys felt rather helpless and a little uncomfortable.
After all, they were boys out of touch with their emotional heart-to-heart moments. It didn't seem like something as severe as their prior family issues when they were alive. And even then, it wasn't like they were exactly proficient at accurately comforting one another. Alex spent an estimated 25-years (although it didn't feel like such) crying his eyes out but the other two didn't make an effort, nor did they know how to, in attempting to soothe him.
A hug felt rather awkward at this point, Alex's overthinking preventing him from making a move during the appropriate window of timing so he chose to sit quietly, hand fiddling with his ring gnawing at his bottom lip anxiously. Meanwhile. Reggie had found a comfortable position on the hardwood, one of his hands supporting his head beneath him while the other was softly drumming along his chest. His eyes were fluttered shut, attempting to gather his thoughts because he couldn't help the range of emotions that began to wash over him in waves.
After an umpteenth amount of minutes passing and the excruciating feeling of suffocation from Alex's infamous overthinking tendency, the blond stood up from the bed rather abruptly. His sudden interruption of the stillness within the room caught both boys' attention, Luke turning his head to face his band mate with frowned brows while Reggie merely peeled open his eyes with an unreadable expression.
"God, you guys are killing me," Letting out a muffled groan, Alex repeatedly began to pace the room. "In all the years we've been friends, this has to be the quietest it's ever been. Do you know how weird that is? Do you? I-I mean, doesn't this not make you uncomfortable?"
"Look he's doing the strut," Reggie spoke absentmindedly, eyes glancing over Luke in attempt to read him but he was met by yet another bored nod given. Sitting up, Reggie felt a heaviness weigh on his chest. With his patience thinning with each passing moment, he couldn't help the spark of annoyance that flowed through him. "Could you at least look at us?"
The latter sentence caused Alex to stop mid-step. His body stiffened, a new sense of worry washing over him sensing the ever growing hostility that Reggie rarely allowed to show. Luke on the other hand, found his tone amusing. Emphasizing an exaggerated motion, Luke allowed his head to lob from each side of the room, his eyes hold the other's for a solid few seconds before he allows a hallow smile to capture his lips.
"Happy?" He spoke. The bitterness in his tone didn't go unnoticed. Although the raspiness caused Alex's brows to frown with concern, the sass provided only caused Reggie's thin patience to finally snap.
"You know, you're a dick," The words left his lips without a second thought. The rather vulgar choice caused Alex to choke on his spit while Luke let out a snicker but showed no true offense to the words. Guess she rubbed off on him. "You've been a dick for days now, you know that? And I know you're upset but we all are Luke, this isn't just a you problem. She's important to all of us so instead of pushing us away and acting like an a-hole, talking to us would help. You brooding and sulking doesn't do anyone any good and she wouldn't like this—"
"Indie," Luke interrupts. His tone rather cold as he let out an unamused light laugh. "You can say her name, Reg, it's not a bad word. After all, Indie's not dead, right?"
Alex shook his head, brows pinched together at his words. "Luke, what are you even saying?" He asked breathlessly. "Yes, Indie's alive, and that's a good thing, right?" Echoing the words, Alex waited for a response but Luke stared ahead unresponsive. Taking a step forward, he spoke again, this time more stern. "Right?"
"Yeah, yeah, right," The words came out carelessly, something that caused a new form of frustration to flow through the boys. In a matter of a second, Reggie who was previously on the floor had poofed to the side of the bed and a pillow was in his hand the next. Throwing it, rather hard, at Luke, the plush caused the boy to move upon the impact as it bounced to the floor. "What the hell?" He groaned, messaging the area of his neck where he was hit considering Reggie had thrown the pillow harder than he should've.
"You're lucky it was a pillow,"
Luke scoffed, finally moving by standing up. The action caused the previous box of Twinkies to fall to the ground, something that would've been humorous if the air was lighter. "Yeah? Then try what you actually wanted to do,"
Before Reggie could allow his emotions to get the best of him, Alex quickly stood up on the bed holding his arms out. "Stop it!" He yelled (although his voice wavered due to the abundance of anxiety that danced around his body), he glanced between the two with disappointment equivalent to a worn out parents'. "What is wrong with you?" He spoke, the words generalized in the air but both Luke and Reggie shrunk at the statement.
With neither responding and a few seconds of stillness passing, Alex hesitantly lowered his arms but stayed on top of the bed. Running his hands across his face, the blond let out a defeated sigh. "Look, I don't know what's going on but we're your friends, your best friends actually. Whatever's going on, you should be able to tell us because that's what we're here for," With the words directed to Luke, the boy folded his arms and looked toward the ground. "I get how frustrated and tense both of you are but that's not an excuse for us to start fighting, alright? Right now we don't have time for that, Indie wouldn't like it and there's no point in projecting on something stupid like this,"
As Reggie shifted his weight on either foot, Luke's eyes flickered up to meet his own. The two shared a silent conversation, expectantly coming to a mutual truce before directing their attention back to Alex.
"Sorry," Reggie spoke first.
"Sorry," Luke followed, voice mumbled out of embarrassment.
Nodding along, Alex visibly relaxed. "Good," The word left his lips before he hopped down from the bed, opting to flop himself down upon it with his chest heaving a few deep breathes out of the pervious nervousness that he was on the brink of having a meltdown from. "Good,"
"Good," Reggie repeats, voice softer than before. "So, can you tell us what's wrong now?"
Luke let out a sigh, almost as if it were a burden to speak of but in reality, he felt pathetic through his thoughts. Pinching at the bridge of his nose, he nodded slightly causing the other two to perk up. "It's about Indie,"
Sensing that the following conversation wouldn't be easy for Luke to manage, both Alex and Reggie spared a silence glance at one another. With the latter shrugging innocently, the former shakes his head. The tiniest of smiles formed on his lips, an attempt to be of comfort as it was now Luke's turn to fall into a mess of anxiousness.
"Whenever you're ready,"
— AUTHOR SPEAKS "
edited ( 1 february 2022 )
l o l long time no see hi
angst angst angst.
i've figured out that the way
i want this story to end can
be interrupted certain ways
and the 'epilogues' will be optional
for those who want to see more
that is if i ever finish this book
cause i evidently suck at updating
terribly sorry, but for now i hope
this is enough to suffice. more to
come, i just don't know when
but thank you for reading