The band decided to check out how the inside of the house had changed. They all walk into the house but freeze in their tracts when Julie yells, "That's me. Ripping off the Band-Aid. Aah!" Carlos chuckles at his sister. The band notices Julie and her family having dinner.
The other woman in the room hugs Julie, "There's my brave girl."
Luke leans towards Julie, "Hey, Julie, I really like what you guys did with the place."
"You shouldn't be here," Julie tries to whisper yell at them.
The woman gasps, "Oh, I'm just here to help, Mija."
Alex says, "Oh... I think that's our cue to leave."
"Ya think?" Lara grabs her brother to head outside.
Julie says as they turn to walk out, "I mean, you should be at Pilates. Thanks for bringing us food."
Her aunt chuckles and hugs her again, "Oh."
Reggie apologizes, "We should've called first."
"Sorry, Julie," Lara waves.
The band leaves and goes back into the studio. Luke walks over to the piano and notices a song just sitting there, "Hey Lara, come read this. It's really good."
She walks over to him and reads the song, "Wow, I wonder if Julie's mom wrote it. You know since this is her studio?"
"Oh ya, she probably did. Think Julie knows about it?"
"Probably." Lara nods towards the middle of the room, "Hey guys look at our instruments. They have not played a single note by us in like 25 years."
Luke grins, "Lara's right, who's ready to make some music again?" They all laugh and grab their respective instruments, and start to play as a band once again.
Julie walks into the studio not too long after, "Guys! Guys, stop! Enough! Stop! Cut it out!" Lara and Reggie stop playing, then Alex, then Luke. "The whole neighborhood could hear you. I thought I told you to leave."
Luke grins, "Wait. People can hear us play?"
"Yes! And so did my dad and brother!"
"W-w-wait. So, only you can see us, but everyone can hear us? I mean, what kind of ghosts are we?" Alex says.
Luke gets excited, "Who cares, man? People can hear us play!"
"We might be dead, but our music isn't." Reggie and Alex fist bump. Lara and Luke high five. They all laugh and celebrate. Julie's dad comes in.
"Dad!"
"Hey. Just making sure you're ok."
"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had to turn off the CD player."
"Wait. Is this the junk that was in the loft?"
Luke and Lara both question, "Junk?"
Her dad starts to mess with the instruments, "Some of this stuff's in pretty good shape. Hey, maybe we can make a couple bucks."
Alex sees him messing with his drum set, "What? Yo, stop touching my drums. Tell him to stop touching my drums."
"I liked that song you had on."
"Sweet! We're Sunset Curve," Luke chimed in.
Reggie and Lara in unison, "Tell your friends." They grin at each other, like they always do whenever they say those words.
Julie waves off her dad, "It's just an old CD I found."
"Well, still, it's nice that you're listening to music again. Out here you can play whatever you want whenever you want."
Reggie celebrates, "Oh! That's nice!"
"Sweet!" Lara laughs.
Julie tries to whisper to the two, "Stay out of this."
"I-I'm sorry, honey. I didn't..."
"Oh no, no, no, no. Not you. I mean...uh...er...You know, give me a minute."
"Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. We're gonna figure out this music program thing."
"Thanks, Dad." He leaves the studio.
Luke grins, "He likes our song."
"Oh yeah. He doesn't count. He's a dad," Alex sighs.
Lara gently shoves Alex, "He does too count."
"Why can't you guys just be normal ghosts? Hang out at an old mansion. I hear Pasadena's nice. Ugh!" Julie storms out of the studio while closing the door.
Alex says, "I think she's warming up to us."
"Yeah, I've always wanted to go to Pasadena," Reggie puts an arm around Lara.
She looks up at him, "Really, why didn't I know that?"
Alex makes a noise while Reggie looks at the other two boys with a smile on his face. Luke shakes his head and vanishes, presumably to go talk to Julie. The rest of the band joins them outside.
Julie crosses her arms, "What do you want?"
"I know this is all completely insane, but you do know how rad this is? People... actual people can hear us play."
"Yeah, it's just I've had a really, really awful day. I gotta go."
"Well, I'm sorry you had a bad day, but four musicians just found out that they had a bad 25 years, and then they found out that the one thing that- one thing that they lived for in the first place they can still do. That's pretty rad."
"You're right. It's just..."
"Your bad day. Yeah. I know. Look, I'm sorry we came into your life, but... what I just felt in there actually made me feel alive again. We all felt alive again. So you can kick us out if you want, but we're not giving up music. We can play again. That's a gift no musician would ever turn down." Luke sighs, "You gotta know that. Clearly, your mom is into music."
Julie looks down, "Was. She passed away."
"I am...so sorry."
Alex interjects, "Yeah we... we didn't know."
"I'm really sorry Julie," Lara looks Julie in the eyes with a sympathetic look on her face.
Julie sighs, "It's alright. You guys haven't seen her anywhere, have you? From wherever you're from."
"Um... No. No, I mean, you're kind of the first person we've seen," Alex explains.
Reggie tries to help, "Yeah, but she's not dead, so it doesn't really answer her question."
"Reggie," Lara puts a hand on his shoulder to quieten him.
Alex looks at Reggie, "Yeah. I think she knows what we mean. I'm sorry for your loss."
"Thanks. Sorry I got mad. You guys are kinda good."
"Kinda? Y-y-you know that's like 25 years of rust just getting dusted off." Luke makes a dusting motion.
Lara laughs, "Ya, that was like B minus work."
"Yeah. Do you play the piano too?" Reggie grins.
"No. No, I don't play. That was my mom's stuff in there."
Luke exclaims, "No way. She's an amazing songwriter."
"She was. Wait. How would you know?"
"There's a song on the piano. If it's hers... Your mom was really talented." Luke looks at her.
"I guess... if you need a place to stay, you can stay in there. There's a bathroom in the back and a couch that turns into a bed if you still use any of that stuff."
Reggie puts a hand up, "Dibs on the shower! I just really like showers and sometimes the occasional bath."
Julie starts to walk away, "This... This is just too weird. Yeah."
"Reggie, dude come on," Lara pulls his jacket. Reggie just grins at her and puts an arm around her waist.
Julie leaves. Alex squeals in excitement and they all chuckle.
Luke gets a thought, "Hey, I've got an idea, come on let's go." They all vanish and land on the top of the Orpheum sign. "Hey, I know being dead isn't our first choice, but, I mean, it sure is easy getting around."
Lara nudges her brother, "Ya makes me like 5% less angry at you."
Reggie sighs, "Easy for you, maybe. I lost my shirt on that one," he looks down at his bare chest, "Ooh, never mind! There it is." He gets his shirt back and the others shake their heads at him.
Lara thinks to herself, "I would have been ok if you hadn't gotten it back, but maybe that's just me."
Luke chuckles at Reggie.
"Ok, so, why'd you bring us here? Just another painful reminder of where we never got to play. Thanks, Luke." Alex pats him on the chest.
"I mean, guys, the game isn't over yet. I'm telling you, we've been given a second chance. Let's find some music. Let's see how many clubs we can hit before sunrise." They all start to walk down the street.
Lara cheers, "That is a fantastic idea." Reggie grabs her hand and twirls her, making her laugh.
Alex runs into a man, "Hey!"
Luke yells, "Hey, Alex, you comin'?"
Reggie yells, "Let's go!"
"Yeah!" Lara jumps and starts to walk faster.
~
I kinda plan on updating whenever I get the chance to so hope you guys enjoyed this one. I know it was shorter but had to finish ep 1!
-A