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𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗔 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧
ＣＨＡＰＴＥＲ ＳＥＶＥＮＴＥＥＮ:
let's paint the sky
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THE PLAN WAS simple: Willie, Alex's ghost friend, was going to move the tour bus of the band that was supposed to open for Panic! At The Disco at the Orpheum tonight. Once the news reached the promoter of the Orpheum, he would need to scramble to find a new opening act. That was where the boys came in. They would pull up the YouTube video in the promoter's office of Julie, Emilia, and the Phantoms performing Edge of Great and write Julie's phone number on a piece of paper.
Waiting was excruciating. Emilia and Julie paced around the studio as they waited for the boys to get back. Julie's phone rested face-up on the table, prepared for a call if everything went according to plan. Emilia shook her hands out in front of her as she let out a deep breath. It felt like it had been hours since the boys left.
And then, finally, they appeared. Emilia stopped and stared at them with wide eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but Julie beat her to it.
"Oh my gosh! What took you guys so long? Did Willie do it? Did you talk to the promoters? Did they watch the video? Did they like us? Are we playing tonight? Can someone answer me? Why is no one saying anything?" Julie rambled.
"Woah!" Reggie exclaimed. "That's a lot of questions. Luke, you wanna take this one?"
"Take a seat," Luke said calmly.
Both Emilia and Julie sat stiffly on the couch. The three boys kneeled down in front of them on the other side of the coffee table.
"It's fine. Everything's fine."
"Yeah," Alex agreed. "You should be getting a call right . . . now!"
He pointed at Julie's phone. However, the screen remained dark and nothing happened. Emilia's eyes flickered between the phone and the boys expectantly.
"Okay, right . . ." Alex pointed at Julie's phone again. "Now!"
As if on cue, Julie got a phone call. Emilia let out a squeal of happiness and shook Julie's shoulder.
"Nailed it," Alex stated as Reggie and Luke gave him high-fives.
The phone continued to ring. Luke, Alex, and Reggie waved Julie on to answer her phone. Julie quickly swiped the screen to answer.
Julie cleared her throat. "Hello."
"Hi, this is Tasha from the Orpheum in Hollywood."
All of them went crazy. Julie stood up and bounced on top of the couch. Reggie danced and Alex ran across the top of the table. Emilia jumped up and felt Luke's arms wrap around her waist. He picked her up off the ground and spun her in a circle. Emilia laughed and put her arms around his neck to hold on.
"Is this Julie of Julie, Emilia, and the Phantoms?"
All of them stopped. Luke still held Emilia in the air, Reggie paused in his dancing, and Alex froze with a pillow in his hand. They all stared at Julie. The girl calmly leaned down and picked up her phone, holding it to her ear.
"Yes, it is," Julie replied.
"Hi."
They all went crazy again. Luke continued to spin Emilia around until he finally set her down after they got dizzy. Julie jumped on top of the table and jumped up and down.
"Are you available to open for us tonight?"
"Yeah, totally!" Julie responded excitedly.
"Ok."
"Thank you so much!"
"See you then."
The next thing Emilia knew, Luke and Reggie had lifted Alex up in the same lift that was in Dirty Dancing. Giggles spilled past her lips as she watched them spin Alex in a circle. She reached up and high-fived Alex.
"We're doing it!" Julie yelled. "We're playing the Orpheum, baby!"
Alex then began to move his arms in a circle. "I'm swimming!"
Emilia fell into another burst of laughter. They finally did it. Julie, Emilia, and the Phantoms would be playing the Orpheum. What was a better way to perform for the last time together?
𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙 ♔ 𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁
EMILIA'S RED OUTFIT (naturally) was secured in a bag that she held. Even though she was still heartbroken over the fact the boys would be leaving tonight, she was extremely excited to play the Orpheum. Since Ray would drive her, Julie, Apollo, Carlos, and Tía Victoria, Emilia arrived at Julie's house earlier. She bounded down the stone steps to the studio with Julie to see the boys.
Julie swung the double doors open. "Are you ready?" However, her smile, along with Emilia's, fell off their faces once they noticed the pained expressions on the boys' faces. "What's wrong?"
"Yeah, we just got rocked pretty hard by one of those jolt things," Alex answered.
"Pretty sure I ghost peed a little," Reggie added.
Emilia shook her head. "I really didn't need to know that, Reg."
"But we're fine," Luke reassured them.
"Actually guys, I'm a little nervous," Julie admitted. "Luke, uh, can I talk to you for a second?"
Luke locked eyes with Emilia. She walked towards him and nodded her head towards Julie. Luke gave her a small smile and a kiss to the top of her head before joining Julie by the doors of the studio. Emilia sighed and turned to Alex and Reggie, placing her outfit down on the table.
"Are you sure you guys are okay?" Emilia asked worryingly.
Alex rested his arm on top of her head. "Yeah, we're fine, Emilia."
Emilia scowled and pushed his arm off, making him laugh. "I just wanted to say . . . thank you, guys, for believing in me. You have no idea how much that means."
"Of course," Reggie replied. "You're an amazing musician, Emilia. Keep playing. You'll make it far."
Emilia smiled softly at them and felt herself get emotional. "Oh my God, stop it, you're already making me cry."
"No, no, none of that," Luke suddenly scolded, slinging an arm around her shoulder. "No crying, Lia."
Emilia chuckled lightly and looked up at him. "Okay, okay, sorry. Is it band circle time?"
Luke nodded and dropped his arm from around her. Emilia grasped onto his hand in her left and Julie's hand in her right. Julie was left to hover her hand above Alex's palm since she couldn't physically touch him. Emilia could feel the love and admiration they had for each other flowing throughout the circle.
"We don't know what brought us here, but . . . what we do know is, Emilia and Julie, you two are stars," Luke began. "And just because this is our last night together, it doesn't mean we won't be watching you from above . . . or . . ." he gestured his head downwards.
Emilia bumped her shoulder with his. "No, no, none of that," she mocked.
Luke shook his head and bumped her back. "Now let's go rock this show. Let's give 'em a night they'll be talking about 'till the sun comes up, okay?"
All of them chuckled lightly.
"Legends on three." Luke stuck his hand in the middle of the circle.
Alex put his hand on top of Luke's. "One."
"Two," Reggie continued, placing his hand on top of Alex's.
Emilia and Julie placed their interlocked hands over the boys' ones. "Three."
"Legends!" they all chorused.
A car horn honked from outside. They all turned towards the noise.
"That's my dad," Julie explained. "He's driving Em and I there, so we'll see you guys soon."
Emilia picked her outfit up from the table. She brushed past Luke, and just like the first time they met, a shiver flowed throughout her entire body. Emilia turned back to him. Her eyes softened, and she rose up on her toes, placing a hand on his shoulder as she pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"Let's paint the sky," she whispered.
She smiled at him and continued walking out of the studio. Julie grabbed her outfit that was hanging from the door handle. And together, the two best friends headed off in the direction of the night that would simultaneously be the best and worst one of their lives.
𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙 ♔ 𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁𐄙𐄁
THE ORPHEUM WAS quite possibly the most mind-blowing place Emilia had ever been. She was backstage in an extravagant dressing room, getting ready in a mirror that was probably three times the size of hers at home. Emilia had her hair pulled up in a high ponytail with a red ribbon tied around it, a black t-shirt that was tucked into a red denim skirt, and white high-top Converse. As she applied a thin layer of red lip gloss, a knock was heard at the door.
"Hey, Julie and Emilia," the stage manager, Rob, announced. "I've got both of your roadies."
"Come in," Julie told him.
The door opened to reveal Flynn, Apollo, and Rob.
"Holograms are good to go, bosses," Flynn told them.
Apollo was holding two bouquets of flowers — one of red roses and one of pink dahlias. He handed the roses to Emilia and the dahlias to Julie.
"Both of your favorites," Apollo said.
Emilia took the flowers from him. "Thanks, A."
"These are beautiful, 'Lo," Julie stated. Apollo slung an arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple. Julie looked straight at Rob with a smile. "Best roadies ever."
"I'll be back in a few minutes to walk you two to the stage," Rob stated.
Emilia nodded to him. "Thank you, Rob. See you in a few."
Flynn waited until Rob had left to excitedly speak up. "You see this backstage pass? Apollo and I had sushi with Brendon Urie!"
"Good for you," Julie responded. "I threw up in the car on the way over here."
Emilia grimaced. "Yeah, that definitely didn't help with my nerves either."
"And you both still look amazing," Flynn countered. "I made friends with the tech crew. You're gonna love what we have planned."
"Hey, Apollo, why don't you go find Ray?" Emilia suggested. "Flynn, Julie, and I need to have some . . . girl talk."
Apollo nodded. "Call me if you need anything."
He kissed Julie's temple once more and squeezed Julie's shoulder before walking out of the room. Emilia let out a deep breath and looked back towards the mirror.
Flynn glanced around. "The guys are here, right?"
"We haven't seen them," Julie revealed.
"Wait, you don't think they changed their mind and took Caleb's offer, do you?"
Emilia immediately shook her head. "No, they didn't want that."
However, it sounded like an awful lot like she was trying to convince herself that. Flynn walked behind them and placed her hands on the two's shoulders, all three of them staring into the mirror.
"You two are gonna kill it," Flynn voiced. "We should get some snacks."
The three of them walked over to the couch. Flynn sat in between Julie and Emilia with a bowl of popcorn in her lap. They shared the popcorn just like it was one of their movie nights. But no, this was the biggest night of Emilia and Julie's lives. They were playing the Orpheum as an opening act for Panic! At The Disco. It was all so insane.
However, not even Flynn could distract them from their worries for long. The clock was ticking closer and closer to the time of their performance. Julie and Emilia had turned to pacing around the dressing room in a worried manner since the guys still hadn't showed up.
A knock sounded at the door again. "Hey, Julie, Emilia, it's time."
"Just a second!" Julie called back.
Emilia shook her head with tears filling her eyes as she felt her heart sink to her stomach. "There's something wrong. When Jules and I were leaving, the boys were getting the jolts really bad, and I know they wouldn't stand us up again." A tear finally raced down her cheek. "I guess they ran out of time."
The pain she felt was indescribable. Everything she had worked for in the past couple of weeks was finally zapped out of existence by a curse. All she wanted to do was curl up in the corner and cry.
"I'm so sorry, guys," Flynn said.
"They didn't cross over," Julie added, her too getting choked up. "They're gone. And we didn't even get to say goodbye, especially Emilia."
Flynn stood up. She walked over to the two and pulled them into a hug. Emilia rested her cheek on her shoulder and allowed more tears to fall.
"Hey, Julie, Emilia, you're on!" Rob announced, knocking on the door again.
Julie suddenly ran off. Emilia's eyes widened. She rushed after her, exiting the room just in time to see Julie sprint up the stairs. Emilia glanced back at the stage door wistfully for a moment. There was people out there waiting for her, but she couldn't perform without Julie. They were a package deal.
Emilia let out a deep breath. And with that, she ran up the stairs, determined to find her best friend.
-ˋˏ ༻ ☁︎ ༺ ˎˊ-
ONE MORE CHAPTER AFTER THIS STOP I'M LITERALLY GONNA CRY
also should I do a character q&a once this book is finished??? I kind of want to <3