𝟏𝟎. 𝐘𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖
( CHAPTER TEN ) — 𝐋.𝐏.
"He's really nice," Alex repeats for what seems the umpteenth time. Noticing the smile at his lips, I hold back a laugh but instead choose to nod.
"I bet,"
Alex and I were in the upper loft of the studio. Julie, Flynn, Reggie, and Luke were down below, soft murmurs heard as they spoke but nothing that I could actually make out. We managed to get everyone to leave us alone for the 'Alex and Indie bonding time' as he liked to put it. The girls were easy, Luke pouting but nonetheless agreeing, but Reggie kept popping in every ten minutes.
"And he's cute. Like really cute, and he was super nice. I mean, he did run me over with his skateboard but besides that. He answered a bunch of my questions too and helped with the whole ghost thing," Alex rambled, hands fiddling together as he spoke. Trailing off, his brows pinched before he turned to me. "Can you show me who Justin Bieber is?"
Blinking at the sudden question, I let out a laugh but nod. "Yeah, yeah, of course. But how do you even know who he is?"
"Willie mentioned that he skates in his pool when he's bored," Alex shrugs. Perks of being a ghost.
"Can I come up now?" Reggie's voice fills the air once again. Looking to Alex, I wait for his reaction but he just rolls his eyes and nods.
"Yes Reggie, you can come up," I call out. An over-exaggerated gasp was heard before a flash of light, Reggie popping in on the floor in between Alex and I. Already somehow sitting criss-cross, he clasped his hands together with a cheeky smile.
"Hi guys," He blurts out excitedly. "Oh! Since it's Friday, Julie said she's gonna ask her dad if Flynn can stay over. You already can I guess but you have to properly meet her dad later or something,"
"I didn't know I was supposed to stay over tonight," I mumble, a hand running through my hair. "I think I might just go home, I don't want to intrude on Flynn and Julie—"
"If they didn't want you here, Julie wouldn't have said anything at all," Alex reasons.
"Yeah but still, I don't want to overstay—"
"Everyone wants you here," Reggie interrupts, waving me off. "Especially Luke," He hums quietly causing Alex to snicker.
"And what's that supposed to mean?" I ask as the two share a look.
"You know what it means," Alex replies back, a teasing smile on his lips while I blink. "Don't deny it, you and Luke have a thing,"
"A very obvious thing," Reggie adds.
"There is no thing," I deny, shifting uncomfortably but only get bored looks from the two. "Stop looking at me like that! You're ghosts for fucks sake, that has to be morally incorrect in all ways,"
"If you just... look past the dead thing, you guys are set," Reggie waves me off. "Besides you can do the weird touch stuff and feel each other. He becomes kinda alive then so it's only like, halfway wrong,"
"Anyway.." Alex snickers. "He totally likes you. Trust me, I dated him. I know how he gets when he has a crush,"
"Pause," I stop immediately, my eyes widening at how causally Alex brought that up. "You and Luke?" I repeat, a laugh threatening to spill from my lips. Looking over the railing to get a view of Julie, Flynn, and Luke himself, my eyes flicker between him and Alex a few times. "I would've thought him and Reggie but I can see this too,"
"It was a long time ago, we dated for a couple months before realizing we were better as friends. His main thing was music at the time so it just wasn't working. No big deal," Alex explains nonchalantly. "Point being, Luke is the biggest flirt when it comes to people he's attracted to, which hasn't been many by the way. It's not even voluntary either. Most of the time he doesn't even realize that he does it,"
"You're on the list of people," Reggie clarifies quickly, repositioning himself before pausing. "Do you even like him back?"
"I barely met him," I reply back.
"That's not a no," Reggie hums with a cheeky smile.
"There's no limit when it comes to romance... and anything can happen considering how we're here right now," Alex adds.
"You guys sound like Julie," I snicker, shaking my head. "Earlier she had a whole speech about this soulmates theory and everything,"
"I'll ask her about that later," Alex mumbles, nodding as if he marked it off with a mental note to himself.
"You guys are impossible," I sigh, rolling my eyes and standing up. "Luke and I are friends. Leave it at that, I barley even know the guy,"
"Come back to us in a few weeks," Reggie waves me off carelessly. Not bothering with a response, I shrug him off and ascended from the stairs down to the main floor.
Walking over to the group of three seated on the couch, Luke was sat upside down. His head was at the bottom of the seat but he was the first to spot me heading their way. Quickly scrambling upward, his foot ended up passing through Flynn's lap but she didn't notice considering she couldn't see him. Instead Julie did, following his eyes over to me and smiling once she did so.
"Inds!" Luke claps his hands together excitedly. Shuffling to free up a good amount of space between him and Flynn, he pat the spot for me. "Come, sit. Julie and Flynn have been talking about weird girl stuff,"
"The importance of One Direction isn't weird girl stuff," Julie mocks with an eye roll toward Luke.
"Don't disrespect Louis Tomlinson like that again," Flynn adds, pointing a finger in the opposite direction of Luke as she narrowed her eyes at nothing. Letting out a snicker, Julie softly adjusted her hand to the left so she was facing the correct way. "I knew that,"
"See what I mean?" Luke teases. Humming back, I nod along and take a seat in the empty spot. Plopping myself down, my back hits the couch as I shrink back into the cushions.
"Sorry but I have to agree with Julie and Flynn. It's honestly tragic you didn't get to see One Direction in their prime. Harry Styles is truly a god sent gift," I shrug, biting back a smile as Luke's face drops. With a small groan, he tossed himself down on the couch once more, his head landing down by my mid thigh while his legs hung over the armrest of the seat. Hands running down his face, Luke pouts.
"I'm still not used to that," Flynn whispers, her eyes widened at the sight of Luke now in her visible range. Taking a second, she slowly extends out her pointer finger, going in to touch Luke's uncovered hair from earlier — the bright orange beanie was currently on my head as he insisted — but he softly swatted away her hand. The brief contact of their hands caused Flynn to gasp dramatically.
"Someone show me Henry so I can see why you guys like him so much," Luke changes the subject, shifting slightly to turn his hair to look at the three of us in an easier way.
"Harry," Julie corrects as she slips out her phone. With a few taps on the screen, she's held it out for Luke to grab. As soon as the phone was in his hand, she stood up. "I'll be back, I want chips. Flynn, wanna come?"
Nodding along, Flynn followed in suit and the two were soon out the door. Meanwhile, I was stuck with Luke's head place dead center on my lap. With the phone blocking a majority of his face from my view, all I could see was his frowned brows.
"He's not that good looking," He mumbles childishly.
"It's not nice to lie Luke," I snort, pulling down his hands to get a full glimpse at his pouting expression. "Besides it's not all about his looks. Harry is a talented singer, songwriter, and musician. Plus he's like, the biggest sweetheart,"
"So am I," Luke replies back, placing the phone down on his chest while I pause for a moment, coming up with a response.
"He's alive,"
"That's not fair,"
"Still counts," I hum as he rolls his eyes. Letting out a laugh, one of my hands falls down to his hair, softly pushing back the strands that were out of place. "I'm only messing with you, stop with the frowns... Though I guess you really are like my own personal Harry now,"
Luke doesn't say anything. Instead I notice that his eyes had fluttered shut. My hands combing through his hair and for a second, I thought he was going to take a nap before he poked open an eye.
"He is a little attractive,"
. . . . .
"Psst!"
Attempting to get Luke's attention, I toss a piece of popcorn in his direction. Rolling my eyes as it went through him, the ricochet of it falling on the ground was enough to get him to turn around.
"What?" He whispers back.
We were in Julie's room now. Last I checked, it was nearing two in the morning. Flynn and Julie were asleep on the bed practically laying on top of each other while I sat on the opposite. The boys were below us on the floor at the foot of the bed and considering how they didn't actually need to sleep, the TV was still on showing a Star Wars movie.
In all honesty I had no idea what was going on but they seemed to like the films and had plenty to catch up on from the past 15 years so I sat through it for their sake.
But now I was bored.
"Let's go look at the stars," I suggest, matching his quiet tone and placing the popcorn bowl on the ground. Carefully shimming out of bed without disturbing Julie or Flynn, Alex turns his head in my direction at the creek of the floorboards.
Giving me a questioning look, his eyes flicker over to Luke who hadn't notice that he turned. Taking a second, the light from the TV illuminated the small smile that picked up at Alex's lips before he shifted back to look at the screen. Reggie on the other hand, hadn't noticed a thing, knees pulled to his chest as he was engrossed by the movie entirely.
"Someone's gonna hear you downstairs," Luke mumbles, a hand raking through his hair.
"We're not going downstairs," I whisper back. Walking over to the window, I pull it open as quietly as possible. The immediate change in temperature was felt but I shake off the coldness. Quirking a brow, Luke doesn't make an effort to move. "Okay then," I breathe out, bending down to step through the small window frame.
Landing carefully on the roof top, that was thankfully right outside of Julie's window, I move to shut the glass a majority of the way but a pair of ringed fingers stop me. Pushing the window back open, Luke follows me out and nearly trips along the way of doing so.
"You know you're a ghost and could've just... poofed out?" I tease, watching as he dusted off his hands with a sarcastic smile.
"Where's the fun in that?" He shoots back.
"Fair enough," Spinning around, I carefully move up the roof, feeling around with each step to make sure it was secure. Slowly shimming up the roof, I nearly slip but catch myself in time.
"Need help?" Luke questions causing me to look up and notice how he was already further up on the roof. A hand was extended out to me, a mix of amusement and worry shown on his features through the moon lighting.
Not bothering to reply, I opt to place my hand in his. Securing a grip, Luke pulls me up to him with ease. Stopping in the place beside him, I decided it was high enough and moved to take a seat.
"Stargazing isn't really a thing here anymore huh?"
"I guess not," I agree with a snicker. The sky was a deep blue color, the nearly full moon was prominent but a mere sprinkle of stars were only visible in contrast. We're in L.A.. What was I expecting?
Silence fell over us. A distant cricket chirping was the only thing that filled the air along with the occasional breeze of wind that shifted the trees. Everything was quiet, asleep for the time being creating a little pocket of peace.
"Do you do this a lot?" Luke suddenly asks. His voice was quiet, barely above a whisper as he broke the stillness but his eyes were focused up at the sky. "You know, like... sit outside in the middle of the night all by yourself?"
"I'm not alone right now," I correct but he just rolls his eyes. "But only when I can't sleep. There's a shaft that leads up to the roof outside my window in the apartments... it's not as quiet as it is here but it calms me,"
Luke didn't respond to that. Instead he seemed to process the words to himself, the silence returning once more but he scooted a few inches closer to me in the process.
"What's your favorite color?"
"What?" He laughs in surprise, eyes finally meeting my own.
"What's your favorite color?" I repeat. Luke tilts his head, giving me a weird look causing me to shake my head. "I barely know anything about you. I mean, music and being dead are the only big things. I want to at least know the basics that Luke— wait see! I don't even know your last name!"
"It's Patterson," He answers, the small smile never leaving his lips. Luke Patterson. Has a nice ring to it. "But fine, I'll answer any questions you want as long as you'll answer mine Inds,"
"Deal," I agree without a second thought. There was nothing to hide anymore. "Now your color... wait! Don't tell me. Let me guess!"
"Go for it," Luke chuckles, turning on his side to be facing me, an arm supporting his body up.
"Yellow,"
"Yellow?"
"Don't be so disgusted! It's a good color," I defend. "Maybe I'm a little biased since it's mine but you just seem like a yellow. I look at you and see it. I don't know why... and I mean that in a good way. The best really,"
Luke paused at this but his smile didn't lessen. In fact, it seemed to grow as I looked back at him. His fingers fiddling with his rings. "Yeah... yeah it's yellow, you got it right,"
Smiling to myself, I take his word and nod. He's yellow.
"Why's it your favorite color?" Luke asks this time, genuine curiosity shown on his expression.
"I like it because of the.. feeling it gives off?" I start, wincing at my wording but he didn't seem to mind. He was quietly watching me speak while he listened. "You see yellow or like, think of the color and I think of happiness. Sunflowers, daises, they're gorgeous. The sun, it lights everything up each and everyday and is a beacon. Being golden, being able to say you're golden to someone is such a beautiful compliment in my eyes. People have made songs about being someone's yellow too and that's just, it's beautiful. I don't know... there's just a lot of good things that resonate with yellow that I adore if that makes sense? I mean it's probably way too over analytical for a primary color but still,"
When I finished my small rant, I turned back to Luke. Instead of looking at me like I was insane he was smiling, grinning actually with his cheeky stare.
"You think I'm yellow," He mumbles out as I blink.
"What?"
"You told me that when you look at me you think of yellow," Luke reminds, sitting up straighter and the proud look didn't lessen anymore than before.
"That doesn't mean anything—"
"Oh yes it does, you think I'm golden. You've given me your top compliment," Luke cuts me off, a teasing tone laced in his voice.
"I hate you," I blurt, not having anything else to say to save my ass but that doesn't faze Luke one bit. Instead he laughed, a loud heartfelt laugh that filled the air and almost made me want to join in on the contagious sound. And I probably would've if it weren't for the internalized panic settling in my body for accidentally calling Luke Patterson yellow.
Why would you say that Indie?
"No you don't, I'm your yellow," He snorts out. His laughter causing him to nearly be on the verge of tears.
"I still hate you," Was all I could manage to reply with. Humiliating. Huffing out a few breaths, Luke wipes the corners of his eyes. Sobering himself up, the giggles died down but the grin didn't seem to wipe off his face. "Stop looking at me like that Luke, I didn't mean—"
"Inds," He cuts me off once again.
"No, I-I'm serious—"
"Inds!" Luke says in a louder voice causing me to jump.
"What!" I match his tone, frowning as he lets out a chuckle. Why is he like this? Leaning closer to me, Luke gestures for me to copy him as if he was about to tell me a secret. Raising a brow, I hesitated before moving to him but notice how his smile picked up at the corners of his lips once more.
"If it makes you feel any better, I think you're my yellow too,"
— NIKO SPEAKS "
edited ( 22 july 2021 )
[ pre edited a/n below ]
holy fuck hi
i wanna do check ins w the
color system soooooo
how are you today?
green — happy/feel good
yellow — eh/could be better
red — bad/not good at all
you don't have to reply to this if
you don't want to but if you do i'll be
replying back and giving little compliments
or words of encouragement. (you guys
can do this too for each other in replies if
you're feeling nice) but i just thought it
would be good to check in and see how
everyone's doing. it's always nice to have
someone check in when you feel low
( i made a trailer for this book and it's kinda
shitty and doesn't make sense at all tbh but
it's sorta more like a mood video and gives
little hints at what's to come so here's that
if you want to see ok fr bye now <3 )