· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽
▎ 𝑭 𝑨 𝑹 𝑭 𝑹 𝑶 𝑴 𝑵 𝑶 𝑹 𝑴 𝑨 𝑳 ▎
𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘-𝐎𝐍𝐄 ━━ EDGE OF GREAT.
࿔·ﾟ*ೃ࿐ ࿔* 🎸🥁🎤🎶
that this 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 is ours to own, 'cause
we're standing on the edge of great
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.
WITH the party in full swing, Ashley could feel the panic beginning to bubble under her skin as she watched the crowd of students grow bigger through a small crack in the closed garage doors. The garden was slowly but surely filling up.
It was different than the last show they had performed at. The last show had been mostly record executives and people out and about in Hollywood looking for new people across the music scene. This was people from school. If something went wrong during this gig there was no way to escape the repercussions.
And, low and behold, Luca had shown up even after Ashley had avoided talking to him about it. The blonde had a feeling that Flynn probably harssed him in the hallway, convincing him to come, even though she didn't want him there.
At least he wouldn't see her until she went out to perform with Julie and the boys. Ashley was hiding in the garage until the very last moment she could.
Both Julie and Ashley had been sticking by their words to Flynn to the best of their ability though, which was worth something. Of course, when they were in the studio they had to talk to Luke and Reggie because without communication, how was anybody going to know what was going on that night?
It had been difficult and Alex had constantly been shooting Julie and Ashley weird, anxious looks - for him, the distance to both Reggie and Luke from the girls had come out of nowhere and there was a pit inside him that was yelling that they had done something wrong again and upset them both - but neither Julie nor Ashley had looked Reggie or Luke in the eyes the whole time.
They were both feeling it, but they said nothing.
Ashley, still distracted by the gathering group of people outside the studio, jumped when she felt a hand on her wrist, tugging her away from the door.
"Hands." It was Julie, holding onto her wrists and she lifted them to just below Ashley's chin - they were trembling again, Ashley having not noticed, as per usual. "Alex could see them trembling from the other side of the room. He asked me to come and check on you to make sure that everything was okay."
Ashley was tempted to look across to her brother but knew Reggie was with him, so didn't, knowing she would be too tempted to catch the bassist's eyes.
"What's getting you so worked up, Ash Attack?" Julie placed a finger under Ashley's chin so she could lift the girls face, so Ashley was looking her in the eyes. "Is it Luca? I can kick him out if you want me to, I mean-"
"It's the people." The words were spilling out of Ashley's mouth before she had the chance to stop them. She couldn't lie to Julie. "And this whole Reggie thing. I know we performed in front of all of those managers and record execs the other night and this should be a walk in the park compared to that but this is people from school we're talking about here and I mean the talent show and I just-"
Julie gave Ashley's hand a tight squeeze to calm her words.
"And Reggie?" Ashley was so tempted to look up to where she knew he was standing, but she didn't - she didn't want to have to keep her eyes off of him all night, but she was going to try and stick to Flynn's wishes as much as she could. "When we're on stage, with him is my safe place, other than with you. The one night I need to be in a safe place on stage more than anything and I can't even look at him. I don't like it. Flynn really picks her moments sometimes."
This comment made Julie chuckle though she was smiling sadly.
"If you need to disregard Flynn's wish to help yourself feel safer on stage, you do it." Julie had a serious tint to her gaze and Ashley felt like she was talking with her father for a moment - he was always the one who looked that serious. "I don't think she's going to mind. If it makes you feel any better, I don't think I'll be able to handle not looking at Luke either. I'm going to try, but I mean-"
"It's hard." Ashley breathed the words out and they chuckled. "I get it."
Julie pulled Ashley close and they recreated Julie's ever famous 'trio-circle' and turned it into a duo for the time being. Julie rested her forehead against Ashley's and despite the panic still swimming through Ashley's veins, the blonde felt her heart settle. That was just it with Julie. She always knew what to do.
"We're going to be just fine." Julie whispered to Ashley softly. "I promise."
Just as Ashley was about to say something more, maybe thank Julie for always being able to calm her down before she fell too deep into one of her moments, there was a soft applause from outside the studio doors and Flynn's voice could be heard over the mic as she began to address the crowd in the garden.
"What's up everybody?" There was a soft cheer from the crowd.
Julie lifted her forehead from Ashley's and gave her best friend the biggest smile she could produce and Julie looked so happy and confident that Ashley couldn't help but smile back. There was just something about Julie's whole persona that was infectious enough to make you feel so much better.
"That's our cue, Ash Attack." Julie was still smiling. "Let's rock this."
Ashley nodded as Julie gave her hand another tight squeeze.
"Time to put your hands up, do a little dance, yup. Here's the new anthem from Julie and the Phantoms." Ashley was seriously impressed with how Flynn could pull a ryhme like that out of the air and make it sound that cool. "And Ashley, of course, because I refuse to let any of you forget about her."
Ashley let out a full, genuine chuckle at that. Julie did too.
Flynn was seriously too good to the both of them.
Ashley took a deep breath, still gripping onto Julie's hand as Carlos and one of his buddies opened the two studio doors wide to reveal what everybody thought was an empty studio and the two girls standing in the centre of the threshold.
Julie gave Ashley one reassuring nod before they approached the piano and sat down beside one another at the bench. Ashley felt her heart settle some more.
"Thanks for coming everyone," Julie spoke into the mic before taking a deep breath herself, shooting Ashley one final look and beginning to play the piano.
"𝙍𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩
𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙬
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙, 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙤𝙗𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨."
"𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙖 𝙧𝙪𝙗𝙗𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙡𝙡
𝙒𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠
𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙘𝙩, 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙪𝙨."
There was that 'almost familiar as breathing to Ashley now' whooshing sound behind the two girls at the piano as Alex's drums kicked in and the bass of the song dropped. The three other members of Julie and the Phantoms appeared as Ashley spotted the hologram at the back of the crowd light up - she was still impressed by how real everything was made to look for everyone - and the crowd let off cheers and squeals of excitement mixed with their usual surprise.
"𝙄 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚
𝙄 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢
𝘼𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛."
Where Ashley and Julie would usually split between jamming with Reggie and Luke, the two of them swapped places in an attempt to take Flynn's wishes into account - Ashley couldn't get over how weird it felt not to be immediately in between Reggie and Alex but after a moment, the music took over and singing with Luke felt okay. He was her best friend, she loved performing with him.
"𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙞𝙜, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙯𝙮
𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙬𝙣
'𝘾𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩."
Both Julie and Ashley began to jam with Alex and as the blonde smiled at them - they were jamming with him, okay, maybe they weren't angry with him, was all Alex was thinking about - and in place of where they would usually sing with Reggie and Luke, they turned their backs to them both and started singing to the crowd instead. It felt weird and wrong but they did it anyways.
Reggie and Luke looked to one another with confusion in their eyes.
"(𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩) 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩
(𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩) 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩
(𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩)
'𝘾𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩."
Luke, still confused as to why Julie was ignoring him, began to sing his lines.
"𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨
𝘽𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮'𝙧𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨
𝙏𝙤 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙪𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙖 𝙜𝙤
𝙄𝙩'𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙣𝙤."
The whole time Luke was singing, Julie kept Reggie distracted for Ashley while the blonde stood on her brother's drum podium, dancing along to his drums beats. She was surprised when he started mouthing words to her, his silent conversation with his sister hidden from the crowd by Ashley's frame.
"Did we do something wrong?" Ashley had gotten good at lip-reading as a form of communication while on stage. With Julie, it was hand signs. With the boys, it was lip-reading. "Neither you nor Julie will meet eyes with Luke or Reggie."
What was Ashley supposed to say to that?
Ashley took a deep breath, shaking her head, giving her brother an, "I'll tell you later," look and Alex seemed to understand as he nodded and went back to smiling at his sister like that small conversation hadn't happened.
When Ashley jumped off the drum podium, out of pure instinct, she looked up to meet Reggie's eyes and only realised when it was too late to back out of it. He looked at her, tilted his head towards his side, asking her to come and stand beside him to sing as she always did, and raised his eyebrows expectantly.
Oh, she wanted to so badly. But she couldn't.
Julie seemed to realise the problem Ashley was facing and grabbed hold of the girl's wrist, raising her eyebrows as they smiled at one another and began to sing the second half of the verse together with Luke. Ashley was grateful for the save.
Ashley missed the frown which etched its way across Reggie's face.
"𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙚 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙣
𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙤𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙚𝙡𝙨𝙚
𝙏𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥
𝙐𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙬𝙚 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙮."
"𝙄 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚
𝙄 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢
𝘼𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛."
As Ashley and Julie split themselves to either side of the piano to continue singing, Reggie moved away from his mic, still frowning, to go and stand with Luke as he usually did at this point during a song. They gave each other confused glances - they had both noticed the absence of their partners over the course of the song - looking towards the two girls in front of them.
"𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙞𝙜, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙯𝙮
𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙬𝙣
'𝘾𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩."
Ashley and Julie made their way to the centre of the crowd in front of the piano, where Flynn was standing with a huge smile on her face, and with their free hands, both of them took Flynn's in their own, giving her a big grin each.
She gave them both a look which said, "You're doing well," and it could've been perceived to be about the performance but both Julie and Ashley knew better.
"(𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩) 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩
(𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩) 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩
(𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩)
'𝘾𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩..."
Julie took Ashley's hand and led her towards the piano and Ashley felt her heart bob nervously in her throat as Julie started trying to drag Ashley up onto the top of the piano with her - Ashley had done this only once, be on top of the piano with Julie, and it had been during a moment of panic as a huge spider ran across the floor of the studio and neither Ashley nor Julie, both of them deathly afraid of spiders that large, had been able to move it out of the room.
Julie's mom had heard their screaming from the house and had come running, thinking it was something awful. Ashley would never forget the way she had laughed at them, the laugh that could've brightened a whole room if it wanted to, as she had reached down and picked the spider up, removing it from the studio.
With Julie's mom in mind, Ashley let Julie drag her up onto the piano.
"𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩, 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩
𝘾'𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩, 𝙤𝙪𝙩
𝘿𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙜𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙖 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙞𝙩
𝙇𝙚𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙨
𝘽𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙣𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚
𝙅𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩, 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩
𝘾'𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙩 𝙤𝙪𝙩, 𝙤𝙪𝙩."
Julie shot Ashley a wink as they sang together, just them.
"𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙙𝙤𝙚𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚
𝙊𝙤𝙝-𝙤𝙝."
Ashley shuffled to the other side of Julie on the piano, spotting a look in Luke's eyes as he approached that Ashley could tell was the look of a man on a mission and Ashley was in no way going to get in the way of that mission.
She hung her legs off the side of the piano, facing the crowd on the left side that was standing and cheering them on, ready to split the bridge lines with Julie.
"𝙄 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚
𝙄 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢."
Ashley heard the guitar and bass riffs, completely out of place from rehearsals and almost choked. Those were new. Ashley had never heard those before.
Before Ashley could shoot Luke a look, a look to commend him on his efforts to make Julie pay attention to him, Ashley felt a presence beside her - that was one of the biggest things Ashley didn't understand about the boys being ghosts. How could they not physically be real to everyone else but Ashley could still feel the presence of one of them when they appeared behind or beside her?
Turning her whole body to face who she knew was standing at her side, she met eyes with Reggie and he had a determined look in them. He wasn't going to let her slip away this time. For some reason, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't pull her gaze away from him, especially after hearing the sounds of the bass riff he was playing, a riff which they hadn't rehearsed.
Had he and Luke planned it? Ashley didn't know, or quite frankly, care.
Ashley could feel the electricity prickling along her skin as she looked Reggie directly in the eyes, smiling at him softly - she just couldn't help it - as he continued to play his bass riff while never taking his eyes off her once.
The blonde almost missed her cue to start singing she was so mesmerised.
"𝘼𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩."
Julie stood up onto the piano while Ashley hopped off the end, following Reggie back to his mic as neither of them took their eyes off of one another - it was almost like they were universally bound together - everyone back to their rightful places and back with their partners, as they took the final chorus.
Alex let out a silent sigh of relief to himself and himself only.
"𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙗𝙞𝙜, 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙯𝙮
𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙚𝙩 𝙪𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣
𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙬𝙣
'𝘾𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩."
Julie jumped off the piano and dragged Ashley away from Reggie so they could sing together. They gave each other bright looks, knowing exactly what they had both just done, but hadn't Julie already called that happening? She had called it.
"(𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩) 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩
(𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩) 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩
(𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩)
'𝘾𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙚'𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩..."
The tradition of Ashley and Julie singing together was broken just for that night as Luke wandered over to Julie at the piano, ready to sing with her, and Ashley had her eyes set on the bassist. He was watching her too as she came to him, holding the mic between them, ready to sing the last few lines with him.
It hadn't been the plan for Julie, Ashley, Reggie and Luke to sing the final few lines of the song together but as Julie gave Ashley and Reggie one look, winked, and turned back to look at Luke, Ashley knew that it was the new plan and they were just going to go with it. No matter what, it was going to work out.
Ashley heard a whoosh as Alex disappeared to the crowd behind her but Reggie and Luke stayed visible as Ashley and Julie prepared to sing.
"𝙍𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙩
𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙥𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙬
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙗𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙, 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙤𝙗𝙫𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨."
Ashley has never sung with Reggie before and she regretted it.
He was so close that she could hear his voice clear enough to her ears - it was almost as if it was the only voice she could hear, she was so focused on it - and his voice was beautiful. He smiled the whole time as they shared the mic while looking one another in the eyes. This was an entirely new feeling.
If Ashley was able to touch him, she would've reached and touched his cheek.
With the music over, both Luke and Reggie whooshed away as Ashley went back over to the piano to stand beside Julie, the crowd erupting into cheers and applause as they showed their love for the performance which had just taken place. With the crowd distracted clapping and cheering for the both of them, Julie leant back so she could mutter something in her her best friends ear.
"They stole our tradition." The girl mumbled to Ashley as the blonde chuckled.
"I know" Ashley shook her head, giggling. "But it was so worth it though."
Julie nodded. They both stood from the piano to take in the applause as Ashley scanned her eyes across the crowd, looking for someone in particular.
Luca was almost hidden amongst the crowd of people and the bushes towards the back of Julie's driveway, as if he was trying his best to stay hidden, but Ashley saw him. He was smiling, clapping and cheering amongst everyone else but even from the distance between them, Ashley could see a look in his eyes that she had only ever seen when Eden was around and when they were friends.
Jealousy?
Ashley and Luca met eyes and he smiled at her, but the smile didn't meet his eyes and that's when Ashley knew something was going on - even when he was upset Luca's smiles had always reached his eyes. He barely ever stopped smiling.
Why was Luca jealous and why did Ashley have a really bad feeling about it?
PICKING another piece of pizza from the box, Flynn hadn't stopped gushing.
"I can't say this enough-" She was gesturing- "That was incredible."
She gave Julie and look and then leant forwards so she could raise her eyebrows at Ashley who was sitting on the other side of her, closest to Carlos.
"But epic fail on the eye contact thing."
"It was harder then you think." Ashly chuckled as she whispered it under her breath so neither Ray nor Carlos would become suspicious. "When you've got them that close to you, its really hard to act like they're not there at all."
Julie nodded, agreeing, as she chuckled.
"So how do you do those holograms?" It was a question that Julie and Ashley were asked a lot, an answer they always used the internet as their excuse, but Ashley was surprised when it was Carlos asking - she knew he'd always been a curious kid but she figured that the holograms may have been out of his depth.
"Oh, don't try to understand it Carlos." Ray Molina spoke up. "I don't."
"That's because you're old."
Ashley hid a chuckle and she hear Flynn and Julie chuckle under their breaths as Ray let out a fake laugh which made Ashley want to laugh again.
"Funny guy." He looked down at his young son, trying to hide a smile from him. "I'd send you to your room, but then who's gonna clean up this mess?"
Hearing Flynn giggling made Ashley let out her chuckles.
"Don't poke the bear." Julie raised her eyebrows at her little brother.
Ashley smiled as Carlos shook his head and picked up a few empty paper plates and walked away from them all to throw them in the garbage. Ray chuckled - it had always been something Ashley had loved about the Molina family, that they could humour each other and still have enough love in their hearts to fill an entire room - and looked back at the three girls.
"So what are the boys doing right now?"
Julie and Ashley shot each other a look, but Ashley had it under control.
"Hanging out, I guess. You know, or whatever you do when you're from where they're from. Anyways, so, what camera did you use out there?"
Ray's eyes widened when Ashley asked him the question with a smile.
"Interested in my work?"
"Photography is one of my side hobbies." Ashley wasn't lying, she did like to take photos on the side but behind her music and her dance it wasn't her top hobby. "I don't know anything about any kind of cameras, but I know you do."
She smiled brightly at the man.
Julie's dad sat down in a seat across from them as he started to drabble on about the kinds of cameras he used. Julie shot Ashley an impressed look as the girl winked at her. The three of them settled in to listen to Julie's dad ramble as they gave one another a three-way fist-bump, grinning at each other.
Ashley had to admit - it was a night well spent with the people that she loved.