Both Luke and Jay's whirled to see Ray Molina standing over them. He was wearing the same clothes he wore at the house, his face showed his concern even if it was shadowed by the umbrella he was holding.
"Are you okay now mijo?" Ray asked, crouching down to Jay's level.
"Yeah," Jay nodded, glancing at Luke before looking back at Ray. "Yeah, I'm alright."
"Well, you sound better than you did earlier," Ray said, satisfied with the answer he was given. "There's a towel in the car, Julie and Carlos are waiting at home."
Ray held out a hand to Jay and the other boy quickly took it, pulling himself up.
"Can I, uh.." Jay trailed off, gesturing to the gravestones to his side. Actually, he was pointing at Luke, but Ray didn't know that.
"Of course," Ray said, patting Jay on the shoulder. "Come to the car once you're done."
Jay nodded and gave a small 'sure' as a response, something Luke was sure only he heard since he was standing right next to Jay, watching Julie's dad walk off.
"Good guy," Luke comments absently.
"Yeah," Jay says, making Luke look at him. "Hey, thanks for...coming to check on me. I didn't mean to make you guys worry."
"Well, you did," Luke says. "And don't feel bad about it. You should have seen Julie's face, she was trying so hard not to show anything."
Jay gave a small chuckle and Luke smiled knowing his attempt to lighten the situation had worked. Besides, Jay's laugh was always nice to hear.
"I better get going then," Jay says. "You coming with, or am I gonna see you at the garage?"
"I'm poofing," Luke says, holding up two fingers. "Peace."
Truth be told, Luke wanted to go with Jay in the car just to give him some comfort. But he had Ray, and Luke was sure that Jay and Ray had stuff to talk about that he didn't want to intrude on. Just like how Luke had to talk to Alex and Reggie, and he couldn't be interrupted.
Upon his arrival back in the studio, both boys had shot up to their feet and began bombarding him with questions about Jay.
"What happened, is he okay, he's on his way here right-"
"Okay, breathe Reggie," Luke said, putting his hands on the bassist's shoulders. "I've got a lot to tell you."
Luke would make sure not to mention a thing about how Jay's parents had died or how his family treated him now. He just needed to tell the boys about the fact that Reggie and Jay were blood family.
"Might wanna sit down for this one boys."
Reggie took a seat on the floor and Alex leaned on the armrest of the couch. Luke decided to lean carefully against the grand piano, crossing his arms and looking at the boys.
"Reg, I'm pretty sure Jay's your nephew."
There wasn't any other way to say it. Luke wasn't sure how he could have eased it onto them, not something as big as family. Neither of the boys spoke a word, they just stared at Luke until Reggie whispered a quiet "what."
"Your sister's name was Gracie, right? Gracie Peters?" Luke asked Reggie, who nodded. "That's Jay's mom's name."
"Okay, but there could be a million Gracie's out there," Alex pointed out. "How do you know it's the one we know?"
"Because Jay pulled the same prank that we did. The powder in the hairdryer. And he said she said her brother's friend did the same thing to her when she was his age."
"You did put baby powder in her hairdryer," Reggie reminisced. "She was so mad."
"Okay, but that could be another coincidence," Alex pointed out. "That's a classic prank, it's not titled just to us."
"Reg, remember what you said about Jay when we first met him?" Luke asked, hoping to find a way to convince the two of them. He knew he was right, he had to be.
"No," Reggie admitted honestly.
"You said there was something familiar about him, like he reminded you of someone," Luke reminded him. "You were thinking of your sister, dude. You literally told him the other day that he reminded you of her!"
Luke was starting to get heated now, he realized that. He made sure the keep his volume low, but he needed to get the point across. They all thought their family was gone, Reggie was heartbroken by it. Even after they played his jam on the guitar, Luke knew it still bothered him. But he had Jay now, he had a nephew that he saw every day.
"Yeah, but I don't..." Reggie trailed off and swallowed, looking off to the side. "How could Jay be my nephew? Gracie and Jacob literally broke up the week before the Orpheum, did she get a new guy?"
"Well they must have gotten back together 'cause Jacob is Jay's dad," Luke said. "His name was on the gravestone, their epitaph was our song lyric. 'Even if we hit the ground, we'll still fly.'"
"She really liked 'Now or Never,'" Alex recalled. "So wait. You're telling me you have a thing for Reggie's nephew?"
"Okay, I don't have a thing for Jay," Luke shot down. "And don't say it like that, that's weird."
"Okay, slow down," Reggie said, sitting straight and looking at them with tears in his eyes. "So you're telling me my sister's dead and her only son's been playing in a band with us? Jay's my nephew? Do you know how...weird that is?"
Luke and Alex looked at each other, knowing that this must be hard for Reggie to process.
"I mean, I'm seventeen! I'm too young to be an uncle, even if Gracie was older than me! And my nephew's-ah, that's weird- but he's the same age as me? That's so...weird!"
Reggie ran a hand through his hair and sighed, looking distressed.
"Reg, I get that this is a lot to take in," Luke said. "But you've got a member of your family still here that can see you and talk to you! That's awesome!"
Luke was a little envious of that, but he would never mention it. The happiness he felt for Reggie far outweighed the envy.
"Yeah, dude, I mean," Alex began. "We thought our families were gone forever, but you found yours in Jay. And I'm sure he could tell you all about your sister or your parents."
Luke wanted to correct him and say that Reggie probably couldn't find much about his parents, but he bit his tongue.
"He's your family is two senses dude," Luke said, holding up two fingers as he spoke. "This whole uncle thing shouldn't change much, you two are more like cousins anyway."
"It's weird," Reggie says again.
"We're ghosts, I think we've got our fair share of weird," Luke said with a smile.
Luke and Alex shared a look while Reggie relaxed, resting his weight back on his hands and looking up at the ceiling with a starstruck look on his face.
"Jay's my nephew," he breathes out after a moment. "That's so cool but so...weird."
"Okay, we need to find you a bigger vocabulary," Alex teased as Reggie began to fully accept things.
"What else am I supposed to say?" Reggie retorts. "I got Jay as a nephew! But I'm an uncle. It's weird." Reggie looks at them suddenly, eyes wide. "Does he know?"
"I don't think so," Luke shook his head. "He would have said something."
"Would he?" Alex asked.
"Maybe," Luke shrugged.
"I wanna tell him," Reggie said seriously. "Not now I mean, not when he's not okay, I mean eventually. I wanna be the one to talk to him."
"Well, duh," Luke said as if it were obvious. "He's your nephew."
"That Luke has a thing for," Alex says.
"Aw dude, don't make me think about that!" Reggie groaned.
"I don't have a thing for Jay!" Luke said heatedly.
"Says the guy that always writes songs with him, drops in the middle of his classes, stares at him all the time, and literally warped out of here because you were worried," Alex said snarkily.
"He's got you there," Reggie said.
Luke stuck out his tongue at the boys, tossing his vest at Reggie. Reggie snickered at Luke's reaction and shared a knowing look with Alex. Both of them knew when Luke had a crush, and Luke definitely had a crush on Jay.
The next step was to get him to admit it.