🎶
I walk slowly to my locker, my head throbbing from the lack of sleep.
"Morning Sloth" Flynn greets and I give her a nod, not even having energy to smile "What's wrong?"
"It's still Thursday" I grumble
"She spent the night in the studio" Alexa chimes in, closing her locker and turning to look at us along with Julie
"Doing what?" Flynn smirked
"Luke had writers block so I was trying to help him out but then Reg and Alex started a conversation and we lost track of time" I shrug "When we realized it was already 5 am"
The girls smile.
"We're glad you're letting people in"
"Just because they like music" I defend
"And they're hot" Flynn added as we walked to the next class which thankfully we had together
"And funny" I hear Alexa whisper
🎶
When that class is finally over, the four of us hang around in the hallway, watching the other students.
"I'm going home" I mumble, knowing I couldn't hold my eyes open for much longer
"Be careful" Julie tells me
"Text us when you get home"
"I need to talk to you when you get home Jules" I nod at the three girls "I'll see you later"
I quickly go to my locker and pull my stuff out, I walk out of the school and make my way to Julie's house. Instead of going inside, afraid her dad would be over and send me back to school, I make my way to the studio, finding three ghosts passed out in there. Reggie sits, looking extremely uncomfortable, in an arm chair, Luke is sprawled on the floor next to the couch which makes me think he fell from it and didn't even feel it. Then there's Alex, who I can only see his hair dangling from the Attic. Shaking my head, I drop my bag and skate on the ground silently before trying to help Reggie and Luke get more comfortable and then I lay on the couch, immediately falling asleep.
🎶
"Why does my arm hurt so much?" I wake up with Luke talking, slowly I sit up in the couch rubbing my eyes
"Oww my back" Reggie groans as he stands up and stretches
"I tried to help y'all het comfortable but you're too heavy" I mumble
"Holy Cow!" Reggie jumps "I didn't know you were here"
"Yeah, you were all passed out when I got here"
"When was that?" Alex comes downstairs
"Around 10:30 am, I think" I shrug, pulling my phone out of my pocket "It's 2:30 already?!"
"I'm still tired" Luke whined, leaning his back on the couch, next to my legs
"I was supposed to meet with Willie" Alex's eyes widen
The three of us watch as he runs around the studio and gets ready before mumbling a quick 'See you later' and vanishing.
"I'm going back to sleep" Reggie yawns, pushing me off the couch and laying on it
"What the—"
"I can't go back to sleep now" Luke pouts as soon as we hear Reggie snore
"Same here" I glare at the sleeping bassist and get up, helping Luke up too
"We can go to the beach" He suggests, heading to the back of the studio to pick up his acoustic guitar
"That sounds good"
I agree, grabbing his journal from where it laid on the piano, I push it in my bag before swinging it over my shoulder. I lean down to grab my skateboard and wait by the door as Luke walks over while he pulls a flannel on. Walking on the driveway, I get on top of the skate.
"Hop on"
"We'll break it" Luke shakes his head, turning to look at me as he walks backwards down the street
"Don't be a party popper" I pout "I have another one, come on"
"Elly, we're gonna fall" He stops walking
"Do you trust me?" I cross my arms
"Yeah" He smiles, his dimples making me smile too "I trust you too much"
"I won't break your heart, I promise" I joke, skating around him and he chuckles softly "Just hop on, we'll be fine. We'll even get to the beach quicker"
I stop in front of him and extend my hand. Sighing, he puts his feet next to mine on the board and I wrap my arm around him to keep us steady as I push us through the streets.
"See? It's not that bad" I laugh, looking around in case some car comes out of nowhere
Not that it'd make much damage but still
"Y-yeah"
His stuttering makes me look up at him, his cheeks are flushed and he smiles almost shyly when he sees me looking at him. I look over his shoulder, feeling his arms wrap around my waist and our chests press together as I force us both to lean to do a turn, I can feel my cheeks heat up.
Not even 1 minuter later, we get to the beach and the board hits the sidewalk, sending us both to the ground. We fall next to each other and laugh loudly.
Luke pushes himself off the ground and pulls me up, grabbing the skate from the ground as I clean my jeans.
We walk on the sand and take a seat closer to the shore, I pull the journal out of the bag and Luke pulls the acoustic guitar from his back to his chest.
I had noticed Luke was hesitant whenever it came to someone touching his notebook so whenever I had it in my hand, I made sure to open it on a blank page without looking at the others and with that he had grown to trust me more, not only didn't he watch me while I had it anymore, he would easily come to me and show me the songs in it.
"Do you have any new songs?" He starts, giving me his puppy eyes
"I want to show one of my mom's but only if you show me one too"
"Deal" Luke nods but I notice the hesitation
"Really?" I smile
"Yeah, but it stays between us"
"Of course" I nod rapidly and pull the lose paper from the notebook "I wrote a new one but I won't show you until it's completely done"
"Hopefully it doesn't take too long"
"Hopefully you don't go sneaking behind my back to see it"
We both laugh and I show him the paper so he knows the chords, once he gets the hang of it he nods at me to sing. I play with my ring as I shyly manage to start singing.
♪ 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 (𝟐𝐱)
𝐓𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐞, 𝐨𝐡, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐬
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 (𝟐𝐱)
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 (𝟐𝐱)
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭, 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭 (𝟐𝐱)
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭
𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ♪
I smile, feeling myself relax a little as I watch the ocean.
♪ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐧𝐨 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐩
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬
𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭, 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭 (𝟐𝐱)
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐭
𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ♪
I motion for Luke to join in, letting him see the lyrics on the paper.
♪ 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐛𝐲𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲
𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 ♪
"Your mom wrote this?" He holds up the paper and I nod "I really like it"
"Your turn" I bump my shoulder in his
I watch the waves, hearing Luke flip through the notebook, eventually he stops but I wait for him to speak up.
"I'll show you this one but I don't think I can sing it right now" He sighs and I look at him "You can just read it if you want or I can show you another one"
"If you're good, of course I wanna read it but if not, no pressure" I give him a smile and he hands me the journal "Your mom's name was Emily?"
"Yeah" He whispers
"It's a beautiful name" I focus on what it's written in front of me, imagining the song in my head before closing the notebook, laying it down and looking at him "Luke, it's amazing, I'm sure she would love it"
"Thank you"
His eyes are set on the sea in front of us, his whole demeanor is completely different from a few moments ago and I sigh, leaning my head on his shoulder. I let him have a few minutes lost in his mind before standing up as I sing something I knew would make him laugh.
♪ 𝐒𝐞𝐞 '𝐞𝐦 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤
𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫 '𝐞𝐦 "𝐨𝐨𝐡 𝐚𝐚𝐡"
𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐮𝐩, 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐛𝐨𝐨 𝐲𝐚𝐡
𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭
𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡, 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 '𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐚𝐲 "𝐰𝐨𝐰" ♪
Slowly a smile grows on his face and I pull him up, jumping around and dancing like Alex.
♪ 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐬
𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰
𝐑𝐮𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟, 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐢𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰
𝐖𝐞'𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭
𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐡, 𝐰𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 '𝐞𝐦 𝐬𝐚𝐲 "𝐰𝐨𝐰" ♪
I laugh when he joins in, my ringtone interrupting us. I pull the phone from my pocket and tap the green button, followed by the speaker.
"Hey Jules"
"I come home expecting to see you and the boys passed out and instead only Reggie is here"
I laugh "Yeah, Alex went out and Reg was snoring so loud that Luke and I couldn't sleep so we're at the beach"
"I don't think I can take Reggie and Alexa alone and we need to rehearse, besides you said you wanted to talk to me"
I share a look with Luke "We're on our way"
"Thank you, see you soon"
We say goodbye and hung up, Luke pushes the guitar onto his back again while I put his journal in the bag and throw it over my shoulders. When I turn to see if Luke is ready, he holds up the skate and I laugh, following after him into the road. We hop onto the board and I push us forward.
🎶
Halfway home I have to sit down on the sidewalk, holding my belly.
"I told you!" Luke exclaims between laughs "I told you we'd break it"
"I to-told you not to ju-jump" I breath out, laughing even more as he holds up the two parts of the skate
For whatever reason, Luke decided to start bouncing on the board as I pushed us through the streets. I warned him to stop but it was already too late, now here we were in the middle of a empty street laughing our butts off.
"I'm sorry" He takes a seat next to me "I'll find a way to get you a new one"
"Oh shut up Luke" I nudge him "I'll just go get my other one"
"Where is it?"
"At my father's" I shrug "It's getting late so he won't be home and I can go grab some other stuff too"
"Do you want me to go with?"
"No, no" I shake my head "They need you at the studio so you go and I'll meet you there later"
We both stand up.
"You sure?"
"Yes, don't worry, go home"
I take a few steps away, grabbing the broken board and smiling at Luke, who nods and vanishes. Looking around, I quickly make my way to my father's house.
🎶
Before walking into the house, I pray silently that nobody is home.
Stepping through the front door, I slowly close it behind me and pet the three dogs, who come running, I kiss their heads, proceeding to almost run to my room.
There I grab a duffel bag and shove somethings inside. I let the broken skateboard in the ground and look for the other one, collecting some other stuff along the way.
My whole body stops when I hear someone speak.
"Welcome home" His voice is enough to make my whole body erupt in goosebumps "Decided to finally give in?"
"Never" I spat, refusing to look at him as I throw the duffel bag over my shoulder and pick up the two skate boards
"Your time is running out and as much as I love you, I can't give you more"
"Love?" I turn around, glaring at him "You don't know what that is. If you did, we wouldn't be here right now! I'd be free, Mom would still be alive!"
"Ellery" He warns, his ice blue eyes meeting mine
I clench my jaw, pushing past him. As I soon as I find myself out of his property, I fall to my knees, the pain in my chest surprising me.
I bit my tongue and force myself to stand up, teleporting closer to Julie's house.
I end up down the street of her house and I get on the good skateboard, making my way to her driveway where I find her standing outside with the boys and my sister.
"Elle!" Julie exclaims relieved "We were starting to worry that you ran into your father or something"
Alexa hugs me to her side and I pat her shoulder.
"I did run into him"
They all go from relieved to worried again.
"Can I talk to Jules alone for a sec?"
The boys nod and disappear into the studio.
"Are you—" Alexa stops herself and I nod "Do you want me to stay here or keep them occupied?"
"I kind of need you to tell them too" I grab her hand "You don't need to go full on, just the basics"
Alexa nods, squeezing my hand before going to the studio, leaving Julie and I alone in the porch. I take a seat on the stairs, feeling the girl do the same next to me.
"What's going on?"
"I wasn't completely honest with you and I'm really sorry about that but I haven't told anyone, not only because they'd think I was crazy but because I needed to tell you first since you are like a sister to Alexa and I. And I also couldn't ask Alexa to tell you because she doesn't know every single thing and she refuses to talk about some of things she knows"
"You're rambling Elle and I'm in a band with three ghosts, what can be crazier?"
I sigh, staring at her "I told you that my mother died a few years ago in a car crash"
"Yeah, that's why you don't drive anymore"
"Yeah" I shake my head, looking down at my hands "I was the one driving, my mom and Alexa were fighting because of my father and my brother, I got involved to cool things down but I lost control of the wheel and we hit another car. Thankfully people in the other car weren't too much hurt but there were no survivors in ours"
"Wait, you're—"
"My mother crossed over but Alexa and I didn't" I play with the silver ring in my right hand "We didn't know why or what was happening so we ended up stuck with my father, who died a few years before due to his work. He was quite important back then and still is today"
"Elle"
"Let me finish please Jules" I look up at her, tears sliding down our faces "I gave in to helping him out making shows for people who were alive and paid highly to watch us. My father's powerful, he can make anyone he wants see him or any other ghost, I guess Alexa and I got that from him"
"That's why everyone at school can see you"
I nod "Eventually I got tired of it and wanted out, that's not the life we wanted and then we met you. We finally got the courage to run out but he put a stamp on me, that's why I get those chest pains and I feel like absolute crap sometimes. It's his way of trying to get me back in but I won't"
"What about Alexa?"
"I'd never let anyone touch her"
"And your brother?" Her voice comes out barely above a whisper
"Bryan's the oldest" I smile as I look up at the sky "The overly protective brother and it was pretty obvious he had the brains in the family. He's kind of like Alex, you know?" I look at Julie "My father needed help for one of his shows and Bryan offered to do it, he ended up dying that night"
"I'm so sorry" Julie sighs "What's gonna happen to you?"
"Eventually I'll be gone"
"Like gone gone?"
"Yeah"
"Elle you can't do that" She cries out "Do what he wants if that's what it takes for you to stay here"
"I wouldn't be able to see you either way so no, I won't" I shake my head "He's the reason my family was unhappy most of our life, he doesn't care about us. I wanted to tell you, especially after we met the guys but I could never find the right time"
"I get it" She nods "This is the reason you don't let anyone touch you?"
"Ever since Bryan died, I kind of try to distance myself from everyone especially touching"
"But you do let the boys touch you" She looks at me "That sounded weird"
"Being honest, I feel completely comfortable around those three and it's hard saying no when they give you puppy eyes" I shrug, smiling "I feel comfortable around you and Flynn too but since I'm a ghost, you can't actually touch me"
She nods "Makes sense, I guess"
We both stare to the sky for a few minutes.
"I wish I could do something to help you but I hope you know that you're my best friend and Flynn's. You're family to us" Julie stands up and I follow "Let's get inside, it was weird rehearsing without you there"
🎶