"So we have to come up with an excuse," Alex said, pacing back and forth in the garage as he usually did when nervous.
"A good excuse," Reggie added.
"Yeah, but are there good excuses for something like this?" Luke asked, throwing himself onto the couch.
Julie was sitting at the piano, her face rested in her palms. "Why am I such an idiot?"
Alex stopped pacing and awkwardly looked over at Luke and Reggie then over at Julie. "You're not an idiot," he said in attempt to comfort her.
Julie looked up. "Sure feels like it to me," she moped.
"Okay, so what we're not gonna do is mope around all day instead of trying to figure this out," Flynn speed walked into the garage.
"Flynn, what are you doing here?" Julie stood up.
"Do you want my help or not?" Flynn asked. She seemed offended that Julie would even ask such a question.
"You got any good excuses for us?" Julie asked.
"No, but I have ideas on how this might work."
Luke flipped over and sat up straight. "Did she say it might work?"
"How in the world are they supposed to appear and talk without playing music?" Julie asked.
"They're not," Flynn said simply. "Just hear me out," she added when she saw Julie's skeptical reaction. "There's a couple ways this could work. You could be the front man and we could record videos of them and give some kind of excuse as to why they couldn't be interviewed."
"That makes no-"
"OR!" Flynn said louder, cutting Julie off. "We could experiment right here, right now with how they show up."
"Okay and when both of those don't work, you have to be the one to let them know we can't do the interview," Julie shrugged, moving out from behind the piano and into the middle of the room.
"So, I'll be your human eyes... or whatever, since you can obviously see them with or without the music and I can't," Flynn grinned, sitting down on the couch, promptly making Luke move faster than anyone had seen him move before.
"She almost sat on me, bro," Luke laughed, walking over to where Reggie and Alex were now standing behind Julie.
"Well, we know that no one can hear us when we play music alone because of the beach," Alex pointed out.
"That's right," Julie said. "It's something about me that makes it so people can see them, because when they sing alone or play instruments, they're still invisible."
"That's lame," Flynn said. Her eyes widened all of a sudden and she excitedly said, "what if you sang everything?"
"That's even more lame, Flynn!" Julie argued.
"Okay, okay. Well, you did it once with me. You just made the break longer in the song and we could talk, remember?"
"Flying Solo!" Reggie exclaimed.
Julie's mouth opened slightly when she remembered. "Oh my gosh, right! We could totally do that. Make like the instrumental break super long for the interview or something?"
"I could contact them and see if they'd let you sing at the end of the interview that way it wouldn't feel too weird to have you guys jamming out the whole time," Flynn suggested.
"Yo, we could really do this," Julie started getting excited. "Can we try?" She turned to Reggie, Alex and Luke who all nodded and grabbed their instruments. "Will you ask us questions, Flynn?"
They started rehearsing, choosing a song they were all comfortable playing for a long time, knowing the interview would last about 10 or 15 minutes.
When the interview finally happened later that night, Flynn was there to manage the whole situation and make sure everything went smoothly.
They started off singing, showing off what they do best and made it seem as though this is what they always did when they were together, which was essentially true. Then that's when the questions kicked in.
"So how did you all meet?"
"Well, they were a band first," Julie answered, pointing behind her to Luke, Reggie and Alex. "And my mom knew them before they- she... passed away and they reached out to me, and it just sort of happened," she said, hoping it sounded somewhat believable.
"Oh was your mom in the music industry?"
"She went on tours a lot and was in a few bands," Julie nodded.
"What about you boys, where did you meet?"
"Oh, we went to school together," Alex said, trying to drum softer.
"And you and... Alex?" The interviewer hesitated. "How long have you been dating?"
Julie blanked. She forgot they changed their names for the interview, mixing them around so it wouldn't draw attention from Bobby again. So when the interviewer said Alex, she meant Luke. Reggie was now Lucas and Alex was now Regan.
"Dating?" She scoffed, turning to Luke, who was beat red.
Luke laughed nervously. "We're friends," he said.
The interviewer laughed. "Ah, I get it... friends," she said, finger quoting the word and winking into the camera.
Flynn stood behind the computer with her hand over her mouth trying to stop herself from laughing too loud.
Alex found it amusing as well, wagging his eyebrows at Luke, who tried to subtly flip him off.
Reggie, on the other hand, found it especially hysterical to the point that he stopped playing the bass for about a second or two and disappeared.
"Oh, I think you glitched there for a second," the interviewer said. "I guess that's the internet telling us it's time to wrap this up," she said. "Thank you, Julie and The Phantoms. Why don't you guys play us out?"
Julie, Luke, Reggie and Alex finished off the song they had been incessantly playing for the last 10 minutes and finally shut off the computer.
Flynn applauded just as the band disappeared from her sight. "That was great," she praised Julie. "I wish I could see them all the time like you can," she sighed.
Julie laughed and nudged Luke who was the closest to her. "They're alright."
"So how long have you two been dating?" Alex asked over Julie's shoulder.
"Alright, that's enough," Luke laughed, grabbing Alex and Reggie by the shirts and popping off to god-knows-where.
Julie shook her head and laughed. "They're gone," she said to Flynn.
"That lady was ruthless," Flynn said, plopping down onto the chair.
"Right? Can't I get a break from this whole Luke and me drama?" Julie rolled her eyes.
"I don't know, Julie. Can you?" Flynn raised her eyebrows.
"Shut up."
"She really said ya'll glitched," Flynn laughed.
"Maybe if she didn't ask dumb questions no one woulda had to glitch like that," Julie shrugged, making her way toward the doors.
"You guys did great!"
"Never doing it again, though," Julie mumbled.
"If you win that competition, you sure as hell will be doing it again....and again...and again."
Julie's eyes widened and she groaned. "I hope we don't win."
"What?!" Flynn squealed. "I hope you do! PATD are you kidding me?" Her eyes glazed over and she started day dreaming about what it would be like. "You could be best friends with Brendon Urie!"
Julie rolled her eyes. "I'm not really thinking about other guys right now. I have too much on my mind," she said.
"Oh, right. My bad. I forgot you had two boyfriends to worry about. The most popular guy in school and a hot ghost boy. What a dilemma!"
"I'm being serious, Flynn," Julie turned around and looked at her friend. "I don't know what to do."
"Well, one of your boyfriends tried to poison your other one, so I don't know what to tell you."
"Oh my gosh, you're right," Julie said. "I totally forgot about that."
"I'm sure Luke didn't," Flynn raised her eyebrows, pushed past her friend and walked into the house yelling for some food.
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