after school, styx dropped flynn at her house before her and julie went back to julie's house.
"you think they'll be out there?" styx asks, glancing at the studio through julies bedroom window.
"i'd be surprised if they weren't." julie shrugs. "since they haven't seen us since last night."
"um, yeah, about that." styx starts awkwardly, causing julie to quickly spin to look at her.
"what happened?" she asks hesitantly.
"so i went to get coffee after i dropped you at school this morning and i kind of ran into the guys." she explains. "or rather, my fist ran into reggie's face."
julies eyes widened and she let out a choked laugh.
"you punched him?!" she asks, grinning. styx nodded, making both girls laugh slightly. "well if they are out there, at least they'll keep their distance."
"and if they don't, i'll just deck one of them again." styx holds up her fists jokingly.
"what even made you punch him?" julie asks, raising an eyebrow at her.
"they were just trying to make excuses for last night." she sighs, tossing her bag in the corner of julie's room.
she didn't really want to tell julie that they missed last night because they were out partying at a club. she was upset enough about this whole thing without needed to know the reason.
"and i don't suppose reggie brought up those twins again?" julie asks with a smirk and styx's eyes widen.
"what do you mean?" she attempts to act casual and julie rolls her eyes.
"do you think i'm blind?" she asks sarcastically. "i saw your face when he said that last night. you were jealous." she says with a small laugh and styx shakes her head quickly.
"no, i don't get jealous." she states, somewhat confidently.
it was true, she didn't get jealous often. even when she caught dylan kissing that girl, she wasn't jealous, she was just angry. but she couldn't deny that part of her anger towards the boys right now, was actually misdirected jealousy.
"maybe not about people, but you do about ghosts." julie teases.
"okay, but what about you and luke?" styx says, hoping that will lead the conversation away from her feelings for reggie.
"what about me and luke?" julie asks, somewhat genuinely.
"really?" styx stares at her with a small smirk. "do i really need to say it?" she asks and julie sighs slightly.
"no." julie says with a small eye roll. "let's just go out there and get this over with, yeah?" she suggest and styx nods.
the girls slowly made their way to the studio, neither of them in any rush to see the boys again.
when they reached the studio, they were met by the boys, singing an up-beat and surprisingly well rehearsed apology song.
reggie's face looked completely normal, which disappointed styx. she'd hoped he'd at least get a black eye or something, but apparently ghost don't bruise.
"in case you missed it, we're really sorry." reggie speaks quickly and both girls nod slightly.
"yeah, we got that part." julie informs him.
"we've been here, for like three hours." alex says with a grin, high-fiving reggie. styx continued to glare at the boys as the continued.
"we almost sang to your little brother." luke tells them.
styx found it slightly odd that despite the fact that anger and annoyance were clear on both hers and julie's faces, the boys still seemed rather excited and happy.
"he comes in here a lot." reggie nods. "mainly to use the bathroom."
"it's not our favourite part of the day." alex adds.
"but guys, it wasn't okay that we flaked on the dance last night." luke takes a small step forward. "okay, we know we let you down."
"yeah, and none of us wanted to disappoint you," alex nods, looking at styx. "you two are the best thing that's happen to us, since we became ghosts."
styx sighs slightly and looks away from him, making a small pit form in his stomach. if that were true, they wouldn't have bailed last night. they would have been there. they should have been there.
"so, in hopes that you guys would rejoin the band, we booked a new gig." luke says excitedly, handing the girls a flyer.
"a mega-important life-changing gig." reggie adds, making styx roll her eyes. his face fall slightly upon noticing, but he wasn't surprised.
"okay, check it out, tons of managers go here to listen to new bands." luke explains, pointing to the paper in julie's hands. "all we gotta do is blow them all away, and we're living the dream."
"so this means a lot to you, huh?" styx looks at each of the boys.
"kind of how playing in front of our whole entire school meant a lot to us?" julie states.
"that's sounds like sarcasm?" reggie says before gasping. "i'm starting to think our plan isn't working." he whisper to alex, making styx ball up her fists.
if he were standing closer, she might have just punched him again. he noticed the angry look in her eyes, and took a small step backwards, along with alex who was carefully watching her as well.
"look, we know we messed up." alex sighs, still looking at styx.
"but we need you, in the band." luke says softly, all his focus on julie.
"of course you do." she says sharply. "because without us, no one can see you guys playing." she glances at the other two boys briefly. "you know, i thought that the music that we were writing was special." she looks back to luke. "but you're too obsessed with your past to even care."
"i do care!" luke defends loudly. "our band has a real chance at greatness. i'm not gonna let that get away from us, again."
"uh-huh, right. so then, why'd you bail on us to get back at trevor?" styx asks rhetorically.
"i'll tell you why." julie says after none of the boys respond. "because there's only one thing that you care about, and that's yourself."
before the boys have a chance to respond, julie quickly spins around and storms back to the house.
"styx, please." luke looks to her with desperate eyes.
"we're really sorry." alex adds.
styx's looks to each of the boys for a moment, all of them staring back at her with pleading looks. when her eyes land on reggie, she almost wanted to forgive them. the pain in his eyes was clear as day and she hated it. she just wanted him to be happy, but she wasn't ready to let go of the anger.
"sorry doesn't change how selfish you were last night." she reminds them, before turning and walking back to the house herself. she found julie on the couch in the den doing homework.
"hey." styx speaks, taking a seat next to her.
before julie had a chance to respond, reggie and alex poofed in front of them. neither girl looked at them, julie still focused on her work, while styx was just to angry to acknowledge them.
"hey you, uh, you guys got a second?" alex asks awkwardly and still neither girl looks up.
"oh my gosh! they can't see us anymore!" reggie gasps and alex rolls his eyes at the dark haired boy. "oh, right, yep."
"julie, styx, please." alex says softly, taking a seat on the arm of the couch beside where styx was sitting.
"we already told you that we're done with the band." styx tells him and he nods sadly.
"yeah, we know, all right?" alex looks back to reggie for a moment before turning back to the girls. "but before you decide that forever, we just, we wanted you to know that luke isn't as selfish as you think he is." alex says softly, making both girls scoff.
"yeah, you've got him all wrong." reggie agrees, making styx turn to look at him.
she was absolutely disgusted with herself by that fact that her heart still skipped a beat when she looked in his eyes, but she couldn't help it. she pulled her eyes away from him to look at julie, who had resumed doing her homework.
"you remember that song 'Emily'?" alex asks, and julie and styx both glance up, their curiosity perking up slightly. "can we at least show you who that's actually about?" he offers.
julie and styx look at each other for a moment before nodding hesitantly.
the boys walked them to a small house a few blocks away, where the four of them snuck around back. they hid behind some potted trees, peering around them to see inside the house.
"so, emily is his mom?" julie asks quietly and the boys nod.
"yeah," alex replies, sadly watching his friend through the glass. "yeah, luke comes here a lot."
luke was sitting on the counter watching his parents as the moved about the kitchen, completely unaware that their dead son was sat only a few feet away from them, sobbing.
"he thinks we don't know, but we've been following him." reggie adds. "all he does is just hang out like this and watch them." styx turns to look at him, her heart breaking at the sad look on his face as he too watched his best friend in pain. "they never really do anything, though."
from behind the tree, styx noticed emily carrying a round chocolate cake to the table.
"they're having cake, that's something?" she suggests sadly.
"it's, it's a birthday cake." reggie says, looking at the red head. "for luke."
"i never knew luke was hurting this much." julie's voice is quiet as she spoke.
"yeah, it's even worse because when he died, he left on bad terms." alex sighs slightly. "you know, his parents didn't want their 17 year old in a rock band, so he just left. he never got the chance to make up with them."
styx feels her eyes fill with tears, watching luke move from the counter to where his parents were sitting at the table. his father lit the single candle on the cake, and styx was sure she would never see anything as sad as the moment luke leaned over the table to blow out his first birthday candle in 25 years.
his parents looked around in confusion, neither of them understanding how the candle blew out. they sighed slightly before relighting the candle as luke slid into the chair beside them.
"that's why luke was so angry," reggie explains. "if trevor had given luke credit for writing all those songs, then at least his parents would have known his dream was worth chasing."
"they would have been, so proud." julie says softly.
styx wipes under her eyes to stop her tears from falling as luke leaned in to blow out the candle with his parents.
"we know how bad it hurts, whenever someone that should have had your back, completely lets you down." alex says, standing up. "we never meant to make you feel that way." he looks back and forth between the two girls.
"julie, styx, we love our band." reggie's eyes were only focused on styx. "and luke does too."
julie glanced back to the boy in the house, while styx continued to look at the dark haired boy beside her.
"please give us another chance?" he asks, a hopeful look in his eyes.
styx looked to julie, who was still staring into the house. her eyes moved to alex, who had the same hopeful look as reggie. neither girl said anything, but they both nodded slightly.
the walk back to julies house was silent. no one knew what to say. as they walked, reggie and styx's hands continued to bump into each other.
half way through the walk, reggie stopped swinging his arm, and hooked his pinky finger around styx's. she grinned slightly, though she tried to hide it by looking at her feet.
he watched her with a happy smile, finally feeling at ease for the first time since the dance.
~*~
the four of them hadn't been practicing for long when luke joined them back in the studio, poofing into the middle of the room and collapsing on the chair behind him.
he shot up quickly upon noticing the two girls.
"woah, julie, styx." he looked to the girls, who were smiling back at him.
"grab your guitar." julie instructs and his grin widens.
"we got work to do." styx adds, and luke grins at her happily.
luke let out a small laugh as he bounced across the room to grab his guitar.
"what made you guys come back?" he was asking both girls, though his eyes were stuck firmly on julie.
"we realized how important music is to all of us." she tells him. "and we've lost so much already, we can't lose this too." she adds softly.
"thanks." he nods slightly.
"and since we now know i can hurt you guys," styx starts. "if you ever do something like that again, i'll just rotate who i punch." she smiles widely, looking at all the boys. they look at each other nervously, until luke clears his throat awkwardly and focuses his attention back on julie.
"all right boss, where we at?" he asks jokingly.
"oh and by the way, happy birthday." julie says with a grin, causing luke to look at his band mates in confusion. "let's take it from the pre-chorus." she looks around the room and everyone nods as alex taps his drum sticks to count them in.
~*~