Wake Up| JATP

Chapter 20

After last night, Nicole spent the early hours of the morning strolling through the streets, watching lifers, well, live their life. She knew that there would be a lot of tension today so she wanted to make the most of the peace, the buzzing city lights, the crowds of people walking by, smiles on their faces. Hollywood hadn't changed much from when she was alive, maybe a few new stores and houses but nothing drastic. She liked it that way, it made her feel as if she had never really left.

When Nicole came back to the studio, no teenage boys were to be seen. She wasn't worried about Julie because she knew that she had stayed the night at Flynn's after last nights fiasco. Nicole walked around the studio, grazing her fingers across the top of the piano. She stopped when she saw Luke's song book. Luke was very private and preserved when it came to talking about feelings and anything to do with that song book. She had only gone through it once or twice throughout her lifetime, both times Luke was peering over her shoulder, his eyes staring at her as she turned every page, she didn't mind though, she respected his privacy because she understood how important it is. She was so tempted to open it and look at every lyric that had been written down in his scruffy handwriting. Over the years she had learned to just guess the letters when Luke wrote, now she was officially the only person who could read it. When they were in school Nicole would have to rewrite all his homework and essays so that the teachers could read them.

Poofing out of the studio before she could actually open the book, Nicole appeared at a small cafe, she spotted Alex's blonde hair in the crowd and poofed herself next to him. "Jesus Nicole could you stop doing that! No wonder Julie hates it so much." Nicole let a small giggle escape her lips as she took a look at Alex who had his hand on his chest. "You make it too much fun with your dramatic reactions though, I couldn't help myself." She smiled at the boy as he sent her a glare. When she looked up at Luke he was already staring at her which caught her off guard. He stood up and went over to the counter and Nicole diverted her eyes to the women that had just come and sat at their table. She was looking at her phone and Nicole stared at the unfamiliar device in confusion. No matter how many times Julie showed Nicole how to use hers, she couldn't wrap her head around the device, the only phone they had back in the 90's was a Nokia the size of their hands or the home telephone with a cable. Nicole usually spent numerous ours laying on her hallway floor because the phone would only reach so far and if her father used the computer upstairs the signal would cut out and whoever she was on the phone to was put on hold. She kinda missed them times.

"Oh yeah, great angle." Reggie teased the women as she began taking pictures of her food. "Now that's a good pic." Nicole joined in looking over the women's shoulder at her phone. Alex looked between the two as they stared at the women's phone. "Is this what we're here for? To watch people take pictures of food?" Reggie stared at him, his eyes sparkling in excitement. "It's fun. Watch this, people never stop looking at their phones." He began to tease the women, moving her plate of food around as she tried to take a picture. Nicole sniggered as the women aimlessly tried to grab the plate. Alex hit her lightly on the shoulder and gave her the dissaproving 'mum look' Nicole rolled her eyes and huffed, sinking in her seat and crossing her arms over her chest.The women looked around before picking up her plate and fleeing from the table. Reggie let out a small giggle which made Nicole smile. "Luke said something about this place being a hotspot for music industry people." Nicole shrugged her shoulders and put her feet on the table. Luke sat back down at the table. "Boys, bei-" Nicole coughed. "Boys and Nicole, being a ghost definitely has its privileges, I just wrote our names on the playlist for tonight." He looked like an excited puppy and it made Nicole's heart melt. Alex looked at Reggie and Nicole whispering, " I'm getting a little worried about him, he keeps forgetting Julie quit the band." His voice rose towards the end, directing his speech at Luke. Nicole tried hiding her smile but Luke already saw it. "What? It's true, Julies pissed at you guys." Luke rolled his eyes before looking at the boys of the band. "She's gonna come back as soon as she knows we have a great gig." Nicole huffed. "But if she doesn't come back, let's not forget, we do have somewhere else where we can play and eat pizza." Reggie stated matter of factly. Nicole furrowed her eyebrows. "What? You guys can eat?" Luke smacked Reggie on the head. "Dude!" Nicole looked between the two. "Uhhh, when we were late for the dance, it's because we was at the Hollywood Ghost Club, we got an offer to play there for eternity by this really cool ghost!" Nicole patted his shoulder and stood up. "Hey where are you going?" Luke looked up at her, touching her hand. "Well, I don't need to be here, I'm annoyed at your stupidity right now and Julie isn't mad at me so I'm going to go and write songs in the studio and wait for her to get home." Before Luke could respond she was already gone.

The familiar surroundings of the studio appeared and Nicole sighed. She didn't actually leave to write songs, as bad as it sounded she wanted to stay away from the boys for a few hours, especially Luke. If her feelings for him were coming back, she had to get rid of them ASAP. He was her best friend and he would never see her the way she sees him, it would only break her heart in the end. She couldn't let that happen again. She had always been considered one of the 'boys' and if he ever found out about her feelings, it would never end well.