Melody and Words - jatp/reggie

1.08

over the next few days, sydney spent most of her time avoiding reggie. she wasn't exactly mad at him, she just didn't want to talk to him at the moment. she had been spending a lot of time with alex to help her stay away from the studio, where reggie almost always was.

unfortunately, that plan only worked when alex wasn't with his new ghost friend willie, which is where he was right now. that meant sydney was alone in the studio with the two people she didn't really want to hang out with.

both reggie and luke could tell sydney wasn't in the best mood, though only one of them knew why. she sat silently on the piano bench across the room from where the boys were on the couch. reggie occasionally glanced to the girl, hoping each time that she would be looking back at him, but she never was.

sydney had her eyes focused on the piano keys, counting them back and forth to avoid looking up. it was a nervous habit, it used to help her calm down. right now it was just making her more anxious for some reason.

eventually the awkward silence filling the room was broken by the studio doors being pushed open. julie entered with a wide smile, and told the ghosts how flynn had booked them a new gig. luke and reggie moved across the studio to stand by the piano while julie water the plants.

"we're playing a school dance? sweet!" reggie said happily, reading over the flyer in his hands.

"it's not exactly the strip." luke mumbles, making sydney crack a small grin. luke's smile grew, noticing his sister finally perk up a bit.

"and you're not exactly alive, so maybe you should just be happy we have our first gig." reggie reminds him, and sydney's eyes flickered to him for a moment, her smile falling slightly. luke noticed her and looked between the two for a moment in confusion.

"i wasn't in love with the idea at first either." julie drew his attention away from them. "but it could be a great way for us to build a following, right?" she says, and reggie nods quickly.

"yeah! yeah, we need to play wherever we can, whenever we can." he agrees, and luke slowly nods as well.

"no, you're right," he says. "let's rock those kids faces off and then play the clubs." he adds excitedly, looking at his sister again. "right, syd?" he raises his eyebrows at her, still unsure as to why she was upset. she simply nodded, looking up at luke and forcing a small smile.

"and then, we'll record a single that gets a billions streams." julie suggests, making all three ghosts look at her with slight confusion.

"we don't know what that is, but hopefully it lands us a manager and a tour." luke nods, his eyes going back and forth from julie and sydney.

"and then we release a bunch of hit albums!" julie states. the excitement in her voice and the happy grin on luke's face made a smile form on sydney's lips. she didn't want to bring everyone down so she started to force away the bad feelings again so she could be excited about this show tonight.

"put out a country album that does surprisingly well!" reggie adds quickly, making julie and luke turn to him in confusion.

sydney let out a quiet sigh as she saw reggie's eyes on her from the corner of her eye. reggie was the only one of the guys who knew that sydney liked country music, and the two used to play the songs together when no one else was with them.

"i shred on the banjo." he explains quickly, noticing that sydney didn't react to what he said. he felt his heart squeeze slightly, he thought he'd at least get a reaction, not just be totally ignored.

"then i'll learn how to fiddle." julie assures him, her and luke noticing the way his face faltered slightly.

"and before you know it we're being inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame!" luke slams his hands on the piano excitedly, making sydney jump slightly. he kept his eyes on her for a moment, knowing that sydney was only jumpy when she was upset about something. she would get sucked into her own world and forget about the things going on around her until something snapped her back to reality, like a loud noise.