Phantoms Movie Nights (one shots)

MAMMA MIA

Julie was about to text Flynn to ask if she'd done their calculus homework, when she realised that she must have left her phone in the studio when she came back in the house for dinner. Pulling on a cardigan and slipping her feet into her slippers, she crept downstairs. Everything was quiet apart from the TV show her dad was watching, and she managed to carefully make it out to the garage without making a sound — she'd be going straight back to her room to do her homework anyway, he didn't need to know she was sneaking out there.

Unsurprisingly, the lights were on. Although it was dark outside, it still wasn't too late and the boys tended to keep the lights on as long as they could (and sometimes longer). What was surprising though, was that, as Julie got closer, she could hear the faint sound of Dancing Queen. She hadn't pegged the boys as ABBA fans. She slowly edged the door open and peeked round it. A smile instantly spread across her face as she watched the scene unfurl in front of her.

Alex was there in the middle of the studio, his back to her, dancing along to the music and keeping pretty good time as well. Though he was a drummer so it wasn't surprising he had good rhythm. He was so lost in the music that it wasn't until Julie was fully in the room and loudly clearing her throat that he even registered that she was there.

"Julie!" he yelped, tripping over his feet and coming to an abrupt stop. He hurried over to the stereo and paused the music. "Sorry I was just—"

"It's cool," she said, grabbing her phone from the coffee table, "I just came to get this."

"I um...I..." Alex pushed his hands deep into his pockets, his face flushing.

"Alex, it's fine," Julie assured him, "you guys can do whatever you want in here," she suddenly had a violent flashback to the time Luke and Reggie tried to stack all the furniture on top of each other to see if they could jump from the top of it to the loft and added, "within reason."

"I-I just...I was..." Alex began and Julie didn't think she'd seen him this flustered since they'd first become ghosts. "Luke and Reggie went to go find some club somewhere and I wasn't feeling it tonight so I stayed here and I was just going through your CD collection — I hope that's okay?"

Julie nodded. "Sure."

"Anyway, I um...I found this old ABBA CD and well, I always thought they were pretty cool so I thought I'd just listen for a while and then...it just sort of happened..."

Julie chuckled, "Well if you're gonna dance to anyone, ABBA's a pretty good choice."

"Yeah," Alex breathed out, "I know I shouldn't— I'm not supposed to—" he huffed and sat down on the edge of the coffee table, "I just can't help it sometimes."

Julie frowned for a moment, not quite sure what he was getting at, but then she realised, "Alex, you shouldn't be ashamed of dancing." She sat down beside him. "I don't know what things used to be like for you, but now people use all sorts of ways to express themselves." She thought back to that night at the cafe, while they were watching Dirty Candy perform and how happy and free Alex had looked up there. She smiled. "You clearly enjoy dancing, so just go for it, have fun, okay? Don't let anyone tell you you can't."

A smile pulled at Alex's mouth. "Thanks, Julie."

She patted his arm and then got up. "I gotta get back to my homework, but if you ever need a dance partner then let me know."

Alex laughed. "Okay."

She laughed with him as she exited the garage, a plan already forming in her mind.

Friday night had sort of become their movie night. School was over and Julie had all weekend to do her homework, plus Carlos usually had baseball practice or a game, which meant that he and their dad were out for most of the evening.