Hold On --- Luke Patterson

Part 3 - Don't cancel Christmas

Shoutout to @onallykabangu for the friendly comments x

Carlos turned to go back inside. All of a sudden, the three ghosts from yesterday appeared right outside of the studio. "Oh, dude, why'd you stop me? Julie needs a hug." My cousin scolded Luke. They were listening in on Julie? I was fuming.

Luke turned around to face him. "Bro, a ghost hug isn't the feel-good moment that you think it is. All right?" He straightened the collar of his sleeveless hoodie. "Trust me. What Julie needs right now is just a bit of privacy." That's when he caught my glaring eyes.

He widened his eyes at my angry expression, but the two others hadn't noticed my presence yet.

Alex leaned closer to him. "You know what, I think you poofed us out because you can't handle when other people cry." He accused, eagerly nodding his head. "I should know. I cried in a room for 25 years, and I didn't get a single hug from either of you." His voice cracked as he accusingly pointed a finger from Reggie to Luke.

"All right. Bring it in." Reggie held open his arms for his bandmate, but Alex wouldn't have it. "Don't touch me!" He yelled, holding out a hand to stop Reggie. "This is why no one hugs you." The leather-clad boy grumbled.

I decided to make myself known. "How 'bout a hug from good ol' Abby?" I joked. The two boys who hadn't noticed me yet, turned around to look at me in surprise.

My playful expression quickly morphed into a serious one as I thought of why I had come to them. "What the hell were you thinking, going to spy on Julie like that?"

Luke quickly regained his composure and came up to me, his face dangerously close to mine. "Hi, Blondie, how's it going?" I scowled and went to push his face backwards, only for my hand to go straight through his face. As he stepped backwards, my arm remained in the air for a few more seconds as I stared at in shock. I dropped it back down and cleared my throat. "Right. Ghosts." I mumbled.

I straightened my back. "All right, first, drop the nickname. Second," I looked to Alex. "I take it Julie told you who I am?" He stuttered in reply. "Uhm- Uh- Yeah, yeah, she did. I just don't get how-" He gestured to me.

"How I'm your cousin?" I asked. He nodded. "Well, you know Emma Mercer, I presume."

"Emma? She was my aunt, even though she was about my age. My grandmother had her about a decade after she had my dad." He explained to his bandmates and I.

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. That's my mom." I paused for a second as he gasped. "You know, she told me everything about you. From how you complained to each other about your family to how you discussed what names you were gonna give your children."

His eyes softened at the memory and he took a step closer to me with a soft smile on his face. "Yeah, we used to do that. She had mentioned that she liked the name Abigail for a girl, but I always said I liked-"

"Kathryn. Yeah, she told me that, too. And trust me, she liked it as well." His eyebrows bunched together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

I took a deep breath. "Well, my full name is Abigail Kathryn Clarke." He gasped again, tears forming in his eyes this time.

"Kathryn. That's a nice name." Reggie butted in the coversation for the first time, tentatively putting a comforting hand on my cousin's shoulder. He didn't stop him.

"Yeah." I breathed, feeling my own emotions well up as well.

Luke cleared his throat as he came to stand next to me. "Hey, you okay?" He asked me quietly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks." I smiled up at him, my breath catching in my throat at his proximity. He seemed to notice, he grinned at me and winked. He looked at his bandmates once again, sighing as he tried to get them back on topic.