I've Had The Time Of My Life

Chapter 7

"Willie?"

The screen went blank and a notice popped up saying "Call Ended".

"Hey Alex?!" Luke called.

"I'm coming I'm coming! Sheesh calm down. Julie and I just wanted to grab something to drink." Alex sat down on the couch and Julie jumped onto the spot next to Luke. "Why are you holding my phone like it sprouted wings?" He quickly looked at Julie and lowered his voice, "They don't do that, right?" Julie let out a giggle and shook her head.

"Uh well it was ringing, and I looked to see who was calling you, because pretty much everyone you know is here, other than Reg. But it said Carlos –"

Julie whipped her head back to Luke and jumped off of the couch. "What?! Carlos called?! Is he okay? Is he hurt? Did you tell him to come home? Did he look safe? Why did he call you – I mean Alex and not me? Was Caleb there? Did he say where he was? Did he –"

"Woah woah Jules. Take a deep breath." Luke pulled her back down to the couch and was rubbing her back in small circles trying to get her to calm down. He obviously couldn't tell her to calm down – he had learned the hard way to never say that to an upset girl, and that was back in the 90s. After she had a few deep breaths, Luke continued speaking. "But um, it wasn't Carlos on the phone." Alex and Julie gave him a panicked look. And for once, Luke's eyes weren't focused on Julie, but Alex. "It was Willie."

Silence hung in the air. Julie needed approximately a million more details, but she also knew that this was a big deal for Alex.

"Are you sure?" Alex asked, barely audible.

Luke nodded his head. Julie couldn't wait any longer. "So what did Willie say? And why does he have Carlos' phone, and you know, all my questions from before?" Julie quickly said.

Luke gave a disappointed look, his attention still on Alex. "He only came on for a split moment before the call dropped."

Julie looked back and forth between the two. "Well did you try calling him back?!" That snapped Luke's attention back. Julie shook her head and grabbed the phone.

"I would have thought of that eventually," Luke mumbled under his breath.

Julie tried calling several times but it would immediately hang up, saying that he was unavailable. Julie wanted to scream in anguish. Had she seriously come this close to getting her brother back, only for it to fail because of technology! "So his phone is either dead, has no reception, or... or someone else keeps declining the call." All three went silent as they contemplated what each of those options could mean.

At that moment, Reggie cheerfully walked through the front door.

"Oh hey guys! Sam and I had the best day! There were these really cute puppies and all they wanted to do was lick my face. And then Sam said she was hungry, so I took her out for lunch. She was so cute, at one point she got ketchup on her cheek, and I wiped it off all smooth like, and then she blushed. And then I was like 'oh I bet your boyfriend wouldn't like that we're hanging out just like the two of us' – I know such a cool way to figure out if she's single – and she told me she didn't have a boyfriend. So like we're getting somewhere guys." He stretched out in a chair and crossed his legs on the coffee table. "Guys, why are you looking like someone took the last slice of pizza. WAIT! DID YOU ORDER PIZZA AND NOT SAVE ANY FOR ME? I WASN'T GONE THAT LONG! YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE PIZZA, HOW COULD YOU!?"

Alex swore his eyes were going to get stuck one day based on how frequently he rolled them at Reggie.

Luke looked over to Reggie, knowing he was going to kill the good mood he was in. "No bud. Willie called using Carlos' phone, but the call hung up before I could get any details."