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♪ 𝟹𝚛𝚍 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝙿𝙾𝚅 ♪
Leila wiped the tears off her face as she sat on her bed, she gave herself five more minutes to get herself together before she stood and teleported to the studio where the boys were standing around talking about music and the show they were playing tonight. Alex and Reggie's plan must've worked.
She stepped forward, Alex finding her first, "Leila, you're back." He smiled happily at her.
She nodded, silently going to the space between Reggie and Alex, Reggie gave her a small smile and wrapped an arm over her shoulder. "You okay?" He asked quietly.
"I'm better." She responded.
"Where were you?" Luke asked curiously, Leila looked down not knowing what to say, before she could figure anything out Luke spoke again, "Never mind that we've got a gig tonight! It's gonna be awesome!"
"That's great Luke." Leila smiled at him. "Can we uh talk for a second?" Luke frowned but nodded, and they went outside.
"What's going on?" Luke asked as they stepped out into the cold air. "Are you okay?"
Leila nodded, smiling softly. "Yeah just wanted to say happy birthday." She responded.
"You remembered," Luke said in surprise.
Leila nodded. "We all did."
Luke glanced back at the studio doors, silently wondering why none of them had said anything sooner. "They won't say anything, I don't think they know what to say." Leila told him, "I don't either. But I know on my birthdays all I ever wanted was for one of you to be there."
Luke looked down at the floor, upset by the reminder that they had left her alone for years. He hadn't even thought about all the birthdays she had gone through alone, not just her own but theirs too.
"I hate that you were alone." Luke told her. "We didn't even know how much time passed but you did."
"No, I didn't." Leila told him, "Time passed differently at the- where I was. And I was always doing something. It went by fast."
Luke nodded in acknowledgment. "But you were alone." He whispered looking down at the concrete.
Leila shrugged. She hadn't been alone. She had the other ghosts at the club and Willie and Jasper... she hadn't been alone, not really.
"Jasper died too." Leila told him quietly, his head snapping to her. "A year after I did. He died and we met a few years after I came back." She explained further, "I wasn't alone."
