Hold On --- Luke Patterson

Part 11 - Operation apology

I walked into Julie's garage a few minutes later, only to see her and the three ghosts rehearsing a song. It was a lot of chaos, as they all ran around the room, throwing numerous ideas at each other.

I flung my bag on the couch and sat down beside it. "What's up?" When I got no response, I raised my voice and tried again. "Hello? What's up?"

Julie finally turned to me and clapped her hands together. "Great! You're here. Now, memorise this." She came over to me and handed me a piece of paper.

I took the sheet from her, reading the text that was messily written all over it. "Huh. This is good. Did you write this?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I wrote it for you and Flynn. Well, these three gave it a beat and everything," she gestured to the boys behind her, who were still too busy to notice my presence, "Luke stole it from my dream box."

My eyes widened a little at her words. "Did he now?" After hearing his name, the boy in question had raised his head.

A grin made its way onto his face and he raised his hand, waving. "Hey, Ryn!" His grin playfully hardened a little. "Get your butt off of my couch."

I scoffed. "No can do, hotshot. My butt's gotten pretty comfy right here." He formed a straight line with his lips as he shook his head.

I turned my attention back to Julie. "Why do you want me to learn this?" I asked, waving the sheet in the air.

She grabbed my wrist to stop its movement and sighed. "It's my way to apologise to Flynn for not telling her about the guys. Well, our way."

I hummed in agreement. I sat back on the couch and bit my thumb nail in concentration whilst memorising the lines.

"Oh, and just so you know, I told Flynn about the ghost... thing."

Julie's words had me shooting back up from my relaxed position. "What?"

The girl sighed before explaining. "I had to. The only way to stop her from being mad at us, was by telling her the truth. Besides, I was tired of lying to her."

I sighed as well. "Fair point. Operation apology is a go."

—

About twenty minutes later, someone knocked on the door of the studio.

Julie's head shot up from where it was positioned over her mic and she sprinted to the door. "That'll be Flynn."

The girl opened the door and chuckled, seeing an annoyed Flynn in front of her. "Thanks for coming. We just wanted to rehearse the song so it was perfect, which it's not, but whatever." She shrugged.

Flynn wasn't exactly having it. "No, if I'm gonna hear a song from your imaginary ghost band, and apparently Abby, of whom I didn't know she was singing again as well, thanks for that, by the way," she shifted her gaze over to me standing at my own microphone. I looked down uncomfortably as she glared at me. "I want it to be perfect. So, get back in there." She started pointing at random places in the garage. "All of you. You too!"

Julie chuckled, I spoke up. "They're not out here." She waved away my statement and moved closer to where I was standing.

"Oh, I know." She said, ignoring the embarrassment in style.

After closing the door, Julie addressed the boys. "All right, guys. You ready?" She looked over to Flynn and smiled apologetically.

"Actually, can you move over there?" She nodded towards the other side of the room. "Reggie needs some space to rock out, and he feels kinda weird walking through you." She explained, gaining a grin from me, but a weirded out look from Flynn.