Wake Up| JATP

Chapter 24

Nicole and Luke hadn't spoken about what Luke said the other night and it was driving Nicole insane but she managed. The four ghosts where in the main house, sat on the sofa. Carlos had wandered in with his IPad 'ghost hunting' which of course the four found rather ironic. "Do you think that app actually works?" Luke shook his head although his face was pulled in conflict. "I hope not otherwise we'll be exposed and Julie might kick us out... or worse they'll hire a priest to come and execute us." Nicole's laugh echoed through the room. "Reg, I think we'll be okay. I'll make sure no priest comes to harm you." He sent her a grateful smile and continued to watch Carlos. "Ah ha! Got ya!" The light flicked on and everyone in the room jumped in their spot. "How may times Carlos? Ghosts aren't real." Aunt Victoria stood in the doorway, hands on her hips. Nicole watched as Reggie squirmed in his seat and gave Luke a questioning glance only for him to shrug his shoulders. "Typical adult. Remember when we were kids and they never believed anything we'd say?" Nicole nodded and placed a hand on his shoulder. "That's just adults though Reggie, they believe they're always right." Luke nudged her knee trying to stop her from encouraging whatever stupid plan Reggie was about to unfold. "I dunno, I think that's just a you thing I was pretty trustworthy." Nicole shot daggers at Alex and he wiggled under her gaze, holding his hands up in surrender. "Shouldn't we be more worried about Julie? Her dad might make her quit the band." Nicole sent Luke a sad smile and rested a hand on his thigh. She knew that the band meant a lot to him and the fact that he was able to play music again was the only thing keeping him happy. "Well there's not much we can do about that now. But, we can still help Carlos." Nicole was going to try and stop Reggie from whatever he was doing but decided it wasn't worth her efforts because she knew he wouldn't listen. Luke had scooted closer to her, his palm laid out flat on his lap ready for her to hold if she wanted to. She stared at it for no more than second before connecting her fingers with his.

Alex, Luke and Nicole watched as Reggie began to mess with Aunt Victoria and Carlos. They were not impressed with his behaviour but decided to wait u tik he was finished to scold him for it. "Do you know what you've just done?" Reggie sighed in content, falling onto the sofa. "Yeah I've just defended every kid that's never been believed. Some might say I'm a superhero." Nicole crossed her legs. "Or an idiot." Reggie tilted his head when suddenly his eyes widened. "We should probably hide before Julie finds out huh?" Nicole raised her eyebrows as if to say 'you think?'. The four teleported to the garage where Reggie and Alex sat on the piano bench and Luke and Nicole disappeared to the upstairs part. There was a silence, it wasn't awkward but there was tension there, unspoken words. "We still haven't talked about it." Nicole spoke first, she really wanted to hear what he had to say. "Yeah, I guess we haven't." It was silent again but this time Nicole couldn't take it, she'd done enough waiting and if this was going to crash and burn she wanted it over with. "Look Luke, I've waited years for this to happen, god I loved you way before any of us died and then I got over it. Then you appeared here and everything changed, everything came back and it hasn't gone. I love you Luke but if your just going to let whatever this die before it even starts I don't want it." Nicole didn't realise the slight raise in her voice or the way she tensed as she spoke her heart out to him. She didn't even realise that he was right in front of her until she opened her eyes. "Nicole, I have waited for you for so long. You have no idea. Back then, I didn't think it would work, I didn't want to drag you into my family's mess and have them hate you because you were apart of my dream." Nicole gasped. He liked her back. All along she had thought he was interested in someone else but it was her. His hand made its way to her face and she leaned into his touch. "I love you Nicole Jones." This kiss was just as good as their first, maybe even better. All the anger, the betrayal, the hurt, the excitement of their relationship over the years was all washed away with a single touch of the lips. "Does this make us official now?" Nicole laughed, her smile brighter than it had ever been. "Yeah I guess it does." They teleported back to the main garage to see Alex and Reggie swapping money. "Please don't tell me you bet on us." Reggie slipped $5 into his back pocket. "No of course not, we'd never do that."

When the band found out they were performing that night everything turned into chaos. They weren't prepared and they were freaking out. They had exactly 10 hours to rehearse and they hoped that it would be enough time. Nevertheless, they appreciated that Ray wanted to help and it lightened the mood just a little bit. Luke had gone to Julie's school to discuss the song for tonight whilst Alex, Reggie and Nicole had a little pampering session. It was a tradition from the very first time they met, Alex and Reggie always seemed interested in how Nicole looked supposedly 'perfect' all the time and she showed them everything she knew and from then on it was their little thing. "Hey come on! I picked a nice colour for you and all you give me is green?" Alex sighed dramatically and pretended to fall of the sofa. "Come here you idiot, I'll make them look nice I promise." He looked skeptical but let her paint them anyway. Reggie was laying on the floor with a refreshing face mask on, he had eaten the cucumbers off of his eyes and was freaking out because the mask was cracking. "Reg, that's what's supposed to happen it's drying." With a single huff the boy laid back down again and crossed his arms over his chest.

Luke eventually came back and the pamper session had ended. They now sat around practising for tonight, making sure every little note and detail were correct. They couldn't mess this up.