Wake Up| JATP

Chapter 28

Nicole and Luke were sat outside of Julie's house, chatting about anything they could to distract themselves from the events of that evening. Luke hadn't spoken about it to her yet and she would wait until he was ready. Julie walked up the path, making the two to stop mid conversation. Nicole backed away, standing the other side of the porch as not to intrude. "Im sorry for overstepping." Luke stood up, shaking his head. "No, I just had to leave. That was..." Julie cut him off mid sentence. "You don't have to say anything." Nicole watched as Luke shoved his hands in his pockets and began to rock back and forth on his feet. "It was actually really nice, what you did Julie." Julie smiled at Nicole, glad she wasn't mad at her. "I didn't have many regrets in my life apart from running out on my parents, especially my mum. And the argument with Nicole, they're things I will never forgive my self for." Nicole frowned, she didn't want him to feel guilty about their argument. It was a two way thing, they had both said things they regretted that night. "You helped me feel more connected to my mum, all of you, so I wanted to do the same for you." A silence washed over them and Nicole didn't know whether to speak or not. "Oh my gosh I totally forget to tell you guys! Flynn said that the video my dad made is trending on YouTube!" Nicole jumped up and squealed in excitement. "Ah that's awesome!" Luke smiled, kissing Nicole on the cheek. "Hell yeah it is." Nicole laughed and buried her head into his shoulder. "What does that actually mean?" It was Julie's turn to laugh. "I forget that you're old. Its a good thing, it means people love our music. We'll definitely be getting calls from managers now." Nicole watched as Luke seemed to be conflicting with himself, she was sure he was going to tell Julie about Caleb, but she didn't ask just in case. "There's something I have to tell you." Julie's whole demeanour changed, she stood still in her place. "We figured out that we have unfinished business. That's why we came back as ghosts." Nicole tensed, this was a sore subject for her at the minute and now that Luke was telling Julie it felt more real, more serious. "Oh. What is it?" Luke took a deep breath. "We have to play the show we never got to play." Julie nodded her head. "The orpheum? That makes sense." Nicole didn't understand how Julie was so calm and collected, she had completely freaked out when she found out. A purple flash blinded them all and Luke fell back with groan. "Luke!" Nicole supported him as he struggled to stand. He tried to put on an act as if not to scare her but she wasn't stupid, she knew it was probably driving him insane. "We don't have a lot of time." Julie looked terrified as she lent against the railings for support. "What was that? Are you okay?" Luke winced as he spoke, the pain still surging through his body. "We did something we shouldn't have. The night we missed the dance, we met this ghost and he put a curse on us. If we don't do what he says then these jolts will destroy us." Nicole stumbled back, her breath hitched in her throat. She already knew this but hearing it again made it sink in and she realised that she was about to lose her boys all over again. That she would feel that pain all over again. She wasn't prepared for that. "Then you gotta do what he says, right Nicole? What does he want?" Julie was on the verge of tears and Luke was still in immense pain, he desperately wished Nicole wasn't here to witness all of this, that he could protect her from it all. "He wants us to be in his house band for eternity. But if we can play the Orpheum soon, then we can avoid all that and cross over."  Julie slowly took the information in, Nicole could tell she was just as scared as she was. "Cross over? As in what, go to heaven?" Luke sighed miserably. "That's what we're banking on."  "So it's either you cross over, be in his band for eternity or be destroyed by these jolts?" Nicole couldn't take it anymore, she teleported to the garage. Her heart was beating out of her rib cage and she felt hot and flustered. She collapsed onto the floor, her head spinning. Alex and Reggie didn't know what to do so they just sat beside her hoping she noticed. She didn't cry, she didn't scream, she just stared. And she didn't stop for hours.

Luke found her a while later, still in the same spot. "Babe?" She didn't move. He sat in front of her on the floor, holding her cold hands in his warm ones. "You're leaving me again." Luke didn't have to ask what she meant, instead he deeply sighed and pulled her into his chest, Alex and Reggie joined them. Nicole closed her eyes trying to savour the feeling of them all together, it could be the last time she will ever feel them again.

It had been a couple of hours later, Nicole had fallen asleep on top of Luke as he played with her hair, Reggie was strumming his guitar quietly staring into the abyss and Alex was attempting to balance his drumsticks on his face only for them too fall off and he would start again.

"Snap out of it!" The sound of Julie's voice sent all of them onto the floor. Nicole managed to bang her head on the coffee table on the way down. "Ow." She rubbed the spot she had injured before sitting back on the sofa, glaring at Julie. "Jeez, I think you broke Alex." Julie sighed, pinching her eyebrows. "Do you guys wanna cross over or what?" This seemed to grab their attention as the boys sat a little straighter whereas Nicole tried to block Julie's voice out. "They're never gonna let us play the Orpheum." Luke leaned his head back in defeat. "We're nobody." "We're less than nobody, we have no bodies." Luke and Alex pointed simultaneously at Reggie, agreeing with his point. "Someone once told me that you don't ask for permission." Luke's lips twitched a fraction at the corners. "You book gigs by doing." Reggie smirked. "That was me." Luke and Julie both looked at him. "No it wasn't." Nicole patted Reggie's shoulder but he just shrugged his shoulders. "We were brought together for a reason: to help each other." Alex spoke up, looking rather glum. "Yeah but like Luke said, people don't just play the Orpheum because they want to." Julie shrugged her shoulders.

"People don't, but ghosts do."