JATP: When Ghosts Sing

Chapter 19

A/N: Sorry in advance for what happens...get your tissues out now, because even I cried when writing this and I've had it planned out for months now. Y'all are gonna hate me, but I promise that everything that happens is absolutely necessary. This chapter is pretty long, and the next one will be even longer. Anyways, hope you enjoy.

_____________________________________________

Two days later

Reggie's POV

I tried to go see Eliza last night, but she wouldn't let me in. I thought about poofing in anyways but quickly abandoned that thought because I didn't want to add to her stress even more. At least, I think she's stressed. I don't really know. Instead, I just came back to the studio and thought about her, Flynn, the band, everything really, until the sun came up.

Today's Saturday so I decide to go see Alex. Maybe he can help! I poof to the apartment complex he lives in and go to his first floor apartment. As soon as I knock on the door, Alex opens it, a disappointed look instantly crossing his face. What's that all about?

"You waiting for somebody?" I ask as he lets me in and I glance around the perfectly clean room.

"Yeah. Willie's supposed to come over today and he's already twelve minutes late." Alex nods and I look over at him concerned. I guess I didn't think about how he's been doing, especially since band rehearsals have been few and far between, and we haven't hung out much at all. We talk for a little bit before Willie gets there and I take that as my cue to leave.

Carrie's POV

Over these last two days, I think I've spent more time with Nick than I did when we were together. Yes, I know that's bad, but he's been helping me get more comfortable with the whole 'playing guitar in front of people' thing.

Nick came over early this morning since Trevor was out doing whatever it is he does all day, and I figured this was the perfect opportunity to keep going with guitar. I don't remember everything, so Nick's been helping me relearn what I've forgotten.

"So, you ready to get back to work?" Nick asks, coming downstairs into the den. I look up and immediately close my journal, hoping Nick doesn't notice. But, he does notice—of course he notices.

"Whatcha workin' on?" He comes over to take a closer look, but I try holding it away from him and out of his reach. Key word being try, as he easily takes the notebook out of my hand and flips through until he finds the last full page. Nick scans the page and looks over it a second time before closing the journal and handing it back to me. I take it and flip open to the page, trying to find out if there was anything embarrassing in it.

"Is that for the showcase?" I nod, a wave of relief washing over me as I realize that none of what I wrote was embarrassing.

"I've been toying around with new ideas for Dirty Candy. I think it would be nice for everyone if we expanded into a different style a little bit to make ourselves more diverse." Nick looks at me worriedly. Not long after we started talking again, I told him about what happened at Caleb's club, including the...stranger music genres that I was forced into performing. It's safe to say that a lot of tears were shed that day.

"Do you wanna play it?" He asks, a slight hopefulness in his tone. I shake my head and laugh to myself getting up to grab the guitar that I ended up buying for myself. I don't want Trevor to do stuff for me because he feels like he has to. I decide to just sing the first verse, because I feel the least confident about that part and I want to keep most of it a surprise until the showcase.

Put your makeup on

Get your nails done

Curl your hair