Sunshine ☀️

twenty two☀️

Aurora ran after Julie, seeing her exit through the back doors. She stopped when she saw Julie stop, and just watched her from a distance.

"I don't know if you can hear me, Mom, but... I can't handle it. Flynn says you're supposed to be behind everything, but I don't know." Julie sobbed, making Aurora's heart break for the girl.

"If I was supposed to help the guys, I didn't. They're gone. And I'm so sorry. They were my friends, my band. My family." She sobbed. Aurora couldn't watch her cry on her own anymore, so she walked over to her and put her hand on her shoulder.

Julie jumped slightly, but when she saw it was Aurora, she relaxed and leaned into her touch. Aurora slipped her arm over Julie's shoulder, and Julies head went on Aurora's shoulder.

"Why can't you just come and pick me up? And hold me in your arms and just tell me that everything's gonna be okay... and that I'm gonna get through it. And that... that even though they're not here with me, they're still up there with you. And I hope Chloè is with you too, because I miss her too." Julie spoke, while sobbing.

At the mention of her mom, Aurora started tearing up. God, she missed her so much. As selfish as it sounds, she felt like she hadn't really had time to grieve her mother. Everything around her was just moving so fast, and she wished that everything could just stop for a moment. Or at least, slow down.

"I just wish you were here." Julie sobbed, pulling Aurora out of her thoughts. She moved in front of Julie and pulled the girl into a hug, running her hands through her hair gently. Julie hugged Aurora back straight away, sobbing into her shoulder.

Julie pulled out of the hug when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to face a woman, who looked at her with a sad smile and gave her a flower.

A dahlia. Rose's favourite flower.

"Signs." Aurora whispered to Julie. Julie just laughed with a watery smile, and hugged the flower close to her heart. "Do you still want to sing? I believe you can do it, but the decision is totally up to you." Aurora said as she wiped away Julie's tears.

"I wanna sing. But can I ask you something?" Julie replied, and Aurora just nodded her head. "Will you sing with me? I don't think I can do it on my own, and you know all the words and chords. You're always at every reversal." Julie begged.

"I-I don't know, Julie. I mean, yes, I know all the words. But singing in front of people? I don't know if I can do that." Aurora admitted with a sigh.

Julie grabbed Aurora's shoulders gently and shook them. "You can do it. We can do it. Together. Please?" Julie said, holding up her pinky finger.

"Together." Aurora sighed, locking her pinky with Julie's.

Julie dragged Aurora back through the door and towards the entrance of the stage quickly, giving her no time to think about the fact that she will be performing in front of a lot of people for the first time in her life.

The girls walked up to Flynn and Rob, and Julie showed Flynn the dahlia. "Signs," she said as she dragged Aurora on stage with her.

"Wait. Where are you going? And why are you dragging Red with you?" Flynn questioned. "They're going on stage!" She pointed, a look of shock and happiness on her face.

Julie walked onto the stage, her pinky still locked with Aurora's.

"Welcome to Live at the Orpheum. Now give it up for Julie and the Phantoms."

Julie places the flower on top of her keyboard, and then grabs her mic. "Hi. I'm Julie, and this is Aurora."

Aurora didn't know what to do, so she just waved slightly.