☆The Battle of You and Me ☆

6. The Death of a Bachelor

When Julie tells them all the way up until today, they just stare at her in shock. Mom speaks after a couple seconds. "I can watch him on my phone?"

Julie nods, "Yes, you can go to YouTube, the red app with a play button in the middle. And you can search us up. Julie and the Phantoms." Mom laughs, "That's such a cute name. Who came up with that?" Julie smiles, "My best friend, Flynn. She's basically our manager." Julie and Mom laugh as I look over at dad who studies Julie's phone.

He speaks after a couple seconds, "Thankyou Julie. Thankyou for telling us everything...and even though we don't have magical ghost powers, let us know if we can help with your Caleb situation. We'd be happy to get our boy back for you. He's a special guy." Julie nods, "That he is." I smile as I watch Julie as she blushes.

She looks to mom and mom laughs and looks to Dad, "Honey, don't embarrass the poor girl...Luke might be here with us." Dad gasps, "Oh yeah, sorry Julie. My bad." Julie shakes her head, "It's totally fine, Mr. Patterson." He smiles, "Please, call me Mitch." Mom chimes in, "And call me Emily or I can also be called your adoptive mother..." Julie smiles and laughs as Mom laughs with her. I smile as I watch Julie nod, "I'd love that don't get me wrong but I gotta stay true to my mom. No one can replace her..." Mom nods, "I understand. I met your mother after Luke's passing. Me and Mitch went to the Orpheum to see why Luke wanted to play there...and she recognized us as his parents and she said she had met Luke and his band...she said he was an amazing singer and he was very talented...that says a lot Julie. We went to one of your mothers concerts without even knowing she was in Rose and the Petalpushers...she had an amazing voice and I see a lot of her in you..."

Julie smiles and I see a tear fall down her face. She wipes it away and I give a sympathetic smile. Dad changes the subject, "Hey, Julie. Do you wanna stay over for dinner perhaps? We'd love to get to know your interests more and how our son has been doing on the other side of history." He laughs and I smile as everyone laughs with him. Julie nods, "I'd love to stay but unfortunately I'm grounded at the moment...I tried to protect my brother from getting in trouble and in return, it got me in trouble. So I'm grounded until next month."

Mom shrugs, "Well can you still ask him? Tell him it's very important to us?" Julie shrugs, "I don't know if he will buy it but I can try." Julie grabs her phone from beside her which is between me and her and I watch as she clicks on her dad and calls him. I don't understand how people can use cellphones to communicate all around the world...it just doesn't make sense to me...

If Julie can ever see me again, the first thing I'm gonna do is give her a hug, ask for new music, and have her explain all the things I don't know about the 2000s.

Julie gets off the phone and speaks as she ends the call, "He said I'd have to be home by 10. It's currently 7:30."

Mom smiles and does a happy dance and gets up. She walks to the kitchen and I watch Dad and Julie have a conversation. Dad speaks first, "So how's our boy been treating you?" Dad raises his eyebrows and I roll my eyes. Julie laughs and gets all awkward, "Good I guess. He's made a couple mistakes...but he's still an amazing friend and bandmate that's for sure." I see Julie smile to herself as Dad speaks, "That's good. What did he do?" Julie laughs, "Um, we were supposed to play a school dance and him and the boys never showed up...until after the dance had ended because they had went to meet Caleb..." Dad shakes his head, "Yep, sounds like Luke..." I frown until Dad continues, "But Julie...Luke didn't mean to forget about the time...he's a very smart kid. He just lost track of time and I'm sure he felt horrible about leaving you hanging..." Julie nods, "Yeah he did feel really bad...and I had the stupid idea to call him selfish on his birthday..." Dad lowers his head, "I'm sure he forgave you..." Julie nods, "Yeah but I still feel bad about that day...that's probably the worst thing I could have called him on his birthday...I just wish he was here and I could see him so I could tell him I'm so sorry for saying that..."