Ghost of You | JATP

Processing - Julie

Before I went to sleep, I texted Flynn our code message for when life throws us major curve balls. 

911, it's the boys.

So, I shouldn't have been surprised when I woke up to a loud bang and Flynn standing over my bed.

"Julie, I need you awake this very instant. What happened? I need to know everything, and I need to know it right now." How is she this pushy this early in the morning?

"Okay, I know I texted 911, but this is dramatic," I said, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"No, no. You can't just text me about this emergency with the boys and then call me dramatic. That is so not how this works." 

I rolled my eyes and sat up. 

"Fair enough. So, there's a situation. Multiple situations..." I trailed off while everything that happened last night hit me at once. 

"First off, the boys did not crossover last night. As amazing as playing the Orpheum was, it wasn't their unfinished business," I started to ramble, "And they tried to hide it from me, which I assume was Luke's idea, but it honestly could've been any one of their dumb guy brains. Anyway, I found them in the garage, practically dying on the floor." 

"Oh, Julie..."

"No, wait. Okay, so I freaked out because I couldn't stand seeing them like that, and they just kept getting hit by the jolts. It was awful. But then, Luke got up to try and calm me down. He told me he had no regrets, and I didn't know what to do, so I hugged him..."

"Right... but he's air?" 

"That's the thing. I hugged him. I could feel him."

"Girl, what?"

"My thoughts exactly. But it continues. After realizing I could hug Luke, I got Alex and Reggie to come over to me and hugged them too." I said, trying to make it sound like I wasn't super hung up on the fact that I could touch Luke. 

I could see Flynn about to reply, but I cut her off, "After that, the stamp Caleb put on them that triggered the curse or whatever started glowing, lifted off their skin, and just vanished."

"So, they're still here?" 

"Yup."

"Thank god, I was worried the jolts got them, so this is a much better ending for you but most importantly for me! I don't have to go back to not having my best friend as she becomes a shell of a human being again!" I laughed and nodded in agreement, and then she gave me a funny look.

"So, have you, I don't know, talked to them, or maybe more specifically Luke, about this?"

"Absolutely not. This is probably more confusing for them than it is for me. After their stamps vanished, we all hugged again to celebrate playing the Orpheum, but I left pretty quick because Carlos wanted to talk to me... oh god, I forgot to talk to Carlos." I slapped my hand to my forehead. I really did intend to talk to Carlos, but I also used him as an excuse to leave to shut myself in my room. No ghost boys were in my room. I could process it there, but I failed to process anything clearly.

I could see Flynn trying to work through this. She wasn't even there, but it's clearly throwing her brain off track too. She's rarely at a loss for words, though, which almost stresses me out even more. 

"No, stop. I see that look on your face. I'm just trying to figure out why you haven't talked to him yet." I used this as my opportunity to steer away from her berating me about Luke.

"Oh, Carlos? Uh..." She rolled her eyes at me and started talking again.

"You know full well that's not who I'm referring to, Jules." Right. "I know, I know. I keep telling you he's dead, and he's still dead. Dreamy, but dead. But being able to touch him does change some things in a way."

"Which is exactly why I haven't talked to him. Thank you for proving my point for me." 

"That is so not what I mean, and you know it." She said, sitting down on my bed. "Julie, he's a ghost. But I see how you two look at each other when you sing, partly because that is the only time I can see him... that's beside the point." She always had a way of getting off-topic, "Anyway, I also hear how you talk about him; you never once talked about Nick like that. Maybe he's your epic love story. Maybe he's the forever frozen-in-time Edward to your Bella?" 

"Relating me to Bella isn't the compliment you think it is, but ah," I said, exasperated. "I'm so confused!" I threw myself back into my pillows.

"You and me both, girl. I never thought I'd be sitting here rooting for ghost boy but here I am."

I laughed at her, and then we heard the doorbell. 

"Who, apart from you, would come here at 8:30 in the morning on a Saturday?" I groaned. I wanted to continue talking to Flynn about this. I needed her perspective.

"Only one way to find out." She said, pulling me out of bed. 

We walked out of my bedroom and down the stairs to the front door. I opened it to see Nick standing there, facing away from the doorway, almost like he was looking at someone.

"Hi, Nick!" I said, getting his attention. He turned around and looked at me in a way he'd never done before. He handed me a bouquet of pink flowers. 

"Thanks." I had nothing else to say to him other than that. This was a super sweet gesture, but Nick will always be Carrie's in one way or another, and I have my own interesting relationship to figure out.

"I was wondering if you'd like to accompany me somewhere today?" No, no, I wouldn't. And since when did Nick use words like accompany? 

"Uh, I'm flattered, but I can't. I'm really busy, sorry!" 

"No worries from me. I will see you later."

I waved at him and shut the door. No worries from me? Is this his attempt at flirting? No, thank you. I walked back into the entryway and looked at Flynn.

"Did you hear any of that?"

"All of it. I'm sure he's just acting awkward because you've rejected him not once but twice now."

"Yeah, thanks for pointing that out," I said, not wanting to think about his feelings that I've maybe crushed multiple times now. 

"Oh, he'll get over it. He always has the demon he can go back to." She said with a shrug. I giggled.

"You know, maybe Carrie isn't that bad. I saw her at the show last night with her dad, and she seemed..." I stopped. "Oh my god, Carrie's dad was there. You know, ex-bandmate who completely stole all of Luke's songs to become famous and didn't give him any credit?" 

"Well, if you didn't think you had a reason to talk to him before. You do now." Another thing to add to my list of ever-growing problems. Yay me.

Before I could respond, I heard stomping footsteps coming down the stairs.

"JULIE!" Carlos said, trying his best to sound angry.

"Hey-y-y little bro..."

"I will ignore the fact that you did not come talk to me last night if you admit to me right here, right now, who those holograms actually are." He put air quotes around the word holograms. I am so going to end Reggie. I can touch him now; he better watch out.

"How about I do you one better? Do you want to meet them?" I said, eyebrows raised.

Flynn looked at me with a smirk. Time to go get the boys up.