Perfect Harmony / Luke Patterson

5. Get Woke

"Alex, stop wiggling! I'm gonna fall!" Delilah shouted at the boy. The four of them had formed a makeshift pyramid in the hallway that Julie would be coming down soon. Alex gave an evil laugh and raised a hand toward the girl's stomach. "No.... Don't you dare!" Alex began to tickle her sides and she started to giggle, wobbling side to side from the top of the pyramid, she couldn't breathe and the boys were wiggling so much along with her that she was sure they were going to fall any second "YOU FIEND!" Delilah screamed as she tumbled to the floor and the wind was knocked out of her chest. The boys just laughed as Luke helped her stand up again. She coughed and pointed a menacing finger at Alex "That.. *cough* was not nice. Watch your back Mercer." She continued to cough for a few minutes before finally regaining her lung capacity. "Ooooo Delilah... Scaryyyyy" Reggie and Alex laughed and Delilah just glared. "Actually she can be scary sometimes..." Reggie whispered. The four of them were suddenly interrupted by Julie turning the corner "Julie!!!" They all shouted in a chorus and Julie screamed in response. "Gah! You have got to stop doing that!" The bandmates all laughed "Fine fine! But we were amazing!" Luke shouted. "I know the whole school could see you. I'm kind of freaking out." Alex let out a long sigh "I have so many questions. Like..." Delilah put a hand on his chest to stop him "Let's talk about those questions in our Delilah, Alex life questions meeting later kay?" Reggie began to cheer "And the cheerleaders were looking at me! Right, you saw that too!?" Luke grabbed his head "Bro, they were looking at you!" Delilah and Alex just rolled their eyes as she crossed her arms and leaned against his shoulder. "Okay look, Jules, the important thing to say here is..." Delilah began "We 100% need you to join our band. Like now." Julie smiled but shook it off. "I have to fix things with Flynn first. And I don't know how because if I tell her about you guys and the truth she'll think I've gone off of the deep end and then she'll call my therapist." Luke chuckled lightly "Well this guy definitely thinks you've gone off the deep end" He pointed behind his bandmates just as a janitor walked straight through Delilah and she shuddered in disgust "I will never, ever get used to that" She shuddered again "Blech" Julie sighed "Look guys I gotta get back to class." Delilah just waved with a sympathetic smile as she walked away while Reg gave her numerous requests regarding the cheerleaders.

--

Alex was pacing back and forth in what used to be Delilah's garage studio while she laid with her head in Luke's lap and her legs in Reggie's on the couch. "I think he's practicing his model strut," Reggie whispered to the two of them and Delilah snorted. "He's so nervous he's almost making me nervous." Luke lamented and his girlfriend sat up with a groan and hopped off of the two of them to make her way to Alex. She placed her hands on his shoulders to stop him from moving. "Outside?" Alex nodded quickly and she patted his back as the two of them walked out of the garage and into the sweet California air. "So what's making you so jittery bubs." Delilah asked him and crossed her arms, ready to listen. "Okay so, you know I don't handle change well" The girl in front of him nodded profusely, very true. "We died, huge change. We became ghosts! Another change! And now? We can be seen whenever we play with Julie. Big freaking change!" Delilah smiled at him and nodded "Okay... Alex, I really do get it and I agree. But what if it's a really good change? With Julie, we can live our dream like we never had the chance to back in the 90s! Don't you want that?" She asked him honestly, Delilah really wanted to know what he thought and what was making him so anxious. "Of course I am Lilah. We've been talking about this since we were kids! I just... I just want to know. Why is all of this happening? Ya know?" Delilah sat next to him on the cement and leaned her head on his shoulder "I get it. I wanna know why and how but I think we should just try to go with it. I mean with Julie on the keyboard we can be legendary. It will add that element we've never truly had." Alex sighed and leaned his head on top of hers. "How are you doing anyway?" He whispered. "I saw that song you wrote... about your dad when your notebook was open when you looked for a new pencil this morning. It sounded... sad." She sighed. It was true it was a very angry and sad song but it was probably more healthy for her to write than anything, like therapy almost "I think it's good. I never used to be able to even talk about him, much less write a song. I think maybe letting those feelings out is good for me and helping me get over it and realize that maybe he wasn't the knight in shining armor I always tried to convince myself he was." Alex began to rub her back gently. The two of them had been friends since birth practically and knew everything each other went through and Alex had been there through it all. "Thank you for always being there, by the way, You really do mean the world to me." Alex smiled as he went to stand up. "Always and forever." Delilah locked pinkies with him and agreed. "Always and forever." Alex began to walk back to the garage with her "Look, I'm gonna go get some fresh air, wanna come?" She smiled softly "Thanks, but I think I'm gonna keep writing that song." The two of them poofed back into the studio and Alex grabbed his bag before trying several times to open the door to no avail. "Dude, you're a ghost just poof out." Alex turned around in anger "Don't tell me how to ghost!" He yelled before poofing away. The girl looked up and giggled at the boys' faces. "Yeah, never tell a ghost how to ghost, it's like basic knowledge dude." she said in your most basic surfer boy imitation voice. "Oh yeah?" Luke asked snobbily as he began to slowly creep toward his girlfriend. "No, get away from me you evil, evil being." Delilah began as she stood up and put a hand in front of her to try and block him. Reggie sighed. "I'll be back when you two are done. I'm going to watch people eat pizza." He poofed out as quickly as possible. Delilah had been distracted and Luke had made big ground toward her and she now witnessed him lunge toward her. Delilah squealed and sprinted around the room as he chased after her. "Get over here!" He yelled while laughing "NO! NEVER!" she screamed back and chucked her notebook at him. He paused for a moment but quickly whipped around and caught the girl off guard and began in the other direction. She reacted too slowly and ran straight into his devilish, but also very toned and attractive arms, at least in Delilah's humble opinion. He began to tickle her and she fell to the ground with a squeal as she writhed to try and escape his arms. "Ple-Ple-Please! Let --- me --- go-Go! I'll do anything!" Delilah screamed as he continued to laugh while he watched the reaction she had when being tickled, the girl couldn't stop screaming, gasping for air, but also laughing all at the same time. "Anything?" He asked and paused. "Anything!" She gasped. "Come cuddle with me and show me your new song?" He asked Delilah and sat on the couch leaving her on the opposite side of the room. She smiled with an evil grin as she stood up and made one step toward him before quickly turning toward the door and sprinting out of the room "YOU CAN'T CATCH ME I'M THE GINGERBREAD MAN!" She screamed and Luke began running after her "I'M IN LOVE WITH A GINGERBREAD MAN!!!" He screamed back before catching his girl and swinging her around in his arms while she squealed. He then set her on the ground and kissed her lips deeply and tightened the grip his hands had on Delilah's waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled away slowly "I love you muffin man" She whispered and kissed him again. "You're so weird" He chuckled "That's why I love you, gingerbread man." Delilah's smile was bright as ever and he picked her up and spun her around one more time before the two of them made their way back to the garage where Reggie soon returned and an evil plan was born.

--

"My life, My life would be rea-" Delilah was singing along with Reggie and Luke before Julie burst through the doors of the studio. "I thought I told you not to play out here alone!" Julie sighed and Reggie smirked at her. "We're not alone." Delilah giggled and jumped onto his back with the biggest smile she could muster directed at Julie. Luke wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders which were suspended while she balanced on Reggie's back, replicating the smile. "Cause we always have each other... booom." Reggie finished and dropped his pretend microphone. Delilah watched as Julie unplugged Reggie's amp and opened her mouth in protest "but..." "We had the volume on one!" Luke finished, reading her mind. "But we rocked it on volume ten... hehe... right guys?" Reggie joked but got no response. "I don't think she agrees..." Delilah whispered. "Okay so anyways, Julie," Luke began. "We had a little band meeting and don't freak out or anything but.... We want to invite you to be an official member of the rockin' band sunset curve!.. No you're not dreaming." Luke finished and Delilah and Reg nodded with so much enthusiasm the girl thought her cheeks might be stuck in a smile forever. Julie hesitated before replying "Oh..." Delilah rushed over and grabbed her arms. "No no, Jules, Oh? Is what you say when you get socks, or heck an avocado for Christmas, not when you get invited to join the most epic band ever. C'mon." Julie peeled her hands off of her own arms and sighed "Look, I'm sorry but all I can think about is Flynn right now, I need to find some way to get my best friend back." Delilah sighed and softly smiled while trying to think of what to tell her. "So... you're joining the band?" Luke asked and his girlfriend shot him a look. "Read the room dude." Julie began to storm out of the studio garage. "Wait! Okay Wait! We need you because we need music just like you do." Julie stopped in her tracks at Delilah's words and slowly turned around. Luke began to explain what the band had been working on for the past two hours while the younger girl was at school. "We found this amazing poem and started to make a song out of it." "Where did you get that?" Julie had begun to corner Luke with a murderous look on her face. Delilah quickly jumped in between them and put a hand out to stop Julie "NO! LOOK! I know that they stomped on your boundaries but you need to see how amazing you are! LISTEN!" The older girl reasoned with the younger before singing in a soft tone "If somebody hurts you I'm gonna get hurt too" Julie's eyes began to soften and Delilah continued "My life, my life would be real low, zero, flying solo" "Owoo!" Reggie chimed in happily. "I wrote that about Flynn." Julie told the three of them sadly. Delilah sighed "Just reconsider please." "I gotta go." Julie huffed before successfully walking out of the doors this time..