𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 | 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐬

𝟑𝟒 | 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲

The following day, I went for a walk down the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. I know it was such a touristy thing to do, but I had never done it before ... because of the amount of tourists there. But I was a ghost, I could walk right through them and not be asked to take a picture of them with their favourites stars (pun intended).

As I walked past all the big names ; Queen, David Bowie, Clara Bow, Marilyn Monroe - I couldn't help but walk by some names I didn't recognise like Daniel Radcliffe and Kenny Ortega. It reminded me of how much we missed out on over the years. I wondered if Luke, Alex and Reggie would be the first ghosts in history to get their names added to the walk.

The walk didn't take as long as I thought it would. I got back pretty early. The guys were still practising when I arrived outside the garage. I was excited to see what they were working on.

"Ah, there she is!" Luke said as I walked in. "Please, take a seat."

"Oh no," I said. "What have I walked into?"

"Just a little something-something we've been working on," Reggie smiled.

"You're gonna love it," Alex reassured me.

I sat down on the sofa and waited for my mind to be blown. And don't get me wrong, it was - just not in the way I expected. I stood up and clapped as they played out the final chords.

"How, and I mean how," I began. "Did you turn Edge Of Great into that?"

"I told you," Luke said as he put down his guitar and made his way over to me. "You did most of the work, we just added a little Sunset Curve magic."

"We're actually Julie and The Phantoms now, dude," Alex corrected him.

"True, but when Julie comes in it'll be even better," Luke said. "And that will bring in the Julie and The Phantoms magic."

"That's so much magic I think I need to sit down," Reggie said as he set down his bass and flopped face-first onto the sofa.

"Well," Luke turned around to face me. "What do you think?"

"Incredible as always," I gave him a peck on the lips. "And you're welcome."

"Alright, alright," Alex interrupted. "Enough of that, let's get back to rehearsals."

Luke gave me an apologetic look. "Yeah, he's still upset about Willie."

"Right," I nodded. "You know what? I have an idea."

I poofed out of the garage and arrived at my mom's house. After my previous visits, I found out that not everything from my existence was erased. When I had a snoop through the attic, I found a bunch of my old stuff hidden away in some cardboard boxes. That included clothes, accessories, CDs and even my CD player.

What Alex needed was a girl's night, and right there, in all those boxes, was everything we needed. Sure, I still needed to inform Julie of my plans, but if I already had everything set up in her room, she would be less likely to say no.

Given my ghost abilities, it didn't take too long to set everything up. Poofing was definitely the most useful skill I acquired in my afterlife. Julie still wasn't home from school, so I decided to wait until later to tell her and Alex about my plans.

When I returned to the garage, the guys had starting practising again. Instead of going inside straight away, not wanting to interrupt, I listened to them play for bit from outside. Somewhere between the pre-chorus and the chorus, Alex started to get a little aggressive on the drums. Luke and Reggie noticed and stopped playing. I peered in the garage door window.

"Alex, you alright?" Luke asked.

"Yeah," Alex replied. "Yeah, yeah why?"

"I know it's though, man," Reggie sympathised. "People say you never forget your first ghost - maybe that's true. But I'm sure there will be others."

"Yeah, thanks Reg," Alex gave a small smile.

"And Alex, you're a great guy and a great drummer, okay?" Luke added. "I wouldn't let all that stuff get between you and what you love."

"I don't know, man," Reggie countered. "Sometimes a little fire can make things better on stage - like you and Julie."

I squinted my eyes, trying to gage Luke's reaction.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Luke asked.

"Come on," Reggie laughed. "Everyone can see the way you look at her when you sing. You guys ooze chemistry."

"You should never say 'ooze' again," Alex stated. "But, yeah, I agree."

"Okay, no," Luke removed his guitar from around his shoulders. "I have chemistry with everybody that I sing with. Seriously, watch!"

Luke proceeded to sing the new and improved version of Edge Of Great while staring blissfully into Reggie's eyes. I think Reggie and I were both reconsidering our love lives on very different scales.

"Wow," Alex admitted. "I see chemistry."

"That was pretty hot," Reggie admitted.

Luke jokingly kissed his fingers and placed them on Reggie's lips. At least I think it was jokingly. I don't think Reggie knew what to think either as he cleared his throat.

"See?" Luke said as he picked up his guitar. "Told you."

"Alright, fine," Alex admitted as he picked up his drumsticks again.

"Besides," Luke blushed a little as he nervously plucked at his guitar's strings. "I really like Ruth. Like a lot. We made things official yesterday."

"Aww!" Alex chorused.

"So, things are pretty serious between the two of you now, huh?" Reggie asked.

Luke nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

I never experienced wanting to kiss and punch someone at the same time until I met Luke Patterson. Sure, he was saying all of those sweet things, but the chemistry thing was still in the back of mind. If he could look at Julie - heck, even Reggie - like that, then who's to say I was any different?

"Girls, am I right?" Reggie joked.

"Yeah," Luke smiled.

"No," Alex shook his head.

"Yeah," I appeared beside Alex, grabbing his arm. "No."

I poofed us out of there.