Julie And The Phantoms Collection

Apologies & Hugs

He strutted over to the line of girls confidently and held out a shirt with the band on it, the shirt was white and thin, definitely cheap and yet the girls gasps and squealed in excitement, only when the male handing out the shirts walked away did the girls look up and see him in his glory. His slicked back hair, his green eyes, his cocky grin, his white teeth, his pale skin "Reggie!" One girl finally shouted, Alex immediately ducked at the sudden uproar of noise and Luke smirked, holding his hood up so he wasn't reported to the authorities as the missing boy from the posters while Reggie basked in the attention.

When they died the attention to them all died, no one paid attention to them and they couldn't even pay attention to each other as they were caught up in grieving their own deaths, the lives they missed out on, the stars they were going to be. Lives had ended and their dream had passed over them, the night forgotten.... Meeting Julie was a game changer, they could be seen and when they met Caleb the playing field had just gotten a whole lot bigger but now Caleb was gone and Julie was in charge and everyone was busy, Willie and Alex were celebrating Willie's current freedom, Luke and Julie were currently in Julie's room celebrating by overworking themselves with a new song and Reggie was on the porch.

Ray had come out to see what was activating the porch light but eventually he chalked it up to the sensor being broken, Carlos and Tia even came out to see the commotion but there was none and yet there was a soft voice singing. Reggie was singing *without* Julie and he was being *heard* but not seen, if he wasn't so caught up in his loneliness he would've clocked this but if anything he just got irritated every time someone came onto the porch to stare at him and then claim they couldn't see him.

Reggie had been singing this song since the Edge Of Great performance as every night since then he had been alone, even after the Stand Tall performance he was left alone to deal with it, to go over everything as couples rejoiced and now he was on the porch again. He wasn't exactly sure how tangible he was, if anyone could hear or see him but he didn't care either as all hope in his heart had died long ago. Reggie's flannel was pulled tight around him, his leather jacket had been abandoned in the studio today, the wind blew harshly and Reggie felt the faintest whisps of it.

At least the world was beginning to remember him. "Hey!" The voice was soft and kind, Reggie ignored it thinking whoever was talking could be talking to *anyone* but him "you're from the band right?" Reggie spun to see Ray who looked energetic, his gut wasn't bloated and Reggie was starstruck "you've stopped stress eating" he murmured as he stared at Ray, he wasn't talking to him, was he? The father looked down at his gut and nodded proudly "yeah, what can I say? I'm working hard" he joked and his hand clasped Reggie's shoulder making him jump "Julie didn't tell me you guys were coming..." He licked his lips "come inside, come in" he stepped away from Reggie and lead him through the porch door.

The kitchen was well lit and empty which made Ray sigh and put his hands on his hips, Reggie looked Ray up and down before he put his bass down and put his hands on his hips to mirror the dad in front of him "I was wondering if you could help me make some food for you all? Julie said you're all from Sweden so..."
"Meatballs" Reggie blurted and coughed "that's a traditional dish in Sweden" he murmured, was he just painfully reinforcing stereotypes?
"I thought that was just a stereotype" Ray raised a brow, him and Reggie stared at each other for a while before he laughed "I'm glad I trusted my instinct and bought the mince and spaghetti" he laughed and Reggie nodded quickly.

"Yeah! We-we *love* meatballs!" He took his hands off his hips "lets get to cooking?" He chuckled nervously, Ray clasped his hands together and walked over to the fridge pulling out a packet of mince, he opened it and poured the meat on a cutting board before he grabbed some oil and drizzled it on top "you want to help?" He teased Reggie "roll up your sleeves and roll as many balls as you can" he instructed "I'll start on the spaghetti" and the phantom had to comply.

The bassist wasn't even sure he could touch food, he wasn't sure he could eat food and even so he didn't exactly want to... He rolled up his flannel sleeves with a grunt and walked over to the counter, when Ray started digging through a cupboard for spaghetti that's when Reggie leaped at the opportunity to let his hand hover above the mince before he leaned forward and broke it up. It was almost wet? Squishy and somewhat soggy, yet Reggie couldn't bring himself to pull away, he was *touching* food, he was *making* meatballs with Ray! Right then Reggie wished a short prayer that he could eat this food before he began to roll it up in small balls, as he did that Ray had started up with the pasta and the meal was going great.

"You're Reggie, right?" Ray asked suddenly as he stirred the pasta and the phantom nodded quickly "that's me" he smiled as he rolled the last meat ball in his hand, making sure to perfect the ball shape. "You don't have an accent" Ray mused as he continued to stir the pasta, the water bubbling and even spitting little spurts here and there "you don't sound Swedish at all, you sound more Phantomish"
"Well you see! My mom and I moved here when I was *very* young-" Reggie stilled as Ray put his hands on his hips and looked at Reggie with kind eyes and a small smile, his eyes watery with what seemed to be happy tears "you're a good friend" Ray pointed out "Julie's lucky to have you" he chuckled as he began to stir the spaghetti again, it finally all being submerged in the water "lets set the table" and he turned on the facet for Reggie.

"Wash your hands" he smiled as he pulled up a drawer and picked up a knife and fork, he then picked up more and more... Ray, with Reggie's help set the table for all three phantoms, Julie, Carlos and Ray, almost full house as Tia wasn't there, she refused to enter a ghost house. Reggie sat down at the head of the table with Ray on his left and all the plates set up, suddenly Alex and Luke began to poof in followed by Julie and Carlos running down the stairs as if racing each other, Luke had a smug look on his face earning a pillow thrown at him from Julie. Surprisingly the phantom flew out of his chair causing Alex and Carlos to snort in attempt to hold their laughs, just one look from Ray and Luke just climbed back into his seat and Julie bowed her head in shame before she sat in hers.

"We made spaghetti meatballs" Ray explained as he gestured to the plates "Reggie made the meatballs and I cooked the spaghetti" he hummed as he picked up his knife and fork "everyone dig in" and so everyone did, Luke moaned at the taste and cheered in his seat, bouncing up and down while Alex acted more nonchalant, like he was used to eating although he hadn't eaten a cooked meal in 25yrs. Reggie picked at his food as if scared to try it but seeing how much everyone else was enjoying it he wanted to see what the hype was about and took a bite, immediately he hummed and groaned "oh god, its so good!" He cheered.

Everyone turned to face Reggie who awkwardly stared back before everyone laughed, it was clear they all agreed.

----------------------------

After dinner they were all sat on the couch watching ghost busters, the original, popcorn, chips and chocolate was spread along the coffee table, the wrappings all tossed aside in the bin beside Ray's armchair. "Hey Reg?" Alex suddenly called and Reggie turned his head to look at Alex who was sat on his left "that song you've been singing... I'd never forget you" he murmured "I'm sorry I've been so caught up with Willie" he sighed as he grabbed Reggie's hand "I'm sorry you feel so lonely"
"Us too" Luke sat forward and cleared his throat, he found confrontation like this awkward so he kept glancing away as he spoke before he sat forward and gripped Reggie's shoulders "I love you" he started "we all do man and we've been really bad friends lately... Hell I was bad when this first started, denying my feelings for Julie and getting you two wrapped up in it, I haven't been fair from the beginning and I'm sorry" he glanced at Alex "I'm sorry boys" he gulped and sat back.

Reggie smiled and relaxed in his seat, it was the most relaxed he had been all week, all year, perhaps the most he had relaxed in 25yrs. Who knows? "Can we watch Star Wars after this?" He asked curiously, Alex and Luke looked at each other before they leaned back and shrugged, Reggie hummed as Ray grabbed the remote and began to search for Star Wars, as the intro credits of the movie began Reggie closed his eyes and took a deep breathe he didn't need to take. "I love you all too, lets just stay together from now on okay? No more ghost magicians" and with that he laid down on the couch, his torso on Luke's lap and his legs sprawled on top of Alex, he smirked as he used an elbow to prop his head up to see the screen. Luke and Alex had an arm wrapped around Reggie, holding him close in an awkward hug.

"Julie you never said anything about ghost magicians" Ray muttered under his breath, casting his daughter a look as she tried to hide behind Luke who stared at Ray like a deer in headlights "I'll explain another time" she chuckled nervously. "Anyway" Alex interrupted "Reg we wrote you a song..."
"After Star Wars" Reggie murmured tiredly, could he even sleep?