Julie and the Phantoms One Shots

The Confrontation Part 2/2: The Cost

Julie played a few notes on her piano, and after a bated breath from Bobby as he waited for what seemed like the impossible to appear in front of him, a few strikes on a series of drums were heard as Alex appeared. Bobby's eye opened wide as he gasped at the sight before him. Despite having seen them at the Orpheum, he still sat in shock as Alex continued to beat on the drums whilst avoiding eye contact with the man in the room whose heart beat faster and faster as the drums beating sped up. The faster the beat the more panicked or nervous Alex was, and right now he wasn't sure how much faster he could play.

Julie looked over to Reggie and gave him an encouraging nod followed by a small smile, she watched as he took a deep breath and shook out his nerves and began to play his guitar. Once more Bobby gasped as his head jerked to follow the familiar sound that came from the guitar of his former bandmate, a sound he hadn't live, other than at the Orpheum in over 25 years. Reggie chose to focus more on the strings beneath his fingers than the man who had stolen their legacy.

All that was left was the rocker who Bobby feared seeing the most, Luke. 

Julie looked over at him from across the studio, Luke had chosen the location farthest away from Bobby to stand ready to play, but his eyes betrayed his bodies attempt to appear confident. As panic consumed his features he flashed himself next to Julie. Until he began to play he would remain unseen by the man who had caused his parents never to see how far he could've gone.

The look of panic that consumed not only Luke's eyes, but also the rest of his body, caused Julie to switch to a one handed melody on her piano; freeing up one hand to take Luke's.

"I can't do this, not yet. I'll stay in here and listen, but..." He told Julie softly while squeezing her hand tight as he sat next to her on the piano bench.

"Hey, it's ok, I know this is a lot, and it was kind of sprung on us. I just need you to breath Luke, that's it, just breath." Julie whispered to him looking into his eyes softly and gripping his hand a little tighter, "You don't have to appear yet, just have Alex and Reggie go first, and then if you feel you can present yourself to him, then appear. Take all the time that you need Luke, but also remember, you will never truly be ready until you take the leap."

Their silent conversation was heard by no one other than themselves, as Luke breathed his way through his panic and anxiety, something that was normally released through music, but Julie just had a way of calming him.

Julie nodded to Reggie and Alex, and Luke sat next to her continuing to just breath as Julie had instructed him to.

"So that vegetarian flirt saved your life huh?" Reggie spoke up first with a small joke hoping to ease some of the tension.

"I guess it did." Bobby said softly as he heard a voice he never thought he would hear again speak.

"So what've you been up to?" Reggie asked, his tone was slightly harsher than his first comment, as the sound volume lowered to allow for easy conversation.

Bobby looked down ashamed as he began to recount the last 25 years of his life,

"After that night, I wasn't entirely sure what to do. I didn't know what to do with my life other than what we had been doing for years, so I kept doing it. Playing open mics. Playing any gig I could get. Playing behind Clubs. In front of clubs. I even went back to that book club. Then one night a manager sought me out after one of the open mic nights. He was ready to sign me on right then and there, said he had liked my sound, and that he- he really liked my songs. Told me that I could play clubs and gigs with my guitar skills and my voice, but what would really make me skyrocket to fame was my songs. He said my songs were what made me stand out. I had only been playing Sunset Curve songs, that's what I knew. It's what made me feel close to you guys." Bobby said pausing for a moment looking up to the looks of disappointment that were upon his former bandmates faces, but the face he feared to see the most had yet to show up, though he knew he was there, which scared him even more. "He told me there were plenty of good singers and guitarists out there, but to be able to write those songs, I had to be... extraordinary. He told me because of those songs he was ready to discuss a contract with me. In that moment I only saw the fame. I didn't think of anything else. It was our dream to make it big, and you guys, you guys were dead. So I didn't see the harm in claiming the songs as my own to get the contract. I told myself you guys would still want the music heard."