the afterlife • luke patterson

flying solo

i sat on the couch, eating a turkey sandwich that i had basically stolen from julie's house. while she was off searching for flynn in an attempt to rekindle their friendship, i had the time to go to the kitchen and make a sandwich.

i sat with my back against the armrest of the couch, my legs crossed on the cushions. while reggie and alex did their thing, luke sat next to me, staring longingly at my sandwich.

i smiled lightly, knowing that he just missed the feeling of eating food,"see something you like, patterson?"

"always," he smirked at me, causing a blush to land scatter across my cheeks, before he continued,"it'd be nice if you didn't eat in front of us."

i rolled my eyes and held out the sandwich for him to bite. i wasn't sure it would work, but i thought it would be at least kind of funny to try,"go ahead, hot dog."

"hey," alex grinned, looking up from his drum set,"that's what my ghost friend called me."

"great minds," i replied casually, not thinking too much about what he had said. i re-offered the food to luke, interested in how this would play out,"my arms getting tired here."

he bit his lip excitedly, leaning over and taking a bite from the corner of my sandwich. it disappeared from my view, making me think that he had successfully eaten a part of my food.

but when he pulled away, the sandwich was still fully intact.

i looked at the corner distastefully, now afraid it had some sort of ghost plasma on it,"um, i don't- i don't want this anymore."

he laughed as i set it down on the plate, pushing the plate away from me.

"hey, jo," alex called out to from his drum set, "what's your range?"

"ummmm," i trailed off, not sure i knew the exact perimeters of my voice,"i don't know, i can go pretty high, but i'm not much of a belter. my mix voice is where it's at."

alex nodded, taking in the information with just the slightest bit of confusion,"so...could you get here for a harmony?"

he jutted the piece of paper towards me and i stood up, walking across the room to take a look.

i scrunched my face up in concentration, as i read through the notes, trying to figure out if i would actually be able to do that. in my head voice, i ran through them quickly.

deciding it was most likely possible for me to complete such a task, i stood up and straight and nodded,"should be fine. who am i harmonizing with?"

"julie," reggie informed me, deciding to explain himself,"she's an alto with a strong belt. we thought you guys would sound good together."

i nodded, walking over to sit back down on the couch.

"i have another, topical question," alex raised his hand. i chuckled lightly and nodded, waiting for him to proceed,"can i ask who the president is right now?"

i smiled lightly, like i was going to give him a nice answer, but instead all that came out of my mouth was,"no."

he gave me a confused look,"but, i-"

"no." i said lovingly, shaking my head once more.

luke turned to me, and with a light smack on the shoulder asked,"why don't you want us to know who the-"

he stopped talking when julie ripped open the doors to the studio, running in and speaking very fast,"we need to do the song."

luke and i shared a look, as he stood up with a boyish grin,"seriously?"