Ghosted - Luke | Julie and the Phantoms

Chapter Sixteen

"Oh, great angle." Reggie said as he watched a woman take several pictures of her food. "Now that's a good pic."

"Is this what we're here for? To watch people take pictures of food?" Alex asked.

"It's fun." Reggie smiled. "Watch this. People never stop looking at their phones." The woman then reached for her plate of food but every time she did, Reggie would move the plate away until she looked away from her phone. She then grabbed the plate and walked off. "And Luke said something about this place being a hotspot for music industry people."

Luke then approached us at the table. "Being a ghost definitely has its privileges." The boy grinned as he sat down. "I just wrote our names on the playlist for tonight."

"I'm getting a little worried about him." Alex whispered to me and Reggie before looking at Luke and raising his voice. "He keeps forgetting Julie quit the band."

"Yeah, and without Julie, there is no band." I told them.

"She's gonna come back as soon as she knows we have a great gig." Luke stated.

"But if she doesn't come back, let's not forget we do have somewhere else we play and eat pizza." Reggie added.

"Dude, I know. It was awesome to be seen by lifers at Caleb's party, but we got this with Julie. We don't need him."

"Argh!" I then exclaimed as we all felt a jolt going through our bodies.

"It's that same thing again." Alex frowned.

"Just like yesterday." Luke added.

"It feels like that time I was fixing my amp in the rain." Reggie told us.

"You shouldn't..." Alex began as he looked at Reggie before shaking his head and looking at me and Luke. "Okay. Look, do you think somethings wrong with us?"

"Yeah. Yeah, we ate ten pounds of pizza yesterday without a stomach." Luke said.

"I didn't eat anything." I stated.

"So are we just going to forget about getting back at Trevor?" Reggie asked, changing the subject. "That jerk stole our music."

"And he has to live with that guilt." Luke told him. "It's just like what Julie said. We have a new band, a new sound, okay? That's what we should be focusing on."

"Isn't that Willie?" I then asked as I pointed to a boy watching us through the window. When the boys turned their heads, Willie immediately walked away, only for Alex to follow him.

"Well, someone's not focusing on our music." Reggie grinned.

"Okay, we need to figure out a way for Julie to rejoin the band." Luke said.

"Have you tried apologising?" I asked him.

"We apologised last night." Reggie told me.

"Yeah, but, she was angry then. At least now she's had some time to forgive you."

"Okay, so what do you think we should do?"

"Well, there was something me and Carlos used to do everything we upset Julie." I smiled.

***

"She's coming." I told the boys before moving out of the way for Julie to walk through the garage doors.

"We're sorry!" Reggie sang.

"So sorry!" Alex then sang.

"We're super-duper, crazy stupid..." Luke sang.

"Sorry." The boy all finished along with jazz hands. I couldn't help but smile as I watched them.

"In case you missed it. We're really sorry." Reggie told Julie.

"Yeah, I got that part." Julie said.

"We've been here for, like, three hours." Alex sighed.

"We almost sang to your little brother." Luke told her.

"He comes in here a lot. Mainly to use the bathroom." Reggie added.

"Yeah, it's not our favourite part of the day." Alex frowned.

"But, Julie, it wasn't okay that we flaked out on the dance last night." Luke began as he took a step forward. "We know we let you down."

"Yeah, and none of us wanted to disappoint you." Alex said. "You're the best thing that's happened to us since we became ghosts."

"So... in hopes that you'll rejoin the band, we booked a new gig." Luke smiled as he handed Julie a flyer.

"A mega important, life changing gig." Reggie grinned.

"Check it out. Tons of mangers go here to listen to new bands. All we gotta do is blow them away and we're living the dream." Luke exclaimed.

"So this means a lot to you, huh?" Julie asked. The boys nodded their heads. "Kind of like how playing in front of my whole school meant a lot to me."

"Sounds like sarcasm." Reggie said before gasping. "I'm starting to think our plan isn't working."

"Look, we know we messed up." Alex frowned.

"But we need you in the band." Luke told her, softly.

"Of course you do. Because without me, no one can see you guys playing. You know, I thought that the music we were writing was special, but you're too obsessed with your past to even care." Julie snapped.

"I do care." Luke stated. "Our band has a real chance at greatness. I'm not gonna let that get away from us again."

"Uh-huh. Right. So then why did you bail on me to get back at Trevor?" Julie asked Luke. "I'll tell you why. Cause there's only one thing you care about, and that's yourself."

Julie then stormed out of the garage and Luke watched her walk away as he frowned. "Dude, she didn't mean it." Alex told him.

"Luke-" I began softly but it was too late. Luke had poofed out. I then turned to Reggie and Alex.

"Where's he going?" Reggie asked.

"Where do you think? Remember what today is?" Alex questioned.

"You have to go and talk to her." I told them. "This band is exactly what she needs right now. She's not just gonna let that go. Wait... what's today?"