the afterlife • luke patterson

passive

while it felt very strange for me to go to band practice and see luke, especially after what had just happened hours ago in the auditorium, i knew i couldn't avoid him forever.

i strolled into the studio, humming a song i was meant to be practicing for the show.

really, i was supposed to be practicing all my songs. but my mind had been a little preoccupied lately.

"we're playing a school dance?" i heard reggie ask excitedly,"sweet!"

i smiled lightly at the empty-headed boy, reaching up to ruffle his hair as i stood next to him.

he smiled, saying a quick hello, though it was quickly drowned out by luke's complaining,"it's not exactly the strip."

without missing a beat, reggie countered,"and we're not exactly alive, so maybe you should be happy that we have our first gig."

"it wasn't my first choice either," i commented, leaning over the piano to look at luke, who reluctantly met my gaze,"but we're on our way, huh?"

reggie nodded, completely on board with our half-baked plan,"yeah. we need to play wherever we can, whenever we can."

and it didn't take too much time after that to convince luke, "no, you're right. let's rock those kids' faces off! and then play the clubs."

"and then record a single that gets a billion streams?" julie offered, removing herself from her position of watering the flowers.

"i don't know what that is, but hopefully it lands us a manager and a tour." luke replied, causing me to chuckle lightly.

i wasn't sure why he had been so distant in the few moments i had been in the room. normally by this time, he would have at least poked my shoulder and said hello.

it made me wonder if he had seen the little scene between adam and me. though i wasn't sure how that was possible, so for now, i was just going to chalk up his coldness to his preoccupation to the gig we would be doing.

"then we release a bunch of hit albums." julie chirped, shooting us a smile.

"put out a country album that does surprisingly well," reggie spoke, causing me to give him a confused look, which he quickly remedied with a fast explanation,"i shred on the banjo."

i grinned, popping the gum that i had been chewing in my mouth,"i've got a fantastic country accent."

julie chuckled,"and i'll learn how to fiddle."

luke's energy only seemed to get higher, if that was at all possible,"and then we'll get inducted into the rock n' roll hall of fame!"

reggie held up his hands dramatically,"but one of us isn't there! because we had a blowout in 2032."

"my money's on jordan," luke said, acknowledging my existence for the first time as he shot me a smirk,"she's just too good for us."

i shrugged, jokingly choosing not to deny the fact,"i can vouch for that."

luke chuckled, before veering back on track, "so what are we waiting for? let's get rehearsing."

i knew he had a one track mind, but unfortunately there was a key element missing in our dynamic,"wait, where's alex?"

reggie smirked, elbowing me playfully, "probably with his new ghost bestie."

i knit my eyebrows, knowing that bestie was a relatively modern term. albeit, an outdated term, but it was modern for him.

"where'd you learn that?" i questioned, leaning my elbows on the piano.

reggie shrugged, answering simply,"alex."