Finally Free -- JATP Luke x MaleOC

Chapter 2

The next morning, Jay had arrived rather early at Julie's house. He was about to pull out his phone to text her when a sudden movement caught his eye. He only saw it for a brief moment, but it looked like a man who he had never seen before. Before Jay could think straight, he hopped out of the car and followed the path to the studio. He slowed to a stop and looked around, stomping his foot in frustration.

As he was about to walk back to the car, he heard the chords of a piano start to play and whirled to the studio door, which was slightly ajar. He slowly walked forward and opened the door as Julie Molina began to sing.

"Here's the one thing
I want you to know
You got someplace to go," she sang and Jay couldn't help the smile that formed on his face. Julie was too lost in her piano to notice him step into the garage, watching her in awe.

"And you use your pain
Cause it makes you you
Though I wish
I could hold you through it," Julie continued singing. Jay's gaze moved to the drumset sitting to his left and, not caring how it made its way down from the loft, dashed to take his seat and picked up his sticks as Julie approached the chorus.

"So get up, get out relight that spark
You know the rest by heart," Julie sang and Jay began playing the drums, shocking Julie for only a split second before she began singing again.

"Wake up, wake up if it's all you do," she sang, smiling widely at Jay as he played a simple rhythm on the drums that worked wonderfully with the chords and rhythm of Julie's piano.

The two continued playing and Jay completely lost himself in the drums, not paying attention to the three figures that stood behind Julie. He had the brightest smile on his face as the song approached its end. By the time he had caught his breath and looked up at Julie, the three figures behind her had disappeared.

Jay put down his sticks and ran towards Julie, crouching down to her height while she turned to Jay with an elated look on her face.

"That was amazing Jules," Jay said, looking at her with proud eyes. "Where did you learn that song, that was beautiful, I-"

As Jay began stammering, Julie shook her head and grabbed the sheet music on top of the piano.

"My mom wrote me this song," she said, looking at the music and clutching it to her chest. Jay's smile softened and he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I think the first thing we should do, once we get the courage to go in there, is ask Julie why she lied to us about playing the piano," a hushed voice said from outside, making Jay tense and look towards the door.

"Yeah, you know, maybe tell her how amazing she is," another voice said, making Jay drop his hand from Julie's shoulder.

"She's legit," said a third voice. "I got ghost bumps."

Jay rose to his feet and gave a quick look to Julie, who either couldn't hear those voices or wasn't paying attention. He decided to leave her, give her some needed privacy, and instead go investigate outside.

As he walked towards the door, it suddenly swung open and in came a teary-eyed Flynn.

"Woah, Flynn," Jay said. "I was gonna come by soon-"

"That's not why I'm here," Flynn said, quickly dismissing Jay and walking towards Julie.

"Okay," Jay dragged out, walking out the studio and closing the door behind him. He didn't need to go much farther to find the source of the voices.

"And the only thing scarier than one girl crying is two girls crying!" the sandy-haired boy said.

"He's right," the blonde agreed.

"Guys we definitely can't go in there," the brown-haired boy said.

"But we can listen," the black-haired boy said, making a move towards the studio.

"Yeah, no," Jay said, holding a hand out to stop him, glaring at the three boys. "What you can do is get off this property before I call the cops."

"Woah," the brown-haired boy said, looking Jay up and down.

The other two boys looked at each other in surprise and confusion before turning their gaze back to Jay.

"You can see us?" the blonde boy asked.

"What kind of question is-wait."

Jay sighed and tried to grab the black-haired boy's shoulder, but his hand passed right through him.

"You're ghosts," Jay said matter-of-factly, hand dropping to his side.

"Yeah, we know. Weird, right?" the black-haired boy smiled. Jay gave him a small smile.

"So why can you see us?" the sandy-haired boy asked.

"I dunno," Jay shrugged. "I've been able to see ghosts since I was, like, 12."

"Woah," the blonde said.

"Yeah. Imagine walking down the street and having a ghost just skateboard right through you," Jay joked, doing motions with his hand. The three ghosts laughed and Jay smiled, some of the tension having relieved itself.

"I'm Jay," he said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Reggie," the boy said, turning to his friends. "And that's Alex and-"

"Luke," the brown hair boy said, walking forward and holding a hand out for a handshake. "I'm Luke."

"You're new to the whole ghost thing, huh?" Jay smirked, motioning at Luke's hand with his head, making the boy stammer and drop his hand.

"Yeah, uh...sorry."

"Just poking some fun," Jay chuckled. "Now, what are you all doing here?"

"That's..." Luke at his friends before looking back at Jay. "It's a bit of a long story."

"And I don't think you have time for that," Reggie said, peeking into the studio from the windows.

The three ghost boys moved out of the way as Flynn and Julie exited the studio, the latter closing the door behind her.

"You two done with your girl talk?" Jay asked, trying not to laugh at the boys' attempt to look casual.

"Yep. All done," Flynn said happily. Julie shook her head at her friend.

"C'mon, let's get going!" she said, going ahead with Flynn. Jay followed behind the two of them as Julie turned to wave at the boys, earning a look from Flynn. Jay waved the girls to keep moving and quickly followed after giving one last look at the boys.