Finally Free -- JATP Luke x MaleOC

Chapter 41

The next day at school, Luke had arrived once again in Jay's trigonometry class. He came alone again, no bassist or drummer in sight. The events of the previous day seemed to repeat themselves today: Luke had asked if Jay would come to the studio, Jay had shut him down, and then Luke had told stories of his time with Sunset Curve while Jay listened and did his work for the class as well.

Jay would be lying if he said he didn't envy Sunset Curve. From the stories Luke told about their gigs, their rehearsals, and their friendship, the four boys of Sunset Curve were a tight-knit family. Even though Luke had tried to avoid talking about Bobby, whenever he did, Luke could hear both pain from Bobby's betrayal and the nostalgia from the good old days in Luke's voice.

It honestly made Jay miss the band.

It made him miss music.

That was probably Luke's goal, Jay thought at one point. To get Jay to miss music enough that he would come back. And it was working well so far, Jay's urge to go back to the studio grew more with the tales that Luke had told.

Jay also wanted to drop by the studio to see if he could still touch the ghosts. Sure, there were times when he had made contact with them, but Jay had also been able to phase right through them. The afternoon with Alex had shown him that physical contact was only temporary. It was a small window of time where they could touch each other, but why specifically in those moments?

That was where Jay was stuck. There wasn't anything special happening in those moments, Jay and the boys were just talking. There was an obvious answer staring him in the face, but he wanted to find a logical answer instead of an emotional one. But what to do when your logic leads you to an emotional conclusion?

When Jay had arrived home that afternoon, his aunt was already there and had sent him straight to his room. Jay, resolute not to get himself in much trouble while at home, listened and obeyed. Of course, his aunt holding the fact that they care and provide for him over his head encouraged him to listen.

So he sat at his desk, his laptop open and showing the instructions for his work. Also on his desk was his notebook, open to his notes from the recent chapter, and a stapled packet with his work for the day. His headphones were sitting on the side, nearly about to fall off the desk. Jay had taken them out of the drawer absentmindedly, almost as if it were pre-programmed into him. He wouldn't listen to music though, not when his aunt or uncle could call for him at any moment.

Jay wasn't sure how much time had passed of him doing his homework. His phone was charging by his bedside table and he hadn't checked it once since arriving back at the house. As he got up from his desk to take a quick stretch, his eyes landed on his phone, the screen lit up showing notifications of unread text messages.

Jay trudged over and picked up his phone, unplugging it and falling back on his bed. He had gotten messages from both Julie and Flynn, and the latter seemed to have texted him every fifteen minutes about the same deal.

'Guess who booked a new gig! Julie and The Phantoms are playing this Friday!'

Jay had smiled when he read that. He was glad the band was continuing to play even if he wasn't in it. As he kept reading Flynn's message, his face fell more and more.

'Of course, you'll be there too'

'You're part of the band so you better be there'

'Hello? Jay?'

'Oh right you're studying'

'Well whenever you see this just know that if you don't show up on Friday then I'm gonna be very disappointed'