✓ | line without a hook, reggie p.

CHAPTER THREE

After accidentally spooking Julie in her house, the group of ghosts headed back to the garage and came across the band's old instruments. Annabelle let out a happy laugh as she plopped down on Luke's favorite couch, watching them happily as they played their instruments with pure joy in their faces. Annabelle watched as Reggie's fingers worked his guitar gracefully, Reggie noticing her stare on him. When they connected eyes, he sent her a playful wink. It made her shake her head and smile.

But then Julie came stomping into the garage with an angry expression. "Guys! Guys, stop! Enough! Stop! Cut it out! The whole neighborhood could hear you. I thought I told you to leave?" Julie said with her arms crossed.

Annabelle stood up, walking over towards the boys and looking at Julie. "People can hear the boys play?"

"Yes!" Shouted Julie. "And so did my dad and my brother!"

Alex set his drumsticks down and Reggie put his guitar down. "W - w - wait! So, only you can see us, but everyone can hear us? I mean, what kind of ghosts are we?"

"Who cares, man?" Luke laughed, "People can hear us play!"

Reggie fist bumped Alex and Luke. "We might be dead, but our music isn't."

Just then, an older man came into the room, making Julie snap towards the door. "Dad!"

"Hey," he spoke. "Just making sure you're okay."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just had to turn off the CD player." She told him.

Julie's dad - - Ray - - looked around at the instruments in front of him. "Wait. Is this the junk that was in the loft?" He asked, earning somewhat rude remarks from the boys as he proceeded to mess with the cymbals of Alex's drums; this made Alex ask Julie to tell him for him to stop touching his drums. "I like that song you had on."

"Sweet!" Luke exclaimed. "We're Sunset Curve."

"Tell your friends," Reggie added.

"It's just an old CD I found," Julie shrugged. Ray nodded, "Well, still, it's nice that you're listening to music again. Out here you can play whatever you want, whenever you want."

"Oh, that's nice," Reggie smiled, earning a stay out of this from Julie. "Hey!" Annabelle warned Julie as she walked to Reggie's side. She knew that Reggie's parents would constantly tell him that when he would try to help them when they were arguing. Reggie told Annabelle everything, and she knew how much it hurt when they would tell him that.

"I - I'm sorry, honey, I didn't. ."

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Not you. I just - - You know, give me a minute," Julie told her dad as she lead him to the door. "Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey, we're gonna figure out this music program thing," Ray told Julie. Julie smiled, "Thanks, dad."

Annabelle frowned. She wondered how it felt like to have a supportive dad figure. Her and Alex's dad was so horrible to them both. When she joined ballet and got older, he had began to call Annabelle anorexic, and when Alex came out as gay he called him even worse names. It's what lead them to moving out. Reggie noticed how tense she had gotten and he took her hand into his, Annabelle feeling the cool feeling of his rings as their fingers interlocked. Then, she wasn't so tense.

Julie looked back at the group.

"He likes our song," Luke smiled. "Oh, yeah. He doesn't count. He's a dad," Alex said.

"Why can't you guys just be normal ghosts? Hang out in an old mansion. I hear Pasadena's nice. Ugh!" She exclaimed dramatically before she left the garage.

"Feisty." Annabelle snorted. Alex nudged his sister's shoulder, "I think she's warming up to us." Reggie then stated how he always wanted to go to Pasadena and Annabelle shook her head at his random comment. Luke then decided to poof out, making the three remaining ghosts share odd looks.

They gave them a few moments before they poofed out too, hearing Julie and Luke's conversation about Julie's passed away mother. "We - - we didn't know," Alex spoke up. Annabelle wrapped one of her hands around Alex's arm, leaning onto him. Julie released a soft sigh, "It's alright. You guys haven't seen her anywhere, have you? Wherever you're from?"

Annabelle shook her head. "I'm sorry, kiddo. You're basically the only person we've seen since we . . Ya know. I'm sorry for your loss, though, hon."

Julie nodded. "Thanks. Sorry I got mad. You guys are kinda good."

"Kinda?" Luke asked. "You know that's like twenty five years of rust just being dusted off." Reggie nodded, "Yeah. Do you play the piano too?"

Julie shook her head. "No, I don't play. That was my mom's stuff in there."

"Your mom was a beautiful songwriter." Annabelle told her. Julie gave her a slightly confused look. "There was a song there - - on the piano - - and those lyrics were absolutely gorgeous. She seems like she was a lovely soul, Julie." Tears glazed over Julie's eyes. Annabelle reached her hand towards her and Julie went to give her her hand, but they went right through one another. Annabelle frowned. Her love language was touch, it was the one thing that made her feel the most comfort. So she felt horrible she couldn't even give Julie a gentle hand squeeze. "She was very talented."

"I guess. . If you need a place to stay, you can stay in there. There's a bathroom in the back and a couch that turns into a bed if you still use any of that stuff," Julie spoke, turning to look at Luke.

"Dibs on the shower!" Reggie perked up. "I just really like showers and sometimes the occasional bath."

"This. . This is just too weird." Julie said before she walked through the gate. The group then turned to one another and shared a couple of smiles.

A little while later, Luke suggested that they go to the Orpheum just to explore around. "Actually, um, I kinda wanna stay back. I need to talk to Reggie about something."

"Okay then we'll bring back co—"

"Luke!" Alex yelled before grabbing his arm and poofing out with him.

Reggie looked at Annabelle with a confused look. "What did you need to talk to me about?"

Annabelle shrugged her shoulders. "Nothing, I just didn't want to go out and I wanted some company. You're the perfect company." Reggie smiled at the blonde and grabbed her hand, leading her to the couch. They both sat down and leaned on one another. Annabelle had her back on Reggie's chest and Reggie had one arm wrapped around her, his hand falling onto her waist. "I saw how you reacted when Julie told you to stay out of her and her dad's conversation." Reggie cleared his throat and shifted in his spot. "You can't hide anything from me, Reggie."

Reggie put his chin on top of Annabelle's head and she could feel him nod. "I know."