Summary: Set between episode 3 and 4, Luke’s curiosity about Julie’s dream box only grows leading the pair to grow even closer.
Author’s note: I have risen from the black room where Alex has been crying for 25 years to write fics! I’m hoping for it to stay that way! Tell me what you think! 💜
tagging: @littledancersun @sunsetcurves @sevenseashigh (Nicolette I tagged the wrong acc first sdklfhadfh)
After the week Julie had, she was happy to be able to finally relax She couldn't wait to get home, take a shower, and just lie down in her bed. Meeting the boys was exhausting in itself, how would you handle being introduced to 3 fairly attractive teenage boys who happened to live in your garage? But, then she started performing again. And while that was exciting and exhilarating, it was exhausting all the same.
Finally entering her room, Julie let out a sigh of relief as she belly-flopped onto her bed. Big mistake, she thought to herself, because she definitely was not getting up. She smiled into her pillow, hugging it as she closed her eyes. This was dangerous. It was only 8:30 pm. She should not be able to fall asleep this early. Or..she could just-
Julie suddenly shivered. She opened her eyes and immediately sat up. That could only mean one thing. She scanned her room and quickly found him by her bookshelf. Luke. She may feel like she was half-asleep, but she didn't need to be wide awake in order to know what he was over there for.
"Luke! What did I tell you about my room?!" Julie shouted as she edged closer to him. Luke hissed through his teeth, putting his arms up in defense and shaking his head.
"I'm sorry, but I told you the other day! I can't stop thinking about the box!" He protested. Julie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
"But I told you what was in it! Shouldn't that satisfy your curiosity? Besides we have rules now!" Julie answered. Luke looked down at the ground then and Julie felt like she had just kicked a puppy.
"You're right. I'm sorry. It's just, after being cooped up in wherever we were for 25 years, it's nice to finally be able to go wherever I want to. But, that doesn't mean I can go wherever I want. I'm sorry," He explained. Julie wanted to stay mad at him. After all, wasn't she supposed to? He was a ghost living in her house taking up her space and breaking her rules. It wasn't like she was supposed to be used to this sort of thing. She had a right to be mad about his presence. But, she couldn't. She couldn't stay mad. Not after that explanation he just gave.
"It's ok, I get it. Just, I need my personal space as much as you need yours. But, I guess it's no harm if you come in here-" Julie was cut off by the sound of Luke's cheer.
"Only! You can't touch anything. Got it?" Julie questioned.
"But what-" Luke began to protest. Julie raised an eyebrow and pointed a guilty finger towards him.
"Got it?" She repeated. Luke rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat.
"Got it," He caved, crossing his heart and putting his hands up in defense. Julie shook her head. Usually, what people say after they cross their heart is "cross my heart and hope to die" but Luke, that didn't apply to him since he was already a ghost. If Flynn had done something like that, Julie would've called her out on it, but she didn't think it was necessary to do that to Luke, especially since he's still getting used to this whole being-a-ghost thing.
"I was going to say, though, it's not like I can pick much up anyway. We already told you earlier, it takes a lot for us to do something like that," He explained as he looked at the box on the shelf. Julie noticed that at a glance, he would seem perfectly fine. But, she was beginning to know him. He held a lot of secrets. She guessed that most ghosts would, I mean, that's why they were ghosts in the first place, right? Some unfinished business or whatever? She didn't know what kind of secrets they were, but she knew that there was a lot more to him. And she could see it in his eyes. He was sad. And Julie had the urge to make him feel better. And she knew what might help, at least, for the meanwhile.
Julie sighed and moved to grab her dream box off of her shelf. Julie ignored the weird feeling in her stomach that she got when she saw Luke's face light up like he was a kid in a candy store. She moved it to her bed where she then sat cross-legged and Luke sat with one knee bent on the edge of the bed, his other leg hanging down the side. Julie placed the box in front of her lap and opened it. Luke peered over it intently and Julie tried to fight back the wave of sadness that came over her. The very first item inside of the box, was a pair of backstage passes--To Trevor Wilson's concert. She moved quickly to remove them for Luke's sake.
"Sorry. I'll just-"
"No, it's okay. It makes you happy. That's what the box is for, right?" Luke questioned. Julie nodded slowly in response.
"Yeah. Back when Carrie and me were friends we uh, we went to her dad's comeback concert and my mom came with. It was my first time backstage and it was kind of when I realized I really wanted to play music like that," Julie explained. Luke smiled.
"So, we really did introduce you to music, huh?" He inquired with a smirk. Julie rolled her eyes as she shook her head.
"I said rock music. Don't get too cocky now," Julie responded. Luke let out a chuckle before biting his lip. Julie forced herself to focus on the box. She thought that if she let herself look at his lips for too long, she would write a million songs about them. Which wouldn't be the end of the world, you know, if we wasn't an actual ghost.
"Ooh, what's this?" Luke pointed to Julie's old Tamagotchi. She couldn't help, but laugh.
"This?" She asked as she held it up. Luke nodded, curiosity showing in his smile.
"It's a Tamagotchi. It was really annoying when I had it, but my mom got it for me on my 7th birthday and now it makes me smile thinking back on how my mom would remind me to take care of it. Not a lot of people had them, they were kind of retro at my age, but my mom loved it when she was in college," Julie rambled. She looked towards Luke's direction to see that he completely and utterly lost. She forgot sometimes that the boys were from a different time period and that they missed out on so much. Not just with friends and family, but with the ages. The boys would literally love YouTube. Being able to watch live concerts whenever you wanted to? That's right up their alley. Julie made a mental note that she should show them how to view that some time. They'd go nuts. Maybe they'd like the Tamagotchi too. Wait. Do ghost band-boys like Tamagotchis? Well, only one way to figure out. She set it aside to let Luke know that the boys were allowed to mess around with it.
Luke didn't seem to captivated by it as he his eyes shifted focus on the pieces of paper crumbled beneath a few other miscellaneous objects. Julie should've known he would've picked up on that.
"Song lyrics?" He questioned, not really needing the answer. Julie sighed. She forgot she had put those back in the box the other day. She nodded.
"I thought you said they weren't in there anymore?" Luke continued, his voice quiet. Julie shrugged.
"They weren't. But I, uh-I decided to put them back in. Now that I'm singing and playing again, the lyrics don't hurt as much," She explained, not allowing herself to look at Luke in the eyes, but she could see him nod in understanding. He always did seem to get her. She sighed. She wasn't planning on showing him these lyrics anytime soon, but it just felt--right. She moved some of the other items out of the way and retrieved the pieces of paper from the bottom of the box. Carefully, she unfolded them, and she was suddenly very aware of how close Luke was to her, unaware of when he moved to sit next to her.
"I was um, I was working on this one with my mom before she died," Julie started before she opened her mouth again to sing.
"Cause everything is rushing in fast. Keep going on, never look back. And it's one, two,, three, four times" She sang. Julie took the leap of faith and looked at Luke for his reaction. She couldn't even put it in words if she tried, but she liked the way it made her feel.
"That was all that we were able to get to. It's still missing something in the pre-chorus though, but I could never bring myself to finish it," Julie explained. Luke visibly swallowed.
"That's um that's really amazing already. But...Can I...I uh kind of heard this melody in my head as you were singing. Do you mind...if-if I..." Luke trailed off, unsure if he was overstepping boundaries. Julie felt her lips part. Showing these lyrics to Luke was one thing, one vulnerable enough thing, but having him finish them? That was something else. And she didn't know what it was. But something inside of her told her it was ok. That maybe, her mom had wanted her to finish these lyrics with someone else. And she was ok with it being Luke. More than ok. Julie nodded slowly signaling him to go on.
"And it's one, two, three, four times that I'll try for one more night. Light a fire in my eyes, I'm going out of my mind," he sang. Julie pursed her lips, her mind running a mile a minute and yet, her mouth unable to move. Something inside of her, though, gave her the power to respond.
"I like that. A lot. That's exactly what was missing from it before. What if we um, what if we then went into a chorus that went something like...whatever happens, even If I'm the last standing, i'ma stand tall, i'ma stand tall," She sang. Luke smiled the biggest smile that Julie had ever seen.
"Yeah yeah, and then we could go like..." Luke buzzed with lyric ideas as Julie reached to grab a notebook and pen and suddenly, they were spitballing words and melodies back and fourth until morning. It wasn't until the sun began to shine through her window that she realized what time it was. Julie snapped out the creativity whirlwind that she and Luke had been in.
"Morning? What no, no, no, it can't be morning! I was just about to go to bed," Julie exclaimed as she stood up from her bed.
"Julie, relax that was only like 10 minutes ago. It's not like we stayed up all night," Luke stated. Julie crossed her arms.
"That's not how that works! It was dark when we started writing lyrics and now it's not which means we did stay up all night!" Julie responded. Luke shook his head, still not seeming to understand Julie's dilemma.
"But, we don't need sleep. When I'm with Reggie and Alex, we have so much energy that we could probably win a marathon and win. And trust me, that says a lot, Alex can't run if his life depended on it. Oh, wait. I can't use that phrase anymore can I?" Luke rambled. Julie rolled her eyes.
"Yes, but I'm not a ghost so I need sleep, so you, out, now!" Julie demanded. Luke's jaw dropped before he began to protest.
"But you said-" He moved towards her with a victimized finger.
"Out!" Julie repeated. Luke sighed and put his hands out in defeat.
"Fine!" He yelled before blipping out. Julie sighed with relief as she grabbed a hold of her covers to climb into bed; her tiredness from last night creeping its way back. She closed her eyes, hoping to get 1 or 2 hours of sleep before her dad starts to wonder where she is, a smile painting across her lips the night with Luke replayed in her mind. Julie never thought that she would get used to ghosts appearing and disappearing in her presence whenever they wanted to. And she didn't think that she had wanted to. But, maybe it wasn't all that bad. Especially when one of said ghosts can write lyrics and know your soul without you having to say a word and possessed your mind when they weren't around. It was weird to say, heck, everything about this was weird, but she liked what she had with Lu-the band. And she wouldn't change anything at all.
"Sorry, I forgot this. Goodnight, uh morning, don't let the bed bugs bite," Luke blipped in briefly, grabbing the Tamagotchi from the dream box, causing Julie to sit up in her bed. Except maybe that. She shook her head with a smile before laying back down. Her Tamagotchi was definitely going to be dead when she woke up. And that? That she wasn't ok with.
