STARDUST ⭑ LUKE PATTERSON

eleven

"EMMY. Emmy. Emmy. Emmy. Emmy--"

"What, Reggie?!" she shouts, slamming her pencil down onto her piano.

"I love spending time with you," he grins. Emmy couldn't even be mad at that, smiling softly as his dark hair falls over his eyes. He sighs contently before beating his hands against the piano in a specific beat. "I've missed it."

"Don't make me kiss you with tongue, Peters," she jokes sarcastically.

Luke's eyes flicker towards them, nose finally leaving his song journal to look at his friends--well, his friends and Emmy. She made it very clear that their writing would be strictly professional.

"All these songs are sad," Alex says. Em rips her notebook from him.

"The ones that are marked, you are not allowed to read," she scolds.

"Is 'Invisible' about you being a ghost?"

"That one was marked!"

Emmy shoves him away from her, his blonde hair brushing against her face whenever he tries to read over her shoulder. "'Ghost of You' has to be about you being a ghost," Alex claims.

"I'm going to kill you," she hisses.

"Emmy, when did you die?" Reggie questions curiously.

She stills instantly. The hand that was in the air, ready to swat at Alex, suddenly stops. She clears her throat, back straightening. She sits back down on the piano bench. "The night you were supposed to play at the Orpheum."

Luke, who was sitting at the little nook by the window, turns to her in shock. "What?" he whispers, but all three of them heard it.

"So, while we were out eating meat from a car engine, you were also dying?" Alex tries to understand.

"I guess so," she shrugs. Emmy scribbles some things down on paper, eyes not meeting any of theirs.

Alex knows that Luke and Julie fought that night, and knowing her, she probably ran out. He hoped Luke didn't make that same connection. From the look of utter guilt on his face, the correlation had already been made.

"What happened?" Luke asks her.

Emmy hadn't talked about it in twenty five years, but when she looks up to see his familiar eyes, she finds herself saying, "Fell off a bridge."

She says it so nonchalantly that all three boys gawk at her. "You fell?" Reggie repeats.

"Some girl was jumping off that tall bridge you have to drive over to get back to our town. I tried to help her, but she ended up taking me with her."

"Have you seen her? You know, as a ghost?"

"No," Emmy says thoughtfully. "I guess she didn't have any unfinished business. She got to cross over easily."

"Em-"

"'Invisible' is about her," she continues. She couldn't find it in herself to meet their eyes.

"Well, now I feel bad," Alex mutters to himself.

"Why don't you go find Willie?" Em suggests. "So, Luke and I can write a couple songs in peace."

Alex makes a face. "He's been avoiding me."

She furrows her brows at this. "That's weird."

"You wanna haunt Carlos?" Reggie asks, referring to Julie's younger brother.

Alex agrees and then it's just Luke and Emmy in her piano room, the sun trickling in through the broken glass. It was silent for a moment, the purple haired girl scribbling on empty pages. Luke was plucking at his guitar, but his eyes were mostly on her.