EVERYWHERE || REGGIE PETERS [JATP]

FIVE

Lessa knew the world was full of people with varying degrees of anxiety but she'd never known anyone at a similar level to herself. Hearing Alex explain his and how being dead didn't seem to make it any better was an odd sort of comfort for her. Her family always sort of acted like her anxiety didn't exist and for the first time in her life she finally understood why.

It was yet another reminder to them of Alex.

"So, when I say not to take my reaction personally, I really do mean it," he told her quietly, staring down at the floor before looking at her. "I never thought I'd see anyone in my family again, let alone meet a new member. Especially the meeting part. I wasn't expecting you to see me— to see any of us."

"Then why did you come here?" Lessa asked. She played with a loose thread hanging from her shirt, oddly comfortable sitting on her bed and talking to a dead family member. Part of her thought it was only because she wanted to believe it was just a dream; the rest of her was sure that it was just Alex. He looked like the type of person who gave attitude and took crap from no one. But sitting there with her, sharing a part of himself so she could understand, he exuded a kindness and comfortability that would've been hard for her to ignore. "If you didn't think anyone was going to see you, I mean."

"I've been gone 25 years. I guess... I just wanted to make sure everyone was alright. To see how their lives turned out."

"Makes sense," Lessa replied, more to herself than him. "Why do you think I can see you? Do you think my mom can too?"

"I really don't know," he answered. "We only know of one other person who can see us all the time and we still don't even know how that's possible either. Though, technically everyone can see us sometimes but we have to be performing and we don't get how that works either."

"Wait, you guys still play music? I didn't see anything new when I looked you guys up online."

"You looked us up?" Alex questioned in surprise. "How did you know to do that?"

"I...um, I was watching a special on tv and they mentioned Sunset Curve and..." Lessa trailed off thinking about her next words. It felt wrong to tell him the real reason the band name had caught her attention enough to do the search. "I got curious and googled you guys."

"Google," Alex laughed under his breath, shaking his head slightly. "So you searched Sunset Curve? Not Julie and the Phantoms."

"Who?"

"Julie and the Phantoms," Alex repeated before Reggie and Luke came stumbling through the door, pushing at each other. The Mercers turned their attention to the duo as they straightened back up, guilty smiles on their faces.

"Uh...Tell your friends?" Reggie shrugged, earning an elbow to the rib from Luke. Lessa's brows drew down in confusion while Alex groaned.

"Seriously, guys? Closed door means privacy, you know."

"Yeah, coming from the guy who walked through it first," Luke said indifferently. He rolled his eyes at Alex before looking over at Lessa. "Sorry."

"Um, it's okay, I guess," she replied. "So, you guys renamed the band? Who's Julie?"

"She's the other person who can see us that I was telling you about," Alex answered. "We met her a few months ago and she's crazy talented."

"She's our new lead singer," Reggie added enthusiastically.

Luke scowled at him. "Hey, I'm still our lead singer." Reggie only rolled his eyes. "It's insane; people can hear us play whenever we play music but when we play with Julie, they can see us too. It's like we're getting a second chance to live our dream."