As soon as we land, I notice that we're somewhere in Hollywood, and Alex quickly latches himself to my arm. He looks down at me with a grin on his face and I smile back up; as strange and confusing as this is, I'm glad I can finally be physically close to him without feeling gross and weird. We wait a few minutes, until a guy skates towards us, his long hair flowing behind him as he goes. I feel Alex tense up, holding my hand tighter as the guy approaches us.
"That's him." He whispers to me, getting more anxious the closer he gets.
I roll my eyes, "I'm sure you'll be fine, Alex. And if you need any help, I'm always here for you. I'm a great flirter."
"Yeah." Reggie exhales, before his cheeks turn bright red. "I-I mean... I j-just have a lot of f-faith in you."
"Thanks, Reg." I smile, and Alex smirks between us and suddenly becomes flustered at Willie's voice.
"What's up, man? You brought friends." He grins at Alex and I, his face dropping at our hands intertwined.
"Yeah. These are my bandmates, uh, Luke and Reggie." Alex introduces them, as Willie bumps fists with each of them.
"Cool. I'm Willie. Heck yeah." The boy chuckles, his eyes falling on me as he looks me up and down questioningly. "And your lady friend?"
I move my hand from Alex's swiftly, not wanting Willie to think he was straight and give up on his crush, "Oh, Olivia. Hernandez."
"Cool." He grins, and goes to shake my hand, but I hesitate. "You don't?"
"Yeah... no, you'd rather not." I laugh. "You'd be horrified if you did."
"Oh, I wouldn't say horrified." Alex comforts me, putting on his hand on my shoulder. "She's uh also in the band. New addition."
"Sweet! So you guys here to learn some tricks?" Willie asks, waving his fingers at the nearby police quads, and the alarms start wailing loudly.
"Do it again! Do it again!" Reggie giggles, watching as the officers fumble around with the keys.
"Actually, we were thinking a little bigger." Luke says, then begins explaining the issue. "An old bandmate stole from us. We wanna confront him face-to-face."
"All right." Willie nods, clearly understanding. "Is this, uh, old friend of yours a lifer?"
"Lifer?"
"Oh, that's fancy ghost lingo for the living." Alex whispers. "Little something I picked up."
"Ah! Then, yeah! He's a lifer." Reggie says coolly, before blowing my cover completely. "Just like 'Liv here."
"Y-you're a lifer?" Willie says, suddenly interested in me.
"Well you know now, thanks to Reggie." I sigh. "So, yeah, I'm alive."
"W-wait so you're like this Julie kid, who can see them?"
"Yeah, dude." Luke nods. "Except she can touch Alex."
"Woah, that's rad, man!" Willie says. "Guess you're just blessed."
"I wouldn't call having this guy hand off of me every second for the past twenty minutes a blessing." I chuckle.
"I just want to savour our time." Alex lifts his head from my shoulder. "You know, before you get old, move on."
"Or you do your unfinished business." I sigh.
"Anyway, this other friend of yours." Willie keeps us on track.
"Too much of a fancy-pants for street dogs." Reggie says.
"Yeah, I'm sorry." Willie shrugs. "Speaking to lifers is even out of my league."
"But you're speaking to Olivia," he says, "How does that work?"
Willie chuckles, shaking his head in confusion, "I've no idea. You know, but there is one ghost who might be able to help you guys. He's kind of a big deal."
"Literally, anything would help." Luke begs desperately.
"Oh, all right. Well, um, I gotta go take care of some things, but I'll meet you where Alex and I met, eight o'clock. See ya." Willie salutes before shooting off on his skateboard again.
"Now what?" Luke says, looking around the small roundabout we're standing on.
"Now, we need to go and get 'Livie ready for that dance." Alex squeals. "And she is going to look great!"
"Wait!" Reggie gasps. "I've just understood that nickname!"
"Really, dude?" Luke sighs, waiting for Reggie's baby mind to catch up to our own.
"Yeah, of course its short for Olivia, but she's a lifer, which means she's alive. Livie is living!"
"Well, you're like Sherlock Holmes." I grin.
"I've no idea who that is, but I'm gonna take it as a compliment." Reggie grins as we make our way back home to the garage, taking the scenic route back rather than poofing.
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Sorry for the lack ofcontent in this one,I'll be uploading a fullchapter or two tomorrowto make up for it, but here'sthe encounter with Willieand how it went!
