Phantoms Movie Nights (one shots)

LOVE SIMON

When Julie got home from school, Willie was sat on the front step. She'd met Willie a couple of times now, but only really briefly when he came to collect Alex for one of their dates-that-were-totally-dates-now. She wasn't entirely sure how she could see him — probably because he's close to Alex or something — but she'd learned that it was best not to question these things. Seeing him sat casually by her front door, rolling his skateboard back and forth across the ground with his foot though was not something she was accustomed to.

"Willie?" she said as she approached.

He looked up and smiled at her like they were old friends. "Hey."

"What are you...?"

His smile turned sheepish. "Oh, I um..." he sighed, "Alex got pretty anxious while we were out so we came back — he said he wanted to be alone but I...I was worried about him so I thought I'd hang around in case he needed anything."

Julie's face softened. "That's sweet."

Willie breathed out a laugh. "Yeah." He stopped moving his skateboard and stared down at the floor, his smile disappearing.

Julie went over and perched on the step beside him, praying no one caught her seemingly talking to thin air.

There was a moment of quiet before Willie said, "Do you ever forget that they were alive so long ago? Like, you'll say something and it'll go right over their heads, or...I don't know...you forget how different things were for them?"

Julie nodded slowly. "Yeah, sometimes."

She wasn't sure exactly when Willie died, but from what she'd heard from Alex, it was a lot more recently than they had.

"Alex, he..." Willie stopped himself, seeming to debate whether to say something or not, but then carried on, "he's not big on PDA, which is totally fine, I'd never want to make him uncomfortable, but he just...he gets in his head about people seeing us, even though we're ghosts, so the only people who could even see us are other ghosts and, well..."

Julie laughed. "Yeah, I still don't know why."

"It's cool," Willie said, "anyway, yeah, he gets super freaked about people seeing us together and I just..." he sighed, running his hands through his hair, "I don't know how to help him see that things are different now."

"Yeah," Julie said, "I guess it's hard for him to adjust when all he really knows is the society he grew up in, especially when his parents weren't supportive."

"Yeah..."

"It's Friday!" Julie blurted then, an idea coming to her. She put her hand out as if to grab Willie's arm but her hand went straight through him. "Sorry."

Willie just laughed. "No worries — why does it matter that it's friday?"

"Friday night is movie night."

"Julieeee," Reggie whined quietly.

"What?" she asked, shutting the garage door behind her.

"...they've got my blanket..." he glanced over at Alex and Willie who were cuddled up on the couch, the blanket that Reggie usually used draped over them.

"Just use the other one," Julie suggested.

"But that's yours and Luke's one."

"It's not—" she began, but when she thought about it more, she guessed he was right. "You can use it, Reggie, it's fine."

"You're sure?"

She smiled at him. "Yes, I'm sure."

He smiled back at her and then went to find the other blanket.