You Are The Music In Me

Chapter 11

"Jules! Julie please wait!" Luke was trying to catch up to Julie as she ran down the street with a panicked look in her eyes. In that moment, Luke remembered he still had his ghostly powers and appeared in front of Julie. She collided into his chest and began to cry. Luke instinctively held her in his arms and began to whisper into her hair. "Shh Jules it's okay. Everything is okay. Just take a deep breath." He felt her shudder out a ragged breath.

"Julie... I'm – I'm sorry for whatever I did. I didn't mean to make you upset or uncomfortable or anything. Let's just forget tonight happened, okay?" Julie didn't say anything in response. Luke was hoping for a denial or something, but her silence just confirmed his worst thoughts. He had ruined everything. Not just their date, but whatever this little relationship is. Was?

"Okay well um I'm going to poof us home okay?" Silence again. At least the crying had stopped? Luke poofed them into his room. Julie hadn't been in here since the boys officially moved in and she felt stunned as her eyes took in the room. There was such a male-ness to the room. But it felt like Luke. A little disheveled, and full of life. She averted her eyes from his boxers lying on the ground, and noticing this, Luke kicked them under the bed while blushing.

Julie went to say something, but found her mouth too dry to talk. She placed a chaste kiss on his cheek, turned around, and walked out of his room, leaving Luke completely unsure of what to do next.

***

Alex wished he had a way to figure out who were ghosts and who were lifers. He had been looking for Willie high and low with no luck. He tried everywhere he could think of... well almost everywhere. Alex wasn't about to stroll into the Hollywood Ghost Club. But he was starting to feel desperate enough. He opted to find a spot across the street and watch out for any gorgeous, long haired, skate boarding ghosts. Or short haired – sometimes Willie wore it up. Alex didn't want to miss him because he was narrowing his field too much.

Though the others would point out that Alex tended to jump to the worst case scenarios, he felt certain that Caleb knew they hadn't crossed over but managed to remove his stamp. So logically it would make sense that Caleb would put two and two together, and realize that Willie had been involved in making that happen.

Had Willie gotten somewhere safe? If he knew to hide, didn't that mean he knew that the guys – that Alex was still here? And if he knew that, then why wasn't Willie looking for Alex. Even if they missed each other every time they were looking, why didn't Willie leave a note or something? Or... what if Willie hadn't escaped? What if he was trapped or tortured... or if he was just gone? And then the scariest thought of all... what is Willie wasn't in danger because he never was in any danger. Sure it seemed like a chance meeting when Willie crashed into him, but not that long prior, Alex had bumped into Caleb on that same street. And Willie was the one to introduce them to Caleb which got them into trouble in the first place.

But no. Willie liked... cared... felt something for Alex. He had practically said so.

So why was Alex now wondering if it would be safer to not find Willie at all.

***

Reggie was happy.

Could you believe there was a place just filled with dogs who wanted nothing more than to be hugged and told they were goodest boys?

And now Reggie was sad. He looked around at all these dogs and he knew exactly how they felt. People who were supposed to love them and care for them, but felt it was too much of a hassle or not worth it and tossed them out. He wished he could say that once, just once, his mom had told him he was proud of him, or that his dad didn't think of him as a waste of space.

But he couldn't think like that. He was in his happy place. And for the first time, he had a home where he felt safe and loved. He wished he could bring home all of these puppers, but Ray had said no. Plus! What if there was some little kid like him out there who needed a little dog to love. He couldn't do that to little Reggie or little Regina!

But maybe just one dog?

***

Carrie was thankful to have reunited with Flynn and Julie. They were one of the few stable things in her life, even after such a short amount of time.

Her dad had been acting weird since the Orpheum. She was also unsure if Dirty Candy was going to make it. She was becoming more and more aware that her popularity drew more from her last name rather than her own talent. And then there was Nick. Part of being Carrie 3.0 had meant apologizing to people who she had hurt... turns out, that was a pretty long list. She hadn't been the best girlfriend, and even though she wasn't interested in getting back together, she still wanted to be friends, or at least friendly. Yet when she was at school today, Nick didn't even mad her – he just acted entirely indifferent. She tried to talk to him and he looked at her like she was a complete stranger. She had seen Nick try to act in drama class... he wasn't that good.

So yeah. Everything was off in Carrie's life. So she was going to cling to whatever shred of normalcy she could latch onto.

💋💋JFC💋💋

Care💃🏼

Jules can we get an update? It's been a few hours and you haven't said anything more.

Or has it been that good that you don't want to rub it in our faces.

I mean, don't worry, I'm not going for your man but daaaaaaaaaang girl 😏

Flynnie😈

THIS 👆👆👆

I've got my popcorn ready!!!

Jules🌺

💬

Carrie was excited to hear how Julie's date went! At least one of them had some sort of love life right now. But no message came through. Julie stopped typing. She wasn't one of those savage psychopaths who had her read receipts on, but Carrie knew Julie had read the message. She decided to call Julie. It rang through, so Carrie called again, only for it to go to voicemail after the second ring. Julie was ignoring them, and Carrie didn't know why.

***

Flynn's phone rang and Carrie's name flashed on the called ID. It still made Flynn pause to think that they had somehow returned to their old friendship, but at the same time, it felt like they had never stopped. That's how easy their friendship was.

Before Flynn could even say hello, Carrie asked if she had heard from Julie.

"Not since that last text, why?"

"I don't know... I just feel like something is wrong. She hung up when I tried to call her, and she's not replying to our texts. You don't think something happened do you?"

"Girl the only thing that happened was Luke. They're probably confessing their undying love right now through song at a karaoke bar or something, and then she's going to come home and say she doesn't know if he likes her. I wouldn't worry."

"I feel like you've given this a lot of thought. Doesn't that seem a little... weird?"

"No weirder than the fact that they obviously love each other but somehow can't see it. Honestly Care, don't worry about it. We can get all the tea tomorrow!"

"Hot tea bout the hottie. I'm here for it. Kay well I'm going to go, but, listen I know I'm probably just overreacting, but can you let me know if you hear from her. Like can you try calling her?"

"Yeah I'll call her now. I mean it, don't worry – but not gonna lie, I missed how you go all mama bear over us. I'm glad you're back Care."

With that, they said goodnight. Flynn called Julie, and just like Carrie experienced, Julie declined the call. Flynn tried again just in case, but again, no answer. Something definitely was up. And Flynn was not going to wait till school to get answers.