Dancing Queen (Julie and The Phantoms)

26. Hating Goodbyes

....Or maybe we're not free. We expected a beam to drag us towards the sky or something like that. Perhaps another ghost coming to get us. Literally anything supernatural or out of the ordinary.

But no. We remained on the crowded street of Sunset Boulevard, same clothes and all.

"Did we do it?" Reggie croaked. A jolt confirmed our worst fears: we, in fact, did not make it, meaning we're gonna cease to exist soon.

"Let's hide on the studio. Julie will go straight to bed and will be too tired to notice us," Luke suggested groggily.

Alex clutched his stomach. "That's a horrible, horrible idea. She's gonna see us."

"Where else can we go?"

Reggie grunted. "I don't wanna die on the street. Again."

Alex used the awkward silence to sigh. "Fine. But if she notices us, I get to rub it in."

"Let's just move." We poofed inside the studio. The jolts continued hurting, and damaging more and more. I felt like the energy drained from my body. We decided we'd splatter on the floor until we faded to dust.

Reggie's back laid against a side of the couch, one of his legs slightly over mine. Out of all of us, he appeared to be the most thinkative, a rare sight in our group dynamic. "Liz?"

"Mmm?" I moaned. I could barely see his face in the dark.

"I have something that... that I've been meaning to say for a while." His voiced sounded softer and more gentle.

I forced myself to stay strong, but my heart desired sommersaulting off my chest. "We're gonna die in, like, five minutes, so.... please, go ahead, Reg. I'm all ears. What's running through that crazy mind of yours?"

"I'm gonna be s-straightforward because I owe you that. And we probably may never be together again." He sighed and swallowed saliva, taking his sweet time to continue. The bassist fidgeted with his hands. "I... I like you. As more than friends."

I froze because I never thought I'd hear those words coming out of his mouth. Am I already dead? Though Luke encouraged him. "Keep going, man."

The guy licked his lips. "Uh, I, uh... ever since eighth grade and I saw you play the violin on choir, I realized that I liked you— no, screw that. I wouldn't forgive myself if I didn't say it correctly. Uh... Alice Mercer... I... love you."

Maybe the ridiculousness of the situation was the reason I burst into laughter; I couldn't surpress it. "I hate you so much."

Now it was his turn to froze. "What did I do? Should I have not told you? I'm sor—"

I grabbed his collar, closing the distance between us. Now that I knew our feelings were mutual, I gathered the courage to kiss him. We melted at each other's touch, only stopping to catch some air.

When we separated, both of us were smiling like idiots. "We could've dated since ages ago, silly. That's why I said I hate you. I've liked you before that. Since... the second sleepover you did with Alex at my house. I... oh god, can't believe I'm admitting this to you. I couldn't sleep all night because I was thinking about you."

He blushed. "Oh. Really? Cause I thought— and what about the— actually, yeah, that makes so much sense."

"It hurt me everytime you flirted with fans, but I didn't have the heart to complain... in your face, at least. All the pretty ones were the ones who swooned at you, and the ones you ended up dating the most," I confessed.

Reggie smiled. "I flirted with them as a distraction because I think you are too much for a stupid guy like me. You deserved someone better. But all those girls have never compared to you."

"I deserved better?" I pressed our foreheads together. My hand remained cupping his right cheek. "I love you too."

"At least that finally happened," Alex celebrated as Luke clapped. "We've unpatiently waited for 3 decades, turtledoves."

"Shut up." I slapped my brother's arm, earning a grunt on his behalf. "Why didn't you say anything? There were whole nights where I'd rant 'bout him."

"Whole nights?" Reggie echoed in a smirk.

"We didn't want to push you into anything. It was your decision to chase him, and it could've hurt the band if things eventually got bad. That's how some of the big ones went down," Luke chimed in. Wow, they had deeply analyzed this through.

And, when things seemed to go uphill, a jolt brought us to the ground. We were fading, but Reggie's touch made me calmer.

Minutes or even a full hour could've passed by when the door unexpectedly opened; it didn't matter because we were exhausted. We hushed ourselves, but we were spotted once Reggie responded "You're welcome" to Julie's thanking.

Luke, Alex, and I groaned, not having energy to do anything else.

Julie reached in for the lights, frowning at our sickened state. "Why... why are you here? I thought—" A harder jolt bolted us. "No... no! I thought you crossed over. Why didn't you cross over?!"

We managed to sit instead of being in fetal position. "I guess playing the Orpheum wasn't our unfinished business."

"Point Caleb," Reggie admitted.

"We wanted you to think we crossed over, so we pretended to," Luke sniffled.

"We just..." I swallowed a piece of the knot on my throat. "We had nowhere else to go." It was better to rot on home.

"We thought you'd go straight to bed."

Even though we were dying, Alex's sass never missed. "I knew she was gonna come out here, but nobody ever listens to me." I didn't know this level of pain was possible. I want this to be over.

She approached us crying, sobbing, weeping... you name it. "You have to save yourself right now. Go join Caleb's club. Please! It's better than not existing at all. Please just go! Poof out! Do something. Please! Do it for me. Please."

"We're not going back there." We were in a pool of tears. Everything seemed better than staying in a mind-controlling club. Even if it meant saying goodbye.

Luke carefully walked to her, not caring anymore if she saw him broken down. "No music is worth making, Julie, if we're not making it with you. No regrets."

"I love you guys." In the heat of the moment, she hugged Luke. They are so cute— wait a minute. That doesn't make any sense. She's touching him. And he's glowing...? They broke apart in shock. "How can I feel you?"

"I-I... I don't know." They held each other's cheeks, looking farther down their souls than the average person experienced. "I feel stronger."

"Alex, Reggie, Liz, come." Obeying the hopeful instruction, we limped over to them. As we cuddled in a five-way hug, a wave of warm energy surged through me. I could stand normally and the sensation of throwing up was no longer present.

Besides that, my hand didn't go through Julie. "This is crazy!" I gasped.

"Whoa... I... I don't feel as weak anymore."

"Yeah, me neither. Not that, you know, I was ever weak," Alex mumbled. A pinch, similar to a needle's, prickled in our wrist. The Hollywood Ghost Club stamp floated above us, eventually seeping into the air. The pain completely stopped.

"What do you think that means?" Julie sniffled.

One of my tears reached the floor, but this one was from happiness. "I think the band's back," I concluded, grinning from ear to ear.

"You guys think we could try that hug thing one more time?" my brother asked. Of course, we did an ever tighter hug. We are free. For real this time, "Hugs are good."

"I like this." Reggie's muffled voice vibrated on my sleeve. Now, we'll have time to figure out what's the next step in our relationship. We've survived a long way as friends, and I'm excited to decide our ghost future.

"Me too. We played the Orpheum!" We spun around while maintaining the hug.

"Yeah we did!"

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