Melody - JATP x Soulmate AU

Chapter 3

"Leftovers, again?" Yes, tía Victoria. Have you seen my father cook? It's not exactly a pretty sight to see. "I brought my pasteles and arroz con pollo." Oh dang, I want that now. Sounds much better than spaghetti for the fourth time in the last week.

"Yum!" I reply, shoving a forkful of spaghetti in my mouth.

"I'll just put it in the fridge for tomorrow." She places the food in the fridge, noticing the empty quarter of the table where we usually set mom's place. FYI, it was there 0.3 seconds before she opened the door. "I'm glad to see we're making progress here." She rubs her hand on the table where her place setting was two minutes ago.

"Yeah. Julie's been cleaning out mom's studio." My dad remembers, and my tía's face seems to light up.

"Good. Moving is moving on. And, it's better that you guys are moving closer to abuela and I." Yeah, maybe I'll finally play music again. "And since you're not in the music program anymore, you can focus on your important classes and it'll be easier to move." Tía, I might kill you. I was going to tell him after dinner. "Did you not see the school's email?"

"We're still discussing it." Sinking a little in my chair, I see the three ghosts that are probably going to haunt me for the rest of my life. This cannot possibly get worse. Because no one else can see them.

"Anyways, I have to go to pilates, so I'll talk to you guys soon." Welp, I'm screwed.

"Hey, Julie. Do you want to hear how I slid into home base and was almost safe?" Carlos asks as we put mom's place setting back.

"Nice try. Now, go to your room and do your homework." Carlos sulks all the way up the stairs, while I prepare myself for the worst.

"I promise, I was going to tell you after dinner." It was my plan, until tía Victoria ruined it.

"Uh huh. I know it's hard for you. It's hard for all of us. Do you want to play music?" My dad wonders, and I see the guys start creeping up the stairs.

"I do, papá. I'll re-audition next semester when I'm ready." He has a solemn smile on his face, but nods anyway, while I hear the boys talking about how good the house looks.

"It looks a lot better than it did twenty-five years ago." I hear Reggie say, and see them in the corner of my eye continuing up the stairs.

"Dad, I just remembered I have reading to do for English." I say, rushing upstairs to my room, where all three guys are presently attempting to grab one thing or other. Taking a deep breath, I rub my wrist right where the beautiful inscription of my soulmate word is.

Melody

Melody [ mel-uh-dee ] [ Eng. ]
noun
musical sounds in agreeable succession or arrangement.

"Guys, what are you doing?" I ask, shutting the door behind me. A series of ums and ahs come before a lie comes out of Luke's mouth.

"We were looking for the kitchen?" Seriously? That's the best you could come up with on the spot?

"Okay, first off, we need to set some boundaries. This room: off-limits." Nothing about that is confusing. "So, out." I point towards the door, and they sulk out of the room, but I'm not upset. I do actually have reading to do, but it's for tomorrow's homework. But, I do actually have to water the plants at eight, like I do every night. Opening the boring book for English class, I hear music coming from the studio, having no idea what it is. Probably just the stereo being buggy again. Rushing downstairs, I yell to dad that I accidentally left the stereo on and open the doors to the studio, fully expecting that to be the reason.

To sum it up in three words, it was not.

"Guys! Guys! Cut it out! Quit it!" I can barely hear myself with how loud they're playing, so I know they can't hear me either. But, they do stop, just as my dad walks in. Of course. Just what I need.