Snaked

Just Once

Luke's pov

"I- Luke?" She stutters, clearly confused. I mean, who wouldn't be? Your son died nearly twenty-six years ago and now he's suddenly standing in front of you exactly twenty-seven years after he ran away. I nod as tears start to fall uncontrollably now. She reaches forward to cup my face to see if I'm real and when her hand doesn't go through me, she gasps before pulling me into her. She wraps her arms around my shoulders as I bury my face into her chest, finally getting the one thing I've wished for for years.

"Honey, who's at the door," I hear my dad say as he walks closer to the door.

I lift my head and wipe my tears away and as soon as he gets to the door, I run to him and wrap my arms around his waist like I'm a little kid again. I then realize that he probably thinks a random person is hugging him so I pull away enough for him to see my face and when does, he starts to cry before he pulls me in for another hug.

After a long hug- that would usually make me uncomfortable with the length of it- we all pull away from each other before they push me into the house and make some tea. When we all have our tea in our hands, we all sit in the living room, an uncomfortable silence hanging over us.

"My only question is how?" My dad asks as he pulls my mom into him.

I explain everything to them. How and when we died which made them both laugh before they tell me how idiotic that was, which I agreed with. How we became ghosts and that Julie was the only one that could see us unless we were playing music with her. I even told her about Caleb and his club. I left out the part about Ave disappearing because I know she was like a daughter to them and it would hurt them a lot if she wasn't with me. I show them the video of us playing with Julie at her garage party and it's safe to say they were still more surprised and happy than I thought they would be, and that's saying a lot.

"How is Avery doing?" My mom asks.

"She's fine, I think," I say as I adjust myself to sit cross legged in the chair before I sigh and place my tea in my lap, my thighs burning at the hot mug. "I mean, we haven't seen her in a while so we're not entirely sure."

"Well, where is she? Do you know?" My mom asks again, sitting up this time, away from my dad.

"No, we don't know. But Reggie's in the studio right now trying to figure that out," I say, my thighs really starting to hurt now as the mug burns through my jeans.

She sighs before she nods. She looks up at me and smiles softly, like she always does. "It's okay, dear. You'll find her," she says before standing up and pouring us all another cup of tea. "Are you gonna stay for dinner?"

I sigh and think about what we have to do tonight. Oh, that's right, nothing except think about Ave. "Sure. I'm gonna have to go pick up Alex and Reggie though, if that's alright," I say, standing up and putting my tea on a coaster.

"Of course. Does Julie want to come too?" My dad asks as he and my mom follow me to the door.

"I can check when I pick up Reg," I say as I open the door.

My mom wraps her arms around me again before whispering in my ear. "Please come back this time," she says before kissing my cheek, making my heart sink knowing they'll never fully trust me again.

I nod before walking to the car and driving back toward Ava's house to pick up Alex. When I get to her house, I walk up to the front door and let myself in since Ava said I could do that anytime. I follow the sound of laughter into the living room when Alex is laying on the floor playing with Alexis.

"Mr. Lukey!" Alexis screams and she runs toward me in her star-covered onesie. She grabs my leg so I pick her up and give her a kiss on the forehead before resting her on my hip.

"Oh, hey, Luke," Ava says, setting her glass of wine down on the end table.

"Hey," I say as I sit down on the couch and move Alexis to sit on my lap facing me as I bounce my leg up and down, keeping her entertained.

It's quiet between all of us for a good chunk of time, not that I mind, I like silence. "Have you ever thought about having kids?" Ava asks, making both Alex and I look over to her quickly.

I look back over to Alexis who was smiling widely at me, her tongue sticking out between her lips, making me smile. "I think I did. Just once though," I say, my smile fading when I remember my conversation with Ave just before we performed at the Orpheum with Julie. "Life's not fair, Luke. If it was we wouldn't be dead and would be married with kids that are Julie's age." I remember her saying. That wasn't the first time we talked about it but we were both too young to talk about it seriously, they were always just small jokes. "Not anymore though. Plus, I'm only nineteen," I say, shrugging and moving Alexis onto the floor beside Alex.

"That's too bad," she says, taking another long sip of her wine.

"Dude, we gotta go pick up Reg," I say, tapping his leg softly with my foot.

His eyes widen before he smiles. "Okay," he says standing up and patting Alexis on the head before giving Ava a kiss on the cheek.

"No! Don't leave Uncle Alex," Alexis says, hobbling over to us at the door.

"I'll be back tomorrow, okay?" He says, bending down and giving her a kiss on the cheek as she nods in response. "You be good for your mommy," he says before we walk out the door. Once we get into the car, he looks over to me from the passenger seat. "I'm guessing it went okay then?"

I laugh softly and look over to him with a giant smile. "It went amazing," I say, my head flopping against the back of the seat as I look at him. I take in a deep breath before turning the car on. "But now, we gotta go pick up Reg for dinner," I say as we head in the direction of Julie's house.

As soon as we pull into the driveway, Reggie comes bolting toward the car with a piece of paper in his hand. Alex stays in the car and I hurry out of my seat. I stand in front of the car and put my hands on Reggie's shoulders, stopping him from running into the car. "I found it! I found it!" He yells and I immediately knows what he means.

I snatch the paper from his hand and read the dates and places like they're tour dates when my mind catches up with my body, tears fill my eyes as I wrap my arms around his shoulders, realizing we could actually get her back.

"What's going on out here?" I hear Julie ask, making me fold the piece of paper and put it in my back pocket.

"I just love him so much," I say, not lying in the slightest but leaving as much information out that I can.

"Um, okay?" She says, smiling confused.

"I have an odd question for you," I blurt out before I realize what I'm doing. "Do you wanna have dinner with my parents?"

Her smile turns from confused to happy as she nods. "Sure. When do we leave?"

"Now, actually," I say as I move back into the drivers seat. She and Reggie shrug at each other before getting in the car as I drive away.

When we get back to my parents' house we go in and my mom and dad are greeting and introducing themselves to everyone even though they already know them. We picked up Chinese food on the way over so we all lay it out on the kitchen table and eat it buffet style. Halfway through the dinner I notice Julie looking at me from beside me before she grabs my hand and squeezes it. Right then and there, I know that no matter what, everything's going to be alright.