Free Spirits || Luke Patterson

Possibly Tainted Sandwiches

"Two souls are sometimes created together and in love before they're even born." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

"What if you perform in front of her? There's got to be a way you can get back into the program," I suggest to Julie as we walk up the stairs to get to her room.
"I don't know, JJ. I think I'm out of luck this time," she states with a sigh, pushing her door open. I roll my eyes when I see the three boys frozen in shock: Reggie making snow angels on Julie's bed, Alex staring at her picture, and Luke reaching out to grab Julie's secret box. "What are you guys doing in my room?"
The three of them stutter until Luke finally spits out, 'We were looking for the kitchen?"
I let out a small laugh, "I know you've been dead for twenty five years, but come on. You should be able to come up with better excuses than that."
"This... this can't happen, " Julie spits out, her glare deadly as she moves her gaze between the three ghosts, "It's creepy. Get off my bed, please.
I look over at Luke, who raised his hand like he was in class, "Hey, Julie... What's in the box?"
Julie narrows her eyes at him, "That's off limits."
"Oh, okay." Luke laughs, a boyish grin spreading from cheek to cheek. He raises his voice a couple octaves, "Girl stuff."
"Ohhh, like butterflies and glitter?" Reggie asks as he adjusts himself to sit up on the beanbag at the foot of Julie's bed.
Alex rolls his eyes at the two other ghosts, "Oh, come on. I'm sorry about them."
Julie crosses her arms over her chest as I move to sit on her bed, "It's none of your business. And yes, there might be some glitter."
I look over at Alex, who smiles widely as he picks up a picture frame from one of Julie's dressers. "Hey! I actually picked something up." That smile falls quickly as the picture frame falls out of his hands and drops on the desk, "I dropped it."
I lean over and pick up the picture frame that contains an image of Julie and her mom. Luke leans closer to me so he can get a good look at it, "Is that your mom?"
Julie pulls the picture from my grasp and sets it on her nightstand, "Yes, and it's my favorite picture of us. So if you break it, I'll break you."
I raise an eyebrow at her, "Well technically they're dead, so you won't exactly be able to break them. But..." My gaze flickers over to the three boys, who have scared looks on their faces, "I think they get the point."
"I don't get it. You guys can mess up my bed, pick up your instruments, touch JJ, but you can't pick up other stuff?" Julie asks as she paces in front of the bed.
Luke leans on the bed inching closer to me, "I know, right? It's hard. But for some reason, our instruments, easy." He then reaches over and ruffles my blonde locks, "Messing up Josie's hair, easy."
I glare at him as I reach up to fix the mess he managed to make.
Reggie nods in agreement, "Yeah, like super easy. Oh and check out what I learned today."
He stands up from the bean bag and holds out his arms and his guitar appears out of nowhere, striking him dead in the chest, causing him to fall back down."
I cover my mouth with my hand, stifling a laugh, "Yeah, that looked super easy."
Luke smirks at his friend, who is still groaning in pain, "But it's like I always thought, our instruments are attached to our souls."
Footsteps and Ray's voice send Reggie into a panic as he ungracefully flips backwards off the beanbag to stand next to his bandmates, who look equally concerned as they hold hands on Luke's chest.
I sit up on the bed and smile at Ray, who leans around the doorframe, "Everything okay?"
Julie smiles nervously from beside me, "Yeah, we're fine."
He nods his head, looking around the room, "Okay, I thought I heard you two talking to someone."
"We... were just facetiming Flynn. But, uh, she uh, had to go," I stutter out nervously as I try to flash Ray a smile.
Ray chuckles lightly at my response, "Okay. If you need anything..."
"That's the best excuse you could come up with?" I hear Luke whisper to me, mimicking what I told him earlier.
I shoot him a playful glare, giving his arm a shove, "Why are you whispering? It's not like he can hear you."
"Your dad seems like the kind of guy who likes to barbecue. I bet he has a great ribs recipe," Reggie calls out.
I look at him in bewilderment, where did that even come from? I bring my knees to my chest, "I don't know. But if you guys want to talk to us, it should probably be in the studio. I'm running out of excuses and Julie's father is worried enough as it is about her."
Luke shrugs his shoulders, "He seems chill. You should just tell him about us."
Julie's eyes widen as she shakes her head, "You're kidding, right? This past year, everyone's been watching over me, being super nice, as if they're waiting for me to snap. If I tell my dad I met a ghost band, I'll be back to talking to Dr. Turner three days a week."
Luke clicks his tongue, "Yeah, you probably shouldn't tell him." He turns around and walks directly over to the box, "Julie, Josie."
Julie rolls her eyes at the ghost, "Oh my gosh! I thought I told you to leave that alone!"
"I know! You should've just said nothing 'cause now I can't stop thinking about it, so... What's in the box, Julie?"
Annoyance radiates off my best friend, " It's just my dream box, okay? Whenever I get a thought, I write it down and get it out of my mind."
Luke raises his eyebrows, "Like lyrics?"
She lets out a sigh, "They would be if I still wrote music like I used to with my mom. Now it's full of stuff that doesn't make me sad, like songs JJ has written for me."
Alex inches closer to us, "But, I mean, you do play. We heard you this morning."
Julie's brows furrow with anger, "In the garage? So you were there too?"
Luke smacks Alex on the arm as the three of them let out a high pitched, "Uhhh."
A blush forms across my cheeks as Luke lays on the bed next to me, looking up at me with his wide, green eyes, "So, where is your kitchen, by the way?"
Before I can answer, Julie gets down to eye level with him, "Okay, we need to set some boundaries. For starters, stay out of my room!"
That's all it takes for the three guys to leave her room in a hurry, Reggie being the last one as he dramatically walks through the door while strumming his guitar.
****
I let out a yawn as I trudge my way down the hall, having skipped supper to do homework, I was now starving.
I walk into the kitchen and jump slightly at the sight of Luke standing in the fridge, staring at our food, "Just when I think I'm finally getting used to you guys popping up randomly around the house."
Luke doesn't respond to me, instead keeping his gaze trained on the food inside the fridge. I walk slowly over to him, peering over his shoulder, "Do you guys even eat?"
He shakes his head, running his tongue across his plump lips, "I just wanna see what'cha got."
I roll my eyes and shut the fridge on him, the door going right through him, "Hey! You know how long it took me to open that?"
I walk over to the other side of the counter, Luke following me closely. I focus my gaze on the peanut butter and jelly I'm making, "Sorry, I don't believe in wasting power."
"Good," Luke replies, moving to the other side of the counter, standing even closer to me than before as he looks down at me, "Because that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."
I look up into his hazel eyes, frowning in confusion, "Our power usage?"
He shakes his head, leaning in a bit closer, "No, the power that you and Julie have. Your voices, your piano and guitar skills. Dude, you're like a human wrecking ball."
A slight blush forms on my cheeks from the compliment, "You're trying to give a pep talk to the wrong girl."
"I know that, I'm just hoping that you can talk to her. I don't want her to yell at me for invading her privacy again," he replies, causing me to smile. "What I'm saying is that you have the power to move people. To knock them off their feet. There is no way your teachers wouldn't let her back into school if they heard the two of you play like that."
I let out a sigh, spreading some peanut butter on the piece of toast, "We asked her. She said Julie has to wait until the next semester."
Luke crinkles his nose, "That was your first mistake. Asking." I roll my eyes as he lifts himself onto the counter across from me, "Sunset Curve booked gigs by doing. We went into ambush mode. Yo, we played in front of clubs. We played the in back of clubs. We even played book clubs."
I stop what I'm doing to look up, quirking a brow, "Book clubs?"
He furrows his brows as if thinking back to those performances as he chuckles to himself, "Yeah. We didn't get many gigs out of that one, but they did have some gnarly snacks." I look up at him, letting out a small laugh as I shake my head. "I'm just saying, don't ask for permission. Swing that wrecking ball of talent the two of you have at your teacher's head, and smash those stupid rules right out of their brains!"
I shoot him a look of amusement after seeing his wild gestures, "This isn't a club, its school, and your plan sounds violent. I want her to be in the music program as much as you do, probably more, but I just don't think there's much else we can do."
I pull open a cupboard next to him, and he sticks his head through it to look at me, "It's a closed door, and you guys gotta bust it open."
I scoff to cover up my amusement and walk to the fridge as he hovers closely behind me, "Sorry. Once I start with the metaphors, I can't stop. I learned that in book club."
I grab the milk out of the fridge and turn around to bump right into Luke's chest. He wraps his arms around my waste to keep me from falling backwards. I mutter out an apology as I try not to think about the warmth I feel from Luke's hands on my bare waste.
We back away from each other as he shoots me a sheepish smile, "Sorry, I forget you can't go through me like everyone else."
I smile back at him, "It's okay. It's kind of nice to be able to touch you guys. Makes you feel more real."
He shoots me a wide smile as I move back to my sandwich, "If you want Julie back into the music program, then you gotta go for it." I bring my sandwich to my lips ready to take a bite, "Learn from me. Your tainted hot dog could be right around the corner."
I pause right before I can take a bite, "Really? You have to say that now?"
He lets out a chuckle, "I'm sorry, be glad you can even eat at all."
I narrow my eyes at him, before moving my gaze back to my food as I take a bite anyway, "It's a risk I'm willing to take."
After a bite, I set it down and turn to Luke, "We don't even have anything prepared."
His hazel eyes glimmer with excitement as he pulls a folded piece of paper out of his pocket, on the back of it I can see scribbled lyrics, "I thought you'd say that. It's called 'Bright'. It's a Sunset Curve song I wrote that we never got to record. But it's perfect for your ranges."
I look down at the song as his ring clad fingers straighten the paper, "Luke, this song is really good, but..."
He furrow his brows in confusion, "But what?"
"Your handwriting sucks," I reply shooting him a wide smile.
He rolls his eyes and bumps my shoulder, "Check out the chorus for a second. If Julie adds a little bit of piano with your guitar playing, I'm telling you... " He pauses for a moment, clearing his throat, "And rise through the night, you and I. We will fight to shine together. Bright forever."
My eyes widen at the sound of his voice, I heard it once before, but had forgotten just how talented he is. I pick up the paper and begin to sing with him, "And rise through the night, you and I. We will fight to shine together."
He looks up at me, motioning upward, "Then you go up high."
I comply and sing out, harmonizing with him, "Bright forever."
As I release the note, he looks up from the paper, shooting me a wide smile, "Yes!"
I smile up at him, "Thanks, Luke. I'll try to convince her to do this with me."
He slings an arm over my shoulders, pulling me close to his warm body. He smiles, "You've got this, blondie."
With that, he disappears from the room, leaving me with my possibly tainted sandwich. I pick it up off the table and finish it, before grabbing Luke's song. I walk into my room and grab my guitar off its stand and then head to Julie's room.
I knock on the door, before walking in to see her sitting on her bed, working on homework. I hold up my guitar and the song, "Grab your keyboard. We've got work to do."