Nothing to Lose | Luke Patterson

Chapter Six

It had been a couple of hours since our talk with Julie; the boys were all hanging in the studio, but I came outside a while ago, needing a little bit of silence to think over the events of today.

"Hey, you alright?" Alex teleports in front of me; I nod and play nervously with the rings on my fingers, "Can I?" Alex gestures to the empty space next to me on the steps, and I nod, allowing him to sit next to me. "What's up?"

"I'm fine," I reassure him, Alex stares at me knowingly, and I sigh; of course, he would see right through my lie, "I just can't wrap my head around all of this,"

"Neither can I," He admits; I think back to the darkroom and how upset Alex was. "Why didn't you tell me how you were feeling?" Alex asks me after a couple of moments; I sigh and look down at my hands, continuing to play with the rings on my finger nervously.

"You were already upset," I finally respond, shrugging my shoulders, "I didn't want you to worry about me."

"Charlie," Alex mumbles sadly and places his hand on top of mine, "I'm your older brother; it's my job to worry about you." I smile lightly down at our hands and nod, "The boys are worried about you too."

"Really? Why?" I ask him, scrunching my face in confusion; my mind drifts to a particular shaggy-haired boy who never seems to notice me; I can't imagine him being worried about me.

"Because they care about you," He says as if it was obvious, "Luke wanted to come to talk to you, but I volunteered." A faint blush takes over my cheeks, and I can't help but smile, "thinking about it now, I'm sure you would have rather talked to Luke," Alex nudged me playfully, and my eyes widened.

"W-what?" I stutter, looking up at my brother, "How'd you know?"

"Charlie, I'm your brother; I can tell when you have a crush," He reminds me; I think about what he's saying; I had never admitted it before, but he was right, I did have a crush on Luke.

"Alex, you can't-" I stumble on my words, and he cuts me off.

"I won't tell Luke," He reassures me; I sigh and smile thankfully.

"Do you think he knows?" I ask him, glancing nervously at the studio Luke was currently in.

"Luke's oblivious," Alex states; I giggle lightly and nod, thinking back to all the times he has referred to me as one of the guys; yup, definitely oblivious. Before either of us can say anything else, Luke and Reggie poof in front of us.

"Hey, Charlie, you okay?" Luke asks, concern evident on his face; Alex nudges me, and I shoot a glare in his direction.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I reassure him, "just needed some space."

"Okay good," Luke says, gesturing for me and Alex to stand, "I wanna go somewhere."

"Now?" I groan, standing up from my spot on the steps, "It's late, can't we just go to bed?"

"You have the rest of eternity to sleep," Luke reassured me, shaking his head at my grumbling, "Meet me at the Orpheum sign." Luke poofed away, and so did my brother and Reggie. I sighed and poofed away too; I landed moments later, sitting in-between my brother and Luke.

"Hey, I know being dead isn't our first choice," Luke speaks first, placing his hand on my knee for a moment, "but, I mean, it sure is easy getting around."

"Easy for you, maybe?" Reggie protests, I lean over slightly to look at him, and when I do, I burst into a fit of giggles, "I lost my shirt on that one," Seconds later, a flash appears, and his shirt is back on. "Ooh, never mind, there it is!"

"Phew," I mumble loud enough for him to hear, "No one wants to see that." I wink playfully at Reggie, and he leans behind Luke to ruffle my hair; I groan and glare at him, brushing my short hair back down.

"Okay, so, why'd you bring us here?" Alex asks, changing the conversation, "Just another painful reminder of where we never got to play."

"So thoughtful," I add in sarcastically, "Thanks, Luke," I place my hand on his for a second, squeezing it as if I was actually thanking him.

"I mean, guys, the game isn't over yet." Luke looks over at the people walking below us and gestures for us to follow him; we all poof down onto the busy sidewalk. "I'm telling you; we've been given a second chance; let's find some music, see how many clubs we can hit before sunrise."

"Sunrise?" I complain, trying to keep up with the energetic boy; Luke looks over at me with a playful smile and nods; before I can reply with another witty remark, I hear Alex say something behind us.

"You okay Alex?" I ask, turning to see him, staring in the other direction; Alex looks back at me and nods, but I can tell somethings up.

"Alex, you coming?" Luke asks; Alex nods and rushes over to the rest of us; I make a mental note to ask him about it later.