Finally Free -- JATP Luke x MaleOC

Chapter 9

Jay had planned to spend the weekend studying for school. His grades were more than good enough, at least for his standards, but being the "gifted kid" that he was, he always needed to meet everyone else's expectations. Those expectations changed depending on who you were talking to, but mostly revolved around the same core.

They expected him to make stellar grades.

They expected him to go to an Ivy League.

They expected him to get a "proper job."

Everything he did needed to meet those expectations. And he worked hard to do so. But things would overwhelm him at times, and he didn't know what to do when they did.

So he would go on the roof.

Jay could climb out of his window and up the ladder he had placed on the side of the house to sit on the roof. It was an oddly calming place for him, a place where he could sit and think with no judgement, no worries, and no bothers.

Even now, while Jay was laying back on the roof, his hands behind his head as he gazed absentmindedly at the blue sky, he felt completely at peace despite the sun beating down relentlessly on top of him.

"Jay!"

Jay ignored the calling of his name, not paying attention to the familiarity of the voice. He simply assumed it was his uncle calling from inside the house until there was a "poof" and two people appeared on either side of him.

"Hi Jay," Reggie said with a smile while Jay startled, sitting up at their sudden appearance.

"Geez," Jay muttered as he relaxed, resting his weight back on his hands. "I'm never going to get used to that."

"Trust me, we're not used to it either," Alex said. "What are you doing up here?"

"Just needed a breather," Jay said, breathing out as if to further back up his words. "I've been up since nine just studying and doing homework.

"Since nine?" Alex repeated incredulously. "Jay, it's two in the afternoon."

Jay waved him off, as if the time made no difference to him.

"What are you two doing in this neighborhood?" Jay deflected. "Julie's place isn't that close by."

"Oh, we were, uh," Alex trailed off, looking at Reggie for an answer.

"We just...wanted to drop by for a visit?" Reggie said, more of a question than an answer.

"You two aren't great at this lying thing," Jay scoffed. "What are you really doing here?"

"We were following Luke," Reggie said with a sigh before he began rambling. "Well, we were writing songs at Julie's place, but then her dad came in and told her to go eat lunch, so she did, and Luke said he needed to go somewhere and poofed out so we followed him over-"

Alex reached around Jay and lightly smacked Reggie's shoulder, making the boy stop abruptly.

"Why would he come here though?" Jay asked. "There's nothing special about this neighborhood. My family's home doing nothing, the Cortezs are probably heading out to lunch, and the Patterson's are watering their flowers."

Jay pointed towards a house diagonal to his where Emily Patterson chose that moment to walk out the front door and water her plants, a completely normal occurance at this time of day. What Jay hadn't expected was Luke to follow her out and shadow her as she watered, not noticing his presence behind him.

Jay tore his gaze away from Luke's painstaken face and looked at the ghost boys beside him, who refused to meet his eyes.

"Why's Luke over there?" Jay asked despite having an idea to what the answer was. Neither of the boys responded immediately to Jay's question, and Jay didn't push for a response. The three of them waited and sat in silence until Alex finally spoke up.

"The other day, while you and Julie were at school, the three of us tried to find our parents," he began, looking out at where Luke and Emily were. "Reggie and I couldn't find ours, but Luke found his."

"Remember a while back when I said that Luke would get you more than you'd think?" Reggie asked, his eyes also locked onto the scene across the road from them. "He would fight with his parents all the time about the band and he ran away from home."

"Luke's always regretted running out on them," Alex said. "He was going to invite them to our Orpheum show, you know? Show them that the band wasn't some worthless dream."

"That didn't go as planned."

Jay nodded his head and looked back at Luke and his mother, his heart aching for both of them. The last words they had said to each other were filled with anger, and before either of them could reconcile, Luke had died. The amount of grief the Patterson's must have felt after hearing that their only son, who had run away from them, was now gone forever was something Jay couldn't imagine.

"He's been coming here a lot," Reggie said while Jay remained in his thoughts. "He doesn't know we've been following him, I don't think he knows that you're here too."

God, the amount of pain Luke must feel. Jay couldn't even fathom it. And the fact that Luke was a ghost who couldn't even talk to his mother, even though she was right next to him, would only hurt more. She was so close to him, but so far away at the same time.

"This band's really important to him," Jay said eventually as he comprehended everything he had been told.

"Yeah," Reggie breathed out.

"That's why he wants you to join," Alex said. "He...probably sees himself in you. He regrets all the fights with his parents, but he never regretted Sunset Curve. He doesn't want you to regret not choosing music."

"Look, the point is that none of our parents were happy with us being Sunset Curve, but we all agreed that it was worth it. And we can tell you're the same."

"Jay!"

All three of the boys startled at the shrill voice that had called out Jay's name. Jay scooted down to the edge of the roof and carefully peered over to see his aunt looking out the window up at him.

"Yes?" he responded.

"What are you doing up there?" she asked, anger apparent in her voice.

"I was just taking a break," Jay replied.

"Taking a break," his aunt murmured under her breath before raising her voice again. "Come inside and get back to work. Your uncle will be home soon."

"Yes ma'am."

Jay's aunt retreated into the house and Jay groaned internally, looking back at the ghost boys. The two of them shared a quick look and looked back at Jay with sympathy.

"We should probably head back," Alex said. "Julie should be done with lunch soon."

Alex poofed away, presumably back to Molina household, but Reggie stayed.

"We're going to be writing more songs in the studio," he said. "If...if you want to drop by...I think everyone would like that."

Jay smiled at him.

"Thanks Reg," he said, earning a smile from Reggie before he also poofed away.