Our Connection • • Julie and The Phantoms

Chapter 8: "Journals"

I process that I just performed a whole show for a bunch of people from school. People from every direction were coming up to me and telling me I was amazing.

"So who was that kid you were singing with?" Josh asks after I get through the crowd of people. "He's uh- a friend of Julie's. We're not that close." I lie and smile a little at him. "Not very close? You two seemed extremely close. Especially the way he was looking at you as you sang." Josh says, crossing his arms. "Well he's a hologram so." I shrug and look up at him. "But he still exists in your world." Josh says before walking off. Those words kind of stuck with me a bit. He still exists in my world. I mean he had a point. Luke very much did exist to me. Not to other people obviously but I could talk to him, I could feel him, and I felt such a way about it that it was hard to describe. "Mr. Ray, I'm going to clean up the studio a bit then is it okay if I check on Julie?" I ask him, giving him my best puppy dog eyes. "Of course it is." He ruffles my hair before walking inside the house with Carlos. I walk inside the studio and shut the doors behind me incase anyone was still outside. "You did amazing Y/n!" Reggie says excited which makes me smile at him. "I'm very impressed." Alex says, giving me a big smile. Luke quickly walks over to me, pulling me into such a big hug it kind of hurt.

"Hey Luke." I mumble into his chest. "My turn!" I hear Reggie say but he passes right through me. "Damnit! It's still only Luke." Reggie says, crossing his arms and pouting. Alex pats his shoulder and pulls him into a hug himself. "It's okay buddy, I got ya." Alex says and I frown a bit. "Sorry, Reg." I apologize, genuinely feeling bad that I could only comfort Luke if I needed to. "It's alright. Maybe one day." He says and smiles at me. I feel a bit better when he says that. Luke pulls me off to talk in private with him like he usually does. "Why were you avoiding me during the show?" Luke asks, crossing his arms.

"I-I was not avoiding you during the show." I say, ignoring the fact I stuttered a bit. He looks at me and I play with my fingers a bit, feeling nervous around him all over again. "You totally were. Don't play dumb." He crosses his arms. I scratch the back of my neck and shrug a bit. "A lot on my mind." I lie shifting a bit on my feet. He gives me a look before grabbing something from the couch. It was my journal that I had left the other day after writing about Luke and I dancing. "Luke.." I warn, stepping closer to him. He chuckles at me and opens it. "Boundaries!" I say quickly trying to grab it from him. He runs around the piano and leans on it. "I open Julie's dream box, I opened your journal." He defends as he starts to read.

"We were in perfect harmony, we danced like no other. He made me feel safe in his arms." My face grew red as he continues to read. Luke obviously knew this was about him. "Wow. Josh must be a good dancer." Luke says, looking up at me. I look at him confused. Oh wait. It was in my mind Luke and I danced together, Luke obviously wasn't there. He only knows Josh and I danced together. While he's looking at the page, I walk in front of him and snatch it away. He quickly looks up at me. I shake my head and smack him hard on the shoulder with it. "What happens between Josh and I stays between Josh and I." I tell him even if that written wasn't about Josh. I couldn't have Luke knowing that. Luke looks a little hurt but I brush it off as he was just offended I hit him.

"So you really like this guy?" He asks quietly. "I don't know." I say which was honest. I didn't right now. Josh was a nice guy when he wanted to be. But Luke was nicer. If he wasn't a ghost, he'd literally be the definition of perfect. If I knew him in the 90s when he was actually 17 than I would be in love with him. Luke stays quiet before flashing out of the studio. "Luke.." I say softly before looking around. Alex and Reggie had been in there but hadn't really been paying attention to us until now. Alex slowly walks over to me.

"If it isn't obvious, Luke really likes you. He has a funny way of showing it though." Alex says, looking at me. I nod and look at him. "I like him too Alex. Just it's complicated right now." I say before walking out of the studio. Reggie's face lights up and he looks at Alex. "Don't you dare tell Luke she said that. They need to work this out by themselves." Alex points at Reggie. He holds his hands up in defense. "I was only going to say I think we should go check out this pizza place." Reggie says and grins at him.