So this story has actually been on AO3 for quite some time, under my account of the same name, and I kind of just completely forgot that I had an account on here where I could upload it as well, so I'm finally doing that. I'm just going to upload everything I have so far, which is 11 chapters, and then upload the final two as I write them. I'm planning for this story to be a 13 chapter story, and then to create a mini-series of prompts, ideas sent through to me, requests, and just all-around things that inspire me in the Julie and the Phantoms universe. Hit me up if you have any ideas, I'd love to have some discussions with people, and if I want to write something you asked for or gave me the idea for, I'll give you a shout out in the story notes. I've decided to just post this story with all of the original notes I put up on the AO3 story, that way if anyone here was interested in my thought process at the time of writing, and where I was going with things, they can still see that.
"That was so weird," Julie muttered, tossing the Dahlias onto the counter, shaking her head.
"What was weird?" Luke's voice came from behind her. Julie jumped, spinning to face the boy, who let out a sheepish chuckle at her glare.
"What have I told you about sneaking up on me!" She leaned closer, leering at him.
"What was weird?" He repeated, desperately trying to change the subject, subtly leaning away from the angry girl.
"Oh right. Nick came and dropped these off-" she gestured at the forgotten flowers on the bench-"but left almost straight after. It was weird."
Luke eyed the flowers, before shifting his focus back to Julie. "So, the dude has a crush on you, let him be," he shrugged noncommittally, not wanting the conversation to linger on the kid for too long.
Julie remained silent, making Luke a little nervous. Did she know his game? Nah, no way. He was playing it so cool. Wait, crud, she's staring, did she say something? Is she waiting for a response?
"Pardon?" He squeaked, his voice cracking. He felt his face heating up, suddenly glad it wouldn't show. Julie laughed at his slip, a light giggle, at which Luke couldn't help but grin. Cute.
"I said," the amusement was clear in her tone as she smiled at him, "even though he likes me, doesn't mean I like him back." He grinned back, hearing this. At least he knows Nick won't be much competition. "Besides-" her eyes dropped to the floor for a moment before meeting his again-"I kind of like someone else." After a beat of silence, her confidence began to waver. Luke's wide-eyed expression made her more nervous by the second.
"And-" he paused, trying to calm his brain enough to form a coherent sentence, "who might that someone be?" He met her intense gaze with his own. She beamed shyly, glancing down again.
Julie reached for his hand laying on the kitchen bench before pausing. Would her hand go straight through his again? Would they never be able to touch again? What if earlier was some weird one-off? She froze, too afraid to try. If it was going to be a negative, she didn't want to know.
Luke watched her hand, meeting her eyes again when she paused, understanding her internal dilemma. 'God, I hope this works.' He gulped, raising his own hand, and touching hers, still frozen mid-air. They locked eyes again upon the realisation that they could still touch. Timidly, she entwined their fingers together, her eyes not leaving his.
Luke took a slow step closer to her, never allowing their hands to part. His eyes flickered between her own, a gentle smile on his face, happy they could still touch. His heart jumped into his throat when he felt her take hold of his other hand, as she smiled back at him. She laid her forehead on his, closing her eyes. Luke felt compelled to do the same. Absently, he hoped she couldn't hear his heartbeat pounding against his ribcage.
"Julie! There you are, girl! I've been looking all over for you!" Flynn burst through the kitchen door.
Luke and Julie sprung apart at the intrusion, putting six feet between them in half a second. "WHAT WAS THAT?!" Flynn cried, mouth gaping wide open as she pointed at the space the two once stood.
"W-What was what?" Julie gulped, torn between meeting Luke's eye and avoiding it, before deciding on the latter and meeting her friend's gaze instead.
"I saw Luke!" Flynn cried; her mouth dropped open in shock.
"Shh shh, Flynn you have got to be quieter, my dad or someone will hear yo- wait, what?" Julie yelped, registering what the girl had said.
"Wait you saw me?" Luke and Julie's eyes locked, both wide with confusion as they tried to process what this meant.
"I walked in, and he was there. And then poof he was gone. What the heck was that?" At this point Julie wasn't sure if Flynn was even breathing, but how could she focus on that? Flynn had seen Luke! Here, standing in her kitchen, not an instrument in sight.
"Wait so can you see me now?" Luke spoke up, stepping toward Flynn (and by extension Julie) and waving a hand in front of her face. A moment passed with no response.
"Guess that means she can't," Julie muttered, scratching her head in confusion.
"Huh? Can't what?" Flynn asked, tilting her head to the side. "Oh, you were talking to him. Duh, I knew that."
"So wait, what were we doing then but not now?" Julie stepped toward Luke this time, meeting and holding his stare.
"I-" Luke paused, gulping at her scrutiny, "I don't know. Uh, we were holding hands?" His statement came out as a question as he shrugged his shoulders, his voice cracking.
"Oh yeah! That's it!" Julie leapt forward and grabbed his hand again. Luke's eyes bugged and his heart skipped a beat (or four).
"There he is again!" Flynn cried as she came toward the two. "And wait, since when have you two been able to touch?"
"Uh," Julie and Luke exchanged unsure glances, "long story, I'll tell you later. For now, let's focus on the fact that you can see him when we touch! Can other people see him now too? Will it work with Reggie and Alex as well? Why is this happening? Why now? This is all so
confusing!" Now Julie was the one not breathing.
"Hey," Luke placed his hands on Julie's shoulders, "calm down, we'll sort this out. For now, breathe." He breathed in, urging Julie to match his breaths. He waited three seconds from her breath in, then exhaled, her doing the same. Her breath flicked up the hair on his forehead, making both chuckle. The earlier tension in the room had melted completely.
"This is so cool!" Flynn stepped toward the two, attempting to poke Luke's shoulder too, only for her hand to go straight through him.
"Wait, so you still can't touch me?" Luke asked, lifting his hands from Julie's shoulders and stepping through Flynn. "Wow, that's so weird. Guess you're special then, Jules." He winked at her.
"Okay this is all too weird," Julie muttered shaking her head. She ignored the new (and completely adorable) nickname, silently thanking whoever was watching over her that Flynn hadn't heard. "We should go find Reggie and Alex. Test some stuff and figure out exactly what's happening."
~Julie and the Phantoms~
"This is so weird," Alex muttered as he watched Flynn's hand go through Luke's shoulder while Julie's didn't. "And you're saying you can actually see him right now?" He asked, still fixated on the two girls' hands. "Oh wait, duh. She can't hear me."
"Yes, I can!" Flynn exclaimed as she turned to face where she had heard his voice coming from. "And I can see you too!" She gaped, looking straight at him.
"Wait, what?" Julie asked, dropping her hand from Luke's shoulder as she turned to face her friend.
"Well, I can't anymore-" she waved her hands around-"but I could before, even though Julie was only touching Luke."
Luke stood next to Julie again, slipping his hand in hers. When Julie turned her questioning gaze on him, Luke fought a blush as he shrugged and said, "So she can see us?" He phrased the statement as a question, unsure if that was a good enough. She smiled softly at him, melting his heart a little, as he couldn't help but smile back.
"We should do some tests or something. We need to know exactly what's happening," Alex began pacing around the room.
"Awwe man! I hate tests!" Reggie whined, throwing his head into his hands.
"He does have a point though. And you either need to not touch in public, or we need a cover story. People are going to wonder why you've come from Sweden," Flynn pointed out. "Especially if Romeo here is gonna be stuck to Julie's hip twenty-four-seven." She sent a smirk at Luke and Julie, causing the two to turn bright red. Luke yanked his hand away in embarrassment.
Julie rolled her eyes, grabbing Luke's hand again. She ignored the raised eyebrows and smirks sent her way. Instead, she chose to focus on Luke's wide-eyed blinking as he gaped at her. "So she can see you." She parroted his earlier excuse in a confident tone. Luke couldn't contain his wide grin as he nodded, satisfied with her answer, again ignoring his red cheeks.
"Julie? You in there?" They turned to face the doors as they began to open to reveal Ray. Julie's eyes widened, quickly dropping Luke's hand. "Huh? What was that flash?" Ray asked, looking around the room.
"What flash? I didn't see a flash. There was no flash." Julie rushed to distract her dad, eyes darting around the room. Her brain short-circuited as she tried to come up with something to say.
"Sorry about that, Mr Molina-" Flynn jumped to her friend's rescue, seeing the girl drowning-"we were messing around with the holograms." With her cool smile and confidence, Julie would have believed her, had she not been in the loop. Ray bought it and shrugged.
"Just wanted to tell you that dinner will be ready in a few. Now I'll let you get back to messing with the holothings." He shut the studio door behind him. As soon as he was gone, Luke grabbed Julie's hand again, sending her a more confident smile. She smiled back before turning to face the group again.
"Okay, so what tests do we do?" She asked Alex, as it was clear this was much more his forte than anyone else's.
"Well, your dad mentioned a flash," Alex continued pacing, "meaning he could see us. That clears up my first question."
"So, what else is there to figure out?" Reggie asked, reclining on the couch.
"Hmm I don't know, maybe WHY CAN PEOPLE SEE US NOW?" Alex yelled, pulling at his hair.
"Woah, dude, chill," Luke held his hands up, "we'll figure it all out, no need to freak." Alex glared at his nonchalant attitude. Right as he opened his mouth to speak-
"Julie, Flynn! Dinner!"
"Coming! Bye guys, we'll be back later," she spoke in a lower voice. Her eyes lingered on Luke, giving his hand a light squeeze before dropping it.
Once the door shut, Luke melted onto the couch with a sigh. A goofy grin on his face, still able to feel Julie's hand in his. Feeling eyes on him, he looked up, seeing his bandmates smirking at him.
"Shut up," he muttered before poofing out.
The girls returned an hour later. They found Alex still stressing while Reggie chilled and played air bass, with Luke absent.
"Where's Luke?" Was the first thing Julie said upon entry, causing the two boys to glance up at them.
"Dunno," Alex muttered, "he poofed out almost straight after you left." Julie ignored that in favour of focussing on how freaked out Alex still sounded.
"Oh well. Let's try to answer some of those questions." She sent him a reassuring smile, sitting next to him on the couch. The blonde smiled back, releasing a relieved sigh before thanking her. Knowing he had Julie backing him up was enough.
"Hey!" Reggie yelped, jumping up, as Flynn passed right through him and sat on his chair. Julie and Alex laughed; the tension was now gone completely from his shoulders.
"What's so funny?" Flynn asked, looking around the room wildly, assuming Julie's laughter had something to do with the guys.
"Umm, you kinda sat on Reggie," Julie struggled to contain her giggles as she spoke.
"Oh! Sorry!" Flynn apologised, whipping her head in all directions, looking for the boy. "I can't see you," she chucked.
"Oh, right." Julie widened her eyes. Luke wasn't here. She reached for Alex's hand first, before pausing. She settled for placing it on his shoulder instead.
"Much better," Flynn nodded, content. "Sorry Reggie," she said sheepishly, "did you want me to move?" She pointed at the chair she was on.
"No, no! Don't worry about it!" Reggie waved his hands around, trying to reassure her, before plopping down next to Julie.
"I would say we ask Willy about all these questions but-" Alex trailed off, looking down. Julie squeezed his shoulder and smiled regretfully. He tried to smile back but it came off as more of a grimace. Julie leaned in and hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder, trying to console him. She knew how much he was hurting over Willy.
"Don't worry too much. We'll figure that out too," she whispered as he hugged her back. "How about tonight we play something. We can figure all this complicated stuff out tomorrow." Alex loved this girl, he decided.
Luke chose the perfect moment to make his appearance. Although confused at the quiet in the room, he went along with it happily when Julie said it was time to rehearse.
"That was great!" Luke declared as they finished the final song for their next set. He went and sat next to Julie at the piano, taking her hand once more.
"We should head to bed, Ju. It's getting late, almost twelve," Flynn said after a few minutes of chatting. She reached for Julie's arm, but the two never made contact, as Flynn passed right through Julie.
"Ahhh!" Flynn and Julie screamed. Flynn made another attempt, trying to grab Julie's shoulder only to pass through it again.
Julie couldn't move, frozen in shock and fear. What happened? Why couldn't she and Flynn touch? Was she becoming a ghost too? Tears welled in her eyes. She tried to move- tried to do something, say something, but couldn't. She sat, completely paralysed. The tears leaked from her eyes before flowing down her face.
"No, no, no! Please don't cry, Julie." Luke panicked, dropping her hand to grab her shoulders instead. "You're okay, you'll be okay. We'll figure this out." He tried to reassure her. Julie met his eyes slowly before leaping into his arms, hugging him as she cried into his chest. She was so confused. Luke hugged her back, gentle but firm, looking at Flynn and the guys in panic. Alex was right, he couldn't deal with it when people cried. Especially Julie.