Julie and the Phantoms: Two Worlds Collide

Prologue

Now of Never

Hollywood, 1995

That night at the Orpheum a rock band was rehearsing for their show which was about to start in a few hours. This band had something special. Not because these four boys were breathtakingly handsome, because yes, it had to be admitted, these Apollos made more than one drool.

No, this band was special because they all had a passion for music in their souls, but also because they believed they could do anything. And that spark in the dark, everyone saw it.

These boys were going to become legends. But there wouldn't have been a story to tell if I told you it really happened. So here's the story of the sensitive drummer, the attractive bassist and the tormented guitarist.

Point of view Luke

Take off, last stop

Countdown'til we blast open the top

Face first, full charge

Electrick hammer to the heart

I swing my leg to the beat of my guitar, feeling better than ever. Suddenly I wave Reggie over to join me and we sing along into my mic. Definitely, I love this song!

I gently push him away and then sing the chorus. I then feel the ribbon hanging from my arm swinging close to my leg. I like this style. What if it becomes a fad in the next few years? The Luke Ribbon Fashion!

You never know! As long as I don't die of an overdose.

I turn to look at Alex who ensures at the drums. Our eyes meet and I can't help but smile at him. Even though we're more together, he's still my best friend.

I take my mic to sing my lyrics by giving my maximum. I let go of my guitar and begin to clap with the others while singing. I can imagine Alex banging his chopsticks together, judging by the banging of wood behind my back.

I then throw my guitar over my shoulder and pick up the neck to do the next chord sequence. This is when plumes of smoke explode beside us.

Now is the final touch!

But live it like it's now or never

It's now or never

I hear the guys singing the last Now or Never and I end by turning to Alex. Once the music stops, I look towards our small audience, raising my arms in the air. It was awesome!

I salute before turning to the guys, but before I can utter a single word the waitress catches our attention as she applauds us. I think she liked our song.

"Thank you!" Reggie gives her a wink. "We are Sunset Curve. Tell your friends!"

"Too bad we wasted the tightest we've played on sound check," Bobby points out to me, setting his guitar down on his tripod.

He punctuates his sentence by extending his arm towards me. I just do the same.

"Wait until tonight, man" I exclaim. "When this place gets packed with record execs!"

"Alex, you were smoking!" Reggie compliments.

"Oh no, I was just warming up. You guys were the ones on fire!" Alex blurted out, referring to Reggie, Bobby and me.

"Could you just own your awesomeness for once!" our bassist insists.

Alex turns to me and I nod without hesitation. Reggie is right. He was awesome!

"All right" he finally admitted."I was killing it!"

Letting burst my smile, I rub her shoulders in a friendly manner. Then Reggie holds out his hand and Alex takes it. They move closer to give each other a hug.

"Ok, well, I'm thinking we fuel up before the show" I propose. "I'm thinking street dogs."

"Yes!" Alex nods, pointing one of his wands at me.

Suddenly I see Bobby come off the stage. I call out to him immediately.

"Hey, Bobby, where you going?"

Seeing that he's not answering me, I assume he's going to see the waitress. That's when he answers me.

"I'm good."

Then he turns to the girl and finishes his sentence:

"Vegetarian. I could never hurt an animal."

Well, Bobby is in seduction mode! Although I will soon be too. This girl is goergeous. One look at Reggie and I know he thinks the same.

"You guys are really good" she compliments us.

"Thank you " I said with my best smile.

"I see a lot of bands here. Being in a couple myself. I was really feeling it!"

"That's what we do this for! I'm Luke, by the way."

"Hi, I'm Reggie."

"Alex."

"Bobby" my friend introduces himself, pushing me back.

Really, you wanna play this, Bobby?

"Nice meeting you, guys. I'm Rose."

Then, I put a finger in my mouth to put it in Bobby's ear. Luke's signature! You shouldn't have done that, man!

"Oh, come to think of it" Reggie begins, handing him something that I haven't had time to see, too busy with Bobby. "Here is our demo and a T-Shirt. Size beautiful."

I look at Reggie, speechless. He's genius! You have to believe that seducing this girl has become a competition and that Reggie is ahead of us.

"Thank you very much, Reggie," she exclaims, obviously delighted. "I'll make sure not to wipe the tables down with this one."

"Oh, good call, adds Alex, awkwardly. "Whenever they get wet, they just kinda fall apart in yours hands."

Really, Alex? I know you don't care about girls, but don't overdo it anyway. Since when do wet t-shirts fall apart?

"Uh, don't you guys have to go get hot-dog?" reminds us of Bobby.

You say that because you want to be alone with her. Okay, one more move on my part and I'll let it go.

"Yeah" I said pushing Bobby. "He had a burger for lunch."

I take the direction of the exit followed by Reggie and Alex, proud of myself.

XXX

"That's what I'm talking about!" I exclaim, opening the double doors to the back exit.

"The disgusting smell of Sunset Boulevard?" Alex replies.

"No."

I burst out laughing as I set off.

"It's what that girl said in there, tonight." I announced, kicking into a puddle. "On our music. It's like a energy that connects us with people. They can feel us when we play."

I stop and take the guys by the shoulders.

"I want that connection with everybody!"

"In that case, we're gonna need more t-shirts!"

I burst out laughing, followed by Alex. Reggie always has that little finishing touch that changes everything.

"Come on, guys!" I said, putting on my blue hoodie as we passed the line of fans who came to watch us play.

Suddenly Reggie rushes over to the girls at the end of the line and hands them the t-shirts he had in his hands a few moments earlier. Before they realized what just happened, Reggie had already joined us. Here they are screaming Reggie's name. I give Alex an amused look and he starts to smile like me. Ah, fame! Have to deal with it...

Then, we go to a small stand where we sell hot dogs. However, I realize that it is not really professional and safe. Alex obviously thinks the same because he tells us:

"Seriously..." he begins, dropping pickle juice on a cable in the car where we take the condiments."I can't wait until we eat someplace where the condiments aren't served out of the back of an Oldsmobile."

Alex stands up to let me serve myself. I hear him talking to the merchant behind me.

"Hey, sir, sorry, I got some pickle juice on your battery cables."

"No problem." says the merchant. "It'll help whit the rust."

I hear a little noise which I guess is a friendly slap to Alex who doesn't seem to be convinced it's really good for rust. So am I, but I'm too busy making my hot dog to really think about it.

Once we're done, we'll eat in a corner of the alley where we fall on a couch. We sit on it.

"This is so awesome, you guys!" I exclaim once seated. "I still can't believe we're playing the Orpheum. I can't even count how many bands have played here and then ended up being huge."

Reggie chuckles lightly.

"We will become legends, for sure! Eat up, boys. 'Cause from now on, everything changes!

Common point of view

The boys ate their hot dogs, very happy. Suddenly Alex found his hot dog tasting weird. Reggie didn't even realize it, finding his excellent.

"That's a new flavor?" Alex commented.

"Chill, man." reassured the bass player "Street dogs haven't kill us yet."

Luke hesitated a moment and took another bite, without knowing what fate was going to reserve for him.

XXX

A little further on, the line to see Sunset Curve split in two to let an ambulance pass. The boys had just died of food poisoning. Not terrible as death, you will tell me? You can say it!