Weird teleportation powers

"Okay, so you guys know I don't-"

"Do well with change," Luke and Reggie chorused, making them both grin. "Yeah, we know," Luke added.

Julie shoved him, making him bump into Reggie. "Stop being idiots. Go on, Alex."

Alex let his gaze linger a little longer on his bandmates, sitting lined up on the studio couch, before continuing his pacing. Usually he would've remarked on Luke and Reggie's obvious inability to read a room, but right now he was too worked up to care and if he didn't talk about it soon he would literally explode.

… Okay, not literally - that was one thing he was sure ghosts couldn't do (right?). But this thing was freaking him out and he'd be dramatic about it if he wanted to, dammit!

"Alex?"

Drawing himself out of his thoughts, Alex noticed his friends watching him with various mixes of concern and amusement. Right. He should probably start explaining. "Okay, so you know last night when we poofed up to Julie's room?"

Julie's face immediately clouded over, no doubt remembering the awful nightmare she'd had. Guilt filled him at the sight and he went to backtrack, to tell them to forget about it, when she nodded and said, "Yeah, I've been thinking about that too. How did you guys know to poof up at that exact moment?"

"That's the thing!" Alex threw his hands out. "I was sleeping! I was here, in the studio, sleeping on the pull-out and the next minute, poof, on your bed being squashed by these two!"

"Squashed?" Luke spluttered. "You were at the top of the pile! If anything, I was the one being squashed!"

"If we're comparing it," Reggie said, "technically the most squashed would be Julie."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Who cares who was the most squashed," Julie sighed, promptly steering them back on track, "So, Alex, what you're saying is… you guys didn't teleport on purpose?"

"No! And it's kinda freaking me out - what if we start teleporting randomly now? What if we start doing it every time we sleep? What if it's not your bedroom next time, but the Ghost Club o-or Alcatraz or the bottom of the sea-"

Reggie gasped. "Wait, can we breathe under water? I mean, since we don't actually need to breathe… oh my gosh, that would be so rad…"

Luke patted his leg. "Next time we're at the beach, we'll try."

"Please don't," Julie said.

"Why not?" Seeing her pointed look, he added, "We'll stay in the shallow parts. Promise."

"Hellooo?" Alex waved his arms, his voice coming out way more high-pitched than wished. "Still freaking out over here."

"Sorry," was Reggie's quick reply. Then he frowned. "Man, what if we do start poofing randomly?"

"Hey," Luke said as Alex started pacing again. "Maybe it was just a one time thing."

And, yeah, Luke might be right about that, but… "It's still weird either way!"

"Mm… Julie, what do you think? … Julie?"

The girl in question blinked. "Huh?" Only then did she seem to notice that all of them were looking at her. "I was just thinking. About something that happened in the dream."

"What?" Luke asked, looping an arm around her shoulders.

"After you, um, faded from existence," she picked at the sleeve of her sweater, eyes downcast, "I remember wishing, over and over, for you to come back. And then, poof," she laughed a little, "there you were."

Stunned silence hung between them for a moment. Then everyone started talking at once.

"We poofed because you wished for us?"

"Whoa, just like our instruments!"

"So you are a witch!"

"I'm not a witch!" Julie went to shove Reggie's leg but hesitated. "At least... I don't think I am."

"No, you're not," Luke assured, squeezing her shoulders and grinning. "You're way cooler. Like a Jedi or something."

"Jedis can't mind-poof people though… can they?" Reggie's eyes widened. "Oh my gosh, if they've added that in the new movies it would be literally the coolest thing ever."

Alex barely kept in a sigh as the conversation derailed again. His friends seriously had the worst attention spans ever.

… Never mind that he was exactly the same when he wasn't stressed out (like now).

Taking a step forward, Alex locked eyes with Julie. "So you can poof us to you… whenever you wish for it?"

"I… I don't know. It could've just been a fluke."

"One way to find out," Luke said, bouncing to his feet. "Try doing it again!"

"What, right now?"

"Yeah! Wait, let's just go over here…" With that he pulled Reggie off the couch and, snatching a hold of Alex on the way, bounded over to the drumset. He sent Julie a giddy smile. "Okay, now try it!"

"Okay… but how do I do this? Do I…?" She held her hand out towards them like Yoda had when he lifted that spaceship from the lake - or had it been Luke Skywalker? Alex couldn't remember. He'd pay more attention next time Reggie forced them to rewatch the movies. "Or…?" Making a droning noise, she brought her other hand up to her temple. Their confused (and amused) looks made her stop though and throw her arms out. "I don't know, you guys are the poof experts!"

They shared a look.

"Maybe try doing what you did in the dream?" Reggie then suggested.

"Make her think about how we were erased from existence again. Real classy, Reg." At least that's what Alex was going to say, but Julie was already nodding. Of course she was - in the short time they'd known each other, he'd quickly realised she wasn't one to run from emotions, even the heavier ones.

One of the many things he admired her for.

"Alright."

Shaking her shoulders out, she closed her eyes. Sat up straighter. Took a deep breath. As she frowned in concentration, Alex tensed, anticipating that strange tingle that preceded every poof. Any second now…

Nothing happened.

Reggie leaned towards him to whisper, "I'm starting to think this isn't-"

Pins and needles suddenly rushed through Alex like a tidal wave and before he had time to react he and the others had poofed… right on top of Julie.

Unprepared for the sudden onslaught Julie flew backwards with a yelp, somehow tumbling over the couch armrest - afterwards, Alex reasoned they must've come at her at an angle or something - and taking them all with her.

Oh crap.

Alex threw his arms out in a desperate attempt not to crush her, but they folded underneath him as Reggie and Luke slammed into his back.

"Ow!"

"What the h-"

"Oh my gosh, Julie, are you okay?!"

To his absolute relief, Julie started laughing. A little wheezily, but still a laugh. "That... went well."

"Yeah, um…" came Reggie's voice right next to his ear, "I think we might need to practice."

"Really? I hadn't noticed," Alex commented drily, shifting to lift at least some of their weight off Julie.

His efforts were annulled however as Luke reached down to tap her arm. "Hey, it still worked! How cool is that!"

The smile slowly crept across her face. "Alright, it's pretty cool."

Reggie let out a small cheer and then suddenly they were hugging. Well, Alex wouldn't exactly class it as hugging, lying stacked on top of each other as they were. More like… one-sided embraces? Whatever. Despite worrying about whether he was squashing Julie or not, it was actually kinda nice. Comforting even.

Unsurprisingly, being on the bottom as she was, Julie was the first to break it off. "Come on, get off me," she said, making a shooing motion. "You know, for being ghosts you guys are pretty freaking heavy."

Sharing a chuckle, they hurried to obey her.

Not quite sure how I feel about this one, honestly - it just didn't want to cooperate with me lol. Still fun to write though!

Until next time :)