The next few days passed very quickly, not only because Julie and the boys were working on new songs. Somehow time passed faster than before and no one could really explain it. While Luke, together with Julie, worked on the new songs and forgot about his surroundings, Alex and Reggie sat on the couch and talked while they watched the two of them.
"You have to say, she's really talented," Reggie said and Alex nodded.
"When I remember the times when we wrote songs, it was always chaos," Alex laughed, remembering the years when they had written songs together with Luke. They had been the most important years ever, because that was the beginning for Sunset Curve, which unfortunately had never been finished. But looking at it now, it didn't matter, because now they had something they could never dream of back then. This thing with Julie wasn't just a dream they all wanted to have. No. It was also a family and a friendship that was so incredibly strong that no one could destroy it, not even Caleb could. When Alex thought of Caleb again, he also thought of Willi again and his heart ached. How he would love to hear from the skater, but it didn't look like the two lonely hearts would meet again. Willi was gone, and so was Caleb.
"Let me guess. You're thinking about Willi again?" asked Reggie, who had been watching Alex for a while. Alex nodded.
"Come on. He's not here anymore. He probably had to go with Caleb and didn't have a choice," Reggie said, trying to take Alex's mind off it, but it didn't work.
"I just don't understand it. Was Willi in some kind of danger or did Caleb have something of his that he couldn't turn his back on?" asked Alex and Reggie just shrugged his shoulders. He didn't really have a plausible answer to that. He himself had been watching everything he could see for the last two days, but he hadn't been able to discover anything of Caleb. There was no trace of the ghost.
"I'm just worried about him. I don't even know how he is, or if Caleb did something to him for helping us," Alex sighed and sank even deeper into the couch. He wanted most of all to crawl away and never be visible to others again.
"Now calm down. We know Willi. He doesn't let himself down that easily, and I'm sure he has a plan to get away from Caleb if he has him in his power," Reggie said and put an arm around Alex. It had never been easy for Luke, Alex and Reggie. It was as if the earth had turned against them, sometimes more and sometimes less heavily. And they were in the middle of it, being the pawns, eagerly awaiting the next train that would take them God knows where. Reggie couldn't even say what would happen tomorrow because he had no intervention and had to accept that he couldn't change the situation. Even if they all wanted to, all they could do was continue to stand there and wait. That was all that was left for them.
"You're right," Alex said, resting his head on Reggie's shoulder. Even if Reggie was a bit strange from time to time and didn't always notice everything, he was a good friend who showed no change exactly in such hopeless situations. He was always the same and would always remain so.
"But I would like to know how he is and if he still thinks about me at all. I don't even know how he feels about me," Alex said and sighed out loud again. It was difficult to think about it. No. It was difficult to think about the whole situation. It all made no sense, and yet somehow it made sense. Alex, however, wanted nothing more than a normal life.
"I'm sure he's thinking about you and he's fine too. Now don't worry or I'll have to worry that you'll leave one day and go looking for him," Reggie said and Alex had to grin.
"If you're not right, Reggie," Alex laughed before his mood changed again and he had to think about Willi again. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to look for him. Even if the idea came from Reggie, it didn't sound that bad.
"You know what Reg? That's actually a very good idea, that's exactly what I'm going to do," Alex said and straightened up. "What now? You want to look for him?" asked Reggie and Alex nodded again.
"What else am I supposed to do? I can't just sit here and do nothing, I mean maybe he needs my help and I'm just sitting here thinking about him. That won't help him either," Alex was suddenly obsessed with the idea of looking for Willi and before Reggie could say anything Alex had grabbed him by the hand, pulled him to his feet and had left the studio with him.
"You're not serious, are you?" asked Reggie after the two of them had walked down the street and were approaching the city centre.
"Why not? I'm going to look for him and I'm going to find him. I owe him that," Alex said firmly.
"You don't owe him anything, or did you secretly make a bet?" asked Reggie, slightly confused and not understanding anything anymore. Seeing Alex so sad had made him sad himself, but he never wanted him to behave like that just because he had told him one of his muddled ideas. Now Alex was taking the whole thing a little too seriously than it was meant to be.
"Listen Reg. Willi really helped us, even if it all backfired a bit, he tried to help us. And he was the only one who showed me how the spirit life works. All of a sudden I was able to lift things and open doors again, which I couldn't do as a ghost before, but with his help I could," Alex said and Reggie remembered the moment when Alex failed miserably to open a door. He had also refused to just walk through the wall as a ghost before. Alex always took things too seriously.
"But you don't even know where he is. Maybe he's not even in town anymore," Reggie said, trying to stop Alex from chasing a phantom.
"Reg, if he was out of town, I would feel it, believe me," Alex said, sounding so determined that Reggie didn't ask how Alex knew again.
"Okay good, so let's assume he's still in town. Where do we start looking for him? Do you know any places where he might be?" he asked and Alex thought for a moment.
"We went to a museum, that was at our second meeting. You can't call it a second meeting, more like the first meeting," Alex said and thought for a moment where the museum was. Back in 1995 everything looked different and there weren't all these small shops that now filled the city centre. It was hard to find your way around here if you still had the brain that was retarded in 1995.
"Well, let's just go there and see if he's there," Reggie said and the two set off.
Further away, in an unfamiliar building invisible to people, Caleb Covington was pacing. His long cloak billowed as he did so. Willi sat on a small armchair and watched his boss walk round and round the room, muttering something not human. What many didn't know about Calem was that he was not only a ghost, but also possessed black magic with which he could control anything he wanted. In that sense, he could change the course of a story that was written in a book with his mere glance, although such a thing was not possible. But Caleb could. Willi was even sure that Caleb had made a pact with the devil himself. How else would he be capable of such a thing?
"These guys, something about them is different from the other ghosts," Caleb muttered, stopping in front of Willi and looking at him. Willi slid back and forth in the chair.
"Something but I don't know what it is," Caleb said as his eyes turned yellow.
"Maybe they're not really ghosts at all," Willi said, but with each word he said his voice grew quieter.
"What do you mean?", Caleb raised an eyebrow and looked at Willi questioningly.
"Well...what if they are ghosts, but not like me, for example. I'm a lost soul, but they're not." said Willi, who had thought about this many times and had somehow come to question the boys' story. "Why wouldn't they be a lost soul? All those who come back to the world as ghosts are lost souls who have things to do before they can cross over to the other side," Caleb said, shaking his head, then he walked on again, leaving Willi just sitting there.
"But why wouldn't it be? They did what they had to do and, did it work? No, I don't think so," said Willi, who had gone back to the studio shortly after the concert he had sneaked into to see Alex, and he had indeed still been there. He hadn't just disappeared before his eyes like so many others.
"They must be ghosts for another reason. This isn't about an unpaid bill, no, this is about something else entirely," Willi said and had to think about Alex, even though he was supposed to forget him because he would never see him again.
"I don't believe in that. It can't be that three ghosts show up here in town, in my territory at that, and then just mess up the whole system just because they're different," Caleb said, his voice thundering through the room. Willi made himself small and just wanted to get out of here.
"Whereas - your thought isn't bad. Maybe there is something to this after all, and I'm going to find out and change it forever. This is my town and it's going to stay my town," Caleb said, laughing darkly.
"What are you going to do with this Nick anyway?" asked Willi and Caleb laughed.
"Well what do you think? He's kind of like a second chance and having more access," Caleb said and Willi nodded hesitantly. He felt sorry for this Nick, even though he didn't know him and would never have anything to do with him, but just the fact that Caleb had taken advantage of such a young person was brazen enough.
"You know, to run an empire this big, Will, you need your power. And power isn't something you just get. You can work hard for it, or sell your soul to the devil to gain that power. But the easiest way is to take a young soul and slowly but deliberately suck out its power," Caleb said, grinning at Willi.
"And that's the way I think is better and more purposeful," he added and Willi looked away. Caleb was cruel.
"Okay, but what about when you're done with it and you've heard what you wanted to hear?" asked Willi.
"Then he has no more use for me. I'll erase his mind and he won't be able to remember anything he did. Then the matter will be closed for me and the boy will live a normal life again, as if nothing had ever happened," said Caleb, stopping in front of Willi again.
"And that's one of the ways I like it better too, even if it meant the person's life will never be the same again," Caleb laughed and Willi tried to hold off all the negative energy.
"Can I ask you something?" asked Willi and Caleb nodded. If Willi was already here with Caleb, then he could finally ask the questions he had always wanted to ask.
"What was your life as a human like?", even though Willi wasn't sure whether Caleb had ever been a human before or had simply been born as a ghost, this question had interested him for a long time. Caleb alone interested him. He wanted to know more about this person he spent his time with.
"My life as a human? As if that's in any way interesting or important!" said Caleb, not wanting to answer Willi.
"Please. I'd love to know. I don't know anything about you!" said Willi and finally Caleb did start to tell something about himself.
"Well, my life as a human wasn't that great. I always imagined it to be something different until I learned how to manipulate people. From that day on, everything changed. Until one day I wasn't paying attention and ran in front of a car. Well, then I became a ghost," Caleb had concealed a lot from Willi, but he didn't want to talk about it any further and decided to tell him only the short version, which should be enough to answer Willi's question. "Oh, that's cruel," Willi only said and didn't ask further, because he had felt something else at that moment. He sensed Alex. He had to be around here somewhere. But how could that be? Did he know where he was? Or was it just a coincidence? Willi stood up and walked to one of the windows. When he looked out onto the street, he saw Alex, who had just come out of the museum with Reggie. Quickly Willi looked away again. He didn't want Caleb to know anything about it. That would only mean trouble again. But when he briefly looked at Alex again, he noticed that Alex had changed. Not externally, but rather more from his aura. The aura he radiated had changed. It was no longer veiled as it had been before when he was a ghost, no. Now it was firmer and more clearly visible. Was he human again? Wilie grabbed his head. This was clearly too much for him.
"But...how...how is such a thing possible?", He stumbled backwards and sat down again on the small armchair because otherwise his legs would have given way and he would have fallen. What is going on here?
"What's wrong with you all of a sudden?", Caleb asked when he had turned back to Willi and he was clutching the armchair.
"Everything's fine. I just don't feel so good," Willi lied.
"You look it," Caleb said, paying no further attention to Willi, who was still clinging to the chair as if he were about to fly away with it.
"So, we've now searched all the places you could think of, but Willi is nowhere around. So what do we do next?" asked Reggie after they had left the museum and sat down on a bench. Alex was at his wits end and didn't know what to do, as he just wasn't made for such special things.
"I don't know." he said and his voice lowered and became quieter.
"Hey, now just don't give up. You said Willi was in danger from the beginning, or that he knew where Caleb was. And you wanted to find him. If you give up now, nothing will change - neither for you nor for Willi," Reggie said and tried to cheer Alex up again, but Alex had already sunk into himself and was no longer sane.
"I don't even know where to look for him anymore. I keep feeling like he's right near me, but I just can't find him," Alex said, running a hand through his hair, then putting his cap back on.
"But if you can feel it that he's here somewhere, then he must be here somewhere, right?" asked Reggie, immediately looking around in all directions. The old buildings reaching up to the sky didn't make it any easier though. There were hundreds of windows, and Willi could be behind any one of them. They wouldn't find him that way, Reggie knew that too. So they needed another idea how to find him.
"Remember that thing with Jake?" asked Reggie after he had an idea that was completely unrelated and wouldn't help them, but maybe he could get Alex to do something and see life as life again.
"You mean Jake Willers?" asked Alex and Reggie nodded.
"What's he got to do with this now?", Alex rolled his eyes and looked ahead again.
"Nothing. But do you remember the day he just disappeared like that and no one could explain his disappearance?", Reggie asked and Alex nodded.
"Sure. How could anyone forget something like that. It was a huge deal and the news was full of it," said Alex who could still remember the case with Jake Willers. Jake had been a musician like Luke, Alex and Reggie, but not in a band, he was a loner. He had gotten a record deal back then after becoming famous in a single night, by accident.
"The whole thing was more than spaced out and they didn't talk about anything else for weeks," Alex said after a while of silence.
"But how do you come up with him now?" he turned his attention back to Reggie.
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'd like to know what happened to him," Reggie said.
"As long as we don't get anywhere with Willi," he added, and Alex didn't mind. So the two of them got up and made their way to the police station. Back then, 25 years ago, they had filed a missing person's report and searched for Jake Willers. But then they died and never found out how the story had ended.
"But we wanted to look for Willi," Alex said, his mind still on Willi.
"I know, but we're not getting anywhere here. And maybe it's like Jake Willers with Willi. He disappears without a trace and nobody knows where he is or what happened to him. Maybe we'll know more when we find out what happened to Jake Willers," Reggie said and finally Alex agreed and the two of them continued walking. As the two of them entered the police station they were met with the spectacle of absolute chaos. Officers were running back and forth, papers were all over the floor and the atmosphere was unacceptable.
"Oh my God, if we haven't seen this before," Reggie laughed at the sight as the two approached the counter and waited for an officer to take their statement. It took a full ten minutes before anyone finally noticed them. A slightly older policeman with a full beard and an old uniform that was no longer in use came up to the two and looked at them suspiciously.
"What are you doing here?" he asked them, sounding annoyed and stressed. Almost as if he didn't want them here right now, but couldn't do anything about it.
"Um, we have a question for you about a missing person case from 1995," Alex said and the policeman raised an eyebrow.
„1995? Why are you interested in that? And anyway, you're not that old to have lived at that time and know about crimes from then," the policeman said. Of course he couldn't know what had happened in the last few weeks. He didn't know that he was just talking to young people who had been declared dead, who had come back to earth as ghosts and had now become human again. How was he supposed to know that either. Maybe he hadn't read through the files carefully at the time, but from the look of him, he had been with the police at the time.
"It's about...", Alex couldn't think of the right words.
"It's about a school project. That's right, it's about a school project. We're supposed to write something about missing people and deal with the cases that weren't solved back then," Reggie said and Alex looked at him thankfully.
"Well, if you say so. So how can I help you with that?" the policeman asked, still a little grumpy.
"We've been assigned the name Jake Willers and we're supposed to be on his case," Alex said after he was able to find the right words again.
"Jake Willers?" the policeman asked and they both nodded.
"Well, I'll take a look. It may take a while though. I'm sure you can see what's going on here," the policeman said before disappearing into a back room and just leaving the two standing there.
"Let's sit down, it'll take a while," Alex said and the two of them sat down on the two chairs that stood against a wall near the door.
"I can't wait to see what comes out of this," Reggie said as he followed the bustle and watched the policemen.
"Oh, I'm sure after all these years they'll have solved the case by now, or at least they'll have developed a story about what happened to Jake Willers," said Alex, who didn't hope for too much, but rather kept his feet on the ground, even though in his situation it was hard to keep his feet on the ground and to trust his eyes.
"What do you think happened then?" asked Reggie who noticed that Alex's mind was already drifting again.
"Good question, maybe he couldn't stand it at home anymore and just had to get away from there. Or maybe he's involved in some crime and got kidnapped. Could be anything," Alex said, admitting that he was now thinking about what happened then after all. He always thought Luke, Reggie and he were the only strange case back then, because there were certainly files on them, but now that he thought about it, much more happened back then. "I think so too," Reggie said, blowing the air out of his lungs.
"I don't even want to know what evil criminals were on the road back then," he added with a mumble.
"You haven't changed much now. The world today is no different than it was then. True, there are things now that we didn't have then, but there are still enough people who are evil criminals," Alex said.
"You mean people like Bobby?" asked Reggie and Alex nodded.
"Not just people like Bobby, but murderers and everything around them," Alex leaned his head against the wall behind him and looked at the ceiling.
"Did you ever wonder what Bobby's life was like after we were gone?" he asked Reggie.
"Not really. I rather forgot about him a long time ago and never gave it a thought," Reggie said, whose honesty was once again unparalleled.
"Seriously? You forgot about him?" asked Alex and Reggie nodded.
"I've never really got on well with him. We just never really got along and Bobby has always been someone who only thought about himself. I'm sure he didn't care what happened to us back then. I'm sure he didn't even bother to look into how we died," Reggie said.
"And now you can see what he's turned into. He just sold Luke's songs as his, if that's not cheeky. And now he lives in a mansion and has the coolest life ever. He's swimming in money and has no worries, while we sit here, live in a studio and pretty much have nothing except ourselves and of course Julie," Reggie added and Alex could only agree with him. Reggie was right. Bobby had turned into a person who only thinks of himself, doesn't follow the rules and now lives a life that was actually for all of them.
"But he did it. The dream Luke always had has come true for Bobby," said Alex, who was already hurting just to say the words. Luke was still pissed at Bobby, who was now not only called Trevor Wilson and had a daughter who is like when he was younger. No, he was now living a dream that Luke had wanted. Luke had worked hard for it and put up with a lot, and now it was all gone. No, Trevor or Bobby, whatever they called him, he had never been a nice person.
"I'm sure Luke will think of some more ways to get back at Bobby," Reggie said, scratching his back as he pressed himself against the wall.
"He's not going to let this whole thing go. Not even now that he gets to live his dream after all," Reggie was sure. Luke would surely strike again in the near future, until everything was cleared up and Bobby finally admitted what he had done.
"I can imagine that very well, but if I'm honest then we shouldn't bother with him. We've achieved what we wanted," said Alex, who never liked revenge and always tried to avoid it.
"We don't have to sneak into his house anymore. He should be able to see us now. We can just turn up and confront him directly," Reggie said.
"Reg, I feel like you've changed too. I've never seen you come up with ideas as good as you have lately, without any bullshit," Alex said and looked at Reggie who was smiling at him.
"I just feel good. Almost like I've got a whole new energy in me that's changed me," Reggie said as the policeman came running back to the counter. The two stood up.
"So, here's everything I could find on this Jake Willers. Now if you would fill this out for me so I have confirmation of who I loaned the file to?", The policeman handed Alex a piece of paper, Alex signed and handed it back to him. When the policeman looked at the signature his expression changed and he looked at Alex questioningly.
"Hmm, funny," he muttered.
"I just got my hands on a file about an Alex Mercer who died in 1995. And if I remember correctly, there was a photo in it, too," the policeman said.
"Um yeah, my father's name is Alex too," Alex said, clearly embarrassed by the situation.
"Anyway, I'll see you around," Reggie pulled Alex outside with him. "Looks like he recognised you," Reggie said after the two had stopped a few metres from the police station to see if they had been followed. But no police officer followed them.
"This is not good at all. What if he did recognise me and now he's going to go through the files again?", Alex ran his fingers through his hair.
"What's going to happen even if he does?" asked Reggie, who wasn't particularly worried.
"Jeez Reg, this is not good. This is not good at all. This is a disaster. They're going to find out that you and I are friends. They'll find out about Luke that way too. And they certainly won't be able to explain how it is that we're all still alive even though the files say we're dead," Alex just started talking and Reggie had trouble stopping him.
"It's all right now, okay? Everything will be fine, just don't worry about it now and try to forget about it. You're driving yourself crazy, crazier than it already is," Reggie said and Alex snorted.
"Alright, let's go back to the studio now. I'm really going crazy here otherwise," Reggie nodded and the two of them made their way back to the studio.
"You know, it's just weird. I can't deal with it. I'd just like to understand why it's all happening, and why it's happening to us!", Alex said when they were just outside the studio and just turning into the driveway.
"Why have we become ghosts? What is our unfinished business? And why can't we find them?", Alex had too many questions for Reggie to know the answer to. How he would love to help his friend but didn't know how. He didn't know what was going on and why it was happening to them any more than the others did.
"I feel like I'm the only one who is thinking about this and finding it strange. We don't live in a world where things like this are taken for granted!" said Alex and they reached the gate of the studio.
"We will find the answer to this, but it will take time. It won't just get easier overnight. You know how our lives were before. It wasn't easy for any of us!", Reggie said and he had to think of his parents who had only argued before he died. He didn't even know where they had moved to, except that where their house had once been, there was now a shop selling bicycles.
"We are completely on our own. Our parents don't live here anymore, except for Luke's, but he avoids them instead of solving things that are overdue. And us? We're just here with nothing!" said Alex, opening the door to the studio.
"We have Luke and Julie. And we have Ray! " Reggie said and Alex looked at him.
" Ray? He can't even see you. He doesn't know anything about all the conversations you've had with him! ", Alex said and shook his head. How could he have believed for one brief moment that Reggie had become normal? That is not and will never be possible.
" But at least he listens to me.", Reggie said and hurried after Alex who had already gone to Julie and Luke who had just finished writing the new song.
"So, what's your situation?" asked Alex, glancing at the many papers lying all over the floor. Some of them were crumpled, others were just lying on the floor with a few words and phrases on them. Others were blank.
" Now I remember where this mess looked so familiar!" he said with a smile and Reggie put the file on the table.
"We got this." he said proudly and Luke looked questioningly at Alex, then Reggie and then Alex.
"Don't ask!" said Alex
"It wasn't my idea!" he added as Luke went to take the file but Julie beat him to it.
"Jake Willers?" she looked questioningly at the writing on the file.
"What do you want with a missing persons case?" she asked them both.
"This isn't just any missing persons case, this is from our time," Reggie said.
"That was one of the big issues everyone was dealing with back then. To this day we don't know what exactly happened and how it ended," Reggie took the file from Julie's hands, put it back on the table and opened the first page. " We want to look into something that might help us," he explained. On the first page was the picture of Jake Willers. Jake was a blond boy with long blond hair, blue eyes and a scar on his left cheek. Actually, he looked very nice. Like someone you'd like to hang out with and have a good chat with, Julie thought, but if she wasn't mistaken about that.
"How did you find out about Jake anyway? That was ages ago, wasn't it?" asked Luke, who had to admit that he was also interested in this case.
"Well, we were looking for Willi!", Alex told me meekly. Luke wasn't very good at Willi since he had found out that he had something to do with Caleb. Alex didn't hold it against him, but he knew Willi didn't like it and had to do it. He had no choice. And he didn't stand a chance against Caleb.
"You were looking for Willi?" asked Luke, looking at Alex stunned.
"It's not what you think Luke. Willi only did it because he had to. He can't do anything against Caleb. He's powerless. Please understand that!" said Alex, who didn't feel like talking about Willi now and breaking out into an argument. There were more important things now, like the Jake Willers case.
"Okay, whatever you say. Then we'll look at that now, but we'll talk about Willi later!", Luke said a little grumpily. Actually, he had hoped that Alex wouldn't think about Willi after the thing with Caleb, but apparently he was wrong. Alex seemed to be very attached to Willi.
"Can someone explain to me what you want with the Jake Willers case," Julie asked, interrupting Luke and Alex.
"I'd like to have a say in this," Julie crossed her arms and looked at the three boys with a steady gaze.
"You guys are acting like this is something really important. So? May I finally know?", Julie made a short hand gesture that said something like "go ahead" then she looked at Luke, Reggie and Alex again.
"All right. Jake Willers was very well known. And he just disappeared one day without a trace. He was also a musician like us, but not in a band. He was a solo artist. A very famous one, in fact, who became famous through an accident. Actually, a Michael Jackson concert was supposed to take place, but Michael didn't show up and Jake took this chance and performed in front of over 500,000 people. They liked him so much that from then on he had monthly gigs, got a lot of money and was everyone's favourite. That's why his disappearance was such a big issue! ", Luke told us, he too could remember the case very well.
"Okay, so it says here that he was last seen on the day of another concert...! ", Julie stopped and looked at the file she had just read out, stunned. What it said could not possibly be true.
"But... That's not possible!" she stammered, taking a step backwards.
"What's going on?" asked Luke while Alex took the file from Julie's hand and took a look himself. He turned pale and faltered. Reggie was able to support him just in time to keep him from falling to the floor.
"You don't believe this! You won't believe this. It just can't be!" said Alex and grabbed his forehead after he had regained his footing and was no longer swaying. He put the file on the table.
"He hasn't been found yet, but the last time he was seen he was in an alley next to the Orpheum," Alex said and Luke and Reggie stared at him as if they had seen a ghost, an evil ghost.
"What now? So he had been outside the Orpheum just before he disappeared?" asked Luke who was still not so clear about the whole thing.
"Wait a minute. So if he was in an alley next to the Orpheum when he disappeared, then that could mean something!" Julie suddenly realised what the Jake Willers case had to do with Luke, Reggie and Alex. There was indeed a connection, even if none of them wanted to admit it. But there was and it was very clear. But Julie seemed to be the only one who had noticed it.
"What do you think?" asked Luke, looking at her hopefully.
"Well? Don't you think?", Julie looked at them. No, they didn't know what she meant. Standing in front of her were three former dead people who had become ghosts and were now human again, but couldn't read minds. The world was already a strange place.
"Well, that it has something to do with the Orpheum. His disappearance and the thing with you guys!" said Julie excitedly.
"But we were at that hotdog guy's place when we died and not at the Orpheum?" said Reggie, who remembered exactly how that night had gone.
"It doesn't have to mean anything, maybe it has something else to do with what happened before!" said Julie, insisting.
"Can you remember what exactly happened that night? Every little detail could be important!", Julie looked pleadingly at the boys.
"Well, we gave out shirts to fans, rehearsed again, and had a conversation with a woman named Rose!", Reggie said and Julie faltered.
"With Rose?" she asked and the boys nodded.
"Yes, I remember the woman. Her name was Rose and she worked there. She said it was just a little part-time job she had behind the counter and that she really liked it there because she would earn a bit more money!" said Alex and he too remembered the evening.
"Did she say anything else to you? " asked Julie, who couldn't shake the feeling that this Rose was her mother.
"No. We went out for dinner. But she was still talking to Bobby when we left. He didn't come with us, this apparent vegetarian!", Luke spat out the last words more than he said them.
"I need to talk to him!", Before the boys could say anything else, Julie had stormed out of the studio and just left them standing there.
"Where's she going now. Not to Bobby's, is she?", Luke looked after Julie but she had disappeared so quickly that he could no longer see her.
"Who cares, but she seems to know more than we do!", Reggie said and he and Alex flopped down on the couch.
"Let's have a look at your song. We can't wait to hear what you've written!" said Reggie and as he said the words Luke's mood changed again and he sat down with a beaming smile to his two friends and showed them the song he had composed with Julie.
"It's really good. You guys are really great together when it comes to songwriting!", Reggie praised and Luke nodded.
"Julie is just a talent when it comes to writing songs. It's just in her blood. It's like the music flows inside her.", Luke smiled and Alex could feel how Luke felt.
"Now let's be honest, you like her a lot. More than just as a colleague in your band.", Alex said and Luke nodded.
"I know that's totally weird. It shouldn't be, but with her I feel like we're exactly the same even though we've gone two completely different ways!", Luke sat back. He couldn't even count how often he thought about Julie. He felt he had to think about her all the time and always wanted to be near her, not only when they were playing music.
"Why don't you just tell her then? I'm sure she would even like it if you told her. If she doesn't already know!" said Reggie and Luke winced.
"How would she know?" he asked and Alex suppressed a giggle.
"Bro, pretty much everyone knows about you guys. Even Julie's friends and fans. When we perform it's obvious how much you like her, it's not just us who see it. Everyone sees it!" said Alex and Luke put his hands over his face.
"Oh man how embarrassing. I didn't know that. I'm nowhere near ready to tell her. I need more time!" said Luke while hiding his face behind his hands.
"It doesn't matter, even if she knows now, she'll still be happy when you tell her," Alex said, pulling Luke's hands away from his face so he had to look at them both again.
"You think so? I don't. I'm a few years older than her too, aren't I!" said Luke
"Oh no, it doesn't make any difference, don't worry about that. We've got it all under control," Reggie said and Luke nodded hesitantly.
"Only there will come a time when you have to tell her. Otherwise it may be too late," Alex said.
"I know, I know you're right. Yes I have to tell her. Soon," Luke said quietly. "But now again about Willi-", Luke said and Alex rolled his eyes.
"God Luke, I like him and I will always like him. He's special to me, someone I've never had before in my life-", Alex said.
"That's not what I mean!" said Luke, not letting Alex finish.
"What I meant was, I'd like to help you find him!", Luke finished his sentence.
"What do you mean? I thought you didn't like him because he had something to do with Caleb," Alex looked at Luke questioningly.
"That's true too. I don't like him, but I don't like to see you so sad just because we don't know what's up with Willi, so I'll help you find him no matter what it takes!" said Luke
"Because somehow we are all chasing a phantom",
Hey there,
This took a few days to write down, but now its ready, hope you like it. Next chapter is coming soon
