After their performance at the Orpheum, Julie had somehow managed to breaks Caleb's stamp on the boys, and now they were… alive? No one was really sure what had happened that night, but somehow, people could see them again, and not just when they were performing. It had taken a lot of very precise paperwork, most of which probably walked the line of legality. Now, five years down the line, they had already released two albums, with one on its way that summer.

The boys' parents had been a bit… skeptical… of it all at first, and still were. Even after finally coming to terms with the whole situation, Alex's parents, unfortunately, still seemed to have the same mindset as they did in the 90's and wanted nothing to do with the band. Reggie's parents had ended up getting a divorce sometime in the time between his death and when they came back, and therefore didn't end up going to many of their shows in fear of being at the same place at the same time. And Luke's parents… well, they were more supportive of the band then Alex and Reggie's parents, but they still weren't… there. Julie's dad, however, had seemed to take it as his personal mission to make the boys feel as much as a part of their family as Julie was, and even though they didn't voice it out loud, she knew they were grateful.

With their newest album being released in just a few months, it was almost time to release the news to the public. Currently, they were sitting in their manager's office, talking about marketing for the new album. If it did well, their record label was going to give them a tour in the fall, something they'd been working towards for the past… three years?

"Now, there's a considerable amount of duets in this album," their manager, Katherine, changed the subject from the possible tour.

"I think all the songs could be considered duets," Luke stated, and Julie rolled her eyes. It was obvious that Katherine was talking about the love songs they had wrote. After she had written down Perfect Harmony for them to record, the occasional love song had always been the most listened to song on either of their previous two albums. It's not like they meant anything, at least not to Luke. It was just a way to appease the fans. That's why there was a total of three in this album, much more compared to the one in their previous albums.

"That's not what I was talking about," Katherine said, giving Luke one of her signature "Don't mess with me" looks. "I'm talking about the three love songs you guys wrote for the album. I mean, you even used one of them as the title of the album. I, and the rest of your team, think it would be great for promotion of the album if you and Julie decided to… let the public believe you were dating, at least until the tour is over, if we get one."

"We're not doing that," Luke told her immediately. Julie tried not to take offense to that; she knew he didn't see her that way, but he didn't have to sound so repulsed at the idea of it. "Not only would there be a lot of drama when we 'break up', if the fans somehow found out, your sales would drop tremendously."

"The fans wouldn't find out, the two of you act like you're married, anyways. Besides, if you don't, then I'll simply tell the record deal we're not interested in a tour when the time comes."

"You wouldn't, you'd lose so much money."

"Wouldn't I?"

Luke and their manager seemed to have a staring contest for the next few moments, until he gave up, standing up abruptly.

"Fine, we'll do your little game. Just don't blame us when it fails horribly."

He left the room after that, brushing away Julie's arm when she tried to reach for him.

"The meeting's not done!" She called out to him. Her only answer was the slam of the office door. She turned to their manager. "Sorry, I don't know what's gotten into him. I- I should go…"

Julie left the sentence unfinished as she stood up slowly, gesturing towards the door.

"We'll fill you in at rehearsal, go find him," Alex told her when she hesitated. She nodded gratefully, heading out the door and to the music room down the hall, where she presumed he would be since it was usually empty this time of day.

As she suspected, he was in there, strumming idly on the six string. Julie recognized the chords to Perfect Harmony. She smiled gently before moving to sit next to him, startling him and causing the chords to abruptly stop.

"No, keep playing, I liked that," she told him. "Maybe we should record an acoustic version one day."

"You should be in the meeting," Luke told her, but resumed playing anyways.

"So should you," she retorted. He gave her a look. "Alex and Reggie will fill us in later, I'm more worried about you. Why'd you leave"

"I've told you before, you don't need to be worried about me. And do you really trust Alex and Reggie to remember everything Katherine tells them?" Julie raised an eyebrow at him, and he rolled his eyes, answering her original question. "I was getting mad, and didn't want to say anything I'd regret or that'd get us in trouble. I think I finally understand why Bobby didn't fight harder to get us credit for the songs he stole."

After the Orpheum, Trever had confronted Julie about the boys, and he eventually explained that the only reason he didn't give Luke credit for the songs he wrote was because his manager thought it would be bad luck to give credit to a dead person. Julie knew that Luke still didn't fully forgive him, but it seemed as if he was finally coming to terms with it.

"Yeah, I guess the music business is pretty corrupt when it comes to managers. But, hey, it won't be too bad. Most people already think we're dating anyways, all we have to do is confirm their suspicions. Nothing has to change."

"I just don't want to force you to do something you're not comfortable with," he said, putting the six string back on its stand. "You know, we'll probably have to kiss a few times in public, just so there's hard proof."

"Uh, we'll cross that road when we get there," Julie said, thankful for once that her skin was too dark to show blush easily. "Are you comfortable with it, though? I'm sure the others wouldn't mind postponing our first tour to the next album because of this."

"I'm fine. Besides, this album is too good for it not to have a tour. If my instincts are correct, and they usually are," Julie smiled at that, "sales and streams are going to be through the roof. We can't pass that up. And besides, like you said, nothing has to change. At least, when it's just us, that is."

"Yeah, we'll be fine."