Episode One

What She Can't Have

All that I've learned from my time with Luke was that the things you love are fickle. I guess it was an important lesson to learn, but one I would have rather gone without to save me from my hurt. This story I am about to tell you is one that I cherish deeply; one that has changed not only my life but my friends and family's lives forever. Luke, if you're listening, know that I still love you as much as I did when you were still here. Yours Truly, Julie.

Luke sat on the leather couch that occupied most of Julie's garage, toying with the chain clipped onto his ripped jeans. Lately Luke had been thinking, which was something he hardly ever did, ever since Caleb's curse had been lifted off of Luke and his friends, he had just been… a ghost. What do ghosts even do, anyway? Haunt people? Flick the light switch on and off to scare little Carlos? Luke crossed one foot over the other as he lay horizontally on the loveseat, strumming an electric guitar straddled over his lap gently with his rugged fingers.

"Hey, man," Julie said as she opened the garage door. "What's up?" She said as she sat down in a cushy chair adjacent to Luke, the dust caked on it pooling around her at the contact. Luke picked up the guitar by its neck and leaned in against his calf on the floor, crossing his arms to give his full attention to Julie.

"Nothing much," He sighed, "I honestly don't know what to do now that we've gotten rid of Caleb's stamp thingy-ma jiggy. I mean, we have the band of course, but…" Luke trailed off.

Julie finished his sentence for him, "But the hard work is over."

"Right," Luke finished. "I guess we can just relax now?" He said, placing his hands behind his head. Julie chuckled at his statement.

"Well, something exciting happened actually," Julie announced. Luke perked up in his seat a little, cocking his head to the side in inquisition. Julie just stared blankly at Luke, eyebrows raised.

"So are you gonna tell me, or…?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow sharply.

Julie smiled. "Oh, yeah–," She paused, "Well, Nick actually brought some flowers to the door this morning," She said, gesturing towards the flowers on top of the piano, its petals bathing in the sunlight.

Luke raised his eyebrows. "So that's what the peonies were for," He smiled. Luke was happy for Julie, but at the same time, he thought that Julie… y'know…? They didn't even have to tell each other that they were horny for one another, the feeling was just kinda mutual. Luke liked Julie, and Julie.. was assumed to like Luke as well. The more Luke thought about it, it was more just a hunch and not really a fact.

"So, does that mean you two are a thing?" Luke said, breaking the silence. His chest felt like a weight had been lifted off of it at her sudden reclusion.

Julie shrugged her shoulders. "The flowers are certainly a nice gesture but..."

Luke's cheeks flushed as her sentence trailed off. "But what?" He remarked.

"I... I don't know. It feels wrong for some odd reason," She said, frowning hard. She couldn't quite put into words what was wrong with the idea, but she just knew something wasn't right.

"Maybe you like someone else?" Luke said realizing he had sort of outed himself, "Just– just a thought..."

Julie blushed a little, turning her head away nervously. "Maybe, Luke, maybe," She said, a reassurance that Luke didn't accidentally reveal too much. Silence stirred before Alex walked into the garage, Reggie trailing behind him like a lost dog.

"Oh, did we interrupt something?" Alex jived, taking a step backward towards the open garage in case he needed to retreat.

Julie kicked her feet playfully, shaking her head with her blank expression. "No, you guys are good."

Reggie smiled coyly. "Well, good. Cause' me and Alex found a super rad gig spot we HAVE to go to," He said, his tone refreshing after the stale one left in the room.

Luke covered his face with his hands uncomfortably, his rings cold against his eyelids. "If Willie told you to go to this place, Alex, I am not leaving this damn garage," He said, his voice muffled by his calloused palms against his face.

Alex looked down to his pointed feet, waiting for Reggie to respond. "Not this time," Reggie chimed in excitedly, "I found it while practicing riffs by Hollywood Boulevard, actually. It has gnarly pizza; I might have stolen some," He said, throwing up "live long and prosper" signs on both hands.

Julie giggled, "Gnarly?" She jeered.

Luke peeked an eye between his fingers. "You forget we are from 1995, Jules," He said, a smile creeping on his face, "I think it's time you get used to our lingo."

Reggie tapped his feet. "Listen, guys! I want to take you all. Please?" He asked.

Somehow Reggie had convinced the four of them to go to this so-called, "Gig spot" called Barley's after his copious amounts of convincing and bribery using Julie's old Halloween candy. Julie finally agreed, even though she knew she would probably look a little silly in a four-seat booth sitting by herself, but she didn't really care that much if it meant she got to spend time with her friends.

"Here's an empty booth," Julie chimed, sitting down on the left side of the table, scorching as far as she could go. Luke followed behind Julie, palm flat on the table so he could plop down, but turned to see someone else already at the table.

Luke cocked his head to the side a little, knitting his eyebrows together. "That seat isn't empty, Jules," He said, tilting his head towards the girl sitting all alone.

Julie looked up at the nodding boys, just as confused as they were. In the right booth sat a girl with cherry red lips, her dress plain white with straps so thin they slipped off her collarbones. The girl looked afraid, but a little curious at the same time as she peered up at the teenage boys. She sat quietly, starry-eyed at the guys above her for a beat before she reached a painted hand out timidly, brushing her fingertips against Luke's leather vest. Her fingers didn't sink into his frame like any other humans would; no clipping at all. The only explanation: she was a ghost, too.

"Holy shit?" Luke exclaimed, cracking a smile.

The girl smiled in amazement. "Holy shit is right," She huffed.

Alex crossed his arms. "I thought finding cool ghosts was my thing," Alex whispered to Reggie next to him, resulting in a sharp slap to the chest. The band then sat down after Luke did, wondering where he was exactly going with this.

"Name's Luke," Luke said, leaning over the table, "Lead guitarist of Sunset Curve," Reggie just looked over at him with a disgusted look on his face, thinking, "What the fuck is he doing?"

"Uh– my name's Lisa," The ghost replied back, her introduction much less self assured than Luke's was, "I'm just a girl."

"So... like Lisa Marie?" Reggie asked her. Lisa nodded, her lipstick leaving a stain on her straw as she spun it around with the tip of her tongue against the ice.

"That's a nice name," Alex commented, resting his cheek on his rainbow-adorned wrist. Lisa smiled back at him, taking another sip of her drink, the lemon peeking out of it shyly.

Julie sat back in the booth, her leather jacket against the burgundy pleather resulting in a squeaking sound, feeling left out and frankly, pretty bored. The reason she agreed to go to this junkie karaoke bar in the first place was to spend time with her ghost friends, but that plan wasn't looking too promising. She didn't come here to sit alone, and technically she wasn't, but what everyone else saw was a girl sitting in a huge booth all alone with not even a drink to take casual sips from.

"I really like your vest, Luke," Lisa winked, looking down in her water after giving out her compliment.

Luke looked flustered, looking down at his vest, something that you're guaranteed to do when someone compliments you. "Uh, thanks Lisa," He blushed, a smile creeping on his face.

Julie looked up from her phone, her scrolling finger stopping on an ad about 'super absorbent tampons.' Julie was 99% sure Lisa was flirting with Luke despite the fact all she heard was him saying thanks, but that really bothered Julie. She leaned back against the booth further so she could peer behind Luke, making eye contact with Alex who looked just as confused as she felt. Julie didn't know why she felt so threatened by this girl, but something about this whole situation made her unexplainably uncomfortable.

"Um… Lisa," Luke swallowed, scratching his forearm with his nails adorned with black, chipped nail polish, leaving garish marks. "Would you like to come to see me and the boys perform sometime? We have got a couple of gigs booked," Luke asked Lisa, softening up a bit when she smiled.

Julie chewed the inside of her cheek, clicked the side button on her phone to shut it off, and placed it face down on the table. Luke didn't even mention Julie as a part of the band, despite her name being in the fucking title, and that hurt Julie's feelings. She continued to dig into the inside of her cheeks until she got that metallic taste in her mouth.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Julie excused herself. She waited for Alex and Luke to get up, then scooted out of the booth, making her way toward the back of Barleys. Instead of sitting back down, Alex grabbed Reggie by his hand from the other side of the table and pulled him up.

"We need to go too," Alex said hurriedly, leaving Lisa and Luke on their own.

As Reggie and Alex trailed behind Julie, Reggie locked eyes with Alex. "Do you see Luke and that Lisa chick making googly eyes at each other too, or do I just have really bad postulation?"

Alex shuffled to put his pink hoodie on over his t-shirt. "First of all, did you learn that word yesterday?" Alex huffed, "second of all, yes. I've never seen him look at a girl like that other than—" Alex paused abruptly, looking in front of him at Julie's short figure.

Reggie finished Alex's sentence for him, "Other than Julie," Reggie looked back behind his shoulder, spying the pair still talking with torsos hunched over the table, Lisa still chewing the tip of the straw.

Lisa reached over to take Luke's hand unexpectedly, holding his black-painted fingers in her palm. Luke bit his bottom lip anxiously, holding his breath at the sudden contact, realizing the only people left at the table to pay the bill were him and Lisa. He couldn't tell if he liked this heed from his new "friend" or if he just missed all the attention he would get from his feminine fans back in 95' when he would get 'Bonnie Johns."

Luke relaxed his hand in Lisas hoping she would let go after an awkward pause; Lisa, however, did not let go. She only pulled his hands closer to her, rubbing the pads of his fingers, calloused from guitar playing.

"I think I should probably catch up to my friends," Luke said, retracting his hands from her grasp and shoving them in his jeans pockets.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "I thought they were in the bathroom—"

"Don't worry about it," Luke said as he got up, speed walking to catch up with the rest of the band without a goodbye to his new friend.

Reggie strummed some chords on his bass as he sat on the dusty carpet of Julie's garage, his back leaning against the leather loveseat. "Don't you ever wish ghosts could go to school?" Reggie said as he chewed a guitar pick in his mouth, his eyelids fluttering closed.

Alex looked over at him from the couch with a confused look, raising his eyebrows. "Dude, no. That's probably the best part about being a ghost; no school," Alex said, his face reading a 'Duh!' expression.Luke walked in on the middle of the conversation, sweat dripping down his chest from an intense practice session on his guitar, also covered in sweat encapsulated in his grip.

"Well, maybe I want to see Julie at school instead of sitting here and talking to you all day," Reggie said in a snark tone under his breath, flipping his head away from him like a child. Alex gasped dramatically, placing his palm under his neck like he was clutching his pearls.

"I am like... The best person you know," Alex scoffed. Luke chucked, then sat down next to Alex on the couch.

Reggie flipped the pick in his mouth with his tongue as he continued to suck on the shiny plastic. "Actually, you're one of the only people I know. So, take that what you will," He said, his voice muffled because of the guitar pick. Alex then promptly crossed his arms, pouting his lips like a child.

Luke sighed, raising his hands up to cover his eyes. "Can you guys stop fighting, holy shit," He said, dragging his hands down his face in annoyance.

"Well sorry loverboy," Reggie commented, puckering his lips dramatically to insinuate kissing, a small snicker eliciting from Alex.

Luke played with a snake-shaped ring on his pinky finger nervously, his brows narrowing. "And what is that supposed to mean?" He asked.

Alex scoffed, turning his head towards Lukes. "You know exactly what that means."

"You obviously like Lisa," Reggie interjected, his voice still muffled.

Luke sat up in his seat defensively, his arms now crossed just like Alex's were. "No, I do not. She was coming on to me, not the other way around," He whined. Luke's suspicions that Lisa wasn't just being friendly were now confirmed to be true by his friends; it seemed as if she had developed a little crush on him in the five minutes she knew him and everyone noticed. "We're dead. I am not looking for a relationship right now, especially one with a girl I just met."

Reggie continued to bite the pick in his mouth, his lips still puckered. "Or is it because you want to be with Julieee," Reggie said, singing a little when he said, "Julie."

"No, the peonies man," Luke replied, gesturing with his hand to a vase of pink flowers. It sat upon Rose's piano, dainty in the sunlight's shadow.

"What about them?" Alex questioned. Luke looked down at his beat-up sneakers, hoping for the conversation at play to end sometime soon. "Oh," Alex finally realized.

Reggie looked up at the two on the couch, spitting the pick out of his mouth onto the carpet. "What?" He asked.

"They're from Nick," Alex whispered, covering the side of his mouth with his palm.

Luke shrugged, annoyed at their whispering. He was opposed to them having to feel like they needed to be hush-hush about the whole situation, because it felt like no surprise that they knew Nick was a harsh topic, even though Luke hadn't told them a thing about his feelings towards Julie. Honestly, Luke was ready to move on from his hopeless love with Julie, so maybe Lisa liking him wasn't the worst idea after all.

"It's not like you had a chance anyway," Reggie mumbled, struggling to peel the spit-covered pick from off the carpet. Alex sat forward, slapping him on the shoulder in a reprimanding fashion, clenching his teeth.

"Dude cut it out!" Alex said.

Luke huffed, brushing his hand through his brown, sweaty hair. The curls in his locks got less defined with each brush through. "No, Reggie's right, Alex. I'm dead. From street dogs! That's like... the lamest way to die!" Luke exclaimed, covering his face with his hands again, a loud UGH coming from behind his hands.

"Okay, passing out in my own vomit was not fun," Reggie complained, popping the pick back into his mouth.

Alex pulled the drawstrings on his magenta hoodie, pulling a disgusted face at Reggies lack of hygiene etiquette. "Nobody hears about that part," He said. Reggie nodded in agreement.

Julie's phone buzzed in her back pocket, the quietness of studying with Flynn interrupted by its constant vibrating. "Who's that?" Flynn asked, not looking up from her pen-marked binder as she continued to jot down notes, a lollipop sitting comfortably in the left side of her mouth.

Julie adjusted her glasses, pushing them up the bridge of her nose. "It's… Nick," Julie said as she pulled out the phone that continued to buzz, her lip slowly folding under her gap. Flynn looked up, the lollipop falling slack on her tongue.

"Well... pick it up!" Flynn said in a half angry half excited tone, her voice a bit muffle from the candy. Julie looked at Flynn for a second as the phone continued to shake against her palm, studying Flynn's narrowing eyebrows before reluctantly pressing the answer button after staring at the blinking screen.

Why was she so hesitant to pick it up, she thought to herself. Wasn't Nick all she wanted for the entire year? And now that Nick actually wants her back, guess what? She didn't feel the same anymore? What a fucking coincidence.

"Hey… Nick. What's up?" Julie said, seething her teeth a bit in her greeting.

Flynn dropped her pen and crawled over her binder and scattered papers, her hand closing around the sucker stick. She sat criss-cross beside Julie, other hand cupped around her ear listening intently to the two's conversation.

"Oh... I don't know. I've got gigs and things with the boys… and Flynn," Julie looked at Flynn nervously as she said her name, Flynn's eyes still narrowed downward.

"Jules!" Flynn said, whispering so harshly that it let out a little squeak.

"Okay, I'll go with you," Julie relented, shoulders dropping in surrender. "K. See you later," Julie said, clicking the phone off by its side button and stuffing it back into her pocket.

"SO?" Flynn said excitedly, "What did he say?" She hummed, her smile widening.

Julie brushed her fingers through her curly hair, taking in a deep breath. "He asked me to go see a movie with him. Like he did before…" she said.

"When you said no," Flynn frowned, clicking her tongue. Julie nodded.

"But I said yes this time," Julie tried to smile.

Flynn cocked her head to the side, her face blank. "Is it only because I told you too?" She asked.

Julie took in a deep breath, gliding her tongue across her front teeth. "Actually, it's because you told me that it was foolish of me to want the one boy I can't have," She sighed.

"Luke?" Flynn asked. Julie nodded again, letting her head fall lazily into her hands sorrowfully. Although it was a sin to toy with Nick's feelings like this, Julie knew she needed to use him as an… experiment. If she could just go on one date, spend some time with one another, maybe she could find out whether or not she could pursue a relationship with someone other than Luke or not, and maybe it could be the beginning of something new. After all, she was the one who had a schoolgirl-crush on Nick so bad she would find herself drooling over him in class.

"CARRIE!" Trevor hollered from upstairs in their lofty mansion, his voice cracking from the scream. Trevor flipped frantically through an old, black photo album labeled with newspaper cut-outs that read, "Sunset Curve," the glue holding the paper down chipping. He thumbed through the first couple of photos, the laminated pages folding at the edges until he came upon a photo of the night at the Orpheum; a photo he remembered well as Bobby.

The photo was a little yellowed, but the photo of him, Alex, Reggie, and Luke was clear enough, each deceased boy smiling widely: Alex had his hand draped around Reggie's shoulder, resting his head against his, as he always would do. Luke held up live-long and prosper signs, while Bobby held up his guitar by its neck, smiling goofily into the camera.

When Carrie made her way up the staircase, Trevor could hear her approaching the room because of the stomping of her high-top tennis shoes she insisted 'everyone is wearing!' As soon as she creaked open the door, Trevor shut the book closed hastily, losing the page he was on.

"What, Dad?" Carrie said lazily, her hands on her hips.

"I need you to answer this question for me," He asked her, fingering the edge of the photo album.

Carrie twirled a piece of her hair around her finger, loosening it so that a coil of her hair stayed spiral on her shoulder. "Alright?" She said dumbly.

Trevor held the photo album against his stomach, hugging it tightly to his chest. "Can you get Julie over here; yes or no?" He asked.

Carrie scoffed, letting go of another one of her curls intertwined in her fingers. "No way she's coming over here–"

"Carrie, I said, can you answer the damn question?" Trevor said, his patience growing increasingly thin because of his daughter.

Carrie nodded defeatedly, irritated. She whipped out her cell phone, typed in a number from memory, and handed the phone to her father. The clunky, pink phone case Carrie had bought for her phone teetered unevenly on her father's hand, missing cubic zirconia causing the unevenness.

"Just click the button to answer, Grandpa," She shrugged.

Trevor flashed his daughter a snide look, watching her turn around and walk out the door whence she came after he motioned for her to go away with a simple flick of his wrist. He clicked the button after a pause, then held it up to his ears hoping to find out exactly how Julie got his dead friends to perform (what he thought was tacky) piano pop on the Orpheum stage.

It was unusual for Trevor to get involved in affairs like the one he was about to enter with Julie, but he couldn't live another day, no matter how many pools or mansion he had, without knowing how Julie managed to turn his dead band into her little puppet show with perfect quality for being from 1995, and singing songs they were never recorded singing, nor even wrote. Those boys were his best friends, his family; so what the hell was a sixteen year old girl singing small gigs with them despite them passing before she even existed? Trevor was determined to answer that question, he'd just need for her to pick up on the other end of the phone. She did.

"What the hell?" Julie said, looking at her phone. It was a call from Carrie; the Carrie that hated her guts so much she would probably go cannibalistic on her if she ever caught her alone. Flynn peered over her phone, wondering if it was Nick calling back because of the proximity of the calls, but to no avail.

"It's Carrie," Julie said, looking up at her best friend with furrowed brows.

Flynn covered her mouth with a hasty slap, the sucker clinking against her front teeth. "What?" She laughed.

Julie hadn't called Carrie since they stopped being friends; their relationship left stiff and uncomfortable ever since their separation. The more Julie thought about it, she wasn't exactly sure when she and Carrie stopped talking. There wasn't a final fight, or big rift in their friendship, just a slow fade from best friends to strangers. This is why it was so odd that Carrie would be calling Julie.

Julie bit her lip, and after a moment, picked up the phone regardless of her suspicions, and slowly raised the cellphone to her ear. If this wasn't some sort of crank call or a lame 'Is your refrigerator running?' joke, Julie had no idea what Carrie could possibly want.

When Julie pressed the phone to her ear, however, it was not Carrie Wilson on the other end. It was her father. Who was also Trevor. Who was also Bobby.

"Uh, hello Mr. Wilson?" Julie spat. All Flynn could hear on the other end was something about Julie's hologram band, causing a cringing look on Flynns face.

"Hey, Julie," Trevor said into the phone, "I know this is weird for me to call you, but I just wanted to ask about your hologram band ever since I saw your show. How do they work?" He asked.

"My holograms?" Julie paused, her face looking panicked before looking like she had an idea. She then took her other hand and tore through the stacks of paper on the bed, finally pulling out a notecard from the bottom of the stack, one she had made long ago in case anyone asked her that question, then said robotically, "Well, the technology required for my holograms is an extreme system of algorithms that make up the coding of the projector, which then produces a signal for internet connection. The process is very lengthy and I–"

"I know what they are, Julie," Trevor sighed into the phone.

Julie paused, looking horrified. She slowly turned her head towards Flynn who looked just as concerned, bottom lip hanging slightly open.

"What do you mean you know?" Julie swallowed, looking at Flynn for some kind of reassurance that everything was okay. Flynn inched closer to her, her patience barely hanging on.

"Your bandmates. Well, mine technically, are ghosts," He said calmly.

"I– I don't know what you're talking about sir, you..." Julie trailed off. She pulled the phone away from her ear for a second, processing what she was hearing, then immediately hung up the phone and threw it on the cushy bed like it was a bug.

"What the hell was that, Julie?" Flynn asked, staring wide-eyed at her friend.

Julie covered her face with her hands, her elbows propped up on her thighs. "It was Trevor!" She screamed into her palms.

"Well, I know that!" Flynn screamed back at her, the sucker almost slipping from her mouth.

"Flynn, he knows about the ghosts," Julie said harshly, "Damn it, I can't do this anymore."

Carlos pulled up his blue and red comforter with his palms over his shoulders as Ray leaned down over him, his eyes weary with tiredness. He pecked him once on his temple, whispered a 'te amo,' then leaned back up to retreat from the bedroom.

"Dad?" Carlos whispered, catching the attention of his father before he could fully walk out of the room. His voice sounded a bit upset. Ray turned around at his son's voice, knitting his brows together in inquisition of his question.

"What's the problem, Mijo?" Ray asked, concerned.

"If I told you that Julie's holograms were actually three ghosts, would you believe me?" Carlos asked, causing an eyebrow to raise from Ray. Ray looked confused, then his features softened. He started giggling under his breath, patting Carlos on the shoulder.

"You're imagination is too big, Carlos–"

"I'm not lying," He said, interrupting his father, "I know what it sounds like but I'm telling the truth, I swear."

Ray clicked his tongue as he chewed the inside of his cheek, placing his forehead in the crevice between his thumb and forefinger. "Carlos, the joke's over," He said, his voice breathy.

Carlos frowned, leaning his head back against the cushy pillow so that his hair was splayed wildly on the bed. He didn't really care, to be honest with himself, if his dad believed him or not. All Carlos needed to do was get a confession out of Julie, get movement… just some sort of solid evidence besides a clip of her talking to the air that would not suffice as proper evidence. Carlos wasn't sure what he was gonna do with the top-secret corroboration once he got it, but knowing about secret ghosts sure was fun, so maybe it was better that his father didn't believe him after all.

"Goodnight Carlos," Ray said, finally ending the conversation as he flicked off the light, "Make sure you get some sleep, I think you need some," He said.

"Night', Dad," Carlos frowned, fluttering his eyelids closed, "I'll try to get some sleep."

"Good," Ray responded before turning around, gently closing Carlos's door behind him, and going to bed for the night.

Alex gently tapped the cymbals on his drum set, hitting the bass simultaneously with a hard thud. As he brushed a single hand through his dirty blonde hair, his drumstick keeping perfect rhythm in his other hand, Luke and Reggie entered the dusty garage.

"Are you practicing?" Asked Reggie, stopping in front of the sets left cymbal. He had his guitar strapped around his neck, dangling slack in front of his crotch with crossed arms.

Alex shrugged as his drumstick clicked against the steel. "I'm trying to, but I've had a lot on my mind lately," He sighed.

Luke hummed and frowned at Alex's misfortune, hands on his hips. He then walked past Reggie towards Alex and swung an arm around his pink graphic tee, trying to offer his best friend some solace."Willie got you down?" He said. Alex shrugged again.

"It's complicated. We're... fine but, we haven't seen each other in a while," He admitted, his shoulders dropping disappointedly.

Reggie scoffed. "He's a ghost, what other shit does he have to do?"

Luke laughed the sort of laugh that happens when you breathe in too fast, bending his head towards Alex's ear. "Maybe he's busy with Caleb–"

"Stop," Alex said in a serious tone. "Just... just leave it alone," He exasperated.

Reggie put his hands up defensively, backing down. "We didn't mean to upset you, Alex. I am sure Luke just wanted to cheer you up with some good old-fashioned humor."

"Yeah man, just jokes," Luke nodded in agreement, tugging on Alex's ear, then backing away.

Alex smiled at his friends, showing he understood them, but hoping Willie would poof in right about now so he could figure everything out instead of talking to two somewhat-straight guys about his boyfriend. He set the drumsticks he carried everywhere down on the left drum, a loud thump exerting from it, then asked, "Where is Julie?" Reggie and Luke looked at one another, concluding that they didn't know.

"If anyone should know it should be you, Luke," Reggie said, narrowing his brows as he looked over at Luke.

"Not anymore ever since Lisa came along," Alex sang, returning the same relationship jokes he was spoon-fed by Luke. That word, Lisa, stung like a bee because Luke didn't bother to tell them about what happened between him and Lisa that morning, and that was just another reminder.

Luke threw on a denim jacket adorned with patches he had ironed on as a small project, picking up his electric guitar that he had set down so he could put the coat on. He was about to practice some new tunes he had been tying the loose ends on, but was interrupted when suddenly he heard a voice; a familiar one. He turned around in inquisition, finding a newly acquainted Lisa standing in front of him, her red lips curled into a smile. "Hey, Luke," She said nervously.

"No way, how'd you find me here?" Luke said playfully, adjusting the strap on his guitar.

Lisa fidgeted with her red-painted nails, laughing gently at his jeering. "Heard it through the grapevine I guess. I just wanted to stop by and say hi, that's all."

"That's all?" Luke questioned, taking the strap off of his body and setting his guitar down.

Lisa scratched behind her neck anxiously, biting her bottom lip timidly. "Did... did you want me to stay?" She asked.

Luke, without saying a word, sat down on the leather couch beside him, patting his hand against the pleather material to invite Lisa to come sit. She relinquished gratefully, and sat down on his left. Luke didn't answer her question now that they sat down however, only studied her face and the beauty marks that polka-dotted it. In the back of his mind, Julie's beautiful freckles and defined curls thumped around in his brain at the recognition of another girl's face. However, a relationship with Julie would be for naught, so he pushed her image away. A ghost, with a human? Was Luke out of his damn mind?

"Are you alright?" Lisa asked, bringing a hand up to wave it in front of his face.

"Oh, um– yeah," Luke swallowed the lump in his throat. He nodded gently, and brushed a stray hair out of his face.

"Uh– I think your guitar is really cool," She smiled, breaking the awkward silence.

"Thanks," Is all Luke said, his voice and expression blank. The two stared at each other for a lengthy period of time on that couch, blinking every so often to refresh their desperate eyes. Lisa knew exactly why things were so cumbersome; she didn't necessarily have a crush on Luke, but she certainly wanted to get to know him better and it was clear that he wanted to as well, or at least to Lisa. Obviously your options in the ghost dating pool are pretty restricted, so she took what she could get.

"I was hoping I could come by later tonight, I wanted to see you practice as a band," Lisa finally spat, swallowing hard.

Luke cracked a smile. "Alright."

"I don't know where Julie is; she's probably with Flynn or something," Luke answered, obviously annoyed, "and stop with the Lisa jokes, they're getting really unfunny," He complained. Reggie and Alex giggled at Luke's misery, resulting in another groan from Luke.

Nick, or Caleb, tapped his pen rapidly on his homework he didn't understand. To be fair, he hadn't done math in 120 years, so it wasn't his fault he didn't know how to do it. Instead of doing useless algorithms like he was supposed to, Caleb had been jotting down a plan in the corner of his paper, his handwriting barely legible in the curled corner of the page. Obviously, his plan of trapping the ghosts had completely fallen through, so he had to think of something new.

Ghostly creatures were impossible to keep tabs on at all times,that's why Caleb needed a mortal. A mortal like Julie; so fickle and predictable that he would be able to control her more easily than her ghost band. Without Julie, nobody could see Luke, Reggie, and Alex, which would solve all of Caleb's problems. The only option left for them if the band ever wanted to make anymore music, would be to join the Hollywood Ghost Club. Caleb hoped that this date with Julie would guarantee control over those special little ghosts, he just needed to be careful as to not overshoot the mark like he always seemed to end up doing. Taking his time to allow Julie to trust him would be the safest way to ensure that.

"Hey honey, dinner is ready," Nick's mom notified what looked like her son, her red hair peeking out behind the door in messy curls.

Caleb spun around in his swivel chair, letting his pen roll off of the table to observe his 'mother,' "Okay… Mother," He swallowed, his tone stiff compared to that of the teenage boy he was trying to impersonate. This was getting really weird, he thought.

Nick's mom looked a little confused at his awkward tone, but brushed it off with a deep sigh. She turned around out of the room, turned on Nick's light to keep him out of the dark like mothers do, and gently closed the door behind her. Caleb turned back around in his chair, cracking his neck on both sides, and swiftly swiped his pen off of the carpet. He tugged on the homework page to bring it closer to the edge of the desk, pulled the cap of the pen off with his teeth, spit it out, and started writing more unintelligible bullet points down the whole right hand side of the paper.

The harder his grip on the pen was, the more his knuckles and wrists started to pop; the air in his bones clicking. It felt pretty good to be so young and nimble again, but he couldn't stand that bright light and the constant popping of his bones as he settled into his new body. Hopefully this plan wouldn't take long, but for now Caleb had to get used to his new teenage, lifer physique, and if that meant that the band would be under his control, that was an adjustment he was absolutely willing to take.

Julie adjusted her microphone, trying to hold in salty tears that had been building up in her ducts ever since Trevor had called her. She didn't know what she could do to keep everyone from finding out about her ghost band, and the last thing she wanted was to keep lying to everyone, but it seemed like she had no other choice. Flynn was the only person she could confide in, the only person for the last few months it seemed.

Alex poofed into the garage unexpectedly, his blonde hair settling into the new environment. "Hey Julie," He commented, a smile on his face. As he made his way over to his drum set, he stopped abruptly after noticing Julie's sour expression. "Are you okay, Julie?" He asked, his brows narrowing. Julie couldn't answer his question without bursting out into a sob, so she didn't say anything. She didn't nod or shake her head, only looked down at the concrete floor, scuff marks from extreme practice sessions.

"Julie..." Alex sighed, his smile fading into a frown. He walked over to her and took her into an embrace, a hand cupped around the back of her head. Julie finally let out the tears building up in her ducts, letting out ugly, snotty sobs into his hoodie, leaving an unsightly stain on his shoulder blade. Alex wrapped a hand around her curls tighter, only making the stain more visible and wet.

"Tell me what happened," He said softly, and continued to pat her head gently. Julie looked up at him like a lost puppy, her mouth struggling to form the words she wanted to tell him so desperately.

Julie pulled all the way back from the hug and shook her head. "Trevor called and he told me he knows about you guys," She managed to get out, "and I don't know what to do and I–" she started to say before gasping, her lungs desperate for oxygen. She couldn't catch her breath at all, so she dived back into the embrace helplessly.

"Breath, Julie, breathe," Alex said, trying to ignore the fact their ex-bandmate knew they were ghosts, and not holograms, and focus his attention on Julie. Julie wiped her nose, let out a sob, and fell into Alex's grasp again.

"You need to sit down, okay?" Alex said, turning the hug into an arm lock around her shoulders. He brought Julie over to the beaten-up leather couch and sat her down, kneeling down next to her to meet her eyes.

"What exactly happened?" Alex asked. Julie inhaled and started on the night of the Orpheum.

"What the HELL?" Trevor exclaimed, slamming his hand down on his car's horn, his breath baited. He looked up at the theater's sign that read, "ORPHEUM" in anguish through his car windshield, his fists balled angrily against the steering wheel.

"Carrie, do you know who those people were?" He asked, looking in the rearview mirror at an unassuming Carrie, looking down at her phone.

"I told you, they're holograms," She said, not looking up from her text messages, a curl intertwined in her fingers like always.

"NO, they are NOT," He screamed, punching the horn aggressively again. Carrie, used to her fathers aggressiveness, didn't flinch at all.

"Geez, Dad. Calm down," She complained, finally looking up at the mirror at her dad.

Trevor unbuckled his seatbelt and threw the car door open, throwing his leather jacket into the driver's seat carelessly. "You can drive yourself, Carrie," He said. Trevor walked back into the Orpheum, swerving around multiple crowds of people getting up from seats and dumping empty drinks to make his way towards the stage. The backstage area was usually employees only or VIP passes allowed, but being of his rank in the musical world, he was a regular behind the curtain.

When he managed to get close to the backstage area, he peered past security guards and bustling people where he saw Julie, not even having to break into her dressing room to see what was going on. She appeared to be alone but was talking to herself, standing beside her light-up vanity. She wasn't practicing anything or singing into her mirror either, she was fully placing her hand on nothing but air molecules and laughing full-bellied at jokes no one could hear.

"You're kidding," Trevor whispered to himself.

"I guess he saw something," Julie said, wiping her face again, a string of snot on her sleeve.

Alex brushed a soggy stray piece of hair out of Julie's face, his fingertips brush against her skin causing her to shutter at the tickling. "Or maybe it was the fact he saw his dead friends on stage," He said, trying to rationalize with Trevor for a second.

"That too," Julie said, wiping her sweater's cuff onto her jeans.

"Listen, you shouldn't be the one bearing this burden all by yourself," Alex said, "You're friends are here, we share everyone else's baggage," He smiled at Julie, joking with her. She smiled back, hoping Alex was right, but her tears had not yet dried. Reggie walked through the garage door to find a distraught Julie and a worried-looking Alex.

"Uh, is everything alright?" He questioned. Alex shook his head yes, rubbing Julie's shoulder, but Julie's face was so sour that Reggie knew that wasn't the truth.

"No," Julie said regardless of what Alex had to say, "everything is not alright," She said, Alex looking down, "Trevor… Bobby knows about you guys."

Reggie's jaw fell slack. No way that could be true, Reggie thought. If Bobby knew that his old bandmates were still roaming around Hollywood only in ghost form, who knows what he could do with that information? Trevor had a platform that could practically be compared to a cult, so he could pretty much convince any fan of his of anything. The implications of Bobby knowing were nothing shy of detrimental, so as much as he knew they weren't lying, deep down he hoped they were.

"Yeah… that's probably not good," He said, looking at Alex with furrowed brows, "fuck, this is really not good," He reiterated.

"Obviously," Alex sighed, "anyway, where's Luke? He needs to hear about this," Alex asked Reggie, standing back up contrary to kneeling.

Reggie scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Um, he's around back practicing. I am not sure where he is right now, though," As Reggie spoke, Julie could tell something was definitely wrong by the way his voice cracked and his brows stayed furrowed.

"Why do you seem so nervous?" Asked Julie, her lips quivering slightly.

"Well, he's not exactly alone," He swallowed hard, "he's with Lisa right now, but before you say anything I think you should just stop and–" He tried to say, but he stopped when Julie's face soured. She had just managed to stop crying over the Bobby-Trevor situation, but was even more upset knowing about this. Luke wasn't here comforting her, cradling her head and telling everything was going to be alright, but instead with the invisible bitch who had ruined her night at Barleys? The waterworks had begun once again, and this time it was even stronger than before.

"Aw, man. Look what you did Reggie!" Alex said, gesturing towards Julie.

Reggie stuck his palms out in aggravation. "Me? Luke's the one with Lisa right now, not me."

"Well, if you had never brought that whole can of worms up, she wouldn't be crying again and we could actually be trying to fix this!" He complained.

Reggie scoffed. "Bullshit. She was gonna figure it out eventually; you can't blame all of this on me," He said. The two started bickering while Julie continued to wipe her eyes, in dire need of a tissue at that moment. Julie was really in no position to cry about Luke, he wasn't even hers, but she couldn't try to rationalize with her feelings at that moment. She tried to swallow back her tears, but that only resulted in her biting her lip so hard it bled.

"What's up, guys…" A voice called from the garage's entrance, a voice awkward enough to stop Alex and Reggie from fighting. It was Luke, his tattoos visible on his arms in the graphic tee shirt he wore, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "I see I've missed out on something," He commented.

"Damn right, you have. While you were with Lisa we were over here stressing out," Alex said, arms crossed, Reggie copying him from behind.

"What happened?" Luke asked, taking a drag from a cigarette he had lit while entering the garage, blowing the smoke out the open garage door.

For a moment, the whole garage was silent. No one wanted to explain what had happened while Luke was gone, especially all the details about him and Lisa, but it would have been even weirder to sit still in the silence when Luke walked away. So reluctantly, Julie spoke up.

Julie wanted to say something angry, but she just couldn't. She talked slowly and sadly, saying, "Bobby saw us at the Orpheum and now he knows you guys aren't holograms," She choked out.

"Really? That's just great," Luke sighed. Reggie and Alex didn't say a word, just observed the conversation between Julie and Luke.

"I am having a really hard time," She said, pausing to catch her breath, "and I was hoping you would be here to comfort me," She said.

Luke frowned. "Julie, I didn't know. I'm so sorry, I–"

"You were with Lisa instead of here to help me. I needed you, Luke," She said, her voice calm but powerful.

Luke just sighed, thinking about his choice of words for what he was going to say to Julie. "Okay, look. I didn't know this was happening so can you–"

"Save it," She uncharacteristically spat. She paused for a beat, "I have a date with Nick tonight anyway that I have to get ready for," Julie said, getting up from the leather couch and walking out of the garage with small steps, the conversation ending abruptly by her sudden walkout.

Alex and Reggie looked at each other tensely. The air in the room was stiff and quiet, the only sound coming from the crackling of Luke's cigarette.

"Did Lisa leave?" Reggie finally asked. Luke shook his head.

"I came to get my pick."

Alex pulled on his hoodie drawstrings and huffed. "You should probably go find Julie. She is really scared right now, I can tell," He said, plopping down on the couch.

Luke wanted so desperately to comfort Julie, but Alex's comments made him feel bad and sort of… insecure. No one's pride seemed to be bigger than a teenage boy's, especially when it came to a teenage girl, so unfortunately, Luke walked away. He picked up a marble patterned pick on a side table next to the couch before he left, stuffed it in his right pocket, put his cigarette on the garage's concrete floor, and smashed it with the heel of his shoe.

"You heard her, she's got a date to get ready for," Luke said, retreating out of the garage without another word being said by anybody. That garage stayed quiet for the remainder of the day.

Carlos pulled out his iPad, pressing the record button as he held it up. He had managed to use the family computer to do some research on ghosts, much to his father's dismay, but was still determined to get Julie's little ghost pals on video so he could prove once and for all that ghosts were real. Hopefully, anything he found would be proof enough to shut up his father too, and the world of paranormal scientists and believers would worship him. All the world would be right then, he thought.

"Please don't tell me you're ghost hunting again," Ray said, his fingers clicking the backspace on his keyboard redundantly, "We already made the dip, Carlos."

Carlos lowered the iPad. "Dad, I don't care if you believe me or not. I know this place is haunted. I already have a video of Julie talking to herself; she has little ghost friends," He said. Ray's shoulders dropped, hands sinking into his pockets as he thought of what to say to his son who seemed to be showing signs of severe delusion, a situation that did not have a chapter in the many 'how to be a single dad' books he had read. Before Ray had time to come up with a rebuttal though, Carlos made his way out the front door towards the garage without another word, iPad still in hand.

"I'm gonna get more proof," He said promptly, clutching the iPad to his stomach. Ray threw his hands up in the air, giving up on the conversation defeatedly. As Carlos closed the front door behind him, he walked down the paved sidewalk to the garage, his sneakers scuffing against the concrete pavers. Julie was coming from the opposite direction, her eyes red and posture sulking, moving to the left side of the concrete to walk around Carlos.

"Woah, are you okay Julie?" Carlos asked, stopping in his tracks. It was hard not to notice Julie's garish appearance, her bloodshot eyes, ones that Carlos hadn't seen since their mother died. Julie stopped, turned towards him, and bit her lip. After a couple of seconds of blank staring, she leaned down and opened her arms wide, wrapping her little brother in a warm hug. Carlos clutched his iPad between his sister and his stomach, taken a bit aback by the sudden affection, but eventually placed his other hand around her shoulder.

"Oh, alright," Carlos huffed, reciprocating the unexpected hug. The interaction ended as abruptly as it started, and Julie let go and sped-walked back to the house without another word, her long skirt whipping behind her. What had happened to Julie, Carlos thought. She loved him, of course, but siblings don't usually hug, especially Julie and him. With eyes as reddy and puffy as hers, it was undeniable something had happened back there. Julie wasn't one to cry, so whatever it was must have been bad. Carlos scratched the back of head and started walking towards the garage once again, brushing off the strange interaction.

As Carlos peered around the garage door Julie had left open, the air felt strange for lack of a better term. The tension could have been cut with a knife, and there were instruments everywhere, some Julie didn't even play. What had happened back here, Carlos thought.

Alex and Reggie had also noticed Carlos' appearance, Alex slapping Reggie on the chest to get his attention. "Dude, Julie's brother is back," Alex sighed, putting his forehead in the crevice between his thumb and pointer finger. Reggie looked over at an inquisitive Carlos holding up an iPad, heaving out a huge sigh at his presence.

"Don't tell me he still knows we're here. I thought he would forget or something like that; last time I checked, kids were dumb," Reggie complained.

Alex adjusted his snapback on his head. "That was in 1995, Reggie, get woke," He said, "but you're right, I do have a bad feeling about that little guy," He said, getting up to walk around him slowly like a detective.

Carlos gently walked around the garage, every so often snapping a photo on the big screen in his hands; photos of the peonies on the piano, the men's clothing strewn across the floor, and an empty CD box labeled, "Sunset Curve," Once he had scanned the entire garage to his liking, Carlos turned towards the corner of it. In it sat a little tripod, his father's from when his dad was trying to sell the house before, and walked towards it.

Reggie and Alex looked at each other, realizing what he was going to do when he slipped the iPad into the tripod. Although they didn't really know much about 2020 technology, he knew that there was a camera built into almost every device; this time was no different. "Oh don't tell me he's gonna..." Reggie trailed off, slapping his hands against his thighs.

"Oh no..." Alex finished the sentence for him. Carlos set his iPad up on the tripod and pressed the record button, hoping to catch Julie talking to her little ghoul friends. He then promptly walked out of the room without another word.

"Dude, go turn it off," Reggie told Alex, "You're the one who got a lesson about picking up things," He said, his finger pointing crookedly at the iPad.

"It's been a while, I don't remember!" Alex whined. Reggie gestured over to the tripod dramatically anyway, his fingers flicking to tell him to, 'go on,' Alex huffed and walked over to it reluctantly, sticking his tongue out at Reggie as he looked back. He tried focusing his energy all into one pointer finger like Willie had instructed him to. His hand, however, kept sinking through the piece of foreign technology.

Reggie sighed. "Why isn't it working?

"I told you I couldn't remember, bro. Plus, what even is this?" Alex asked, looking closely at the screen. He could see every piece of furniture and instrument in the garage, but not himself. Just a blur.

"I don't know, but I can see things behind me in it," Reggie said, exasperated. "We can seriously touch Julie but can't even click a small button," He crossed his arms.

"That's really not the point. We need Julie's help but we can't just ask her," Alex stated. Reggie knitted his eyebrows together, his face clearly clueless.

"Why not?"

Alex sighed, cocking his head to the side. "How is it that I know more about girls than you do and I don't even like 'em'?" Alex said, crossing his arms. Reggie sighed in frustration. "Julie is upset, she needs some time alone before we can ask for any more favors. She has a lot on her plate, so just leave her alone," He told Reggie. He nodded in understanding, but it was clear his comprehension skills were for naught.

"What happened back there?" Lisa asked, "It sounded like a lot of yelling," She was sitting politely perched on the bench around the side of the house, one leg crossed over the other, and her brows furrowed.

Luke sighed, taking his guitar strapped around his shoulder off and placing it on the back patio chairs. Luke knew it was wrong to desert his friend in her time of need because he was petty, but he didn't know how else to project his anger about Julie any other way. So he ran away like he always seemed to do, and found himself unexpectedly confiding in Lisa.

"A lot," Luke replied, "My old bandmate, a lifer, just saw us in concert. He's definitely gonna be after us now," He said.

"Shit. What are you gonna do?" Lisa asked. She dusted her white dress off as she sat on a bench adjacent to Luke, her barefoot feet pointed towards the concrete. "Isn't he famous or something?"

Luke cracked a little smile. He knew right now he needed to sort out his feelings about Julie, but he couldn't help but direct the subject towards Lisa who was sitting quietly on the bench. "You have a good memory," He said. It wasn't as much a good memory as it was Lisa remembering every single thing the two talked about at Barley's. She couldn't help it.

"Maybe I just like listening to you," She replied hastily, her face curling into a smile as well. The two sat in silence in the Molina backyard for a beat, the only sound coming from songbirds up in the trees above the house. Luke indulged in the cheesy moment, but in the back of his mind, he still couldn't seem to push the thought of Julie away after their fight. Maybe what Luke needed was to distract himself with this girl; a girl that could help him get his mind off of Julie for at least a little bit. If their conversations would be enough to distract himself, maybe he'd be better equipped to talk to Julie after he had cooled off. He gently smiled at Lisa and moved a little closer, taking the opportunity he was presented.