Nothing to Lose | Luke Patterson

Chapter Thirty-Five

"Oh my gosh!" Julie exclaimed excitedly once we poofed into the room, "What took you guys so long? Did Willie do it? Did you talk to them? Did they watch? Did they like us? Are we playing? Someone answer! Why's no one talking?" She asks quickly, waving her arms around anxiously as she does.

"Whoa! That's a lot of questions!" Reggie exclaimed, holding his hands out, gesturing for her to stop, "Charlie, you wanna take this one." I nod, stepping towards the other girl.

"Relax," I reassure her, gesturing for her to sit on the couch, "take a seat."

"It's fine, everything's fine," Luke kneeled, leaning his hands on the table. Alex, Reggie, and I follow, kneeling in front of Julie.

"Yeah, you should be getting a call right..." Alex exclaims, pointing to her phone; nothing happens. We all glance around at each other, awkwardly, "okay, right now." He yells once more; I sigh when nothing happens, the screen remains black.

"Watch this," I nudge Alex, "Now," I point at the phone dramatically like my brother had been doing, and it instantly lights up, ringing loudly. My eyes widen in shock at the ironic timing, while Julie squeals excitedly. "Nailed it," I smirked, holding my hand out for Alex to hit; he huffs playfully in annoyance but high-fives me, an excited smile replacing his playfully annoyed one. "Are you gonna answer?" I ask Julie; the boy's eyes widen, all three of them gesture for her to pick up.

"Oh, um..." Julie clears her throat before picking up the phone, "Hello."

"Hi, this is Tasha from the Orpheum in Hollywood." Tasha greeted, her voice coming through the phone speaker; the boys and Julie stood up, jumping around in excitement; I shake my head in amusement, looking up at them. "Is this Julie of Julie and the phantoms?" Julie holds her arms out, gesturing for the boys to stop; she leans down, picking up the phone from the table.

"Yes, it is," She says, holding the phone to her ear; she and the boys began freaking out again, this time Luke pulls me up from the ground, spinning me around excitedly.

"Are you available to open for us tonight?" She asks; Luke places me off to the side, bending down to lift Alex, who's preparing to leap into his and Reggie's arms.

"Yeah, totally," Julie confirmed, jumping around on the coffee table; Alex takes a running start, launching himself off the ground; Reggie and Luke catch him, spin him around. "Thank you so much," Julie exclaimed; I couldn't hear Tasha reply; I was too focused on the boys excited, cheering, laughing at the three of them.

"We're playing the Orpheum, baby!" Julie exclaimed once she hung up the phone; we all cheered, the boys still spinning Alex around the room.

"Look," Alex exclaims, moving his arms around, "I'm swimming."

A Couple Hours Later

"So," Alex kneeled next to me; I was currently digging through my chest of clothes, trying to find something to wear, "what's going on with you and Luke?"

"Um," I mumble, my eyes traveling over to my boyfriend, who was currently sitting at the piano, flipping through our songbook, trying to find the perfect song to sing tonight, "I guess we're dating now."

"You guess?" Alex chuckles, shaking his head in amusement, "I'm kidding; I'm really happy for you, sis." I smile over at my brother, "go help him pick the song," He nudged me, "I'll pick out your outfit." I smile thankfully at Alex, standing up from my spot on the floor; most girls would never let their brother help pick out their outfits, but Alex has a better style than me, so I'm not too worried.

"Hey," I greet Luke, sliding into the spot next to him, "Any luck finding a song?" Luke shook his head, leaning the book over so I could read it with him, "How about the one we finished for Julie's mom?"

"Stand tall?" He asked, flipping to that page, "I think that's a great idea; I'm sure Julie would like that."

"Yeah, she would," I nod in agreement; Luke places the book back down, a comfortable silence falling over the both of us; I begin playing the piano at one point, feeling Luke watch me the entire time. "Luke?" I finally speak, moving my hands off the piano keys; Luke hums in response, gesturing for me to continue, "What's gonna happen to us?"

"What do you mean?" He asks, his eyes full of worry.

"Do we get to be together on the other side?" I ask him; everything was finally sinking in; we were going to play the Orpheum and cross over, but what would happen after. "We just got together; I don't wanna lose you."

"You're not losing me, Charlie," He reassured, placing his hand on top of mine, "we're gonna be together." Part of me wanted to believe Luke and have hope that we would be together when we crossed over, but another part of me was anxious, I can't lose the boys.

"Okay," I nod; I didn't want to crush Luke's hopefulness with my anxiety, that isn't fair, "thank you." Luke nodded, placing his hand on my cheek, moving his face closer to mine, "Alex and Reggie are watching," I remind him, moving my face back slightly; of course, I wanted to kiss him, I just didn't feel like having my brother and best friend watching us.

"Oh," Luke dropped his hand, turning to face the piano keys; I frowned, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"I want to," I reassure him, looking up at him slightly; Luke pouts playfully, and I can tell he's trying his best not to smile. I roll my eyes, leaning up to kiss his cheek, "better?"

"You're forgiven," He nods his head in approval, happy about my small gesture.

"Good," I lean my head back on his shoulder, smiling lightly when he snakes his arm around my waist, pulling me closer. We sat for a few more minutes, and I tried to enjoy the moment, but it was hard; all I could think about was everything we were leaving behind. I'm sixteen; I shouldn't be going through stuff like this. I should be living at home with my parents, studying to get my license; I shouldn't be worried about crossing over and whether I'll ever see my family again. I then thought about how, after today, that's it; I can't see Julie anymore, or go to my secret spot, I can never visit my parents again. "I-I have something I need to do," I stutter, moving my head off of Luke's shoulder; I needed to see them one last time.

"Do you want me to come?" Luke asks; I consider saying yes; I also think of asking my brother to come; they're his parents too, after all.

"No," I shake my head after a moment of thinking; I wasn't going to be there for long, I just needed to tell them I forgive them, even if they can't hear me, "It's okay," Luke nodded his head, but he still seemed unsure, "I'll be back in a minute," I reassure him, "I promise."

"Okay," Luke said, squeezing my hand reassuringly; I squeeze back before letting go, poofing myself in front of my parents' house; I begin walking up the driveway, stopping when I hear a man talking to me.

"You must be Charlie," I turn and am greeted by a tall man, wearing an old-fashioned suit and a top hat placed on his head; I instantly realize that this must be Caleb, the ghost who put his mark on the boys. "I've heard so much about you."

"Stay away from me," I warn, crossing my arms across my chest; I glare at the man, hoping to seem braver than I actually am.

"Aw," He cooed, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, "so brave." I go to poof away but am unable to. "You didn't think it'd be that easy to getaway? Did you?" before I can respond, Caleb blows at me, causing me to stumble back; the last thing I see is him smirking maliciously before everything goes black.

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