electric touch // luke patterson

waiting room - pheobe bridgers

SITTING IN JULIE'S ROOM WAS gracie, an ounce of ben and jerry's phish food ice cream being scooped into her mouth as she stared at the wall.

i know the end by pheobe bridgers was playing on the girl's phone as her and julie sat far away from each other, the blonde on the open window sill and the brunette on the bed. after grabbing her blanket and changing into her trolls pajama pants and a sweatshirt, gracie had ran all the way to julie's to explain through sobs what was happening. it was safe to say both were mourning in different ways.

the door creaked open to reveal flynn with a pitying face, "hey, i got your text."

julie looked up, capping her marker, "don't come too close. anyone i seem to care about disappears. i banned gracie to the window." the girls looked over at the blonde, but she was crying silently, staring down at her uggs.

flynn sighed, "you can't get rid of me. i'm like the crazy glue of best friends."

julie huffed, "i just don't get it. right when my life starts to get good. great friend, great band..."

"great guy." gracie croaked, clearing her throat.

julie sighed, looking down at her drawing, "...then, bam!" she pulled up what she'd been working on to reveal an explosion with her name at the center of it all.

"i seriously don't know why this is all happening to you, but that's gonna be a great album cover one day." flynn pointed out, kneeling down to fold her friend's clothes.

a haunted house with a picket fence to float around and ghost my friends

gracie squeezed her eyes shut, covering her face as julie told flynn, "you don't have to do that."

"i know, but i get to check out all your moms cool stuff... woah." gracie peeled her fingers away from her eyes to see the girl hold up a bedazzled white sunset curve shirt.

"did you know this was in here?" she asked. gracie swallowed, looking at julie when she jumped up.

"what the heck?"

flynn looked back down to the shirt, "how do you think she got it?"

julie shook her head slowly, "i... i don't know, but the guys said they didn't know my mom. why would they lie?"

gracie spoke up softly, "maybe they didn't," the girls turned to her, "maybe she knew them."

flynn caught on, "she could be a fan!"

julie thought it over, "i mean, sunset curve was playing the hollywood club scene around then."

flynn gasped, "oh my gosh, what if you're right? what if the guys are connected to your mom? you know, through music or something."

julie quirked her brow, "because she bought their t-shirt?"

gracie shook her head, standing up, "no, think about it," she glanced down at her phone playing waiting room and decided that was enough pheobe for the day. after turning the song off, she walked over to the two, "they were the ones who made you wanna play music again. they were the ones who got me to overcome my stage fright - you remember how she got me excited to become a musician in the first place, maybe she knew she could help us... mostly you, but..."

julie gave the two incredulous looks, "so, you mean to tell me that my mom is somewhere out there planning all this? if she wanted me to play music again, why wouldn't she just tell me herself?"

flynn took this one, "maybe she can't. maybe she has to do it another way."

"yeah," gracie nodded along, "yeah, you know. through signs."

julie gave her look making gracie throw her hands up, "you've been through these clothes how many times and have found this t-shirt? why now? this is another sign."

julie rolled her eyes making flynn stand from her knees, "we're just saying. it's not over, julie!"

the mentioned girl gave the two looks like they were insane, "really? "signs"?"

flynn deadpanned, "you're in a ghost band. it's a crazy world."

gracie swallowed the lump in her throat to sit down beside julie on her bed. she began softly, "look, we're gonna lose them no matter what. and it sucks - you saw me, i'm not okay. but they helped bring you back to life - they helped give me a life. now it's our turn to help them. they have to cross over..."

"it's time to let them go." flynn added gently.

julie nodded slowly before turning to gracie, "how are you so calm about it now? you were just having an episode over there."

the blonde shrugged lightly, "i trust your mom, and i trust my gut. this is the worst thing that's probably ever happened to me, but it's not their fault. and there's nothing we can do to turn back time now."

gracie and julie walked into the studio, the ice cream still clutched in the former's hands. the girls exchanged annoyed looks at how the boys were laying around in boredom.

julie sighed before clapping as she said, "snap out of it!"

alex gasped, falling off of the couch where he was attempting to balance a drumstick on his nose. the girls watched unamused as the three looked up at them with a mixture of emotions in their eyes.

"jeez, i think you broke alex." reggie muttered, strumming his guitar.

julie looked at them before asking, "do you want to cross over or what?"

when there was no response with luke patting alex's back as he adjusted back onto the couch, julie shouted, "get it together!"

luke sighed, slightly rolling his eyes, "they're never gonna let us play the orpheum."

"we're nobody." luke muttered.

"we're less than nobody." alex added.

"we have no bodies." reggie clarified unhelpfully.

luke snapped his fingers at the boy making julie sigh and say after a pause, "someone once told me that you don't ask for permission." luke looked up at the girl, a small smile on his face, "you book gigs by doing."

reggie smiled proudly, "that was me."

julie and luke looked at him blankly, "no it wasn't."

reggie looked down, mumbling, "yes it was."

"this isn't over," julie said, "we were brought together for a reason: to help each other."

alex sighed, "yeah, but like luke said, people don't just play the orpheum because they want to."

gracie hummed, catching the room's attention. luke instantly smiled, glad that she wasn't upset anymore. the girl shrugged casually, "people don't, but ghosts do."