THE GIRLS arrived at the Molina household. The ride was silent, but nothing awkward, nothing too hectic.

Lennon still in some type of phase after talking to Emily, but overall she was glad that she got that hard part out the way.

Julie was the first to get out, she faced Lennon with a small smile.

"Thanks for coming with me today."

Lennon brought her attention to Julie and nodded, "Anytime."

As Julie was about to shut the door, she faced Lennon again.

"He probably wants to see you."

Lennon shrugged her shoulders and rested her hands on the stirring wheel, pulling herself closer to the wheel.

She drew her attention away from Julie and to the purple corduroy that sat in between them.

Julie followed Lennon's eyes, "Maybe you want to talk to him too."

LENNON OPENED the doors of the garage and saw Luke sitting in one of the chairs.

He heard the door open but didn't bother to see who walked in. He could eliminate all options of it being Reggie and Alex as they could just poof in and out of the room. All options aside, it could only be Julie or Lennon.

He heard the sound of footsteps drawing closer and finally saw the same white high tops Lennon had worn that day.

He looked up at her; she held a soft smile on her face with a chair in her hands, the purple corduroy shirt back on her body.

"We don't have to talk about today, but if you don't mind, I would like to sit with you, if that's okay?"

Luke took the back of his hand to wipe any tears away. He gave her a small nod as he faced the other way.

Lennon sat the chair down and soon sat down. She wasn't going to push him to talk about something he wasn't ready for.

Luke looked back over at Lennon who was playing with the sleeves of his shirt.

The silence lasted longer than what Lennon had expected, but Luke had his full attention on her.

"Can you tell me about her?"

Lennon looked over at him. She knew what he was talking about.

She sighed and sat more upright.

"You would've liked her. She didn't seem to hate anything. Even when she was at her lowest she always laughed."

It shocked Luke with how easy Lennon was with talking about her mother. It was a hard subject for her and she rarely talked so openly about her.

"She, uh, she had cancer. They caught it the first time and it went away for a long time. They caught it too late the second time." She explained, "So, because of that, she started making lists of everything she loved; movies, shows, songs, you name it had a list. We're very similar." Lennon smiled, "She... never took life for granted. I didn't get to really get to say... goodbye." She confessed, "I told her I would see her later. She, uh... she left when I was at school. I know it's hard. I understand."

She let out a heavy sigh and faced him. Luke already looking at her; she sent him a small smile.

"She has this really long hair and she always dyed her hair. She knew it was gonna fall out anyway." Lennon cried, "So, my dad went bald and I cut my hair really short. She... has these stacks of movies and records that she wanted me to have and saved them all the way from her childhood to mine."

Lennon interchanged between using past and present tense a lot. It wasn't new. She did it a lot when she did talk to her dad about her mom. He never corrected her on it. He knew that whenever she did switch between past and present tense it was because she so into talking about her mother.

"Katherine Amara Sunder." Lennon smiled, "And she always went by Kat. She adores Casper because the main character has the same name as her. She watches the movie all time."

She finally looked up at him. Her whole position had changed the more she talked about her mother. Her body was turned as she spoke to him and she spoke more with her hands.

Luke held a smile on his face as she spoke.

She let out a breathy laugh and rested her back against the chair.

"She was an amazing person. You would've loved her. Everyone would've loved her."

Luke watched as Lennon's smile fell slightly. She was so engrossed in conversation that she had really realized what she was saying. She was just talking. Whatever came to her mind she just said.

I mean, who would it hurt? If his hand fell through hers again it wouldn't shock him at all.

Lennon took her one hand to wipe for face, the other resting flat in her lap.

He sat more upright and held his hand out. It was the best way he could comfort her.

She looked with a sad smile, wiping her face again and reaching her hand out to go through his again.

Lennon and Luke were soulmates for a reason. Whether or not they could or couldn't touch, they bonded over time and gotten to know each other better.

So, as Lennon pushed her hand closer to Luke's, expecting it to go through, it didn't.

Lennon's smile instantly fell from shock. As she tried to pull away ( again, from shock ), Luke grabbed it, lacing their fingers together.

The first thing running through Luke's mind was that Lennon's hand was really warm compared to his own.

Lennon regained her smile, "Hey."

"Hey."

Luke stood from his chair, dragging Lennon up with him as pulled her into a hug.

Touching her was different than what he could have ever thought. He's definitely imagined it, but he didn't think it would be like this.

She was warm. That's all he could think about. How warm she was.

That his fingers could feel the ends of her hair, that he felt her tears fall against his shoulder, that he could feel her breathing against him.

That Lennon Sunder was just an extremely warm person to be touching right now.

The more Luke thought about it, the tighter her grip on her grew. His facial expressions changing the more he thought about it.

This wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all. It felt so real to him. It felt too real to be true.

"Lennon?"

"Yeah?"

"You're gonna wake up soon."

Lennon didn't move, she barely reacted. She had stopped crying and licked her lips. She pulled away from the hug. Luke's hands resting on her waist.

She looked at him closely. He was upset. It was obvious. He got so excited for something; something that felt so real, and somehow the opportunity for it to be real slipped through his fingers.

He was upset with himself for believing that this was something that could happen.

Lennon moved one of her hands from his neck, down to his chest, she balled her hand into a fist and began to beat on his chest lightly. She suddenly stopped and rested her hand flat on his chest.

Luke watched her closely, his own tears pricking his eyes.

She felt nothing. It was strange. No heartbeat.

She hadn't thought about that. She obviously knew he was a ghost, but she hadn't thought about the inside if that makes sense.

It pulled her back into reality. She looked up at him with a small smile.

"My mom and I loved the scene in Casper where Kat and Casper could touch for the first time. She was so excited that Casper and Kat could do anything in that short amount of time. So, if this is a dream... I would really hate to wake up right now, but I have no idea what you're talking about."

Luke bit his lip. His eyes scavenging all over her face for any sign that she was joking.

Then he remembered. When he brought up what happened in the dreams prior, she hadn't remembered having them. She didn't remember the conversations. She may have repeated the same things to him that happened in the dream, but at the end of the day, she never remembered them.

Luke shut his eyes for a moment before opening them again. Lennon was still there. He hadn't woken up next to Alex and Reggie. He was still standing there with his hands on Lennon's waist.

So, no it wasn't a dream. This was their lives right then and there.

Luke took one of his hands and touched her face. With shaky hands, he touched her eyebrows, touched her nose, touched whatever he possibly could.

He finally rested his hands on her cheek.

"You are stupidly warm." He smiled.

Lennon let out a breathy laugh and rested her head in his chest, her arms wrapping around his torso.

Minutes felt like hours and seconds felt like minutes.

The longer they stood there, the more tired Lennon grew.

No shock as of today, but from the previous times, Lennon knew she was tried. Luke knew she was tired.

He rested his head gently on top of hers and swayed lightly from side to side.

He felt her breathing start to get heavy. If she wanted to ( and trust, she really wanted to ) she could've fallen asleep right then and there.

Luke felt a small smile grow on his face, "Lennon?"

"Yeah?"

He retreated his hands back on her face, allowing her to look up at him.

"I know... I know I'm really, really bad at getting my emotions out and I'm sorry, but I meant what I said. I really, really like you Lennon and I cannot express that enough."

Lennon smiled, her head slightly tilting to the side. Her arm burning slowly, but burning nonetheless.

"I know that night in the gym you weren't ready to tell me how you felt, but you did anyway. I'm sorry."

Lennon held her small smile as she flickered her eyes towards the ground.

She had thought about the night in the gym since the whole fiasco happened.

TOP ONE HUNDRED PLUS SONG THAT MAKES ME THINK "TRUE LOVE" EXISTS

number six: make you feel my love - adele
favorite line: "i could offer you a warm embrace. to make you feel my love."

"I'm not sorry."

Luke furrowed his brows.

"If I didn't say it then I was never gonna say it." She explained, "I hate the way it went after I told you, but telling me now is better than not telling me at all."

If Luke was scared of anything, it would be how the conversation would go in the next five or so minutes.

Lennon removed his hands from her face and held them in her own.

If Lennon was scared of anything, it would be that if they let go that she wouldn't be able to touch him again.

It was insane how a sweet moment like this one could turn so sour so fast.

"There's something I have to tell you."

Lennon looked up from their hands and at him.

"Okay."

"We figured out that we have unfinished business. That's why we came back as ghosts."

Lennon had heard of unfinished business. It would shock anyone if she didn't.

But, she pushed the thought back. It was a movie. A movie that wasn't real. A movie that wasn't real until she met him.

"Oh. What is it?"

"We have to play the show we never got to play."

"The Orpheum? That makes sense."

Then it happened. They hadn't felt one all day.

Luke jerked backward, his grip on Lennon's hands slipping through as he went back.

Lennon let out a heavy sigh. She didn't move. She stood her ground and rested her hands on her knees.

Her body had gotten so used to what was happening that, yes it still hurt, but she didn't react as badly as before.

Luke looked up quickly and saw her position. She slowly stood upright, her one hand on her hip the other resting on her forehead, the sleeve of his shirt falling. The stamp still on her wrist.

"I didn't, uh- I'm sorry. I didn't think you could feel them too."

Luke sighed, "Lennon it's not your fault. We did something that we shouldn't have. The night that we missed the dance, we met this ghost, and he put this curse on us. And if we don't do what he says, then those jolts will destroy us."

"Including me?"

"Including you."

"And you knew this?"

"Lennon-"

"No, because... this isn't the same as me not telling you were soulmates. I know it was wrong, but Luke, this- this isn't the same."

"I know that, Lennon. Trust me I know."

"What does he want?"

"He wants us to be in his house band
for eternity. But if we can play the Orpheum soon, then we can avoid all that and actually cross over."

"Cross over?" Lennon asked, "As in, like what? Like, go to heaven?"

"That's what we're banking on."

"So, you knew that this could go many different ways. That you are either in his band forever and I would never see you again, that you cross over and I would never you or, and this is the fun part, these jolts take you away and turn you into nothing and I am also turned into nothing. You knew that."

"I did."

"What was the difference of telling me when you found out versus now? That we could touch? That we could-"

Lennon cut herself off as her eyes travel down to Luke's wrist.

A similar, nearly identical stamp on his arm.

As she went to grab ahold of his wrist, her hand went straight through his.

It was like them touching never happened. That, according to Luke, was just a dream all long.

If Lennon was scared of anything, it would be that if they let go that she wouldn't be able to touch him again.

She pulled her hand away and wrapped her arms around herself.

If Luke knew he was just going to be able to go through her again he would've done something other than just touch her.

"I'm not angry. I should be very, very with angry you. My life is on the line because... Caleb knew we were soulmates and he just needs a new band. I'm not angry. Just really upset."

"Lennon-"

"Go talk to Julie. Figure out what you guys need to do to play the Orpheum. She'll be upset, but she'll come through." Lennon explained, "I'm not angry, so don't believe that I am. I just- I just need time to think, okay. And I don't have much time to do that, so."

Lennon wiped any potential tears away with the sleeve of his shirt.

Did she want him to cross over? No.

Did she want him ( along with Alex and Reggie ) to continue to suffer? No.

Lennon sighed, "You know where to find me when you come up with a plan."

If Lennon was tired of doing something, it was definitely crying.

- lucy has something to say !!

( word count: 2531 two thousand five hundred thirty-eight )

anyways

by the way, delaney helped me with this and probably doesn't remember

anyways

i made luke taller than lennon to boost his ego...

also it's been almost a week and i didn't update... sorry el oh el

they touched i promise lol

i literally don't know what to say

bye :))))