luke and i walked back into the studio, pretending nothing had ever happened outside. at least, that's what i was doing.

he glanced at me for a moment as we both shouldered our guitars,"this isn't over."

i met his gaze, drawing the exact opposite conclusion. i couldn't talk about this with him. i couldn't talk about this with anyone.

i made no attempt to answer him, though he knew perfectly well that i had heard him.

flynn sauntered into the room seconds later, as she smiled brightly,"dance news," she exclaimed, before her face completely fell,"i don't have a date-"

i chuckled, shaking my head,"what? how is that possible?"

"i know right!" she threw her hands up, before veering back to the subject at hand,"but i don't care, because i'm so excited to see you guys play!"

alex groaned, looking at us with annoyance, "aw, man, we're playing a dance?"

luke nodded as he took a seat in a chair, acting as if he had any idea what we were talking about,"of course, dude. that's how we get a following nowadays."

julie smiled in amused, shooting alex a taunting look,"yeah, get with the program, alex."

flynn gasped, obviously having no clue of the ghosts' presence,"the guys are here?!" she turned in the complete wrong direction,"hey, guys!"

i gave her an awkward smile, actually feeling kind of bad for her. i know i would be annoyed if my best friend could talk to ghosts and i couldn't.

"other way." i said politely, glancing over at her.

luke nodded, letting out a small sigh,"okay well, now that alex has graced us with his presence, can we get working?"

"yes!" julie exclaimed, seemingly excited to get to work,"flynn, you wanna watch?"

flynn thought over the offer for a second,"i'm supposed to blow up five hundred balloon for the dance, but...this is better."

i chuckled lightly, shaking my head at the girl, "you gotta love her."

"got to, huh?" luke asked coldly, refusing to look in my direction.

it seemed that since i had declined the offer to answer him earlier, he had turned his curiosity into aggravation. lucky me.

i rolled my eyes as julie glanced between us suspiciously. i knew i would probably be telling her about all of this later, but right now just wasn't the time.

before any of us could get a word in, carlos ran in excitedly,"julie! julie! do you remember those orbs in dad's pictures? they're ghosts, but don't worry. this room is..." he looked around carefully, unknowing making eye contact with each of the orbs, before deducing,"clean. this room is clean. i'm not getting the ghost tingles."

reggie chuckled lightly,"wrong again, little dude."

i smiled in amusement at reggie, who shot me a small wink.

carlos took a triumphant stance, trying to look as powerful as possible,"have no fear! i will
protect you, because i am the man of the house."

julie gave him a confused look, amused at this whole situation,"isn't dad the man of the house?"

carlos faltered for a second before deciding, "there can be two."

i shrugged distastefully, having no interest in that idea at all,"eh, sounds kinda patriarchal."

carlos smiled sheepishly, waving a hand as an apology,"sorry, i didn't mean to make you feel stupid."

a short, quiet laugh fell from my lips as i muttered,"that- that's patronizing."

but carlos paid no attention as he yanked a salt shaker from his pocket,"according to the internet, salt can burn their souls out."

i looked at luke nervously, who finally had the decency to look at me as he mirrored my expression. he might have been being a jerk, but that didn't mean i wanted his soul to be burnt out.

"a little sprinkle will stop them from ever coming here." carlos explained, beginning to throw salt around the room.

surprisingly, he was actually hitting the right spots. he went to reggie and luke, who both just lifted up their feet to avoid being salted.

but alex wasn't so lucky. the salt hit him and i closed my eyes, fully prepared to be without a drummer.

"no!" alex yelped, staring down at his feet in anguish,"oh god! i'm- i'm...fine," he spoke, causing my head to shoot up as he smiled in relief,"i'm fine."

"right," i said, after my concern had subsided, "i think you got them, car."

"and i'm hungry," flynn commented, mostly just trying to get him out of the room,"carlos, salt me a path to the kitchen, please."

i chuckled lightly, watching them as the walked away.

"so, shall we try again?" julie questioned, glancing at us in amusement.

"yes, please," luke nodded, desperate to get playing. he felt he had been waiting long enough,"but remind us later: there's some sunset curve songs we wanna show you guys."

julie pushed her mic away and patted down a seat for me to sit on next to her on the bench, "ooh, show us now."

i took a seat next to her, luke clearing his throat awkwardly,"yeah, okay."

julie and i shared a look, before watching as luke scrambled for his songbook. he looked at a song that seemed to poke through all the other ones,"home is where my horse is," he read in annoyance as he stood up,"stop putting your country songs in my journal, reggie."

reggie scoffed in offense,"that was a gift!"

"thanks, buddy." luke slapped his shoulder with the book.

even when annoyed, he was still so sweet. it just made me feel guilty more than anything.

i chuckled lightly as luke handed us the songbook,"i dog eared the ones that i thing you guys would kill."

luke's eyes lingered on me for a moment too long, so i quickly averted my gaze to the book.

julie flipped through the book, before landing on a song that had no dog ear in sight. she smirked, looking at the song titled unsaid emily,"who's emily?"

luke stiffened, reaching over to snatch the journal back,"that one's not dog eared."

julie drew back, taking the book with her. i put my hand on her shoulder, knowing this was an invasion of luke's personal life. or, past life.

"jules, come on." i spoke quietly, seeing how nervous luke was getting.

but she paid no attention, as she started to read off the lyrics,"if you could only know, that i never let you go," she gave him a teasing smile,"wow, luke, i didn't know you were such a romantic."

alex stepped in, giving luke a concerned glance, "he's not. that songs about-"

"no one," luke cut him off, clearly not ready to share that part of his past with us. he reached for his journal once again,"that's just something that i tried, a-and," when he realized julie wasn't going to give his journal back, he tried to change the subject,"but if you go to the next page, i got a tune with a killer beat."

i felt bad for luke. for all of julie's talks about privacy and boundaries, she clearly didn't have any regards for his or theirs.

julie set the book down, and i went back to my guitar. luke started to play a rock riff, one that was all too familiar to me.

"so, you wanna sample." julie commented, making the exact connection i had just made.

luke chuckled, having no clue what she meant, "what do you mean?"

"sample someone else's music," julie said casually, "me and my mom used to sing that song at the top of our lungs in the car, all the time. it's a classic trevor wilson song."

luke shook his head, not even entertaining the idea for a moment,"nope. it's a classic our song."

reggie nodded in agreement,"pure sunset curve. never even heard of trevor wilson."

"yeah, maybe you're mixing it up. you know, with another song." alex explained.

i shook my head, knowing i was more versed on this topic than probably anyone,"nope, that's definitely trevor. i literally dated his daughter, i would know what his music sounds like."

luke rolled his eyes, shooting me a small glare as he muttered under his breath, "you're just gonna bring up everyone you date, huh?"

i turned to him sharply,"it was to establish my credibility, you asshole."

he scoffed, finally deciding to look at me,"oh, i'm the asshole?"

i gave him a facetious confused look,"did i stutter?"

"hey, guys," julie gave us a fake smile as she dug out her laptop,"time and place."

i let out a huff and went to sit down on the couch, tired of being berated by a ghost.

julie looked up trevor wilson, explaining his discography along the way,"his first album had a bunch of hits, but none of his latest stuff has been that good."

the boys all went white as they peered at the picture.

"that's bobby." luke said sharply.

julie scoffed,"seriously, i just told you his name is trevor."

alex nodded, letting out a shaky breath,"okay, great, then h-he changed it, alright? that's definitely bobby, he was our rhythm guitarist."

julie, still as amused as ever, questioned, "trevor wilson was in your band?"

meanwhile, i was a little freaked out over the fact that my ex-girlfriend's father knew the ghosts i had befriended. all in all, i'd say this situation was less than appealing.

"i can't get over how old he looks." reggie continued to stare at the picture.

"oh...," alex groaned distastefully, eyeing the picture with disgust,"he looks like a substitute teacher."

i clamped my hand over my mouth to avoid the laughter that threatened to spill out.

because, let's face it: no one else was laughing. especially not luke.

"julie..." luke looked at her with eyes full of something i couldn't exactly pinpoint,"what were his other hits?"

julie took a second to think before answering, "get lost."

luke slipped off his guitar,"yeah, i wrote that."

"long weekend?" julie questioned.

"yeah, luke wrote that one too." reggie replied.

i chewed my lip nervously. this whole situation was a lot for me to handle. i had always liked trevor, he was nice to me. he even used to go to my shows while carrie and i were dating. it was just strange to see another side of him.

before i could even blink, or take the time to re-enter the conversation, the boys were gone.

"julie, w-what? what just happened?" i questioned, standing up and going over to her.

i'll admit, i had zoned out a little bit. it's possible i missed some key elements that would have led to their leaving.

"they left," julie said, shaking her head,"but i know where they're going. hope you gassed up your car."

i groaned, throwing my head back. i knew exactly where they had gone,"we're going to malibu, aren't we?"

trevor lived in malibu, and it would only make sense that the boys had gone there. i had no idea what they would be doing, but for the time being, i wouldn't question it.

"yeah. let's grab flynn, and then we've gotta go." julie ushered me out of the studio.

i grabbed my car keys and sighed, ready to do whatever it is we were trying to do.