Chapter Two
Never Call Me Bro Again

3rd Person POV

astrid hopped outside as she waited for the others. reggie, luke and alex all hopped out together and looked at astrid but alex looked at luke

"dude why'd you stop me, julie needs a hug" Alex tried to argue

"alex she can't know we were in there and two we're ghosts i don't think you can hug her" astrid spoke as she moved next to reggie and he nudged her side

"what? i'm just being honest" she exclaimed and he shook his head as he smiled at her

"yeah and a ghost hug isn't the feel good moment that you think it is. trust me , what julie needs right now is just a little bit of privacy" Luke exclaimed and Astrid raised an eyebrow in his direction

"you know what? i think you poofed us out because you can't handle when people cry. i should know i cried in a room for 25 years and astrid was the only one who hugged or held me" Alex said and Astrid rubbed his shoulder as Reggie stepped forward with his arms open

"don't touch me" Alex said

OK. I think the first thing we should do, once we get the courage
to go in there, is ask Julie... why she lied about playing the piano" luke stated

"yeah and maybe tell her how good she is" astrid said

" Yeah, course, bro" luke told her and astrid shook her head

"never call me bro again" she said and that's when flynn rushed by with tears on her face

"she's legit. i got ghost bumps" Reggie said and Astrid shook her head with a smile on her face

"oh my gosh. was she crying to?" alex asked

"yesss and the only thing scarier than one girl crying is two girls crying" Luke said

"guys we shouldn't go in there" Astrid stated

"you're right but we can listen" reggie said and they walked over the door

"oh how i love eavesdropping" astrid exclaimed and she walked over with them as they listened , that was until julie walked out and she looked at them

"oh, hey!" she exclaimed and astrid smiled

"hi jules" she whispered but flynn turned around

"let's hustle" Julie said and she led flynn away

"don't worry we weren't listening" Reggie called and luke kicked his leg as astrid smacked her forehead as they watched julie and flynn walk away before they went into the studio

"I wonder why Julie didn't tell us she could shred on the piano?" reggie said

"i mean and she can sing but it probably has something to do with her mom and what happened" 

"Must've been hard. Anyway, I really feel for her" Alex said and Astrid nodded as she climbed upstairs with alex

"Yeah, but... now she's got music back in her life, just like us" luke stated

"Yeah, I'm not sure you can call what we have a life. Oh hey, some of the clothes we left behind are still up here" Alex said and he tossed the bag down

"Oh, same clothes since '95, boys" luke exclaimed and with that julie's dad walked in

"Oh, that was weird! But somehow I can tell this man has a kind heart" reggie said and astrid shook her head with a smile

"So, how've ya been?" ray asked

"Honestly, not that good. See, we ate these hot dogs, and" Reggie bang

"Julie sang for the first time this morning. She hadn't done that in almost a year. You would've loved it" ray interrupted him

"Yeah, we saw 'cause we were... Oh Oh, I get it. He... He's not talking to us" reggie exclaimed and astrid smiled

" You are so lucky you can play bass and have a cute face" astrid stated and luke smiled up at alex as reggie blushed

"Pretty sure he's talking to Julie's mom" Alex said and astrid agreed

"She's such an amazing young woman. Every day she reminds me more and more of you" ray exclaimed

"Called it" alex called and they high-fived each other

"Oh, I'm, uh... I'm taking pictures for the real estate website. I don't really wanna move, but... I guess it's best for Julie" ray said and astrid took a deep breathe in

"Move?" luke and astrid said together

"There's so many memories of Julie playing next to you, and Carlos trying to sing with his missing two front teeth" ray said and astrid walked downstairs with alex as luke and reggie started to tear up

"Oh no, Luke, not you too" reggie said and astrid shook her head

"He... He's talking about moving but the poor guy, he doesn't wanna move" Luke said

"It's like they grew up... out here" ray said

" Oh man, now's he's got me too" reggie said and astrid rubbed his back

"OK, how am I the emotional one?" alex said

"yeah that's really questionable now" she exclaimed

"C-C-Can we go see my family and see how they're doing?" reggie asked

"Yeah. Yeah, listening to this feels... wrong" alex and astrid said

"Hey, do you remember when the kids were at your sister's, and we came out here on our anniversary" ray led off

"and now i'm uncomfortable let's go" astrid said and she grabbed reggie's and they poofed away. they poofed to the beach and looked at their houses

"A bike shack right where my house used to be. Right here" reggie said and astrid ran her thumb over his hand

"i'm sorry reg" she exclaimed

"They made the Meyersons' house into a noodle shop. Why couldn't they have made mine a pizzeria or something?" reggie said

"They tore down the whole neighborhood" alex who

"I guess my folks are gone" reggie said and astrid kissed his forehead softly

"okay guys let's be real for a second. It's not like we were that close to our families. My folks always regretted buying me that guitar. Reggie, your parents were literally a fight away from a divorce. Alex , astrid I... Your parents were never cool again after you told them you were gay and your singing" luke complained

"OK. None of us had it great. All right? But at least we had something. You know, what do we have now? And before you say
cool teleportation skills, just know I'm not entirely OK with that either. All right? It tingles. In weird places" alex explained

"tmi lex tmi" she said

"I'll tell you what we had. It's what we've had since the day we came together, we have us. We're the only family we're ever gonna need. You know what else we have?  We have our music, you guys. People, actual people, can hear us play! They can't see us, fine, but they can feel us. If I had my guitar I'd play for all these people right now. Just like what we used to do down at the pier." luke said

"They can't tip what they can't see" alex said and astrid tapped his arm with a smile

"It's not about the tips, Alex. It's about playing music. Connecting with people. Making a difference in their day. I just... I wish I had my guitar" luke said and his guitar appeared

"Whoa! That was rad. How'd you do that?" reggie asked

"i  don't know. I-I-I mean, I wished for it and then it came in my hands" luke explained

"I-I-I wish I had a puppy. A hamster?.  Pizza?" and he fell to the ground with a groan

"Hey, I think I know something that'll cheer you up" luke said and he started to play  and they started to sing as they danced the beach and after they headed back to julie's house and went to her room but astrid went to the studio leaving them to do their own thing

she went inside and closed the door as she looked around and went back to the notebook. she flipped open to the song she wrote 'second chance'

she went back downstairs and grabbed her guitar as she sat down and started to play it. once it was over, she flipped through her book and realized that bright was gone

"alex where did bright go? it's gone, it was right here, i wrote it, that's my song, where did it go?" she asked and reggie grabbed her arms as he make eye contact with her

"luke took it" he whispered and she pulled away as luke walked in and she walked over to him with a glare on her face

"you took bright?" she asked and he put his hands up

"astrid please" he said and she shook her head

"that's my songbook luke, my privacy my songs, my life and you stole it, i can't even look at you" she said and she walked up to the loft. the next morning, they went to the school and astrid and laker away from as reggie stared

"what's wrong?" julie asked

"bright is her song not sunset curves" luke admitted and julie sighed as reggie  followed after her

"astrid" he called and she turned to him

she only hopped that it would be okay and reggie could calm her down

-ABBYS NOTES-
astrid and reggie are so cute