˗ˏˋ I BELIEVE ࿐ྂ
—— -͙ – -
                ˚  ·       
      * ˚ ✦ ᷾

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*

UNSAID EMILY

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦  ✧.*

FIRST THING the next morning, luke and y/n decided to visit his parents. they teleport to the door step, hand in hand, but they aren't expecting julie to be there. "luke! y/n!" she says, looking to the two ghosts.

luke looks at her, his voice a whisper, "what are you doing here?"

"ok, look, i just wanted to know more about you both, you know, just curious. um... so i came here last week on your birthday." she says quietly.

"you were spying on us?" luke scoffs. "even after all your speeches about boundaries, you were spying on us?" y/n squeezes his hand and offers him a reassuring smile.

"she's just worried about you." y/n whispers.

julie nods and sighs, "i know, i shouldn't have spied. i'm sorry. it was wrong. and i am worried about you." she says.

"you don't have to be." like says, turning to y/n.

she touches his cheek softly and he leans into her touch. "she's just trying to help." y/n whispers.

"i get it." julie tells him. "i know how hard it is when you want to speak to someone you love and can't. i feel that way everyday."

luke huffs and turns back to julie. "i don't even know what i'd say to her even if she could hear me."

"yes you do." julie says "you've already said it." luke looks to y/n with confusion, and she shrug, turning his attention back to julie. "just trust me."

luke reaches over and rings the doorbell, his hand finding y/n's again, their fingers entwining.

a middle aged man open the door and says, "hello. can i help you?"

"hi. i'm julie." she introduces. "um, i believe you had a son named luke?"

he looks at her skeptically before replying, "yes that's right. and you are again?"

"julie molina. um... your son's band used to play in my family's garage?" she explains, she goes to her pocket, "i-i came across this song that he wrote... and figured you might be interested?" she says, showing the piece of folded paper.

his eyes follow the white slip of paper, "um... well, yes. um, uh, please... please come in. im... i'm mitch." he introduces, opening the door for her.

she shakes his hand, "nice to meet you."

y/n steps to follow them and luke seems frozen in place. she squeezes his hand and he blinks before coming inside, holding onto y/n the entire time.

"can i, um, get you something?" mitch offers julie.

"oh, no. i'm good. thank you." she walks over to a picture of luke when he was younger. "is this your son?"

"yeah. that's luke." he answers with a small smile. "when he was two."

"do you have any other children?" julie asks curiously.

he shakes his head slowly before replying, "no."

a woman dressed in black with curly gray hair comes around the corner to her husband. "did i hear the doorbell?"

"hi, hon. um, this is julie." mitch says, introducing the two.

"hello julie." the woman says, "oh, that's a beautiful sweater." she says, motioning to the colorful top she had on.

"thanks. it's my mom's."

"julie lives in the house where luke and the band rehearsed." mitch explains. "she was just telling me she found a song that luke wrote."

y/n watches as luke's eyes gloss over as he watches the interaction.

"it's a song about a girl named emily?" julie tells them.

luke's parent's eyes widen and they look between each other and julie. "i'm emily." the woman tells julie, her voice just above a whisper.

julie smiles softly at her. "then i think your son may have written this song for you."julie hands her the paper and she slowly unfolds it, mitch's hands placed on her shoulders comfortingly as they start to read.

"first things first," luke sings to them as they read it, "we start the scene in reverse. all of the lines rehearsed. disappeared from my mind."

he sniffles and sings, y/n humming along softly.

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.* flashbacks *･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*

a christmas long ago, luke and his mother yell at each other, fighting over him joining the band.

"when things got loud
one of us running out."

luke rides away on his bike, taking his clothes and guitar with him as his mother chases after him.

"i should have turned around
but I had too much pride
no time for goodbyes
didn't get to apologise
pieces of a clock that lies broken."

his father comes back from work in his car, and comforts a sobbing emily as luke rides into the night.

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*

"if i could take us back
if i could just do that
and write in every empty space
The words i love you in replace
then maybe time would not erase me,"

luke sits in the garage, scribbling away at his notebook, what would be the start of the song dedicated to his mother.

"if you could only know
i never let you go
and the words i most regret
are the ones i never meant to leave,"

luke sits back in his chair and thinks before declaring, "unsaid emily,"

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*

"silent days
mysteries and mistakes
who'd be the first to break?
guess we're alike that way"

luke stands with this guitar, strumming the melody to his lyrics, pain written on his face.

y/n sits on the chair as she writes down what could possibly be the piano part to the song. she watches as he strums, his emotion bringing tears to her eyes.

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*

"he said, she said
conversations in my head
and that's just where they're gonna stay forever."

luke watches from a bush, his parents walking around the house. he sees his mother walk towards the window, looking out into the night as he yearns to talk to her, but doesn't.

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*

"if i could take us back
if i could just do that
and write in every empty space
the words i love you in replace
then maybe time would not erase me."

the whole band practices together in the garage as luke sings, bobby included.

y/n uses the grand piano, her hands dancing over the keys as she plays the chorus, singing as well.

"if you could only know," y/n joins luke,
"i never let you go
and the words i most regret
are the ones i never meant to leave
unsaid emily"

"ah-ah-ah." the band harmonizes, y/n and luke sharing a emotional glance. "ah-ah-ah."

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦  ✧.*

"if i could take us back
if i could just do that,"

emily and mitch sit in their house, when suddenly, they see police light.

"and write in every empty space
the words i love you in replace
then maybe time would not erase me"

emily immediately knows and breaks down crying, as does mitch.

"if you could only know
i never let you go
and the words i most regret
are the ones i never meant to leave"

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*  flashback over *･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*

"unsaid emily." luke and y/n finish, both of them with tears running down everyon's cheeks as they see his parents reaction.

emily sniffles and holds the song close to her heart. "thank you."

"you... you have no idea..." mitch tells julie,

julie nods, "i write music in the same room that he did," she tells them, "and i can tell you it is a magical, happy place."

emily leans her head against mitch and smiles through the tears.

"that is so nice to know." mitch says softly.

"i know he was only 17 when he..." julie starts, "but he lived doing the one thing he was born to do. not many people find that, but like did. he was lucky." they nod to each other.

luke runs a hand over his face before turning and hugging y/n as he teleports them both away.

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*

AS THE TWO LAND on the porch, luke immediately falls into y/n's arms, crying from all the things he finally got to say to his mom.

she slides down against the wall as he lets it out, brushing her hands through his hair. "i'm so, so happy for you." she whispers.

he nods and squeezes her waist, sniffling one last time before pulling away. "um, sorry about- about that." he says.

y/n smiles at him, "you have nothing to be sorry for."

"no, i just had to leave..."

"it's ok, luke." she says, brushing some hair out of his eyes.

he kisses her cheek before standing up and leaning against the pole, just as julie walks back. "hey, look, i'm sorry for overstepping-"

"don't be." luke cuts her off. "i didn't have many regrets in life except for running out on my parents, especially my mom, so... thank you." he tell her, y/n coming to his side.

"oh my gosh, i forgot to tell you guys." julie says suddenly, "flynn said that the video my dad made is trending on youtube."

y/n and luke have blank stares and julie laughs a little,

"that's a good thing." she tells them. "that means people love our music. we'll definitely be getting calls from managers now."

y/n bites her lip and says quickly, "there's something i- we have to tell you."

"oh... ok." julie says, confused at her sudden outburst.

"we figured out that we have unfinished business." she tells her, glancing at luke.

"that's why we came back as ghosts." he adds.

"oh." julie nods, "what is it?"

"we have to play the show we never got to play." y/n explains.

julie nods again, "at the orpheum? that makes sense."

another jolt gets sent through luke and y/n catches him as he groans. "and we don't have a lot of time." he pants.

"what as that? are you ok?" julie asks worriedly.

"we did something we shouldn't have. that night we missed the dance," luke tells her, "we met this ghosts and he put a curse on us. well, not y/n. and if we don't do what he says, then those jolts will destroy us."

"well then you gotta do what he says!" julie responds quickly. "what does he want."

y/n sighs, "he wants them to be in his ghost band for eternity. and he wants me too."

"but, if we can play the orpheum soon," luke says, standing up on his own, "then we can avoid all this and actually cross over."

"'cross over'?" julie asks. "as in, like what? like go to heaven?"

"that's what we're banking on." luke says.

julie's face drops, "so it's either you cross over, be in his band for eternity, or be destroyed by these jolts?"

luke and y/n are quiet for a moment before he replies, "yeah."

julie sighs, "that's just great." she says bitterly. she turns to go inside.

"julie..." y/n says, stepping forward.

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*

THE BAND SITS in the garage, reggie on the chair fiddling with the bass, alex laying on the couch, messing with his drumsticks, and y/n and luke on the floor, like resting his head in her lap, all bored out of their minds.

julie walks into the garage and stops when she sees their position. "snap out of it!" she shouts.

alex jumps at her voice, falling off the couch with a thud, thankfully avoiding y/n and luke. "jeez, i think you broke alex." reggie murmurs.

"do you guys want to cross over or what?" she says, ignoring reggie's comment.

alex gets back up to the couch, none of them speaking.

"get. it. together!" julie says, clapping between each word.

"they're never gonna let us play at the orpheum." luke croaks.

"we're nobody." alex sighs.

y/n jumps in, "we're less than nobody. we have no bodies!"

julie sighs and looks at y/n and luke. "someone once told me that you don't ask for permission. you book gigs by doing."

"it was me." reggie says with a smirk.

"no it wasn't." julie shakes her head.

"no it wasn't." y/n says looking a reggie.

"no it wasn't." luke rolls his eyes.

reggie says in a voice barely audible, "yes it was."

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

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

"people don't," julie shrugs, "but ghosts do."

*･῾ ᵎ⌇ ⁺◦ ✧.*

word count : 2092