[1.4]

"mickey was the most important person in his life"

The first weekend that the four ghosts spent at the Molina household was a fairly nice one. Alex spent most of his time with his new ghost friend — Mickey had annoyed him into telling her that his name was Willie. Luke spent his time with Julie. The pair went through her dream box and worked on potential songs.

That left Mickey and Reggie together for most of the weekend, which of course neither of them complained about. They did all kinds of things together — walked around LA, snuck into movies, and hung out in the loft. It somehow felt normal, as if they hadn't even died. Of course, there was still the lingering reminder in the back of Mickey's mind that Bobby was out there somewhere. But she still wasn't quite ready to search him out, and Reggie respected that. He used the time to help distract her, as she had done for him so many times over the years with his parents.

They were currently up in the loft, and Reggie was letting Mickey paint black nail polish on his fingers to keep herself entertained. Julie and Luke were down below and sitting at the piano, working on a song. Every now and then, they could hear Mickey and Reggie giggle about who knows what, but they were having fun, so they didn't ask them to quiet down.

"So, what's their deal?" Julie asked, glancing up at the loft. She could only see Mickey's feet, which were swinging back and forth in the air as she laid on her stomach. Luke followed her gaze and chuckled. "I mean, I thought they were dating, but then he said he was single after the spirit rally."

"They're both totally in love with each other," Luke stated, leaning against the piano. "Have been since they met, basically. They're each other's best friends, too. Reggie... he didn't have a great home life. And we were all there for him, of course, but most of all Mickey. I can't imagine how many nights he snuck through her window and stayed the night because he didn't want to be at home. She was always the first person he'd go to, and Mickey would be waiting with open arms. They depend on each other."

"So, that's why they're always holding on to each other," Julie realized, nodding in understanding.

"Yeah. And I mean, Mickey shows affection for all of us through touch, but it's different with Reg," he said, smiling softly. "It's like they both light up once they're back in each other's arms. We make jokes about how gross it is, but they're meant to be together. And ever since we died, Reggie's been even clingier."

"That makes sense. I'd think all of you would be closer after going through that."

Luke frowned and looked down at the piano. "It's a little different with her, I think. W - when we died — Mickey was the first one to go. She just, like, dropped and started convulsing. There was nothing any of us could do, and she was gone before it even started for any of us. A - and then after we left the dark room, she wasn't with us. We were all terrified, but if you hadn't been here to distract us, I think Reggie would've had a panic attack. It was just a lot to go through all at once. That's why he freaks out whenever she leaves."

"He's scared he won't be able to find her again," Julie said, frowning. They heard Mickey laugh happily again from above. "So, if they're in love, why aren't they together?"

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed that Reg isn't the most... observant," Luke said, chuckling. "No matter what we tell him, he just can't be convinced that someone as great as Mickey would feel the same way. And he cares too much about their friendship and having her in his life to risk messing it up by telling her."

Julie nodded in understanding. "And her? Why hasn't Mickey made a move?"

Luke eyed her and grinned. "I don't know how they do it here in 2020, but back in '95, it's the guy that's supposed to make the move."

Julie scoffed and rolled her eyes. "That's sexist. There's nothing wrong with the girl being the one to ask the guy out."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lule playfully teased. "Anyways, I think Mickey is the same. She's just scared he might not feel the same, which is stupid. I mean, they're basically already dating. They just don't do the kissing and whatnot. Who knows though. Maybe now that we're dead, he'll man up and make a move."

"It's sweet that they're so important to each other," Julie said, smiling down at her songbook. She wished she could have something like that. Julie shook her head and focused back on the song they were writing. "Okay, how does this sound for the bridge? And it's one, two, three, four times that I'll try for one more night." She played a few notes on the piano to accompany it, and Luke grinned.

"I love it. And then after that, we could try..."

While they worked on the song, Mickey and Reggie messed around in the loft, blissfully unaware of the other two people.

Reggie was far too impatient to let the nail polish air dry, meaning it had smeared a lot, and he had even ended up with some on his forehead. Mickey had climbed on top of him and scrubbed it off with some nail polish remover while he grinned goofily up at her.

"Despite the mess, I think it looks great," Mickey said, holding one of his hands and examining her work. "Now we've just gotta steal some of Julie's eyeliner to turn you into a real rock star."

"You're not putting eyeliner on me," Reggie said, laughing. He wrapped an arm around Mickey's waist and pulled her against him.

"Please?" she asked, playfully pouting. "I think you'd look totally hot with eyeliner on. Just like Billie from Green Day."

Mickey looked down at him with wide, puppy dog eyes, which he couldn't say no to. Reggie's cheeks went red as she called him hot, or at least implied that she could think he was hot. His grip on her waist tightened so that he could pull her closer, and for a moment he thought she glanced down at his lips.

"I, uh, I g - guess we can try the eyeliner," he muttered softly.

Mickey felt a little embarrassed that she had been momentarily distracted by Reggie's lips. She had almost forgotten about her original request. But as Reggie spoke again, she shook off the desire to kiss him and grinned.

"Be right back. Just gotta ask Julie where she keeps it."

Once Mickey flashed away, Reggie sighed, laid back on the ground, and stared up at the ceiling. "C'mon, Reginald. Just man up and fucking kiss her next time."

|||

When Julie returned home from a long day at school, she had some exciting news to share with the band. Flynn had managed to book their band for the school dance that was being held that night. While Reggie, Luke, and Mickey — Alex was off with Willie — were looking over the flyer, Julie was telling them all about it.

"We're playing a school dance? Sweet!" Reggie said, just happy to have a gig.

"It's not exactly the Strip," Lule said, making a face. It made Mickey chuckle, knowing it was certainly a step down from what the guys were used to.

"And you're not exactly alive," Reggie reminded him, "so, you should be happy we have our first gig."

"Excellent point, Reggie," Mickey said, moving to sit on top of the piano and smiling at him. He moved to stand in between her legs so that he could wrap his arms around her waist.

"I wasn't in love with the idea at first either, but it could be a great way for us to build a following, right?" Julie said, trying to get Luke to see the good side of it.

"Yeah," Reggie agreed. "Yeah. We need to play wherever we can, whenever we can."

"No, you're right," Luke said, finally perking up. "Let's rock those kids' faces off and then play the clubs."

"And then record a single that gets a billion streams," Julie added, grinning enthusiastically.

"I don't know what that is, but hopefully it gets us a manager and a tour," Luke said.

"And I get to be a featured dancer in our first music video," Mickey said, smiling.

"And then we release a bunch of hit albums," Julie said excitedly.

"Put out a country album that does surprisingly well," Reggie said, which earned an amused looked from Julie and a grin from Mickey, who knew all about his love of country music. "I shred on the banjo, so."

"Then I'll learn how to fiddle," Julie told him.

"And before you know it, we're being inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame!" Luke exclaimed.

"But one of us isn't there," Reggie jumped in. Mickey raised her eyebrows, surprised by the turn of events. "Because we had a blowout in 2032. My money's on Alex. He's just so sensitive."

"What are we waiting for? Let's get rehearsing!" Luke told them.

"Uh, where is Alex?" Julie asked.

"He's with Willie," Mickey said, sighing dreamily. Despite wanting to rehearse, Luke still smiled, glad that Alex had someone else to talk to about all the ghost stuff. Alex had calmed down a lot since meeting Willie, which made Luke feel better.

"Well, let me go grab my songbook," Julie said. "Then we can get started without him."

"I'll come too," Luke offered, just wanting to spend the extra time with Julie.

Once they were gone, Reggie turned back to Mickey and smiled nervously up at her. He was still standing in between her legs, and she reached down to brush some hair off of his forehead.

"Hey," he said, his cheeks already heating up.

"Hey," she said back, smiling.

Reggie cleared his throat and nodded to the flyer. "So, um, I - I know we're gonna be playing the dance, but uh... I mean, would - would you maybe wanna go? With me?"

Mickey bit her lip to keep from grinning too largely. "Like a date?"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, actually. Like, a date," he clarified, looking down to avoid eye contact.

Mickey reached her hand over and cupped his cheek, tilting his head to look up at her. She smiled softly down at him. "I'd love to go with you, Reggie. Besides, from what I remember, you're a fantastic dance partner."

|||

"Where are we going?"

"Just come on," Mickey said, laughing as she pulled Reggie along by his hand.

Once again, things at home had gotten bad, and he came running to her window. She took one look at his tear-stained cheeks before grabbing her car keys. The pair climbed into her yellow Jeep and sped down the LA streets, though Mickey hadn't given Reggie a single clue as to where she was taking him in the middle of the night. She very rarely elaborated, and most of the time she'd just drive with no destination in mind.

"Why do I feel like we're about to do something illegal?" he asked as she pulled him down an alleyway.

She giggled and stopped in front of a door. "Because we are."

Reggie eyed her as she knelt down and started to pick the lock on the door. "You know, I think it's very interesting that your parents insist that we are bad influences on you. Yet here you are, dragging me along as you break into this building. Where'd you even learn to pick a lock? If we get arrested, I'm immediately putting all the blame on you."

Mickey playfully rolled her eyes before finishing with the door. Once it opened, she grabbed Reggie's hand again and pulled him inside. The lights weren't on, so he bumped into her several times, but she knew where she was headed. They made their way through another door, and then Mickey flicked the lights in the room on. It took Reggie a moment for his eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness, but he soon realized where he was.

"Are we at your ballet studio?" he asked, looking at the huge wall that was just a mirror. A bar ran across the length of it. He looked back at Mickey, who was crouching in front of the boombox which sat in the corner.

She grinned at him over her shoulder while holding up a familiar CD. "Thought I'd break out the country music mix CD you made me somewhere that my brother won't yell at me to turn it down."

Reggie smiled as she put the CD in and turned the volume all the way up. The first song to play was When You Say Nothing At All, which had been the first country song Mickey ever admitted to liking — though Reggie was quick to find more that she liked. Then he burned them all on a CD for her. Mickey got up and sauntered over to Reggie with a teasing smile on her lips as she held out a hand.

"Dance with me, cowboy."

Reggie grabbed her hand and pulled her into his chest. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he placed his hands on her waist. As they started to sway to the music, Reggie held her tighter. The look that he gave her made Mickey feel like a hundred butterflies had been released in her stomach.

"Having fun?" she asked as Reggie twirled her under his arm.

Once she was back in his arms, he leaned his forehead against hers and smiled. "Totally worth potentially getting arrested for breaking and entering."

|||

The band spent about half an hour rehearsing before Alex finally arrived. He walked in with a little skip to his step and a big smile on his face.

"Where have you been, man? We need to start practicing," Luke said instead of greeting him.

"Yeah? For what?" he asked, looking around at them.

Then Flynn opened the studio door and greeted them by throwing her hands in the air. "Dance news! I don't have a date. But, I don't care because I'm so psyched to see you guys perform."

"Oh, man!" Alex groaned. "We're playing a dance?"

"Of course, dude. That's how we get a following nowadays," Luke said, taking a seat.

Julie and Mickey chuckled, knowing Luke had been completely the same when he found out. "Yeah, get with the program, Alex."

"What? The guys are here? Hey guys," Flynn said, waving towards the couch as if she could see them.

"And the princess," Luke said, shooting her a teasing look.

"Other way, sweetie," Julie told Flynn. Flynn turned the other way and waved in their general direction. Reggie was the only one to happily wave back, which Mickey found cute.

"Okay, well, now that Alex has graced us with his presence, can we start working?" Luke asked.

"Yes! We're gonna rehearse," Julie explained to Flynn. "You wanna stick around?"

Flynn frowned. "I'm supposed to blow up five hundred balloons for the school dance, but this sounds way better."

Before they could get started, however, Carlos came into the studio. "Hey, Julie. Remember those orbs in Dad's pictures?" He walked through Alex as he walked up to Julie, handing her some printed off images. "I - I think they're ghosts. But don't worry. This room is..." He paused to get a good feel of the room. "This room is clean. I'm not getting the ghost tinglies."

"Wrong again, little dude," Reggie told him, laughing. Mickey chuckled and leaned into his side as he spoke to the unaware little kid.

"Have no fear. If they come back, I will protect you, because I am the man of this house," Carlos declared.

"Isn't Dad supposed to be the man of the house?" Julie asked, smiling and crossing her arms.

"There can be two," Carlos stated confidently. "Dad needs all the help he can get, right? Oh, according to the internet, salt burns their souls out." The four ghosts shared worried looks as Carlos whipped out a salt shaker and waved it around. "A little sprinkle will keep them from ever coming in here," Carlos declared.

Carlos turned in Reggie and Mickey's direction, and Reggie was quick to grab Mickey and turn his back to Carlos as he sprinkled salt over them. Next, he sprinkled some at Luke's feet before throwing a whole bunch directly at Alex. They all cowered in fear, and Alex even screamed dramatically, hunching over like he was hurt.

"No! Oh, God, I'm... I'm fine," Alex realized, standing up straight with a dumb smile on his face. "I'm fine. Totally fine."

Reggie and Mickey relaxed, though she stayed in his arms, just casually leaning against him as Julie dealt with her little brother.

Julie cleared her throat and made eye contact with Flynn, nodding to Carlos. She quickly got the point. "Oh, Carlos, you know who's hungry? Me. Um, salt me a path to the kitchen."

Carlos was happy to bravely step up and safely lead Flynn to the kitchen. Once they were gone, Julie got them back on track. "Shall we try this again?" Julie asked them. Now they could finally rehearse for the dance.

"Yes, please," Luke told her. "But remind us later. There's some Sunset Curve songs that we want to show you."

"Ooh! Show me now," Julie said, grinning.

"Yeah, okay," Luke said, going over to get his songbook from his guitar case. Luke grabbed the book, which had a slip of paper sticking out of the top. "Home Is Where My Horse Is? Reggie, stop putting your country songs in my journal."

"That was a gift," Reggie told him while Mickey giggled.

"Thanks, buddy," Luke said, sarcastically. Then he moved to Julie.

"You should maybe circle back—"

"I dog-eared the ones that I think you would slay," Luke said, ignoring Reggie.

Mickey smiled sympathetically at Reggie. She reached for the sheet of music, which he happily handed over. She skimmed the lyrics and a grin overtook her face. Reggie's cheeks heated up as she looked up at him.

"You're totally singing this for me later," she said, handing the song back.

"Of course," he said, nodding. Then he wrapped an arm around her shoulder while Julie flipped through the songs.

"Who's Emily?" Julie asked Luke.

The three other ghosts looked at Luke with wide-eyes when they heard the familiar name. They knew just what song she had flipped to. Reggie held Mickey a little tighter and frowned.

"That one's not dog-eared," Luke said, trying to snatch the book back, however, Julie clutched it to her chest.

"If you could only know that I never let you go," Julie read, smiling. "Wow, Luke, I didn't know you were such a romantic."

"He's not. That one's actually about—"

"No one," Luke cut Alex off, giving him a sharp look. Mickey caught Julie's eye and shook her head, signifying for her to drop it. "Uh, that's just something that I tried, and... But if you go to the next dog-eared page, I got a tune that's just - it's got a killer beat."

Julie put the book down and watched Luke. He started to play the starting notes, which made the three other ghosts smile. It was a great riff that Luke was proud of creating.

"So, you wanna sample," Julie told him while sitting down in front of the keyboard.

"What do you mean "sample"?" Luke asked, stopping his playing.

"Sample someone else's music," Julie clarified. "Me and my mom used to sing that song at the top of our lungs all the time. It's a classic Trevor Wilson song."

"Nope. It's a classic our song," Luke told her, tapping his songbook as proof.

"Yeah, I was at the practice where they came up with the melody," Mickey added.

"Pure Sunset Curve," Reggie added. "Never even heard of Trevor Wilson."

"Yeah," Alex said. "Maybe you're mixing it up, you know, with another song."

"I don't mix up songs. Trust me," Julie said confidently. "Me and his daughter used to be best friends. I used to hang out at their place all the time. I know that song."

"Okay," Alex whispered. However, he shared a look with the others. Clearly, Julie had it mixed up. Even Mickey, who wasn't a part of the band, knew that Luke wrote the song.

"Here. I'll prove it. His first album had a bunch of hits, but none of his latest stuff is as good," she said, turning the laptop screen towards them.

The guys crouched down to look at the screen with wide eyes. Then they glanced at Mickey, who was looking at the screen with her jaw dropped.

Sure, she had seen him once when she had appeared in Carrie's room, but she hadn't known. She hadn't recognized him. How could she? Mickey had still thought it was 1995 and he looked the same. But now, she could see the similarities as plain as day, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Bobby?" she whispered, her voice cracking.

"That's Bobby," Luke declared after studying his face more.

Julie rolled her eyes. "Seriously, I just told you his name is Trevor."

"Okay, great. Then - then he changed it, all right?" Alex insisted. "T - that's definitely Bobby. He was our rhythm guitarist. He's Mickey's twin brother."

"Trevor Wilson was in your band?" Julie asked, frowning. She glanced at Mickey, who was leaning into Reggie, silently crying as she looked at the screen.

"I can't get over how old he looks," Reggie muttered, peering at the screen.

"Oh, he looks like a substitute teacher," Alex added angrily. He thought it might get a small chuckle out of Mickey, but she just shoved her face in Reggie's chest.

"Julie," Luke said slowly, "what were his other hits?"

"Get Lost."

Luke frowned and looked at the floor. "Yeah. I wrote that."

"Long Weekend?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, Luke wrote that one too," Reggie said.

"Crooked Teeth?" she asked, frowning now.

"And that," Alex said. "It was about Reggie."

"What? I thought it was about you," Reggie said, turning to Alex with a distraught look on his face. "I don't like that song anymore."

"Wait, this is freaking me out. Trevor's songs are kind of big to me. He's the one who introduced me to rock," Julie explained.

"Yeah. Luke introduced you to rock," Alex told her. She glanced at Luke, who was angrily throwing darts at the dartboard.

"So, this whole time, I thought you were connected to my mom, but instead, you're connected to Carrie's dad? Related to her? Out of all the people, it had to be the one girl who had it out for me."

"All right, well, add it to our list of questions," Alex said, sighing.

Julie shook her head and frowned. "Back when Carrie and I were friends, the three of us used to talk about music all the time. He never mentioned you guys." And then Julie finally focused on the quietly crying girl in Reggie's arm. "A - and he's never said anything about a sister who died — like at all. Not even in old interviews. I - I don't even think Carrie knows about you."

A soft sob left Mickey's lips as Julie told her that. Reggie leaned down and ran his thumb against her cheek, trying to comfort her.

"And that's unbelievable!" Luke shouted. He threw his next dart too hard and it missed the board. "He never even talks about her? What the fuck? Mickey was the most important person in his life! They loved each other more than anything!"

Julie felt horrible as she looked between Luke and Mickey, who were taking the news the worst. It was understandable. "I'm so sorry, Mickey."

She didn't say anything and instead hugged Reggie tighter.

"And he can take all the credit and he doesn't even mention us? Doesn't mention his sister? It's sick," Luke said, glaring at the wall.

"And he's rich," Julie added. "He has his own helicopter."

"He has... he has a - a helicopter?" Alex asked, shocked.

"With his face on it," Julie muttered.

"And he parks it in front of that hotel?" Reggie asked, looking at the photo Julie pulled up on her laptop. Mickey didn't bother to look at the house that she had unknowingly been inside several times.

"No. He gets to park it in front of his mansion," Julie corrected. The boys looked absolutely crushed.

"Mansion?" Reggie squeaked out.

"Dude, we live in a garage," Alex whined.

"It's not about the money. It's about the music!" Luke shouted angrily.

"It's a little bit about the money, though."

"A little bit about the money," Alex agreed.

"He could have shared it with our families," Reggie told him. "Maybe then my parents wouldn't have had their house turned into a bike shack."

"What he did is steal our legacy. He wiped Mickey out of existence," Luke said. They all looked at Mickey, who still wouldn't leave Reggie's arms, feeling even worse for her. Then Luke turned to Julie with an angry expression. "Where does he live?"

Julie looked over their sad faces and then at Mickey's back. "Above the beach in Malibu."

Luke nodded to the guys and grabbed his jacket. "Let's go teach him a lesson."

"Wait. What? Guys!" Julie exclaimed, getting up. "We have to rehearse for the dance. This is our first gig!"

But the boys had already poofed out, Reggie taking Mickey with him. After what he did to her, there was no way they'd ever forgive Bobby, and they would make him pay.