VIII. STRINGS OF FATE

Dahlia had been in the garage with Luke and Reggie. Reggie had been scribbling something down on a piece of paper, utterly engrossed in whatever he was doing.

Luke sat besides Dahlia on the garage's couch, with the brunette absentmindedly placing her feet against Luke's thighs. The ghost looked over to Dahlia in surprise, but she hadn't noticed her subconscious actions, as she had been scrolling on her phone.

"What's so interesting about that...thing anyway?" Luke asked, a dramatic sigh falling from his lips. He had been flipping through pages in his notebook, folding down a page every few minutes.

When he reached the end of his notebook, he quickly grew bored at the lack of conversation in the room. 

Luke was growing antsy, waiting for Julie's arrival. Dahlia had told Luke that he couldn't practice in the garage unless Julie was home, because she didn't want any suspicions from her father to arise.

This idea has begun when Ray had accidentally captured a picture of the garage with the ghosts, three orbs signaling their presence in the studio.

While it wasn't a huge deal, Dahlia and Julie agreed this was a good rule to put in place for the time being. Dahlia knew Luke was bored, so she turned her attention from her screen to him, shrugging.

"I was texting back a few friends," she explained, not missing Luke's confused expression. She had tried to explain modern technology to him the week prior, but he had grasped the concept of social media and cell phones the least out of all his band members.

"It doesn't matter," she said after a moment, shutting her phone off as she turned towards Luke. "What's up?"

Luke grabbed his notebook from where he had half-heartedly thrown it a few inches away, his arm stretching out to reach the object as he placed it in his lap.

"Wanna show them the songs we worked on later?" The guitarist asked, tilting his head as Dahlia nodded.

"Sure." She agreed, feeling a small pit of exciting pooling in her stomach at the thought of sharing her music with others again.

***

A few minutes later, Julie arrived home from school. She had gone into the garage to water the plants, but Dahlia knew she had an ulterior motive from the cheeky grin that was plastered on her face.

"We're playing a school dance?" Reggie said, examining the poster Julie pulled out excitedly, "sweet!"

Reggie tried to shove the paper into Luke's hand, but the guitarist wasn't nearly as amused. He was fiddling with his rings, an unsure grimace etched upon his face.

"It's not exactly the Strip," he complained, eyebrows furrowed.

Dahlia shot him and ungrateful glare as she quipped, "and you're not exactly alive."

Luke blinked, offended. He feigned a hand over his heart and jokingly pouted. Dahlia stuck her tongue out at him.

"Maybe you should be happy we have our first gig," Reggie added, taking Dahlia's side as Luke huffed, beginning to give into the idea more than he'd like to admit.

"I wasn't in love with the idea at first either," Julie began, cutting into the conversation as she watered the plants, "but it could be a great way for us to build a following, right?"

"Yeah!" Reggie beamed with agreement, "yeah—we need to play wherever we can, whenever we can."

"No, you're right," Luke nodded enthusiastically, "let's rock those kids' faces off and then play the clubs."

"I'm not so sure you guys will go from a school dance to a club, but...sure." Dahlia said with a sarcastic smile, one that no one noticed was satire as they were too caught up in their fantasies.

"And then record a single that gets a billion streams?" Julie added with a grin. Luke beamed at this.

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

"Then we release a bunch of hit albums." Julie gushed with excitement.

"Put out a country album that does surprisingly well," Reggie chirped, watching the confused stares he began to receive as he explained, "I shred on the banjo, so..."

Julie giggled.

"Then I'll learn how to fiddle." She promised, fist pumping the bassist.

"Before you know it were being inducted into the Rock 'n' Rock Hall of Fame!"

Dahlia's eyebrows raised as Luke's voice raised in volume, completely taken over by his passion for music. His eyes lit up with the familiar spark that appeared when he wrote and sang.

"...But one of us isn't there," Reggie suddenly said dramatically, "because we had a blowout in 2032. My money's on Alex—he's just so sensitive."

Dahlia playfully rolled her eyes and shoved Reggie's shoulder with a gentle scoff. Poor Alex.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get rehearsing!" Luke exclaimed, hands in the air.

"Uh," Julie scrunched her nose, the adrenaline of their musical fantasies dying down, "where is Alex?"

Reggie blinked, looking around the room.

"Good point!" He said, turning his head around as he searched for his friend, "Alex? Alex?"

Reggie called out as he began to search the garage.

"Reggie, I don't think he's here—" Julie began, her voice dying out as Luke shook his head.

"Just—let him. He'll figure it out in a second," Luke said, his voice low as Julie nodded, amusement evident in her expression.

A few seconds later followed, until Reggie came back to the others with a defeated frown. "Yeah, I don't...I don't think he's here."

Dahlia ruffled his hair.

"Where is he, anyways?" Luke said after a moment.

The brunette felt herself stiffen slightly. She remembered Alex mentioning something about hanging out with his new friend Willie when they had been in her room earlier that morning, but she had a hunch that it was more that just 'hanging out'.

She knew the way Alex's face turned red whenever she mentioned the skater, and how he would start mumbling and stuttering over his words when he was brought up in conversation.

Dahlia wasn't sure if Alex had told Luke, Reggie, or Julie yet, so she opted to stay quiet. Luke furrowed his eyebrows at her unusual silence.

"Li?" He asked, using that stupid nickname that she hated as he waved a hand in front of her face.

Dahlia hummed in acknowledgment, blinking as she turned to him.

"You zoned out," Reggie said, "but don't worry! I do it all the time."

Dahlia chuckled slightly.

"Sorry," she said, clearing her throat, "you guys should start practicing. Alex'll come around soon enough."

Dahlia gave the group a faux wide grin as she attempted to turn around and leave, when Luke put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Wait a minute," he said, eyebrows furrowed, "you know something, don't you?"

Luke was giving Dahlia a playfully challenging look. Dahlia challenged him and put her hands on her hips.

"Nope," she replied, popping the 'p'. The brunette turned on her heel to leave, before Luke poofed in front of her. Unlike Julie, she didn't have the luxury of walking through him, and he was blocking her path.

"Excuse me, Luke. I don't know if ghosts have bad eye sight, but I'm trying to get past." Dahlia surmised bluntly, huffing.

"I know." Luke's reply was cocky, an amused smile grazing his lips.

"...So will you please step aside?" She asked again, watching as Luke's figure failed to move.

"When you tell me where Alex is."

"I don't know where he is." The brunette spoke again, and her words were true. Dahlia knew who he was with, not where he was.

Luke crossed his arms, clearly not convinced by Dahlia's reply. The brunette narrowed his eyes, hoping Dahlia would crack. She didn't.

The guitarist huffed, turning back to Reggie and Julie.

"Let's just start. Alex'll catch up."

***

Luke had let go of the search for his band mate pretty quickly. Dahlia found it entertaining how quickly he was able to switch from topic to topic, but always got engrossed in his music.

Dahlia and Luke had shown Reggie and Julie the notes of the song they had been working on, and the group was practicing the chords of the melody as they awaited Alex's arrival.

The brunette sighed as she grew bored of simply hanging around, standing up as she readied herself to leave. However, luckily for her, Alex seemed to walk in seconds later.

"Oh, hey Alex!" Reggie chirped, his fingers flying off the bass as he waved.

Luke, however, didn't share the same enthusiasm. He narrowed his eyes as he set his guitar aside, facing the blond.

"Where've you been, man? We need to start practicing."

Alex furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah? For what?" He asked, cocking his head to the side.

As if on cue, Flynn came bursting through the garage doors with an excited grin.

"Dance news!" The girl beamed, her hands flying in the air. "I don't have a date," she spoke less enthusiastically, "but, I don't care because I'm so psyched to see you guys perform."

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

"Of course, dude," Luke replied matter-of-factly, plopping down on the chair beneath him, "that's how we get a following nowadays."

Julie chuckled knowingly.

"Yeah. Get with the program, Alex."

Flynn perked up at the younger Molina's words.

"What? The guys are here?" Flynn spoke, smiling as she turned in the opposite direction to where the boys were standing, "hey guys."

Julie giggled. "Other way, sweetie."

"Oh." Flynn sighed, turning to the boys but waving to the air.

"Where's Dahlia?" Flynn asked after a moment, swaying side to side.

Dahlia furrowed her eyebrows, standing up from the couch.

"Right here, idiot." The brunette replied, but Flynn seemingly couldn't hear Dahlia as she spoke.

Dahlias eyes widened in confusion, wondering if Flynn was playing some type of joke on her. The brunette quickly realized that was not the case.

"Flynn? You okay? She's right there," Julie spoke, furrowing her eyebrows.

Flynn's face paled slightly. "Hilarious, Jules. I don't see anything."

Dahlia swallowed harshly, walking towards Flynn as she waved a hand in her face. The girl didn't react for a few seconds, before jumping back.

Flynn's eyes finally met Dahlia's. "Oh, there you are." The girl spoke, giving Dahlia an unconvincing wide smile.

"What the hell just happened...?" Dahlia muttered to herself, crossing her arms over her chest as she felt her heart rate returning back to normal.

Dahlia looked to Alex, who was already looking at her. After she had confided in him about the candy-bar going through her hand incident, the blond had told Dahlia he'd mention it to Willie to see if he could find anything out.

Whatever had just happened with Flynn failing to see Dahlia was another thing to add to the list of her growing paranormal anxieties.

An uncomfortable and confused energy quickly filled the room as Dahlia felt her palms grow sweaty. She looked to Luke, whose expression matched hers. It was clear Dahlia didn't want to dwell on what just happened, so he was quick to change the subject.

"Okay, well, now that Alex has graced us with his presence, can we start working?" Luke quickly asked, growing impatient as his fingers gripped the guitar eagerly.

"Yes!" Julie agreed, turning to Flynn, "we're gonna rehearse, want to stick around?"

"I'm supposed to blow up five hundred balloons for the school dance, but this sounds way better," she agreed, before hearing Carlos' familiar quick footsteps as he entered the garage.

"Julie, Dahlia, remember those orbs in Dad's pictures?" He asked, a printed version of the image in his hands, "I—I think they're ghosts."

Carlos had unknowingly walked through Alex, as the blond drummer grimaced at the unfamiliar sensation and shivered. Carlos, obviously unaware of this, had been looking to his sisters with wide eyes, sharing his findings as they gave him similar unimpressed looks.

"Don't worry," the young boy quickly explained, "this room is...is...this room is clean. I'm not getting the ghost tinglies."

Dahlia stifled a giggle into her fist as she nodded to her brother, as if she completely believed him.

"Wrong again, little dude," Reggie commented.

"Have no fear, if they come back—I will protect you guys...because I am the man of the house."

"My hero," Dahlia snorted out while Julie chuckled.

"Isn't Dad supposed to be the man of the house?"

Carlos shrugged.

"There can be two," he said, elitcing entertained grins from his older sisters, "plus, Dad needs all the help he can get, right?"

"Sure, Carlos." Dahlia replied, Carlos humming in agreement to his own statement.

"According to the internet, salt burns their souls out," Carlos explained after a moment, pulling out a salt shaker from his pocket "a little sprinkle will keep them from ever coming in here."

The ghosts visibly tensed as Carlos unscrewed the cap off of the salt shaker, beginning to throw salt in all directions. Luke backed up against the chair as he brought his legs up to his chest, while Reggie took a step back.

The salt slammed against Alex's legs, as the ghost let out a shout. Dahlia looked to Alex with wide eyes, half-expecting him to dissolve into thin air.

However, with pink cheeks, Alex shook his head. "I'm fine. I'm fine. Totally fine," he admitted, embarrassed as he smiled slightly.

Julie widened her eyes, looking to Flynn as she knowingly cleared her throat. Flynn quickly understood what Julie was asking as a knowing lok. flashed across her face.

"Oh! Carlos, you know who's hungry?" Flynn spoke, as the younger boy turned to his sister's friend, "Me. Um, salt me a path to the kitchen."

Carlos nodded, slipping in front of Flynn as he led her out of the garage. When the door closed, Julie turned back to the band.

"Should we try this again?"

"Yes, please. But remind us later, there's some Sunset Curve songs that we wanna show you."

"Ooh, show me now," Julie replied, lips curving into a smile.

"Yeah, okay," Luke replied, eyes flickering to Dahlia as he sat up, kneeling down to grab his notebook that rested against the corner of an amp.

The guitarist furrowed his eyebrows upon picking up his notebook, "Home is Where My Horse is?" Reggie, stop putting your country songs in my journal," he huffed.

Dahlia chuckled. That's what Reggie had been working on before Julie arrived to the studio earlier that afternoon.

"That was a gift," Reggie informed.

"Thanks, buddy." Luke replied, giving Reggie a clap on the back as he made a judgmental expression to Julie behind the bassist's back.

"Yeah, you should maybe circle back—" Reggie's enthusiasm was cut off as Luke handed his journal to Julie.

"I dog-eared the ones I think you would slay." Dahlia glanced at Luke, noticing his attempt at modern slang. She cringed, and made a mental note to tease him for it later.

"Where did you learn that word?" Dahlia asked, scrunching her face up.

Luke gave her a look. "Julie taught it to me."

Julie nodded proudly as she began to look through the numerous pages of Luke's journal. Her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she flipped through the pages of Luke's journal, before her eyes landed on a particular page that caught her eye.

She chuckled as she looked up towards Luke cheekily, "Who's Emily?"

"That one's not dog-eared," Luke snapped rather defensively, reaching out his hand to take back his notebook as Julie quickly stood up and kept it out of his reach.

He swallowed uncomfortably as Julie began to read the lyrics, sparking Dahlia's interest as she looked up.

"If you could only know that I'd never let you go," she quoted with a grin, "wow, Luke, I didn't know you were such a romantic."

"Me neither," Dahlia spoke, the words dripping off her tongue with an emotion Luke couldn't decipher.

Dahlia suddenly felt stupid. Of course Luke had probably written numerous girls love songs—he was a talented writer and knew how to swoop a girl off of her feet. The brunette felt foolish for never realizing Luke probably had a girlfriend when he died. For some reason, that disappointed Dahlia—much more that she liked to admit.

"He's not," Alex chimed in, seemingly trying to clear Luke's name, "that one's actually about—"

"No one." Luke finished, giving Alex a sharp look of warning, "um, that's just something that I tried, and..."

Luke cut himself off as he tried to switch the topic, "if you go to the next dog-eared page, I got a tune that's just...it's got a killer beat."

The guitarist moved away from Julie's keyboard, maneuvering himself as he grabbed his instrument, preparing to play a few chords of the songs he had planned to show her.

He plucked his strings, making sure he was in tune before beginning to play. Dahlia raised an eyebrow as a familiar tune filled her ears, glancing at Julie, who shared the same reaction.

"So you wanna sample?" Julie questioned, bringing forth a confused look from the band members.

"What do you mean 'sample'?" Luke asked, with a chuckle.

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

Dahlia hummed in agreement to Julie's statement. Luke looked at her weirdly.

"Nope...it's a classic our song."

"Pure Sunset Curve, never even heard of Trevor Wilson." Reggie added, as Dahlia blinked.

She was about to suggest maybe they show the lyrics, because there was a chance the songs were just extremely similar—but Alex beat her to it.

"Maybe you're mixing it it up—you know—with another song," the blonde said.

Julie took offense to this as she straightened her posture.

"I don't mix up songs. Trust me." It was clear that the boys were skeptical of her words as Julie continued to speak. It was starting to feel awkward as Dahlia stood there, silent. "Me and his daughter used to be best friends. I used to hang out at their place all the time. I know that song."

"I'll prove it." Julie proceeded to pull out her laptop—which Dahlia wasn't sure where she got it from, and quickly pulled up a picture of Trevor Wilson.

"His first album had a bunch of hits, but none of his latest stuff is as good."

The ghosts leaned closer to the laptop, shocked expression striking their faces. Luke's jaw dropped slightly. "That's Bobby."

Julie gave him an unimpressed look.

"Seriously? I just told you his name is Trevor."

"Okay—great," Alex dismissed, "then he changed it, all right? That's definitely Bobby. He was our rhythmic guitarist."

"Trevor Wilson was in your band?" Julie chuckled. It was clear the ghosts didn't find her reaction funny.

"I can't get over how old he looks." Reggie mused.

"Ew, he looks like a substitute teacher." Alex commented.

Luke's lips were curled up in a snarl as he gripped his guitar strap, his expression growing serious, "Julie...what were his other hits?"

"Get Lost," she listed. Luke's face fell further.

"Yeah. I wrote that." The guitarist admitted.

"Long Weekend?" She tried again.

"Yeah, Luke wrote that one too."

"Crooked Teeth...?"

"And that. It was about Reggie," Alex explained, as the bassist widened his eyes in offense.

"What? I thought that was about you! I don't like that song anymore..."

Julie shook her head. "This is freaking me out."

The younger sister turned to Dahlia, her furrowed eyebrows shifting in confusion at her sister's lack of reaction.

"How are you not freaking out right now?" Julie asked, catching Dahlia's attention.

The girl cleared her throat, swallowing uncomfortably. "I'm totally freaking out. I'm just good at hiding it. I mean, at one point—Trevor's songs were the biggest deal ever to me. He's the reason I love rock so much."

"Correction," Reggie interrupted, "Luke is the reason why you love rock so much."

Dahlia's eyes shifted to Luke. In any other situation, Luke would've taken this opportunity to flash a smile or a playfully flirty wink Dahlia's way—but he was too distraught. The ghost stood away from the others angrily throwing darts at the board mourned on the wall.

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

"All right—well, we'll add it to our list of questions," Alex sighed, eyes flickering to Dahlia briefly. She didn't notice his glance.

"Back when Carrie and I were friends, the three of us used to talk about music all the time. He never mentioned you guys."

Luke threw a dart particularly hard against the board, turning to face the group as he huffed. "And that's unbelievable. Okay—he can take all the credit, and he doesn't even mention us?"

Dahlia frowned, feeling Luke's radiating anger. She knew that beneath his rage, he was clearly hurt. He felt betrayed.

"...And he's rich." Julie sighed out. "He has his own helicopter."

Alex's jaw dropped as he stood up, walking closer to Julie's computer screen as he inspected the image of Bobby's—no, Trevor's, house.

"...He has a helicopter?" Alex asked in disbelief. His hand ran through his hair as he continued to stare at the the device. Screw Bobby.

Julie nodded with clarification. "With his face on it."

"And he parks in it front of that hotel?" Questioned Reggie, who clearly hadn't gotten the memo yet, evident by the confusion written over his features.

"No, he gets to park it in front of his mansion."

"Mansion?!" Reggie's voice raised an octave as his face scrunched up.

Alex turned to Luke, raising his right hand firmly as he huffed, "Dude, we live in a garage."

Luke turned away from Alex, not sharing his bandmate's emotions. He stepped forward, his hands balled in fists.

"It's not about the money," he spat, tossing his arm in the air with rage, "it's about the music!"

"It's a little bit about the money though," Reggie contrasted exasperatingly. Alex nodded in approval.

"A little bit about the money!"

"I mean—we could've shared it with our families." The bassist tried, "maybe then my parents wouldn't have had their house turned into a bike shack."

Alex smacked Reggie's shoulder. For once, Luke didn't find their antics amusing.

"What he did is steal our legacy." The guitarist clarified. His tone held venom, his furrowed eyebrows aiding his narrowed eyes in the cold demeanor he gave off.

The room was silent for a moment. Dahlia blinked, standing up from where she sat atop an amp, feeling the room grow tense.

"...Where does he live?" Luke finally asked, his tone eerily calm. His words were slow and enunciated, less like a question and more of a statement.

Dahlia looked to Julie from behind the ghosts, shaking her head vigorously. She knew that nothing good would come out of this if she told the truth. However, the younger girl didn't notice in time.

"Above the beach in Malibu." Julie explained. Dahlia mentally face palmed, hands flying to her temples.

Luke nudged Alex's shoulder with his own, the drummer nodding in agreement. While the three ghosts didn't exchange words, it their intentions of visiting their old friend were clear.

"Let's go teach him a lesson."

Julie jumped up at this. "Wait, what? Guys—we have to rehearse for the dance. This is our first gig!"

The girl sighed as the three ghosts disappeared into thin air, glaring at Dahlia after a moment. The older sister blinked slowly, crossing her arms.

"...Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked, tilting her head in confusion. Julie rolled her eyes.

"Why didn't you stop them? Couldn't you have...grabbed onto them or something?"

Dahlia raised an eyebrow at Julie's words, her lips curving upwards at the suggested solution. Not only was it absurdly stupid, but it wouldn't have worked, anyway.

"There's nothing we could've done to stop them," Dahlia spoke plainly, "they're hurt. Understandably so, and they'll be fine once they get this out of their system."

Julie wasn't convinced by Dahlia's indifference. "Aren't you worried someone's going to get hurt?"

Dahlia shrugged. "Aside from Trevor's feelings? Not really, no."

Julie stared at her older sister, shocked. "That's it? You're not gonna help?"

"I'm not the one who made this mess, am I?"

The sisters' argument began to elevate, both girls now standing. Julie opened her mouth to retaliate, though her unspoken words were cut short as the garage door creaked open.

"Okay, boys!" Flynn announced, walking back into the garage as she clapped her hands. The girl spoke loudly, oblivious to the fact that Dahlia and Julie were in the midst of a conversation.

"Break time's over, 'kay? Get to playing." Flynn continued to speak at the air, a playful smirk gracing her features, "mama needs her eye candy."

Dahlia's nose wrinkled at Flynn's words. She sighed, her chest raising up and down heavily as she sat in Luke's chair. "They're not here anymore."

Flynn's face fell, her expression replaced with confusion. What could've changed in a matter of a few minutes?

"I think I just unleashed three angry ghosts on the world." Julie's head hung low for a moment, before she looked between Dahlia and Flynn, "but, I think I know where they're going. Come on."

Flynn nodded, moving to follow Julie as she stood up. Dahlia was still for a moment, before the two girls looked at her knowingly. The brunette groaned.

"What has my life come to?" She muttered, willing herself back to her feet as she hurriedly followed the two girls outside.

— argentsires
plz don't hate me for not updating im trying to be more consistent bc im in my jatp era again🫣
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