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Reggie’s evening did not go the way he planned. Mostly because he thought they were supposed to rehearse. And Alex thought Friday nights were date nights.
The entire band had been in the studio waiting for said drummer. When he finally arrived, he was a bundle of nerves. Reggie could tell because he kept fiddling with the hem of his pink t-shirt.
“Hey Alex!” Julie waved at him. Alex looked a little lost, even as he waved back at her.
“What’s up, dude?” Reggie asked him. Alex shrugged.
“Oh, not much really. Willie’s coming over actually,” he said neutrally. Reggie grinned; and there was the reason for the nerves. At that moment, as if summoned, Willie appeared in the garage.
“Hey guys,” he greeted them. “Oh man, are you guys rehearsing tonight? I totally didn’t know!” Luke shook his head.
“Nah man. Friday nights are for other activities,” Luke replied and grinned at Alex. This was news to Reggie – seeing as every other Friday night since 1994 had been perfectly fine for rehearsing.
“Cool. In that case, I’m going to try to teach this guy to skate,” Willie said, nodding his head at Alex. Alex blushed.
“You guys want to come?” Alex asked, moving towards Willie. Reggie shook his head; he wasn’t going to crash Alex’s date. Luke, on the other hand, seemed to have no such qualms.
“Dude yeah! That sounds rad!” he exclaimed. Alex’s eyes widened. Luke did not notice.
“Luke!” Julie exclaimed. He turned to her.
“What? We didn’t have plans to write, did we?” he asked sadly, turning his puppy eyes on her. Julie rolled her eyes.
“No no. By all means, go. If they’ll have you.” Julie motioned to Alex and Willie.
“Sure man. Let’s go!” Willie said, board under his arm. Alex looked marginally less nervous, so Reggie figured it really was okay. A moment later, the three of them were gone. Reggie turned to Julie.
“So, what are we the non-date crashers doing tonight?” he asked her. Julie giggled, grabbed his hand, and pulled him from the studio.
“Tell me how you feel about musicals,” Julie said as they made their way to her room. Reggie smiled.
“Ooh are we gonna watch Grease?” he asked excitedly. Julie loaded up her laptop and place it on the ottoman at the foot of her bed. She turned to Reggie and glared at his feet. Quickly, he took off his boots and then flopped onto her bed.
“I was thinking something a little newer?” Julie questioned, sitting down next to him. He smiled at her.
“I’m good with whatever you want, Julie,” he replied sincerely. She hit play on the movie and leaned back into the pillows. Reggie fluffed a couple pillows and leaned back too.
“Totally judging your musical taste with this, so let me know if you like it,” Julie told him. She snuggled closer, and Reggie put his flannel covered arm behind her back. The opening “20th Century Fox” filled the screen, and Reggie was suddenly hooked by the first notes of the musical number.
They were about an hour in when Reggie noticed Julie yawn, and her eyes fluttered closed. She rested her head on his shoulder. He thought about getting up then, but he was really invested in what was going to happen to the circus man, his family, and all the performers. Julie seemed comfortable, and she hadn’t told him to leave. Reggie gently put his hand in her hair and played with her curls. He liked it when Alex or Luke played with his hair, maybe Julie did too. She adjusted her position for Reggie to have better access to her hair. Reggie grinned. Julie was the best.
Later, when Julie’s breathing had evened out, Reggie was kind of glad she’d fallen asleep. Because he was definitely crying as the cast sang From Now On. Absently, he wondered if the movie made Julie cry too. He turned to look at her and felt her hair on his face. It tickled a little, and Reggie noted that Julie smelled like apples and some sort of flower.
When the movie was over, Reggie turned his thoughts over in his head. Definitely better than Grease. He really liked the acrobat girl with the pink hair. Her voice was really pretty; it reminded him of Julie.
He bit his lip as he considered what to do next. If he left, he’d wake Julie up. And she looked really peaceful, sleeping on him. He wondered if Julie would mind sharing her bed. It was a really comfy bed, and Julie smelled really nice. Reggie nodded to himself, decision made, and snuggled back farther into the pillows.
In the morning, Julie would tell Reggie that he was a very comfortable pillow. Reggie wouldn’t even notice her blushing.
* * *
It was less than a week later that Reggie found himself alone in the garage. Luke was once again out with Alex and Willie, while Julie was spending time with Flynn.
Since she was out, Reggie had borrowed Julie’s laptop. He had YouTube open and was re-watching his favorite song (repeatedly) from the musical that he’d watched with Julie. He had his bass, Luke’s electric guitar, and an acoustic guitar they sometimes used sitting on the couch with him.
He’d restarted, replayed, and randomly paused the video many times at this point. He’d also attempted to play the song on the three instruments, but it wasn’t quite coming out the way he wanted. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been working on the song, but he was completely startled when Julie came into the studio.
Reggie screamed, fumbled his bass, and then pulled it to his chest. Julie laughed.
“Julie!” he yelled. “Warn a guy next time,” he huffed and gently sat his bass down.
“Says the guy who routinely attempts to give me a heart attack. Besides, I’m home exactly when I said I’d be. What are you working on so intently out here that you forgot the time?” she asked, pointing at her laptop.
“Oh. Well then, maybe that’s my bad. I was trying to play this song, but it I couldn’t get it to sound quite the way I wanted it to,” he shrugged and slumped back on the couch. Julie turned the computer to her.
“Rewrite the Stars? I love that one. I’m kinda sad I didn’t get to see your face when you heard it for the first time – since it turned out to be your favorite,” Julie remarked and hit play on the video. Reggie hummed along, occasionally singing along. After all, he definitely knew all the notes and words by now. “You want to try and add in the piano and see if you like that better?” she asked. Reggie beamed at her.
“You’d do that?” he replied. Julie gave him a smile.
“Sure! I mean, we might have to watch the video a few more times, but I’m game. I’ll sing Zendaya’s part too. It’ll be our own little musical duet,” she told him with a grin. Reggie jumped off the couch and bound over to her. He pulled her into a hug and twirled her around before sitting her back down.
“You, Julie Molina, are the best girl ever,” Reggie declared and picked up his bass again. He didn’t notice the pink dusted on Julie’s cheeks.
The song they created didn’t sound the same as the original, but Reggie liked it better. Any song would sound pretty with Julie singing. He was breathing heavy and smiling bigger than before when they finished their last playthrough. Julie pumped her hands in the air and cheered.
“That was awesome!” Reggie exclaimed flopping backwards on to the chair. Julie grinned.
“We are awesome!” she agreed and took a playful bow. Reggie clapped for her. Alex and Luke came in minutes later, as their bandmates were still relaxing.
“What are you two doing?” Luke asked, raising his eyebrows at Reggie, who had fallen half off the chair in his enthusiastic clapping.
“Basking in our greatness,” he answered promptly. Julie giggled.
“You two are weird,” Alex shook his head at them. “You guys want to play or just hang tonight?” Reggie pulled himself up into the chair properly.
“Hey! Have you guys seen this awesome musical The Greatest Showman?” he asked brightly. Luke and Alex looked at each other and then shook their heads. Julie got up from the piano and brought her laptop. She sat down on the couch and raised her eyebrows at Reggie. He flopped over onto the couch next to her. It wasn’t graceful, but it made Julie smile anyway.
“Best ideas ever,” she declared and put the laptop on the table in front of the couch. Luke scrunched his nose up and made a face at them.
“Alex’s right. You guys are weird,” he said. Reggie laughed.
“Dude just wait till you see the movie,” Reggie replied. Julie patted the couch on her other side. Luke and Alex both crowded in and sat down. Julie leaned forward and hit play on the movie. As the opening number started, Luke’s eyes widened, and Alex started tapping out a beat on Luke’s leg. Reggie grinned at Julie.
“I promise not to fall asleep this time,” she whispered to him, as Luke and Alex bopped along to the music.
“I have it on good authority that I’m an excellent pillow, if you feel the need anyway,” Reggie whispered back. Julie smiled and tapped on his arm. He moved it behind her, and she snuggled into his side. Alex raised his eyebrows but neither noticed.
In the end, Julie did fall asleep again. Reggie didn’t notice, though, since he was also asleep. In the morning, Luke and Alex were gone but Julie wasn’t. She was squashed half on top of Reggie and half in the couch cushions. Reggie blew her hair out of his face and caught the lingering scent of her perfume. Apples and flowers was a really nice scent to wake up to.
* * *
Reggie was on a mission. He was determined to present Julie with some flowers that said, “thank you for being awesome”. He knew that her favorite flowers were dahlias. She had them everywhere– in her room, in the kitchen, and even in the studio sometimes.
But Reggie had been in her room the past weekend, WITH permission, when he’d spotted her perfume – or rather body mist it had been called. He’d been curious, so he read it (only because Julie smelled so nice). The back of the PINK Fresh & Clean Body Mist said it was the subtle scent of apples and lilies. Thus, Reggie had settled on giving Julie lilies. Always show people you appreciate them.
On some level, Reggie knew it was wrong to take flowers without paying for them. But as a ghost, he didn’t really have an income. He visited a very large botanical garden to pick said lilies – way in the back so maybe nobody would notice. The lilies were white. Reggie had borrowed a ribbon from Julie’s craft box to tie around the stems. He thought they looked very pretty.
Reggie knocked on Julie’s door and waited patiently for her to answer. Boundaries.
“Come in,” she hollered from her room. Reggie walked through the door. “Hey Reg, whatcha need?” she asked from her bed. Reggie paused at seeing her.
“Is that my flannel?” he asked. She grinned and hopped off the bed.
“Yeah. You left in it here, so I figured it was free game,” she gave a little twirl, as if showing it off. Reggie’s cheeks flamed red, and he cleared his throat.
“Right. Free Game. Looks great on you,” he said, voice cracking. Julie smiled and pointed at his hand.
“Are those for me?” she asked him. Reggie nodded and held them up.
“Yeah. I just wanted to show you how awesome you are, and I know you like flowers,” he explained and handed them to her. She smelled them gently and then pulled her face back.
“They’re really pretty. I’ll put them in the vase with my dahlias,” she replied and then moved towards the flowers currently on her window seat. Reggie thought the white lilies looked really nice with her pink dahlias.
“They look pretty like that,” he said after she had finished arranging them. She gave a firm nod in satisfaction and moved back across the room.
“I agree. Thanks, Reg,” she said softly and then kissed his cheek. “Now, on to rehearsal.” She moved past him and out the door. Reggie, however, was too shocked to follow. Gently, he touched his cheek where her lips had been. “Reg, are you coming?” she asked, her voice came from down the hallway. Reggie felt his feet move out of the room and down the stairs.
As they walked to the studio, Reggie thought of apples and lilies, bouncy curls, and soft lips on his cheek. His mind kept coming to a single conclusion. He had a crush on Julie.
* * *
Since his revelation, Reggie had been panicking – alone. He couldn’t tell Luke. Luke had chemistry with Julie. He couldn’t tell Julie. Julie liked Luke. And Alex kept giving him weird looks like he already knew, so Reggie was avoiding that conversation.
Not that he was avoiding his bandmates. They practiced all the time. He slept in the loft with Luke and Alex. They were his best friends. They were literally together like 20 hours a day. He was just steering clear of the topic of Julie – but not Julie herself.
Since their The Greatest Showman feature, Julie had taken to completing his movie education. Which honestly seemed to include an excessive amount of Zac Efron. They’d watched the entire High School Musical Trilogy (which he’d attempted the dance moves from), Hairspray(which was his favorite), Charlie St. Cloud(which made him cry), and 17 Again(which was really funny). Reggie figured he was her favorite actor or something. He had a plan tonight though to propose his own movie suggestion. He’d used Carlos’s computer to figure out what he wanted to watch.
Reggie popped into Julie’s room at exactly 7 pm – the appointed movie time. Alex and Luke were out with Willie, like they always were when Reggie and Julie were having a movie night.
“Hey Reg,” Julie waved from the far side of her bed, laptop in front of her. She had her hair up in a bun and was wearing his flannel again. She taken to wearing it around the house all the time. Reggie had been practicing not stuttering and blushing every time he saw her in his shirt.
“Jules, can I pick the movie tonight?” he blurted out. She looked surprised but nodded. Reggie kicked off his boots and dropped his leather jacket into the closet.
“Yeah, of course. I can look up whatever you want to see,” she told him. Reggie grinned and flopped onto his side of the bed.
“Spiderman: Homecoming,” he announced dramatically. Julie raise her eyebrows and began typing. “I know it’s different than what we’ve watched before but…” he trailed off and shrugged. Julie waved a hand at him.
“Which is totally fine. We can watch all sorts of movies. Plus, Tom Holland is totally the best Spiderman,” she said. She hit play on the movie and moved the laptop to the ottoman. Reggie leaned back into pillows and held his arm out so that Julie could move in closer.
The movie played for a little while before Reggie saw his soon-to-be favorite character grace the screen. Reggie was so captivated that he smiled every time MJ was on the screen. The movie was funny too. He thought Peter and Ned would make good friends. They were watching the field trip scene when Julie paused the movie. Reggie turned to look at her.
“Did you not like the movie?” he asked confused. Julie was staring at him. “Jules?”
“It’s me, isn’t it?” she asked finally. Reggie stared at her in confusion.
“I have no idea what you’re asking. But sure, Jules, it’s you. Best girl ever. Extreme rock star. Voice of an angel,” Reggie agreed and smiled. Instead of rolling her eyes, which he’d expected, she smiled softly at him.
“I’m the person you have a crush on,” she replied. Oh, that. And he thought he’d been so subtle.
“I mean, yeah. Did I do something to make you suddenly realize?” he asked. He was still a little confused why she was bringing it up during Spiderman.
“Zendaya,” she gestured at the screen. “You wanted to watch this movie because she’s in it. And that’s why you liked that song so much in The Greatest Showman.”
“It was better when you sang it,” he replied automatically. His felt his face heat up and knew his cheeks were red and splotchy.
“I thought you had a crush on Luke!” Julie exclaimed and then giggled.
“Is that why we’ve been watching so much Zac Efron?” he questioned. Julie giggled again.
“I just thought he reminded you of Luke! I totally picked those for you!” Julie’s body shook with laughter. Reggie's laughter joined hers.
“And here I thought you had a thing for Zac Efron!” he erupted through his laughter. They sat that way for a time, laughing. “Wait, to be clear, you don’t have a crush on Luke either, right?” he trailed off quietly. Julie shook her head.
“No. Luke and I make awesome music together. But just friends beyond that. We talked about it awhile ago. I actually think he might have thing for Alex or Willie – maybe both,” she replied. Reggie grinned.
“Oh no, it’s definitely both. I don’t think he’s figured it out yet though. He thinks he has chemistry with everyone,” Reggie wiggled his eyebrows. Julie giggled. “So we can watch the movie again?” he asked, hand hovering over the play. Julie nodded, and he pressed the button.
Reggie leaned back into the pillows but didn’t put an arm out for Julie. He thought she’d probably feel weird about it now. Guess I won’t be spending movie night in here. She elbowed him.
“Uh, Reg? Do you not want to cuddle anymore? I literally just found out you like me, and the cuddling is already over?” Her face scrunched up in confusion. Reggie thought she looked adorable.
“I just thought you might feel weird about it?” he replied also confused. Julie turned to look at him completely.
“I like you too, Reggie,” she stated plainly. He smiled brightly. “Ah, see that was the smile I was hoping to see.” She leaned forward gently and touched their lips together. It was brief and chaste, but Reggie thought it was hands down the best moment ever. He was still grinning as he pulled her close to watch the movie again.
And before they fell asleep that night, Reggie had another best moment ever when Julie kissed him long enough for him to know she tasted like cherry Chapstick.