#something about Carlos leaving the band. leaving them behind. to go be a hunter

[quietwingsinthesky]

the Gabriel/Loki episode of the winchesters was good though. That one can stay.

[jaskiers-sweetkiss]

Sunset Swerve - Part 9

Pairing: Luke x OC

Word Count: 5.7k

Warnings: discussion of death, mentions of drunk driving and car crash, light swearing

A/N: omg okay it’s finally here!! This part took me longer to get out because I wanted to finish the next one before I posted it. So, for the first (and probably last) time ever with this fic you’ll be able to read the next part immediately after this one!! There are some Jordan/Julie moments in here that I’ve been waiting for for a while so I’m really excited for you to finally be able to read them! Also, oops, not me finding more ways to add Talia Mar songs into this story. The lyrics are from her song Selfish and I would totally recommend checking it out, I just felt like the lyrics really fit Luke and Jordan’s relationship! Anyway, enough from me. Send me a message/drop a comment if you want to be added to the taglist and as always let me know what you think!

Part 8  Masterlist 

___

The atmosphere in the Molina’s living room was conflicting. Though in the back of her head she knew it was unreasonable, Jordan had expected them to poof into the living room after leaving the cafe to find Julie being scolded by her father. Instead, they were met with Carlos lurking around the house with his iPad while Tia repeatedly tried to convince him that ghosts weren’t real (rude). Meanwhile, the four ghosts sat on the couch silently, the mood surrounding them somber as they considered what could be happening between Julie and her father. Jordan wasn’t sure what the standard punishment was for sneaking out after being grounded missing school and lying these days, but she was certain it couldn’t be good. Julie was probably being grounded for life and forced to quit the band.

“Typical adult,” Reggie whined, puling the other three from their thoughts. “Remember when we were kids and they never believed what we said?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was just a you thing,” Alex said skeptically before proudly adding, “I was always pretty trustworthy.”

“Yeah, me too,” Jordan added, staring at the boy strangely.

“Shouldn’t we be more worried about Julie?” Luke interrupted. “Her dad just busted her, okay? He’s probably making her quit the band”

“Woah, when did Luke become the voice of reason?” Jordan teased, trying to ease the guilt she felt.

Luke rolled his eyes but Alex and Reggie cracked a smile at her joke, making her feel a little better.

“Well, there’s nothing we can do about Julie right now,” Reggie spoke, a glimmer in his eyes that made Jordan worried about what he was about to do. “But, we can still help Carlos. Adults not believing children ends tonight.”

“Showtime,” he whispered to himself before leaning back and turning off the lamp behind him.

Tia gasped and Carlos perked up.

“‘Ghosts aren’t real,’ huh? How do you explain that?” Carlos asked and Tia shook her head.

“Lightbulbs burn out all the time Carlos.”

“Ooh, wrong answer Tia!” Reggie exclaimed hopping up from the couch and heading towards the window while the others looked on disapprovingly.

“Explain this,” he challenged, fluttering the blinds open and closed.

Luke, Jordan, and Alex all wished, each of them expressing equal parts disapproval and disbelief at the dark-haired ghost’s actions but none of them doing anything to stop it.

It took Tia calling him a demon for Reggie to stop, but it seemed he wasn’t quite done yet.

“Wait, I gotta get it on video!” Carlos explained and Reggie perked up again.

“Yeah, you do!” He agreed, now moving to stand in front of the basket of laundry on the coffee table. “Time for an old classic.”

Before anyone realized what he was doing, Reggie had taken ahold of the white sheet in the basket, throwing it over his upper body. The result was frantic screams from Tia as she dragged herself and Carlos out of the room.

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Alex asked sternly as Reggie plopped down in the armchair, sheet discarded.

“Yeah, I do. I’ve defended every kid who’s never been believed,” Reggie answered with pride and conviction before adding, “Some might even say I’m a superhero.”

“Or the first person to be killed twice,” Jordan scoffed and Reggie’s eyes went wide as he realized what she was implying.

“We should probably get out of here before Julie finds out, huh?” He said, jumping up from his seat and running out of the living room.

Luke, Jordan, and Alex all exchanged exasperated looks before quickly following after him.

In hindsight, they probably shouldn’t have chosen the studio as their hiding spot but in their defense, they were sure that Julie was going to be detained for a lot longer than she was. It was only about ten minutes after Reggie’s haunting that they were found.

“You four,” Julie exclaimed, storming into the garage. “Are in so much trouble. Explain yourselves.”

She was immediately met with a barrage of shouting from the ghost, all of them thrilled to see her so soon and not paying attention to her words.

“Julie! You’re back!”

“How’d it go with your dad?”

“Did he make you quit the band?”

“Are you grounded for life?”

“Nuh-uh, stop speaking,” Julie commanded, face still stern as she crossed her arms over her chest. “I just watched my aunt run from my house screaming about ghosts. What did you do?”

Luke, Alex, and Jordan turned to stare at Reggie who was staring back at them with eyes wide. The three ghosts looked between each other, making a silent decision before turning back to Julie.

“It was Reggie.” Alex and Jordan said simultaneously and Luke gapped at them.

“Guys!” Reggie yelped, betrayed.

��Sorry Reg,” Jordan shrugged. “I’m much more afraid of her than you.”

“Reggie?” Julie whined, staring at the wide-eyed bassist.

“I just wanted to defend Carlos! Ta kept saying ghosts weren’t real but he was trying so hard to be a ghost hunter!”

“Aw, Reg,” Julie cooed, dropping her arms and stern facade. “That’s actually really sweet.”

“How does he do that?” Jordan whispered to Alex as they watched Reggie weasel out of trouble.

Alex just shrugged.

“You’re off the hook this time,” Julie sighed, addressing all the ghosts again. “But please stop scaring my family.”

They all nodded quickly in agreement.

“So, Julie, how’d it go with your dad?” Luke asked tentatively.

“I’m still in the band,” She started and the ghosts cheered excitedly. “But, we talked and I have to rearrange my priorities a little. School has to come first or he said he’ll pull the plug.”

“Wow,” Jordan said, shocked. “I would’ve been murdered for something like that.”

“Yeah, your dad is the coolest,” Reggie added and Jordan rolled her eyes with a smirk, they all knew how much the boy loved Ray.

“Yeah, he is,” Julie said softly, nodding slightly as she smiled to herself. “I gotta get back up to the house. School tomorrow.”

The ghosts all nodded understandingly, sending her off with big smiles and enthusiastic waves.

___

The next few days passed in a bit of a blur, though Jordan could distinctly remember feeling like some moments were never-ending. It seemed every passing day brought Julie and Luke closer together and Jordan felt as though she was being torn in two. On one hand, Julie was now one of her closest friends and she couldn’t help but be happy for the girl as she knew about her crush on Luke, but on the other hand, she really couldn’t help those flare-ups of negative emotions she couldn’t identify every time they were near each other. Then there were the moments that passed by too fast which had increasingly and alarmingly begun to include Luke.

She’d started using her free time to write after a rehearsal one afternoon. Jordan and Luke were sitting knee to knee with their guitars in their laps despite the practice having ended. They had been quietly working on some new melodies when Julie called Luke away to “ask him about something”. Luke had, of course, jumped up and followed her out of the garage immediately. It had been one of those moments that had ended all too soon, and the silence and emptiness that followed had felt like an eternity. Her swirling mixture of unidentifiable emotions had left her feeling quite angsty so she turned to the best outlet she knew: songwriting.

She knew the guys were nearly out of their minds curious as to what she was working on with all the time she’d been spending at the piano or strumming her guitar, trying to figure out melodies and chord structures. Reggie had essentially told her as much one afternoon before Alex had hit his shoulder and told him to give her her privacy. The drummer was extremely preceptive and sometimes Jordan wondered if he had a better understanding of what she was feeling that she did.

Still, she should’ve known it wouldn’t be long before one of them got too nosey and she should’ve done a better job keeping track of her stuff.

“Hey, has anyone seen my notebook?” She asked, walking into the garage the day after Luke and Julie’s ‘talk’.

She’d spent the morning wandering around Hollywood searching for her old haunts in an attempt to clear her mind but instead she was left with more writing fodder.

“Uh, I think I saw it over by the couch?” Reggie answered hesitantly, not looking up from the ‘old’ iPod Julie had gifted him (though technology like that hardly seemed old to any of them).

The boy hadn’t been wrong, per se. When Jordan turned to look towards the couch she did see her notebook, however, she found it in Luke’s hands. As his eyes scanned the pages her stomach plummeted and without even thinking she was marching over to the boy.

“Woah, Moss, What’s this?” He asked, pausing at a page before reading off the lyrics,

“I’m selfish, I’m selfish, I’m selfish

when it comes to you.

I can’t help it, can’t help it

crazy things that I do.”

“Give it back.”

“When I need you I come back to you.

I’m selfish, I’m selfish

when it comes to you.”

“I’m serious, Patterson,” she said sternly, grabbing the top of the notebook but not pulling for fear of ripping any of the pages. “You don’t see me poking around in your notebook.”

“You don’t see me leaving my notebook lying around,” he responded cheekily, letting go of the notebook. “Who’s it about?”

“None of your business.” She answered, face hardened as she glared at the boy, hugging the journal to her chest.

“I think it’s about me,” he smirked, leaning back on the couch.

“I think you’re a dumbass,” Jordan snarked back, refusing to give him the satisfaction as she spun on her heels, taking a few steps before poofing up to the nook she’d carved out for herself in the loft.

The next day was the exact opposite of the ones preceding them. Before, Jordan was using any excuse she could come up with to spend time with Luke- making edits to songs, working on melodies, hell she even stayed up all night reading her book while the guys were out so that she could pass it on to him the next day with the idea that once he started reading they could talk about it. However now, she stayed as far away as possible. Or at least she tried.

She poofed up to her spot in the loft after a band practice of pointedly ignoring Luke. She spent the afternoon and evening there, entirely uninterrupted. She’d tried to immerse herself into the next book in her series, hoping a new quest might suck her in and help her forget her thoughts for a while. Instead, they persisted and she put down her book, trading it for her notebook and guitar and spending the rest of the day strumming and humming softly as she worked out the lyrics and melodies. The song still plagued her, despite the anger she was feeling towards the boy.

She’d made it until after Julie had gone to bed before anyone interrupted her solitude.

“C’mon Moss!” Luke called from the garage floor. “We’re going exploring.”

Jordan didn’t miss a beat, not even bothering to look up from her notebook where she had just scribbled down a new chord.

“And why would I want to go anywhere with you?” She spat back, picturing the hurt look on the ghost boy’s face. She had expected it to bring her some sort of satisfaction as being snide had always done in the past, but this time it also brought a little pang in her chest.

“Look, I’m sorry alright?” Luke called up, sounding like he’d rather be saying anything else. “I shouldn’t have gone through your notebook, it was a dick move.”

Jordan blamed the pang in her chest for why she gave in so quickly, poofing down to join the guys.

“Fine.” She conceded, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest, refusing to look Luke in the eyes. “Where are we even going?”

When she did finally turn to look at the brunet, she had to look away immediately. His eyes were too full of raw and unhidden emotions that she was too afraid to search through for fear of what she’d find.

___

“Guys!” Reggie exclaimed, poofing into the garage a couple of mornings later.

Jordan had returned to her spot on the couch, notebook placed protectively beside her but her book open on her lap as she read. Luke was seated a couple of seats away, reading his own book, and Alex was sat across from him making a friendship bracelet like Julie had taught him.

“You’ll never believe what Ray just told me!” Reggie continued, and Jordan looked up, quirking an eyebrow at the boy. “Okay, well, he told Julie but I was there!”

Jordan nodded, satisfied with his correction.

“We’ve got a gig!”

While Luke and Alex hadn’t even looked up before, Reggie had all their attention now. Each of them tossing aside whatever they were working on and jumping off the furniture, bounding towards the boy and bombarding him with questions.

“Where?”

“When?”

“How?”

Reggie beamed, bouncing on the balls of his feet slightly before dramatically shushing them.

“The gig is here.” The statement caused the other three ghosts to erupt into chatter once again but Reggie held his hands up to quiet them.

“Ray said they could host a garage party and we can perform tonight!” Reggie explained further and the studio was once again filled with screams until he was able to quiet them down again. “He felt really bad about potentially messing things up with that manager from the open mic night that he and some of his buddies are gonna film us for YouTube!”

“What’s a YouTube?” Luke asked finally after the garage fell silent, each of the three ghosts in varying stages of confusion.

Jordan was pretty sure Julie and Flynn had shown her YouTube but she couldn’t remember if that was the one where all the fangirls went to post all kinds of stuff or if it was the one with all the different video genres that people upload. Or was it the one Flynn called the worst part of the internet, where people just talk shit about everyone and everything for no reason?

“YouTube,” Reggie began, clearly enjoying getting to be the one teaching them for once. “Is a website where you can make and upload your own videos. People post all kinds of stuff, playing video games, tutorials, and music videos.”

“We’re gonna record a music video? Like on MTV?” Luke gasped, eyes wide as he stared at his bandmate.

“Yes, dude! And Julie says if we get enough views we could go big!”

Luke gaped at the other three ghosts, opening and closing his mouth like he was going to say something but then changing his mind before he just poofed away altogether.

“Where’d you think he’s going?” Reggie asked and Alex shrugged.

Jordan tilted her head slightly, trying to think through Luke’s thought process. She rolled her eyes when she figured it out before poofing away herself.

“Where do you think she’s going?” Reggie asked, sounding more alarmed this time but Alex just sighed, shaking his head slightly as he collapsed back into his chair.

___

Jordan reappeared in the hallway of Julie’s school, poofing in right next to Luke and causing both him and Julie to jump in surprise.

“Sorry, my Patterson Idiocy Meter was going off,” Jordan smirked and Julie, “It lets me know when he’s doing something especially stupid.”

Julie gave a small chuckle at that while Luke stuck his tongue out at Jordan, who just gave him a false smile in return.

“Anyway,” Luke said dramatically, rerouting the conversation and turning back to Julie. “I was thinking, you should just ditch school today and come rehearse with us.”

“Something especially stupid like that,” Jordan said, smacking his shoulder with the back of her hand.

“No, I can’t,” Julie said firmly. “I promised dad school first.”

“Right, you were at school first, and now you’re leaving to go rehearse,” Luke grinned at his own cleverness and Jordan rolled her eyes.

“Stop trying to persuade her to do bad things!” Jordan huffed exasperatedly and Julie gave her a small smile of thanks.

“I really can’t,” Julie repeated. “Plus I promised Nick I’d be his dance partner…”

Jordan wiggled her brows at that, knowing about Julie’s feelings about the blond-haired boy.

“…and he’s heading this way,” she finished, pretending to hang up the phone in favor of talking to the boy.

“Well don’t you look sharp?” Luke teased despite the boy not being able to hear him and Jordan huffed irritably, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Uh-oh! I think somebody’s got a crush on Julie,” he continued and Julie glared at him and Jordan just about dragged him away by his ear.

Luke continued to mock the boy, mimicking his movements and expressions until he walked off. If Jordan hadn’t been trying to push down the feelings that were making her pissed at him, she might’ve even laughed.

“Well, he’s just too cute!” Luke gasped to Julie once Nick was gone and Julie rolled her eyes.

“Boundaries,” she reminded him. “I’ll see you after school.”

“Fine!” Luke called after her as she began to walk to her class. “Guess we’ll just have to carry you tonight, just like we always do!”

“Shut up, Luke,” Jordan rolled her eyes before calling down the hall at her friend. “Good luck Julie! You’ll be great!”

“Yeah, kill it on the dance floor!” Luke called, doing a small shuffle of his own in the middle of the hallway.

“Dork,” Jordan muttered under her breath but Luke still heard it, snapping his head around to give her a faux insulted look which earned him another eye roll.

“C’mon, we’ve gotta get rehearsing,” Luke spoke, but Jordan waved him off.

“Go ahead, I’ll be right there.”

Luke frowned slightly but poofed away anyway, leaving Jordan alone in the now empty hallway.

She wandered down the same way Julie had gone, deciding that she wanted to watch her dance. She hoped supporting her friend would give her the opportunity to stop thinking about a certain brown-haired ghost in any capacity.

____

She was right, it had helped. Of course, any tranquility she had found sitting on the gym bleachers was immediately destroyed the moment she reappeared in the studio. She had clearly arrived in the middle of something, but she wasn’t quite sure what.

Reggie was going on about “never forgetting your first ghost,” whatever that meant, and then Luke started talking about how talented of a drummer Alex was.

“I wouldn’t let all that stuff get in between you and what you love,” Luke finished saying when Reggie pipped up again.

“I don’t know, man,” he pondered. “Sometimes a little fire can make things better on stage. Like you and Julie.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Luke stuttered out, looking around nervously.

“C’mon, everyone can see the way you look at her when you sing,” Reggie continued, piling it on and for some reason, Jordan thought she might vomit. “You guys ooze chemistry.”

Luke’s eyes kept flitting around the studio, refusing to look at any of them until he made direct eye contact with Jordan who frowned, looking away as she swallowed thickly. Of course, everyone had noticed the chemistry between him and Julie. She’d half hoped she was imagining it but clearly it was real.

“Please never say ooze again, but you have to agree he’s right,” Alex shrugged, standing up from his drum set.

“No, no.” Luke denied, and Jordan eyed her shoelaces, not wanting to catch his eyes, afraid of what she might find. “I have chemistry with everyone I sing with.”

Alex and Reggie must’ve been giving him looks of disbelief because he huffed in that way a child does when they don’t get their way.

“Seriously, watch.”

Jordan watched his feet as he took a step towards her.

“You’d better take that step back,” she growled, hoping she sounded as menacing as she planned to and not like the kicked puppy her heart was making her feel like. She didn’t think she’d be able to take it. Looking in his eyes and feeling like he’d set her on fire but knowing it was all just to prove a point, that it wasn’t real for him.

Luke huffed again, and she watched his feet turn around walking in Reggie’s direction now as he began to sing.

“I believe, I believe that we’re just one dream away from who we’re meant to be,” knowing his back was turned to her, she looked up, watching as he inched closer and closer to a wide-eyed Reggie. “That we’re standing on the edge of… great.”

“Wow,” Alex remarked, “I see chemistry.”

“Yeah, that was pretty hot,” Reggie admitted, voice cracking as he spoke.

Then Luke kissed two of his fingers before placing them on Reggie’s lips. Jordan couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped her at the bewildered expression on the boy’s face and Luke whirled around to grin at her. She rolled her eyes in response, trying to ignore the smile and the feeling that something was flapping around in her stomach that it brought.

“Girls, amiright?” Reggie croaked out.

“Yeah,” Luke chuckled and Alex quickly chimed in.

“No,” he said definitively with a light chuckle.

Jordan barked out a laugh at that, poofing over to the drummer to give him a high five before poofing back to the front of the band setup. The three guitarists slipped their instruments back over their heads and all of a sudden they were rehearsing. Jordan was grateful for the distraction, music was always the best outlet for unwanted emotions.

They rehearsed like that until Julie got home from school, the four of them taking their music seriously while also goofing around. At some point, Jordan had relocated her amp to Reggie’s side of the setup, the two ghosts doing increasingly ridiculous and dramatic stunts with each take through the song. Julie walked into the garage just in time to watch Jordan and Reggie perform a run-through while attempting to backbend as far as they could while still maintaining the integrity of their sound.

“What on earth are you guys doing?” She asked, staring at the two ghosts as if they’d lost their minds.

“Julie! Thank goodness you’re here!” Jordan exclaimed dramatically, “Luke’s been singing your part and…” she widened her eyes, drawing her hand back and forth in front of her neck to silently convey that it wasn’t good.

“Hey! I take offense to that!” Luke exclaimed and Jordan rolled her eyes.

“That was the point,” she sassed, smirking at the boy who pouted in response.

Julie just shook her head exasperatedly at the pair.

“Let’s start practicing before these two can get into it fully,” she suggested to the group and Jordan looked down at her feet embarrassedly before poofing herself and her equipment back to the other side of the setup.

“Girl, where are you going?” Julie asked, her look of bewilderment barely concealing her grin. “This is our song, I want you next to me.”

Jordan didn’t even try to conceal her own grin at the offer, poofing back up by the girl.

They practiced that way for about another hour before they had the song to a place they were happy with. Luke was a bit stressed when Julie called the rehearsal. He wanted to run the song more but the rest of the band shut him down, reassuring him that they would be fine.

Jordan had started to pull out her small makeup stash to get started on her look for the performance when Julie invited her up to the house, asking for help picking out an outfit and suggesting that they get ready together. Jordan readily agreed, shouldering her backpack of clothes and scooping up her makeup as she followed the girl to her room.

She set her belongings down off to the side before joining Julie as the girl opened up the chest across from her bed.

“What’s that?” Jordan asked as Julie began to dig through the clothes.

“Oh, it’s my mom’s trunk with a bunch of her old clothes,” Julie explained, pulling out a piece of fabric. “I try to wear something of her’s when I perform, it’s as close as I can get to having her there with me.”

Jordan nodded, leaning back against Julie’s bed frame as she sat on the floor. It was an incredibly sweet and sentimental gesture and Jordan suddenly found herself with a lump in her throat and an overwhelming bout of homesickness as she fiddled with the small, silver pendant necklace she never took off. Her own mother had given it to her on her last Christmas.

“That’s beautiful,” she said softly, referring to the sentiment and the white shirt Julie was holding in front of her.

Julie made her way over to her dresser, rifling through pants as Jordan remained on the floor, nearly entirely lost in her thoughts.

“We all lost our parents too soon,” Jordan sighed deeply, voicing her thoughts as she leaned her head back against Julie’s mattress. “Reggie’s spent all their time bickering and left hardly any time for their child, Alex’s basically disowned him, and Luke ran away. I was the only one with a decent relationship with my parents and then they...”

She squeezed her eyes shut and sighed, unable to finish the sentence. Nearly twenty-five and a half years later and the wound was still as fresh as it had been on day one.

“It can be hard to talk about trauma,” Julie acknowledged sympathetically, sliding down onto the floor next to her, outfit forgotten on the bed. “Can I ask when they passed?”

“H-how did you know?” Jordan stuttered out, looking at the girl next to her in confusion. She knew she’d never said it. She was still barely able to think it.

“Grief recognizes grief, I guess,” Julie shrugged. “My mom and I were really close but after she died, I couldn’t even hear her name without crying for months, let alone talk about her. It took even longer to be able to look at pictures. You say you had a good relationship with your parents but I’ve never heard you talk about them.”  

Jordan nodded thoughtfully at that. She closed her eyes, swallowing thickly before opening her mouth to speak.

“It was about five months before… before I died,” she answered, eyes clenched shut to stop the tears as images from that night swam behind her eyelids. “It was a car accident. Drunk driver, you know?”

She could still see the flashing lights in her driveway, the faces of the police officers blurred by her tears as they told her the news.

“I’m so sorry,” Julie said, and Jordan knew by the thickness of her voice that she was fighting back tears as well.

“Luke said there was a time where you were the closest thing to family he had. I assumed he was talking about when he ran away but was it because of what happened to your parents?”

Jordan nodded slightly, looking down at her hands in her lap.

“After their… after the funeral, I ran.” She explained, voice cracking. “I was less than a year away from turning eighteen, I figured I was better off waiting it out than any of the other options.

“Luke, uh… Luke sorta took me in. He’d been living in their practice studio- your garage- since he ran away and offered to let me stay with him. I would’ve turned him down but I didn’t exactly have anywhere else to go. I guess He was all I had. None of the guys knew, pretty sure they still don’t, so don’t like…”

“Mention it.” Julie filled in, staring at the ghost with a look of caring and understanding that she hadn’t felt in ages. “Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

Jordan nodded, giving the girl a watery smile of thanks as she wiped the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand.

“Never thought I’d be back living in that studio but it’s better now. We have each other,” Jordan added, trying to lighten the mood. “And we have you.”

“Do you wanna cross over?” Julie asked curiously. “Figure out your unfinished business?”

“I do. When Alex first told us about it, it was all I wanted. A way to see my parents again,” Jordan sighed contemplatively. “But not just yet. I like to think they’re with your mom right now, and they’re all watching over us. I think they’d be proud.

“All my parents ever wanted was for me to do what I loved- to play music- and I’m doing that now, just never in the way I thought I would.”

“I’m glad I can help you achieve that,” Julie said sincerely, reaching over to cover Jordan’s hand with her own, forgetting that it would just phase through it.

“Me too,” Jordan smiled, wiping the fallen tears from her cheeks as she stood up, “We should probably stop crying and start getting ready, huh?”

Julie laughed, pulling herself off the floor as well.

“I have an idea for the song if you’re interested,” Julie said, changing the subject as they moved around her bedroom.

___

Jordan thought maybe after years of performing, the pre-concert nerves would fade away but as she stood in the garage bouncing uncontrollably she started to think they never would. She shook her hands out in front of her as Flynn began their introduction, the doors sliding open to reveal the crowd of high schoolers.

When Julie took a seat at the piano, Jordan felt someone grab her hand. She looked over to see Alex smiling at her reassuringly and Reggie holding his other hand. She smiled gratefully at the two boys, delighted by the fact that they had picked up the pre-show ritual. She turned back to see Luke looking at them all curiously, looking slightly upset that he was being left out of something. Jordan smiled at him, reaching out her spare hand which he took eagerly.

The four ghosts stood in silence, listening to Julie sing.

“Like a rubber ball, we come bouncing back. We all gotta second act inside of us,”

Jordan squeezed the boys’ hands briefly before they were all poofing to their spots on the makeshift “stage.”

Julie immediately jumped back to where she was playing her guitar, singing the first part of the chorus to her before moving to give Reggie and Alex some attention. As the ghosts joined in on the backup vocals Jordan noticed Luke give Julie his signature head nod, signaling that he wanted her to come sing with him and Jordan immediately flashed back to Reggie and Alex’s comments about the pair’s chemistry. She was grateful for the presence of mind to remember that they were being filmed so she fought the urge to roll her eyes and plastered a smile onto her face.

She angled herself away from him slightly as she picked up the second verse.

“We all make mistakes. They’re just stepping stones to take us where we wanna go. It’s never straight, no,” she sang to the audience, basking in the cheers and letting her negative feelings fade out only for them to come right back as she caught another head nod out of the corner of her eyes as he and Julie joined the vocals.

“Sometimes we gotta lean, lean on someone else,” Jordan sang to Julie, doing her best to ignore Luke and the unreasonable and boiling anger she was feeling. “To get a little help, until we find a way.”

Julie broke off when they hit the chorus again, making her way in front of the piano to interact a little with her classmates in the crowd. As they sang, Jordan and Reggie switched spots, the bassist joining Luke at his mic and Jordan singing to Alex from Reggie’s mic.

“Cause we’re standing on the edge of great,” Julie sang from the front as Reggie and Jordan returned to their own mics to sing the backups.

“On the edge of great.”

“Great.”

“On the edge of great.”

“Great.”

“On the edge of great.”

“Cause we’re standing on the edge of,” Julie sent Jordan a quick smile before stepping up onto the piano bench.

“Shout, shout. C’mon and let it out, out. Don’t gotta hide it, let your colors blind their eyes. Be who you are don’t compromise and shout, shout. C’mon and let it out, out.”

“What doesn’t kill you makes you feel alive.”

As Julie took on the chorus by herself, Luke stepped up beside where she crouched on the piano. Jordan tried to ignore the puppy dog eyes he gave her as he played his guitar solo, her stomach sinking as Julie smiled back at him. She focused her attention on Julie, drawing on her pride for her friend as she slid over to Reggie.

“Something big, something crazy, our best is yet unknown. That this moment is ours to own,” she sang with Reggie as they all joined back in, for the rest of the final chorus.

As the chorus came to an end Jordan stepped forward, sliding next to Julie on the piano bench, her guitar disappearing along with the guys. She played out the rest of the song, sharing the piano with Julie as they sang together.

“Running from the past, tripping on the now. What is lost can be found, it’s obvious.”

They shared a friendly smile before she disappeared. Reappearing in the garage as the crowd erupted into cheers. She watched proudly as Julie took her bows before catching Luke’s eyes. She frowned at the scrutinizing look he was giving her. It was like he thought she had wronged him somehow. What was his deal?

Part 10

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[ms-rampage]

Eden's Gate: Left Behind Chapter 1 - Welcome to Hope County

A new series!!!. Take place 2 years before the events of Kidnapped.

I created "Hope County University" for this series, and a few other locations that aren't in the game. Because its all headcanon shit.

Warnings: None

Word count: 1.9k

John Seed slightly out of character. (That's what happens when you encounter a Winchester 😂😂)

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Hope County, Montana, February 2018

*Arizona by Hey Monday plays on the radio*

A black 1970 Monte Carlo with a small trailer attached to it drives down the road with an Arizona license plate on it "ARIZONA E34R90D". 

19 year old Kate Winchester, who just moved out of her aunt and uncle's house drove 7 hours from Jackson, Wyoming to Hope County, Montana. Drumming her fingers on the steering wheel to song. 

Starting her new life, leaving the hunter life behind her, she applied and got accepted at Hope County University. 

Hoping to get her Master of Science degree in Psychology, and then move on to get her Doctorate Degree. 

Luckily her aunt and uncle were able to cover her tuition for the whole year. She even told them that she was willing to pay her own rent, and which surprisingly is only $750 a month. Hell her rent is cheaper here, than Arizona and Wyoming put together, but of course they're willing to pay for it, even though she refused, so she saves some money there.

She’s been attending college since she was 15 years old. She lied about her age to get a head start, with the help of her aunt Laura, and her grandmother Eliza. She attended community college in Wyoming before wanting to get transferred out of state.

She was able to rent out a small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with a decent size backyard that is owned by the University, which is why the rent is pretty cheap usually it costs a lot more, and she also got a job at the University's café & diner with starting pay at $14.50. To her that seems very unrealistic but she’ll take it, she ain’t complaining. 

She drives down the road with her dog Haley in the passenger seat with her head out the window trying to bite the wind as they drive down the road.

"Smell that fresh Montana air Hale" she says with a smile, Haley pulls her head back in and lets out a bark, her eyes widened and has that look like she's smiling. 

You know that look dogs do with their tongues hanging out making them look like they're smiling. 

Driving down the road, off on the side, a huge billboard sign with a photo of some man with the caption. 

“We Love You and We Will Take You”

"That's very welcoming" she jokes.

Kate turns onto a small side road that leads to her new home. 

She drives slowly, while looking at the GPS on her phone. 

After a few minutes she finds the house.

"Here it is" she says, pulling into the driveway. 

Shutting off the car, and getting out. 

"Come on Hale" she says, padding her thigh. 

She takes the house keys out of her pocket, and opens the door. 

It's a decent size house for someone who's living on their own, the house is slightly furnished. Her uncle Brent sent some of their old furniture to her new house.

A coffee table, a few chairs, few lamps, a night stand, and a full size bed with the frame, head, footboard, mattress and box spring.

The backyard is bigger than she thought. She opens the door, and lets Haley out to the back. 

"Go sniff around" she tells her.

The 2 1/2 year old German Shepherd sniffs the corners of the fence, looking for a spot to do her business. 

Kate goes back inside, leaving the backdoor open for Haley.

She checks out the rest of the house, the 2 bedrooms, the bathroom and washroom, luckily a washer and dryer comes with the place. So at least she wouldn't want to buy it.

She goes back to the living room, and sees that Haley came back inside. 

She goes to close the backdoor, locking it, she heads out to the front and unpacks her trailer. Boxes, boxes and boxes of her stuff, clothes, books, her WiFi router, personal hygiene products, small furniture, stuff for school, some groceries she has in her mini fridge, some of Haley's stuff, her toys and food. 

She finishes unpacking around 3:30pm, her room is all set up, her bed is fixed, all her clothes are put away in the closet and dresser, she has photos of her friends, family and posters of bands she likes hanging up on the walls. 

She set up her 60inch TV, the box and WiFi router in the living room, she put up curtains on all the windows, and put some plants out on the front porch. 

She has all of her hunter stuff in the 2nd bedroom, her angel blades, demon blades, holy water, bags of salt, her books, her dad’s journal. Bullets filled with rock salt, and all of her other hunting supplies.

She has everything set up, and all she needed now was a kitchen table, a couch and maybe some appliances like a microwave, toaster and a coffee maker. 

She sighs in relief, lays back on her bed, Haley jumps on, laying next to her. 

"You wanna go into town?!?" she asks the dog, she looks at her while tilting her head to the right. 

"You wanna go for a walk?!?" she asks again, she tilts her head to the left while still looking at her. She lets out a loud bark which catches Kate off guard, and jumps off the bed.

Running back and forth down the hall, jumping at her on the bed in excitement. 

She gets up from the bed. 

"Okay let me find your leash" she says, while going into the living room. 

She goes through some of her boxes. 

After a few minutes, she finds her leash and puts it on her collar. Debating whether or not to take her in the car, or walk into town. 

"It's only a 10-20 minute walk from here to town" she says out loud. 

After a couple of minutes, she decides to drive, just in case some stores don't allow animals in, she can leave Haley in the car with all the windows down of course, or maybe leave her outside.

They drive into town, and she parks her car next to a gas station store. 

"Come one Hale" she says. 

She jumps out of the car, Kate locks it up and they walk past the small shops. 

A grocery store, a pharmaceutical store, a gun shop, an autoshop, and  lastly a bar called "The Spread Eagle". 

She looks around, and sees an appliance store, she really does need those appliances. 

She walks closer, and sees a sign on the door saying "Sorry, no animals allowed inside". 

"Of course" she says to herself. 

She ties Haley's leash to a parking meter under a tree 

"I'll be right back" she says to her, petting her head. 

She goes inside the store and looks around. Right off the bat she finds a toaster with 4 slots, and it costs $30 in which to her is a steal. 

She finds a coffee maker and a microwave all that costs a decent amount, less than she thought it would be. 

She pays for her stuff, and goes back outside to untie Haley, they walk back to the car, and put the appliances in the backseat covering them with a blanket. 

They continue to walk around the small town of Falls End located in the Holland Valley region. They cross the street to go onto the opposite side. Up ahead Kate sees a small group of people walking into a church on the other side of the street. Thinking nothing of it.

While on the other side of the street at Falls End Church, John Seed is standing outside of it holding the Book of Joseph, preaching.

"Sin must be exposed so it may be absolved. We must wash away our past" while some of his men escort some locals into the church. 

"You will know the power of Yes, you will confess your sins" he continues.

As he looks around he sees Kate with Haley walking on the opposite side of the street. 

He stares at her as she walks by, a smirk appears on his face. Perhaps he is engrossed by her?. He gets a weird feeling in his stomach but he ignores it. 

He continues to watch her as she walks further down the street away from the church. 

He shakes his head, snapping out of that trance, and continues to preach to the sinners.

Kate walks down the street towards a different market. Once again they don't allow animals in the store. 

So she ties Haley to a small iron fence in the shade "I'll be back'" she tells her again. 

She shops for about 25 minutes, she doesn't like to keep her dog outside that long especially out in public, she grabs bread, eggs, orange juice, fruit, cereal, milk, breakfast sausages, bacon, dog treats, grounded coffee and butter. 

Typical stuff you would buy at a grocery store. 

She pays for her stuff, goes outside, unties Haley putting the leash around her wrist. 

"Here you can hold your treats" she says, as she gives Haley her bag of Beggin Strips. 

She carries it in her mouth making the bags less heavy for Kate, and they head back to the car. They cross the street, now walking on the church side. John steps out of it, and sees Kate walking towards the church. 

He gets a better look at her, she's really cute. Actually she’s more than cute, she’s beautiful. Black hair past her shoulders, brown eyes, looks like she could be 19-22 years old?. Could she be a college student?. He's about to say something to her, but it gets ruined when one of his men calls out for him. 

"John!!" they call out. 

Turning his head to look back at him. 

He quickly looks back at Kate who is too far for him to call out to her. 

He rolls his eyes in annoyance, and goes back inside the church to see what they want. 

Kate walks back to her car, and puts her groceries in the back seat. 

Haley jumps into the front seat, and they drive off. 

They get stopped at a red light in front of the church, John looks out the window, and sees a black 70 Monte Carlo with a German Shepard sticking its head out the window. 

He quickly recognizes the dog, and sees Kate in the driver seat. 

Quickly, he goes outside before the light turns green. He doesn’t know what to say to her, so he yells out "Nice car!!". 

Kate can't see who yelled it because Haley is blocking her view from the passenger side, and is barking at some of the peggies outside the church. 

So she yells back, "Thank you!!" followed with a honk of the horn. She in a way acknowledged John even if she didn't really see him. 

She continued to drive down the road heading back home. 

After a 10 minute drive, she makes it home, and puts all her groceries away, hooks up the appliances and sits back on one of her chairs for the rest of the day watching TV with Haley chilling at her feet. 

“What a day Hale” she says, resting her feet on the table.

*3 in half hours later*

That night John is baptizing, cleansing some sinners, making them a step closer to being a part of Eden’s Gate. He’s doing his usual thing, making sure they are cleansed, and washed away from their sins. 

He can’t seem to get Kate off his mind, he finds this very strange because these are some new feelings, that he has never felt before. 

After he finishes the baptism, Joseph notices something is off about his younger brother. 

He approaches him once he’s finished.

“John?!” he says, approaching him. “What is troubling you brother?”.

John doesn’t know what to say, he stumbles with his words “Nothing, Joseph”.

He places his hand on John's shoulder, their foreheads touching. 

“It’s about a girl, isn’t it?” he asks, sounding like he already knew what this was all about.

John looks down, and lets out a soft sigh.

“Go to her. She can be your other half, when we cross Eden’s Gate” he tells him, before walking away. 

John looks up at his older brother as he walks away, leaving him to contemplate with what he should do next.