#brot4

"But what if they didn't have a choice?"

Julie lifts her head and takes his hand. She places the other one on top.

"Alex, listen. Whatever has happened to them, even if they..." her throat is choked and she can't bring herself to voice the words. She swallows and wets her lips. "No matter what, we have each other, okay?"

Alex's eyes crease and he nods. "Okay."

She takes a deep breath and releases his hands to slap her thighs decidedly. "Alright," she declares. "Where else could they have gone?"

Alex begins to check off the places they've look on his fingers. "Okay, so they're not at Luke's house, they're not at Reggie's, they're not being held captive by Caleb, and they're not at the Orpheum."

Julie frowns, thinking of the places the two could've vanished to. Think, Julie, think...

"There is one other place I can think of," Alex begins with hesitation. He wipes his clammy palms on his jeans.

Julie raises her eyebrows. "Okay, let's hear it."

"Well," he says, voice stretching and jumping up an octave. He clears his throat. "See, it's... it's kind of the place Luke and I first–"

But before Alex can finish, he's interrupted by the sound of two non-corporeal bodies poofing into the studio.

Luke and Reggie both wear large grins and an even larger amount of snow on their shoulders and heads.

Julie and Alex shoot off the sofa.

"Luke, Reggie," Julie cries, flinging herself over the coffee table and throwing her arms around them both. They're cold on her bare arms, but she doesn't care. She holds them tight and Reggie pats her back.

Luke laughs, "Whoa, okay, Molina. What's up with you?"

Julie pulls back and looks them both in the face. They both have red noses and Reggie's cheeks are flushed, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of harm come to either of them.

She tilts her head. "Wait, why are you covered in snow?"

"Oh, we had a snowball fight," Reggie chirps. "In Canada."

Alex appears at Julie's elbow. "A snowball fight?"

"In Canada?" Julie says.

Reggie nods, beaming beneath the flushed red patches scattered over his pale skin. "Yup, and I won."

Luke's jaw drops, but his eyes crease as the corner of his lips quirk up. "You won?"

Reggie pulls a face. "Uh, yeah, dude. I got the last hit. That means I win."

Luke lets out an amused laugh of disbelief and turns on his friend. "Since when does the last hit signal the winner?" He asks, befote he pinches at the snow on his shoulder and flicks it at Reggie's face.

Julie and Alex watch this exchange, both wearing expressions that are a combination of bewilderment and contempt.

The other two band members remain unaware of this fact as they continue to bicker playfully.

Julie turns and stalks back to the couch, where she grabs two sofa cushions and tosses one across to Alex.

Luke and Reggie turn just in time to see the angry looks on Julie and Alex's faces as they begin to whack them with said cushions.

Luke throws his hands up to block his face and Julie merely adjusts her target to his lower body.

"Julie!" Luke gasps, jerking up one knee to protect his sensitive regions. "Stop, stop!"

"What is wrong with you guys?" Alex demands, clipping Reggie's should once more with his own stuffed weapon square.

"What? We just went on a little - Hey, Julie, stop - we just went on a little adventure. What's the big deal? Did something happen?" Luke asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, that's what we were trying to find out," Julie says, pausing in efforts to beat the stupidity out of her ghost boy. "Because you two clowns just decided disappeared without telling anyone."

"We looked everywhere for you guys," Alex says, throwing his arms out. "We thought Caleb had got you again, or that you'd..."

Alex cuts himself off. He presses his lips together and closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "God, i hate you guys."

Julie folds her arms, glowering at the boys.

Luke and Reggie exchange a guilty look, before they turn back to Julie and Alex.

"We're sorry, guys," Reggie says, his hands twisting together at his front. "We were only gone for a bit, we didn't think you'd notice."

Julie scoffs. "A bit? You were gone for hours and we were supposed to be practicing this afternoon. Why would you think we wouldn't notice?"

Reggie's shoulders creep up his neck and he drops his gaze to the floor. "Sorry, Julie. Sorry, Alex."

Julie turns to Luke. The boy flicks snow from his hair. "And what about you?"

Luke purses his lips and screws up his nose. "What?" he asks.

"Anything you want to say to us?" she asks, gesturing between herself and Alex. "Hm?"

Luke glances towards Alex and then tsks, shoving his hands into the pockets of his sweater and rolls his shoulders.

Reggie watches him for a moment, before he swats his arm with the back of his hand. "Dude," he hisses.

"What?" he says, again, his tone indignant. "Reg, it's not like we planned it. It just happened."

Reggie pulls a face.

"You just happened to go to Canada?" Alex asks, narrowing his eyes. "How does that 'just happen,' Luke?"

Luke sucks his teeth and sighs in frustration. His hands fly out of his sweater. "One second we were talking about the place in the mountains my dad used to take us every year and next thing we know, we're there, knee deep in snow. So, no, we didn't plan it."

Julie drops her folded arms and lets out a sharp breath. "But why didn't you come back? If not just to let us know you were okay." She pushes her lips together. "We were worried about you guys. We thought we'd lost you."

Luke's shoulders soften and his face falls, as he finally acknowledges Julie's worry.

"Lost us?" Reggie parrots with a frown. "Why would you think you'd lost us?"

Both Julie and Alex drop their eyes.

Alex is the one to say it.

"We thought you might have crossed over."

Luke slowly closes his eyes and tips his head back with a sigh. "I'm such an idiot."

Julie doesn't contest this.

Reggie shakes his head vehemently. "Cross over? No, no. No, no, no. No way. No, I don't..." He brings his hands up to his cheeks and his eyes screw shut, as he continues to mutter quiet no's under his breath, until Alex pulls on his arm and draws him into a hug.

He sways Reggie gently as the boy clings to his front. "Okay, okay," Alex says. "It didn't happen, Reg. It didn't happen."

Julie looks back to Luke, who is chewing on the inside of his lip. He quirks his mouth to one side.

"Well?"

"I'm so sorry, Julie."

She nods and purses her lips, her hands sliding into the back pockets of her jeans. "Good."

"We really didn't mean to make either of you worry."

He looks across to Alex and Reggie. Reggie's head is pressed again Alex's collar and he peers out, while Alex's chin rests on his crown.

Julie inhales and then lets her worry, fear, and anger flood out of her in a breath. "Okay."

"It won't happen again, I swear. From now on, we'll check in with each other. Promise."

He extends a hand between them and waits for her, his expression both apprehensive and apologetic.

Julie's lips quirk up in one corner and she threads her fingers through his, which causes Luke to melt in relief.

"Okay. As long as you promise."

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