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Carrie was angry.
She knew it hadn’t been a good idea to come practice dancing when she was already in bad mood and tired. Her dad had been acting weird and ignoring her for a while now, everyone was talking about Julie and her hologram band and earlier that day she had gotten to an argument with Shay who wanted to get a bigger singing part in the next Dirty Candy performance. Carrie might have even been willing to consider it if Shay hadn't acted like she was some kind of dictator of the band when it was Carrie who got them gigs, dance lessons and a vocal coach. She invented the choreographs for the songs that she wrote herself. This music was all she had so excuse her for not wanting anyone to mess with it.
She had worked so hard on this and now it was harder to focus on the steps. It was late so her dad was already up in his room, leaving their small gym all to Carrie so she could practice in peace. It was just so hard to focus tonight.
One, two, three, step, hands, turn, then…
“Ugh!” She growled in frustration, taking her phone and starting the music from the beginning. Again.
One, two, three
She got further but at the end of the chorus she rushed to move and stumbled. Usually she could have easily stayed up, correcting fast enough that most people probably wouldn’t even notice. But it was midnight, she was hungry and frustrated so her reflexes were too slow. Carrie fell hard on her side, almost twisting her ankle.
She was supposed to get up, smile and move on. If there had been anyone watching she would have done just that, the show must go on and no matter what anyone says Carrie is good at what she does. Once she finished a performance after spraining her wrist, all with a smile on. This fall would leave a few bruises on her hip but she wasn't actually hurt as much as she was disappointed. Now there’s just her in the empty studio so sits on the cold floor and cries. If she could just get this right someone would notice her and she wouldn’t have to be just Trevor Wilson’s daughter or even worse, the ex-best friend of Julie from Julie and the Phantoms, the sudden viral hit that everyone just kept talking about. Not that people remembered they used to be friends, after hearing that Julie only liked being there to get connections to her dad Carrie had been quick to remove Julie from her life.
Carrie needed to get this dance because she had to be perfect. There was no other option.
Her mental breakdown was interrupted when she started hearing music. At first Carrie looks at her phone but it was quiet, the song she had on before had ended few minutes ago. Was her dad still awake? Carrie wipes her tears and stands up, moving to the window to see if there’s anything happening outside.
It was a simple sound, bass line and soft singing but she couldn’t make out the words. Just a calming voice and a slow rhythm. She’s still not sure where it’s coming from, the sound feels like it’s closer than if it was her dad playing something but there isn’t other explanation and at this point Carrie doesn’t really care. She tilts her head back, eyes closed and listens, enjoying the music.
It’s a strange song, nothing like she would normally listen to. Very simple and calming, giving her a little country vibes with the raspy voice. She gets the feeling that she’d heard the voice before but can’t place it. Maybe something her dad listened to before. The song ends and Carrie waits for another one to begin but it’s silent again. She shivers, the chill of the dance studio getting to her now that she’s not moving.
There’s no point to train anymore, she would just get upset again. Carrie throws on her hoodie and gathers her things, feeling less lonely even thought the house is silent and dark when she walk to her room. That night Carrie sleeps better than in months.
***** ***** *****
Reggie didn’t plan on haunting Bobby when he came to walk through the house again, this time alone. He understood why Luke was so furious when they found out their old band mate stole Luke’s songs but Reggie was never good at staying angry for long. Bobby deserved everything they’d done but he wanted to know why it happened in the first place. Bobby hadn’t been as close as the rest of Sunset Curve’s members but he was still part of the band and they spent a lot of time together. Especially during the time Luke and Alex dated Reggie used to hang with Bobby a lot and he wasn’t a bad guy. Reggie felt weird even thinking about it but he was glad it wasn’t him left alone like that when the three of them died. He wasn’t sure what he’d done if his whole band had died, leaving him to deal with everything on his own.
So he didn’t judge Bobby too harshly. Even if he lived in a mansion earned by stealing their songs without credit.
Last time they’d focused on following Bobby so he hadn’t looked at the place much but now Reggie had time to see how big the house was. It was all shining surfaces and big windows and Reggie kept finding new rooms every time he thought it would end. Upstairs he saw the big bedroom where Bobby slept. He checked to see if there was a pen somewhere so he could draw on the man’s face but there was nothing lying around.
“When did you get so tidy?” Reggie asked. Bobby had been almost as messy as Reggie was. He continued to look around, trying to find any sign of them, an old photo or the Sunset Curve demo. Eventually he wandered into a small dance studio. There were gym equipment in the back but most of it was open space in front of big mirrors. Reggie was surprised to see there was someone in there.
He frowned, trying the place the girl he knew was familiar but it took a second to recognize.
“Carrie! I though you had pink hair”, he walked closer to look at the girl. She had a pink sports bra and highwaist leggings, brown hair on a braid. She looked different from the times he’d seen her singing, in full makeup and probably a wig on. Reggie didn’t like her songs as much as Alex but he saw how much effort was put in the performances, it was still strange to see her training at this time.
“Isn’t it a little late for this?” Carrie ignored him, trying again from the beginning. She was tense and Reggie wondered what made her so stressed. Was she always like this? He moved to help when Carrie fell but the girl slipped right through his hands, making Reggie curse. When Carrie started to cry he got really worried, was she hurt? The way she moved up, still sitting down and pulling her knees up was familiar though, it wasn’t physical pain making her cry like that.
“Hey, it’s okay, everyone messes up sometimes. You should see some practices we have, Luke almost killed me once when he hit me in the face with his guitar on accident. At least he says it was accidental.” It’s surprisingly hard to comfort someone when they can’t hear or see you, Carrie didn’t react to his attempt. Reggie wanted to run out but it felt wrong to leave her like this so instead he focused and his bass appeared.
He couldn’t play any of their songs, it would be too suspicious so Reggie started to sing Home is where my horse is, making it slower and fitting the bass line in. Carrie raised her head, trying to see where the sound was coming from. At least she stopped crying, Reggie thought and continued playing. He followed the girl when she walked around the room, tilting her head and finally started to smile. He knew it was a good song, no matter what Luke said!
“Go to sleep, Carrie”, he said softly when the song ended. Carrie didn’t hear him but she started to collect her things and headed out of the room. For a second Reggie wanted to follow and make sure she was okay but he shook his head. Too creepy, at least when they popped into Julie’s room she knew they were there, this would be spying. He watched the girl walk out, hoping that she felt better now.
“Good night”, he said to the empty room before focusing on going back to the garage.