The Other Side of Hollywood | Luke Patterson

EIGHT✨

"Willie is getting too attached," Maya whispered into my ear; I glanced over my shoulder at the ghost in question; the way he looked at Alex was downright adorable, but it was also dangerous; what if he warned Alex of how he'd basically be trapped here and controlled by Caleb once he agrees to stay, the boys would never stay then. Luke and Reggie had seemed to be enjoying their night so far; we'd gone from group to group, introducing them to fellow ghosts and various lifers. Luke was acting as if we were friends though, which I hated, and Reggie, well, let's just say Maya was very done with him. "Caleb isn't going to be happy, neither is Willie if Caleb has to intervene." I nodded; there was one downside to joining the club, Caleb technically owns all of our souls, meaning if he wanted to, he could control us to do things against our own wills. Lucky for me, I'd never gotten on his bad side, meaning it's never happened to Maya or me; the two of us typically went with what Caleb said, no questions asked. Willie, on the other hand, has had it happen to him on a few occasions; sometimes, he'd try warning ghosts about this small cost, meaning Caleb would have to intervene.

"I'll keep an eye on him," I whisper back; Luke and Reggie stood right beside us, animatedly talking to a pair of lifers about something Star Wars related; the conversation resulted in Reggie stomping away, visibly upset.

"We found out like two weeks ago, okay? We just didn't have the heart to tell him." Luke says I break away from my thoughts and mini conversation with Maya to listen, "but just please, don't mention Jar Jar."

"You should probably go check on him," I nudged Maya, smirking at her teasingly; I lowkey wished I was the one trailing behind Reggie tonight, sure he talked a lot and sometimes didn't make sense, but that seemed a lot easier than pretending I didn't despise my ex-boyfriend.

"So," I said to Luke once Maya was gone, the lifer couple had also walked away, meaning the two of us were left alone for the first time in hours, "What do you think so far?" I finally asked, gesturing to the bustling club that surrounded us.

"This is insane," He said, his voice full of excitement as he watched the party, "how does nobody know about this, though? Is there some contract people have to sign?" I bit my lip, trying to think of how to answer his question. As I explained earlier, Caleb owned everyone's soul here, meaning he controls everyone to keep this place on the down-low, but that didn't sound like the kind of response that would make him want to stay.

"Yeah, kind of," I nod, "with their memberships, everyone gets to experience this forever, and they've all happily accepted."

"Forever?" Luke asked, his eyes wide; I guess when you think about it, forever does sound like a long time; but there's also nothing better than this, not to me at least.

"Of course," I answer, "who wouldn't wanna experience this forever?" I ask; Luke stares at me in response; I can tell the wheels are turning in his head; he opens his mouth to say something, but I cut him off, "Alex seems to be enjoying himself too, huh?" I nod over to the table where Alex and Willie had been sitting for the majority of the evening; the two of them were still smiling fondly at one another like they had been moments earlier. Silence fell over us as we watched Willie and Alex; it wasn't until Willie walked away from us that we approached the table.

"Oh, you've got a crush on Willie?" Luke said, kneeling on the chair beside Alex.

"What? No, I-"Alex stuttered, shaking his head; I moved to the spot beside Luke; I wasn't sure whether encouraging Alex's obvious crush was a good or bad idea. On the one hand, maybe Willie was the reason he'd stay, but on the other hand, maybe Willie would get too attached, resulting in him sharing the secrets of the club that the boys did not need to know quite yet.

"Alex, I'm happy for you," Luke said; the smile on Alex's face was almost bright enough to melt my cold, dead heart, but obviously not enough; I'm stronger than that.