"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.

"you guys are not gonna believe this," Reggie exclaimed, breaking up the conversation we were having. I glanced at Maya, who came to stand beside me; she just shook her head in amusement in response, "but someone just told me they added a character named Jar Jar, what's a Jar Jar?"

"I told him," Maya whispered, smirking, "he may be annoying, but he's so easy to bug." I rolled my eyes in response; man, I wish I was stuck with annoying, talkative, easy to bug Reggie.

"I take it you boys are enjoying yourselves," Caleb walked up; I held in a laugh at how quick the boys postures changed, all three of them stood up from their seats, already nervous about being around the club owner, "and I assume my favorite girls are being good hosts." He said, focusing on Maya and me; I nodded; I thought the two of us were doing fantastic considering the circumstances.

"Yeah, I mean, you'd have to be insane to have a bad time here," Luke said; Maya and I discreetly high fived, sharing a smirk; our plan was working.

"Well, entertainment is our specialty," Caleb replied, gesturing widely with his hands, "so now, I understand there's something I can help you with," Caleb said, clapping his hands together; the whole reason the boys are here is that they claim to need Caleb's help.

"Yeah, we hope so," Reggie responded, "there's an old buddy of ours who ripped us off big time, and we wanna make things right." I racked my brain trying to think of who they could be talking about; I knew basically all of the boy's old friends, but then something clicked, only three of sunset curve sat here today, meaning one of them was still alive.

"Bobby?" I asked, causing all three boys to look at me; if I'm being honest, I never liked Bobby anyway; he always flirted despite the fact that I was dating their band's lead singer at the time; he was kind of a jerk.

"Yeah," Luke nods, "he stole all of our old music; we wanna look him in the eye and make him admit what he did to us."

"So, if you could make us visible, that would be perfect," Alex added, smiling hopefully at Caleb.

"He can't do that," I cut in; I had asked Caleb 25 years ago when I joined for the same thing, so I could say goodbye to Hanna and let her know I was okay, but he told me it wasn't possible.

"And besides, we're at a party," Caleb added, adding onto what I said, "why focus on those who have wronged us when we're among friends, new and old." Luckily the boys weren't looking at me when Caleb said that because I visibly cringed; these boys were not my friends; they lost that privilege a long time ago.

"So, you guys are musicians?" Maya asked a fake, sweet smile painted on her face; all three of the boys nodded. "I doubt your dream is to settle a score."

"No, their dreams are bigger than that," Caleb responds before the boys can, "you're like me," He says to the boys, "born to perform your music in front of sold-out crowds, please sit." Caleb snapped his fingers, an employee pushing a chair behind him. The boys sat while Maya and I moved to stand behind them, both of us eager to watch Caleb at work. "what if I were to tell you that with a wave of my hand, you could share the spotlight with me and join my house band." Maya and I shared a wide-eyed glance; we had never talked about the boys joining Caleb's house band before; he must be getting desperate.

"We already have a band," Luke reminded him; I closed my eyes, huffing in disbelief; Caleb just offered him a high-up roll in the club, and he's turning it down? Unbelievable.

"Yeah, but when you're done performing, you disappear," I say, causing all three boys to turn and look up at me, "No bows, no soaking up the applause, no real connections with the audience," I can tell I've struck a nerve, by the frowns on their faces, "isn't that what you've always wanted?"

"Well, it would be cool to play here," He started, smiling lightly at the thought.

"Oh, it's not just here," Maya added, trying to make the offer sound even more appealing, "there are clubs like this all over the world, we may be in Hollywood tonight, but we travel all over the place." She leaned down, closer to Reggie, "Paris is my favorite." She whispered, winking at him.

"Oo la la," Reggie mumbled, staring up at her in awe.

"It is all of your dreams come true," Caleb finished; the three of us were making pretty good statements; who wouldn't want this? "Forever." I expected the three of them to jump on the offer; after all, this is what they dreamt about their whole lives; but the three of them remained silent, staring at Caleb, "I'm gonna give you some time to think about it." Caleb spoke, standing up from his chair, "oh, by the way, make sure you try the sliders; they're to die for."

"W-we can eat?" Reggie stuttered in shock.

"Here you can," Caleb said, snapping his fingers one last time before he left; a platter of various foods appeared on the table, and two extra chairs for Maya and me to join them. Another perk of the club, outside of here, we were unable to eat anything, but we could eat anything and everything in the club.

"I guess we have to sit with them," I mumble to Maya; the boys were far too busy shoving their faces with food.

"Yup," Maya mumbled, equally as annoyed as I am; the two of us move around; I luckily grab the chair next to Alex, leaving Maya to sit beside my ex.

"Just think," I whisper to Maya as the boys shove the food down, "after tonight, once they've accepted, we can easily ignore them."

"I can't wait."

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