"I take it you're all enjoying the feast?" Caleb asks from the center of the stage, instantly gaining everyone's attention in the club, who cheered in agreement. The three boys of sunset curve had finally finished their meal, "so many delicious sights, so many tantalizing sounds," Caleb continued, "but your eyes still hunger for more, something sweet, something savory." He teased, moving across the stage, "how many newcomers do we have in the club tonight?"

"Raise your hands," I whispered, tapping Alex's shoulder; Willie, who had joined us sometime during the feast, nodded back at the boys.

"Ladies," Caleb nodded towards the two dancers on stage with him, "let's show our guests how we do dessert; a one, two, three, four." The drums kicked in instantly as various dancers rushed to the center of the floor. Willie, Maya, and I stayed seated, for now, jamming out to the music with the three boys who sat with us; Luckily, I sat in between Alex and Willie, meaning, for the time being, I didn't have to pretend to be having a good time with Luke. Maya and I shared a proud smirk as the boys sang along; the plan was working; soon, they would agree to stay, and I could ignore their presence; this is a big club after all.

"Ladies, shall we," Willie held out both of his hands to Maya and I, who were on either side of him. Caleb was finishing his big high note, leading into the chorus again; Maya and I nodded, following Willie to where the dancers stood, front and center so that the boys could see us. Eventually, after Caleb stopped singing and just the band was playing music, Willie stepped forward, gesturing for the boys to join us; I grimaced, knowing I would be dragged over to dance with Luke.

"Think you can keep up?" I ask Luke, holding my hand out to him; Maya and Reggie we're already dancing beside us, her taking the lead. I tried to pretend as if I was enjoying dancing with Luke, smiling brightly at him and laughing every so often as if I was having fun, but my gaze kept drifting over to Caleb, who was gesturing for someone to leave. I furrowed my brows in confusion, my eyes traveling to where he was looking; Willie frowned and ran out of the way. Caleb had done it; he'd intervened and controlled Willie, I knew it would happen eventually, but it still made me kind of upset seeing how upset Willie looked, "you ready for the big finale?" I asked Luke, breaking away from my thoughts; Luke laughed as I dipped him, Maya doing the same to Reggie beside us.

"Oh," Caleb announced, as the clock chimed; Luke and Reggie both stood up, watching Caleb, "the haunting hour is upon us." The band began playing again, and the crowd started dancing again, I went to take the lead like I had been doing the entire time we were dancing, but Luke spun me around before I had the chance, taking the lead.

"I never knew you we're such a dancer, Harps," He nodded, the two of us still dancing; I cringed at the use of my old nickname, resisting the urge to correct him, I was not Harps to him, not anymore.

"After 25 years of performing here, it becomes second nature," I say instead, shrugging my shoulders. "I get why the three of you like performing so much," Luke's eyes soften as I say that I had never understood his passion for music in the past, "maybe one day we can all perform together?" I add, "make up for lost time?"

"I would love that," He answered, his eyes connecting with mine; I glance over his shoulder at Maya and Reggie, she shoots me a smirk from over his shoulder; our plan was totally working. "Wait, it's twelve," Luke gasped; I quickly turned my attention back to him, "how'd that happen?" the real answer, the club is a time warp; to the boys, it felt like they'd only been here an hour or two, but in reality, it had been much longer. "W-we need to go," He stuttered, letting go of my hands.

"What, no," I reached for his arm, trying to stop him.

"Reggie," He tapped his bandmate on the shoulder, completely ignoring me, "dude, we lost track of time." He practically dragged Reggie out of Maya's arms, "Reggie, we were supposed to be at Julie's school at nine," He reminded him; Reggie's eyes widened in remembrance.

"Oh shoot," Reggie exclaimed, both of them completely disregarding Maya and I'd presence, "maybe we can still make it?"

"You're already three hours late," I cut in, not giving up on trying to get them to stay, "why bother going now?" I placed my hand on Luke's arm, trying to pull him back over to dance with me.

"We need to find Alex," Luke said, once again ignoring me, "Alex!" He called out, his eyes searching the club.

"Up here," All of our eyes traveled up to one of the aerialist hoops that Alex was currently swinging on.

"We forgot-"

"Julie, I know," Alex cut Luke off, "this place is some kind of time warp." Of course, he was the one to figure it all out; he'd always been the most observant of the three.

"Poof down here, bro, we gotta get going," Luke yelled urgently, waving for Alex to come down; as soon as Alex poofed down, the three of them began rushing to the exit, leaving Maya and I behind them. I can't help but feel a little bit hurt; Luke was doing what I knew him best for, running out on me as if I didn't matter to him at all.

"I'll grab Caleb," Maya said, already walking over to where he stood, "make sure they don't leave, do something!" I already knew exactly what that something was, all night; I'd been playing nice, acting as if I'd forgiven and forgotten, but maybe, I needed to do the exact opposite.

"You're leaving?" I poof in front of the boys, causing them to come to a halt; all the hurt and anger caused my Luke bubbled up, and this time I didn't plan on pushing it down.

"Harps," He began, his voice full of guilt, "we promised Julie we'd be there."

"Promise?" I scoff, "I didn't realize you knew how to keep those," all the words I'd been longing to say to him finally coming out, "you know, I thought you changed," I spat, not tearing my gaze away from him, "but here you are, running out on me, again." I emphasize the last part, "do you even care about me? Or were you just pretending tonight?" in reality, I was the one pretending, but that wasn't the point here, the point was to make Luke guilty, and by the look on his face it was working.

"I wasn't pretending," Luke pleaded with me, he reached forward, but I stepped back, "Harper, I'm really happy we got to see each other; I regret every single day running out on you, but-"

"Your music is more important," I cut him off, shaking my head sadly, Luke opened his mouth to object, but Caleb poofed in beside me before I could respond.

"Gentlemen, what's the rush," He spoke, smiling brightly at the three of them, "the party's just getting started, and you have an eternity, after all."

"You know that girl that can see us?" Reggie asked, "we sort of bailed on her; there's this dance at her school, and her friend Flynn is a super cool DJ, like-"I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his rambling.

"I don't think he has an eternity to hear the story," Alex cut him off just as Reggie was pretending to be a DJ.

"Basically, we're late for a gig," Luke explained; I could tell he still felt guilty about running out on me, but not enough to stay, obviously.

"But, what about my offer?" Caleb asked; he seemed shocked by the boys declining to join his house band, which was understandable, no one ever said no to Caleb, and if they did, they always came back.

"It's very cool of you, Mr. Covington, but like I said, we already have a- " Luke began to explain.

"A band of your own," Caleb cut him off, he smiled at the boys as if it didn't matter, but I knew Caleb well enough to tell he was annoyed, "I understand."

"Okay," Alex smiled; the three boys stepped forward, prepared to step around Caleb and I, and leave the club. '

"Oh, boys," Caleb held his hands out to stop them, "if you ever wanna come back and fix that little problem with your friend, The Hollywood ghost club is always open." We both knew Caleb couldn't help them, but he'll say anything to get them to stay.

"Yeah, man, we'd love to come back," Luke responded, looking at me the entire time he spoke.

"Ah! Music to my ears," Caleb sang; it wasn't until he reached his hand out that I clued into what he was doing, as he shook Luke's hand, he grabbed his wrist, pressing on the stamp; before the boys could question it, he did the same to the other two.

"It's just a club stamp," I explained, taking note of their confused expressions; from over the boys' shoulders, I saw Willie and Maya. Maya was smirking, while Willie frowned, both of them having opposite reactions to Caleb using the marking, "If you ever decide to stop running, you know where I am." I added bitterly, looking at Luke as I poof away.

"He gave them the stamp?" Willie asked, shaking his head in disbelief, "doesn't he know what that'll do?" I almost felt guilty seeing how sad Willie looked, but if you thought about it, Caleb was doing him a favor; now Alex is more likely to stay.

"Of course, he does," Maya scoffed, "now those boys have no choice but to stay," Maya smiled menacingly, the same evil smile that Caleb wore.

"Harper," Willie mumbled sadly, "how are you so okay with this? Don't you care about them?" I wasn't sure how to answer Willie's question; if they didn't join, they'd be gone, forever; was I really okay with that?

"I'm just doing my job," I finally answer, shrugging my shoulders, "besides, they'll join; they'd be stupid not to."

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