#luke patterson x julie molina imagine

[g1rld1ary]

new release ; luke patterson x fem!reader

➻ synopsis: you'd been playing julie and the phantom's new album on repeat all day before luke comes knocking on your door, and you end up going to dinner with your favourite band

➻ word count: 2515

➻ content: she/her pronouns for reader

➻ wrote this on a whim tonight so enjoy my first luke fic lol !!

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You tapped your fingers impatiently against your desk, willing Spotify to reload quicker, visualising the album you knew was dropping in two minutes. Finally, after 120 seconds that could have been an hour, Julie and the Phantom’s new album was out and available, and you actually might’ve been the first person to listen to it.

You’d been following Julie and the Phantoms since their very first performance was put on YouTube. Admittedly you’d been hopping on the bandwagon — your friends had been raving about it at school and force-fed you their songs, but you’d been genuinely addicted to their music ever since.

Pressing play on the new album you got up, leaving it to play as you began on your errands for the day. You danced around your apartment, putting away the washing and vacuuming and humming along to the singles that had already been released.

Luke was on his way home from his morning run when he could have sworn he could hear his own voice. Stopping, he pulled an earbud out of his ear, looking around for the source of the music. And there, on the third floor, was you. You were out on the balcony, organising the cute set of outdoor furniture you’d shoved in there and dancing ridiculously to Luke’s personal favourite song of the album. He let out a quiet laugh to himself, admiring the carefree way you jumped around, miming the chorus you’d learnt into a can of what appeared to be bug spray. He smiled once more before heading into the building, musing about the odds of having a Phantoms fan live on his floor.

Back up in his apartment he could still hear the music, both your open windows making it sound clear despite not being obnoxiously loud. Luke just shook his head, heading straight to the shower and turning on his own music so he didn’t have to be victim to his own voice all day.

An hour later, you were still listening. You’d just finished the album and evidently wanted to commit it to memory before the day was through. Luke thought it was adorable, and he could feel the gratitude flowing through every inch of him. This was why he wrote music, to resonate with people and make them happy. Plus, now that he knew the cute girl who’d just moved into the apartment opposite him liked his band, he figured he could build up some confidence to talk to you.

Morning turned to afternoon, and you were still playing his album. Luke was flattered, but in slight disbelief. He couldn’t believe you weren’t sick of it yet, though he supposed you didn’t get the same ick he did when listening to his voice. Hearing you learning the words was another bonus, your voice floating in through his kitchen window as he cooked. He thought it was lovely, though far from professional. It was an unreal experience hearing your disembodied voice stumbling through the lyrics, making up ones you’d evidently misheard and improvising your own riffs on top of Julie’s.

Luke wondered whether it was possible to develop a crush on someone based on just their voice. Yeah he thought you were cute the few times he’d seen you coming or going through his street facing window, but your laughter when your voice cracked had him weak in the knees.

When you were still playing his music by four o’clock — you’d branched out to mixing in the rest of their discography by then — he was a little worried for your sanity. Flattered and grateful for the streams, but concerned all the same. At the same time he was worried for himself. He’d offered to host his band and friends for a private celebration of the album release after the official party the night previous, and he thought it may be a little on the nose if you were still streaming their music into the night. He could already hear Alex making fun of him for living next to a fangirl (he did secretly hope you were a fangirl of him though).

So, whilst it wasn’t exactly the meet-cute he’d hoped for, Luke found himself knocking on your door. He knocked again shyly when he heard you turn down the volume, clearly trying to see if you’d heard right. A few soft footsteps on the other side of the door and it was cracking open, your curious expression greeting him. You’d only just moved in and didn’t know anyone to be visiting.

Luke watched you go through the seven stages of grief in real time. Confusion at an unexpected visitor, recognition of him, and then a million shades of humiliation as you realised you’d been listening to his music all day and he could hear. God, you probably looked like an obsessed fangirl (you were, but you didn’t want Luke Patterson to know that). With an embarrassed sound coming from the back of your throat, you asked Luke to give you twenty seconds of privacy. He agreed politely and you shut the door quickly. Slapping a hand to your mouth, you let out a silent scream, trying to let out all your anxious, embarrassed energy as quickly as possible, shaking your limbs about so you could stand still when you inevitably had to grovel for forgiveness to Luke.

Reopening your door, you were taken aback by how at ease Luke looked. And how much hotter he was in person, but you tried to push that thought to the back of your head for the sake of coherent conversation.

“Hi,” You said, resisting the urge to ramble out apologies.

“Hi,” He replied with that stupidly charming grin he wore in all his publicity shoots. “I’m Luke.”

“I know.” Fuck, you didn’t mean to say that. “Um, obviously. I’m sure you’ve heard all the…” You gestured inside to your apartment where his album was still playing quietly. You should’ve turned it off.

“Please don’t be embarrassed, it’s really cute.” Now your blush was for a totally different reason, your favourite singer was calling you cute? You had to be dreaming.

“Is there something I can do for you?” You asked, still unsure of the purpose of the visit, though you weren’t complaining.

“Oh!” Luke looked as if he really had forgotten why he’d come, but covered himself with an easy laugh, “I was just wondering if you could turn down your music a bit? It’s not too loud or anything, it’s not bothering me! It’s just, I’m having the band over tonight and as much as we’re all proud of the album, it feels a bit conceited to have it playing as we hang out privately, y’know?” You were nodding vigorously before he could finish his sentence, spilling out apologies for even playing it in the first place.

“Seriously don’t apologise,” He assured you, catching your eye in a way that made you feel like you couldn’t look away (not that you would’ve wanted to), “I really appreciate you being a fan and supporting us.” In that moment, entranced in his deep honey eyes, you honestly would have done whatever Luke Patterson asked of you, you were completely his. Maybe your parasocial relationships needed some examining.

Forcing yourself to end the moment despite your internal desires, you averted your eyes to the floor and Luke coughed slightly, both of you somewhat dazed.

“Right, well, it was really nice meeting you. Big fan. Guess I’ll see you around?” You said awkwardly, stepping back inside the threshold of your flat. Luke nodded in the same manner, and you were about to shut the door when he called for you to wait.

“Do you wanna come over later? You can meet the band, and it’s always helpful to make some friends in the building. I, uh, know you’re new here.” You nodded, more than surprised, but you sure as hell weren’t gonna turn down this opportunity.

“Yeah, that sounds nice. Thanks.” Luke named a time and you parted ways, neither of you catching the backwards glances you both chanced.

Inside your apartment was a whirlwind of stress. What did you wear for a dinner with your favourite band with an hour’s notice? You might’ve actually tried on half your wardrobe before deciding on your favourite jeans (maybe the ones that made your ass look impeccable, but who’s to say?) and a simple top. It wasn’t the most exciting outfit you could have come up with, not by a long shot, but you didn’t want to make a single wrong decision tonight. All you needed to do was be completely perfect and impress Julie and the Phantoms and maybe get Luke to like you back. Easy stuff.

By the time you were meant to be going you’d managed to do your makeup in a way that didn’t make you want to cry — why did it always turn out awful when you needed it to be good? Slipping your favourite hoops into your ears you were ready, and gave yourself a quick pep talk in the bathroom mirror. You’d never been one for those self-love affirmations, but they couldn’t hurt, right?

When Luke opened the door and his face broke into one of those smiles that lit up the building’s corridor, your nerves quieted themselves somewhat. He swept you under one of his arms leading you further into the apartment as if you’d been friends for years. You tried to take in what you could, and were a little jealous of how nicely his place was decorated — yours was still loaded with boxes and junk.

“Guys, meet my new friend!” Luke announced, and all the heads in the room snapped towards you.

“Um, hi,” You said meekly, remembering to tell them all your name.

“She’s new to the building and I thought it would be nice for her to make some friends!” You smiled internally — Luke had the same personality as in all the interviews you watched, which made you glad. You didn’t know what you would do if he wasn’t all that you imagined.

The night started out a little awkward, at least for you. You were so stressed about making a good impression that you felt a little robotic, answers calculated to try and get the most amount of laughs or agreements. Luke noticed this and gestured for you to take the seat between him and Julie when the meal was served, figuring you’d have the most in common with her, and he was more than happy to talk your ear off if the opportunity arose.

“So, why’d you come to California?” Julie asked, and you explained that you’d moved for school, but it was cheaper to rent the flat than live in the dorms. That in itself was an easy avenue into talking about your roommate who was never around and the classes you were taking this semester. When you asked about Nick, who was sitting on Julie’s other side, he happily joined the conversation to talk about how they got together just after the Phantoms began to get world famous and their (first) show at the Orpheum.

The dinner was loud and messy, and you began to feel right at home. With Reggie flicking beans at Alex, and Luke’s boisterous laughter ringing over conversation, there was a familial ambience to it all.

After the meal the group migrated towards the TV, and you found yourself next to Luke again, sandwiched between him and Willie, who introduced himself as Alex’s boyfriend. You recognised him from Alex’s Instagram, but you left that fact out. You found yourself making easy conversation with them, being the four who got Luke’s couch, whilst the others made themselves at home in armchairs and other seats scavenged from around the flat.

As you spoke to the couple about a restaurant in LA they were recommending, you felt a hand land on your thigh. A glance in his direction showed it was Luke’s, of course, but if his expression was anything to go by he was all but unaware, still speaking passionately to Nick about something. You tried to conceal your blush as your turned back to the gays, but the knowing looks had you hiding your face in your hands.

A movie was turned on and the chatter dulled somewhat, turned down to whispers over the dialogue. You didn’t know how you’d ended up cuddled up into Luke’s side, but you were absolutely not complaining. His arm on the back of the sofa had migrated to sitting around your waist at one point, and you were really hoping he couldn’t feel your racing heartbeat. An accidental glance in Julie’s direction showed her and Nick wiggling their eyebrows suggestively, to which you simply made a bewildered expression, hoping it conveyed how little idea you had of what was going on. Unbeknownst to you, Luke was fighting the same losing battle with the rest of the boys, who were making childish kissy faces when you weren’t looking. Luke handled it better than you, merely shrugging as if to say ‘she’s cute — what do you want me to do?’

A few hours later and the night was winding down. You took your leave after Reggie, not wanting to risk overstaying your welcome and jeopardising the friendships you hoped you were making. The remaining guests all gave you warm goodbyes, begging for you to come back again. Julie even swept you into a tight hug, making you promise you’d DM her to go out for coffee soon. Luke walked you to the door, a gentle hand on the small of your back not going unnoticed by his friends.

“Thanks for coming tonight, I’m really glad we met,” He said, and his shyer tone caught you off guard, but made you smile nonetheless.

“Thank you for inviting me,” You countered, “It was really sweet of you to introduce me to all your friends.” Luke waved it off like it was nothing, which you were sure to him it was.

“Can I see you again soon?” He asked, suddenly looking remarkably like a little puppy.

“I’m only a door away,” You grinned, “You can see me whenever you like. Hey, congrats again on the album. I’d say it’s pretty good.” When you pressed a kiss to his cheek and bade him goodnight, Luke couldn’t have resisted his cheesy grin if he’d tried.

“I love being a rockstar,” He said when he returned to his friends.

“Shut up, man,” Replied Alex, “You’re too whipped to claim any rockstar benefits on this one.”

[inlovewithalotoffandoms]

Imagine the boys helping you get over your stage fright.

[swanimagines]

JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS AO3 SERIESES

EVERYTHING FOR JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS

Julie Molina

Luke Patterson

Reggie Peters

MISC

Preferences (coming)

(Any of the other characters don't have any requests written nor pending as for now, so I'm unable to have serieses for them as AO3 requires you to have at least one oneshot written to be able to add it to a series, and I can't promise serieses for characters who don't have requests pending/I have no ideas of my own for them)

For anyone who's concerned, THESE ARE NOT ONESHOT COLLECTIONS, they are made using AO3's "series" feature.

If you want to be informed about new fics for JATP or its individual characters, create an AO3 account and subscribe or bookmark any of those serieses listed above. There are buttons at the top right corner for those, or on top on mobile. I do not do Tumblr taglists anymore.

Also, if you're wondering, requests are ALWAYS open and you're welcome to leave one or multiple. Just remember to read my rules and pick a request type from this list.

[julieandthe-stan-toms]

Why is my first instinct, when I'm drunk, to turn on Julie and the Phantoms?????

(I'm over 21 BTW and it's my birthday so keep your judgements to yourself)

[beaniebeensbaby201]

ALIVE! LUKE PATTERSON X ALIVE! READER

SUMMARY: Y/N Molina(cousin) has been distancing herself from Luke, as she was assigned to be his dance partner for class. Y/N imagines the two of them together, which didn't go unnoticed by the group. Only for Luke to over hear and to finally confess his love for her.

Warnings: making out, slight cursing, slight angst. Reader and Luke simping for one another.

It's been a week since Y/N had seen Luke. After she realized She was in love with her best friend. y/n was with Julie in the studio, then Luke started to enter. Y/N was quick to grab her songbook, and her guitar, making sure not to make eye contact with the boy.

Luke stares at the girl who was rushing past him. His eyes staring at hers, she wanted to look up but she covered her face with her journal. He looked like a puppy got hit by a car, his once happy smile that she loved was now a frown.

He points his thumb where the girl left.

"You saw that right?" Julie herself was shocked, the past week she's ignored Luke.

"She's ignoring me. Ever since the dance she's ignored me." Luke kicked the ground, Julie bit her bottom lip.

She knew the reason, but she promised her cousin that she wouldn't spill the beans.

"What?" Luke looked up and saw the Latina was silent.

"Nothing?" The girl bats her lashes, and tries to look clueless.

"You know what's up Julie. Tell me." He gives her the puppy dog eyes. Julie cringed trying to fight her demons.

"Fine! Y/n has feelings for you. Ever since you guys danced. She was embarrassed, so she's trying to get over you." Luke scoffed, he loved her since they first met in 8th grade.

Y/N was there for him for everything, he only ever trusted and loved her.

She was the type of girl that listens to whatever you have to say. She would always have the best advice. She loved music just as much as he did, so he taught her how to play guitar when she asked.

Luke left before Julie could say anything else because he knew she was in her room.

Y/N was writing in her journal, tapping her pen as she hummed to create lyrics.

The door to her room was slightly ajar, so Luke pushed it opened more as he shimmied through the door.

The wood creaked under his feet causing Y/N to turn around to find the boy.

He looks at the girl in front of him.

"Hi?" Luke waved at the girl.

She awkwardly waves back.

"What do you want Luke?" Usually she'd run up to him and hug him, as she'd show him a new song that she wrote. This time it was different.

"Julie told me everything." The girl froze in her chair.

She averts her gaze. Staring at the poster that was on her ceiling, as she found it more interesting.

"Everything, everything?" Luke started to walk closer.

"Everything." With a shaky breath Y/N got up from her seat and faced the boy.

"I mean, she can't really have told you everything. I mean there is a fine line between everything, and then there's a line when you hear teeny tiny things." Her voice gets high pitched at the end as she holds her fingers in a half pinch.

He took her hand that was still in the air, making her shut up.

His hazel eyes bore into hers, the type of stare to make you weak in the knees.

"I like you, like a lot. And I always thought there was something there. I just didn't think you felt the same until recently. When you dodge my touch, when you don't want to write together anymore. When you leave the room as I enter." He ticks off the list of reasons.

"Luke-" He rolled his eyes as she was about to protest.

He grabs her face and places his lips against hers. Quickly retaliating, she placed her hands on his neck and kissed him back. Tongues dancing together, only to stop when they heard whispers behind them.

They noticed their friends have been caught watching the scene.

"Guys." Luke said, as the group scrambles.

"You guys owe me forty each!" Alex exclaimed.

The couple laughed as they went back to kissing.

"You want to help me finish a song?" Luke whispers against her lips, his fingers holding her hips.

She bites his lip between her teeth in a teasing way.

"Sure." She said, giving him another peck on his lips they head towards the studio.

[felicitysmoaksx]

JJ’s Fic and Moodboard Masterlist Updated 7/14/24

Moodboards

Best Friends Brother AU || One Chicago || Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Sarah Reese: Police Officer || One Chicago || Sarah Reese Centric

Single Dad!Severide || One Chicago || Kelly Severide Centric

Halstead Brothers Adopt Reese || One Chicago || Gen

Merlyn Twins au || One Chicago & Arrow || Tommy Merlyn & Connor Rhodes

One Chicago x Jatp Fusion || One | Two | Three || One Chicago & Julie and The Phantoms || Mult-ship

The Andi AU || One | Two || One Chicago || Sarah Reese Centric & Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

The Resident x One Chicago Crossover || One | Two || The Resident & One Chicago || Gen: Conrad Hawkins & Sarah Reese

Ballet au || One Chicago || Sarah Reese Centric

Voight Family Values || One Chicago || Gen and Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Sarah Reese as a Former Black Widow || One Chicago & Marvel Studios || Gen: Sarah Reese & Bucky Barnes

The Sisters Halstead || One Chicago || Gen: Makayla Ward & OC

MCU Spiderman Meets The Amazing Spiderman || Marvel Studios || Gen

Mockingbird || One Chicago & DC TV || Gen: Sarah Reese & Dick Grayson & Mult-Ship

Severide & Reese Step-Siblings au || One Chicago || Gen: Sarah Reese & Kelly Severide

Burgstead Pregnancy AU || One Chicago || Jay Halstead x Kim Burgess

Superstar Juke AU || Julie and The Phantoms || Julie Molina x Luke Patterson

NHL Star! Connor Rhodes || One Chicago || Connor Rhodes Centric

WHAT IF NESTA COULDN’T PHYSICALLY SPEAK IN ACOTAR? || ACOTAR || Nesta Archeron x Cassian

What if Paulo took Daisy with him when he left Clump? || Irreverent || Gen: Paulo Keegan & Daisy

Some Kind of Haunted || One | Two || One Chicago & Criminal Minds & CBS FBI International || Gen: Brian Lang & Connor Rhodes && Connor Rhodes x Sarah Reese

FICS

Marvel Comics

The One Where Tony Survives (Alt Endgame Universe) || WIP (Series)

A Handful of Moments I Wished I Could Change (And a Tongue like a Nightmare that Cut like a Blade) || Complete || One Shot

Two Worlds (One Family) || Complete || One Shot

The Darcy Lewis Chonicles (Series)

Just Tony || Darcy Lewis and Tony Stark || One Shot

Julie and The Phantoms

Found a Time and Space || WIP || Multi-Chapter || Juke & Williex

In These Small Hours (Series) || Complete

Hollywood Tragedy Aftermath || Complete || Bobby | Trevor Wilson Centric

Do You Hear That Love? || Complete ||  One Shot  || Willie x Alex

Melancholy Kaleidoscope || Complete || One Shot  || Julie x Luke

Little Wonders (These Twists and Turns of Fate) || Complete || One Shot || Julie x Luke and Willie x Alex

One Chicago 

You Held Me Up on Your Shoulders Way Up High || Chicago Med and Chicago Fire || WIP || Multi-Chapter || Sarah Reese and Kelly Severide 

It Was a One Night Stand Until I Woke Up Next to You || Chicago PD || WIP (Series)

It Was a One Night Stand Until I Woke Up Next to You || WIP ||  Multi-Chapter || Jay Halstead x Kim Burgess 

Blood Thicker Than Water || One Shot || Complete || Jay Halstead x Kim Burgess

Married But As Friends (Series) Chicago Med || Complete

Delicate || Chicago Med || Complete || One Shot || Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

You Could Still See the Best in Me || Chicago Med ||  Complete || One Shot || Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Cause I Clutched Your Arms like Stairway Railings || Chicago Med || Complete || One Shot || Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Freeze Time, Baby Rewind  || Chicago Med ||  Complete || One Shot || Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Friends Don't Look at Friends That Way || Chicago Med || Complete || Multi-Chapter || Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Come Back Be Here (Series) || Complete

Never Stop || Chicago Med || Complete || One Shot ||  Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Guilty by Association || Chicago Med || Complete || One Shot || Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

If I Drift in the Wrong Direction (You Turn the Tide) || Chicago Med || Complete || One Shot || Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

You & Me || Chicago Med || Complete || Multi-Chapter || Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Reader Imagines (Series)

Apartment Fire || One Chicago || Complete || One Shot || Jay Halstead &  Disabled fem!reader Halstead sibling

Doctor Visit  || One Chicago || Complete || One Shot || Halstead brothers Will & Jay Halstead &  Disabled fem!reader Halstead sibling, and Manstead if you squint

One Chicago Soulmate AU || WIP (Series)

Your Words (Burned into My Skin) || Chicago Med || Complete || One Shot ||  Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

In Your Eyes (and it all makes sense) || Chicago Med || Complete || One Shot ||  Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Sweet Nothing (All You Wanted From Me Was) || Chicago Med || Complete || One Shot ||  Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Long Story Short  || WIP (Series)

Rare as a Glimmer of a Comet  || Chicago Med || Complete || One Shot ||  Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Voight Family Values || WIP (Series)

Yeah, I Just Wanna Take You Home || Chicago Med || Complete || Multi-Chapter ||  Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Hold On, I Still Want You  || Chicago Med || Complete || Multi-Chapter ||  Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Interlude: What If || Chicago Med || Complete || Drabble || Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

Bottled Up Feelings are Silently Screaming (You Were Breaking Down) || Chicago Med || WIP || Multi-Chapter ||  Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

DC TV

What Happened in Russia, Didn’t Stay in Russia || Arrow || Oliver x Felicity (An AU season 2 rewrite) || WIP (Series)

You’ll Always Be My Girl (or Felicity’s first scar and Oliver’s lecture) || Complete || One Shot

Slade’s Promise (Or Oliver’s Overprotective But with Good Reason) || Compete || One Shot

DC TV/Chicago Med Crossover

Mockingbird & Co.

The Same Little Breaks In Your Soul || Chicago Med || Arrow || Titans ||  WIP || Multi-Chapter ||  Sarah Reese x Connor Rhodes

MY REDBUBBLE SHOP

MY KO-FI PAGE

[rafecameron]

roommates

request: The guys all went to college and Luke meets his roommate Julie instant attraction but neither want to mess up there room situation but one week it changes and Luke gets sick with the flu and Julie takes care of him, and while bed ridden truths are admitted about falling for each other and they get together please

pairing: luke patterson x julie molina

word count: 9.7k

a/n: my first time writing for juke and this got long...hope you enjoy! also requests are currently closed!

Luke was sure he had never felt excitement quite like this before. Sure he got excited when playing a gig or basically every time he practiced, but this was different. Picking up a guitar was bouncy adrenalin and electricity, this was like vibrating with hope and pride. He had done it, he had gotten into college - something most people thought wasn’t possible. Now he was free and independent, he could do whatever he wanted, he was practically an adult. He pinballed down the hallway, leaving his friends at their rooms and hurriedly searching for his own. He was sure even a bad roommate wouldn’t be able to dampen his spirits. He stops in front of room 205, double checking on the paper he had been given and once certain this was his room he placed the key in the lock and entered his new home for the first time.

His face was taken over with a frown, one of amusement more than annoyance, the sight in the room as not as he had expected. He had anticipated two beds, a couple desks, a wardrobe, maybe a roommate unpacking his stuff. The furniture was as expected, but both beds were littered with clothes and possessions, a suitcase laying open and half unpacked on one.

“Oh my god!” A female voice interrupts his assessment of the room, “I was hoping you wouldn’t be here yet.” She chews on her lower lip as she looks around at the mess she had made, “I swear I’m not usually this messy, I just packed a lot of stuff...A lot of stuff.” She repeated herself more quietly as she looks from the mess and back up to the cute boy in the doorway.

“It’s cool.” Luke finally shrugs, the mess suddenly forgotten as his struggles to pull his eyes away from the girl in front of him, “I’m Luke, by the way.” He holds out a hand and she surges forward to take it in hers.

“Julie.” She smiles, she had the kind of smile that was contagious, it caught onto Luke instantly and his face lit up, her hand felt soft in his own and he almost didn’t want to let go.

“Here.” The girl - Julie - quickly grabs her clothes off the second bed, throwing them into her opened suitcase, “I already chose a bed, I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” Luke says as he places his bags down onto the bed which was to be his, “Are you sure there’s room to put all that.” He chuckles watching her cram jumpers into an already full drawer.

“Not at all.” Julie huffs, hands on her hips as she turns around, blowing a piece of hair out of her face, “But I gotta make it fit.”

Luke chuckles and turns to his own bag, unzipping it and starting to pull out his things. Lucky for the girl he hadn’t brought much stuff, he knew he wouldn’t need much room so offered some of his storage space to her, which she was more than happy to accept. Luke had never imagined he would be sharing rooms with a girl, not that he minded at all - in a completely non creepy way. Julie seemed cool and energetic like himself, he was already certain they would get along like a house on fire and couldn’t wait to introduce her to his friends. It also didn’t hurt that she was one of if not the most gorgeous girl he had ever laid eyes on, he wouldn’t make a move due to the room situation but it wouldn’t hurt anyone for him to admire her from afar.

They spent their time unpacking getting to know each other. He found out that she was in the music program like himself, and that she also enjoyed horror movies, karaoke and onion rings. He was sure this girl couldn’t get anymore perfect if she tried and he thanked the heavens that they had placed him in a room with her.

“So are you here alone?” Julie asks, taking a seat cross legged in the middle of her bed once all her belongings were in their new homes, “I came here with my best friend, she’s down the hall. She’s pretty bummed that we didn’t get to share but at least this way we get to meet new people.” She shrugs.

“That’s cool, I came with my friends too.” He falls back onto his bed, leaning against the headboard and kicking his legs out in front of him, “They’re also down the hall.” He points in the opposite direction to the way she had, “Two of them are sharing somehow, Alex and I got split up but like you said, it’s the perfect opportunity to meet new people.”

“I love my best friend but I think if we shared a room it would be a disaster. You saw how many clothes I have, she has double that, maybe even triple!” She laughs, “She’s a style icon.” she adds using her friends own words.

“So there’s basically two of you?” Luke chuckles, “I’m excited to meet her, if she’s anything like you she’ll be great.”

“Wow, we’ve only just met and you’re already over there with the flattery!” Julie teases, “But really, I’m excited to meet your friends too, they sound great. I mean, Reggie sounds a little...odd, but still great.” She chuckles, “Oh! We should plan a night to hang out before lessons start! Like go for a meal or have a movie night or something.”

“Actually that’s a great idea!” Luke agrees sitting up, “I’m gonna go see how they’re settling in, I’ll pitch the idea and see when you want to do it.” He jumps off the bed and heads to the door.

“I best go see what Flynn’s up to before she yells at me for not coming to hang out quick enough.” Julie rolls her eyes but the smile on her face shows fondness.

The pair say their goodbyes and walk opposite ways down the hallway. Luke knocks on the door which he had left Reggie and Bobby at, happy to see that Alex was already sitting inside on the edge of one of their beds.

“Hey guys, how's the rooms? How’s the roomie, Alex?” He asks, helping himself to one of the cans of drink on Bobby’s side table.

Alex’s grin reaches from ear to ear, “I have the best roommate ever and I think I’m in love.” Alex replies with a content sigh.

“I do not want to hear this story again.” Bobby shakes his head and takes the can from Luke’s hand, taking a sip as he shoots his fellow guitarist a glare, “How’s your roommate?”

“Sorry to tell you this dude, but I think I have the best roommate,” He chuckles, “Not only is she gorgeous, but she’s seriously so cool. She sings and plays piano and we’re into all the same stuff.”

“Woah wait!” Reggie launches himself up from where he had been laying across his bed, “You’re rooming with a girl?!”

Luke chuckles at his friend's shocked expression, “Yeah man! Apparently they do that here! She didn’t even seem surprised she was sharing it with a guy.”

“I’m gonna go see if it’s too late to switch!” He makes a mad dash towards the door and Bobby grabs a hold of the back of his shirt.

“Don’t even think about it.” he pushes his friend back into the room, “Besides, with your luck you’ll probably end up with the worst roommate ever. A star wars fan or something.”

“There is nothing wrong with star wars!” Reggie defends with a pout, “You’re just too sour to admit you like it.”

Bobby rolls his eyes, an amused smile on his face, “If that’s what helps you sleep at night man.” He shakes his head and plops down into the chair at his desk, “So, what’s on the agenda?”

“Well actually, me and Julie were thinking we could all hang out, her friends here too.” Luke bounces on his heels as he relays the plan.

“Oooh, Julie!” Reggie grins sitting back down on his bed.

Luke picks up the nearest item, a toothbrush, and throws it at his friend, laughing as it bounces off the side of his head.

“Hey! That wasn’t very - Oh, I was looking for this! Thanks!” He smiles at the object and places it on his bedside table.

Alex and Luke share a look as Bobby lets out a groan, “Maybe I will let him switch rooms.”

“Anyway,” Luke drags out the word and bounces into the room, “We were thinking we could go out for food or something, before lessons start. You guys will seriously love her.”

“I think you love her.” Alex comments, a knowing smile on his face as Luke leans over to whack him across the back of the head.

“I only just met her!” He complains.

“Yeah, but you love her.” Reggie joins in.

Further down the hallway Julie is being subjected to the same levels of teasing from the girl she calls her best friend.

“Okay so wait, tell me again.” Flynn demands as she paces in front of her friend who was perched on the edge of her bed.

“I’m not telling you again!” Julie laughs, “Do you want to hang out with them or not.”

Flynn shoots her a glare before stopping her pacing and smiling, “Okay, fine. But only so I can see if this guy is good enough for you.”

Julie rolls her eyes, “That is not the only reason! Beside’s, it doesn’t matter anyway. Even if you are right, which I’m not saying you are!” She adds as Flynn grins wider at her, “It’s not like anything could happen. We share a room, could you imagine that in a break up? That’s too much to risk.”

Flynn sighs, she knows her friend is right, but that doesn’t mean she won't continue teasing her about her ‘super cute roommate’ forever. As soon as Julie had reached her friend's room she had started gushing about how cute he was, how much alike her he was and how much she couldn’t wait for her friend to meet him. Flynn knew when her friend had a crush, and boy did this girl have a crush on Luke. Even if she wouldn’t admit to it.

“So tomorrow night?” Julie confirms as she hovers in her friend's doorway.

“Yes! Now go, flirt, have fun.” Flynn shoos her from her room, poking her head out the door to watch her friend walk away, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” She calls, slamming the door before she could reply.

Julie whips around, mouth open ready to shout back when she hears the slam of the door. She just smiles to herself and shakes her head, hating how well Flynn could read her. So maybe she did have a little crush on Luke, but she was sure it was just because he was cute. Once they got to know each other properly and became friends it would fade away into nothing. Besides that, she meant it when she told Flynn it could never happen. There was too much to risk. And would a cute boy like Luke like her back? Not a chance. She entered her new room, humming to herself as she thought about a messy head of hair, surprised to see sed head of hair back on his bed.

“Oh, I didn’t think you’d be back.” she comments as she shuts the door behind herself.

“Is that a problem?” Luke asks, looking up from the notebook in front of him with a slight smirk.

“No problem,” Julie shakes her head, “Flynn is down to meet up. We were thinking tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow works fine for me and the guys.” Luke agrees, scribbling something else in his book before closing it and tucking it under his pillow.

“Songs?” Julie asks and Luke nods his head.

“No snooping!” He warns her with a pointed finger and a chuckle.

Julie holds up her hands as she walks around her bed, “Wasn’t thinking about it.” She defends herself.

They spend the rest of the night talking, about anything they can think of. Homelife, Julie talks about her mum, her dad and her little brother, throwing in little bits about her aunt. Luke tells her about his rocky relationship with his parents, something he doesn’t usually like to talk about. Julie just felt like someone he could confide in. Like she would understand without ever judging. They talked about music, what they liked to listen to, what they liked to play. Luke couldn’t help but smile and feel a little sad when Julie spoke about how she used to write songs with her mum. She promised to play him one sometime if he showed her one of his which he instantly agreed to.

By the time they stopped talking and called it a night it was well past a normal bedtime hour. Luke was certain he’d never talked to someone that much when he had just met them. He went to sleep that night feeling like the luckiest guy around. The next couple years were going to be some of the best of his life.

Luke spent the next day in his room finishing up some songs he had been working on before the trip up to college. Julie had gone to help Flynn unpack - apparently the girl was struggling to find places to store her masses of clothes and shoes. The girl returned in the afternoon to find Luke in the exact same spot she had left him in at lunchtime.

“Have you not moved once?” Julie laughs, hanging her jacket up on the back of the door.

“Uh, not really.” Luke replies. He looks up from his writing, watching the girl tie her hair into a quick ponytail at the back of her head before sitting down at her desk.

“Well you best make a move now, we’re meeting for dinner in an hour.” Julie informs him, emptying her makeup bag onto the desk and pulling her small mirror closer for her to see.

“Yeah, it wont take me long to get ready.” Luke replies, dragging his eyes away from the girl and back to his book, “I’ve almost finished this last bit.”

Julie hums in reply, tilting her head back as she applied a fresh coat of mascara to her lashes. Once Luke had finished scribbling - planning on revisiting it the next day to make any edits with a fresh head - he looked up and watched Julie getting ready. He was mesmerized by her, sitting at her desk, humming along to a tune in her head as she applied make up and finally brushed out her hair with her fingers.

“You know, all this time you’ve sat watching me you could have been ready by now.” She turns to him, a smug smirk appearing on her lips as he looks away quickly, a pink blush rushing to his cheeks.

“I wasn’t watching you, I was just,” He thought for a second before chuckling, “Watching you.” He admits.

“I know, I could see you in my mirror,” She teases, “Learning how to apply eyeshadows?”

“Something like that.” Luke grins, the blush insistent on staying on his face as he climbs off of his bed to finally get changed and ready.

After he was ready - after Julie complaining the whole time about how long it was taking when he promised he would be quick - they made their way out into the hallway to meet their friends. Introductions were quick and conversation was instantly flowing as they made their way out of the building and towards their chosen restaurant. Alex had invited along his roommate Willie who he was already infatuated with. Willie already seemed to notice that Alex was into him and seemed to return the feelings, joking around with each other on the walk like they were in their own little bubble.

Luke couldn’t have been more happy for his friends. Alex who was anxious about this whole thing, worrying about who he would be rooming with and if they would be okay with him being gay, seemed pretty happy with his new set up. Bobby and Reggie were bickering as usual, the playful arguing between the two nothing out of the ordinary. Luke walked at the back of the group with Julie and Flynn, listening to the two girls - mostly Flynn - chatting away.

He already felt perfectly at home, more comfortable in his surroundings than he had felt in a long time. He hadn’t been worried about his old friends getting along with his new one, but he was still grateful that there was no awkwardness. It felt like they were already well onto their way in being their own little family and it sparked a warmness inside Luke which he hadn’t imagined. They boys had been his main family for a long time now and he was excited to invite more people into that circle. Luke wasn’t usually a quiet person, but he was enjoying taking a step back for once watching his friends goofing around.

Once inside the restaurant Luke placed himself between Reggie and Bobby, half to stop the arguing for an hour or two and half because Julie had sat herself on the opposite side right in front of him.

“Are we getting starters? Please tell me we’re getting starters.” Reggie grabs up a menu the minute he hits his seat, opening it up and scanning the options.

“We can get starters.” Luke laughs, picking up two menus and handing one over to Julie.

After everyone had ordered and drinks had arrived the conversation soon turned to music, a usual topic for him and his friends. Flynn was telling them all about Double Trouble, which Julie kept reminding her was not their band name. And Reggie jumped straight in to tell everyone about Sunset Curve.

“Do you think we should scout the area? See where we can get gigs?” Bobby suggests.

“Definitely!” Flynn beams, “I’m a good manager, I’ll get us all gigs.” She throws her hair over her shoulder as she talks, a proud look on her face, “I booked all our gigs back home.”

“Queen of marketing.” Julie agrees pointing a thumb over to her friend.

The conversations flow through the whole meal, never a quiet moment even when they were all stuffing their faces. It was amazing how a group of people could all be so different yet so similar at the same time. Luke had to wonder if they had met under different circumstances if they would all still be friends, he liked to think they would.

After dinner they walked to the ice cream parlour down the street and then made their way around the small town looking for bars and venues. Flynn was typing away notes on her phone about each place they stopped to examine, searching for phone numbers and emails she could use to book them gigs. As the evening wore on the group slowly began splitting up, Willie and Alex going off so Willie could show him some skating tricks as promised.

“Bobby and I were thinking we should go bowling! There’s an alley the other side of town that looks good.” Reggie explains.

“Bowling?” Luke pulls a face, “I hate bowling.”

“You hate bowling?” Flynn exclaims, “Why don’t you like fun? I’m in, I’m going to thrash both of you.” She points to the boys, “Julie?”

“I’m good.” Julie laughs, “You go have fun, and you better win!”

“Oh, I will.” She smirks before hurrying off with the guys leaving just the two of them behind.

“You hate bowling?” Julie asks him.

“Yeah, it's so boring!” He complains, “You throw a ball, knock over some pins, then sit for ten minutes waiting for another go. No thanks.”

Julie laughs and shakes her head, “Flynn’s right, you don’t like fun.”

“Hey I like fun, okay!” Luke defends himself, “That’s just not fun, unless you’re five or Reggie.”

“Whatever,” Julie shrugs, “So what should we do for the rest of the evening?”

Luke thinks for a moment before turning to her with a smile, “We could show each other those songs we promised?”

“Okay!” Julie beams, “But you’re going first.”

She walks off ahead of him back to their dorms, throwing a smile over her shoulder as he follows on behind. Inside their room Julie pulls out her keyboard and sets it on the desk ready to perform, sitting in her chair and waiting impatiently as Luke tunes his guitar.

“C’mon!” She moans, “It sounds fine, just play something!”

“It sounds fine?” Luke laughs, “It’s so out of tune! Do you even play guitar?”

“No, but I know what one sounds like.” She rolls her eyes.

Luke finishes up tuning it, opening his notebook onto one of the new songs he had been writing, “Okay, this isn’t planned to be an acoustic song and I haven’t really worked out a solid melody yet, but I think I can make it work. It’s called Bright.”

Julie nods her head, crossing one leg over the other and resting her hands on her knees as he began to play a few chords. He played through the song, making up the melody for the lyrics as he went along and making mental notes of the bits he liked. He didn’t look up while singing because he was nervous. Luke Patterson was actually nervous about performing for the first time in his life. But then again, he had never performed to just one pretty girl before who was also a musician, he felt more vulnerable than he ever had before. Like he was laying his soul bare for her to see and judge. It was an exhilarating feeling, he loved it no matter how anxious he was feeling.

He looked up slowly as he strummed the last chord, Julie was staring at him, a smile on her lips. She found that watching him was one of the best things she had seen, she loved when someone got lost in the music they were playing and Luke did just that. His voice was unique, not quite how she expected him to sound but she loved it, it sent tingles through her body and made butterflies erupt in her stomach.

“That was,” She breathes out, trying to think of a word good enough to explain how she felt, “I don’t even have words. That was amazing. Your voice is beautiful and those lyrics, wow, Luke that song is seriously amazing.”

Luke beams at her, the nervousness in his system being stamped out by her compliments and replaced with elation. He places his guitar at the side of his bed and brings his legs up to sit cross legged on his comforter.

“Thanks! Like I said, it’s just rough at the moment.” He rubs the back of his neck, not being able to find the words to express how he felt about her complimenting him.

“Well if that was rough you’re making me feel really bad about mine.” She half jokes.

“Oh come on, I bet yours is amazing, let me hear it!” He places his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, smiling over at her in anticipation.

“Okay,” She stretches her arms in front of her, nodding her head once, “I’m kind of cheating, this is one my mum wrote for me, but it’s one of my favourites. Remember that song I said I found on the piano after she…” She trails off and Luke nods his head to show he remembered, “Well this is it. It’s called Wake Up.”

Luke grins as she turns to her keyboard, a little sad that he wouldn’t get to watch her face as she sang. Her fingers touched the keys and the room was filled with the sweet sound of her playing, soon accompanied by her voice. Luke was instantly taken aback by the sheer power this girl had inside of her. He could tell she was feeling every word that left her lips, her head tilted back at points as she let the music wash over her. He almost didn’t notice when she had finished, too lost in his trance to realise she had turned to face him.

“Well?” She asks, lower lip between her teeth, a little nervous that he had yet to say anything.

“Wow.” Was all he managed out in a breathy voice.

Julie blushes and lowers her head, a soft laugh leaving her lips. Luke pulls himself together and sits up again, shaking off the feeling of floating and situating himself back in the moment, “Julie, that was incredible!” He jumps off his bed, arms and hands emphasising his emotions, “That was...I can’t even describe it! You have a talent, a real talent, I’ve never heard someone sing like that. It was...mesmerising.”

“Stop!” Julie turns and buries her face in her hands, shoulders shaking a little as she giggled, “Stop, you’re making me flustered!”

“I won't stop!” Luke bounces towards her, “You need to know how insanely talented you are. I’m gonna tell you every day for the rest of your life.”

“We’re gonna be friends for the rest of our lives?” She teases, trying to change the topic of conversation.

“Well I hope so.” Luke says as he sits back down again, “I’d be pretty sad if we weren't. I’m gonna be there when you take over the world with your voice.”

Julie laughs again, moving to sit on her bed facing Luke, “Well I’d be happy to have you there. You can open for me.”

Luke knows that was meant to tease him but he just smiled and nodded, “It would be an honour.”

“Alright, okay, enough of the flattery! If you carry on, my head might get to the same size as yours.” She laughs.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Luke looks at her feigning shock.

“Oh c’mon, Mr ‘Sunset Curve are the best band on the planet’, and Sir ‘I’m the best rockstar this world will ever know.’” She raises her brows at him.

Luke looks at her for a moment, a genuine smile on his face before he holds his hands up, “Okay, I may have said that.” he agrees.

“May have? You said that like a half hour ago!” Julie throws a pillow at him before pulling her legs up under herself.

“Alright! But someone has to praise me; it may as well be myself.” He grins, throwing the pillow back over to her.

She leans over, picking the tv remote off her bedside table and chucks it over to him, “You choose the movie, I’m going to put joggers on.” She hops off the bed, picking up some comfy clothes on her way to the bathroom.

Luke quickly gets changed himself and lays back on his bed, flicking through the movies on netflix for something to watch. He goes straight to the horror section, skimming over the selection before landing on Dead Silence.

“Ever seen this one?” He asks, pointing the remote at the tv as Julie walks back into the room.

“Is that a puppet?” She frowns.

“It’s a ventriloquist doll.” Luke rolls his eyes, “See the mouth?”

“Sounds creepy, put it on.” She throws her clothes into her hamper and crawls under her covers, pulling them up to her chin ready to watch the movie.

“Is that so you can hide quickly?” He teases at how she was tucked away.

“Shut up and play the damn movie.” she glares over at him playfully.

Luke chuckles and hits play, his eyes moving between the screen and the girl throughout the movie.

The following months were extremely busy for the group of friends. Between balancing school, homework, hang outs and practice it was hard for any of them to find time to themselves. It was exhausting and Luke was looking forward to the weeks off of school that came with the winter break. He hadn’t planned on going home over the holidays, perfectly fine with staying by himself in the halls. His rocky relationship with his parents had only worsened  while he was away, neither of them liking the fact that he was studying music instead of something ‘useful’ as they put it.

As the last classes of the year rolled around Luke was finding it increasingly hard to stay focused. He had never been good at school even if it was a subject he liked. He found it hard to stay focused on one thing, especially if it wasn’t something of his choosing like the current lessons. He couldn’t comprehend why he needed to learn about classical music in order to be a rockstar. Sure, he appreciated the art form, he enjoyed any sorts of music. But that didn’t mean he wanted to study it nor write a thesis on the matter.

It also didn’t help that he couldn’t get a certain dark haired girl out of his mind. The hopes of his little crush on Julie fading as time went on were futile, his infatuation with the girl only growing the more he got to know her. She wasn’t just a pretty, no, beautiful face. She was talented, caring, smart, funny, everything you could ever want in a person all wrapped up in one. That made it increasingly hard for him to forget his growing feelings and focus on her as being nothing more than a friend. Sure he thought that maybe she flirted with him at times, but she shared the same teasing nature with Reggie and Alex too, Flynn even, so he convinced himself it meant nothing.

So he made a vow with himself to never tell the girl how he felt, even if it would break his heart the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel uncomfortable - which confessing his feelings would surely do.

Once his last lecture of the year was over he slammed his books shut, shoving them into the bottom of his backpack where they would stay until the new year. Tonight was the last night they were all going to be here together. Reggie, against his best wishes, was going home for the holidays much like Bobby, Flynn and Julie. Alex was going to be spending it with Willie’s family, they had been dating for two months now. Luke was the only one going to be left behind, and despite all of his friends begging them to go back with one of them, he declined every invite. He’d rather be alone than invade anyone’s time with their families. Besides, it would give him plenty of time to work on new songs for the album he and the guys were planning. He was sure by the time they all returned he would have at least half of the songs ready to rehearse.

The group had planned to go out that night for a little holiday celebration of their own. Flynn and Julie had found a karaoke bar on the other side of town which they had been dying to show the guys, so tonight seemed like the perfect opportunity to go. Luke flew into his room, throwing his bag into a corner to be forgotten about.

“That doesn’t look like packing.” Luke frowns as Julie sits on her bed, her laptop open in front of her and her glasses pushed up on her nose.

She looks up at the sound of his voice, half closing the laptop as she moves her glasses to rest on top of her head, “Oh, change of plans, I’m not going home.”

Luke’s frown only deepens as he pulls his beanie hat off his head and throws it onto his bed, “How come? You were excited to see your family.”

“I know,” Julie replies, “But they’re visiting other relatives for the holidays and it’s a pretty long drive from here, so I said I’d go up for the new year instead.”

“Oh, right. Well I’m sorry, I know how excited you were to go home.” Luke offers a small smile.

Julie quickly waves him away with her hand, “Don’t it’s fine, I’m still getting to go home just...later.” She smiles, “I’m sorry for you, you’re gonna have to put up with me for longer.”

Luke laughs, kicking his shoes off and sitting down on his bed, “I’m sure I can cope with that.”

“Are you ready for karaoke tonight?” She asks, finally shutting her laptop completely and moving it to the side, “Flynn hasn’t shut up about it all day.”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to show you all up.” He laughs.

That night the karaoke bar was packed, mosty with students from their college. The group each had a turn on the stage while rounds of drinks kept flowing. As the night wore on the group got increasingly intoxicated, their fake ID’s which they didn’t often use finally coming in handy.

“Oh my god!” Flynn slaps her hands down onto the table gaining everyone’s attention, “You two,” She points a finger at Luke and then Julie, “Duet, now!”

“What?” Julie laughs, “Noooo, c’mon no one else has done a duet!”

“Yeah! If anyone’s dueting it’s you and Reggie, I’m down for some country rap.” Luke jokes.

“No.” Flynn points another finger at him, “I’ve been dying to hear you sing together. How many times have I said your voices would fit perfectly together? Thousands! Now get up there and sing!” she points to the stage dramatically.

Luke and Julie both try and protest but their friends all quickly join in on Flynn’s side.

“I would love to see a duet.” Willie agrees with nods from the group, “C’mon! What’s there to be scared of?”

“We’re not scared!” Luke defends, though on the inside he may have been a little petrified.

It was hard enough hiding his feelings for Julie on the best of days, but singing with her? On stage? Being that close to her while performing, having her look into his eyes and sing? He was sure he would spontaneously combust which would not be a pretty sight for anyone.

“You’re chickens.” Bobby decides, “Both of you. How about you just admit you’re in love and get up there and sing about it.”

“What?” Luke sputters while Julie looks on wide eyed, “We’re not - we are not - I am not - We’re not in love!” He finally blurts, “Fine, you want a show, we’ll give you a show.” he stands up from the table, his competitive nature and the alcohol getting the better of him.

“We will?” Julie asks before standing up to join him, “Yeah! We will! You just sit and watch.” She points around the table before the pair march off to choose a song.

“I mean, it will be fun.” She agrees with a shrug as they look through the song book, “We would do a christmas song?” She suggests.

“What, like fairytale of new york so I can insult you?” He chuckles, “Maybe not.”

“Something from a musical?” she points to a couple songs from the likes of high school musical and chicago.”

Luke shakes his head at that idea too before finally spotting a good song. “That one!” They both exclaim pointing to the song at the same time.

“Hm, I never took you for a dirty dancing fan.” Julie muses as she looks up at him.

“Are you kidding? I love that movie.” He laughs.

With their song chosen they make their way onto the stage, each picking up a mic as the opening notes to Time of my Life plays out, cheers erupting from their friends at their choice of a love song.

They start off singing on their own sides of the stage, sharing the occasional glance. But when the song really kicked in they met in the middle, Luke’s mic forgotten at his side as he shared Julies. They dance around the stage, singing to each other like they were the only two people left in the world, the crowd and bar around them completely forgotten. He got lost so easily in her eyes, like nothing else mattered when he was staring into them. By the end of the song he stepped back, letting Julie take the last notes as he held her gaze, her words sung to him and him only.

They were finally brought back to reality at the sound of cheering around them, both of them tearing their gaze away and back out to the room. Flynn was jumping up and down clapping while his friends banged loudly on the table trying to create the most noise in the place.

“That was amazing guys.” The DJ comments as they hand their mics back, “Cute couple.”

“Oh we’re not a…” Julie trials off with a shrug as the man walks away, Luke shares a nervous laugh with her as they make their way back to the table.

“That was pure fire!” Flynn jumps up at them.

“The chemistry was just oozing out!” Reggie comments earning strange looks from the pair.

“We asked him not to use that word.” Alex sighs, “But he’s right. It was intense.”

“It was just karaoke guys.” Luke rolls his eyes as he takes his seat, “Nothing to write home about.”

“Yeah, you wanted a love song, we gave you a love song.” Julie comments, sitting beside Luke and grabbing her drink.

“Whatever guys, keep denying all you want. We’ll be playing at your wedding one day.” Alex laughs, ignoring the burning faces of his friends as he grabs Willie’s hand, “Anyway, we better get going. Early flight in the morning. You guys have fun!”

The night drew to a close not long after Willie and Alex departed, the remaining group stumbling towards the dorms, each of them singing loudly and slightly off key.

“I love you guys.” Reggie grins as he leans against the wall outside his door, “Like, really love you. You’re my real family.”

“We love you too bro.” Luke pulls him into a hug and pats him on the back, “Now get to bed, you’re getting soppy.”

“Yeah, leave me to deal with him.” Bobby rolls his eyes, “Don’t even think about trying to cuddle me.” he warns.

Luke throws his arm around the girls shoulder as they head back to their own room, neither of them doing a good job at keeping the other walking in a straight line. They stumbled into the walls and doors, both of them shushing each other obnoxiously loud as they giggled. Finally back in their room they both collapse onto their backs on Luke’s bed, their laughter slowly fading away until the room is cloaked in silence.

“Reggie’s right.” Julie comments.

“About the chickens? I don’t know, I don’t think they can really-” Julie cuts him off with a laugh.

“No! About us, our group. We’re a family, and I love it.” she sighs.

Luke’s mouth forms a small ‘O’ shape before he nods in agreement, “Yeah, couldn’t ask for a better family.” he agrees, reaching down and taking her hand in his, the alcohol dampening the nerves he usually feels around her.

She squeezes his hand, laying her head against his shoulder where she soon fell asleep, leaving him alone to sober up with his thoughts. Would it be such a bad thing if he told her? He played it out in his head. Imagining if she did feel the same. He could tell her, she’d kiss him, they’d go on dates and meet each other's families. They’d fall stupidly in love and have the best time of their lives. He liked the sound of that. But he couldn’t stop the tiny pessimistic side of him from rearing its ugly head. Because she could not like him back. Or everything could go exactly how he wanted but something could happen. He could do something stupid like he was known for, resulting in Julie having a broken heart. He couldn’t bear that. Then they would fall out, and it would be awkward, because they share a room. They would have to see each other every day and he would be awkward and she would be bitter. They’d end up arguing a lot, and eventually hating each other. Never seeing each other again once college finished. Maybe she’d even move out of the room completely. He gulped at the thoughts.

No, definitely best not to say anything.

The next morning Luke woke with a sore head, the hand that had been holding Julies now empty. He sits up onto his elbows with a groan, squinting his eyes as he looks around the room.

“He lives!” Julie cheers and Luke whines at the volume of her voice, “Sorry,” She laughs, “Not feeling great?”

“Something like that.” He mumbles rubbing the balls of his hands into his eyes.

“Well lucky for you I’ve taken the liberty of ordering food worthy or curing a hangover, I’ve just gotta go collect it.” She throws her bag over her shoulder as she heads to the door.

“I’ll come with you.” Luke says, sitting up with a grimace.

“Please don’t,” Julie holds a hand out to him, “You look like you might throw up if you move any more. I’ll be ten minutes.” She disappears out the door without another word and Luke flops back down onto his bed.

The day passed without any sickness from Luke, his hangover slowly feeling less painful as the evening drew in. Still feeling a bit groggy he was sure it would be gone by the morning, so he got an early night, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillows.

Except the next morning the grogginess didn’t disappear, if anything it had worsened. His head felt fuzzy and his throat was like sandpaper. He turned to look at Julie, his body aching at the small movement.

“Am I dying?” He asks croakily.

“You sure sound like it.” Julie replies, looking up from her book to look at him, “And look like it.” She quickly puts her book down and hurries over to him, the back of her hand meeting his forehead, “Luke, you’re burning up.”

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a train.” He groans, “A train on fire.”

Julie rolls her eyes, helping him to sit up and pushing up the cushion under his head, “It’s just the flu. I told you not to go out the other night without a jacket!” She slaps him on the arm earning a whimper from the boy, “Next time you’ll listen to me. I’m going to the store to stock up on food anyway, I’ll get some medicine and soup.”

“Soup.” Luke groans out.

“Yes, soup. And you will eat it.” She points at him in warning before grabbing her jacket off the hook, “And I’m going to wear this, so I don’t get ill like an idiot.”

“You’re so sweet to me.” He mumbles, pulling his blanket up around his neck, “Can I have reese’s?”

“Sick people don’t get peanut butter!” She calls as the door shuts behind her.

Luke stays cocooned in bed until Julie returns with supplies. Luke watches quietly as she unpacks everything, then she makes her way over to him with a bag of all sorts of medicines, Luke grimaces at it.

“Don’t pull that face.” She slaps at his hand, “If you would have listened to me you wouldn’t be in this situation. Now, I have day medicine and night medicine, to help you sleep.” She places the bottles on the side table, “Cough sweets, pain relief tablets, cold and flu tablets, tissues.” She pulls everything out as she speaks.

“Are you trying to overdose me?” Luke asks.

Julie rolls her eyes, opening the packet of cold and flu tablets, “No, I’m trying to make you better so you’re not dying for the whole holidays. That would be no fun for me.” She hands him two tablets and a bottle of water. “You can take these up to four times a day, the day medicine twice and the night medicine before bed.”

Luke pouts at her as he swallows the tablets, “But I don’t want any of that.”

“Tough, I’m making you soup.” She hops off his bed and grabs the can of soup, readying it in the microwave for him.

Luke eats the soup, no matter how much he doesn’t want to. It leaves a funny taste in his mouth and he eats one of the cough sweets just to get rid of it. Julie chooses a christmas movie for them to watch, making sure the volume is on low so it doesn’t hurt his head.

“Can you sit with me?” Luke asks from under his pile of blankets, unsure as to why he had asked and feeling a little embarrassed that he did.

Julie pauses in her stride for a moment before changing direction to his bed, she sits beside him on top of the covers, letting him rest his head against her arm, “If I get ill I’ll kill you.” She warns jokingly.

“I promise not to get you ill.” he replies, knowing full well he has no control over it at all.

Julie spent the next couple of days caring for the boy, giving him medicine, making him food and keeping him comfy in bed. She estimated that it should take around three days for him to start feeling normal again with all the medicine she was giving him. So on the third night she gave him what she hoped would be his last dose of night medicine and tucked the blankets under his chin.

“I’m not even tired.” He complains, the blanket muffling his voice as he pulled it half over his face.

“Well you will be when that kicks in, we have this argument every night.” Julie sighs with an eye roll as she screws the cap back on.

“But I want to stay up with you.” He complains again.

“You can, tomorrow night when you’re hopefully feeling better.” He moves to get up from his bed but he reaches out and grabs onto her wrist.

“Can you at least sit with me?” He pouts up at her.

She laughs at him, perching back on the edge of his bed, “You’re so needy when you’re ill, it’s kinda cute.”

Luke frowns up at her, wanting to be called anything but cute by the girl he liked. “I’m not cute.” He argues.

The medicine already having the desired effect at making him drowsy, but he tried to fight it in order to spend more time talking with Julie. He tugs on her arm until she's laying next to him, his fingers moving down to hers and wrapping them together, he's pleased when she doesn’t move away from him.

“I’m glad you stayed back.” He mumbles, watching as his fingers fiddled with hers, “It’s selfish but I like your company.”

Julie smiles lightly, “I like your company too Luke.”

Luke smiles, a little lopsided in his dozy state, “I really like your company.”

“Well I really like your company too,” Julie laughs, “It’s not a competition.”

Luke shakes his head, burying his face into his pillows, “You don’t get it.” He mumbles out, Julie frowning as she strains her ears to hear what he’s saying, “I really like your company.”

“Yes Luke, you just said that.” She chuckles, “You don’t know what you’re talking about and you’re not making any sense, time for sleep.”

“No!” Luke complains, grabbing her hand tighter as she tries to get up, “You’re not listening to me!” He whines.

“I am listening to me! You said you really like my company! Twice!” She laughs.

Luke lets out a dramatic sigh, letting his head drop down onto the pillows again, “Forget it. You don’t care, you’re just laughing at me.” he mutters with a pout.

Julie sighs, feeling a little bad but knowing he was only acting this way because of the medicine, the boy probably had no idea what he was even saying.

“Okay,” She sighs, “Go ahead, what do you want to say.”

Luke sighs, chewing on his lower lip as he peeks up at her, she nods for him to go on, “She’s amazing,” He whispers, “Too amazing for me. She deserves the world, I could never give her that, but I wish I could.She means so much to me and I love her.” He mumbles, face half buried in his pillows as he lets his eyes drift shut, Julie had to wonder who he was talking about now, “I’m in love with Julie.” he adds in his half asleep state before finally letting the dreamland take him.

Julie’s mouth gapes open, eyes wide slightly as she stares down at the boy gripping onto her hand. She shakes her head, pushing the hope deep down inside of her. He’s off his face on flu drugs, he has no idea what he’s talking about. Hell he didn’t even realise it was her sitting next to him, he didn’t mean what he said. But part of her wished he did. She gives his hand one last squeeze before untangling herself and climbing into her own bed, ready for a night of restless fidgeting as she played what Luke had said over and over again in her head.

By the time morning came Julie was certain she’d gotten no more than two hours of sleep. Luke was sitting up in bed, scrolling on his phone when she turned to face him.

“Hey, you’re up!” Luke grins, his smile dropping slightly at her disheveled appearance, “Oh no, you’re not sick are you?”

“No, no,” Julie shakes her head, “I just didn’t sleep very well.” She sits up with a yawn and a stretch, “You seem to be feeling better.”

Luke nods his head, “So much better. I feel human again. Thank you for taking care of me,” He bites his lower lip and looks down at his covers, “I’m sorry I get a little much when I‘m sick.”

Julie laughs softly, a little disappointed that he hasn’t mentioned the night before, clearly he didn’t remember anything at all, “It’s fine. I didn’t mind.”

“Well you gotta let me make it up to you.” He says, pushing his covers away so he could climb out of bed.

Julie quickly shakes her head, “No, really, there’s no need.”

“I want to. You’ve spent the last three days looking after me, it’s the least I can do.” He argues.

“Well, it’s been snowing outside. And you’re still probably not one hundred percent, you probably shouldn’t go anywhere.” Julie tells him, always the voice of reason.

She also didn’t like the idea of going somewhere with Luke right now, his words from the night before still swimming in her head. If they did anything that even resembled a date she might break and say something she regrets. Like how much she’s in love with him and how he’s all she can ever think about.

“I guess you’re right...Okay then, we’ll order pizza, on me, and we can watch a movie? Not really an amazing thank you but, it’s a start?” He offers.

Julie sighs, the look on his face one of hope which she couldn’t say no to. Besides, they were stuck in the same room, it wasn’t like she could avoid him. She agrees, and his grin is wide enough to force one out of her as well.

So that evening they sit on their beds, stuffing their faces with pizza and garlic bread as they watch awful christmas movies and laugh over how bad they are. The previous night pushed into the back of her mind for the first time that day until Luke spoke up, his serious tone enough to pull her eyes from the movie and over to him.

“Hey, Julie?” He asks, as she looks at him his eyes are focused down on his pizza, “So...I wasn’t going to bring this up, but it’s been bugging me all day. Did I, uh,” He chuckles nervously, “Did I...Say some things last night?”

Julie looks at him in shock, sure he had completely forgotten. Her silence answers his question and his face turns a deep red, “Oh, god.” He groans, “I’m so sorry. I never meant to say that stuff, the medicine just...I’m so sorry. Please don’t feel awkward, can we just forget about it?”

Julie offers him a small smile, her shoulders deflating a little at his words, “Of course. It’s completely forgotten.” She forces a smile onto her face, “No awkwardness.”

Luke frowns over at her, in the months he had known the girl he had gotten to know how she worked and he could tell the smile taking over her face wasn’t genuine, “What’s wrong?” He asks.

“Huh? Nothing! Nothing’s wrong! Why would something be wrong?” Julie asks, shoving a bite of pizza into her mouth.

Luke raises his eyebrows at her, “Because I know you too well, what’s wrong?”

Julie looks over at him, the pizza half way back to her mouth again, she lets out a sigh and drops it back into the box, wiping her hands on a napkin, “Can we just forget about it?”

“Absolutely not. C’mon, tell me, I don’t like seeing you sad.” Luke prods her to talk to him.

Julie sighs again, contemplating if she should just lie to him, but the look of a kicked puppy on his face was too much for her. She caved.

“I guess, a part of me just kind of hoped you meant those things.” She shrugs looking anywhere but the boy in front of her, “I mean I know you would never, but hearing you say that...I guess I just got my hopes up.”

When she’s met with silence she looks up, eyes meeting Luke’s which held a look of shock, “Now can we forget I said that? Y’know what, we should just forget everything about this night. Maybe we should just start again? Get back into bed and pretend it’s morning!” She laughs nervously as the boy continues to stare at her, “Luke,” She whines, “Please say something so I know you don’t hate me.”

Finally Luke smiles, shoving his pizza box to the side and launching off his bed. Julie barely has time to comprehend that he had moved when his lips landed on hers, forceful but sweet, the taste of pizza and garlic between them. She moves her hands to rest on his chest, one of his supporting himself on the bed, the other holding her face. The kiss is slow and much too short for Julie’s liking, she stares wide eyed at the boy when he pulls away.

“I did mean it. Every word of it and I’ll say it every day if I can. You’re amazing, and I love you more than anything. You’re the best person to come into my life and I never want to be without you. Julie, I’m crazy in love with you and it’s not going away.” He breaths out.

Julie’s mouth forms a grin and she jumps up, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling him into a deep kiss as he wraps his arms around her waist. They stay locked together, lips moving in perfect sync until the stop for breath.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to hear that.” Julie comments.

“I think I can take a guess.” Luke grins back, pulling her against his chest and placing a short sweet kiss to her lips before hugging her tight, “Am I still drowsy from drugs or is this really happening?”

Julie laughs against his chest, “I don’t know, let me pinch you to see if you’re dreaming.” She pinches his side and he jumps back quickly.

“Ow!” He complains and Julie just laughs.

“Definitely not dreaming.” She concludes, tiptoeing up to kiss him again, “That is something I will never get bored of.”

“You can say that again.” Luke agrees, grabbing her around the waist and falling back onto his bed with her as she squeals.

Of course a tiny part of Luke was still worried about anything going wrong, him being a notorious fuck up meant he would try his best to never do anything to harm this relationship. But the bigger part of him was so incredibly happy he could hardly contain it. The smile on his lips he was sure would be present for days, weeks even. He got the girl, the amazing, talented, sweet and caring girl. And he had no plans on ever letting her go.

They spent Christmas wrapped up together in blankets, doing nothing but talking, kissing and enjoying each other's company. Luke had never felt so happy and content on Christmas before, the girl in his arms the best present he could have hoped for this year and any year to come. When it finally came time for Julie to go home for new years she convinced Luke to come with her. Not that he took much persuading, a few kisses and puppy dog eyes and he cracked like porcelain and agreed.

Luke was glad she had forced him to go home with her, because her home was exactly that. A home. It was warm and cosy and he felt instantly welcome. Her little brother loved having him there, calling him the big brother he never had and showing him everything he got for christmas. Luke ended up playing with his cars and robot figures for hours and loving every second. He’d never had a younger sibling before, he now realised how much he had missed out on and was happy he and Carlos could both have the siblings that they had always wanted in each other.

Her dad was more than happy to have him there. He couldn’t stop thanking him for making his little girl happy and Luke couldn’t stop replying telling him how amazing she was. He felt like he was at home, a real home where he belonged. Ray invited him back for every break, Christmas especially, and he quickly accepted. His arm tight around Julie’s shoulder, his lips pressing a kiss to her hairline.

“You’re amazing.” He whispers to her.

She looks up at him, smiling wide and leaning up to press a quick kiss to his lips, “You’re amazing. Welcome to the family.”

tags: @chrlsgillespie @makebank @crybabyddl @gillespe-txt @themadnesscycle @wokealex @shellyysauruss-rex @fangirlsonthin (strike through means it wouldn't let me tag you sorry!)

[mrsbrookegillespie]

=“Do You Like It?” Pt. 2=

Description: Luke finds out the truth about his present.

Warnings: Angst if you squint. Overworking yourself, small argument, and a whole lot of FLOOF.

=“Do You Like It?” Pt. 2=

Band practice. It used to be Y/N’s favorite time of the day--it still is. She loved to watch the passion in Luke’s eyes when he played a killer riff, or hit a note just right. She loved to take notes on the little imperfections, but now… She can’t even write a single word without pain shooting up her arm. Nor can she demonstrate how she thinks it should sound without her legs nearly giving out on her, or her back sending what felt like someone stabbing her a million times. This didn’t go unnoticed by the boys, especially the overprotective, lovable, touchy Luke, known as her boyfriend. “Alright boys…” She lowers her wrist after looking at her watch for the time. “It is time for me to go to work.” 

The music dies down, all the boys giving concerned glances to one another. “Again?” Luke asks, carefully, setting down his guitar on the stand. “That’s like the fifth shift this week.” His large, evident frown made Y/N weaken. 

“I took up a couple of double shifts is all,” she pauses. “I’m doing it for the band.” 

That was always her excuse for overworking herself, it was her version of ‘I’m fine’.

“Y/N, why aren’t you asleep?” The door to her bedroom swings open, exposing both her brother Bobby, and Luke. Tired expressions on their faces.

“Why aren’t you?” she replies, not tearing her gaze away from the piece of paper in front of her. 

“We were… Someone woke us up,” Bobby informs, annoyance laced through his voice. 

“Bobby!” Luke snarls.

Bobby looked to appear guilty of his tone. He waves it off. “Never mind that, don’t you have a test tomorrow?” 

Y/N shrugs. “I do…” she sighs. “But, that doesn’t matter right now.” She moves her attention to them. “I have this great song idea--” 

Luke rushes over to her, she flinches slightly, knowing what was coming. “You need to get some rest, it’s three in the morning.” He twirls a piece of her hair, soothingly despite his argumentative words.

“Says teenage boys,” she mutters. “And stop acting like you’ve never done this before.”

“Y/N--” 

“It’s for the band!” she whines, cutting him off. 

Or that one time…

“Y/N,” her father, Tony, starts. Her, Bobby, Luke, Reggie, and Alex looked up at the tall guy that stood in the doorway of the living room. 

“This won’t be good.” Y/N gulps, closing her songbook.

“What is this about you failing three of your classes?!” 

Y/N’s eyes squint in embarrassment. “Dad! Not in front of the band,” she whisper-yells.

Luke turns to give Y/N a confused, and almost hurtful expression. “Y/N, you said you didn't need help with your assignments that--” 

“You had it ‘under control’,” Alex finishes, leaning forward to fixate on Y/N’s eyes. 

“Maybe I fibbed,” she mumbles incoherently.

“You even helped me with my assignments,” Reggie comments. “And yet--” 

“You’re not doing your own?” Bobby asks.

Y/N’s eyes widened. “Wow, you guys have been spending way too much time with each other, finishing sentences, that’s crazy, a little weird, and cre--”

“Y/N!” Luke exclaims. 

“Luke!” she mimics, teasingly. 

“Maybe it’s time for us to help you with school,” Luke suggests, but Y/N dismisses the topic immediately. 

“No! You guys need to focus on your music, the band,” she bickers. “That should be your main priority. That’s what it should always be.” 

“But, you are the heart of the band, our music. So, focusing on you, helping you, would basically be the same thing as what you’re telling us to do,” Luke signifies. 

Y/N left feeling defeated. “You don’t need to worry about me, I’m doing this for the band. Everything I’m doing right now, rather than school, is all for the band.”

Tony crosses his arms. “Then maybe it’s time to take a break from the band.” 

“You always say that,” Luke blurts.

“And every time, it’s true,” Y/N responds. 

“But, what about me?” Luke asks.

Y/N purses her lips. “What about you?” 

“Whoa,” Luke chuckles. “Me. Luke Patterson…” Y/N’s eyes avert to her shoes. “Your boyfriend.” He whistles, waving a hand in front of her face to gain all her attention back. “Hello?” 

“I-I don’t see what point you’re trying to make here,” she stammers. 

“I rarely see you,” he claims.

“You live in my garage Luke, we always see each other. I’ve been here for an hour, right here, on this couch, watching you.” Her tone started to get short as her exhaustion kicked in.

“I mean seeing you. As in my girlfriend, our friend, all we’ve been seeing is our manager.” Luke picked up on her mood, channeling the same energy.

Y/N gets closer to him. “I’m right here, Luke, what more do you want from me?”

“You’re about to leave.” 

“Because I have to!” Y/N shouts.

“We should stop this,” Bobby tells Alex. “It’s scaring Reggie.” He gestures to the boy with his hands covering his ears. 

Alex nods in agreement. “Let’s do it.” 

Bobby and him take steps towards the pair still arguing. “Guys!” Bobby moves in to separate them. “Let’s just think about this for a second.” 

Y/N sighs, exasperated. “I really have to go to work, if I don’t, dad will kill me.” 

“What does your dad have to do about this?” Luke questions, even more confused than before. “Is this some kind of punishment for you?” 

Bobby slowly backs away. “It’s going to be a bloodbath in here any moment,” he guessed.

“You can say that,” Y/N answers to Luke. “I just may have done something that requires me to… Work a little harder to gain some money… Back…” She was nervous. Fidgeting with her fingers, as her palms grew sweaty. “This is it, this is when he finds out.” She loudly sighs, closing her eyes. “A lot of money.” 

“How much?” He glances at Alex, Reggie, and Bobby for any sign of the answer, but they were uselessly just watching this scene play out.

“A thousand,” she squeaks, inaudible. 

“What?” He leans in a little closer.

“A thousand,” she repeats at the same level of volume. 

“Y/N, you need to speak a little louder.” 

She takes a deep breath, holding it. She opens her eyes, gaining the courage to just tell him the truth. “A thousand,” she says, loud, and clear. 

“A thousand?!” he chokes out. “What did you do that’d cost a--” he cuts himself off. He glimpsed at the still flawless looking guitar hung on the wall. “Did you--did you buy that on your own?” 

She looks away from his gaze, embarrassed. “I have to go.” Y/N leaves before he can reply. 

His jaw drops. “Y/N!” he calls out, but she ignores him. He spins on his heels, pacing over to the boy. “Did you guys know?” 

Their silence gives him the answer he dreaded. “We tried to convince her to tell you but… She’s very stubborn, as you know,” Bobby explains. 

“I just--I wish I knew.” Luke roughly pushes a hand through his hair. “I would’ve…” he pauses. “I should’ve been more appreciative.” He stares at it. “That’s it! I’m taking it back to the shop, and selling it.” 

Ignoring his friends, he goes and grabs the guitar. His rush movements, knocking over Y/N’s songbook that laid on the table. Alex is the first to read it, his eyes catching a neatly decorated card that had ‘To Luke Patterson From Y/N’, written boldly on the front. “Luke,” he calls out. Carelessly setting the book back in its spot. “Before you make any hasty decisions, I suggest you read this first.” 

Luke narrows his eyes, seeing his name. He sets the guitar down, plucking the card away from Alex’s hands. He frowns. “I’ve never seen this before,” he admits.

“We’ll give you a minute.” Alex grabs Bobby and Reggie by the collars of their shirts, practically dragging them out of the garage. 

Luke doesn’t move at first, but rather standing there by the piano. He admired the colors, and designs carefully drawn on the thick paper. She always did like things to be perfect… Especially for him. He sits down on the couch, opening the card. 

Dear Luke,

You have always been my sunshine. You illuminated everything around me when things were dark and grey. We’ve had our ups and downs, but in the end we were together. That night you knocked on my window, soaking wet from the rain, and crying. It was the first time I saw my sunshine blocked by clouds. Hey, look at me, I guess you do learn things from book club after all. I missed it, I missed my sunshine and seeing you smile, because I love your smile. You have the prettiest smile that you can’t help but smile at. I wanted to take your pain away, just like how you take away mine. Which is why I got you the thing you’ve wanted since you told me. And please, don’t worry about paying me back. Your happiness is the best payment I can ask for… I hope you know that I’d do everything for you without needing anything in return. So, go be my rockstar with your new guitar. 

Love Y/N.

Luke stares at the words, blankly. 

“Luke?” the boys call when he stumbles out of the garage. 

“You guys have to help me.”

Y/N was miserable at work. Stress drowning every ounce of ability to actually do her job. “I’m so sorry!” she says when she runs into someone, having leftover drinks spill all on them. “I’m…” Her voice fades, when she sees her boss with his arms crossed. 

Another worker comes over to take care of the mess, and the customer. Her boss gestures to her to come to his office. “Sit,” he orders.

“I don’t want to sit if you’re going to end up firing me,” she simply establishes. “Easier exit strategy.” He doesn’t say anything, but just holds out his hand. “No,” she whines. “You don’t understand I need this job. I’m literally taking double shifts right now. I’m good with people, and I just…” She groans. “If my dad finds out I was fired he’ll kill me. And how am I supposed to help my brother, and my boyfriend’s band without a job. I’m their manager, you know,” she rambles, but the man pays no close attention to what she’s saying.

“If you are doing your job as manager right, then you should have no problem making money.” 

Y/N’s jaw drops a little. She sniffles with a nod, untying her apron. “Fine,” she whispers, handing the apron to him. “But, if you don’t say the words it doesn’t count, so let me do it for you… I’m quitting.” She turns on her heels, but stops. “I’ll be back Friday for my last paycheck.” 

Glares were sent her way when leaving the restaurant. When she gets outside she allows her tears to fall. Stepping into the driver's seat in her car, she breaks down. Sobs escape from her mouth. “Why me?” she cries. 

Once settled down a little, she begins to drive back to the house. 

She slams her car door, confused to hear music coming from the garage. Not the band’s music, but… “Surprise!” 

The boys pop out, with huge smiles on their faces. 

Y/N’s eyes wander around to the fairy lights, the snacks and drinks on a portable table, and all the blankets and pillows outside with the projector set up. “What--what is this?” she asks in shock, yet happiness radiates from her.

“Do you like it?” Luke hugs her from behind. 

“I love it,” she replies. “But, why? It’s not a special date… Is it?” She raises an eyebrow in curiosity.

Luke doesn’t move, allowing Bobby to take over. “We rarely appreciate how much you do for us, and we thought maybe it’s time to let you know just what you mean to the band, and to us… Our family.” 

“You work so hard for what we do,” Alex continues. 

“You deserve a lot more credit than we give you,” Reggie adds. 

“It’s true,” Luke chimes, softly, into Y/N’s ear. “We all agree that… You truly are the rock of this band.” 

Y/N nods, biting her lip. “Thank you… I just feel like I’m not good enough to manage you guys,” she confesses.

Luke frowns, spinning her around to face him. “Don’t ever say that. Who else would buy me a thousand dollar guitar?” 

“Who else would laugh at my jokes the way you do?” Reggie accounts. 

“Who else would give me free therapy sessions?” Alex appeals.

“And what better person to handle our craziness than my own twin sister?” Bobby emphasizes, gesturing to Y/N. 

Y/N shrugs. She looks at the dark, cloudy sky, hoping she won’t cry anymore than she has. “I don’t know,” she whispers.

“Y/N?” She looks at Bobby’s, mentally noting his tense tone. “Why are you home so early?” 

All eyes were on her now. She holds onto Luke’s hands to keep her from drowning in anxiety. “I--I got fired--quit,” she corrects quickly. “I quit.” 

“Y/N--” 

“It’s… It’s for the band,” Y/N cuts off Luke, calmly. “Now!” She claps, replacing her frown with a smile. “What movie do you have planned for our night?” She changes the subject. 

Luke shakes his head. “Your night…” He pushes a piece of hair back behind her ear. “Your night, your choice.” 

Y/N’s eyes avert to all the boys before landing on Reggie. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” 

Reggie grins widely. “Does it start with S and end with S?” 

“Wha--No!” Alex groans.

“Star Wars!” Y/N and Reggie squeal, running off to retrieve the disks for the marathon. 

Bobby lands himself beside Luke. “Think she’ll be alright?” He wishes he could read his twin sister a little better than he can presently, but that’s why he had Luke there to help.

Luke not paying attention just responds with a hum. “She has the prettiest smile.”

Taglist (Please let me know if you want to be added, or remind me if you’ve already asked): 

@lovesanimals​ @charliegillespiewife​

[inlovewithalotoffandoms]

Mix and Match

Luke x Female!Reader

Summary: You and Luke are dating, and one day, he and Reggie somehow switch lives, and everyone, including you, thinks Riggie is Luke and Luke is Reggie. (Based on the Elseworlds CW crossover episodes)

Reggie woke in bed next to you, and he was baffled as to why that was because he knew that you and Luke were together. When you called him Luke, he was even more confused than he already was. So he went to Luke, who was in the studio and told him what happened. Alex walked in and said hi to Luke but was looking at Reggie. Luke gave Reggie the 'I think we Switched lives' look. When Reggie and Luke were alone, they tried to figure out why this was happening.

Luke: This can't be a coincidence. There-there has to be a reason behind this. Which means that someone is responsible. We need to know who... hey, can you... can you not do that?

Reggie: Man, what a total "Freaky Friday." No, wait, we didn't switch bodies. It's more of a "Quantum Leap." Where's a mirror?

Luke: Focus, just for a second, and take this seriously because the world thinks that you're Luke Patterson and that Reggie Peters and I would really like to know why.

Reggie: Totally.

Luke: Is that cool?

Reggie: Yes. I'm sorry.

Luke: Thank you.

Luke pulled out a photo which was of you and him, but it is now of you and Reggie, who you think is Luke.

Reggie: Weird.

Luke: Just, if you could... just for 90 seconds of seriousness.

Reggie: You gotta admit, this is a little cool. Besides, I woke up in bed with Y/N!

Luke immediately looked angry.

Luke: You woke up in bed with Y/N?

Reggie: Mm-hmm.

Luke: We have to fix this right now!

You, Alex, Flynn and Julie were now in the studio with Luke and Reggie.

Alex: Let me get this straight. You believe that you are not Luke Patterson, but in fact, he is?

Julie: Luke, did you ghost travel too many times again?

Luke: No, I didn't.

Flynn: She's talking to Luke.

Alex: Sorry.

Luke: I am Luke.

Julie: Yeah, and I'm Wild Dog.

You: Easy, Wild Dog.

Julie: Sarcasm.

You: It's not great sarcasm, Julie.

Flynn: Reggie's brain scan is perfectly normal, no signs of hypnosis or psychic interference.

Alex: Tachyon meters are clear, no one's screwing with the Timeline.

You: Guys, come on, this is crazy. I mean, there's no way that I could be dating Reggie Peters. Sorry, but babe, you know he's not my type, right?

Luke: Y/N, you really don't believe me? *scoffs* We're telling the truth. Okay? We're telling the truth. Something is very, very wrong with reality.

Reggie: Yeah.

Flynn: All right, Phantoms meeting. Not you, Luke and Reggie.

Luke: Th... uh...

You: I've only got eyes for you, you know that.

You give Reggie a kiss on the cheek as you leave.

Luke: I sw... if you touched her...

Reggie: I didn't touch her.

A while later, Luke and Reggie were sitting outside.

Reggie: All right, well, if our friend's not gonna help us, then we have to keep moving.

Luke: They'll help us, okay? They'll help us. We just gotta get... we just gotta get Y/N on board first.

Reggie: How... how are you going to convince her?

Luke: I'm not. You are.

Reggie: She's your girlfriend!

Luke: I know, Reg. I know, I don't... I don't like this any more than you do. You just gotta tell her how much you care about her. Tell her that she's the heart of your songs.

Reggie: I'm not... I'm not saying that.

Luke: Just say it. Trust me. It works every time!

When you realise which one of them is actually Luke, you feel like an idiot. When the two of them walked back in, you sighed.

You: Hey, Luke....Reggie.

Luke: You believe us now?

Flynn: Yeah, we all do.

Alex: Sorry we locked you up.

You: Luke, I'm sorry, if I had known, I-

Luke: Shhh, it's fine, you couldn't have known.

Reggie: So how are we gonna fix this?

Julie: Figure out what caused it, I guess.

You: Luke, can we talk outside?

Luke: Yeah, of course.

You and Luke walked outside of the studio, and you let out a sigh.

You: Luke, really, I-

Luke: Y/N, stop. Okay, you, couldn't have known, and-and besides, you know we always find our way back to each other. Y/N, you're the heart of my songs, all of them, so what if something like this mixes up, we'll always find our way back, we cool, huh?

You: *nods and giggles* Yeah, we're cool.

Luke: *smiles and kisses your forehead gently* I love you.

You: I love you, too.

[hey-there-juliet]

I just want you to know who I am 🎶 (Iris by Goo Goo Dolls)

Julie & Luke (Julie and the Phantoms)

[julieandthe-stan-toms]

I turned on JATP, and Netflix had a warning for fear. I was like shut up Netflix. The only fear I have to worry about while watching this show is falling in love with a 90's ghost band.

[scribblingfangirl]

WITH LOVE, THE GHOSTS | Julie and the Phantoms - Part One

not my gif!

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Author’s Note: Gah… I'm such a procrastinating butterfly. I should be writing my Billy Russo series which I'm so excited about, but I just want to be able to read it already instead of having to write first + I'm currently writing each and every chapter instead of the next one (struggles of a fanfiction writer - am I right?). So, what do I do instead? I flew from one of my obsessions to another and got inspired by this week's @flashfictionfridayofficial​ prompt. 

Anyways... This fic will be a little to late for some of you guys, but still: Merry Christmas everyone! And if you do not celebrate Christmas I still hope you have a wonderful day and a rest of the year filled with love and happiness. You did it, you fought through it. I’m sure you had your own pair of himbo ghosts taking care of you.

word count: ~ 1k

summary (and basically background info): Y/N is Julie's & Flynn's friend who doesn’t know about the ghosts (let’s just say she believes that they’re holograms). The boys become attached to Y/N due to her kindness and positivity and do everything in their (ghostly) powers to keep her days sunny and bright, especially in winter.  Or: Two times Y/N is oblivious to the boys 'paranormal' activities and the one time she notices it

prompt: Comfort in the Cold by @flashfictionfridayofficial​

warnings: english is not my first language, therefore, typos

| Part Two | Part Three |

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#1: Luke

Slowly and quietly you made your way down the stairs of the Molina household, leaving Julie's and Flynn's sleeping forms behind. Even though you had just watched multiple Christmas movies and probably eaten double your weight in popcorn, your stomach was still asking for more. As Julie knew about your habits of needing a midnight snack and since Ray repeatedly told you to make yourself at home you weren't feeling bad about stealing some small bits and pieces out of their fridge or cupboards.

Which is why you were straining your ears to hear any sounds that might indicate that you had woken up either Carlos or Ray, but you were only met with silence. Releasing the breath you were holding you hastily hopped down the last few steps down to the living room, grabbed the stair railing and used the momentum of your movement to swiftly swing yourself in the direction of the kitchen, freezing at the sight that greeted you.

A quick glance at the clock told you it was 2 a.m. and the continuous silence indicated that nobody except you was awake and around. Yet, as you hesitantly took a view steps towards the kitchen counter, pulling your blanket like a shield tighter around your body, there was a perfectly fine peanut-butter/jelly sandwich waiting for you, a smiley made out of Nutella painted onto it. Your favourite midnight snack.

A small note peaked out from under the plate and it took you some time to decipher the chicken scratch. Can't have our favourite groupie going to bed hungry! 

Smiling and shaking your head, thinking that either Julie or Flynn must have sneaked out of the room sometime earlier to make you this sandwich you happily bit into it. 

If you'd known that there was a brown-haired ghost with hazel eyes sitting opposite to you and watching you with a smile, the sandwich would have probably gotten stuck in your throat.

#2: Alex 

Doing multiple Christmas movie marathons would be fun they said. No need to worry they said. Only Christmas cheer and joy they said. Well… long story short, even fun movies can make you bawl like a baby! 

A few days after the midnight snack incident, which you completely forgot about, you were once again sitting on Julie's bed. With her and Flynn to your left and right, you had been watching different movies on her computer. Currently, however, you were only trying. Tears were blurring your vision and your sniffles were the only sounds reaching your ear. 

Pressing the plushy's soul that Flynn had won you at a fair out of its body and sobbing into it, you felt Julie shift beside you and lay her head in your lap and mumbling something while Flynn was searching for a handkerchief.

"Whose idea was it again to watch this movie?" you tried to ask, but your voice came out all thick and full of emotion, so you weren't sure if they understood or heard you at all.

What you didn't know was that the boys were watching the movie, and now mostly you, with big eyes.

"Remember the day when Julie was crying in the garage and then Flynn came in crying too? Remember how I said that two girls crying are worse than one girl crying? This… this is way worse!" Luke pointed exaggeratedly at every single one of you and moved quickly out of Flynn's way when she left the room to get a box of tissues. 

"Dude… they're not actually crying crying. It's just a really sad movie," Alex said and sighed quietly when he heard Reggie whisper, "Do you think that's what Willie meant when he said Caleb floods the place during movie night?"

"That's... no, okay." Shaking his head Alex moved towards the bed and sat carefully at Flynn's place to not alert you of the shift beside you. Then he gently took a paw of the plushy that you weren't currently pressing into an embrace and lifted it to wipe away your tears and free your sight. 

You sniffled, too confused and full of emotion to realize what just happened and that it couldn't possibly have been Julie or Flynn, and whispered a small, "Thank you". 

Alex smiled, proud of his action.

#3: Reggie

You didn't even bother to take off your shoes or wipe away the residual snow still sticking to your hair as you flopped yourself down onto your bed, groaning into your pillow. Everything was already grey, wet or at least soggy anyway. To say your day had been bad was an understatement.

It's the most wonderful time of the year With the kids jingle belling And everyone telling you be of good cheer It's the most wonderful time of the year

Confused you lifted your head and starred at your computer who apparently decided to become sentient and cheer you up.

It's the hap-happiest season of all With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings When friends come to call It's the hap-happiest season of all

The next thing that happened would forever be burned into your brain. Your favourite pen suddenly lifted itself up into the air and started to scribble down onto a nearby paper. Slowly and unsure you stood up and inched closer to your desk, but as soon as you were able to sneak a peak onto the paper the pen stopped and fell down.

Shaking your head you rubbed your eyes and turned back to your bed. "This is the weirdest lucid dream I ever had." The moment you flopped back down onto your bed you heard the familiar scratching of pen on paper again. Turning your head there it was again - the floating pen. "What?"

However, once again, as soon as you reached the desk the pen fell down, lifeless. “Alright... alright. I understand! Don’t worry, I won’t sneak a peak.”

"I am dreaming... right?" You weren't. Pinching yourself hurt, trying to breathe through a closed nose didn't work and your pointer finger would not move through the palm of your hand.

Shakily, yet weirdly motivated by the happy Christmas music still playing in the background, you picked up the note laying beside the now still pen. "Merry Christmas Y/N! Lots of love from Reggie, Alex and… Who?" 

"It told you, Luke… I should just have signed for us all."

"Shut it Reg, I know my handwriting sucks."

[peachhcs]

Love Languages

Pairings Luke Patterson x reader

Summary Luke asks the reader what love languages are. 

Warnings none but fluff :)

Word Count 1.8k (short I know but I'm working on it)

I haven’t really written on Tumblr before so don’t judge too harshly because there’s some insanely talented people on here who might judge hahaha. (hopefully not though) I don't know what the boy’s love languages are so I kind of just assumed based off of what we saw but I did see somewhere that someone said Luke’s was touch so I just went with it. 

Gif is not mine so credit to the owner! I don’t know if anyone has done this idea before but I kind of like it because it popped into my head last night. Anyways, enjoy!! :) p.s. I sort of left this on a cliff hanger but idk if i’m going to continue it or not hahaha

PART 2

* * *

You were seated peacefully on the couch as you worked away on your laptop while listening to Julie and the guys practice a few songs for this weekend’s upcoming gig. You always loved listening to them practice, they sounded like absolute angels and you would never get tired of listening to them. However, Luke thought you should be doing your homework somewhere else because he didn’t want them to be distracting to you but truthfully, you really didn’t mind. If you were being honest, it actually helped you focus and the music didn’t let your brain wander. 

You glanced up at the group after realizing they had stopped playing. Julie met your eyes with a warm smile, already reading your mind,

“We’re just taking a break. I got to catch up on some homework.” Julie explained to her best friend. You nodded in response, smiling slightly as she went back to work. The boys were talking amongst themselves over by the piano, using hushed voices so whatever they were talking about you or Julie couldn’t hear. 

By some weird magical notion, you were able to see the boys even when they weren’t playing like Julie could. They haven’t been able to figure out why yet, though. Why you could see the guys but their other best friend, Flynn, couldn’t. Or why Luke’s parents couldn’t see him either but you still could. It was all just one big mystery they were all still unravelling. They had a theory that it had something to do with their unfinished business and the connections they all shared with one another, but that was yet to be explored with you and the boys. Julie and the boys sort of figured out how they were connected, but they hadn’t gotten that far with you yet. 

Julie made an attempt one time to suggest that maybe it was because you were so close with Luke ever since you guys met, the connection just helped you see all of them, but you chose to deny that theory. Especially when Julie threw the word feelings into the mix. Julie knew all too well about your “little”crush on the lead guitarist. There was no doubt that she caught on to it right away when the pair first met and hit off right away. From there, she proceeded to question you about it once they went back to her room. Of course you denied, denied, denied, but after awhile you finally gave in and agreed to your best friend’s observation. Julie saw all the looks that you two exchanged and she knew very well about the boys talking about you here and there. It was just a matter of time until one of you finally broke and admitted your stupid feelings for one another.

“Hey..Y/n?” The cautious voice made you glance up from your computer, first looking at Julie thinking it was her who called your name but then turning your head to the boys who were glancing at you with quizzical looks. 

“Yeah?” You ask glancing at Luke since he was the one who spoke up. You watch as the boys exchange a glance with one another and you push your eyebrow up in confusion. You meet eyes with Julie for a moment who was now looking between the boys and you just as confused as you were. 

“We have a question.” 

“Well, Luke does, but we’re curious too.” Alex cut in before you could respond. You chuckle slightly at their visible nervousness about what they wanted to ask. 

“Okay, shoot.” You gave them your full attention, pushing your computer screen down and a small smile sat content on your lips. Julie also gave them her full attention too, because she was equally as curious as to what they could possibly be asking you.

“What..what does love languages mean? We heard you and Julie talking about it yesterday..” Luke’s asks softly. Oh. That was what they were asking..Your face goes a little red at the thought of them hearing your conversation yesterday since it started out as band schedule and then led into your crush per usual. You glanced to Julie for help who only shook her head with a quick shrug.

“They asked you, not me. Take it away, sister.” Julie laughed and your face went even redder. It wasn’t an inappropriate question or anything, you just didn’t really know how to describe it. Or because it meant talking about feelings and relationships which was something you didn't really want to get into with them, especially Luke. 

“Uhh.. well.. I guess it’s a certain way somebody likes to express their love for someone. There’s different types of love languages like um, touch, words, gifts, spending time with that person, and doing nice things I guess..” You trail off slightly while scratching the back of your head, feeling a little flustered. 

“What do you think my love language is?” Alex asks excitedly, not really to you but just to anyone who would answer him. 

“I see yours being affirming words or something like spending time with them. You always love it when someone compliments you and reassures you if you’re having too much anxiety about something.” Julie cuts in with a smile and Alex points to her to say she was correct. Julie chuckles and you do too. 

“Reggie, yours would definitely be gifts or like spending time with people. You always like to hang around Ray and stuff.” You say glancing at Reggie who smiles warmly at your statement. 

“What about me?” You met eyes with Luke who was softly looking at you. You avoided Julie’s burning gaze into your head and Alex and Reggie’s small smirks as they waited for you to answer. You flushed again, looking to Julie for help who only shrugged. They both knew you knew the answer, that was what you guys had been talking about yesterday. 

“I’m..I’m not really sure..” You lied and you hated the small hint of disappointment in Luke’s eyes. You quickly looked away and started to reopen your laptop.

“Hey, I’m hungry, I’m gonna grab some snacks. Y/n do you wanna come with?” Julie asks making an escape for you to avoid the now awkward tension in the room.

“Yeah. Yeah.” You were quickly nodding your head and jumping up from your laptop. You didn’t even wait for Julie as you made a beeline for the garage doors and pushed them open, hurrying up the pathway to Julie’s house. 

Julie exchanged a knowing glance with the boys, reading Alex and Reggie’s glances before following after you saying you’d be back in a minute. You were pacing around on the patio when Julie finally got to you. She raised her eyebrows slightly trying to read your thoughts. 

“Y/n, why did you lie? That could have been the perfect opportunity to tell him how you feel.” Julie says and you shoot her a small glare. 

“Julie, he doesn’t like me like that. I just didn't want to embarrass myself but I guess I embarrassed myself even more by saying nothing.” You admit, slowing your pacing to look Julie in the eye. She lets out a small laugh.

“I don’t think you embarrassed yourself. You were just flustered which is understandable, but I say go for it. You never know what can happen. The Y/n I know doesn’t back down from a challenge either.” Julie puts a comforting arm on your shoulder and you were thankful for it. You squeeze her hand in response.

“Thanks. I don’t know, I guess I’ve just never felt this way about someone before..” You trail off and Julie squeezes your shoulder even tighter,

“Look, I get it, it’s scary, but you can do it. Think of this as me encouraging you to talk to him like you did for me and Nick. Just go for it. Have some confidence.” Julie winked at you and you chuckle at her actions. 

“There’s the Y/n I know. Now come on, we still need to get snacks. I gotta make my lie somewhat believable.” Julie nudged your side before making her way inside as you followed after he with a laugh. 

The two of you walk back into the garage a few moments later where the boys met your glances. Luke was now moved onto your spot on the couch while Alex and Reggie hung around by the piano still. You rolled your eyes that Luke took your spot but at least he was gracious enough to move your computer. You walked over to him where he smirked as you made an attempt to move him out of the way. 

“Get out of my spot.” You tease trying to move Luke out of the way again but he didn’t budge and instead kept holding that smirk on his lips. You rolled your eyes so you instead took a seat beside him and grabbed your laptop from the coffee table. 

“I’ll move if you tell me what you think my love language is.” Luke says and you quickly met his eyes. You glanced at Alex, Reggie, and Julie for a moment where they only shrugged. You huffed under her breath knowing you had no way out of this now. 

“I don’t know.” You say simply trying to get off of the topic but Luke kept pushing. He leaned in closer towards you and you could feel his breath on your neck. 

“I think you do..” Luke says and you meet his gaze again. You purse your lips together before glancing back at your computer for a moment. 

“Touch.” You say plainly and simply. You refused to meet Luke’s eyes as you furthered your answer, “I always noticing you touching Alex or Reggie in one way or another. Whether it’s something small or a hug or just a reason to touch them. It’s sweet.” You finish a small smile on your lips as you opened the tab you had been working on previously. A comfortable silence filled the room and you felt pretty content with your answer. It wasn't as bad or as embarrassing as you thought it would be. Luke was silent beside you and you were afraid to look at him so you just kept her gaze on your computer. 

You didn’t actually know if you could touch the boys, you just assumed you couldn’t because Julie was the only one with the real special powers. You had just been randomly gifted parts of them somehow. You all just walked around each other because the guys found it slightly weird to just walk through people they knew. Luke stared at you beside him and he wanted to at least try. If anything, his hand would just fall through like it did with everyone, so slowly and carefully, Luke reached out to turn your chin so you would look at him. The guys raised his eyebrow at his movements and then, he touched you. 

You felt his hand under your chin and you both did a double take. Luke quickly pulled his hand away in surprise that you actually felt that. The two of you exchanged a wondering and surprised glance. 

“We just touched..” 

[fanficimagery]

They’re So Not Holograms.

Imagine being expelled from school so your uncle Ray offers to take you in and offers you a chance to start over. You accept and you're in for one heck of a story when you realize you're not the only occupant of the Molina garage.

Words: 10K Warnings: This is my first work for JatP, so I apologize in advance for the OOCness of them all. I had no idea what was going to make the final edit, so yeah.. this is not my best work. Be warned that there's mention of an incident that involves a straight guy not taking no for an answer from a lesbian girl. I won't go into detail of that particular scene since it happened before Y/N shows up on the Molina's front doorstep, but it is mentioned which is why I'm warning you now.

Staring up at the large two story home you usually visit every summer and every spring break, you can't help but sigh and wish you were visiting rather than moving in. You love your uncle and your cousins, but you were forced to leave a lot behind in order for your parents to keep their jobs and their mostly in-tact reputations after your little incident.

The front door opens, the shortest and youngest of the bunch jogging straight for you. You drop your duffel bag and prep yourself for Carlos throwing his weight at you, and you catch him with a laugh as you spin from the momentum. "Carlos! Dang, little man, you're growing fast." Julie walks up soon after, shaking her head in amusement at the two of you as you settle her little brother back on the ground and then ruffle his hair. He swats at your hand before you give Julie your attention then. "Hey, superstar. How's it hanging?"

"Hey, Y/N," she muses, "was the drive okay?"

"Eh. I angry karaoke'd all the way here." You shrug. "So where's uncle Ray?"

"Upstairs trying to figure out how to divide Julie's room for the two of you," Carlos says.

Your smile falls and you look at Julie. "What? He's making us share?"

"Yeah. It's totally fine though," she says when she notices your expression.

"No way, Jules! I can't put you out like that. That's not fair."

"It's fine, Y/N. Really."

"Julie, we're both teenage girls. I love you, but you know our hormones will eventually make us clash."

"And on that note, I'm going back inside."

You grin at Carlos' hasty escape, but then quickly refocus on the situation at hand. "God Jules, I'm so sorry. I thought uncle Ray would put me in the spare room or on the living room couch or something."

"Well the spare room was originally the plan," she says, "but then we remembered all of mom's stuff was in there." You cringe, but she assures you it's okay. "And you're going to be here for a while. You are not sleeping on the couch."

You sigh and offer her a faint smile. "I'm sorry to be an even bigger pain in the butt, but I'm not staying in your room either."

"It's either my room or Carlos' room. I suggest you choose wisely, cousin."

"I-"

"Y/N!" Your uncle Ray suddenly appears in the doorway, walking down the sidewalk towards you. "Carlos told me you had gotten in. How are you doing, mija?" He wraps you in a brief hug, kissing your forehead in greeting.

"Hey, uncle Ray. I'm doing good. How are you?"

"I'd be better if I knew where you were gonna sleep." He sighs. "Carlos also told me we have a bedroom dilemma as you refuse to share with Julie."

"I'm really sorry." You frown. "If I were only staying here for a few weeks, I'd be stoked to share with Julie. But it's not a couple of weeks, uncle Ray."

"I know and I'm sorry for trying to shove two teenage girls into one space." You smile sheepishly at him as he seems to understand your reasoning as well. "But the only other space I can think of is the studio garage out back." You seem to perk up a bit, attention solely focused on your uncle that you don't notice Julie's eyes widening. "Julie uses it to practice with her band, but there's a loft that we've recently cleaned out. There's a bathroom in there already, so all I'd need to do is drag a mattress up there. That is if you don't mind all the musical racket."

"Y-yeah. Of course! I don't mind at all." You say, feeling just an ounce of excitement of having your own space.

"What? No," Julie laughs nervously. "I'm sure Y/N doesn't want to live in our garage all on her own. Right?"

"What? Are you kidding me?" You huff. "It'd be like having my own mini apartment, only my favorite cousin in the entire world gets to visit everyday!"

Julie looks like she wants to object some more, which is surprising, but she eventually slumps and shakes her head. "Okay. Just as long as you're sure."

"Of course I'm sure."

"Then I'll go move stuff around. Give me your duffel bag," she holds her hand out for you to pick up your bag and hand it over, "and I'll take it out back. You go inside and help dad bring the mattress out."

"Sounds like a plan." Feeling better about your situation now, you quickly hand your cousin your duffel bag and then follow after your uncle Ray inside their home.

Julie sighs, shaking her head in amusement as she catches the pep in Y/N's step. As soon as the front door is shut, she quickly runs around the house, down the stone steps, and into the studio garage where the boys are chilling. They, however, jump up to their feet upon seeing Julie's hasty entrance.

"Okay so we have a problem."

"What? What is it? Did your not dad not take the ghost secret well?" Reggie asks, whining. "Aw man. I knew we should have waited. Does he hate us now? He hates me. Right?"

Julie's eyes, having widened at Reggie's rapid fire questions, blink owlishly at him. "One, slow down. And two, no I haven't told my dad. I can't seem to find the right time."

"Okay then," Luke drawls. "So what's the problem?"

"My cousin got expelled from her school so my dad offered to let her move in and she's going to be living in the loft. In here. With you guys."

Alex slowly leans atop the piano, clearly intrigued. "Whoa. What'd she do?"

Julie opens her mouth to answer, but then closes it and settles for a shrug. "I'm not sure. Dad wouldn't tell us when we asked. He just said there was an incident and if Y/N didn't move in with us, then her parents would have to relocate and she already had a rocky relationship with them so.." she says, smiling fondly. "She's better suited for our family anyway. She's more like a sister to me than a cousin."

Reggie raises his hand as if he needs to, to ask a simple question. "Is this cousin of yours hot?" Alex is immediate to reach over and smack his friend. "Ow! What?" He wonders as he rubs his arm. "I'm just asking what me and Luke are thinking."

"Hey, bro, do not bring me into this!" Luke quickly defends himself. He then glances at Julie, lips stretching into a small smile. "You gonna tell her about us?"

"I'm going to have to, aren't I? I can't exactly leave her in the dark while you three are lurking about. I don't want her to do something she doesn't want anyone else to see."

Reggie nods, smiling. "Like getting naked."

Alex moves to hit his friend again, but then realizes Reggie is right. If he were in Julie's cousin's shoes, he wouldn't want to strip while three ghosts watched on unknowingly. Instead he sighs and Julie nods in agreement. "Exactly. I'm going to tell her. I just- I'm not sure when. So until I do, you three need to be on your best behavior."

"Jules," Luke feigns being hurt as he clutches at his chest, "it's us you're talking about. When have we ever misbehaved?" Julie huffs, crosses her arms over her chest, and raises an eyebrow at Luke. His façade cracks as he laughs. "Fine. We'll be on our best behavior until you tell her about her roommates."

"Thank you." She rolls her eyes, but before she can say any more Carlos is jogging into the room.

"Okay so Y/N and dad are almost here. Tell your ghostly dude-bros to chillax and not scare her like Reggie did tía Victoria."

Reggie squawks. "You scare an adult one time and he never lets you forget it."

Julie chuckles at her ghostly friend while her brother glances around in hopes of seeing them. Ever since Julie freed them from Caleb Covington's curse and was able to finally touch them, they had the choice of turning visible whenever they felt like it. But for some reason, they were more comfortable as ghosts and only turned solid when they got the desire to eat food.

The garage door suddenly opens wide and Ray walks in, one end of the mattress settled on the back of his neck. Y/N is on the other end, struggling slightly with the mattress in her hands.

"I am not meant for physical activity."

Carlos giggles at his cousin's words, jogging over to help her. But when they get to the steep stairs, both Y/N and Carlos leave it up to Ray to figure out how he's going to get the mattress up into the loft. He does, eventually, and then Ray drags Carlos back towards the house with him to retrieve sheets, pillows, and a blanket.

"Oh my god. She is cute!" Reggie muses.

Alex chuckles, but Luke is caught staring at Y/N with awe etched into his features. Alex nudges Reggie and gestures to their friend, and Julie tries her best to fight off a grin. Oh to be able to tease him right about now on having a crush on Y/N as he did to her with Nick that one time while she was in school.

"Listen," Y/N says as she nears Julie. "I know this was tía Rose's place and I know how much it means to you." Julie smiles sadly as Y/N starts to walk around, eyeing the piano, drums, bass, and guitar appreciatively. The boys make sure to stay out of her way as they watch her every move. "I promise to keep my place nice and tidy, and to not mess with anything down here." She goes to touch the drum set, but thinks better of it and pulls her hand back as she smiles sheepishly.

Alex is quick to point it out. "I like her! She knows boundaries."

"Just say the word and I'll be out of your way when you're here with the band."

"It's no problem. Really," Julie assures you. "I, uh, I already called the boys to let them know. They're excited to meet you."

You pause and meet your cousin's eyes. "Really? I-I mean cool."

Julie's eyes narrow at your reaction and the way you can't seem to meet her eyes. "You think they're cute, don't you?"

You cave with a relieved sigh of her automatically knowing. "So cute." Alex rolls his eyes with an amused smile as Reggie and Luke high five, chuckling at their good fortune. "But boundaries! They are your bandmates and I won't interfere other than offering my friendship. Heck I won't even let it be known that I find them cute."

Julie chuckles, angling her head down as she tucks a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "It's a little too late for that."

"Hmm? What did you say?"

Her head snaps up. "Nothing! Nothing," her chuckles now sound a little nervous. "So, uh, is there anything else we need to get from your car?"

"Oh yeah! I have some stuff that needs to come in." As Julie joins her cousin's side, Y/N asks, "Is there any place I can set up my laptop and printer?"

"Of course. Come on. Let's get you set up. I'm sure you're ready to get some sleep."

"So ready," you groan. "I don't have much to unpack, but I want to settle in before I start school on Monday."

As the two girl cousins walk out of the studio, the three ghostly boys watch them leave.

"Oh yeah. She's definitely hot."

"Hey. Come on, dude." Luke softly swats at Reggie. "That's Julie's cousin you're talking about."

"What? I'm just stating facts," Reggie says. "And besides it's you we should be worried about." He steps towards Luke, reaching for his face. "I think I still see a bit of drool. You might wanna wipe that off."

Alex laughs as Luke rolls his eyes. "Whatever. We're ghosts anyway. It's not like anything can happen between us."

"Can't it?" Alex muses, shoving his hands deep into his front pockets. "I mean we can turn solid now. If you want something to happen, it can definitely happen." Reggie smirks as Luke takes a moment to process his friend's words. "And while you think on that, I'm gonna go see what Willie's up to. See you later!"

Alex poofs out of the room, leaving Reggie and Luke. Reggie laughs at his friend's sudden ghostly crisis, stepping closer to him and clasping his shoulder in hand. "Dude, we're ghosts. If something happens, it happens. Just don't get attached." And with that, Reggie poofs out too.

Luke hears Julie and her cousin's laughter ring out, the two girls already coming back. His eyes widen and he poofs out as well. The girl was cute, he will admit that, but he needed to get his head on straight before he became a pining ghost.

You spend the weekend with Julie, surprising her best friend Flynn with your new living situation and then driving them around since neither of them had their driving permit. The girls had kept you busy at the beach and showing you their favorite food places. Sometimes you would catch your cousin mumbling to thin air, but Flynn was quick to distract you and you ended up forgetting Julie's weird behavior minutes later.

Monday morning rolls around and, after taking your time to get ready, you grab your backpack and exit the studio to head inside the house. Uncle Ray has cooked up a breakfast feast, and Julie and Carlos are just coming down the stairs as you're taking a seat at the table.

You smile through a yawn as a plate is placed in front of you. "Whoa. That was a big one," uncle Ray says. "Did you sleep well?"

"Sorry. And yeah," you say. "I love it out there, although it is a bit colder than I expected."

Julie freezes as Carlos snorts. "Sorry about that. It's just our resident ghosts. Ow!"

You frown as he glares at his sister, said sister laughing nervously as she glances between you and Carlos. "Don't listen to him. Ghosts? Pft. What ghosts?"

Ray chuckles as Carlos rolls his eyes, the young boy digging into his eggs and sausage as Julie quickly casts him a brief glare.

You glance between the siblings suspiciously, but don't give it much thought and start in on your own breakfast. "Well if you need a portable heater, we can get you one."

Carlos opens his mouth to retort, but upon seeing his sister's stare he thinks better about it. You fight off a smile, shaking your head at your uncle. "It's fine. I usually kick my blanket off in the middle of the night which is why I get cold when a gust of cool air hits me. I just need to learn not to kick off the blankets. I'll be fine."

"Alright. Well eat up, guys. I need to head into the office as soon as I drop you off."

Carlos nods, but you and Julie frown at him. She looks at you and you look at her, and then you look at your uncle. "Um, uncle Ray, did you forget I drive? I can take Carlos with Julie and I. We were going to pick up Flynn as well."

"Huh. I forgot you drove." You grin up at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. From what I saw, Carlos' school campus is on our way to the high school. It'll be fine."

Uncle Ray seems to sag with relief. "Thanks so much, mija. I can actually head in early today then." Carlos cheers about riding with his cousin instead of being dropped off by his dad. "Well if you're all set, I'll see you guys after school. We'll go out for burgers tonight."

This time it's your turn to cheer. "Yes!"

          - - - - - - - - - - 

The first day of school went about as expected. Everyone was drawn to you as the new girl and Flynn thrived under the attention, but you mostly kept to yourself unless Julie introduced you to someone. You met Nick and thought he was okay, and then hid your amusement when Flynn would tease Julie about him breaking up with his girlfriend Carrie for her.

Of course not everyone was a fan of your cousin and you met the one person who seemed to dislike her the most. You knew Carrie from previous summers, but she and Julie had a falling out and no one would mention why. Not even Flynn. So figuring it was none of your business, you let it go but ended up staring Carrie down when she tried to intimidate you. Needless to say, the junior had nothing on you and didn't seem keen to start anything with a senior after your feathers didn't ruffle as easily as she thought.

Julie had more homework than you, so while she focused inside the house at the kitchen table, you went to the studio and up into your loft. The second you plop down onto the bed, a cold gust of wind sweeps up your back. You shiver, frowning, but then move on with a shake of your head.

From your backpack you pull out your Algebra II and History textbooks. You immediately start working on history, reading the assigned passages and answering the questions that follow. It takes you half an hour to complete it and before you move on to Math you reach over and grab your laptop from the bedside table. However when you open it up, your laptop automatically comes to life and you're left frowning at the YouTube page it's been left on.

"What the.. this is weird," you mumble. You briefly glance at the top Rock songs from the last decade before exiting out of YouTube and bringing up iTunes, choosing your Math Blows playlist and closing your eyes in brief bliss as Queen starts to play.

But the moment Bohemian Rhapsody ends and Aerosmith's Dude (Looks Like a Lady) begins, you get started on Math. It takes you a little bit longer to complete the assignment than History took you, but by the time you're done Julie has yet to find you. So after putting everything back into your backpack and setting it aside, you roll across your bed and reach into a hard plastic tote that holds some of your belongings. You pull out your drawing tablet and a stack of stickers, and then head on downstairs to the couch.

Drawing caricatures was a hobby of yours and you just so happened to have a friend who would take your edits and turn them into stickers. For now you have about five stickers of each member of your cousin's band- caricature style- and the name of whatever instrument they played curved underneath their faces. Lately you've been working on a sticker that said 'Julie and the Phantoms', but you couldn't get the font or coloring quite right.

You've just settled on coloring Julie's name in a purple that transitions into blue from one end to the other when said girl walks in, sodas in hand. "Finally," she sighs. "I didn't think I'd ever finish that homework. What are you doing?" She then asks as she hands over a Coke.

"I'm just messing around," you tell her as you show her what's on the tablet. "There's a small stack of stickers for you and the boys right there."

Julie glances at the table where you've gestured to and she walks over to pick up the stickers. She sets her soda down and skims through each sticker, a smile blossoming. "Did you- did you make these?"

You shrug. "I drew them, but my friend printed them. As soon as I finish this one I'm working on right now, I'm gonna email it to him so he'll make them into stickers as well."

Your cousin is so in awe that she's not paying you any attention, but you catch her murmuring beneath her breath and nodding along as if she were agreeing with something being said. She eventually looks up, chuckling. "These are sick. The boys are going to love them."

You smile. "I hope so. If you want more, just let me know. They're pretty cheap to make so I don't mind getting them for you guys."

"Can I- can I make a suggestion to the one you're working on now?"

"Oh. Yeah! Of course. What'd you have in mind?"

"Under the band name or wherever you think is good, can you add the words 'tell your friends!'?" She asks. "It's just something silly Reggie says every time the band is introduced."

"Yeah." You glance down at the tablet, trying to figure out the best placement. But then you look up, brow furrowed in thought. "Is this something only Reggie says?"

"Uh yeah. I guess so," she says, shaking her head at something off to her side.

You grin. "I have an idea. Let me try something out and see if you like it. Give me like ten minutes."

Julie sets the stickers back down, picking up her soda and cracking it open. You crack open yours as well, taking a sip before getting down to work. You make the sticker you originally had a little bit smaller, adding in a caricature of a waving Reggie from the waist up peeking out from behind the font. You add a speech bubble, filling it in with the requested 'Tell your friends!'.

When Julie sees it she can't help but laugh. "That's perfect. I'm sure he's gonna be stoked."

"Speaking of, when do I get to meet these hot friends of yours?"

Julie groans and you laugh as you finish coloring and resizing the sticker before sending it off to your friend to print. Closing your tablet, you give her your full attention as she's now sitting next to you on the couch. "Soon," she promises.

"Alright. So what are we doing until your dad gets home? You gonna sing for me, Jules? Give me my own private concert?"

She laughs. "No way. Just watch the Youtube videos. I'm sure Carlos posted every performance."

"Oh he did. And believe me when I say I've watched them. Repeatedly. That guitarist of yours has got some arms that are just- mmm." Julie groans some more, hiding her face in a pillow, and you laugh. "What? I need to get it out of my system before I meet them."

Julie lets the pillow fall into her lap, a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. "All I'm gonna say is don't be surprised if they know what you've said. They kind of have a sixth sense about these things."

"It's all good." You laugh some more.

You go to ask her if she wants to torment her little brother with you, but you see her amusement slowly die and you keep yourself from saying anything. "Hey Y/N, can I ask you something? You totally don't have to answer, but I'm really curious about it."

"Oh. Uh, sure."

"What happened at your old school that ended with you being expelled?"

Your smile falls. "Uncle Ray didn't tell you?"

"Not really. He just said there was a disagreement and a.. protest?"

You snort. It takes you a moment to collect your thoughts, but when you do you end up telling her exactly what happened. "I had this friend back at my old school. She's gay, but only those close to her knew. What it boiled down to was that some asshole found out and outed her to our entire school. Then this boy took things too far by, in his words, giving her what she was missing out on and trying to turn her straight." You roll your eyes, not noticing Julie smiling sympathetically off to the side. "He shoved his tongue down her throat, she tried to push him off of her, but he wouldn't budge. So I beat the shit out of him."

Julie chokes on her own saliva. "W-what?" And then she laughs.

"Well I hit him across the back of the head with one of those hard plastic lunch trays. And then when that broke I used the heaviest textbook I could get my hands on and hit him a few more times."

"Oh my god," she grins. "You're such a badass."

You laugh at your cousin's look of awe. "There was like a week of back and forth between the school and that douchebag's parents, and it made everyone at school show their true colors. I was disgusted that the guy practically got off with a slap on the wrist for assaulting my friend, so I contacted a few friends to make some signs for a mini-protest in front of the school and it kind of got out of control. A few friends turned into thirty and I think there were even a few drag queens in there. They had signs and Pride flags and it- it got pretty scary for a second when a fight almost broke out."

"I repeat," Julie smirks, "you're a badass."

"I was expelled because my protest drew in adult strangers to where many minor children attend school, but the expulsion wouldn't have mattered anyway because I had a restraining order slapped against me by that douchebag's parents and would have had to leave anyway."

"Screw them," Julie says. "That's so messed up."

"It is, but it worked out in my favor. I got out of my parents house and now get to spend the rest of my last year of high school with you."

"And your 18th birthday. You can't forget that," she muses. "It's only a few months away."

Your nose wrinkles. "No parties."

"But it's New Year's! Of course we're having a party," she gushes. "Your birthday is a rare one. Instead of blowing out a candle at midnight, you get to make out with someone."

Laughing, you reach over to nudge her. "You're something else, Jules. I don't know how you have your dad fooled about being so sweet and innocent." She giggles, batting her eyelashes at you. "Now come on. Lets go torment Carlos. It's been about a year since I've sat on him and made him listen to Barbie Girl on a loop."

You stand up, Julie laughing as you offer her a hand and pull her up off the couch.

By the end of your first week with the Molinas, you've settled into a routine that you're comfortable with. You had noticed Julie got a little squirrely whenever you mentioned the boys, so you dropped the subject of meeting them and figured it'd happen when the timing was right. Julie's tía Victoria was happy to have you around the family, she noticing a lightness around the house that she hadn't seen since her sister had passed.

Life with your cousins was going spectacularly well, so of course there had to be a bump in the road. And a major one at that.

You're sleeping when cold air suddenly seeps into your back, making you shiver and wake up briefly. You find your blanket and pull up over your shoulders, turning around in the process and.. rolling into something- er, someone solid. You're fully awake now.

"Ahh!" You scream.

The figure in bed with you jolts, screaming as well. "Ahh!"

"Who the hell are you?!" You move to punch at them, only for them to disappear right before your very eyes. You freeze as your heart drops into your stomach, your eyes blowing wide when he reappears at the foot of your bed. "What the- how did-"

Another figure pops in, grabbing the first by his ear. "Dude, not cool!"

Your sudden fear has you frozen and only capable of glancing between the two figures. Semi-slicked hair, leather jacket, flannel wrapped around his waist.. "R-Reggie?" You wonder aloud in confusion.

Both boys glance at you, the shaggy hair and killer arms in a cut off tee letting you know exactly who he was. You hold your blanket tighter to you, heart thumping wildly. Reggie grimaces in pain as he finally pulls free from Luke's hold. "Hiya. Sorry about waking you and all that. I totally should have asked before taking up the other side of your bed."

Luke shakes his head. "When Jules finds out she's going to kick your butt, man. We were supposed to ease her into the whole ghost business."

"G-ghost?"

Another figure pops in, the blonde sighing and shaking his head in disappointment at his friends. Alex. "I woke Julie. She'll be down here soon." Then he glances at you, smiling sheepishly. "Sorry about all this. Reggie and Luke are idiots."

"Can you blame me?" Reggie whines. "Y/N's bed is really comfortable. And I actually thought she'd just roll through me. I didn't know I'd gone solid. It was unintentional."

"Um," you gulp. "H-how would you know my bed was comfortable?" Reggie freezes and then suddenly looks very interested in the ceiling, and your eyes narrow at him. You sit up a little straighter, staring at Luke, but he too averts his gaze when he notices you're staring at him.

Alex is the only one amused and he meets your gaze with a smile. "These two idiots like to nap in your bed when you're in school."

"WHAT!?" The two guilty ghosts poof out, making you flinch as you suddenly remember they're not exactly normal boys.

"I told them it was going to bite them in the butts. I guess they hadn't counted on it being so soon." You blink owlishly at him, unsure of what to say now. After all, HE'S A GHOST! Alex notices your stare and sighs. "Well if you'd like to get dressed or whatever, Julie should be here any second now. We'll explain things then."

Alex poofs out and you're left staring at nothing but air. Your heart is still wildly thumping and there are only three words running through your mind: what.. the.. fuck.

After what seems like several long minutes, but really it was only about a minute after the boys had left you alone, the studio door opens and a frantic Julie rushes in. At the sound of her panicked voice, you throw off your blanket and scramble down the stairs.

Julie stares at you in shock, still in her own pajamas, before her gaze falls towards your legs and then back up to your own gaze. "Uh, Y/N? You forgetting something?" You glance down, frowning and wondering what she's talking about. "Pants, loser. You forgot pants."

"Yeah? And you forgot to tell me that ghosts are real!" She sighs as you stare her down, but then you subtly glance around for a pair of pants or shorts or something. Black sweats hit your shoulder and you meet Alex's sheepish gaze. Hesitantly smiling at him, you quickly step into them and drag them up your legs. "If they've been in here this whole time it's nothing they haven't seen before."

Reggie giggles and Alex shakes his head at friend. Luke, however, can't seem to look in your direction and there's a telltale flush on his cheeks. Huh, that's odd.

"I'm really sorry," Julie says. "I was going to tell you, but it was never the right time."

"Jules, the right time would have been when uncle Ray gave me permission to sleep out here."

She frowns guiltily at you and you know you're not really upset with her. The adrenaline of bumping into someone in your bed was still rushing through your veins which is why you seem a bit cranky. "If it'll help we can explain everything now?"

"Might as well," you sigh. "I don't think I'll be able to fall back asleep." You shuffle over towards the couch, eyeing each boy on the way. Sitting down, you drag a pillow into your lap and hug it. "So.. what the hell is going on?"

Your cousin and the boys glance at one another, Reggie and Luke subtly shaking their heads. Alex rolls his eyes and steps forward to stand with Julie. It looked like they were going to be the ones to explain.

"Okay, so," Alex says. "Luke, Reggie, and I died twenty five years ago."

Immediately your hand raises and Alex falls silent. "Quick question. If you guys are supposedly ghosts, then why was I able to actually feel Reggie?"

"That part comes in later. Just please listen," Julie pleads.

You nod, gesturing for them to continue then. Alex flashes you a small smile. "So we died-"

"Death by hotdog," Reggie sadly muses.

Luke nods along. "I'll never look at another hotdog the same way again."

You can't help but snort, especially when Alex and Julie roll their eyes at the interruption. "Anyway, as I was saying," Alex says, raising his voice a little higher, "we died. We ended up in this dark room for what felt like an hour and then got spit out here in Julie's garage when she played one of our demo CD's."

"Only it wasn't an hour later," Julie says next. "It was twenty five years later." You shake your head in utter amazement. "At first I was the only one able to see them. Then when I had a performance at school and the boys performed behind me in solidarity, they could- they could be seen! The entire school could see them, but then as soon as the performance was over they poofed out."

"Hence the phantom part of the band name," you mumble.

"We let everyone believe we're holograms," Alex says. "Anyway, we used to be a band of four before we died. Sunset Curve. The only one to survive went on and skyrocketed to fame with songs that Luke wrote."

"He didn't!?" Your eyes widen. You glance at Luke to see him frowning. "What a dick thing to do."

The boys all snort, but a moment later Alex continues to tell their story. "We were pissed and ended up being introduced to this ghost who was supposed to help us get revenge on our ex-band mate. Only this ghost was old and powerful and wanted us to join his ghostly club house band."

"And when he noticed we weren't going to join him, he stamped us with a curse," Luke finally speaks up. "The longer we were away from his club, we got hit with these painful jolts. They started to become more frequent and would have eventually destroyed our souls."

"But our girl Julie," Reggie muses, "cried her big heart out and, we're not sure exactly how, was able to touch us. Her touch made us feel stronger, warmer, and it disappeared the stamps off our wrists."

"And now I have three ghostly brothers who can go corporeal whenever they feel like it," Julie says as she hooks her arm through Alex's. You grin at her. "I really am sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

You wave her off. "At least the truth came out before I was in a rush to go somewhere and whipped off my shirt. I'd have hated to traumatize the boys."

"Oh please traumatize me." The words are mumbled, but still heard by everyone. Every gaze darts to, surprisingly, Luke and his eyes widen as cheeks redden. "Did I- did I say that out loud?"

Reggie snorts. "You did."

"Well I- I didn't mean-" Luke rubs at the back of his neck, falling silent and then poofing out.

The second Luke is gone, everyone bursts into laughter. You laugh so much that tears gather in the corner of your eyes and Julie is hanging off of Alex's arm. Reggie is the first to recover and mentions going to check on his boy, and then it was just Alex with you and Julie.

You eventually stand up, intent on doing something now that you've had this big secret dropped into your lap, when Alex takes a step in your direction. He pauses and you quirk an eyebrow at him. "Can I just say thanks for being so cool about this? I mean you could have ran inside the house and alerted everyone like Julie first did-"

"Hey! Not cool." Said girl pouts, swatting Alex with the back of her hand.

"-but you didn't. Sure you freaked, but I would too if I woke up next to Reggie."

You chuckle softly. "You guys are just lucky I hate physical activity and loathe running." Alex grins at you. "Plus I guess your secret is pretty cool. I'm okay living with ghosts so long as no ghosts occupy my bed while I'm still in it."

"Noted. I'll be sure to let the boys know."

"Thanks." As soon as Alex poofs out, your chill façade drops. "Oh my god, Julie!" You hiss. "They're ghosts!"

Her smile falters. "Uh, yeah."

"They're ghosts who heard me talking about how cute they were and about Luke's arms!"

"Oh yeah." She chuckles. "Well if it's any consolation, Luke is clearly into you. He totally wants you to traumatize him with your boobs."

"It's not funny!"

She fights to contain her amusement. "It kind of is."

"Ugh. Julie," you groan. "This is so embarrassing."

"Relax. They'll probably poke fun for a few days before letting it slide. Just give them a chance, Y/N. They're really cool guys."

"God I hope you're right."

Now that the secret is out, the boys are corporeal more often than not inside the studio. Reggie and Luke take pleasure in teasing you, the two of them bringing up stuff you said about them when they were invisible or drawing attention to Luke's arms or Luke somehow suddenly needing to change to his shirt while in your presence. You made promises to get him back- to which Alex couldn't wait for to see what you came up with- but you've yet to fulfill that promise because there were more pressing matters at hand.

You're more than okay with keeping their secret, but it's only a matter of time before uncle Ray catches them. They like interacting with you, Flynn, and Carlos so they're visible quite a lot, but anytime uncle Ray nears it's a race to clean up any evidence of their presence and then poof out. You manage to convince Julie to tell her dad with promises that you'd be by her side the entire time, so she does. It had seemed uncle Ray was moments away from asking if she needed to see her therapist again when Reggie poofed in, followed by the other two boys who slapped him upside the head for doing so. Needless to say, Ray was shocked to his core but accepted the boys after seeing them interact with his two children and yourself. However, it was agreed by all that tía Victoria could not know the secret.

One day you had gone shopping for a couple new outfits with the girls and figured it was now or never to get Luke back. Sure they had seen you in an overly large shirt and boy short underwear, but they'd never seen you in proper lingerie. And when Flynn and Julie had caught on, they helped you choose the most daring piece of underwear to stun the ghost boy from the 90's.

When you get back to the studio, Julie pokes her head in first since she was the only one capable of seeing them when they were invisible. "Alex, where's Luke and Reggie?"

"They mentioned going down to the beach. Why?"

You and Flynn stumble in then, giggling. "It's payback time, my favorite ghostie. Your boy is not gonna know what hit him."

Alex's eyes light up. "Yes. What did you have in mind?"

"Two words," Flynn says. "Victoria's Secret."

"Oh no. You're gonna kill him all over again."

You mockingly glare at him. "He caught me ogling his v-line, Alex! He deserves to see exactly what I'm working with and not be able to touch."

He grins. "Can I see what you chose?"

"Duh. I need you to choose which set is going to make him lose his mind."

Walking over towards Alex, you set the bags down and sit on the couch beside him. Julie and Flynn sit on the armrests, eagerly waiting for you to dig out your purchases. And when you do, Alex's eyes widen before he bursts into laughter.

There are three identical sets of bras, panties, and garter belts in the colors of black, navy blue, and emerald green. You giggle as Alex takes choosing seriously, he picking up an article in each color and holding it to your arm. He hums in thought.

"In my opinion the blue suits your skin tone best, but I'd still go with the green."

You take it, carefully cutting tags off. "And this is why I love you. You're the best."

"Mhm. So how do you plan to have him see you in this?"

"I actually have an interview with the people uncle Ray works with in two days. I might not be able to take pictures, but I am good with all the technology stuff," you say. "I can pretend the straps to the belt are aggravating me and walk out to ask for your help."

Alex giggles. "You're evil."

"He started it." You shrug. "And besides, lingerie is such a confidence booster. You guys have no idea," you chuckle.

And then two days later you finally put your plan into motion. Flynn was bummed she couldn't be there, but Julie managed to be in the studio for your surprise after having pulled Luke into an impromptu writing session. Reggie, after having been given permission to use your laptop whenever he wanted, was watching Youtube videos, and Alex was flipping through a magazine not too far from his friend where he constantly glanced at the bathroom door rather anxiously.

Not too long after you enter the bathroom in a rush, you having screeched about being behind schedule for your meeting on the way in there, you start making a racket and cursing just loud enough to be heard outside the door. Outside, Alex does his best to fight off a grin.

Inside the bathroom, you've slipped into the emerald green lingerie, black garter belt, and black stockings. Both bra and panties are lace, giving the illusion of being sheer, but your important bits are still covered which is why you're more than okay walking out in this particular set. You spritz some body spray over your cleavage and abdomen, grinning when you see yourself sparkling as you move, and then quickly clip your garter belt to the tops of your stockings. However, for the clips in the back, you purposely twist the straps when you clip them on.

You curse some more to make everyone outside believe you're having some sort of problem, groaning for good measure, and then crack open the bathroom door to stick your head out. "Hey Jules, can you give me a hand?" You ask, already knowing what she's going to say.

"Mmm," she mumbles distractedly, writing in her notebook.

Luke glances between you and Julie, Reggie has clearly paused his video to see what's going on, and Alex takes his cue. "I can help," he calls out as he tosses his magazine aside. "What do you need?"

You frown at your cousin when she purposely doesn't look at you before looking at Alex, inhaling deeply before you straighten up and open the door wider. Given his position, Reggie is the first to take notice of your outfit and whimpers. Audibly. Julie and Luke look up then, Julie hiding her smile and Luke's eyes widening as his jaw drops open in shock.

"I'll do it! I can help you," Reggie blurts, cheeks red. He gulps. "What exactly is it you need help with?"

Walking towards Alex, you mockingly glare at Reggie and then ruffle his hair on your way to his blonde friend. You stop in front of him, turning around and then glancing over your shoulder at him. "The garter belt," you say. "I keep getting the straps twisted."

"On it." You see a smile threatening to break free as he immediately takes hold of the clasps and rights the wrong, and you turn around so you don't lose it yourself.

Only when you face forward, you can't help but snort at Reggie's awestruck expression and the fact that Luke is faring no better. But Luke is the one who seems to know almost immediately what you're playing at and his eyes narrow when his gaze finally meets your own. However, before he can call you out on your act, there's a distinct snap!, a brief stinging pain on the back of your thigh, and you whirl around on Alex.

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry," he laughs, immediately sitting back and out of range of your swatting swing. "I couldn't help myself."

You shake your head in amusement before making sure the strap isn't twisted anymore and then make your way back towards the bathroom. It's oddly quiet as you finish getting dressed behind the bathroom door, and then exit in a cream-colored blouse tucked inside a black pencil skirt. Julie wolf whistles when you exit and you wrinkle your nose at her as you head towards your heels to slip your feet into.

Once your heels are on and you run your fingers through your hair to give it a very stylish, mussed look, you can't help but meet Luke's gaze. When you notice his slackened expression, you wink and finally allow yourself to laugh.

Red rushes to his cheeks as he narrows his eyes at you. "You're the devil."

"And don't you forget it," you immediately retort. "Keep it up, Patterson. I won't play fair and I promise my next look will drive you to take a cold shower." Alex finally loses the battle with his laughter, as does Julie, and Luke frowns at you. "Now that I've pranced around half naked, it's time I get to my interview. Wish me luck?"

"Luck!" Julie immediately shouts. As soon as Y/N disappears, there's a telltale beep and Julie lowers her phone. She glances between Luke and Reggie, shaking her head and chuckling. "God you straight boys are so easily distracted. Flynn's going to be so mad she missed this."

Luke points to where Y/N disappeared, stammering over his words before he finally gets proper hold of his thoughts. "She doesn't play fair!"

After what you would have called a successful interview, you went back to the studio where you found Luke all alone. You ended up calling a truce with him, but that ended up being a terrible decision on your part. Because interacting with a Luke who was as genuine as can be without the flirtatious behavior or teasing, well it turned out you found yourself liking the boy a little more than you should.

When Halloween came you found yourself dressing up alongside Flynn and Julie. Normally you'd have gone for something sexy, but after parading around half naked and knowing uncle Ray would not appreciate his underage daughter showing off too much skin, you settled for something that would make everyone laugh. You, Julie, and Flynn agreed to dress up as the boys, but you couldn't take their clothes until the day of. So when Halloween morning rolled around, Carlos and uncle Ray kept the boys busy while you and the girls raided their stash of clothes in the studio.

Julie took Alex's pink Champion hoodie and a snapback to shove down backwards atop her curls, Flynn wore Reggie's leather jacket atop a plain tee and wrapped a red flannel around her waist, and you took Luke's white Rush shirt with its cut off sleeves and a blue hoodie that also had it's sleeves cut off. You had giggled with each other when you all saw the final outcome and even took a few pictures to post to your personal Instagrams.

Then when the boys finally came in, it took them a moment to realize what they were seeing and it only clicked when you stepped forward and said, "Hey! We're Sunset Curve."

And then Flynn stepped forward, shooting finger guns at the boys. "Tell your friends."

Julie snorted and the boys burst into laughter, and then you took even more pictures with the boys- only when they were posted online you captioned them that you were the Phantoms from Julie and the Phantoms. Then when all was said and done, the six of you took Carlos trick-or-treating around the neighborhood while uncle Ray and tía Victoria cooked up a Halloween feast.

Thanksgiving and Christmas were emotional holidays for quite a few of you. The boys for obvious reasons- they being dead and not able to spend time with their loved ones- and you because while your parents could be more decent, you loved them all the same and wished the circumstances between you were different. But uncle Ray was understanding and made sure everyone had more than enough food and presents, and the night ended with everyone under the age of twenty falling asleep in the living room after admiring all their new belongings.

New Year's Eve rolls around and you're excited for two reasons- one being because of the fireworks that will no doubt go off at midnight and because at that exact same moment you'll be turning 18. Everyone expected you wanted a big party, but you surprised them all when you said all you wanted invited was everyone in the Molina household + studio, Flynn, and tía Victoria. You just wanted to have karaoke and a jam session, and some fireworks. You didn't want to make a big deal out of it.

The morning of New Year's Eve, you're woken up by Reggie bouncing on your mattress. But instead of being grouchy about it, you laugh and then yelp when Luke and Alex poof in to pop confetti poppers above you. You sit up, keeping the blanket across your lap as you shake your hair free of the shimmering mess.

"Happy birthday," Alex says, sitting down beside you and hugging you. "Ray said to be inside in twenty minutes. He's got a whole breakfast spread planned."

"Technically it's not my birthday yet, but thank you very much. I'll be inside as soon as possible."

Alex beams before Reggie takes his place, he leaning in and kissing your cheek with a loud smack. You giggle and accept his hug. "Happy birthday, my beautiful living friend. You don't look a day over 30."

You snort and then shove at his shoulder. "Shut up and get out. You don't get to be mean to the birthday girl."

"I thought it technically wasn't your birthday?" He winks at you. "Now hurry up. We can't eat until you do." And then with one last grin, Reggie poofs out.

Sighing happily, you stare up at Luke then. He grins as he readily lowers himself onto your mattress, laying on his stomach and keeping his expression directed at you. "Are you ready for tonight?"

"Am I ready to be a year older? Not really," you say. "But I am ready for some sparklers."

He chuckles. "Age is just a number, Y/N."

"Says the ghost who's forever 17," you mumble.

"Do you want me to find you a rancid hotdog? Because I will. Then the two of us will forever be 17."

"You're such an idiot." You can't stop grinning, especially when he mentions the way he died. It was terrible they died, but absolutely hilarious that it was death by hotdog for them. "I still don't understand how you didn't notice the weenie was bad. Rancid meat smells disgusting and you ate it!"

"In our defense we thought the smell was coming from the trash in the alley." You can only shake your head at him. "And we were still riding the rush of sound check inside the Orpheum."

"Your idiocy amazes me," you deadpan. "Now go on. I need to put on pants and brush my teeth. I'll meet you inside."

"Oh now you want to be all shy about walking around in your underwear." Luke playfully rolls his eyes. "Okay."

"You know what? I was being considerate so my near nudity didn't turn you into a stammering fool, but now I think I'll just do it." You grab your blanket to throw it off of you, but Luke quickly scrambles up and off your bed.

"Okay. Okay! I'll see you inside."

As soon as Luke poofs out, you grin to yourself like an idiot. The tension between the two of you was obvious from the beginning and it's still there even after you called a truce. You giddily get up and head on downstairs, making your way towards the bathroom to freshen up before heading inside. But as you're brushing your teeth, you realize you can't stop thinking about Luke. Which is kind of a bad thing. For you.

Everyone who has eyes can see the way Luke looks at you and the way you look at him, but given he's a ghost and you're very much alive you've agreed that nothing can happen between the two of you. Not just because of his ghostly status, but because of his status as Julie's bandmate- which is another problem they need a solution for but they won't worry about it until they have a record deal in their clutches. After then, they'll worry about revisiting the boys' family they had left behind when they died.

Quickly fixing your hair, you pull on a pair of leggings afterward and start making your way out of the studio. You sigh and come to the conclusion that for now you'd just enjoy the company of a cute ghost. You can totally get over the silly crush in no time.

          - - - - - - - - - -

As you're getting ready for the night, you're surprised there's a knock on the floor of the loft right before Luke's head pops up by the stairs. "Is it okay if I come on up?"

"Yeah. Of course," you say. You grab your boots before sitting on the edge of your mattress, slipping your feet inside of them and start lacing up. Luke stands off to the side, a little sheepishly, and you grin at him. "Something up? You're too quiet."

"Yeah. No, I'm good." He chuckles a little nervously and then finally moves to take a seat next to you. When he's seated, you nudge him with your shoulder to get him to lighten up. "I just- we got you a present and I've been nominated to hand it over."

"A present? From who?"

"Well it was originally from Ray, Jules, and Carlos," he says, "but when us ghosties wanted to get you something too, it kind of turned into a joint gift from all of us." Luke reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small box. You quirk an eyebrow at him as he hands the it over and immediately lift the lid. You coo at the silver charm bracelet inside and then lift it to examine the charms. "Ray, Julie, and Carlos had the laptop, dahlia, and lightning bolt charms already on there, but then we went back to the mall and had a microphone, a guitar, a bass, and drum sticks added to it."

"This is perfect. Help me put it on?"

You manage to unclasp the bracelet to slip it onto your right wrist and then Luke is scooting even closer to you so he can clasp it correctly. When he does, you twist your wrist back and forth so the charms jingle and fall correctly in place. Then you glance up at the same time Luke does, noses inches apart, and it's like both your breathing ceases.

Both your gazes seem to dart down to each other's lips and then you're jerking back while shakily inhaling. "You're trouble, Luke Patterson."

He smirks. "Fun trouble. You should try me sometime."

You can't believe the nerve of this ghost, so you roll your eyes, grin, and then climb to your feet. "Whatever you say, ghost boy. Now let's go. Tía Victoria was making me menudo for my birthday dinner."

Everyone at the Molina household is exactly who you wanted there and you get a kick out of watching the ghost boys attempt the menudo, watching the way they freeze when it's explained what exactly is in the menudo. Alex and Luke had slowly swallowed what was in their mouth before proclaiming they were full, but Reggie shrugged it off and kept on eating.

Outside uncle Ray grilled up some burgers and hotdogs for those who weren't fans of the menudo, and Julie had brought out bags of sparklers. You, Flynn, and Alex wasted no time in sparking some sparklers up while Reggie, Luke, and Carlos grabbed ahold of some small cannons to shoot off into the quickly darkening sky.

Many laughs are had, running amok in the streets with sparklers, and many pictures are taken. Your favorite, by far, had to have been when Carlos accidentally caught Reggie's flannel on fire and he stopped, dropped, and rolled in the street. You, Flynn, and Julie were never going to let him forget that terrified expression of his.

But then there's only five minutes to midnight, uncle Ray and Carlos are carrying several large firework boxes into the middle of the street and hurriedly untangling some wires, and a birthday sash is being draped over your head by Julie.

Seeing your uncle Ray and Carlos space out large boxes have drawn some of the neighbors to see what no doubt is going to a firework display, and you excitedly wait several feet away from the impending commotion.

Suddenly tía Victoria starts a countdown from twenty, Flynn hands out party horns, and everyone excitedly joins in.

"FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE. HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

You blow your party horn, laughing when you spot Reggie jumping on Alex and Luke's backs in excitement. Uncle Ray hits a button in hand and the first box shoots off it's first firework. The explosions of white, gold, pink, blue, purple, and green has everyone making happy remarks, and you watch on, not noticing everyone pairing off to watch the show (Alex and Reggie, tía Victoria and Carlos, and Julie and Flynn).

You're smiling up at an explosion of white crackles that chase each other across the sky when two arms wrap around your neck from behind and a body presses up close behind yours. You chuckle as your hands come up to grab onto a forearm and you briefly glance over your shoulder. It's Luke.

As you go back to watching your uncle put on a spectacular firework display, you feel warm breath fan across your ear. "Happy birthday, Y/N," Luke murmurs.

"Thank you." You smile brightly even though he can't see it and then glance over your shoulder once more, holding his gaze as your faces are literally an inch apart. "Happy New Year, Luke."

He beams at you and against your will your gaze darts to his lips. Your mind is whirling and you know everything about you and Luke is a bad idea, but you just can't help yourself. And apparently neither can he.

Luke is the one to close the distance, softly pressing his lips to yours. You smile against his lips, giggling some before adding a little bit more pressure so he doesn't think you're laughing at him. The entire situation is just a little bit hilarious to you.

After a few seconds you pull apart and the two of you end up laughing before you go back to watching the fireworks. Fortunately no one had been paying you any attention, so you and Luke can keep the kiss between the two of you.

You know for sure nothing can actually come out of whatever is going on between the two of you, but for now you're willing to take it one day at a time and come up with official rules later on the down the line.

[mrsbrookegillespie]

+This Town+ Luke x Alive!Reader

(Not My Gif)

!Requested!

Description: Just read it.

Warnings: ANGST, um... ANGST, and ANGST. Mentions of pregnancy, mentions of death, mild swearing. Probably a lot of typos, I’m editing it, but I wrote this right when I saw the request.

Use of JATP scenes go to the producers and such, and the song that is used in this story is “This Town” by Niall Horan (I changed some of the words, and rearranged the format of it)

S/N = Sons Name

BF/N = Boyfriends Name

I cried writing this... Enjoy.

+This Town+

“Luke!” Y/N shrieks when he picks her up by her waist, twirling them around. “Put me down.” He chuckles, setting her down gently.

 “How did we do?” he asks. “More importantly--” he clicks his tongue, “--how did I do?” Taking her hands into his, he flashes her a big smile.

She tilts her head, giving him a pointed look. “You know what I’m going to say to that.” She leans forward a little with a small smirk on her face. “You were amazing, and everyone is going to see that tonight.” She presses her lips firmly on his, him returning the gesture by cupping the side of her face to deepen it. 

Though it didn’t last long, when they both pulled away the feeling still lingered. “Well, the guys and I are going to get some food, do you want to join us?” He takes a step closer to her, not being able to let her go.

“Are you guys going to that hot dog place again? The one with the car?” she questions, a look of disgust on her face. “I’ll pass.” 

He puts on a big pout. “Alright,” he mumbles, disappointed. “Your appetite has been really strange lately.”

Alex quickly comes over, throwing an arm around Y/N’s shoulder. “Are you coming, or what?” he asks Luke, no doubt overhearing Y/N’s answer. 

A small groan comes from Luke. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?” he repeats to Y/N. “I’m gonna miss you,” he claims.

“I’ll see you tonight, babe.” She lets out a giggle, glancing at Alex whose expression is most likely unidentifiable to Luke, but to Y/N, she knew exactly what he was thinking. “And I have something to tell you tonight.” 

Luke raises an eyebrow towards her. With a glimpse towards Alex he says, “Is it good or bad?” 

She purses her lips, taking a moment to come up with an answer. “Depends…” 

“Well, then I’ll be counting the minutes.” 

Alex moves away from the couple to give Luke space for him to kiss her left temple. “Be careful out there, alright?” She wraps her arms around him tightly. 

“I will,” he promises. “You worry too much.” 

She shakes her head. “Only for you.” 

“I heard that!” Alex calls out. 

“You know I love you too Alex,” she says. “Now go be boys, with your… Interesting food cravings.” Nudging Luke, he hesitantly walks away, holding her hand until he’s forced to let go.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Luke assures. 

“I’ll hold you to it!” With one last wave, they leave with no knowledge of what’s to come.

Julie sighs walking into the studio. “We’re sorry,” Reggie sings, popping out from behind Luke.

“So sorry,” Alex joins, popping out on the other side. 

“We’re so super-duper, crazy, sorry,” the boys all harmonize at the end, Luke kneeling down on one knee.

“In case you missed it, we’re really sorry,” Reggie adds.

“Yeah. I… I got that part,” Julie replies, her tone short.

“We’ve been here for, like, three hours,” Alex mentions, Reggie high-fiving him.

Luke nods. “Yup.” He goes to stand up. “We almost sang to your little brother.” 

“He comes in here a lot,” Reggie observed. “Mainly to use the bathroom.” He gestures behind him.

“Yeah, it’s not our favorite part of the day,” Alex explains.

“But, Julie, it wasn’t okay that we flaked out on the dance last night,” Luke joins, going back to the real problem. “We know we let you down.” 

“Yeah, and none of us wanted to disappoint you,” Alex states. “You’re the best thing that’s happened to us, since we became ghosts.” 

“So, in hopes that you’ll rejoin the band.” A slow smile creeps up on Luke’s face, him taking a dramatic step towards her. He hands her a piece of paper that he’s been holding. “We booked a new gig.” 

“A mega important, life-changing gig,” Reggie remarks in the background.

Julie analyzes the flier. “Oh, okay, check it out. Tons of managers go here to listen to new bands,” Luke starts. “All we gotta do is blow them all away, and we’re living the dream.” 

“So, this means a lot to you, huh?” Julie asks, still holding her harsh tone. “Kind of how playing in front of my whole entire school meant a lot to me?” 

“Sounds like sarcasm,” Reggie says, confused. He gasps, turning to Alex. “I’m starting to think our plan isn’t working.”

“Look, we know we messed up,” Alex reassures. 

“But we need you in the band,” Luke affirms.

“Of course you do,” Julie begins. “Because without me no one can see you guys playing.” She looks up towards the ceiling. “You know I thought that the music that we were writing was special, but you’re too obsessed with your past to even care,” she accuses, pointing towards Luke.

“I do care,” he argues. “Our band has a real chance at greatness, I’m not gonna let that get away from us again.” 

“Uh-huh, right. So, then why did you bail on me to get back at Trevor?” she interrogates. “I’ll tell you why…” she pauses. “‘Cause there’s only one thing you care about, and that’s yourself.” She storms off, Luke following her by only a few steps. 

“Dude, she didn’t mean that,” Alex asserts. 

Luke looks back at him before poofing away. “Where’s he going?” Reggie asks. 

“Where do you think? Remember what today is?” Alex turns towards Reggie, realization taking over his features.

Alex and Reggie both poof into Julie’s house to see her reading on the couch. “Hey… Uh, do you got a second?” Alex stuffs his hands into his pockets.

Julie sighs, not giving them a verbal response. Re-situating herself on the couch. “Oh my gosh, she can’t see us anymore!” Reggie whisper-yells. Alex gives him a blank stare, lasting for a little longer than a second. “Oh, right.” Reggie shrugs.

Alex sits on the arm of the couch. “Julie, please,” he begs. 

Julie allowed herself to look up at him. “I already told you that I’m done with the band.” 

“Yeah, we know, all right?” He flips his hair out of his face. “But, before you decide that forever we just… We wanted you to know that Luke isn’t as selfish as you think.” 

“Yeah, you’ve got him all wrong,” Julie scoffs, shaking her head at Reggie’s statement. 

“Remember those two songs you found?” Alex asks. “‘Unsaid Emily’, and ‘This Town’.” Julie nods once slowly. “Can we at least show you who one of those songs is about?” 

She looks towards Reggie then back at Alex.

Soon all three of them find themselves behind a tree by a small house. They watch Luke sit on one of the counters, hugging his knees to his chest. And two older people. “So, Emily is his mom?” Julie asks. 

“Yeah,” Alex confirms. “Yeah, Luke comes here a lot… He thinks we don’t know but… We’ve been following him.” They all watch Luke from afar, his red eyes as he follows the two adults walking around.

“All he does is hang out like this, and watch them,” Reggie informs. “They never really do anything though.” 

The pair sets down a cake. “They’re having cake, that’s something.” Julie crosses her arms, trying to make sense of the situation.

“It’s a… It’s a birthday cake.” Reggie looks over at her. “For Luke.” 

“I never knew Luke was hurting this much,” Julie admits.

“Yeah, it’s even worse because when he died he… Left on bad terms,” Alex pauses. “You know, his parents didn’t want their 17-year old in a rock band so… He just left.” He sighs. “He never got the chance to make it up to them.” 

Just at that moment a silver car pulls in. Julie ducking down to hide herself. “Well, that’s new,” Reggie tries to peek over at the car to see who’s inside.

“Wait!” A woman who looked about early forties hops out from the passenger seat. “S/N get out of the car, we’re gonna miss your father’s birthday.” 

“Wait a minute…” Alex stands up taller, getting a good look at the girl’s face. “It can’t be,” he whispers. 

“Sorry!” S/N replies, holding his hands up in defense. “Not my fault dad gave me such good genes, they need to be taken care of.” 

Y/N laughs, guiding him away from the car. “Spoken like a true Patterson.” 

“Y/N?” Reggie questions.

“Y/N?” Julie repeats quietly, confused. 

“The other song that you found--” 

“That’s the girl from the photo.” Julie’s eyes widened, remembering.

“Who’s this?” Julie asks, showing a polaroid picture to Luke. It was him and a girl. “You look so happy in it.” She scans both of their faces, huge smiles covering them.

He looks at it, almost becoming frozen. “That’s--” he rips the photo out of her hands. “--that’s nobody,” he lies, tucking the photo back into the song book, in between two pages one of them reading what Julie caught ‘This Town’.

“Sorry, we’re late,” Y/N says, walking into the house. 

Luke perks up. “Y/N?” he whispers. 

Y/N’s movements falter, as she holds a hand up to her ear. “Did one of you say my name?” she asks, everyone giving her a confused glance.

“No, honey,” Emily says. Her and Mitch going over to Y/N and S/N “How are you doing today? Where’s Bf/N?” Emily asks the last part quietly.

Y/N shrugs. “Work,” she chokes out. “And…” She shrugs. “This day is always hard. Especially for S/N even if he shows it in a weird way.” 

“It really is you,” Luke whispers, walking up to get as close as he could, without phasing through her. He noticed just how much she’s grown, but she was still so beautiful to him. 

“Who’s the guy?” Julie asks Alex, and Reggie.

Alex’s once questionable expression drops. “I think I know.” They both look at him. He gulps slightly. “That night, we were going to play, Y/N… She was going to tell Luke that she was um…” The look on his face was enough to finish his sentence.

“Luke’s a father?!” Reggie exclaims.

“Shhh!” Julie and Alex shush him quickly before Luke could possibly hear.

“I knew, because she told me,” Alex explains. “I helped her plan out this whole thing, I went to every doctor’s appointment with her, she was so scared.” He looks at the young boy. “I almost forgot.” He furrowed his eyebrows. 

“S/N Patterson, don’t you dare start eating that cake, yet,” Y/N warns. “We need to blow out the candles first.” 

Luke slowly walks over to a wall of pictures, his nonexistent breath getting caught in his throat. He turns back to look at the young man who looked exactly like him. Same floppy hair, same colored eyes, it was like looking in a mirror. A tear fell down his face as he stared at the picture in front of him. The picture he dreaded to see at this time. 

The picture showed Y/N and Luke on his birthday many years ago, he believed it was his fifteenth birthday, Y/N was already sixteen, but they wore matching birthday hats as the story behind the picture was so much more than them holding a guitar. The one that laid beside him was what he’d call his lucky acoustic 6-string, and it was a guitar she bought him. While she held her own. 

“Teach me your ways,” Y/N jokes as she watches Luke’s riff. “How are you so good?” 

He shrugs. “C’mon, I’ll show you ‘my ways’,” he mocks her voice, retrieving a giggle from her. “So, put your pointer finger there.” She does so. “Then your middle finger there, and then your ring finger here.” She begins to struggle. “Hold on.” He sets down his guitar, making sure it doesn’t fall. Gently taking her hand into his, he guides her fingers to place correctly on the strings. “There you go…” He smiles at her, both realizing how close they were to each other.

“You two, say ‘cheese’! Emily holds up the camera, both of them snapping out of their daze.

“Cheese!” 

A soft sound of a guitar fills his ears, as he recalls the lyrics he wrote not too long ago. “Waking up to kiss you and nobody's there, the smell of your perfume still stuck in the air… It's hard,” he begins to sing. It felt like time stopped moving for him, making sure to soak in every photo. “Yesterday I thought I saw your shadow running 'round, it's funny how things never change in this old town… So far… From the stars.” Going slower when a small boy starts to appear. “And I want to tell you everything, the words I never got to say the first time around… And I remember everything, from when we were the children playing in this fairground… Wish I was there with you now…” Coming to an abrupt halt when he sees a birth certificate S/N Lucas Patterson. 

He turns around to watch the girl he loved, dance with a boy he had never met, but felt like he knew forever. Music softly playing in the background. 

“If the whole world was watching I'd still dance with you, drive highways and byways to be there with you. Over and over the only truth… Everything comes back to you… Mmmmm.” He slowly walks back towards his family. It was clear Y/N and S/N found the light in the situation, Y/N telling stories from the past. 

“What about the story of how you two made me?” S/N suggests.

Y/N scoffs whacking S/N in the arm. “I swear--gets his mouth from his father.” This causes a chuckle from everyone. “Such a troublemaker,” she murmurs.

“So, when are you and BF/N getting married? I swear you two have been engaged forever,” Mitch says.

Y/N looks down at her engagement ring, biting her lip. “Um…” She slowly slides it off her finger. “Don’t know.” She sets it in her bag. 

“I wonder if you moved on with someone new, in the places that we kissed with his arms around you… It's so hard… So hard.” He kneels down next to where she is sitting, suddenly her smile slowly fading. “You still make me nervous when you walk in the room. Them butterflies—they come alive when I'm next to you… Over and over the only truth… Everything comes back to you.” 

Y/N sighs. “Are we going to light this candle or what?” She tries to joke to lighten the mood, but everyone can see something took over her. A sadness that clogged her light.

“You do the honors,” Emily says, handing her the lighter. 

Y/N forms her lips into a tight smile, taking it from her hands. It was obvious she was trying to hold back tears, gripping on S/N’s hand as she lit the simple orange candle that sits on top of the chocolate cake. Luke poofs to be in front of her. “And I know that it's wrong… That I can't move on, but there's something 'bout you.” He blows out the candle before anyone else does, everyone looks around, but Y/N, she looks straight up at him. His eyes widened a little when he met hers, she wasn’t staring through him, she was staring at him.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” Emily asks.

“Mom?” S/N calls out.

Y/N shakes her head, with a soft smile. “I’m okay.” She looks at Luke once again, lighting the candle. “S/N, how about you make a wish for your father,” she suggests.

With one nod, they all lean over to blow the candle out. “'Cause if the whole world was watching I'd still dance with you…. Drive highways and byways to be there with you… Over and over the only truth…. Everything comes back to you.” 

“What did you wish for, for him?” Y/N asks.

“Well, if I say it, then it won’t come true,” S/N and Luke say at the same time. It was what he would say at every birthday when Y/N would ask. 

She lets out a breathless chuckle. “Spoken like a true Patterson.” 

“You still make me nervous when you walk in the room… Them butterflies—they come alive when I'm next to you… Over and over the only truth… Everything comes back to you… Mmmm… Everything comes back to you… Mmmm.”

And with that he poofs away, Y/N looking at the spot he once was at. “Are you sure you’re okay, mom?” S/N asks, worried.

She turns to meet his eyes, flashbacks coming back to her.

“Where are the boys? They should be back by now.” Y/N paces back and forth. “Have you heard from them, Bobby?” 

He shrugs, shaking his head. “No, I haven’t, I haven’t gotten a call from them.” 

“Something is wrong--”

“Now, Y/N we can’t make any assumptions, yet.” Bobby grabs ahold of her shoulders to steady her. “They’ll be fine.”

“But, they would never be this late, they’re performing so soon, they’re going to be letting people in any moment…” She leans forward, making sure he was listening. “It’s not like them,” she says, seriously. 

“Have you tried calling them?” Bobby asks. 

“No answer,” she replies, when suddenly Luke’s name pops up on her flip phone. “Luke! I have been worried sick, where are you? The show is about to--”

“Is this Y/N L/N?” a deep male voice asks.

Taken aback by this Y/N let’s out a cautious ‘yes’. 

“This is the Los Angeles hospital, and it seems as though you were on the emergency contact list for Luke Patterson.” Her heart beats loudly out of her chest. “I’m sorry to inform you of this but…”

The phone slips out of her hand, having it fall to the floor. “Y/N? Y/N what’s wrong?” Bobby runs over to her, concerned. “You gotta talk to me here.” 

“They’re gone,” she whispers. Tears fell down viciously from her eyes. “They’re gone,” she sobs. “I should’ve gone with them!” she pauses. “I should’ve stopped them, I should’ve done something!” 

“Y/N you’re not making any sense.” 

“They’re dead, Bobby!” she screams, everyone looking over at her in fear.

“Wh-what?” 

“I have to go, I have to go to the hospital, I have to call Emily, I have to--” she began to feel sick, believing this was one sort of twisted nightmare.

“But, what about the show?” Y/N sends Bobby a glare. 

“That’s what you care about?!” she shouts. “That’s all you care about right now?! Who gives fuck about that?” She waves it off. “This--means nothing to me without the others,” she spits through her teeth.

“Mom?” S/N calls out. 

“Well.” She stands up, tugging at her clothes. “We should get going now…” Wiping away the tears she didn’t know were there, she gathers her stuff. “We’ll talk soon, okay?” She hugs Emily tightly, switching with S/N to hug Mitch. “Hang in there for us.” 

“We should be telling that to you,” Emily whispers, looking at the girl with sad eyes. “You grew up too fast.” 

“Time seems to have a way of getting ahead of you.” 

“Marching on proud, turn it up loud,” Julie sings, as she presses the keys on the piano. “‘Cause now we know what we’re worth--”

Luke poofs into the chair that sits across from where Julie is. “Whoa Julie!” Luke stands up immediately.

She looks at him, with her head slightly tilted. “Get your guitar, we got work to do,” she orders.

Luke glances at the guys, speechless. He chuckles, moving to grab his guitar. He strides over to Julie. “What made you come back?” 

“I realized how important music is to all of us,” she explains. “And we’ve lost so much already… We can’t lose this too.” 

He nods a little. “Thanks,” he says, sincerely. “Alright boss, where we at?” He moves backwards

She breathes out a laugh. “Oh, and by the way… Happy birthday.” He raises an eyebrow towards the boys, looking back at her. She smiles. “Let’s go from the pre-chorus.” 

“One, two, three, four!” Alex counts in. 

Julie glances behind Luke, a light blue box sitting up on the piano. The best thing about having ghosts as friends is that they can follow people without the whole ‘I’m gonna call the cops’ problem. 

So, as the days went by, it was bad enough to go behind his back and give ‘Unsaid Emily' to his mom, but then to find out about the boys having to cross over, she knew it needed to be done. “Hello,” Y/N answers, opening the door. 

“Hi.” Julie waves. “Um… You wouldn’t happen to be Y/N L/N, would you?” 

She laughs. “Depends on who’s asking,” she jokes. “Yes, I’m Y/N.” She holds out her hand for Julie to shake. “And who might you be?” 

“Oh Julie!” She accepts the handshake, holding the light blue box she found in her free hand. 

“Nice to meet you Julie, and what brings you here?” Y/N smiles towards the young girl.

Julie moves the box to show Y/N. “I think this belongs to you.” 

Y/N stares down at it, before looking around. “You live in that old house, don’t you?” she asks. Julie doesn’t respond, resorting to a warm smile. “Um…” Y/N looks back into her house. “Come in.” 

“Who’s this?” A man in a business suit walks out into the living room. “Why is there a young girl in the house?” 

“This is Julie,” Y/N introduces.

“And Luke would like to know what Julie is doing here.” Julie jumps, alarming Y/N beside her. 

His eyes held anger. “Look, I was okay with you giving the song to my mom, but this…” His voice fades off, when he looks at the man.

“Oh, a crazy young girl in the house. That’s safe,” the man mumbles.

Y/N rolls her eyes. “This is my boyfriend, BF/N.” 

“Fiance,” BF/N corrects. “And I have to get to work.” 

Y/N jolts a little. “Oh, alright, well I’ll see you--And he’s gone.” She throws her hands up with a laugh. “A grumpy one that is,” she jokes. “So, about this box…” She takes it from Julie’s hands. “You found this in a backpack, didn’t you?” 

“You remember what’s in there?” Julie asks. 

“How’s that studio doing? Has it fallen apart, yet? It’s not being destroyed, is it?” Worry fills her.

“No!” Julie abruptly exclaims. “No, no, it’s just I got curious and started looking, and I’ve been giving people back some of the stuff I found of theirs.” 

“Oh,” Y/N whispers. “Julie and the Phantoms,” she suddenly says.

“What?” Julie, and Luke’s heart drops.

“I knew I recognized you--yeah, my son, he's a music teacher at an elementary school, uses your music as an example a lot,” she explains. “Look, I’m not going to go questioning you about it, but I know.” 

“You do?” Julie asks, confused.

Y/N doesn’t answer, opening up the box. “I was going to give him this present at The Orpheum.” 

Luke narrows his eyes, walking up to her, to look inside. 

“It was how I was going to tell him I was pregnant, guess plans didn’t go the way I wanted it to.” She shrugs. “But, I know he knows, and that’s all I can ever ask for. S/N, who’s my son, took upon himself to follow his father’s footsteps--not including the hotdogs, which we banned in our house.” She could feel the tears building in her eyes. “It was hard, suing a company, Bobby--Or should I say Trevor Wilson becoming famous off of Luke’s songs, and having to go through raising a child mostly alone takes a toll on you. But, here I am.” 

“I also found these.” Julie hands her a photo, and a sheet of paper. 

Y/N laughs loudly. “This picture! I remember this photo.” Luke smiles a little when she does, and the fact she remembers the memory. “Sunset Curve had just booked their first gig, and this photo was taken after the performance. I remember him that day like it was yesterday, you could’ve sworn he had like fifty energy drinks, but that was just Luke.” 

Julie lets out a small laugh. “How did you do it?”

Y/N looks up in alarm. Luke stays as quiet as possible, his eyes checking out every area of this house she now calls home. “Do what?” 

“Move on?” 

Y/N was shocked to hear those words come out of Julie’s mouth. “Move on?” She raises an eyebrow. “I never moved on. How could I? I still think about him every morning, day, and night, with every song I listen to, with every move I make, with every breath I take, all I can remember is the time I spent with him,” she pauses. “There’s no such thing as moving on when it comes to him, I can only just take him with me.” She picks up the piece of paper. “I knew it,” she whispers, reading over the words. 

“What is it?” Julie asks.

“'Cause if the whole world was watching I'd still dance with you. Drive highways and byways to be there with you… Over and over the only truth...Everything comes back to you,” Y/N sings, Luke looking at her with awe. He always loved her singing voice despite her negative thoughts over it, but that wasn’t the reason he was so taken aback. “You still make me nervous when you walk in the room. Them butterflies—they come alive when I'm next to you… Over and over the only truth… Everything comes back to you… Mmmm… Everything comes back to you… Mmmm.”

“She really did hear me,” he whispers. Julie looks at him, making Y/N turn to look beside her. “But, she can’t see me.” He frowns.

Y/N laughs. “I was the believer,” she admits. “In ghosts and all of that. The boys made fun of me, besides Alex, Alex and I would make conspiracies about it, while Luke and Reggie would try to scare us, Bobby was the only one who’d scream.” She sits down on the couch, Luke sitting down beside her, Julie sitting across from her on a chair. “I remember this one time! When Luke accidentally hit me with his guitar, and he felt so bad, he got me at least a dozen daisies, and other flowers. And my family and I--we had separate cookie jars, because we have different opinions, and of course Luke always had to be eating out of mine. I would get so angry with him, and I would chase him around. Then I would feel bad when he’d fall. So, I would feed him cookies because he claimed his hands hurt.” She rolls her eyes. 

Luke wipes away the tears that he couldn’t hold back. Sniffles, and small sobs escaping.

Y/N allows her own tears to fall. “I miss him.” 

“I miss you too.” His voice barely audible, but Y/N heard it loud and clear.

[yourlocalfictionalenthusiast]

IN LIFE, IN DEATH...

PART TEN

:Masterlist:

A/N: And that’s a wrap! Ahh, writing this series has been so fun and I’m so glad that so many of you have liked it so much. Thank you guys for staying until the end and hopefully for upcoming stuff 👀 I hope you enjoy the finale of In Life, In Death... <3

(Also the song mentioned in part six and this part is ‘She Is Love’ by Parachute) <3

-

December 1994

Luke groaned as he woke up, squinting hard to try and adjust his eyes to the amount of light in the room.

Even before he could see clearly, he knew he must've fallen asleep in the studio judging by the soreness in his back and neck that he always got when he slept on the old couch. It couldn't have been more than six in the morning, and Luke could still feel the tiredness in his bones. So he tried to turn away from the light and hopefully fall back asleep, but there was something keeping him firmly in place.

His heart skipped when he looked down and saw that you were laying right next to him with your head on his chest and an arm thrown across his stomach. When he realized that his own arms were wrapped around you, his heart broke out into a full-on tap dance.

Waves of confusion ran through his still-foggy brain until he saw his guitar case propped up against the piano and his backpack on the floor with his clothes spilling out of it.

Then the events of last night quickly came back to him.

How he had gotten home late from rehearsal and his mom was waiting in the kitchen with his latest report card and her signature lecture at the ready. One minute he was standing there yelling, packing all he could fit into his bag, and the next, he was halfway to the studio with the rain soaking him head to toe.

He had expected it to be empty when he finally got there, but he was flooded with relief when he saw you. All the frustration slowly melted out of him the longer he laid there with you, leaving him feeling exhausted and shivering despite how warm he felt.

The last thing he wanted to do was talk about any of it, but when you asked, the words came out of his mouth before he could stop them.

He remembered rambling and crying again, the sound of your voice and the feeling of your fingers in his hair warming him up even more. Then finally, he remembered falling asleep with his chin tucked on top of your head, the smell of your shampoo filling his senses.

Without thinking, Luke reached down and carefully pushed a piece of hair away from your face, tucking it behind your ear and smiling to himself when you shifted into his touch. Then taking in a sharp breath as the realization ran through him all the way down to his toes.

You were his best friend.

The person he wanted to see at the end of a long day. Whenever he was full of anger or lost in confusion, all he had to do was look at you and everything suddenly made sense again. With your pretty smile and laugh, and your way of flipping that little switch inside him that made his head all fuzzy and the ground start spinning under his feet.

You were his best friend, and he was in love with you.

-

2020

All you felt was a mixture of anxiety and nausea as you stood on the Orpheum's street corner, biting the tips of your fingernails.

The entire plan hinged on Willie and Teddy getting everything done in time, and considering that they had betrayed you all before, you couldn’t help but expect the worst.

“Look, don’t worry. Willie said he’ll get us on that marquee.” Alex said nervously as he kicked pebbles across the sidewalk.

“This is going to work, right?” Reggie asked.

“It has to.” Luke mumbled, wincing seconds later when another shock hit them.

Two sharp pops cut through the air behind you and you all whipped around to see Willie and Teddy standing just a few feet away. Willie was watching you all carefully with concern written all over his face, his eyes lingering on Alex longer than anyone else. Teddy stood at the edge of the group, practically burning a hole in your face with his guilty stare.

“Are you guys okay?” Willie asked.

“Yeah, nothing we haven’t felt before.” Alex laughed awkwardly. “How’d it go?”

“Well, when the opening band wakes up, they’ll find their bus two hundred miles out of Vegas.” Willie said with a proud smile as he did a spin, showing off his stolen jacket with the band’s name across the back.

“With absolutely no chance of getting back in time.” Teddy added.

Luke gave Willie a fistbump and pointed up to the office above the Orpheum. “That means there’s probably a promoter up there freaking out right now.”

Willie grinned, sarcasm laced in his tone. “Nah, man. This is Hollywood. I’m sure he’s being very professional.”

You laughed and then Alex slowly inched forward, clearly struggling for the right words to say to Willie. You gave his arm a quick squeeze before following Reggie and Luke down the street to give them space. Before you even got halfway down the sidewalk, Teddy poofed next to you.

“You know, If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you don’t want to talk to me.” He joked.

“Teddy-”

"I just-I didn't want to leave things the way we did." He rambled. "I'm sorry, I should've told you everything that night in the diner-"

"Teddy, It's okay." You said. "You told me before Caleb could put the stamp on me, and you didn't know the details about the plan until after it was too late to help my friends. Plus, I know how much you're risking helping us now."

As soon as the words left your mouth, you felt some of the weight fall off your shoulders. You weren't sure why since the situation was still a little painful and awkward. But being around Teddy always made you feel a little like that kid who started working at the diner with Cece all those years ago. Besides, they were so alike that you found it hard to stay mad at him.

You held out your hand for Teddy to shake. "Despite everything, I'm glad we met."

“Likewise, Gorgeous,” Teddy said with a relieved smile as he grasped your hand. With a subtle wink, he nodded over towards where Luke was standing at the end of the street. “He’s a lucky guy.”

"What? How did you?-" You sputtered as he stepped away. You never told Teddy about Luke, or at least you didn't think you did.

Teddy just smirked in response before disappearing into the air. At the same time, you saw Willie skate away out of the corner of your eye, leaving Alex alone on the sidewalk.

You all phased next to him and Luke squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "You okay, man?"

"Yeah. I'm good." Alex smiled slyly as he gestured to the office. "Looks like this show needs a new opening act though."

You grinned. "Let's go see if we can help with that."

-

When you got back to the studio, you found Julie pacing back and forth in the middle of the room as she wrung her hands together.

When you all poofed in, she immediately jumped into a load of questions, losing her breath halfway through and flailing her arms around.

"Whoa, just sit down," You laughed excitedly. "We'll tell you everything."

Julie took a gasping breath and plopped backwards onto the couch then stared at you all with expectant eyes. "Well?"

"It worked!" You announced. "Everything's fine."

"You should be getting the call...now!" Alex pointed to Julie’s phone on the table just as it started buzzing. You all cheered and Julie shushed you as she answered the call.

You heard a woman's voice say something through the phone and Julie gave a thumbs-up as she started jumping on the couch. You watched in amusement and mild horror as Luke and Reggie lifted Alex up into the air and spun him around.

Once he was back on the ground, Luke and Reggie made a beeline for you, each of them grabbed one of your arms and flipped you upside down over their shoulders.

You all spent the next twenty minutes laughing and screaming and Alex even got a little teary-eyed but you pretended not to notice. Then Julie called Flynn and ran off excitedly to decide her outfit for the night, leaving the four of you alone to plan out the setlist.

“Okay, so I’m thinking we start with Stand Tall.” Luke said excitedly as he wrote the words down in his songbook.

“Sounds good.” Reggie said, suddenly quiet.

“’Sounds good’? Guys, I wanna hear ‘That sounds awesome!” Luke reached out and nudged Reggie’s shoulder. “I know this isn’t the way we imagined any of this. But we need to be all in tonight. This is our second chance to play the Orpheum!”

“I get it.” Reggie sputtered. “But it’s hard. Do we even know what’s on the other side when we cross over? Do we still get to hang out together?”

You shifted your weight as the happy little bubble surrounding you popped. You had been so wrapped up in the excitement of finally playing the Orpheum that you almost forgot what tonight was really about.

“You guys are the only family I have.” Reggie’s eyes were glued to the piano as he played with his fingers. You reached out and locked his arm with yours in an attempt to comfort him.

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen either. But it’s not like we have a choice.” Alex said.

Suddenly, Reggie’s arm fell out of yours as all three boys fell back, clutching their sides.

“I’m pretty sure we do.” Reggie groaned. “And it rhymes with ‘Hollywood Ghost Club’.”

The garage doors creaked open and Julie appeared with a bright smile and a blue garment bag in her hand. When she saw your expressions, her smile fell. “What’s wrong?”

“We just got hit pretty hard by one of those jolts.” Alex said. “But we’re fine.”

“Oh, good.” She nodded, though she still looked on edge. “I’m nervous.”

“That makes two of us.” You said. “But we made it this far for a reason. We got this.”

“Can you ride there with me? I'm gonna need more pep-talk material for the drive there cause I still think I might puke.” Julie tucked her hair behind her ears.

“Of course, and don't worry, we’ll leave the windows open.” You joked, making everyone laugh.

The sound of a car horn cut through the air and Julie looked outside. "That's my dad. Are you ready, (Y/n)?"

You nodded. "Yeah, uh, give me a second. I'll meet you in the car."

As Julie disappeared behind the doors, you turned to the boys and sighed as you tried to soak up this moment. For all you knew, this could be the last little window of time you had alone with them before tonight.

Julie was a huge part of the band of course, but these were your boys. The ones who you started this all with, who had been by your side for everything.

From the look on all their faces, you could see that they were thinking the same thing.

Without saying a word, you launched yourself at Alex. He made a surprised noise but recovered quickly, throwing his arms around you and holding you tight.

"And I'm the emotional one?" He jokingly muttered in your ear and you pinched his side, making him jump back. "Rude."

As soon as your arms were open, Reggie stepped forward and hugged you so tightly that you were thankful to not need oxygen anymore because he was definitely crushing several vital organs.

You laughed and gave him one last squeeze before pulling away, locking eyes with Luke instantly.

Alex cleared his throat awkwardly and grabbed Reggie's shoulder, steering him over to Luke's songbook to 'check out the setlist again'.

"And then there were two." Luke joked.

You laughed and stepped into his waiting arms, making him laugh. You soaked up the feeling of comfort and familiarity for a minute before pulling away.

"This, uh, is for you," Luke said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. You knitted your eyebrows together in confusion as he handed it over. "I wanted you to have it in case...well, you know. If tonight doesn't work."

"It will." You said, trying to ignore the fact that it very well could happen. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, Patterson."

"I wouldn't dream of it." He quipped back, his voice sounding softer and less teasing than you would've expected. You pulled back from him and because you didn't know if you would ever get another chance, you stood on your tiptoes and planted a kiss on his cheek.

You moved away too fast to see his reaction but the gesture made the other two boys smirk at you as you dashed out of the doors, making a beeline for the car pulling out of the driveway.

-

The back rooms of the Orpheum were a maze.

You had left for a few minutes to walk around the venue and clear your head, trying to wring out the last of your nerves.

By the time you found your way back, you expected to find the rest of the band rushing to get ready in the dressing room. But all you saw was Julie anxiously pacing as she had been earlier, a habit she seemed to have inherited from both you and Alex.

“You okay?”

She snapped her head up towards you and sighed. “Yeah, just a little worried. The guys aren’t here yet.”

You looked around the room and then at the clock, frowning. The show was in less than half an hour and that was already cutting it close. Part of you wanted to go check on them but Julie seemed to need you more at the moment.

“Okay, well, give them another ten minutes. I'm sure they'll be here. They wouldn’t miss this…again.”

You ran your palm across the front of your pocket, feeling Luke's note next to your parent’s photo, and hoped you were right.

But then more and more time passed until the stage manager came to escort Julie to the stage.

"Just a second!" She calls out and then turns to you. "(Y/n), something's wrong. They were getting those jolts pretty hard before we left. They must've run out of time."

You shut your eyes tight as the words sunk in. All you could bring yourself now was, ‘This isn't what was supposed to happen.’

The world fell out from under your feet and you had trouble even standing up straight as you imagined what must've happened to them. Your best friends, your brothers, your family was gone and there wasn't anything you could do about it.

The guy knocked again, this time a little harder and with a nervous tone. Julie chewed her lip as she looked between you and the door and you could almost see the cloud of grief settling over her.

As hard as it was, you tried your best to shove your feelings down and marched up to Julie. There would be time to fall apart later, but you knew that this what they would want you to do. "Let's go do this for them, okay?"

She took a deep, shaky breath before hesitantly nodding. You followed closely behind her as she walked out the door though the halls until she reached the stage. You waited beside Flynn in the wing as Julie settled behind her microphone and addressed the crowd.

There were scattered claps from around the venue and then she took a deep breath before singing the opening.

After the first few lines, you took your cue and materialized at the center of the stage. The crowd gasped and cheered the way they always did, but you kept your eyes shut tight and focused on the music.

Just as the song started picking up, you heard a familiar pop in the air and then the sound of drumming. You whirled around to see Alex mounted onto a drum set at the back of the stage, twirling his drumsticks around and smiling like he had never been gone at all.

Once you got over the initial shock, you wanted to cry with relief. They were okay, they were here. Alex winked at you goofily, and you ran towards Julie’s keyboard.

She had started bouncing on the balls of her feet, both of you finally getting into the song now that they were coming back. You followed suit, dancing around the base of the drum set as yours and Julie’s voices came together.

Then Reggie appeared on the other side of Julie and you ran to his side. You bumped his shoulder with yours and he grinned, moving to stand back to back.

The song was ramping up to the chorus when a staticky noise cut through the air, not loud enough for the crowd to hear but enough to make you all look over to the other end of the stage.

You could see Luke's form fading in and out, a look of anguish on his face, and the pit in your stomach opened up again. The crowd was on the edge of their seats as Alex's drumming paused and Luke finally materialized to sing the opening of the chorus.

You didn't even know you were moving until you suddenly found yourself across the stage next to Luke, unable to stop smiling as you sang.

Julie joined you, throwing her arms up in the air happily and jumping around. Reggie appeared by her side, flashing the crowd a winning smile.

Alex stood up and gripped his mic as he sang this solo. You looked back at him and flashed him a proud smile, then whooping loudly when Reggie sang his lines.

You all went down the line hitting your notes until the chorus kicked in again and your heart felt so full you almost couldn't stand it. This was what you were so close to achieving before you died, it was all you had wanted for years, and you knew that if you hadn't died, that night would've changed your life. But this night was something even more special. Because you were all here, all together.

Even if it was just for one last song.

Julie caught your attention and nodded towards the platform that spread out into the crowd. You followed her to the center and stood back to back as everyone cheered.

The guys joined in on either side of you, Alex grabbing one of your hands and Luke holding the other. You all bowed to the audience before taking your cue and vanishing, leaving only Julie on stage.

You landed in the wing, feeling a little lightheaded and overwhelmed from all the emotions you had experienced in the last five minutes. The elated smile fading from your face when all three boys poofed by your side only to fall to the floor instantly.

“It didn’t work.” You said miserably as Julie emerged into the backstage area. She grabbed Flynn and whispered something to her, pointing in the direction of her family. Flynn nodded and disappeared into the crowd while Julie ran to your side.

You hauled Alex onto his feet, letting him lean on you to stay upright while Luke and Reggie trailed behind Julie as she led the group back to the dressing room. Once everyone was inside, they collapsed on the couch or the floor, loudly groaning in pain.

“What happened? Why didn’t it work?” Julie asked tearfully.

“I guess playing here wasn’t our unfinished business.” Alex said hollowly.

“Point Caleb.” Reggie muttered as he clung to the side of an armchair.

You stood frozen next to Julie as panic spread through your whole body, both of you flinching in sympathy as the shocks continued.

“You have to save yourselves right now.” Julie begged. “Join Caleb’s club. It’s better than not existing at all!”

“She’s right.” You managed to say, your voice shaky and almost giving out. Your stomach flipped at the thought of them having to work for an evil club owner forever, but the alternative was worse. “You guys need to go now! For me. For us.”

“We’re not going back there.” Reggie shook his head.

Luke pulled himself up and stumbled forward a little so that he was right in front of you. “No music is worth making if we’re not all making it together.”

You sighed sadly, thinking back to your conversation yesterday. “So no more regrets?”

Luke let out a deep sigh and then reached up and cupped your cheek with his right hand. “Just one.”

You furrowed your eyebrows in response and Luke blinked hard as if he was trying to find the words. "I never told you why I left that night."

"Luke, don't." You gave him a weak smile. "I get it."

"You do?" He asked.

You struggled to get the words out. "Yeah, I mean it was bound to happen eventually. We just got too close and it was weird for you. I understand t-”

"What?" Luke asked, cutting you off with a confused look. "No, no, that's not it at all. Read the-"

Before he could finish, you heard Julie gasp loudly from a few feet away. You looked over to see her stepping back from Alex with an awestruck look on her face as she gripped his forearms.

Wait, what?

Before you could even begin to process what you were seeing, Reggie was reaching out to Julie, who grabbed his wrist and hauled him up to his feet. The three of them stared at each other for a few seconds before Julie turned to you and Luke.

“Guys, come here.”

Alex reached out and pulled you into his side while Luke threw an arm around Reggie’s back and Julie brought you all in closer to her. At first, nothing happened. But then there was a faint buzzing sound and the boys lifted their wrist towards the ceiling and you all watched in awe as the stamp floated away in the blink of an eye.

“Whoa.” Reggie said, his eyes still glued to the ceiling. “I don’t feel as weak anymore.”

“Yeah, me neither.” Alex agreed. “Not that I ever was that weak in the first place.”

You rolled your eyes and let your head fall over on his shoulder. “What do you think that means?”

Luke smiled. “I think it means the band is back.”

It was quiet for a second before Alex looked at you all shyly. “You guys think we can try that hug thing again?”

You laughed as you huddled together again, sniffling and laughing. Then Julie yelled out that you had played the Orpheum and then you were all jumping around, still tangled in each other’s arms.

Eventually, you all broke apart and while the boys started chasing each other around, you turned to Julie. She looked into your eyes and immediately flew into your arms, muttering into your shoulder, “I always wanted a big sister.”

The words warmed your heart and you squeezed her extra hard, grateful that you actually could now. “Well, I’m honored.”

“My family's probably looking for me so..." Julie stepped back from your arms with the biggest smile you’d ever seen on her face, you jokingly bowed to her and she copied the gesture before disappearing behind the door.

You wiped the last of your tears out of your eyes and turned around to find Alex and Reggie were talking in whispers and wearing knowing smiles. When Alex saw you looking, he cleared his throat and nudged Reggie’s shoulder.

“Hey, Reg.” Alex said cheekily, not taking his eyes off of you for even a second. “I was going to check out the next band. You wanna come with me?”

“Sure!” Reggie started strolling towards the door, stopping only for a second to nudge your shoulder and whisper ‘don't do anything I wouldn’t do’ in your ear.

Alex fixed Luke with a pointed look over his shoulder and Reggie gave him a dorky wink before they poofed away. You smiled fondly at the space where they were just standing and awkwardly turned towards Luke.

“Hi.” You said, laughing awkwardly.

“Hi.” Luke muttered back as he stepped forward until he was close enough to grab your hand. “About what I was saying earlier…”

You opened your mouth to say something but he shook his head and pointed to your pocket. “Read it. Please.”

You tugged the note he had given you earlier out of your pocket and carefully folded it open to see that it wasn’t a note at all. It was the love song that Julie had found that day in the garage, the one that he didn’t want anyone to see. You struggled a little trying to decipher Luke's handwriting. The ink was a little smudged and the song was clearly unfinished but it was the most beautiful thing you had ever read. And he had written it for you.

"I didn't leave because we got too close," He said. "It was the opposite, (Y/n), I left because I was scared to lose you, and I know that doesn't make sense because I kind of did w-"

You carefully tucked the paper back in your pocket with one hand and grabbed the back of his neck with the other, pulling him down and closing the last bit of space between you.

Luke's brain short-circuited for a second before he started kissing back, grabbing your waist with enough force to nearly knock you both backwards. It was dizzying and a little desperate, yet weirdly familiar, as if you'd been kissing him your whole life.

Most moments with Luke felt like they were happening in slow motion, but this time it was like a high-speed movie montage of your whole lives. The stolen crayons, the time capsule, the pre performance pep talks, the smell of cinnamon, the ferris wheel, his jacket, the movie nights and songwriting sessions. All of it had led up to this moment.

"I love you." Luke said immediately after you pulled away. "God, I love you so much. I'm such an idiot. I'm sorry."

“Hey, it’s okay.” You laughed, blinking another wave of tears out of your eyes. “I should’ve told you forever ago instead of skirting around it.”

“And what is it that you should’ve told me?” He said teasingly and you rolled your eyes. You had gotten so used to Luke being so shut down or nervous around you that you almost forgot how much of a little shit he could be.

“That I love you too.” You said, unable to stop smiling.

Luke leaned down and captured your lips in another kiss, this time threading his fingers through your hair as he cupped your cheeks in his hands. “I’m never gonna get tired of hearing that.”

You bit your lip to keep another laugh from bubbling up as you looked up at him, feeling completely overwhelmed in the best way possible. "So...what now?"

"I don't know." Luke admitted. "But I know one thing."

"What's that?"

"That no matter where we go, or what we do," He pushed a piece of hair behind your ear. "In life, in death... I'm yours. Always."

-

The End

-

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