Bluebirds Without Wings | Julie and the Phantoms

Eye Contact

Julie's jaw dropped when she saw the video. She knew Luke played the guitar, but she didn't know he played it that well and that he sang, too. She didn't know Reggie played the bass and that Lady Ann Mercer's son was friends with them. Flynn already kept pushing on the fact that Julie was warming up to her royal guard, so she tried to act like the song was mediocre at best and Flynn stopped pushing it.

But once Flynn left, Julie drove herself crazy trying to find the video. She memorized the title of it, but she couldn't find it no matter how hard she tried, and she slammed her laptop shut, sighing. She didn't know where in town that was, but it would explain why Luke looked exhausted when he walked her to breakfast. She didn't realize she was shaking her foot up and down until she made it stop.

She inhaled and then exhaled before she walked towards her door. She stopped in front of it, shaking out her hand. She didn't know why she was getting so nervous. She pulled her hair back before opening her door. Luke immediately straightened his back out and blinked very fast, trying to hide a yawn behind blown up lips. He started walking down the hall, Julie watching him until he turned back and realized she wasn't walking with him.

"Is it not lunch yet?" Luke asked, checking his watch. His cheeks turned red, realizing lunch was two hours away. It made Julie want to laugh, but she held it down.

"Long night?" Julie asked him. Luke pursed his lips, staying quiet. "Flynn showed me the video." The words were lodged in her throat. Like it was too early since they made up. "You're amazing." Luke's face broke into a smile, and he looked down at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck. Julie liked his smile. "Can you take me to the place in the video?" The smile was gone.

"What?" His eyes were wide, and he almost seemed terrified that she was asking. "No. Your dad will throw me off a cliff. If not him, Bobby will."

"You're impossible to fire," Julie said. "I've tried." Luke's corner lip tugged into a smile, but he forced it back down.

"No. I'm sorry, Princess Julie." He looked at the wall, pretending to be focused on a landscape painting, away from her eyes. Julie realized he was afraid to look her in the eye. She couldn't blame him.

"My dad won't get mad." He would, but Luke didn't need to know that, and her dad didn't need to find out.

"Princess-"

"Please. Won't I be safe as long as I'm with you?" she asked him. There was nothing in truth in that question. He was supposedly the best of the best and in part, she was scared and trusted Luke to look after her if things happened to go south. She was used to him now. Luke looked up at her with big eyes, much softer now.

He sighed, twisting side to side before looking at her and saying, "Okay."

"Sweet. Let's go birdwatching." Luke looked thrown off by her sudden request, and it took a few seconds before Julie heard him walking behind her.

The woods were bright that day. It was a complete contrast to the castle. It seemed like the maids forgot to open the curtains, but it was just the energy in the castle. Like they were pretending to do other things that were more important. She wondered if there was a go-bag for her somewhere in the castle, ready for her to abandon her people if the kingdom reached a major crisis.

Julie looked around for her binoculars she hid in a bush at the wood's entrance. Luke seemed surprised when she took them out, and she smiled at him. He once again looked away from her, blinding himself with a streak of sun breaking through.

"They're quiet today," Julie told him. She always found herself sweating before talking to him but once she was with him, she wanted to spill out every word of everything she was doing. She let out a whistle, and he looked at her again like she pulled down a star. "You don't whistle?" Luke let out long, single note whistle and then smirked. The birds sang back, and Julie looked around. They chose him over her for a moment. She smiled and took off her shoes, walking quietly with them in one hand and the binoculars in another.

After a few moments, she noticed she couldn't hear Luke. She turned around and found him walking behind her on his tiptoes, his shoes also in hands. She turned around before they could make eye contact. Maybe she was scared of it, too. Not a very good habit for a diplomat.

She looked around with her binoculars and found herself pointing at a redheaded woodpecker, looking at Luke to make sure he was saw it. He nodded and smiled, looking up. She walked closer to him to hand him her binoculars, and he took a step back because of her sudden movement. "I don't bite," she told him, handing him the binoculars. He nodded and looked through them, the woodpecker making itself a new home.

Luke tapped her on the shoulder which took her by surprise, and he looked afraid when she looked back at him with broad eyes. His finger was pointing in a different direction, and he had it half lowered from her reaction. She looked closer and saw a different woodpecker perched on a branch. "You're a natural at this already," she whispered to him. The birds flew off despite her attempted quietness, but she didn't mind. There was a skip in her walk as she continued walking.

She wondered what Luke was thinking. That he trained for a battle to the death, and he was bird watching with the Princess he swore to die for. She wondered when he made that oath. She wasn't there for when he got knighted. They didn't make a big deal out of the royal knight ceremony like they did for Bobby many years back. She wondered if it was to keep war talk out of people's mouths for as long as possible. Either way, it had been visibly passed on to the castle workers and would soon go onto everyone else.

"Sir Luke," she turned to look at him. He looked at her with ready eyes. She whispered even if it was just them two alone in the woods. "Do you know if there's any news regarding the war."

He shook his head. "I haven't been kept in the loop as much since I started guarding you." She thought it was strange. He should be one of the people who knows the most. Then again, her dad didn't want her to know a lot, and he knew how persuasive she could be. Only her parents knew how to tell her no. And Flynn on occasions. Her dad knew Luke wouldn't know how to so fast, and Luke didn't look like a liar.

"I see."

"Can I ask," Luke said abruptly. Julie raised an eyebrow, Luke folding his hands together and looking through the trees. "Why you didn't want me around so bad?" Julie's heart sank. Had she really hurt his feelings?

"I'm sorry," she started off. "It wasn't you. It was the idea of having a guard. I think it just meant my dad was actually scared of something, and I didn't know what was going on. I'm still being left in the dark after I've known everything my whole life. I took that fear out on you. I'm really sorry." Luke looked her in the eye and gave her half a smile. It was honest and healing, her mistakes always forgiven.

"It's alright. I just wanted to know." Julie pressed her lips close together and studied his face. He met her eyes for a few seconds and hastily looked away. She wondered when he'd stop being intimidated by her. Was she that hard to look at? And he? He was very interesting to her. His words and the way he annunciated things.

"Do you have an accent?" she asked. It sounded familiar. Like she grew up hearing it somewhere.

"No," he said hastily, crossing his arms. "I get asked, that um, a lot. But no. I'm from here. I mean. Maybe? Maybe just my hometown lingo." He was usually so collected. It strange seeing him fall apart so fast over one question. Maybe it was an insecurity of his.

"Where are you from?" she asked. He turned his whole body away from her and walked over to a plant, crouching down to pretend to study it.

"Silvone." Julie tried to remember Silvone and where it was on the map of her kingdom she had studied almost everyday for years. It was the furthest away from the castle, off on its own and dedicated to mining. Not a lot of knights came in from Silvone. Maybe it ostracized him from the rest of the academy to be so different.

"Were your parents' miners?" she asked him. He stayed quiet for a second.

"My dad is. My mom's a teacher. A great one."

"What made you come here?" Another pause.

"Necessity." She didn't ask any further.

-

An early morning update? Who could've guessed I had it in me. I went nuts and chapters 10-12 are finished. Will probably upload one every 3-5 days just so that I have content, depending on how writing the rest of the chapters go. I'm in a really good groove right now :) Thank you for all the comments and votes <3 Please remember to vote on this chapter, too. I'm so close to hitting 1k, and I'm geeking.  Lots of love!!