You Are The Music In Me

Chapter 15

Julie watched Jax walk away from their table. How crazy that she was seeing her former best friend after all these years! She couldn't wait to tell Flynn. While Flynn wasn't as close with Jax as she was, the three of them had spent some good times together.

Alex watched Jax walk away from their table. As much as he thought Julie and Luke should be together, Jax definitely was an interesting new development. He actually could kind of see some similarities between Jax and Luke, with the notable exception that Jax was alive.

Reggie watched Jax walk away from their table. He could really sing. Should they consider asking him to join the band? I mean, they invited Julie, and while technically they formed a new group together, they were definitely the best they've ever been.

Luke did not watch Jax walk away from their table. He waited a minute for his bandmates to turn back towards him. Nothing happened. Annoyed, he cleared his throat and spoke. "So guys you said there was some big surprise for me?" Having forgot practically anything before Jax's arrival, Alex and Reggie exchanged a happy look. Julie didn't know what was going on, but based on the fact that they apparently had a new dog, she figured it was whatever mystery surprises her dad had been working on.

Reggie gave a dramatic drumroll. "There's a reason why I'm the drummer Reg." Reggie stuck his tongue out at Alex.

"Ray got you a car!" Reggie screamed.

"Wait, what? Why did he get you a car and not me?" Julie asked incredulously. Luke was speechless. He couldn't imagine why Ray would have done that.

"And the best part, he got it for us to use as a band. To go to gigs and stuff." Alex added.

Luke had a mixture between joy, embarrassment, awe, and pride on his face. Julie knew her dad had done a perfect job. She could tell how much this meant to Luke. And to the rest of the band too – it showed his support in what they were doing.

"Guys! This is amazing! We're going to have a band van! Should we get a roadie? Do we need a roadie or will our instruments still poof in with us. What colour is it? Should we give it a name? Guys why are we still sitting here? Show me to my van!" Alex, Reggie, and Luke sat in stunned silence. Reggie was normally the one to talk like this. Honestly it was kind of funny seeing Luke all hyper.

Luke jumped up out of his seat, yelled bye to Olivia, and headed out to the street. Which was kind of pointless seeing as he didn't know what the car looked like nor did he have the keys. When Luke realized this and the fact that everyone else was still inside, he ran back to the table and practically dragged them till they were all together in front of an old rusty van.

Julie thought back to where she had almost been jealous about Luke getting a car instead of her. Definitely not anymore. This thing looked like it would break down if you leaned on it.

"THIS IS AWESOME!" Luke was so excited, he threw the panel door open and instantly started describing what they could do to it, and how they could make it really cool.

"Just as long as we don't start singing Grease Lightning." Alex said. "Though Reggie does already have the leather jacket, so maybe it's inevitable."

Julie just watched as her boys – yes, they were her boys – talked animatedly about the van, and whether or not Reggie could have been a T-Bird. She ran over to them and gave them a big group hug. They were a happy little family and nothing could change that.

Talk about jinxing it.

***

After the van stalling a few times, the band finally made it home. Luke couldn't stop thanking Ray for the van. Ray was excited too. He remembered fixing up his first car with his dad, and he hoped the boys would let him get involved. Reggie and Carlos were playing on the floor with Butter who had happily taken one of Carlos' shoes hostage. Julie made eye contact with Alex, who nodded his head to get her to follow him to his room downstairs.

As soon as Alex closed the door, he turned to Julie. "Spill."

Julie pretended to not know what he meant.

"Julie, c'mon. I need so many more details about both Jax and what's going on with you and Luke."

Julie considered her options, but ultimately realized that there was no point in trying to hide the truth from Alex. She rolled her eye and shook her head. "Fiiiiine. Well with Jax there isn't too much to tell that you didn't already hear. He's an old friend."

"An old friend who is Hemsworth level hot. And is insanely talented. And who asked you out already."

Julie blushed and looked down. "Well yes, that too." Alex smugly nodded. "But things are complicated with me and Luke that I don't even know if I should be going out with Jax."

Alex felt bad for Julie. Well sort of. I mean her problem was that there were two attractive guys who wanted to go out with her. But he loved Julie so he didn't tease her about that. "So what happened on your date with Luke?"

Julie noticed that Alex called it a date, even though he was originally going to be with them. Hmmm. "Well it was actually going really well, and then essentially I had a panic that turned into a spiral about how it would never work, and all of these horrible thoughts were in my mind that I just felt so frozen. I was afraid that if I moved I would start crying. He looked so uncomfortable that I thought it would be best to leave, and I don't even know if he does like me that way. I mean sometimes he acts like he does, but Luke is also just a really sweet guy, so maybe I'm reading into everything. Plus tonight he said that he wanted to pretend it never happened. And then there's Olivia. Did you see how she kept looking at him tonight? Like she wanted me to know that she was interested or something."

Alex knew what it felt like to go into an anxiety spiral. It was different for everyone, and everyone calmed down differently, so he wasn't sure what she needed, but for right now, it sounded like she needed to rant.

"And why is she so tall? And blonde?"

"Um... you do realize who you're talking to right now, right?"

"Sorry Alex. UGH! She's just... the opposite of me I guess. And Luke seems to already really like her." Julie shook her head and looked away from Alex. "Tonight I was going to apologize to Luke about what happened. I was going to tell him that I thought we should try again, and try to tell him how I feel. I had pictured out this whole scene in my head where he would be so happy that he wouldn't be able to wait another day, and we would go on this super romantic date. He would hold my hand and we would lay on a blanket and watch the stars. It would be perfect. I mean, I even got dressed up. I shaved my legs."

Alex chuckled. He found girls these days described the level of intensity based on the frequency of shaving their legs.

"Julie, I hate to sound like a broken record, but I think you should talk to him."

"Did you miss the part where that was my plan? But then he essentially said he regretted it, then talked about how great Olivia was. I'm not mad at him or anything, but I don't think now would be a good time to go about professing my undying love for him!"

Neither said anything for a moment.

"Soooo..." Alex pursed his lips and wasn't sure what to say. Rather than just dissecting what she had just said, Julie flopped on his bed and screamed into a pillow. Alex rubbed her back slowly till she fell asleep. Apparently Julie liked to starfish in bed, so Alex was going to have to sleep on the floor. "Screw this." Alex poofed up to Julie's room. Why sleep on the floor when there was a perfectly good bed up here. Alex loved Julie and Luke. But they were both old enough to handle this situation on their own, right? Plus, maybe Jax would be not betterfor Julie, but maybe what she needed right now. Alex decided he would leave it alone, but then he saw a crumpled piece of paper by Julie's door.

Jules,

I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. I never meant to do that. You're the best thing that's happened in my life. Or afterlife. I'm here for you, no matter what. I'll always be here for you. We can pretend like it never happened. If that's what you want, come meet me at the café after work. I miss you Jules.

Luke

Well shoot.