Phantoms Movie Nights (one shots)

DIRTY DANCING

Alex was on a date with Willie, she'd spotted Reggie following her dad around the house, and Luke was visiting his parents again so this was the perfect time to work on the new song she'd come up with. It was still just a vague idea at this point and she wanted to solidify it a bit more before she showed it to the boys.

She cheerily swung the doors to the garage open and walked in, picking up her lyrics journal that she'd bought just after the boys became corporeal so they didn't have to keep writing in Luke's all the time. She started looking round for a pen, swearing she'd left one with her journal. Although, she'd gotten used to Reggie fiddling with them and then leaving them in random places instead of returning them to her journal, so she wasn't too surprised it was gone.

It wasn't until she checked round the back of Alex's drums that she found Luke. She jumped when she saw him, not expecting there to be anyone in the studio, but she quickly composed herself.

He was curled up in the corner of the room, his knees pulled up to his chest. His elbows were resting on his knees and his fingers were threaded through his hair. Julie couldn't see his face but from the occasional quiet sniff she could hear, she could tell that he clearly wasn't okay.

She slowly crouched down in front of him, reaching out to place a hand on his arm but then pulling away, deciding against it. She didn't want to startle him and make things worse.

"Luke?" she asked softly, trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible, despite her rising worry.

His head jerked up, a mixture of shock and embarrassment flickering across his face. He quickly tried to wipe his tears away with his sleeve, not meeting Julie's eyes.

"Didn't think anyone would come in here..." he mumbled, his gaze focused on his lap.

Julie breathed out a laugh. "Me neither."

He sniffed. "Sorry..."

"Hey, no, it's okay," she assured him, moving to kneel in front of him. "Why are you— what's up?"

He finally looked up at her, his eyes red and blotchy. "I went to see my parents."

"Oh, okay."

She already knew this, of course.

Luke went to see his parents every so often, and it usually left him feeling a bit drained or upset, but he usually bounced back pretty quickly. She hadn't seen him this upset about seeing them since she'd shown them Unsaid Emily.

"It was just them, like it usually is, Mum was sitting on the couch reading and Dad was making dinner, rushing round the kitchen, but there was also a cake on the counter with candles stuck in it..." he ran his hands through his hair, and as he continued his voice cracked, "it's her birthday...it's my mum's birthday and I totally forgot..."

"Oh, Luke..."

"And it sorta just hit me how old they look and how much time has actually passed and I just...I've missed so much, Julie, so much, and I know things weren't always great between us but I—" he ran his hands down his shins, pulling his knees closer to his chest, curling in on himself, "I really really miss them."

Julie shuffled until she was sat beside him and reached her arm around his shoulders, gently pulling him closer.

He leant his head against her shoulder, beginning to relax as he breathed out a long sigh.

They sat there in the quiet as Luke's breathing slowed and his sniffs became less and less frequent. After a while Julie said, "When my mum's birthday came around, the first time after she...after she left," she felt Luke's hand come to rest over hers, "it was one of the worst days I'd had since it happened. I didn't want to do anything. I just wanted to pretend it wasn't happening, like it was just another day, but Dad wanted to do at least something to remember her so we baked her favourite cake and ate it whilst watching her favourite movie and though it didn't make everything better, it did fill that hole for just a little while."