͏͏͏͏b͏͏r͏͏i͏͏g͏͏h͏͏t ͏͏t͏͏o͏͏g͏͏e͏͏t͏͏h͏͏e͏͏r

010. turned around

Flynn stayed in the kitchen with Reggie while he finished cooking his dumpling soup, and Julie walked out to the studio to go wait for the food to finish with Luke and Alex.

"Julie, whoa, you're back already?" asked Alex. "That must've been a really fast date."

Julie shook her head. "Yeah, we didn't make it to whatever thing he had planned. I told him to pull over, and I ran for it. Flynn picked me up... and I kinda just left him there."

"He doesn't know you left?" asked Alex.

Julie shook her head. "Nope."

"Why... Why did you leave?" Luke asked quietly.

Julie shrugged. "I'll explain more in-depth when Reggie finishes making dinner, but Nick was acting really weird. Like, even weird for him."

Alex frowned. "What did he say? Or do?"

"I'll tell you guys about it when Reggie gets in here," said Julie. "So, how was your day?" She asked the two boys.

Luke shrugged and sighed dramatically. "Could've been better. I tried working on a new song, but it didn't really work out."

The truth was, the song he'd been writing was about Julie. He wanted to write something for her to explain how he felt, but he just couldn't put it into words. When he was around her when she was talking to other guys besides the ones they lied with, he got jealous. When she iced him out, he also felt hurt. All he wanted was for Julie to be happy... and of course, to be with him.

"I'm glad you started working on something new again," Julie said with a smile. "Sorry, I wasn't here to help. I've just... kinda had a stressful day."

Luke shrugged it off. "It's okay, Jules. I think we all kinda had a weird day."

Julie smiled. "Thanks, Luke." She then turned to Alex. "What about you, Alex?"

"I've been thinking about talking to Willie again soon," Alex commented. "I want to talk to him about this whole Caleb thing. Maybe he knows something we don't. About his past or something."

Julie nodded. "I mean, if you want to, it couldn't hurt. I just don't want any more weird things happening."

Luke nodded with wide eyes. "You can say that again."

"I, uhm, think I'm gonna go see how long it'll be before Reggie finishes cooking," said Alex, purposely attempting to leave Julie and Luke alone to talk.

"Oh, wait, I'll come with you," said Julie. She then turned to Luke. "You should come too. Then we can all just eat in the kitchen."

Luke shrugged. "It's fine. We can just wait out here. Alex'll just be a minute. I promise I won't mention what happened earlier."

"Oh, no, I wasn't worried about that," Julie lied. "I just meant, it might be a better place to tell you guys about what happened."

Luke rolled his eyes and sighed. "Alright, Jules. Let's go."

"Hey, Reg, are you almost done cooking?" Alex asked as the three wandered into the kitchen from the front door.

"What?" Reggie asked as he turned around, fully decked out in cooking gear. He wore a white frilly apron, red and white Christmas chef's hat, and evergreen decorated oven mitts.

Julie tried to mask her laughter by asking, "What are you wearing?"

Reggie brightly smiled and said, "It's a holiday classic! Red, white, and green. I'm a much cooler-looking cook than Mrs. Claus. I guarantee my dumpling soup is better than her cookies."