more oneshots

1 - tis the damn season - juke

you can run, but only so far
i escaped it too, remember how you watched me leave?

-tis the damn season, taylor swift

-

Every note, every melody. It's all because of him, that i am here now. Playing a sold out stadium, thousands of loving fans, he helped me get here.

And yet he left me when I needed him most.

He left me after Dad died.

He left me.

He left.

-

this is her outfit <3

not my pic

-

"Hey Los Angeles, how're you doing?" 

The crowd screams.

"It was here, in Los Angeles, that I played my music for the first time, look how far I've come! But anyway, I have a surprise announcement to make!"

The stadium is silent. Deathly silent.

"On October 22, my 5th studio album invisible will be available to stream on all platforms! And for a treat-"

I am cut off by the screams of the audience, who are so excited. But I can wait. 

I have waited for years.

When the screams die down, I continue.

"I'm going to play you a song from the tracklist. This is tis the damn season!"

I sit at the piano and play.

This is the song I wrote about him.

He knows.

I know.

-

I am singing the final chorus, and I am hoping my voice doesn't crack.

We could call it even
You could call me babe for the weekend
'Tis the damn season, write this down
I'm stayin' at my parents' house
And the road not taken looks real good now

Time flies, messy as the mud on your truck tires
Now I'm missing your smile, hear me out
We could just ride around
And the road not taken looks real good now
And it always leads to you in my hometown

It always leads to you in my hometown

A tear is rolling down my cheek, but I wipe it away and hope no one noticed.

This is my lot in life, and I will bear it.

I am invisible.

-

It was a sunday. Dad died a mere week before. I was looking after Carlos, and the boys were looking after me. It was 2 in the morning, and I couldn't sleep. When my eyes closed, the nightmares came. So I didn't close them. 

And then I heard a rumble - a car. My curtains open, I saw it all happen. I saw him get in the car. I saw the car roll away.

I never told Carlos why he left. I never told Alex or Reggie or Flynn.

I've kept the true reason to myself all these years. He left because of me. It was my fault entirely. 

-

My apartment is filled with my friends. Voices fill the air around me, the sound familiar. Congratulations and hugs are smothering me, and yet all I can think about is how he didn't come. I was a fool. I invited him. He saw the invite and thought it was stupid. Obviously.  I can't believe I did that. 

"Julie." Flynn's voice cuts through my haze of self-hatred. "You're not stupid. He's stupid." She knows me far too well.

"... yeah." My eyes are trained on the floor.

"Jules-" The doorbell cuts her off.

I stand, grateful for the escape from this necessary but excruciating conversation. I'm expecting Alex and Reggie. And that is what I get, but there is someone else there.

Luke.

-

Luke left because I did... something. Or rather, wrote something. Something that he was never supposed to find, but I gather he did anyway. I'd come back to my room that night, opened my dream box to put a song I'd written in. And I noticed something was missing. It didn't click at first. Soon, though, I'd realised Perfect Harmony was missing. And then he left. I know it's because he found that song, and didn't feel the same. But after all this time, I'd foolishly assumed he would be keen to make amends. I certainly was. 

-

"Julie, I-"

I cut him off. "I'm so sorry, Luke. I-"

He returned the favour. "What- why are you sorry?"

My mouth opened and closed, like a goldfish out of water. I was very out of my depth. "Well- because- Perfect Harmony, right? That's why you left."

"I don't know what that is. I left because of Caleb. He told me that- nevermind. It doesn't matter."

I smile. "Come in."

-

word count - 710