𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓟𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼𝓼 & 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓮𝓯

Chapter 17-𝓤𝓷𝓼𝓪𝓲𝓭 𝓔𝓶𝓲𝓵𝔂

𑁍~~☆~~𑁍
"Gᴏ ᴇᴀsʏ ᴏɴ ᴍᴇ, ʙᴀʙʏ,"
"ⵊ ᴡᴀs sᴛɪʟʟ ᴀ ᴄʜɪʟᴅ,"
"Dɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ɢᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴛᴏ,"
"Fᴇᴇʟ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴍᴇ,"
"ⵊ ʜᴀᴅ ɴᴏ ᴛɪᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴄʜᴏᴏsᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ⵊ ᴄʜᴏsᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ,"
"Sᴏ, ɢᴏ ᴇᴀsʏ ᴏɴ ᴍᴇ..."
𑁍~~☆~~𑁍

𝓙𝓾𝓵𝓲𝓮'𝓼 𝓟𝓞𝓥 🜲

After their practice ended late that afternoon, Julie noticed that Luke didn't leave with the others, but wandered off towards the other end of the castle.

She remembered Reggie telling her about him liking the high tower up in the east wing, so that's where she imagined he was heading. Julie thought about all he'd been through that day, even if it was mostly because of her, and thought that he was probably still going through a lot. She knew that if she was in his position, she wouldn't have wanted to be alone, so maybe he didn't either.

Luke was balled up in the window seat when she opened the door to the dusty little library, just as they'd said he'd be. He was turned away from her, staring out across the lands that were visible for miles and miles. His acoustic guitar lay in front of him, like he'd abandoned the desire to play. A wrinkled sheet of paper was clutched in one of the hands that circled his knees, and Julie didn't need to read it to know what it was.

She shut the door behind her silently. "Luke?"

He startled, swiftly wiping at his face, and with a jolt she'd realized he'd been crying. Julie wondered if she should leave him be.

"Hey," his voice was thick as he turned to her, "what are you doing up here?"

"I thought I would check on you..." she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, taking a step towards the door, "but I can go if you want to be alone."

"No, no, stay." He sniffed, shifting to let his feet rest on the floor. "I think I'd prefer your company over whatever this is."

He moved his guitar and Julie sat next to him on the cushion. They pondered in slightly awkward silence for a moment. Julie didn't want to do anything stupid, like ask if he was okay, and she was trying to figure out how to word the other thing she needed to say.

Might as well get it over with. "I um..." she cleared her throat, "I never really apologized like I should have, for everything that's happened these past couple of days. I said some really, really awful things to you and I wish I could take them all back...but I can't, so I'm so sorry."

She knew they were already on friendly terms again, but Julie still couldn't bring herself to meet his eyes after she finished talking.

"Thanks Jules," she could hear the smile in his voice so she looked up, "and again, I'm sorry that we completely bailed on you, that I bailed on you. It was such a careless, dick move."