electric touch // luke patterson

mirrorball - taylor swift

GRACIE AND FLYNN SQUEALED, running to hug each other as julie chuckled.

"you were incredible." the girl complimented julie before she turned to gracie, "and i seriously need to raid your closet."

gracie did a quick spin, showing off her outfit with a laugh. once she finished, she rested against the chair luke was sitting on, "i appreciate it, flynn. but how was i?"

flynn rolled her eyes, shoving her friend lightly, "as if you need to be told you're amazing."

"hey. hey! whoever carrie was trying to impress is coming this way." luke announced.

the girls looked over, watching as a woman in business casual attire made her way to them.

"she looks all business." alex remarked.

reggie almost fell off the chair he was on from how fast he sat up straight, "wait. who should do the talking?" the band sent him looks before he nodded, "right. julie. julie."

"yeah." the mentioned girl exhaled, preparing herself.

"you got this." luke and gracie whispered to the girl at the same time, causing them to lock eyes and the boy to blush.

"hi, i'm andi parker, and i would -"

"julie." gracie stiffened, her stomach dropping at the sight of julie's father with her entire family.

"dad." julie said in surprise.

his jaw was clenched as he nodded towards the door, "it's time to go."

julie and gracie locked eyes before andi parker nodded with a stiff smile and walked off. without the lady blocking her, gracie ducked her head and turned to face flynn and the guys. julie left her side and at the silence that followed, gracie knew that her family was waiting for her.

"that's a taylor song." she chose to say uncomfortably to flynn. the guys shared looks while the blonde tugged on her hair.

"gracie margaret scobell." her father called.

"oh, the full name." reggie winced. gracie sighed before slowly turning and walking up to her parents. jj was pointing to his phone, mouthing i got it all on video! but madeleine was looking down at her shoes, waiting for the argument brewing.

the blonde sighed, leading the way to where she knew the car would be.

the ride back to the house was deathly silent with gracie hugging her guitar to her chest. she was in the middle of her siblings, trying to prepare herself for what was to come once they got home. as soon as they entered the house, one look sent to her siblings from caeden forced them upstairs. gracie slowly placed her guitar down on the couch, sitting down beside it.

her parents were in front of her, arms crossed. she took the risk and glanced up only to immediately duck her head again at their hard stares. she rarely ever got in trouble, she never did anything to get in trouble for. this was new for the whole family.

"so after you miss three classes today, let your grades drop, and missed a test, you decide it'd be a good idea to sneak out and play in a band we didn't even know you were in? for that boy, huh? is that why you joined, so you could be with your boyfriend?" her mom asked in a deathly calm voice.

gracie scratched her head, ignoring her red cheeks, "that's not what happened."

"then why don't you tell us? you've hardly spoken to us in weeks - and then you left jj home all alone at night after we gave you strict orders? was that for the band too?" her dad asked.

gracie sighed, "it's... it's complicated."

"everything is with you. how are we supposed to know anything about you and your life if you don't talk to us?" her mom stressed, a frown on her face.

the blonde sighed again, "julie got kicked out of the music program and we played with her to help her get back in. and it was so i could bring my grade up in music. mrs. harrison gave me an 100 after those guys and julie played with me. she just hasn't updated it yet because it's tedious and teachers always wait, that's not even a lie. and - and julie had an emergency the night i left jj. i never would've left him alone if i knew it wasn't important."

"my grades aren't dropping, either. i have As in all my classes, it's just that now i'm trying to have fun. i'm sixteen, i can't just do the same thing every day. i still want to go to college and i still want my grades to stay up, but i have two years until i graduate, this is the perfect year for me to have fun and do everything i've always wanted to do. i've always loved music, and now those guys - that band, they've helped me grow and get better. i never would've grown out of my stage fright without them. it's partially for julie and those boys, because they've lost so much more than i can explain, but it's also for me."

"im finally doing something for myself, and im having fun. this isn't about some boy and this isn't about rebelling. im only a teen once, and i just want to enjoy that. can't either of you guys understand that?" she finished, panting softly.

her parents exchanged looks before her dad sighed and sat down, "we should have listened to you. we know you're so much more than your grades and you won't have the same interests as your siblings, we shouldn't have expected that of you."

gracie nodded before saying quietly, "im sorry."

her mom uncrossed her arms and sat beside her husband, "we are too... i guess i haven't heard you play or sing for awhile. you're really good and have amazing potential. i..." she sighed, "i shouldn't have thought otherwise."

gracie smiled slightly, "it's okay."

a soft silence unfolded before her mom looked away from caeden to her daughter, "so, that boy... you don't like him?"

gracie scrunched up her nose, "we're not dating."

"you look like it." her dad muttered.

the girl shook her head, chuckling awkwardly, "definitely not."

"will we be able to meet them, then?" her mom questioned.

"oh... probably not. at least, not for a long time," her parents gave her questioning looks making her quickly add, "they live sorta far, it's hard to explain. they just don't like to be seen."

caeden sighed, "kids are weird."

"tell me about it." she mumbled, picking at her nails.