Revaluation that's been dancing in the rain

6. Unknowing

I lean against the locker beside Julies, as Flynn approches us.
"Hey, what's up?" Julie asks when she sees Flynn laughing
"Nothing, it's just nice to see you back to your weirdo self"
"You should have seen her steal some guys drum sticks,
totally not cool Juls you never touch a guys instrument" I joke
"Thanks" she responds rolling her eyes and holding in a laugh
"So how's the band, still hot? Still talented? Still-" Flynn stops and looks at me
"Still in Sweden?" I laugh finishing her sentence
"Ya that" Flynn nods
"Hey by the way what happened between you two anyway?" I ask as we make our way to my locker
"Friday you were pissed at her but now all's forgiven and you're asking about the band?"
I question clearly having missed something
"Oh well Flynn came over and we talked it out" Julie explains to me and I chose to ignore that fact that I know she's lying based on the nervous nodding she always does when she lies.
"We'll I'm glad you two could work it out, so how are the mystery boys?"
"Amazing. Luke and I spent the whole weekend writing songs"
"Is that why I was kicked out of the studio all weekend?" I ask turning around to face her
"Maybe" she giggles nervously "Sorry"
I shrug "All good, so who's Luke again?"
"The guitarist"
"Oh he's killer" I say remembering his skills
"And cute" Flynn adds
"Right, well do you guys wanna hear some of the songs?"
"Sorry Juls gotta get to class , but hey let's go Mocha after school. You know since you abandoned me all weekend"
"Sure see you later"
"Okay bye bitches" I blow them kisses and head for the drama department.

The drama program is a lot more demanding than the music program,
a big part of why it's so difficult to get a spot.
I spend the first half of my day there, then lunch and my normal classes.
I'm in nearly no classes with Julie and Flynn anymore,
a dance class three times a week and a music class once a week.
The first half of my day is filled with warm up, line practice, chemistry labs, blocking, music run through and fittings.
So pretty much every possible thing we could do.
Tanna, the head of the costume department, is a sweet little thing, 5" nothing with curly chestnut hair and round glasses.
Despite her strawberry shortcake exterior I'd been well warned not to get on her bad side.
For that exact reason I try my hardest to stay perfectly still while she takes my measurements and then begins altering a skirt on me.
"So how did you have a skirt for my costume already?" I ask
"Charity shop, it's exactly what we need and it's easy make a skirt smaller" she mutters in response
"Smart" I say nodding noticing that the skirt is about 3 sizes too big
"No moving" she snaps
"Sorry" I remain still again
"Okay go, come back after last bell and your skirt will be done. You can take it home but it must be brought back tomorrow in perfect condition. Also a white button up if you own one"
"Right thanks Tanna" I say and she just nods and brings the skirt to her work station.
The rest of my day mundanely goes by and after school Jullie and I head to a coffee shop not far from the school.

"Juls you know how I'm an actor?" I ask as the two of us are sat in the small cafe drinking our drinks.
Usually we would go to the musical diner two streets away,
Julie loving the singing waiters and I loving the woodland décor and the Disney songs
but every now and then I love coming to trendy L.A cafes
and watching 'influencers' take photos of their food.
It's a weird hobby that Julie says she could never understand and honestly neither do I but I enjoy it so that's all that matters.
Besides this café is a lot quiter then the diner.
"Ya I remember?" Julie says rightfully confused considering I've done acting since I was young,
but I just continue
"So this means I have quite a bit of first hand experience with stage chemistry"
"Right" she says
dragging out the i
"I like to think I have pretty much mastered it"
"It is very believable, yes" she continues to be skeptical at my unnatural boasting
"It also means I can tell the diffrence between real and fake chemistry"
"You did correctly guess that Mr Jame's wife was his beard"
She laughs remembering when our 7th grade teacher finally came out
"So you agree with me?"
"I suppose so, sure. Whats this about?" She finally asks
"Luke, there's definitely something going on there, the chemistry
between you two is real"
"What" Julie drags out
"Thats crazy"
"Come on Juls its just us here. I'm not saying you're dating or that you dont like Nick anymore,
I just know what I saw and what I saw was real chemisty.
Not to mention he's the first person you've written music with since Rose."
She says nothing, just looks down at her coffee contemplating speaking.
I place a hand on hers
"You don have to tell me. but if you want to,"
"You're here. I know, thanks Jessie"
I squeeze her hand before letting go "Always bitch, can't get rid of me"
"Wouldn't want to"
"Really? I'm sick of you"
She hits my hand and we both laugh.
"So speaking of the band are you guys ready for Wednesday?"
"How did you know about that"
"Flynn told me, besides she has posters all over school"
"I haven't told the guys yet, I'll have to tell them tonight so we can get started on our set"
"So I'm banished from the studio again" I joke sure it's annoying not to be allowed out there but it was Julie's moms studio so what she says goes
"Sorry" she smiles nervously always hating to put someone out
"All good" I reassure her smiling back

Julie spends the entire afternoon and evening out in the studio only coming in for dinner and then to go to bed.
I lie awake on the couch in the living room,
complete silence other then the sound of the
kitchen clock ticking.
I try and sleep but I can't.
I don't know if it's the uncomfortable couch with dips in it from years of use,
the ticking of the cloock or the light from the kitchen that's stopping my sleep.
I sit up at this thought.
There really shouldn't be any light coming from the kitchen.
I get off the couch and walk into the kitchen only to find it completely empty.
That's not surprising, it should be empty at this time of night,
there no signs that anyone was in here since dinner.
No dirty plates left out or crumbs on the counter, Only the fridge which is left open.
It's not just open a crack like someone forgot to close it, it's wide open.
Even Carlos is too old to be leaving the fridge this widely open.
Just as I stand in front of it the thing starts beeping to remind you it's been left open,
so it definitely hadn't been open since dinner.
It was only opened recently.
"The lack of sleep must be really getting to me" I mutter and hit the button to stop the beeping.
I have a look in the fridge and pull out the food Julie's tía brought over the night before.
She may be overbearing but she's a dammed good cook.
I close the fridge behind me and put the food down on the island.
Grabbing a fork I sit in front of the food and help myself to the cold dish.
I know I really should sleep,
just thinking of everything I have to do tomorrow is making me tired but not enough to actually manage to fall sleep.
School, after school rehearsal and then dress shopping with Flynn for the dance.
I definitely shouldn't cancel on that, she's annoyed enough that Juls might be rehearsing instead and won't be able to join us, and I probably could use with a nice outfit for it.
My collection of over sized tanks and cropped shirts don't fit the occasion and any dresses I have would probably get me kicked out before I could even hear Juls sing.
Besides even with the fridge light off it's unlikely I'll get any sleep tonight and if I somehow do manage to drift off I'd probably wake myself and everyone else in the house with another nightmare.
Deciding I definitely won't get any sleep tonight I clean up after myself and head out to the studio. Julie was asleep so I had full range to use the space.
Obviously I couldn't play music or sing loudly so practicing my songs for the play was out of the question and I had spent the day running lines with Ray as he cooked dinner and checked his equipment in preparation for his job tomorrow.
That just leaves dancing.
It's almost harder to learn someone else's choreography then to make up and learn my own.
I keep wanting to fix or add my own stuff, make it more my style.
I walk over to the stereo to hook up my phone to it, to play the music quietly to dance to.
There is a CD in the stereo, it's black with white writing.
I open the CD player to read the name on it.
Julie doesn't really listen to CDs opting for her iPod which is just as outdated but Rose got it for her,
so this must be one of Roses CDs.
She had the biggest collection of CDs, demos and merch from her bands and from upcoming artist she saw perform while working.
She used to be a server at a couple of different venues, so she got to see a lot of bands for free.
Mostly smaller band just starting out or band rehearsals.
I recognise the CD as the demo of a band she saw rehearse at the Orpheum.
SUNSET CURVE
It must have been here since before she passed.
She would tell me about the four boys and how they came up and flirted with her before giving her a demo and a shirt.
'Size beautiful' she always laughed
Three of them died an hour later and never got to preform,
Rose used to say that they probably would have been the next big thing.
She felt so bad that they had died so young, before they got a chance to succeed.
Rose and I would sit out here and listen to the CD, Julie never wanted to join us and I loved having something just mine and Rose's.
Now or Never was my favourite and the first song I fully learn to play on guitar by myself.
It was really hard to do without music sheets, I had to listen to the song over and over again to try and figure it out.
I resist the urge to play the CD, I really should get practicing my choreography.
Last thing I want is to show up to my first rehearsal as an actual member and be unprepared.
I plug in my phone, change into my costume, or at least what I have of it and begin practicing.
I practice until I'm happy and by then I can start to hear the first chirps of the morning birds.
I check my phone and see it's about 5 am
"Let's hope for an easy day" I mutter to myself.
I use the studio bathroom and change out of my costume back into my sleepwear.
I may as well try and get a couple hours of sleep.
I go over to the stereo and make sure it is off.
I pocket the CD and head back into the house.
I slip it into my bag so I can listen to it tomorrow and lie back down on the couch.
I really hope this doesn't cause an issue.
Juls never had any interest in this band or CD before but since Rose is gone it might be different.
I push the thought away
Tomorrow's issue
and manage to finally fall asleep.