The Music Academy

Songs For Sang: A miniseries in 11 parts ~Part 7~

Luke stared out the window of the soon to be diner Uncle was going to be opening. He and North had come over to look at the state of the inside to make some plans for what would need to be done before they could turn it into a restaurant. He was honestly just along for the ride and he suspected to be kept out of trouble because Uncle loved him, he was aware of this but sometimes he was a handful.

At least that's what he'd been told since he was little.

Luke didn't think he was THAT much of a handful, thank you very much.

His eyes stuck on movement at the edge of the old playground that was first on the list to be demolished. "I'm going outside." He called out to North, making a split-second decision to go investigate. It looked like a girl was hanging outside and if she needed a friend her age, then he could point her easily to Jessica's house. He received a grunt in return and quickly made his way outside.

Don't get him wrong, he loved the idea of the diner and chocolate chip pancakes on call 24/7 but being inside in August was not what he wanted. He'd rather be up a tree or working on safely scaling the side of a building.

He made his way over, noting the small statured girl on the swings. He made up his mind to apologize that her playground was going to be eliminated but as he got close enough to almost touch her, her posture stiffened and she sat up straight before turning the swing, crossing the chains, and facing him. The words he was about to speak stuck in his throat and instead of apologizing or saying hi, he sang. "Sweet dreams are made of this, Who am I to disagree, I travel the world and the seven seas, Everybody's looking for something..."

Her eyes widened and she smiled. "Hi. I'm going to make a stab in the dark and guess that you know Kota and the others?"

He smiled back. "How'd you know?" He asked, offering his hand to her. "I'm Lucian Taylor but you can call me Luke." He noted his surprise that she appeared older than he initially presumed and was pleased that she seemed to be his age.

"The singing sort of clued me in. Sang Sorenson, nice to meet you, Luke." she shrugged before shaking his hand and letting the chains uncross. She got off the swing. "Am I in the way? I didn't intend on trespassing, I just needed to explore somewhere for a bit."

"You're not in the way at all." He was quick to reassure her. "I was coming out to apologize that the playground is going to be torn down." He ran his hand over his head. "I thought you were younger. I mean, around the age of Kota's sister, Jessica."

She grinned. "I usually do get that a lot. I'm just small for my age. But I have met Jessica."

"You're petite. Not small really. It's the distance." He felt himself babble. "What's your favorite food?"

Her eyes lit up. "My most favorite food in the world is chocolate chip pancakes."

"I love you." He blurted before blushing.

Her eyes widened in astonishment. "But we just met." She blinked.

"Sorry." He looked sheepish. "It's just that MY favorite food in the world is chocolate chip pancakes. Have you had the ones at IHOP with the chocolate batter, chocolate sauce and chocolate whipped cream?"

"No but now I have to before I die." She said. "No maple syrup, right? Side of bacon?"

Luke nodded. "Sometimes, if I make them at home, I add the bacon to the batter. It's really good that way too."

"I will have to try that. It sounds amazing." She smiled.

He was a goner for sure at the sight of that smile. "Well the best news ever is that my uncle is turning this into a diner so there will be chocolate chip pancakes available right here all the time."

"Really? That's amazing. I like having on call pancakes."

His grin widened. "Me too." He nodded his head towards the building. "Do you want to come inside? I can give you a tour and explain some of the plans we have for making changes."

She bit her lip for a moment, studying him and then the building before glancing over her shoulder nervously. "I guess."

"Hey, no pressure." He said, studying her. "You can meet my brother though, he's inside too."

Her eyes snapped to meet his. "Let me guess, our age, and going to serenade me too?"

"Yes, and probably." Luke said. "Has it been horrible?"

She shrugged. "A bit too Disney for me." She said. "My life hasn't been all Disney princess, so it's been a bit weird."

"But the princesses don't all have a happy from start to finish story." Luke said, having been somewhat of an expert on Disney princesses thanks to the phase Jessica had been in before Owen had introduced her to several book series that got her eventually hooked on Katniss Everdeen as her heroine. "They sometimes had to go through very dark times and sad misfortunes before meeting their princes."

Sang studied him. 'You're right. I forgot about that." She said, softly. "Okay, new friend Luke, let's go see the inside of this soon to be diner and see what your brother's choice of song to me will be." She smiled as he offered her his hand and she placed hers in it.

"This way, mi 'lady."