Alex and Luke; A 'Julie and the Phantoms' AU

Part 3: One Last Question

9:31 a.m, still Sunday

Reggie is rubbing his eyes as he wakes up, the sunlight coming in from the windows finally getting to him. He sits up on the couch and looks around. He sees Luke's and Alex's stuff still in the garage, recalling the fact that they all stayed up pretty late, so they must have crashed there, too. He gets up, goes over to the ladder, and climbs just high enough so that his upper body is visible from the loft floor. He immediately sees Luke asleep in one bean bag, Alex asleep in the other.

"Guys," he says. Nothing. He tries again, louder this time, "Guys!" He watches Alex move his arm and Luke move his head down, then nothing. "Fine. I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice." He sighs and goes back down the ladder.

Reggie picks up Luke's electric, plugs it into the amp, turns it on and puts the volume up almost as high as it'll go. "Last chance?" he says, waiting for a response. For the third time, nothing. "Three strikes..." he grabs a guitar pick, "you're out."

Reggie strums, and the ear-splitting electric guitar sound ripples through the studio. Luke sits up, grabbing his ears and screaming at the sound. Alex jumped and fell right out of his bean bag onto the floor next to it. As the ringing comes to a stop, Reggie quickly puts the guitar down and climbs back up the ladder to look at his bandmates.

"Good morning, sleeping beauties!" he says with an oh-so-proud of himself smile, winking at them.

"Reggie!" Luke shouts, swinging his arm out to push his friend, but Reggie ducks just in time. He pops back up laughing at Luke's missed shot. Luke just puts his head in his hands, rubbing his face.

Alex is laying flat on the floor on his back and looking at the ceiling. He has one hand over his chest, feeling his heart. "I think I know what a stroke feels like now."

"Drama queen." Reggie teases. Luke throws off his blanket and onto Reggie's head as he stands up. "You wanna tell us why you did that?" Luke questions. Reggie pulls the blanket from his head, setting it on the ground. "Because it's past 9:30 in the morning, we told Bobby last night to be here at noon for rehearsal all day today, and if I didn't wake you, you would still be asleep up here when he showed up." Reggie says, knowing his friends all too well. He climbs back down the ladder, and grabs his stuff. "I'm going home to get food and change clothes, I'll see you guys back here in a few hours." He heads towards the door, "Love you!" he calls out in an obnoxious tone as he walks out the door.

"Nnyeeehhhh!!" Luke and Alex shout in response to Reggie's affection. Luke looks down at Alex still laying on the ground from where he's standing. "Dude. Get up." He says, kicking Alex's shoe. Alex stays laying on the ground, silent, not moving. "Really?" Luke rolls his eyes, "Man, you are a drama queen." He takes a step closer to Alex, grabbing his hands and pulling him up to a standing position. Alex, now standing up next to Luke, pouts at him. "Ugh, fine."

The two make their way down the ladder, still a little groggy from being woken by the thunderous noise. Alex grabs his things and heads towards the door while Luke turns off the amp and takes the plugged cord out of his guitar.

"Alright. See you later," Alex calls back to Luke. He's just about to exit the garage when Luke takes this chance to offer an idea he had last night, but decided they were too tired to think about then.

"Hey, hang on a second!" Luke calls out. Alex turns back around, his hands in his pockets.

"Do you, uh, wanna go out sometime? Like, on a date?" Luke says it so easily it catches Alex off guard. "Uhm... I don't know if that's a good idea." Alex says, hoping he can reason with Luke. Luke realizes his message got misconstrued, and tries again, "Oh, no! I mean, like, a fake date." Alex only looks more lost. "What I mean is..." Luke continues, "I've never been on a date with a guy, mainly because this is something I've very recently come to realize that I'd like, and, correct me if I'm wrong, you've never been on a real date with... well, no offense but, anyone. So, we could go on a date and use each other as, like..." Luke trails off, Alex picks up where he can't find the words.

"...like a trial run? To, what, like, see how you are with a guy and, to give me any dating experience at all, quite honestly?" Alex questions. Luke shrugs, nodding, "I mean, yea, pretty much. It can be something simple, y'know? We can go to the beach." Alex looks at Luke, mulling it over for a second. Luke tries one last time to convince him, "Come on, it'll be harmless." Alex shrugs, deciding to go with it because, what's the worst that can happen?

"You know what? Sure, why not." Alex smiles, giving in to Luke's idea. "Good!" Luke says, downplaying his excitement. "We can talk about it some more later, but it's a date," he finishes with a wink. Alex can feel the warmth rising on his cheeks. He starts to walk backwards out the door so Luke won't see. "It's a date." He says with a nod. He turns around, walking down the driveway to leave. Luke watches him, waiting until he's just far enough away as to where he'll have to shout for Alex to hear his parting statement.

"And you can bet I'll be wearing a tank top!" he shouts.

"Shut up!" Alex screams back at him without turning around, continuing to walk down the drive.

Luke laughs to himself, leaning back and sitting on the top of the amp. He accidentally hits the switch to turn it on, causing a booming humming sound to surround him. He quickly covers his ears, then jumps up and turns it back off.

Luke rips the cord out of the amp, "I'm gonna kill, Reggie."