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

Part 9: Something Is Different

1995, 12:36 p.m, Saturday

Reggie is sitting on the bus, alone, heading to the studio for band practice. The guys just booked another gig at a new place that's about to open. The place hung up flyers around town looking for popular local artists that could draw in a crowd for their opening day, and the guys didn't hesitate to make themselves known. They've got one month to start nailing down new material Luke's been writing for them.

Reggie is staring out the window of the bus, completely zoned out as he thinks about getting more of a fan base and how, if the owners really like their sound and the crowd they draw in, they could have more than just one gig. The idea of him and his best friends/bandmates being in demand to play live music is fully encompassing his brain. The sounds of "Reggie! Reggie!" from the crowd fill his ears, only to jump when he realizes it's Bobby standing next to him trying to get his attention.

"Reggie!" Bobby shouts. Reggie flicks his head and jumps a little, lightly hitting the back of his head on the window. "Ow." he says, rubbing his head.

"Dude, move your bag off the seat," Bobby says, "I gotta talk to you before we get to the studio."

Reggie lets go of his head and grabs his bag from the seat next to him and places it on his lap so that Bobby has a place to sit down. Bobby hastily takes his own bag off and sits in the seat, placing his bag on the ground between his feet.

"Alright, what is it?" Reggie says, still a little annoyed that Bobby made him hit his head.

"Have you, uh..." Bobby looks around them, moves in a little closer to Reggie, and lowers his voice, "have you noticed anything, I don't know, different with Luke and Alex?" he asks.

Reggie just stares back at him, a little confused. "What do you mean 'different' with them?"

Bobby thinks to himself for a second, "Like... uh... like... something going on between them... y'know?" he says, emphasizing specific words in hopes that it'll help Reggie catch on.

Still oblivious, Reggie retorts, "What do you mean 'going on between them?'" He repeats Bobby's words in a mimicking tone.

Bobby rolls his eyes and releases a sigh, "I mean do you think they're together? Like... together together." Bobby watches as Reggie's face reacts in a manner that clearly conveys his friend thinks he's crazy.

"Dude, what? No, what are you talking about?" Reggie says, almost starting to laugh at Bobby's inclination, "I mean obviously we know Alex is gay, but, Luke's straight, man. They wouldn't be together. Like, together together." Reggie scoffs and turns his head to look outside the window, brushing off the conversation. Bobby however refuses to drop the subject.

"I don't know, man. A couple weeks ago now I..." Bobby pauses, almost not wanting to bring this up for sake of his own secret keeping. However, Reggie's attention is back on him, so he can't back out now. "I might've almost walked in on something."

Reggie's eyes narrow as he looks at Bobby, "What do you mean?"

"I, uh..." Bobby chews his bottom lip, trying to choose his next words carefully, "... It's like this." Ultimately, he decides to just come out with exactly what happened. "Wednesday night like 3 weeks ago when I knew we didn't have band practice I brought this girl I had been seeing over to the studio because I knew it would be empty so we could have some time to hang out just by ourselves. Or, at least, I thought the studio was going to be empty." Once, again Bobby sits in hope that Reggie will catch his drift.

"Dude..." Reggie begins. Bobby starts to nod, thinking that Reggie is with him. Reggie continues, "we agreed to not bring girls into the studio because they always get curious and ask to hear something or start touching our instruments!" he scolds.