Finally Free -- JATP Luke x MaleOC

Chapter 39

Julie had approached Jay as soon as she could the next day. Jay wasn't prepared for it first thing in the morning; he thought he would have at least until lunch.

"Jay!" Julie exclaimed as she came to him at his locker. "I didn't hear from you at all, are you okay? I mean you look okay so I guess you are, but are you okay? The boys were acting weird all weekend - well, Luke seemed weirdly happy yesterday, but they were being pretty weird before that-"

"Okay, take a breather," Jay said, holding Julie by her shoulders. "I'm okay. A couple scars," Jay points at the bandaid on his cheek, "but I'm okay."

Julie gave Jay a calculating look as if she were analyzing him.

"They said you quit."

Jay nodded his head and looked down to the floor in shame.

"I did," he said.

"Are you gonna come back?"

Jay brought his eyes up to Julie's pleading ones.

"I can't," Jay said. "I never could, you know that."

"But you did," Julie said fervidly. "You can do it again."

"Not easily," Jay rebutted. "They took the car keys, they're monitoring me now. I really don't want to risk my uncle getting mad at me again."

"I'm sorry," Julie said suddenly. "I didn't know my dad would call him-"

"It's not your fault and it's not Ray's either," Jay cut her off firmly. "He was just being the adult."

"But-"

"He doesn't know what things are like behind closed doors. If I hear another apology from you, I'm giving back the past five years of birthday presents."

"You're honestly telling me you kept all of those?" Julie asked in disbelief.

"Maybe," Jay shrugged, a playing smirk on his face. "You'll never know."

"Not unless I keep saying sorry," Julie said, mocking a threat. "Which I can definitely keep doing."

"You wouldn't dare."

"Try me."

The two glared at each other jokingly and burst into laughter. Jay smiled at the girl in front of him, glad that she decided to move on to a different topic of conversation. Flynn had soon joined the two of them and they chatted for a while as if the events of the past week had never occurred. They spoke as they always did, laughed as they always laughed, like they had forgotten everything about Julie and The Phantoms and Eat & Beats Cafe.

Jay knew they didn't forget. Jay knew that both Flynn and Julie were concerned about him and, chances were, they discussed it in private. Jay was just happy that they respected his wishes to not talk about everything that had happened. The weekend was emotionally draining to him and Jay really didn't feel ready to discuss it with anyone else even if he should. The boys had been witness to some of it, they had gotten glimpses of him at his low. They didn't see everything, they didn't hear everything, they didn't know the spiral that Jay's mind had gone down, even if Luke had met him near the end of the spiral.

The first few class period passed by like what Jay considered normal. The teachers taught their lessons, the students were either hooked onto every word or barely paying attention. The majority of the students in Jay's trigonometry fell into the latter group, leaving Jay in the corner by himself under normal circumstances.

Luckily he had some ghost friends.

"Hey Jay!" Luke greeted as he poofed in next to Jay's desk. Jay simply jerked his head as a greeting, pulling out his phone and opening the notes app. Although Jay had no doubt he could get away with a verbal conversation, he would much rather not risk people whispering about him in the halls because he was talking to himself in class.

"Just you today?" Jay typed out.

"I guess so," Luke shrugged, taking a seat at the desk directly in front of Jay. His feet rested on the chair while Luke quite literally sat on the desk and leaned forward.

"You coming by the studio today?" Luke asked.

Jay raised his eyebrows and gave the guitarist a look, silently asking if he had remembered a thing that happened over the past few days.

"I know, I know," Luke said, having understood the message. "But it's not like he's tracking you or anything."

Jay shook his head and typed on his phone, placing it flat on his desk and turning it so that Luke could read it.

"My aunt is actually watching me now. Besides, I don't have my car, remember?"

"Yeah, but you can walk," Luke argued. "The boys and I would walk over to the studio all the time before we could drive."

"You three have your licenses?" Jay said aloud, covering his mouth once he realized what he had done. He gave a quick look around the classroom and was relieved to see that no one had heard him. Or if they did, they paid no heed.

"Alex got his license, I got a permit," Luke shrugs. "Reg never saw a point in getting one since Alex and I were."

"Sounds like Flynn and Julie," Jay scoffed, keeping his voice low and his eyes peeled. "I kept telling them to at least get permits, I'm not gonna be around to drive them forever."

"Yeah, well, maybe now they'll listen," Luke says with a smile.

Jay keeps his chuckle quiet and feels it vibrating in his chest. Luke's smile brightens when he sees Jay react to his comment and the two boys continue a quiet conversation for the rest of the class. Jay is glad that Luke doesn't push him to come to the garage that day, even though the other boy definitely wanted to. In fact, Luke doesn't bring up Jay's music once during the class. Instead, Luke spends the time talking about Sunset Curve back in the 90s: what they would do in their free time, the fun adventures they would have, the gigs they played, the audiences they captivated. Jay noticed that Luke refused to talk about Bobby any more than absolutely necessary. Not that he blamed him.

Lunch was spent with Julie and Flynn, just at it usually was. There were times where he would go eat with his senior friends, who were few in number but still friends. Unlike Julie and Flynn, however, those were friends that he kept at arm's length. Friends that he didn't open up to, friends that he only talked to at school and when they had projects to get done. Julie and Flynn, similarly to Luke, didn't bring up the band or Jay's music to him. Lunch was spent listening to the sophomore's gossip and complaints, many of which Jay sympathized with having had the same teachers in the past.

As Jay arrived back at his house, he felt much lighter than he had felt the previous few days. The house was empty as his uncle and aunt were both out and Jay went to his room only to set down his things. He then went downstairs to the living room, looking around at the emptiness of the house before going to the kitchen.

Jay had been slacking on self-care for the past couple of days. He had been too caught up in his own thoughts to worry about eating properly. He pulled his phone out as he leaned against the counter, searching for a recipe that he could put together quickly. He found one for cocktail snack kabobs, non-alcoholic of course. He was sure he had some leftover meat in the fridge, all he needed to do was cut them into cubes, pickle the vegetables, and cook some seafood.

Shouldn't take too long.