Rose's Journal

Chapter 20: The Mirror

It was the afternoon now. Alex had gone back to the studio, but Luke hadn't. He didn't know if he was more upset with what Julie said or madder at himself because he knew she was right, but, either way, he wasn't ready to face her. He just walked around town, soaking in how much had changed. It had been 25 years, but all the drama and heartache felt like just yesterday to them, which is what made all the events of the day before that much harder to digest. The next place he went on his tour of everything he missed was the record store he used to love. It had been turned into a convenience store. Another piece of history gone, Luke thought to himself as he walked into the parking lot. He recognized one of the cars there. It was Flynn's. He immediately went over to it and saw Flynn's eyes red and puffy. He knocked on the window, startling Flynn.

"Who's there. I have pepper spray, and I'm not afraid to use it!" she yelled, pulling out the little bottle she kept in here glove compartment. Luke blew air on the window and wrote his name. "Oh, it's just you. By the way, that shows as backwards to me, so you're lucky I figured it out." She unlocked the car. "Come sit inside before I look like I'm yelling at people out the window." Luke walked around and opened the car door and sat down. Luckily, no one was around to see that. Flynn pulled up the notes app on her phone. "Okay, you can talk to me on here then use text-to-speech. I need to get home, so is it okay if I just drive that way?"

There was a long pause. It took Luke longer than expected to type the message. "I don't know how to use text-to-speech," Luke typed in the notes.

"Okay, you just drag and select all the text," Flynn told him, then press this button, and it will do it.

"Okay planks," Luke's next message said, "Shit, sorry I meant thanks."

Flynn laughed as she restarted the car, "So, have you talked to Julie yet?" Flynn asked.

"No. I'm pretty sure she hates me now," Luke typed.

"Join the club. After you left, she told me she didn't want to be friends anymore."

"I bet she didn't mean it. She was just mad. She literally doesn't stop talking about you."

Flynn blushed. "I don't know, she's pretty pissed. Did Alex go back?"

"Yeah," Luke typed, "She's probably not as mad at him. I think she's pinning this on me, but it's fine. They're probably chatting like nothing ever happened." At least that's what Luke hoped, and what Luke dreamed he could be doing with them.

"So, what's going on with Willex?"

"Willex?" Luke typed.

"That's their ship name."

"When did they get a boat?"

"Relationship name. It's when you put two names together to refer to a couple."

"Okay, well then Willex sank."

"Huh?"

"They broke up. It's not really my place to talk about their drama, but they broke up."

"Oh, that's sad. Are they okay?"

"Yeah maybe, but Alex was pretty hurt. I think Alex is going to quit the investigation."

"What?" Flynn yelled, almost running a red light before she slammed on her breaks, "What do you mean he's 'quitting'?"

"He doesn't want something from the past to hurt his present."

Flynn understood. It was just like how Carrie was so standoffish and rude with Julie and her. Past feelings and heartaches are difficult, no matter the magnitude. The light turned green, and Flynn drove again, "So, are you still in?"