Finally Free -- JATP Luke x MaleOC

Chapter 42

Reggie isn't sure how long he spends talking to Jay. He didn't mean to tell Jay about their relation today, it had just slipped out while he wasn't thinking. He thought that he'd tell Jay under different circumstances, probably once he was back in the band. But Jay had taken the news far better than Reggie could have ever expected, hence why they were sitting here talking about Gracie.

Reggie jumps around with his stories. One takes place when he was about seven and Gracie was thirteen, another takes place when he was twelve and she was eighteen, the third takes place when he was ten and she was sixteen. He tries to focus on telling how wonderful Gracie was, he even talks a little about Jacob even though the two of them didn't know each other very well.

He noticed that Jay is hooked on to every word that comes from Reggie's mouth. There's a smile on Jay's face that's so much like Gracie's that it's almost staggering when he mentions that his sister was Reggie's number one supporter when he had just Sunset Curve. He then goes on to tell him that she would come early to every gig they had and how she would always bring their favorite snacks.

At times, Jay would interject with his own memories of Gracie, ones of her as an adult and a mother. He tells Reggie of the time when she had pneumonia and was forced to stay home and instead of laying in bed all day, she spent her time baking treats for Jacob and Jay. Reggie smiles when he hears that, he could practically see an older version of Gracie baking in a kitchen while Jacob was at work and Jay was at school.

"I wish you could have talked to her more," Jay says as he finishes his tale. "She mentioned you sometimes."

"Only sometimes?" Reggie asked, furrowing his brows.

"Yeah," Jay sighs. "Yeah, your death really hit her hard. I didn't know then, but looking back on it...I don't know if she ever moved on."

Reggie's face falls when he imagines his sister, around twenty-three when he died, grieving for him. And then when he thinks of how hard it must have been for her to move on, he wonders how much she blamed herself or how much guilt she felt for "leaving Reggie alone" while she went to college.

"She really loved you though," Jay says when he notices Reggie's face. "There was this one time when she picked me up from Trevor's place - she didn't like him that much, I guess we know why now."

Reggie gives a small chuckle at that.

"But it was when he taught me how to play guitar," Jay continued, a faraway look in his eyes as he reminisced. "She walked in on me playing a song and almost started crying. On our way home, she told me that she thought she was looking at her brother back when he was learning guitar."

Reggie could feel the tears prickling his eyes, threatening to fall out as a soft smile appeared on his face.

"She said that I reminded her of you when I'd play music when I was little," Jay continued, looking at Reggie with a heartfelt smile. "Actually she said I reminded her of your friends with some of my pranks."

"Me and Luke usually," Reggie comments, his voice somehow not cracking while he speaks. "Gracie was an easy target, she would visit us a lot."

"Somehow I don't believe that Bobby and Alex weren't involved," Jay says snidely.

"Oh, they were," Reggie confirms, nodding enthusiastically. "But they didn't get her as often as we did. And whenever they did, they'd get away with it. We wouldn't."

Jay chuckled at Reggie's words and Reggie smiled, the tears disappearing from his eyes. 

"This is crazy," Jay says to himself as he falls back in his chair. "I can't believe you're my uncle. That's cool but so...weird."