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

Part 12: Just Nervous

1995, Saturday, the day of their gig.

12:30 p.m.

Luke, Alex, Reggie, and Bobby are all sitting together at a table in a fast food place getting lunch. In between shoving fries into their mouths, they talk about how excited they are for the night ahead of them.

"This could seriously do so much for us guys. Like, we'll be the band playing on this place's opening night. We'll have a legacy there!" Reggie exclaims. Alex speaks up, bringing Reggie back to earth. "Hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves, okay? We've gotta play everything right tonight first. THEN we can talk about legacy."

Luke exaggeratingly rolls his eyes then leans and bumps Alex with his shoulder. "Come on, don't be such a downer. We gotta put good energy out into the world!" Luke says. Alex turns his head to look at Luke and a smile forms on his face. They hold a stare that lasts just a little too long, forcing Bobby to pull attention.

Clearing his throat, Bobby says, "Seriously, we're gonna crush it. I mean, we've been rehearsing everyday for the past... what... 3 weeks? We're gonna play like we've never played before to make sure the owner loves us. And afterwards, you know how we're gonna celebrate?" he finishes with a question.

Luke, Reggie, and Alex respond in unison, cheering "Street dogs!" They all start to laugh as Bobby says. "That's what I'm talking about."

For that one blissful moment, Luke had completely forgotten about what's going to happen after they play tonight. He'd been thinking about it all morning and finally stopped once he sat down with the guys, but now it was all flooding back. Alex, Bobby and Reggie continue to eat and talk about their set, but to Luke it's all just faint TV static. He's sitting there, looking down at the fries in front of him and chewing on the straw in his drink. All of the sudden, he says "Guys, i'll be right back, I gotta hit the bathroom." but before any of them can acknowledge his statement, he's walked off.

"That was weird." Bobby says. Alex just says "Uh... yea." in response, having an idea as to what that was about but not wanting to say anything that could raise any question. Quickly, they go back to their conversation.

A few moments later and Luke still isn't back. Reggie starts to get a little concerned. He noticed that something definitely wasn't right the moment Luke got up, but figured it may just be nerves so he'd let him go. Now that it's been a while, he feels he should do something.

"I'm gonna go check on Luke. Make sure he's not getting sick or something." Reggie says. Alex and Bobby nod their heads and Reggie gets up from the table to head to the bathroom. He gets to the bathroom door and knocks on it.

"Someone's in here." Luke calls from inside. Reggie responds, "Yea, I know, it's Reggie. Are you okay? You seemed a little... off... before you left the table." There is no response. Reggie grows more worried, "Luke? Luke are- are you okay?" he asks. Still no response. "Luke, seriously, are you o-" Reggie begins to ask again, but this time he is interrupted by Luke opening the door and yanking him inside with him.

Startled at first, Reggie stumbles inside. Then he turns around to see a slightly teary eyed, heavy breathing Luke.

"Woah, woah, okay... what is going on? What's happening? Luke, talk to me." Reggie questions, his sole focus being Luke's well-being.

Luke is choking back the tears that are in his throat, trying desperately to keep them from coming up. "I'm uh... I don't know... uhm... I- I think I'm just really nervous for tonight." Luke says. It's not necessarily a lie, but it's definitely not the full truth, either.

Reggie looks at him and says very seriously, "Hey, we're all nervous for tonight. We've been nervous for gigs before but you only get like this when something is really wrong. Seriously, what is going on?"