Impermanent Perfection - jatp/luke

1.13

julie and jade rushed off stage and across the room to where flynn was standing by the bar. the three girls joined together for a group hug in excitement.

"you were incredible!" flynn says quickly.

"yeah we were." reggie agrees as the three boys poof beside them. jade looked to luke with a grin, who was smiling back at her, until something behind the girls caught his eye.

"hey! hey, whoever carrie was just trying to impress is coming this way." he points behind them.

"oh, it's-" jade spins around to see a very professional looking woman walking their way.

"woah, she looks all business." alex comments.

"wait! who should do the talking?" reggie asks quickly, the group turning to look at him for a moment. "right, julie and jade." he nods quickly.

"yeah." julie agrees as the woman approached them.

"you got this." luke gives jade a small nod of encouragement.

"hi, i'm Andi Parker." she shakes each girls hand. "and i would love to-"

"julie! jade!" rays voice came from behind the woman, making the girls eyes go wide.

"dad!" julie says in surprise. the two girls glanced to each other for a moment before quickly looking to ray.

"it's time to go." he states sharply.

the girls ducked their head and walked past the business lady, following the man to the car. the ride home was silent, the two girls nervously sitting in the backseat, unsure of what to say.

when they pulled up in front of the house, the girls quickly hopped out and began up the path to the front door.

"girls, we need to talk." ray stops them and both girls let out a sigh. "so, after skipping school, missing a test, you two decided to sneak out? even though i told you to go to your room and study?"

"we know, we're sorry." jade says, julie nodding beside her.

"yeah, you two keep saying that." he stares at them and the girls each looked down, avoiding his eyes. "if you'd just, let me in, i could have been excited about tonight. instead of having this conversation we all hate." he sighs slightly and the girls look back up at him. "why didn't you tell me you were in a band?"

"it all just happened so fast." julie attempts to explain.

"but these last few weeks have changed our lives." jade continues, hoping with everything inside her that ray will understand.

"when we play music, we feel so much closer to mom." julie states, making the mans face soften slightly.

"and i love that, you know i do." he sighs. "but your tía's right. school needs to come first."

"we know, but without the band we never would have made it back into the music program." julie says, making rays face turn slightly surprised.

"they played with us when we were trying to earn back our spots." jade adds.

"they did?" he questions and the girls nod.

"i think this our thing, dad." julie tells him and a small smile forms on rays face.

"well, i'd be a jerk of a dad if i took that away from you." he says slowly. "look, if you two are gonna stay in this band, you need to keep up with school." he says, and small grins begin to grow on the girls faces. "and you need to keep me in the loop."

"really?" the girls ask together and ray nods slightly.

"yeah." he says finally, the girls face's break out into full smiles, quickly looking at each other happily before pulling ray in for a hug.