You Are The Music In Me

Chapter 2

Luke's mind was racing. He had tried to sleep, and was somewhat successful but he had been awake for a while. He had heard someone open the studio doors earlier, but had pretended to be asleep. He had peeked through one eye to see that it was not Julie, but Ray. And it looked like Ray had seen them all! Ray hadn't said anything but had abruptly turned around, closing the doors behind him. It had been strange, and Luke kept wondering what it had meant.

A short while later he had heard Julie's front door open and close, so Luke had figured that she was finally coming out to see him. Them. Coming out to see them. But once again, no Julie. Didn't she want to see them? Last night was kind of a big deal. You'd think she would be all excited to spend time together. Luke peered out of the window and saw that Jick guy walking down the driveway. Of course. That's why Julie wasn't out there with him. Mick. Julie wouldn't practice with them that day because she wanted to dance with Hick, and then when they were preforming Great that night, she barely looked at Luke until the end of the song. Not that he could really blame her for that. If he was dating Julie, he wouldn't want her to be getting that close with another guy. Not that he thought about dating her. He was just being protective of Julie. Nit was a teenage boy. And teenage boys could be trouble. After Nickleback had left, Luke decided to walk up to the house. He knew Julie didn't love it when he poofed right in front of her, especially if other people were around. As he got close to the house though, he heard Julie say that she was going to check on them because they were her friends. Strong emphasis on friend. Tick should be happy about that I guess. Whatever chemistry Alex and Reggie thought Luke shared with Julie was clearly just about music. Or at the very least, one sided.

He got back to the studio right before he heard Julie take a deep breath outside the door. He flung himself on his couch and pretended to be asleep. Hopefully if she didn't look closely, she wouldn't notice how fast he was breathing. It didn't fool Alex or Reggie though. The loud thud of his body hitting the couch woke the other two up. Just as they were about to ask Luke why he was being so dramatic, Julie entered the studio.

"Now it makes sense," Alex muttered to himself while Reggie nodded.

"I see Luke is still asleep," Julie said, rolling her eyes at the other two.

"What? No I'm awake," Luke said doing an obviously fake yawn. Why was he pretending to be asleep pretending to be awake? Julie shook her head, she would never understand that boy.

"Good because I have something important to talk to you about," She started to say. "So this morning –"

"Rick came to see you," Luke finished. Reggie and Alex shared a quick glance before Julie gave him a funny look.

"No. Well, yes, NICK did come to see me but that's not what I was going to say."

"Oh, so you were going to keep it a secret? Julie our band just played the Orpheum! We're going to be legends. Please don't let your little boyfriend stand in our way. If you are going to prioritize him over us we need to know so we can prepare"

Julie stared at Luke with her jaw open. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Yeah Luke, it sounds like you're saying Julie is leaving the band." Alex said.

"Why would Julie be leaving the band?" Reggie asked, getting nervous.

"Well clearly she wants to spend all her time with Fick rather than with the band," Luke said as if it was the most obvious thing. "So she won't be able to rehearse or play gigs, so she clearly doesn't want to be with me, I mean me band, the band, our band." Luke said as he crossed his arms, going red. Where was this jealousy coming from? Ten minutes ago he was going to be happy for Julie, or at least pretend to be. But now that she wasn't denying anything, he couldn't contain it.

Everyone stood silently for a moment. Reggie looked at the floor, and Alex whipped his head back and forth between Julie and Luke.

"Luke what the hell?" Alex finally burst out. Julie looked like she was either going to cry or yell, but either way, it was not good. They had just played a life changing gig – literally. They should be celebrating, but instead Luke was being insecure and jealous. It was obvious to anyone who had eyes that Julie and Luke liked each other. Nick may have been Julie's crush at one point, but that was obviously over now.

"Actually, I was going to tell you that my dad saw all of you this morning and wants to talk to you" Julie said quietly, looking down. Uh-oh thought Alex. Everyone knows it's much worse if a girl is quiet when she's upset.

"Oh." That was all Luke could say? Ugh.

"Wait – Ray can see me now?! This is amazing! Do you think he'll like me? Can he show me his rib recipe? Maybe I could show him my favourite recipes too? Wait, I don't have any. Maybe we could find some together? Do you think he would let us get a puppy? I think a puppy would be fun. He could share a bed with me. The puppy I mean, not Ray. Though if Ray wanted my bed I would give it to him. I mean, I don't really have a bed to give, but I could get one!" Reggie rambled on. Everyone gave a slight laugh which helped to diffuse the tension.

"Um I don't know about all of that Reg, but remember, to him, you're a stranger. He doesn't know that you spend practically every day together." Julie smiled softly, reminding Reggie of his one-sided friendship with her dad.

While Reggie frowned, he continued to list off things that he could do with Ray. The rest of the group remained silent, thinking about what had just transpired. Seeing that Luke wasn't going to admit to his jealousy and apologize, Alex cleared his throat and asked if they should head inside to meet Ray.

Julie nodded, not looking at Luke. Great. This is going to be an awkward day.