Bluebirds Without Wings | Julie and the Phantoms

Souvenir Man

Julie and Luke arrived at the castle without anybody noticing. Luke watched Julie stand in front of her door, her hand on the handle before she let it go and looked at him with weary eyes. "I need some music." Luke remembered his guitar in the corner of his castle room and told her to go ahead as he went to get it.

In the music room, Julie was sitting in front of the piano, playing random solemn notes. Luke got a chair and dragged it next to the piano where he had a good view of the Princess. Eyes on her at all times rang the King in his head. That's why he did that. No other reason.

Luke started playing his guitar, singing any lyrics that came into his head.

Step into my world

Bittersweet love story about a girl

Shook me to the core

Voice like an angel, I've never heard before

Julie watched him as he sang in her direction. Something was shifting. It was audible, and Luke felt it crawl up his skin to his chest where his heart was. She kept playing and added words herself.

Here in front of me

Shining so much brighter than I have ever seen

Life can be so mean

But when he goes I know he doesn't leave

She stopped playing the piano, and Luke stopped his strumming. They looked at each other, in a sense of did that just happen? And Luke could accept it, but it was going to poison him to. He was already dizzy from closing his eyes and always seeing her face, smile, and radiance. The Princess had a quick affect on him, and he didn't know why it was so hard to break his head away from her. Lives were on the line and here he was, playing rock star.

"Do you know if King Caleb is after something else, too?" she asked him. Luke woke up from her spell and took a few seconds to recall her question. He shook his head. "What instructions did they give you and Reggie?"

"Don't go out at night. Watch you at all times. Doors and windows locked." That reminded Luke of the balcony in the music room. He put his guitar down and walked over to the glass doors, tugging on them to make sure they were locked. The servants had quickly followed instructions.

When he walked back over, he found that the Princess had picked up his guitar. He sat down with his arms crossed, a small smile on his face. She asked him, "Did he bring up last night?"

"Reggie told him you sang last night so that helped smooth out the lines. But either way, he wouldn't be able to find you guys new knights at a time like this. King Ray has to pick his battles right now."

"Literally," the Princess said, playing a random note on the guitar. By the way she held it, Luke could tell she had some practice on it, but she seemed insecure. Like her memories of the guitar were fogged up, and she couldn't walk to them. "He just told me to go out at a reasonable time. I think he'd prefer I not go out at all." The King told them he didn't mind if the royal children went out. Just to keep it very minimal and safe. Luke knew it was because of chance. If there was a chance the castle got raided, the King would hope his kids were out in town just in case the castle escape plans didn't work. If the town got raided, he'd hope his kids were in the castle already making their way to the secret hiding spots. It was all up to fate.

"We can still go bird watching," Luke told her. She didn't meet his eyes, but she smiled, strumming another note. "The forest is always empty from what I see."

"There's stories of ghosts in there, but I've never seen any." Princess Julie played a few more notes in a random order and put the guitar back down. "So, you guys stood up for me. By telling my dad I played music." Luke scratched the back of his head, looking down at his guitar where a peeled off sticker mark was left. He peeled off the previous stickers ages ago when he got to the academy, but he never bothered to cover it up. It was like a broken souvenir from home.

"Just Reggie. He tried to take all the blame, but your dad said it was on you. I kind of just stood there the entire time. I don't really talk to my superiors."

"You don't," she said matter-of-factly. Luke wondered if she was referring to herself. "Were you always so quiet?" Luke felt like he was under a microscope. The Princess was an overly curious person when there wasn't a wall between them, and it made him want to escape sometimes. This job was supposed to be simple and instead, he was knee deep into a friendship with her that was inevitably going to get messy.

"What do you mean?" was all he could say.

"When you're at the club or on stage," she said, "it's like you're back to your old self. But anywhere else, you're so quiet and sometimes gloomy. Like you're scared. Always watching your back."

"I'm not scared," Luke said to her. It'd be horrible to have the person who is supposed to defend you with their life be scared. "And it's my job to watch our backs."

"I am scared," the Princess admitted, turning to her piano. She stroked the keys gently, not making any noise. "I don't think we're as different as we think we are." What did Alex tell her when they were alone?

"In what ways are we the same?" Luke asked her. He didn't mean that in a negative connotation. He wanted to know the Princess as much as his instincts were flashing lights at him and telling him to back off.

"Sometimes we let the world go by us but sometimes, we really love to live in it." The corner of his mouth tugged into a smile. She pitched in with a sigh, "You're just not as bratty as me."

"I don't think you're bratty," he told her. "You just know what you need and aren't afraid to ask for it. You just want to feel secure again." As much as it hurt Luke to know he wasn't wanted at first, he brought himself to understand her. Grief mixed with a war and royal expectations. Luke didn't know how she got up every day.

"I know it's not a bad thing but sometimes it's at the expense of others," she sighed. "Like you. I treated you so poorly because I just wanted things to stay as normal as possible after so many changes. I need to work on that."

"Well now that you know, you can work on it. It's not the end of the world if you make mistakes."

"Yeah," she smiled down at the piano keys. "I guess not."

-

A/N: I think this is one of my favorite chapters. Not much going on but some details for later. Some more feelings. An honesty, lowkey corny, conversation. But I really think Luke and Julie are lowkey corny sometimes hehe. Both ironically and unironically.

I'm practically caught up to what I've written ahead so hope that the spirits of fanfiction posses my body over my upcoming spring break, and I can get ahead again so I update more often.