You Are The Music In Me

Chapter 21

Alex was successfully Parent Trap-ing Julie and Luke. His mom and him used to watch that movie a lot growing up, and he felt he had learned a lot from Hayley Mills. At least enough to finally get Julie and Luke together. The plan was that Luke would pick Julie up after school and then go to a park and confess their love for each other. Okay, Alex might have included that last part, but that was the plan and intention, right?

Luke had spent the morning cleaning the van. He had asked Ray to help him get a few things to make the van better, and apparently, they had been working on it in secret. There was still a lot to do, but Luke was really excited about the progress they had made.

As it drew closer to the end of the school day, Luke was growing more and more anxious. Last time he and Julie went out on a date-type thing, it ended horribly. What was to say that wouldn't happen again? He decided he would keep everything light hearted, not press his luck and try to hold her hand again. He studied himself in the mirror. He tried combing his hair, and then hated how it looked, and then put gel in and really hated how it looked so he had a quick shower. Alex had already picked out an outfit for Luke to wear. Everyone made fun of him for not wearing sleeves, but he did have some shirts that were still in tact. Plus, now that he had a job, he could buy new shirts. He hadn't done that yet, but he could if he wanted to. Luke brushed his teeth twice, and headed out to the school.

Luke didn't want to appear too eager, so he timed it so that he would show up 1 minute after the bell rang. But he didn't factor in the time it would take Julie to get to her locker, pack up her stuff, and meet him out front. When he finally saw Julie walk out the front door, he ran up to meet her, Carrie and Flynn.

*Keep it light hearted Luke* "So Julie, is your mystery man here somewhere?"

Flynn smirked and nudged Carrie "You could say that." Julie gave them both a glare when they started giggling.

Luke looked around in front of the school with an exaggerated curious face. Luke pointed to a small boy carrying a stand up bass "Is that him?" Julie just rolled her eyes. "Oh how about that guy over there who's picking his nose? No? Not him... how about," Luke whipped his eyes all over the place. "The guy over there with the plunger?"

"Ew Luke that's the janitor!"

"That doesn't mean he doesn't deserve to be loved Julie. How shallow are you?" He said sarcastically.

"Yeah Jules," Carrie said in a sing-song voice. "Is the mystery man close by? Can we see him? Or hear him? What is he wearing Julie?" Julie stuck her tongue out at Carrie, grabbed Luke by the sleeve – wait, what? Luke was wearing sleeves? Julie would need to think about that later. For now, she dragged Luke away from Carrie and Flynn who were cackling at this point before they could be any more obvious.

Julie started to walk along the sidewalk when Luke called out for her to stop. "Jules, c'mon, you didn't think I'd make you walk, did you?" He said while dangling the keys?

"Ooooh am I finally going to see what you've done to the van?"

"Yes but just keep your expectations low. Your Dad and I have just done the basics. I was thinking maybe you could help me pick a design for the outside of the van. And maybe the back too. You know, like add your style or whatever." Luke had started nervously scratching the back of his neck which made Julie break out in a huge grin.

"That sounds amazing Luke." She said while smiling up at him.

"Great!" He beamed back at her and directed her to the van.

***

So far, Julie and Luke had been having a great time at the park, and were enjoying a comfortable silence when Julie looked over at Luke.

"I'm glad we're doing this."

"Me too Jules. I was so happy when I saw your note last night."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I wasn't sure if you still wanted to talk to me aft-"

"No, I mean, what note do you mean?"

"Haha Julie. How many notes have you been slipping under my door? I only saw the two."

Julie stared at Luke. Luke panicked, had he done something wrong again?

"And what did these notes say?"

Luke was confused. Why was she asking about notes that she had sent to him?

"Um, well the first one said that you were sorry and had missed my earlier note... and then the one last night said you wanted to talk today without distractions."

Julie's eyes became large. Then she had a thought. "Was there anything else, anything at all written on these notes?"

"Oh, um, well... I mean, on the first one um it was signed with um 'xo' and then um the other one said lo... what so are you saying you didn't write these?"

Julie's cheeks turned a bright crimson and then let out a frustrated breath. "I'm guessing you didn't write me a note then?"

Luke didn't say anything. What was going on? Somehow clearly wanted them to talk to each other, or was there something more sinister going on?

"Luke? Did you write me the notes?"

"I mean, I did write you one after our date, I mean after we went out for dinner. But that was it."

Now Julie was the one left speechless. First, Luke had just acknowledged that it was a date. Secondly, why had Julie never seen that first note? And thirdly, who sent these other note?

"So I guess you didn't write the one I got last night then." Julie said disappointedly. "So there was no 'Love, Luke' after all" she mumbled.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. Never mind. If you didn't want to talk in the first place then I guess we should just go home. Or I guess I can go home and you can go to work." Julie stood up and started to walk away.

"Jules! Hey wait! Julie!" Luke had been so shocked at everything that had just transpired that Julie had walked a good distance. Luke had to jog to catch up to her. Why was this feeling just like the time they went out for dinner. He reached out to grab her arm.

"Jules, just because I didn't write the note doesn't mean that I don't want to be here right now." Julie looked down at his hand on her arm. He quickly dropped it and dragged his hands through his hair. "Ugh why is this so hard?!" He said with frustration.

Julie couldn't help but smile. He looked so cute getting all frustrated. "What's so hard Luke?" She asked softly.

"It's just that every time I try to talk to you about this, someone interrupts us. You know, it's like, I just, you know, ugh!" Julie knew she should ask for permission, consent is not just a thing when it comes to women, but she couldn't help it. She tenderly reached up and grabbed Luke's face which made him stop his rambling as he looked longingly into her eyes. "Jules?" Luke's voice was trembling and quiet, she wasn't even sure if he had spoken at all. She leaned in, ready to meet his lips when someone cried out his name.

"Luke?!" The voice rang out again.

Luke and Julie both turned around, not sure what to say.

"Um, hey Mom. Surprise?"