just friends • luke (julie and the phantoms)

good intentions

Emily Patterson first met Amber Mercer about two months before she and Luke started dating.

But she knew.

Mothers always know.

And when the two finally started dating, she would smile with her husband as she watched her son twirl the girl around and pull her in for a soft kiss every time she left their house. Luke had no idea that his mother knew, but she did. And she loved Amber for the way that she lit up her son's life, even though she was his muse and the sister of a member of their band.

Emily always hated Sunset Curve. She had bought Luke a guitar with her husband after their dog had died and she had thought that he needed an outlet for some of the negative emotions he was feeling. Little did she knew that a year later, he'd be starting a band with his friend Reggie and eventually making a name for himself in the music industry.

That never stopped Emily from worrying, though. She didn't think it was possible for someone to actually make a living doing something like music, and so she pushed him to study harder and put away the guitar. One of the things she loved most about Amber was how ambitious and studious she was, and there was a small part of Emily that wished that Amber would rub off on Luke.

She never did.

And Amber didn't want to.

From small jokes to deep conversations, Amber and Emily became closer than either could ever imagine. The latter had always wanted a daughter, and after the Mercer girl was kicked out by her biological parents, she needed a maternal figure. So Emily became that to her. The nights when she couldn't sleep because she just wanted to wake up to the smell of her mother's pancakes, Amber would leave Bobby's and head to Luke's house to cry on Emily's shoulder. And whenever Emily felt the distance grow between her and Luke, she'd hold Amber a little bit tighter.

Because family isn't always only by blood. And they were each other's family, in a way.

After Amber died, Emily broke into pieces. Most nights she couldn't stop crying, but some she spent just sitting at the kitchen table staring at the couch where she and Amber had spent so many hours laughing, crying, and holding each other close.

Emily became a shell of herself, torn apart at the departure of the girl who she loved almost as much as her husband and son.

But her biggest mistake wasn't forgetting to hold Amber for a second longer the last time she saw her or not making the girl pancakes the last morning she came over. Her biggest mistake came during a conversation that shouldn't have been heard by her son.

"Mitch, maybe this will be better for Luke. Now that Amber's gone," Emily said, doing her best to try to make a situation so terrible into something somewhat good. "He hasn't touched his guitar since she died and maybe he'll stop playing for good."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you could be right," Mitch Patterson responded. "I loved her like she was family, but in the end, it's Luke's future that matters most." The father of the Patterson household truly did love Amber and was grieving in his own way, but he was never as close to her as his wife and son were.

What the couple didn't know was Luke had heard the exchange and immediately knew what he had to do. That night, he'd run away and never look back.

But Luke had left before he heard the next words.

"God, Mitch, what are we saying?" Emily cried, falling onto the bed as tears ran from her face. "She was the best thing to ever happen to any of us, and she's gone. M-my baby girl. She's gone."

Mitch held his wife in his arms as he nodded, feeling just as ashamed at the words that had left his mouth. He hugged his wife closer as her sobs turned into small gasps of air and for the first time in years, he cried too.

He cried for the girl who had given his wife the daughter she always wanted. He cried for the girl who had loved his son unconditionally and with her entire being. He cried for the girl who would stop at the corner market and buy some caramels for when he got home from work because she knew they were his favorites. He cried for the girl he would have been proud to call his own.

Mitch left for work, and just before he came home, Luke attempted to leave the house. He was caught by Emily and when his intentions became clear, it turned into yet another screaming match between the mother and son.

"How could you say that?" Luke yelled, his voice running hoarse from the tears streaming down his face and the pain of leaving his family behind. "How could you say that it was better for me that she's not here?"

"Luke, you don't understa-"

"I heard enough to know that you think I'm better off without her," he growled. "But what you don't understand is that she made me happier than I have ever been in my entire life. She was my everything, and you just dismissed her within a second."

"I didn't dismiss-"

"And you know what? She loved you. She loved you as if you were her own mother and now look at you. You couldn't care less, could you? She thought the world of you and you couldn't care less."

"Luke, that's not true," Emily sobbed. "I loved her, I loved her as if she were my own daughter! How dare you say that to me? You only heard part of the conversat-"

"I heard enough."

And with that, Luke left the house on his bike, Emily running after him until she couldn't any longer. Mitch came home sooner after and held his wife in his arms as they cried for the two children they had lost in a span of weeks.

Because neither would ever be okay again.

AN: alexa play despacito :)

thank you all SO SO much for 10.5k reads!! it means the world to me that you all took time out of your day to read this wreck of a story, and i couldn't thank you enough.

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three chapters to go hehe