Bluebirds Without Wings | Julie and the Phantoms

A Girl and a Traitor

A/N: Double update so make sure you guys read the one before !! <3

Luke let another month go by before his mom locked him in the room with a brand new cell phone and said he wasn't allowed to leave until he spoke to Alex- the only person whose number he had memorized. It was a Sunday morning and since he got home on Friday night from work, he hadn't moved much from his bed. He even skipped on going to the store with his mom which was when she finally bought him the phone he swore he was saving up for himself.

Luke sat on the carpet, the phone laid out in front of him. He took moments to count his breaths and exhale, hoping that Alex wouldn't answer. He had been dreaming of conversations he'd have with them and the more time went by, the more hostile they were in his head. He was sure Alex would tell him they wanted nothing to do with him and hang up.

He picked up the phone and put in the number, holding his thumb over the dial button before accidentally clicking it. His heart fell through to his stomach as his ears searched for the dial tone. It never came because Alex answered immediately.

"Hello?" Alex asked. "Is this the Guzman family?" Luke was stunned for a moment, not thinking that Alex's voice alone could provide so much comfort. "Hello?"

"Hey," Luke finally said. He heard something fall on the floor. "It's Luke." He already knew that but just in case.

"Luke," Alex said. He said in a tone that made it obvious that he was repeating it to someone else in the room. Luke couldn't get his leg to stop shaking up and down. There was some movement on Alex's side before he said, "How have you been?"

"I've been good," Luke said. He had been good. Not great. But he didn't feel close enough to admit that. And it clawed out his guts. "I'm sorry," he said. He always apologized now. "For not calling sooner. I've been, busy." He was lying.

"Busy?" Alex questioned. He knew Luke was lying and although it wasn't the best situation, it somewhat made Luke feel better that Alex still knew him well enough.

"No," Luke sighed. "More like... Scared. Yeah. That's more accurate." There was silence on Alex's side and there were distant footsteps behind him that Luke could hear. He must have put him on speaker. "Is someone with you?"

"Yea-no. No. Yeah," Alex said. Something was thrown across the room. "Just Reggie. Let me put you on speaker." Alex pretended to click a button by tapping his phone with his nail so Luke would hear. It made Luke half smile.

"Hey, Reg," Luke said softly.

"Hey," Reggie said. He sounded distant. Not just from the phone, but overall. Luke had never felt so deserted.

There was another pause before Alex cleared his throat and said, "A text would've been nice." Luke almost said he barely got a phone, but there were phones everywhere. He had no excuse, really. Other than fear.

"I'm sorry. Too much happened all at once. And a lot is still happening over here. Still struggling make ends meet and stuff like that." Luke could've sworn he heard Reggie whisper something about calling to ask for money, but he ignored it just in case he was wrong. "But I got my own phone now. We'll keep more in touch now. I swear."

"Luke," Alex sighed. Luke could tell her started to pace back and forth as his steps went over the floorboards. "Julie hasn't been taking your absence very well." Her name alone was enough to set whatever was left of him on fire. Hearing something new about her and having it be that should have been enough to kill him.

All Luke could ask was, "How is she?"

"Just told you. I'll text you her number after this. You need to call her. She's just not herself without you here." Luke took in a deep breath. More muttering on the other side. Alex's voice broke, and Luke covered his mouth to stop a sob from coming out. "And neither are we. We really needed to hear from you after everything, and you just... you left us like nothing." Luke furiously rubbed his eyes as tears slipped all the way down to his neck.