Already Mine (Lalex)

Final Chapter

Luke's POV

We played our hearts out. Strumming each cord and belting each vocal till the song faded from its last verse to a sea of applause. From what Bobby tells us this is the loudest the crowd has cheered all evening. Which gives us each a sliver of hopefulness and earth shattering anxiety. The four of us push our way out the back doors of the school gymnasium meeting up with the strong winds and distinct odor of New York City. The sun has set and the moon is at its waxing crescent stage. I lock eyes with the man on the moon staring down at us. Silently thanking him for tonight.

Reggie slaps his hand on the brick wall in enthusiasm, jumping up and down with the biggest grin.

"We've got this in the bag guys! We're going to win this." Bobby chirps, jumping on in with Reggie in excitement and glee.

"We're gonna play the Orpheum baby!" Alex adds in, wrapping his arms around the bouncing boys.

My lips tug upward at the sight of it. I don't fully understand what had happened between Alex and I earlier on this evening in the studio, but right now. Here. With him smiling and being hopeful with the boys. I'm content. I'm and peace with what the future might hold for Alex and I. For if it's bad or good or uncertain it doesn't matter. Not for now at least. All that matters is that we have a chance. A chance of winning the battle of the bands. A chance of playing at the Orpheum. A chance of becoming huge. And a chance of just... being.

Alex POV

Lila, a friend of ours, swings open the back door and pops her head out. "They're announcing the winners!" At that we all push past her and gather at the front of the stage where a tall kid with a faded cut and half grown mustache is thanking everyone who came to participate and watch the Battle of the bands.

"And the winner of tonight's battle of the bands is...." he starts. I can feel my heart doing cartwheels all the way down to the pit of my stomach. I glance over to see Luke standing near me, our shoulders merely a centimeter apart from grazing against one another. I reach down to intertwine our fingers together. He holds on tight, giving it a reassuring and supportive squeeze. We lock eyes with one another and at that moment it dawned on me just how much I loved him. I loved Luke. Still. I wish I didn't. I wish I felt nothing with we lock eyes and hold one another's gaze. I wished I was getting better and slowly moving on. But alas, here I am. Slapping myself for ending things just cause he wasn't ready to come out. It was a choice between being with him or not. And I stupidly chose the latter. I don't know how things will end up for us. I don't know if this is the ending of what we used to have or the beginning of part two. But for now, I'm just going to enjoy whatever this is. Whatever we currently have. "SUNSET CURVE!!!"

Our eyes widen when we hear those words, our mouths wide and excitement and joy blooming in all four of our eyes. We won.
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NIGHT OF THE ORPHEUM

Luke's POV

Things between Alex and I have been... complicated, to say the least. Every day till school returns we practice for the Orpheum. It's about the only chance we have to see one another, with neither of us wanting to invite the other to hang out or talk about what happened between them that night a week and a half ago.

Even during rehearsal we hardly say a word to one another. Only slight complements and acknowledgment. I hadn't told Reggie nor Bobby about what happened that night. Though they both can tell that something is different between us. Negative tension replaced with tiptoeing around one another and stolen glances whenever we got the chance. I miss him. He's seated right next to me. I can smell his shampoo. I miss him. I Hear his heavy breathing as he tries to slow his heart rate. He had just spent near two hours racking on his drums, preparing for tonight. I miss him. I can hear his laughter at Reggie and Bobby's argument over if Bucky Barnes is a bad guy or good guy. I miss him. I miss how soft his voice got when he leaned in to whisper sweet nothings into my ear when we were alone. I miss how he so easily and unhesitatingly slip his warm hand into mine. I miss his palm beneath mine. I miss him. I want him back.