End of May // Luke Patterson

06

Julie yelled at Luke and Ruth, who'd returned to the box like curious puppies, "Oh, my gosh! I thought I told you two to leave that alone!"

"I know," Luke replied. "You just should've said nothing, 'cause now Ruthie and I can't stop thinking about it, so... What's in the box, Julie?"

"It's just my dream box, okay? Whenever I get a thought, I write it down and get it out of my mind."

"Like lyrics?" Luke and Ruth asked.

"They would be if I still wrote music like I used to with my mom. Now it's just full of stuff that doesn't make me sad."

Alex stood and said, "But I mean, you do play. We heard you two this morning." Luke, Ruth and Reggie glared at him and Luke swatted Alex's chest.

"In the garage? So you were there too?"

"Uh... I don't..." Alex began.

Reggie turned to Alex. "Uh... he was, like..."

"We were..."

"Somewhere."

Luke, who'd moved to lay on Julie's bed, held his head up with his hand and asked, "So where is your kitchen, by the way?"

Ruth, who'd moved to lay on the bed next to Luke, smiled and said, "Yes, where is it?"

"Okay, we need to set some boundaries," Julie told them. "For starters, stay out of my room!!" She pointed to the door.

The boys shot up. "Mm-hmm. Crystal clear. Let's go."

"We're leaving," Reggie said. "Yes, ma'am! We are out of here."

"Okay."

"Even me?" Ruth asked with a pout as she stood.

"Yes," Julie replied. "Even you."

The four ran towards the door.

Alex and Ruth popped their heads back in and Alex said, "Hey. Um, sorry. We didn't mean to bother you. Did you get back into your music program?"

"No. No, I didn't," Julie replied as she looked down.

"I'm sorry. That really sucks."

Ruth nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry to hear that. Maybe you'll get another chance."

"Thanks," Julie replied.

Alex glanced up and Julie asked, "Is that it?"

"Yeah. Yeah. This is getting weird," Alex said.

"Awkward," Ruth singsonged with a giggle.

Julie waved at them.

"Okay," Alex stated as he and Ruth disappeared.

---

Julie made her way downstairs. Carlos was laying on the couch playing a video game and Julie's father was sitting on his laptop as he looked at pictures.

"Hey, Dad," Julie greeted as she entered the living room. "What'cha working on?" She pocketed her hands.

"Well, now that the house is on the market, we need to add some photos to the website," Ray replied, ushering Julie over. "Help me pick some good ones."

As Julie passed her brother, she moved his foot and he shot her an annoyed look.

Julie stood next to Ray as he showed her the photos and said, "Got this batch right here."

"These are really nice," Julie told her father.

"Yeah?"

Julie chuckled. "Yeah."