Snaked

Stars

Alex's pov

Two Months Later

It hasn't gotten better. Luke and I still aren't talking and Reggie doesn't talk to us unless he needs something. Julie pops in every now and then but never stays long due to how quiet it is. That's the problem, the quiet. Nobody talking, nobody moving, the only sounds being the occasional sob and something breaking due to anger.

As I walk through the studio and into the house, I jump when I see Julie sitting at the kitchen island  doing her homework. When I walk into the kitchen, she takes her earbuds out and puts her pencil down as I filter through her cabinets.

"Everything okay?" She asks, looking at me and pausing her music.

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Just looking for somethings," I say, closing the cabinet and walking to fridge as I grab what I need and place it on the island in front of her.

"What'cha making?" She asks, walking around the island and taking a closer look at the ingredients. "You making a cake or something?"

"Yeah, I need to do something or else I'm gonna go crazy," I say, bending down and grabbing a bowl from one of the drawers.

"Who's it for?" She asks, making small tears start to form even though I knew this question was going to come up sooner or later. "It's for Ave isn't it?"

I nod as I measure out the ingredients. "It's her birthday today."

"Ah," she says before she goes to sit in her spot again before picking up her phone and texting someone quickly. A minute later, she closes her laptop, making me look up from the recipe book. "I gotta go to Flynn's, you gonna be okay here by yourself?" She asks, looking up at me thoughtfully.

"Yeah. If I need help I'll ask your dad," I say, not wanting to talk to Luke or Reggie. She nods in response as she picks up her computer and notebooks before heading out the door.

I put the cake in the oven then I walk out into the studio and see that Reggie is sitting on the couch drawing hearts and stars on his arms and hands. "Where's Luke?" I choke out.

"Where do you think? He's still in the place he hasn't left for weeks," he says, nodding his head up the loft above us.

I dip my head before sighing and walking up to the loft. I stop and look around, second guessing whether or not I'm doing the right thing before I sit on the bed. I open my mouth to say something but Luke says something before I do. "What are you doing here?" He grumbles as he lays under the covers, facing away from me.

"I live here too y'know," I say, trying to make a joke but it comes out more numbly than I thought. "I wanted to apologize," I say, making him sit up, his hair scruffy and his eyes red and puffy.

"It's about time," he mumbles, not making eye contact with me. 

"'Kay, it's kinda hard to apologize when you start acting like a dick again," I say, snapping at him, making him look at me quickly, hurt. "I'm sorry about our fight two months ago but losing her has been the hardest thing I've had to go through. I never thought I'd lose her and I'm sorry I took my anger out on you," I say, looking down at my hands as I play with my rings. "But it's her birthday today, as you probably know, she wouldn't want us to be fighting. I made a cake and you can come and decorate it with me if you want," I say before walking down the ladder and patting Reggie on the shoulder. "Wanna decorate a cake with me?"

His face brightens and a smile forms across his face and he nods quickly before hopping off of the couch as he practically skips to the house. When we get into the house, the oven just started beeping so I take it out of the oven as Reggie grabs the food coloring for the icing. Once we're almost done with the cake, we see Luke walk through the front door before he grabs a piping bag and starts piping stars around the cake. He pipes the exact same stars Ave would always draw on either herself or one of us and the exact same stars that were now tattooed on all of our necks and wrists, making us smile nostalgically.

When he's finished, I pick up the cake and we start walking toward the studio before Flynn runs in front of us, making me almost drop the cake.

"Flynn, is everything okay?" Luke asks, walking toward her and placing a hand on her arm.

"I-um," she says stuttering before she turns back to the studio. "Jules!"

Julie pops her head out of the studio doors, smiling widely at us. "It's okay, they can come in," she says as we look at each other before shrugging as Flynn moves out of way, allowing us to walk into the studio.

When we walk in, our mouths fall open and our eyes fill with tears as shiny birthday balloons dance through the air in front of us. We look above the piano and see a big happy birthday banner with Ave's name underneath it. The more we look around, the more cute little details we see. Records hanging from the ceiling, our Sunset Curve demo playing in the background, and pictures of us posted on the walls.

"Julie..." I start to say as my voice drifts off, not knowing what it say.

"Do you like it?" She asks, her smile wide and nervous. "I didn't know her that long but I went through her box and found a bunch of stuff so I figured that's what she liked."

"Julie, it's perfect," Luke says, moving to the piano where all of the songs Ave wrote are placed on the table.

I place the cake and candles on the coffee table before walking over to her and bringing her into a hug, knowing that's the only thing I can do that won't make me burst out into tears. "Thank you," I say, my voice breaking.

"Well it wasn't just me, Flynn made sure we got all the decorations in a short amount of time so that you all wouldn't come in here mid-decoration," she says, moving me to the side with her wrapped around my waist. I laugh softly before looking around the room again, wondering how lucky we are that we have a friend like her. "Wanna sing Happy Birthday now?" She asks as I nod and gather everyone around the table. 

We all sing Happy Birthday with tears in our eyes before we all look at each other as we blow out the candles, all of us having the same wish and hoping that it'll come true.