Nothing to Lose | Luke Patterson

Chapter Five

"Ah, stop that!" Julie jumps back, startled by my presence, "What do you want?"

"Listen, I know this is all completely insane," I reason with her, trying to sound as friendly as possible, "but you do realize how amazing this is, right? Music is our thing, and people can still hear us."

"Yeah, it's just I've had a really, really awful day," Julie grumbles, crossing her arms across her chest. "I've gotta go," Julie walks past me, and I groan; seriously, Alex? Why did he think I could handle this alone? He's the sensitive one, not me?

"Are you serious?" I call out; Julie turns her head quickly, "You think you had a bad day? Me and those boys in the studio just found out we had a bad 25 years." I snap at her; Julie's eyes widen slightly at my sudden outburst. "And then we find out; we're still able to do the one thing we lived for."

"You're right," Julie admitted, turning to face me, "It's just-"

"Your bad day." I finish for her, Julie looks down at the ground, guilty, "Look, Julie, I'm really sorry we came into your life." I apologize, "but playing music in there with the band actually made me feel alive again; please don't take that away from us?" Julie stares at the ground blankly, and I sigh in frustration, "I know you know how powerful music can be; clearly, your mom's into music." I gesture to the studio that she referred to as her mom's.

"Was," Julie corrected me, "She passed away."

"Julie, I am so sorry," I apologize; everything about Julie's attitude tonight began to make sense; of course, she didn't want us in her mom's studio.

'Yeah, we didn't know," Alex spoke; I turn and see my three bandmates hesitantly walking over to Julie and I.

"It's alright," Julie sighs, smiling sadly at my brother, "You guys haven't seen her anywhere, have you? From wherever you're from..."

"Um, no, I mean your kind of the first person we've seen," Alex explains; Julie nods sadly, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah, but she's not dead, so it doesn't answer her question," Reggie adds in.

"Yeah, I think she knows what we mean," Alex tells him, "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks," Julie nods appreciatively towards my brother, "Sorry I got mad, you guys are kinda good."

"Kinda?" Luke asks, "you know that's like 25 years of rust just getting dusted off," He excuses making a dusting motion with his hands. I roll my eyes and slap his arm playfully.

"I'm really sorry too," I mumble; I'm not used to having to apologize to people; I typically run away when things get hard, "I shouldn't have freaked out on you,"

"Woah, I don't think I've ever heard my sister apologize before," Alex points out sarcastically, I glare at him, and he holds his hands up in defense.

"Don't get used to it," I tell the boys before turning my attention back to Julie, "So, do you play the piano too?"

"No," She responds quickly, "I don't play; that was my mom's stuff in there."

"No way, she was an amazing songwriter," Luke told Julie; He must have read the song I read earlier.

"She was," Julie nods sadly, her eyes widen in realization seconds later, "wait, how would you know?"

"There's a song on the piano," I answer for him; Luke smiles appreciatively at me and nods. "If it was hers, your mom was really talented." Julie nods and turns to walk away, and Luke and I glance at each other sadly; I guess we're going to have to find somewhere else to live.

"I guess," Julie pauses and turns to face the boys and I, "if you need a place to stay, you can stay in there. There's a bathroom in the back and a couch that turns into a bed if you still use any of that stuff."

"Dibs on the shower," Reggie exclaims, holding his hand up; we all turn to look at him weirdly, and Reggie smiles bashfully, "I just really like showers, and sometimes the occasional bath."

"This..." Julie gestures to the four of us, "this is just too weird." She mumbles, walking away from us.

"Ugh, don't leave me with them," I groan; Julie laughs lightly at my joke but continues walking. As soon as Julie leaves, the boys begin chuckling happily and fist-bumping one another.

"You know you love us, Charlie," Alex reminds me, swinging his arm around my shoulder; I shake my head in response, not pushing my brother's arm off.

"She told me earlier she's happy to be stuck with us and not bobby," Luke informs the boys; I glare at him, "Sounds like love to me."

"Shut up," I mumble, a blush making its way across my cheeks. "Dibs on the pull-out couch, by the way," I change the subject, shrugging Alex's arm off me; The boys all groan, but none of them fight me for it, which is smart because we all know I'd win.