Finally Free -- JATP Luke x MaleOC

Chapter 20

By the time Jay and Flynn had arrived at the car, Julie had already finished her ice cream.

"Seriously?" Flynn asked as she sat in the backseat next to Julie. "You couldn't wait for us to get back?"

"The ice cream was melting, I had to eat it!" Julie defended.

"Well Flynn and I still need to eat, so we're gonna chill here for a while," Jay said, holding a hand behind him to ask for his car keys.

"They're in the ignition," Julie said.

"Right."

Jay wanted to facepalm but held himself back as he turned on the car's stereo system, connecting the aux cord to his phone.

"Any requests?" he asked, smiling when both girls immediately asked for their favorite songs. He passed his phone back to the girls, letting them choose the songs while they sat still in the car. Jay had quickly finished his ice cream while the girls screamed the lyrics to the songs they put on and Jay was perfectly sure that Flynn's ice cream had turned into soup at this point.

"Ready to go?" he asked after half an hour of singing passed. Both girls gave their yeses and Jay began to drive. "Since you have my phone, mind calling Ray and letting him know you're gonna be over at Flynn's place?"

Jay turned down the volume on his stereo as Julie made the call, which lasted less than two minutes. Flynn's house wasn't that far from their school, but it was far enough that walking all the way wasn't appealing. Of course, they could just take the bus to and from school, and the girls did exactly that in their freshman year until Jay had gotten his license in the midst of his junior year. At that point, Julie and Flynn had tag-teamed to ask Jay to give them daily rides, and Jay had agreed easily to them.

Granted, Flynn's parents and Ray offering to pay a portion of gas fares was an added benefit.

"Flynn, do your parents know Julie's coming over?" Jay asked as he pulled into the driveway.

"No, but I doubt they'll mind," Flynn shrugged.

"You might want to go tell them that she's staying the night," Jay said, giving her a look in the mirror. Flynn quickly understood and hopped out of the car, leaving Julie and Jay by themselves.

"You didn't really mean that, did you?" Jay asked softly when Flynn left.

"Mean what?" Julie asked.

"That the band was a mistake."

Julie sighed.

"I did then," Julie said sincerely. "But I don't now. I'd never regret being in a band with you."

"What about them?" Jay asked carefully.

"They..." Julie huffed, anger showing in her posture. "They're so obsessed with getting payback against Trevor that they forgot about the band. I don't want to be in a band with people like that."

"Julie, you have to understand where they're coming from," Jay said. "Bobby was their bandmate, their friend long before we were even born. Imagine if you died right now and then came back twenty-five years later to see that Flynn had stolen all your songs and published them under her name, giving you no credit."

"She would never do that," Julie dismissed.

"That's what the boys thought about Bobby. About Trevor," Jay said, trying to get her to understand their point of view. "Trevor even recorded a song called 'My Name is Luke.'"

"Look, I know you're trying to get me to feel for them, but it's not going to work," Julie said. "They left us behind for a chance at revenge. They made us look like fools in front of our entire school. Even after everything you were risking to be there, even after they knew how hard it's been for me to play music after Mom-"