Charlie's band sunset curve was gonna be legends, that was until they ate some bad hotdogs and ended up dying; now it's 25 years in the future, and somehow a girl named Julie can see them. Their band has a second chance, and nothing can stop them, o...
"Hey," I look up from the keys of the grand piano, my hazel eyes connecting with his green ones, "Do you mind if I sit?"
"Yeah, sure," I shrug, staring back down at the piano keys. Luke slides into the seat next to me, it isn't the largest piano bench, so our legs brush up against each other. We sit in silence for a couple of moments; the only sound was coming from Luke playing the piano keys lightly.
"I'm an idiot," He blurted after a minute or so of silence.
"Correct," I affirm, chuckling lightly at his abruptness.
"I shouldn't have given Julie our song without asking you," He admits; I finally break my gaze away from the piano and connect mine with his. "It was a jerk move." I nodded in agreement, "but Charlie, I never would have done it if I knew it was going to hurt you."
"I know, you're forgiven." I reassure him, "but," The smile that overtook his face fell, "if you ever do that again, I may not be so forgiving."
"Noted," He nods his head earnestly; turning his attention back to the piano, he began playing the beginning keys of bright; It sounded pretty good, until he hits the wrong note, causing me to cringe.
"You've always been better at the piano than me," Luke reminds me; I chuckle and nod, remembering the times I used to give Luke piano lessons.
"Here," I hesitantly place my hand on his, guiding him to play the right notes.
"So," Luke starts, neither of us looking away from the piano, "What are you doing tomorrow?" I chuckle lightly and shake my head.
"Nothing much," I shrug, "I haven't had much of a social life lately."
"Did you have a social life before?" Luke asks; I elbow him lightly, causing us to hit the wrong key. "I'm kidding," He replies defensively, "Just wasn't sure if you were hanging out with Willie."
"Willie?" I ask, my face scrunching up in confusion.
"Yeah," Luke shrugged, "you seemed pretty excited about him earlier." I couldn't help but observe the frown that took over Luke's face.
"Well, I mean, yeah," I say, chuckling lightly at Luke's tense expression, "Him and Alex got along better though," I told him, hoping he would understand what I meant.
"Older brothers' approval," Luke nods his head, "That's good." I sigh, shaking my head; how was he not getting this.
"More like little sisters' approval," I correct him; I watch Luke's eyes soften, almost as if he were relieved. "I think I'd be too much of a third wheel if we hung out."
"So, you're not busy this weekend?" Luke asks; he looks over to me, causing us to mess up the song I was guiding him to play, "Sorry," He mumbled, turning his attention back to the keys. "Do you wanna work on some songs?"
"That'd be cool," I nod, grateful that Luke is too busy looking at the piano to notice the blush on my face. "Do you know where Alex and Reggie are?" I ask him after a couple of moments, noticing their absence.
"Oh yeah," He chuckles, "I told them to wait outside," He explained, "I wasn't sure how well this conversation was going to go."
"Wow," I scoff, "You can come back in now," I yell loud enough for Alex and Reggie to hear from outside the studio. I lift my hand off Luke's just as they poof in.
"So?" Alex asked; I chuckled and shook my head. "We all good?"
"We're good," I assure him.
"Phew," Reggie exclaims, "because we talked outside about whose side we would pick if things escalated, and let's just say Luke wouldn't have been thrilled."
"Hey!" Luke exclaimed.
"Sorry, man, we're way more scared of Charlie," Reggie points out; I stick out my tongue at Luke teasingly, and he pouts playfully. Right now, things felt like how they used to be, well besides the whole being dead thing.
The next morning
"Are you sure you don't wanna come to the beach?" Luke asked me for what felt like the 100th time this morning.
"Positive," I affirm, nodding my head; the boys we're heading to the beach to play again.
"Okay," Alex said, "well, if you wanna join us, you know where we are." I nod, and all three boys poof away, leaving me alone in the studio. I sigh and moving over to the grand piano; the song I had been working on over the last couple of days was finished, and now that I finally had the studio to myself, I could play it without the boy's questioning who it's about. I begin playing the piano and singing; at first, I was hesitant; I wasn't used to singing; but as the song went on, I grew more confident, getting lost in the music. When I finished, I expected to be met with silence, considering I'm the only one in the studio; instead, someone began clapping.
"Charlie," Julie exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands, "That was amazing, you're amazing!" I shake my head, and Julie comes to lean on the piano. "Did you write that?"
"Yeah," I chuckle awkwardly.
"It's so different than bright," She pointed out; I nod; that's precisely why I can't show this one to the boys.
"I was just fooling around," I shrug; Julie slides onto the piano bench next to me.
"May I?" She asks, gesturing towards the songbook in front of us; I shrug; I guess there is no point in hiding it; she heard it all anyway. "This is definitely not just fooling around," Julie tells me after reading through the song. "We should show this to the band; You need to sing this at our next gig."
"No," I say quickly, Julie's eyes widen at my abruptness, "I mean, we can't show this to the band." I explain Julie's face scrunches up in confusion, and I sigh, "It's kind of personal."
"Oh, I see," Julie nods in understanding, "It's about one of them."
"What?" I ask stuttering slightly.
"It can't be about Alex because he's your brother," She continued, "and it's definitely not Reggie because you guys have more of a sibling relationship." I took a breath, knowing what was about to come, "So, it has to be about Luke." She concluded.
"That's crazy," I tell her, laughing as if she just said the funniest joke. Julie stares at me blankly, and I sigh, "If you tell him, I will-"
"I'm not gonna tell him," Julie cuts off my threat, holding her hands up in defense. "Promise." I sigh and nod.
"So," I say awkwardly; I had never had a friend who was a girl before, so I'm not entirely sure what to do next, "were you looking for the boys?"
"No," Julie chuckles, shaking her head, "I was looking for you actually; I figure, being the only girls in the group, we should stick together."
"I'd like that," I admit, and it's true, all my life I've been one of the guys, maybe it would be nice having another girl around. • • •
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^^^ Charlie's next day outfit • • • This was such a fun chapter to write, hope you all enjoyed☺️❤️
