Finally Free -- JATP Luke x MaleOC

Chapter 26

Back at the garage, Alex beat his drumsticks together, counting them off to start playing. Once they had started, Jay walked up to his microphone, glancing down at the neck of his guitar every so often to make sure he was playing the right chords.

"Marching on proud
Turn it up loud
Cause now we know what we're worth-"

The four of them stopped abruptly when Luke poofed back into the garage, falling into a chair that was set out. 

"Woah, Jay," Luke said, shooting to his feet. "You're singing?"

"Don't sound so surprised," Jay said snarkily, jerking his head over to the keyboard. Luke's gaze followed until he landed on Julie.

"Julie," Luke said.

"Grab your guitar," Julie said, a smile on her face. "We got work to do."

Luke looked around at his bandmates in bewilderment, earning only supportive gazes from them. Luke chuckled and grabbed his electric guitar, plugging it into the amp and getting ready for rehearsal.

"What made you come back?" Luke asked Julie as he passed by her.

"I realized how important music is to all of us," Julie answered vaguely, shooting a knowing glance at Jay. "And we've lost so much already. We can't lose this too."

"Thanks," Luke breathed out, turning to Jay. "To both of you."

"It was a team effort," Jay said, taking off his guitar and resting it on its stand. "I've got a couple assignments to do, catch Patterson up on the changes for me."

"You got it," Julie said with a chuckle as Jay sat himself down on the couch, reaching for his backpack.

"Alright then boss," Luke said, turning to Julie. "Where we at?"

"Oh, and by the way," Julie says, taking her seat while Jay pulls out his laptop, opening his AP Psychology assignment. "Happy birthday."

Jay almost scoffs at Julie's words, or rather, what he imagines Luke's reaction to be. Jay's eyes are locked onto his assignment, knowing that he'll need to finish his prewrite before he heads home tonight. Alex counted the band off and they played from the prechorus, where they were about to play before Luke had casually dropped in.

Jay spends the next hour or so completely focused his assignments, the music of the band acting as white noise. Eventually, Julie decides to go inside and Jay is left alone with three ghost boys desperate for attention.

"What'cha workin' on?" Reggie asks, tossing himself on the couch next to Jay.

"Psychology," Jay answers simply, looking through his notes on the laptop.

"Oh, I loved psychology," Reggie reminisces.

Jay gives Reggie a quick smile and Reggie returns with a wide smile of his own as Jay returns to his computer screen. There was always something familiar about the bassist, something about him that reminded Jay of himself, but also something else that he couldn't quite place. Perhaps that was why they had clicked so quickly.

"Yeah, you were the only one," Alex comments, leaning over to look at Jay's computer. "I don't even remember what bottom-up processing is."

"Processing that starts at the receptors and goes to the brain," Reggie answers immediately.

"Typically has to do with your five senses," Jay adds, his eyes not leaving the laptop screen. But he could still tell that Alex was dumbfounded and heard Luke scoff from a distance.

"Nerds," the guitarist says.

"Says the history buff," Alex comments.

"Really?" Jay says, finally looking up from the screen. "Luke? A history buff?"