Rose's Journal

Chapter 24: The Reconcile

Luke poofed back to the garage not long after playing cards with Carlos. He wanted to be there, but he didn't want to talk to Julie. He was mostly mad at himself because everything she said was true, but he couldn't help but feel hurt by her. At the same time, he could never leave her. He loved her too much for that.

"Hey Alex," Luke said as he poofed back into the garage.

"Luke?... LUKE!" He yelled as he ran over to hug him.

Luke laughed, "Chill out, dude, we saw each other like an hour ago."

"More like 2 hours, but we don't need to argue about the finer details. I was worried you said you'd be home a few minutes after me. What if something had happened to you?"

"I'm fine trust me. I just talked to Flynn for a little bit," Luke paused, thinking about what he said and remembering how hurt everyone is now. His voice softened, "I'm really sorry I didn't come right back."

"It's fine I understand. Have you seen Julie yet?" Alex asked.

"No, and I'm kinda dreading it. I don't know if I'm ready to see her yet," Luke replied.

"Well, I talked to her, and she doesn't seem as mad anymore. She was actually happy to see me."

"Yeah, but it's different with you two. You guys are really close, of course, but Julie and I have this emotional bond from songwriting. We're our most vulnerable with each other, and she knows that I know how much this would hurt her," Luke sighed. "I think, out of the three of us, I hurt her the most."

Alex sighed too. He was probably right. They all had a different type of relationship with Julie, and the nature of her and Luke's made it so if they hurt her, he hurts her the most. He also came to the realization that Flynn had all three of their types of relationships with Julie combined so being hurt by Flynn probably stung the most.

"Should we check up on Flynn?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Luke responded, wanting to do anything other than talk to Julie in that moment.

Alex walked over to get their whiteboards. He found his and Luke's, but there was one other that was missing. "Luke? You brought Reggie's whiteboard back after you guys went to Flynn's, right? Because I swear, I saw it here yesterday."

Luke smirked slightly, suddenly feeling a weight off his chest, "You don't think-?"

Alex interrupted, "Luke, I would love that too, but I don't think it was. I'll text Flynn. She probably still has it. I mean neither of us were in a good enough mindset to remember much of anything."

"That's fair," Luke's face turned more neutral, trying to hide his disappointment, but still secretly hoping Reggie came in and took the board.

Alex texted Flynn, and the boys waited. Luke stood there, messing with his rings and incessantly tapping his foot: he wanted to know if this could be a sign that Reggie was back. After what felt like the longest minute in history, Flynn responded.

"Luke... I'm sorry, but you left the whiteboard there. Flynn says she'll drop it off later. I don't know why she even bothers; I mean the investigation is over, but at least we'll see her and get to check if she's okay."

Luke's face fell as he tried to hold back tears. He was hoping Alex was wrong, and Reggie really was back. "I.. think I'm gonna go talk to Julie now."

Alex went over to try to give Luke a hug, "Are you-"

Luke interrupted in a raised volume, "No, Alex. I'm fine. Don't try to comfort me. You and I both know I don't deserve your pity. Now, I'm just going to go now, okay? I'm going to go talk to Julie and fix what I can fix." He poofed out of the room and into the hallway outside of Julie's room. He realized that there actually was something he wanted to do less than talk to Julie: deal with his feelings for and about Reggie.