Chapter Text
It was one of those rare days where nobody was around the house, so I was free to sit down stares in my pjs and slippers, blaring music from the Tv. I was in that random bad mood where I just want to blare sad songs and scream the lyrics to the top of my lungs and maybe cry a little, but like for no reason? I can’t be the only one who does this. So I started with water fountain by Alec Benjamin and yelled the lyrics to the top of my lungs not caring if I sound good or not. The next song to come on was be alright be dean Lewis and my chest hurts for no reason, I have no reason to be sad but I am and that makes me more sad. But then a song I haven’t listened to in forever came on by Lady Antebellum called need you now, my heart hurt and my eyes filled with tears but I can’t help but smile, all the memories of my mom and I singing the lyrics to this in the car, and my mom teaching me how to play it on the piano, I smile hearing the chorus set in and I pause the tv to go out to the garage, I round the piano and sit, looking at the keys to remember the right notes, as soon as I found the first three keys though it all came crashing back to me and I smile thinking about when I was really little siting in my moms lap wile she guided my hands to the right keys, slowly teaching me the song. I started to sing when there was a flash in front of the piano and Luke stood in front of me and giant smile on his face that quickly turned to a look of concern “Julie what’s wrong?” I look at him confused seeing him lean over the top of the piano “nothing?” It sounded more like a question then anything “then why are you crying?” I wipe my cheeks and remember that I was indeed crying “o-oh it’s nothing, really I’m fine” he still looks concerned as he rounds the piano and sits next to me “ok so what are you doing?” I place my hands back on the piano keys and play a little bit of the song “Wow that’s really good, is that a new song you came up with?” I smile sometimes I forget that he died in the 90s and doesn’t know 2000s love songs “no, it’s a song I grew up listening to, it one of the first songs my mom ever taught me to play on this piano” he looks sadly at me “well let’s play it, teach it to me” is he serious? “You sure you want to learn it? It’s a slow love song it’s not really your sound” he rolls his eyes at me but smiles “I listen to things other then rock” I smile and shake my head but tell him to go grab my acoustic, he grabs it and pulls a chair up next to me, I show him the first few chords and he goes to play them back, his tongue poking out and his eyebrows crease in concentration, but he still misses one of the notes making me laugh “No like this” I show him again and he finally gets it making a proud face at me as I nod “good now it goes like this” I show him the next set of notes before remembering I could just pull the sheet music up on my phone, I giggle pulling my phone out for him to see “no put that away” he says pushing it away from him confusing me “why, didn’t you want to learn the song?” He smile, like genuinely smiles “I want you to teach me” I smile and sigh “gotta be difficult don’t you?” He grins “ya but you know you love me” as if he didn’t realize what he said he began to be a stuttering mess “I-I mean p-platonically l-like how I l-love Alex a-and Reggie a-and L-like-” I cut him off with a laugh and roll my eyes “of corse I love you, you dork” he’s jaw snapped closed and he just sits there looking at me a moment to long “do you want to learn the song or what?” I ask feeling my cheeks begin to heat under his gaze “ya keep showing me” he smiles and just like that we get back into a rhythm until he knows the entire song. as we begin to play, Reggie, Alex, and Willie pop in “oh sorry are we interrupting a little writing sesh?” Reggie asks throwing himself down in a chair, Alex and Willie set unnaturally close on the couch and they all look up at us expectantly “no I was just teaching Luke a song I listened to growing up” they all smile “can we hear it?” Willie asks, I don’t know him well but he make Alex happy so that’s all I care about. “Are you sure you want to? It’s a slow love song it’s not any of your tastes” they all look offended “we can listen to what ever we want” Reggie says crossing his arms and pouting like a toddler then Alex looks astonished at me “Luke learned to play a slow song? How did you get him to do that?” I feel confused as well “I don’t know, but he’s really good at it” they all look surprised “will you play it for us?” Alex asks and Luke looks to me for conformation “sure I guess” I start singing glancing around at my friends, then we go into our duet and I locked eyes eyes with Luke “and I wonder if I ever cross your mind” we sang together and I feel sparks in my fingers as I press each key “for me it happens all the time” I feel tears sting my eyes and I have to close them, I continue to play but I can feel every emotion coming together as one, my heart hurts but also feel lighter, I open my eyes and see Lukes worried eyes glued to mine, I feel a tear stream down my face and his eyes track it before connecting to mine again, he gives me a single nod before he take his solo not wavering as he sings like he singing directly to me, like no one else is in the room “Nother shot of whisky can’t stop lookin at the door” everything around us fades and his sweet voice drowns me “wishin you’d come sweepin in the way you did before” my heart stutters, we both start to sing again and I face forward, close my eyes and feel myself smile wide “and I wonder if I ever cross your mind?” Every memory of playing this song flood my mind and I can feel her, my mom right now, right here with me, the sparks in my fingers run up my arm and through my chest and I no longer feel sad thinking about this song I just feel grateful to her for bringing me my boys, and to Luke for making things like this less painful. I lock eyes with Luke and smile brightly, his worried eyes changed to ones of happiness and Love “for me it HAPPENS ALL THE TIME” he’s speaking directly to me, I have no doubt in my mind and that scares and thrills me we both go into our own worlds not breaking eye contact, gentle smiles touch our faces as we sing to each other as we finish the song, and sit silently staring at each other until our little bubble was popped as we hear Reggie clap and Willie and Alex whistling, I wipe my eyes and look at Luke again “thank you” I whisper “for what?” He smiles and everything goes silent “for making me happy” I can’t bring myself to stand up yet, my knees felt weak and my head felt light under his gaze he nods his head before we hear a car pull up “Julie come on we’re going out to dinner!” My dad yells and I cringe not really wanting to leave yet, “go be with your family I’ll be here when you get back” he whispers a soft smile on his face, “Bye guys see you when I get home” I yell walking inside to change out of my pjs.