Chapter Text
Luke sat on the table, glaring at Nick from across the room. He wasn’t jealous. He wasn't! He was just worried that Nick was being too friendly.
Okay, so maybe he was a little jealous.
But just a little! It wasn’t like he wanted Julie to stop talking to Nick all together or anything like that. No, not at all. A voice broke him out of his reverie.
“You’re boring a hole into his skull you know”
“Alex! No, I wasn't, I was just… keeping an eye on him,” It’s true, Luke was keeping an eye on him. He was just also hoping that Julie would keep her eyes off of him.
“Uh-huh,” Alex didn’t look convinced.
Luke wasn't even sure he was convinced. He knew there was something between him and Julie, but he wasn’t sure what it was, or if she even felt the same way. Then there was the obvious ghost/lifer issue. But Luke didn’t care.
Nick was still standing in the hall from where Julie had invited him in, waiting awkwardly with his hands jammed in his pockets, while Julie put the flowers in water.
Nick smiled as Julie walked back over to him, “So Julie, your performance last night was cool.”
Julie smiled back at him, and Luke scowled. Julie was supposed to only smile like that at him. Her sunshine-bright smiles were supposed to be a secret thing, shared only with the people she loved.
“Thanks! The boys were pretty good, weren't they?”
Alex watched Luke's face change as he stared intently at the two lifers in the room. He was clearly intensely jealous. Alex knew that Luke didn’t like Nick, but frankly, this was a bit ridiculous. Did it really matter that Nick had a crush on Julie when Julie was so clearly crushing on Luke? Julie and Nick’s conversation was background noise to Alex. They could be talking about cats or music or anything for all he cared. But Luke cared, so Alex tuned back in.
Nick was still talking about how real the holograms looked, and Julie was looking increasingly bothered by deflecting his questions about the how and why of the holograms.
“Yeah! So as cool as the holograms are-” she paused and trailed off slightly awkwardly with a strained smile “-how have you been?”
Nick looked thrown off for a second, clearly not expecting Julie to be so obvious as she changed the topic, “Good.”
Julie didn’t know how to respond “That's…goo- Great! That’s great!”
There was another awkward pause before Luke clearly thought it was high time he spoke up again.
He moved behind Nick to better mock him, “Wooow” He said sarcastically. “Good. What a great conversationalist he is”
Julie frowned and glanced over Nick’s shoulder at Luke.
Luke smiled at her.
Nick turned around and made eye contact with Luke. Wait what. He looked at Luke, not through him or past him. He looked at him. Luke felt chills run through his non-body.
‘What are you looking at?” Nick said quizically.
“Oh, nothing” Julie replied, but at Nick’s prompting look she continued, “it’s just that those flies sure are annoying this time of year”
Nick looked back over his shoulder, “Yeah, they sure are”
Luke paused. He could’ve sworn that Nick had looked straight at him before, but Nick was now looking past Luke like he was searching for the flies Julie had been talking about. It was now beside the point, and Luke must have imagined it. The more important thing was that Julie had called him annoying. But he shook it off and continued to butt in. If he mocked Nick enough, maybe she’d get tired of Nick and send him away.
“So, is your lacrosse team going to stay with us longer for dance?” Julie asked Nick.
“I don’t know, but maybe we could dance together sometime anyway?”
Luke visibly bristled at this.
Alex almost laughed at how absurd Luke was acting. This whole dumb jealousy act was ridiculous.
Luke, however, was still hell-bent on making Nick look like the fool here. “Yeah” he rolled his eyes, and looked over to Alex, who was now looking nervous, “like she would want to spend more time with you.”
And finally! Julie decided she'd had enough, “Okay! Well, Nick, dinner is soon - so you should probably be going” She all but pushed him out the door.
“Hey! Wait, Julie! Call me ok? We can make plans to hang out?”
Julie looked imperceptibly exasperated, “Yeah, sure!” Again with the strained smile.
Luke felt victorious, Nick was gone, and Julie was annoyed with the nerd.
Alex whispered to him, quickly destroying his excitement “Uh dude? I think she's mad.” And with that Alex was already running away, poofing anywhere but there.
Luke was still processing his confusion when Julie laid into him.
“What is your problem?!”
“What?”
“What was that?!” Julie hissed “Get over yourself. Nick is my friend, and your jabbering in the background is really annoying. The first time you did it, it was amusing, but-” She broke off with a huff “I enjoy my conversations with Nick, so stop it!” She stormed off to her room, walking past a newly arrived and very confused Reggie.
Luke was still standing there stunned when Reggie spoke.
“Dude, what did you do?”
When Luke finally found his voice again, he responded, still staring at the doorway where Julie had left through, “Something stupid I think”