Chapter Text
Alex let the cymbal ring out as “Late Last Night” came to an end. It was one of Julie’s favourites from the demo and she had been begging the boys for the past week to give it a try.
“That… That was awesome.” she stated as she collapsed down into the large armchair.
“I didn’t think that song would stand the test of time…” Luke admitted.
“Hey I always thought it was pretty good!” complained Reggie .
“Yeah,” Alex chuckled, “‘Cause you wrote it.”
Julie shook her head as she took a swig from her water bottle covered in stickers from various bands, concerts and shows that she had been to throughout her life. Taking pole position was a newly applied sticker with the logo of Sunset Curve which she had one of the tech teachers cut for her at school. It was perfect. She had attended many of the concerts on her bottle with her mom and now she was able to have a band on there which her mom had loved as a young woman. To this day, the whole situation blew Julie’s mind but this was one of the many ways that she was still able to connect with her mother in some way… so it was worth the chaos.
After a few minutes of general conversation, Julie rose from her chair and towards the door.
“I’ll be back in a sec I just gotta get some more water.”
“You’re all good, we’ll be here!” Luke replied almost too cheerily.
“Dude. I get that you’re trying to win Julie and all but can we maybe cool it when we rehearse?” Alex asked the moment that Julie was out of earshot.
“What?”
“You were all over her during that playthrough. I know she can feel us and stuff now but give her some space…”
“Back off Alex. We were just feeling the music.”
“No. You were ruining the vibe. Me and Reggie are in the room too, right Reg?”
“Hm?” Reggie said as he shook himself out of a daydream. It was an automatic mechanism that had fallen into place after hearing the beginning of so many fights at his old home. He knew what the start of a fight sounded like and this was the last place he expected to hear it. These guys were best friends. They didn’t need to fight. And yet here they were. As all of these thoughts rushed through Reggie’s mind, the argument had grown significantly. Reggie couldn’t hear specific words. He just heard shouting.
“Guys… guys can we please calm down?” Reggie began feebly. He was the peace keeper of the group. He needed to do his job.
“Guys…” this time it was louder but clearly more disorientated. Reggie took a deep breath. He could do this. Couldn’t he? He felt the tears welling up in his eyes. Normally he could hold this type of thing back but it all felt far too familiar. He collapsed into a nearby chair and let his head fall into his hands as he tried to focus on his breathing and not let the situation overwhelm him. It was already overwhelming him.
“Alex. Alex!” Luke cried to get him to stop shouting.
“What!?”
Luke nodded his head toward the chair where Reggie was hunched over, breathing heavily whilst gripping onto the rich red flannel around his waist. The boys had seen this a few times before and only one fight that the two of them had had with Bobby had ever triggered this within the garage. Normally this came from arguments at home. Both Alex and Luke quickly dropped the fight, along with what they were holding, and rushed to either side of Reggie. Alex tried to take one of his hands as a sign of comfort but Reggie recoiled quickly.
“Reg… we’re so sorry.” Alex began but Luke quickly stopped him.
“Reggie. Just breathe. It’s over. You’re safe. It was a pointless argument that we didn’t need to have. It didn’t mean anything. Just breath. In… and out…”
Reggie took Luke’s advice and he understood that the boys didn’t mean any harm by what they did… but at the same time Reggie couldn’t shake this familiar feeling of being helpless. The feeling he always felt when his parents were at home at the same time… but also the feeling he felt when Caleb forced them to perform at the HGC… It was all too familiar and Reggie knew that there was something more to Caleb. None of the other boys knew of his life before but Reggie did. He had always been fascinated by Caleb Covington but he didn’t know why. Now he hated him… but at the same time was intrigued by him. There was something about him that drew Reggie in; something more than the natural, and unnatural, charm that Caleb had used to lull the boys into a false sense of security. A memory? Distant and vague but there was something there for sure… if only Reggie could put his finger on it.
“I… I need to get out of here.” Reggie stammered as he rose from the chair.
“No Reg sit back down, chill out… c’mon man it’s all good.” Alex began to plead.
“No.” Reggie said defiantly, “I… I have to go.”
And with that Reggie left, and Alex and Luke were left feeling very very guilty.