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This is what Julie loved the most. Laid on the living room floor surrounded by her makeshift family. There was Flynn on her left, their hands loosely held together and Flynn’s head on Julie’s shoulder. Reggie took place next to Flynn, cuddled into her whilst her hand played with his hair. Alex was laid to Julie’s right, arms firmly pressed together with their heads angled towards one another exchanging wide smiles occasionally. Willie laid between Alex’s legs, his back against Alex’s chest with an arm securely around his waist. Then there was Luke, who’s head was on Julie’s legs, arms wrapped around whilst Julie lightly scratched the hair at the nape of his neck.
It was quiet, comfortable and the most content any of them had felt in a long while. This cuddle pile had been very much impromptu. Julie and Flynn were having a girl’s night - chick flick’s, boxed wine and all when Reggie burst through the front door, eyes red, face flushed, and lips pouted. They didn’t need to say anything, they knew Reggie’s parents were fighting again and quite frankly it was getting worse. Flynn extended her arm and Reggie immediately kicked off his shoes, dropped his bag and joined the girls on the floor.
Then Luke strolled in, face passive and songbook in his hand. His eyes immediately drifted towards the three of them and sighed. Julie patted her legs and Luke shuffled over and discarded his songbook on the couch. He settled down against Julie’s legs and reached for Reggie’s hand quietly singing one of the many country songs he’d come to (begrudgingly) love. Julie and Flynn shared a look and interlaced their fingers squeezing lightly.
It was a little after 11pm when Alex walked through the door with Willie in tow – the two of them beaming. Their smiles faltered a little when they saw the scene in front of them and Julie sent them a small smile and beckoned them over. So Alex gave Reggie a squeeze to his shoulder and ruffled Luke’s hair before settling next to Julie and pulling Willie down to sit with them.
It was quiet for a while, the only noises came from the rustle of clothes as they readjusted their positions, the occasional sniffle from Reggie or a quip from Flynn about Regina George and the breathy laughter that followed.
The girls learnt quickly that touch was an important part of comfort when it came to Luke, Alex and Reggie. Their first meeting had Reggie bounding over and enveloping them into a tight hug.
When they wanted reassurance, a squeeze of a hand, arm or even a leg was enough. When Luke was practically vibrating with anticipation and nerves, someone just needed to cup his face in their hands and press their forehead to his – almost to centre him. When Reggie was distressed, much like he was when he came through the door earlier, he just needs a hug and for someone to play with his hair to keep him grounded. And there was Alex, Alex who when he was feeling particularly anxious just needed a hand to hold or jewellery to fiddle with.
But touch wasn’t just needed when the boys weren’t feeling their best. It was just apart of their everyday. A greeting would be a cuddle or a kiss on the cheek. A celebration would be a cuddle pile on the nearest flat surface with laughter and groans of pain. Movie nights there’d be constant touch, whether that was a pair of legs over someone else’s lap or a hand on someone’s shoulder.
It was barely one o’clock in the morning before Alex whispered something to Willie which made the two break out into bright, almost mischievous, smiles. The two slowly separated and Willie stood, dusted himself off and began to hum a very familiar melody and slowly started to dance around the darkened living room. Alex was next to join Willie’s antics by standing and moving to crouch beside Reggie, hand extended and eyebrow quirked as a silent invitation. And that’s all it took – Reggie’s face broke out into a smile and he quickly detangled himself from Flynn and grabbed her hand to pull her onto the makeshift dancefloor. But Flynn, consequently, pulled Julie up and Luke’s head landed with a thump on the floor. A ripple of laughter sounded from the group much to the dismay of Luke who groaned and murmured something along the lines of ‘for fuck sake’. Julie turned and danced towards him, hands out towards him and she whispered, ‘dance with me,’ Luke was only so strong.
The six of them were soon doing something which could have resemblance to be dancing making music with their feet, hands or singing. Reggie and Willie were soon trying to line dance, Alex spinning Flynn around on his back and Luke with Julie doing an awkward shuffle of sorts. Laughter soon started to bubble from Flynn and Alex as they started to get dizzy, Reggie and Willie stumbling over one another’s feet (read as Reggie getting distracted by Willie’s pizza socks) and Julie headbutting Luke.
It was barely one o’clock in the morning, they’re dancing around a darkened living room with laughter acting as their melody and Julie wouldn’t have it any other way.