(Why you gotta be so) Rude?

Ray Molina has always had a tendency to get angry when it came to Luke Patterson. Maybe it was his smugness, his arrogance or maybe it was the fact that he had his daughter wrapped around his finger. So naturally, when he asks to marry her, Ray declines. But Luke wouldn’t be Luke if he didn’t have at least one trick up his sleeve, preferably and possibly something in association with music.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

If you knew Ray Molina, you knew one thing.

He had not one bad bone in his body. He really didn‘t. He treated people fairly and respectfully and had welcomed everybody with open arms, no matter if he knew them or not. His loved ones were the most important to him though. Family first, it had always been, especially after Rose had died and the family had to reestablish their relationships with one another.

Three kids meant a lot of responsibility, but he was willing to take it on to him to make them happy. He let them make their own experiences, let them stay on their own feet, there were hardly any rules in the Molina household. Did that make him any less responsible? No. Just because he followed some pretty unorthodox educational methods, ones that were looked upon with strict criticism by conservative white people who didn’t believe in freedom for their children, didn’t mean he was a bad parent.

Did that make him less protective of his kids, especially his daughter? No.

(Look he was a feminist through and through, but even he couldn’t deny fearing for her to walk the streets at night, alone, especially in the patriarchal world they were sadly still living in)

So was he a bad parent for giving his kids a chance to be led by their own dreams and wishes and choices? Absolutely not.

Did those rules apply under one specific circumstance? Also no.

There was just something about that smug son of a bitch Luke Patterson that had won his way into his daughter’s heart at rapid speed and wouldn’t let her go until they were both gray and old.

He should be happy for them, he really should, they were going strong in their three years relationship, but as he already declared, that kid was a son of a bitch.

The first time he met him was sophomore year of Highschool when Reggie had brought him home for them to work on a school project. He had introduced himself with brilliant arrogance and at that time Ray had found it very entertaining to watch the boy’s antics as he tried to keep up the facade faintly resembling this hardcore rockstar that nobody could harm.

(They didn’t do anything for school that day, only talked about forming a band with one of their peers.)

And Ray had to admit that the kid knew a lot about music, because with that knowledge he slyly made his way into Rose’s heart, who loved the boy as her own son. Ray had often found them bundled up together in the studio as she taught him a new chord progressions on her blue electric guitar. It was the same one she gifted him for his 16th birthday.

Sure the boy was a little too enthusiastic and often times tried to push that enthusiasm onto other people without their actual consent, but it was totally bearable.

But then Rose had died and Ray found out that Reggie had finally decided to act on his feelings for the older boy and tried to kiss Luke, after dancing around each other for months, but got rejected in the end, which left him him a crying mess, experiencing his first heartbreak at the young age of 16. It tore Ray’s heart apart to see so much sadness reflected in the sea-blue eyes of the boy he had adopted after his parents left him in the back alley of Santa Monica hospital.

It broke his heart a little more than Rose’s death. He could deal with his own pain, but seeing one of his kids carry such an obscene amount of sadness with him was too much.

(In the end Reggie had gotten over him fairly quickly and now they could actually laugh about it.)

That didn’t however change the fact that in the aftermath, Ray’s perception of Luke had slightly faltered.

And then Rose died.

At that time Luke really went of the deep end and Ray had almost felt bad for him, almost, but then Luke claimed that no one understood the pain flowing through him and Ray just...he just....

That night was the first and only night that he had yelled at the boy.

How dare he say no one understood his pain, not when there were four people under the same roof that were hurting from the depths of their souls in a way that would last until the day they died. In a way that would continue to hurt until they were reunited with her, wherever that was.

So in conclusion. He was really a narcissistic motherfucker.

Because not only did he break Reggie’s heart, but decided to date their drummer, Alex, even if only for a few months. Not only did he claim that Rose’s death only affected him. Not only did he push his little niña to pursue music again, almost driving her off the deep end, because he wanted her in the band. No.

He managed to win his little girl’s heart over in the end.

Ray had no idea how it actually went down. He knew they were friends, knew that they were close, he was her brother’s best friend after all. On top of that, they were in a band together and for said band, they wrote music together, connecting in many ways Ray wouldn’t even begin to understand.

They would practically spent almost every free second together to work on songs and if they weren’t writing they hung out or—

Okay, you know what? Ray could actually imagine how in happened, now that he thought about it.

But then one day, they just came through the door, holding hands, her quietly laughing at one of his jokes as he reached over to her to peck her lips and in that moment Ray swore he lost his appetite at the Arroz con Pollo in front of him, one of the meals Victoria, his sister in law, had brought over.

(Carlos had to close his chin ball for him that had momentarily fallen open)

The worst thing was that he knew how much Luke loved Julie. He could see it the way they would quietly whisper to each other, being in their own little world, communicating not only through words and looks but especially through music, something so special to her because he was the one to bring music back in her life. He could see it in the way they were oozing chem— okay no, sorry Reggie but that just sounds awful. He could see in it their chemistry on and off stage. But what really unnerved him was the fact that they reminded him so much of Rose and him.

(Ray had met Rose around a similar age as Julie met Luke. Always in the same friend group, never willing to make the first step. Until one day, when Jack Mercer tried to ask her out and she declined, claiming there already was someone in her life. It took Ray a whole of 3 years to understand that she had talked about him and when they finally got together he was practically legal.

Another aspect that lined up with the timeline. Luke and Julie got together when she was 17 and he 18.

But the most obvious aspect was how they fit together like two puzzle pieces. What Ray couldn’t do on his own, Rose helped him with. If Rose felt overwhelmed, Ray would renter her burdensome thoughts.

Or he would help her, if there was a song she was stuck with.)

It was honestly no surprise that their relationship had already lasted 3 years.

There was most definitely envy from Ray, though he would never openly admit it. He would also never openly admit that when thinking about the story, he could find certain similarities between him and Luke. Knowing and accepting are two very different things after all.

He wanted to see Julie happy, but for the love of god, why with this guy?

So in conclusion. Luke was a smug son of a bitch. Luke was a narcissistic motherfucker. But he was the same motherfucker that would do anything for his daughter, anything for the family, hell even for him. And he was the same motherfucker that had asked him for his permission to marry his daughter.

(Don’t come for him. They were both above that old-school shit, they both knew that Julie was the independent one and would be the one to make the decision in the end but something just felt wrong about not asking Ray. Consider it a question, not an allowance.)

“No.” he had said on that very first day of April. Internally he hoped it was some kind of April fools joke, something to rummage Ray up, because Luke knew that his girlfriend’s father wasn’t exactly his biggest fan.

But Luke had looked so serious and determined and when he pulled out the ring he had bought her to convince him, Ray almost felt bad.

He knew that Julie would like it. Love it, actually. It was a delicate pink alexandrite and its shape resembled that of a dahlia, Rose’s favourite flower, which Ray hadn’t even known Luke was aware of. It was perfect and he knew it.

It was perfect and he hated it.

That didn’t however change his answer for the boy. He could try all he want, he actually did two more times after that, but Ray wouldn’t budge.

His niña was only 20 years old after all.

Even he hadn’t married so early on in his life. And though he stuck to his unspoken mantra of declining Luke’s wish until that boy gave up, he felt bad about it at the same time. Julie could make her own decisions. Ray had no place to tell her who or when to marry. All this talk about freedom and standing on her own feet, for him to ruin it.

God, maybe he was a bad parent after all.

But Luke Patterson wasn‘t Luke Patterson without a backup plan (definitely workshopped by Alex) and he knew that Ray would never give his blessing, so he had to take matters into his own hands. And naturally, in old Luke-fashion, there was only one solution.

________

Ray sits at the kitchen counter when Julie makes her way down the stairs. It was nearing her birthday so they decided to go visit her house for a few days and not to spend their time in the shared Appartement in Sacramento, which they had moved to only last year.

“Hey dad” she chirps from the end of the stairs, slowly making her way over to greet him with a kiss on the cheek. He lifts his eyes from the paper he is holding in his hands to look at her, noticing the happy look sparkling in her eyes.

“You’re in an oddly good mood.”

But the only responds he gets is her content hum, making him all the more curious.

“Come on, tell me. What going on?” he pushes, hardly masking his own curiosity but knowing she would probably want to talk about what’s making her so happy this morning.

Julie’s always been like this. She knows that when she enters a room, she captures everybody’s attention instantly. She has this magnetic pull to her, making people gravitate towards her unknowingly before she has them wrapped around her finger and she won’t even lie about it—she completely and utterly enjoys that attention.

“Oh nothing.. nothing” she beams and in that moment Ray notices that something world-changing must have happened.

His niña is the sun, lighting up a whole room, making strangers smile with nothing but cheerfulness radiating off of her, but if there’s something really making her happy, one can easily notice.

“Mija, come on you can’t hide anything from me.” he states.

In the back of his mind, Ray can’t help but think about possible reasons behind her good mood. It could be a new gig, she’s always been excited about them. Or even better, it could be a manager or contract, the band had been waiting for years for that to happen. Besides, Ray’s more than relieved at the fact that she has so many potential things to be happy about now, the memories of the first year after Rose’s death and how she had lost herself still reminiscent in his mind.

But then his head flicks to the one thought that’s been repressed ever since that first April day. It could be a reason for her to be happy. This happy actually. But Luke wouldn’t, no. Or... would he?

Ray’s head flies to her hands, searching for any sign of a ring that Luke could’ve put there and when he doesn’t find one, he’s relieved beyond measure.

“Promise me you won’t say anything okay?” is what gets his attention back to Julie. She holds her index finger out for him to link it with his own, a gesture that holds special meaning to the Molina’s. Ray can’t help but notice her subtle change of tone, voice slightly turned down an octave to whisper to him and the thought reoccurs that whatever she’s about to tell him must be very important to her.

Anything that’s important to her, is important to him too, right?

He doesn’t say anything, just links his finger with hers before nodding for her to continue.

“I think Luke’s gonna ask me soon.”

The color drains from Ray’s face. He knows exactly what she means.

Okay, anything that is important to her might be important to him too but that doesn’t mean that everything that makes her happy, must make him happy too. Because this.. oh this... it doesn’t.

And the fact that she didn’t even need to elaborate on her explanation tells him three other things. One, Luke and her already talked about marriage. Two, she seems really excited about it and that makes Ray all the more anxious. And three, Luke’s probably talked to her about Ray’s disapproval of said plan, which again, that son of a bitch always found a way to present him as the bad guy.

Trying to mask his disappointment, he nods his head.

“Mija..” he starts to say after a few quiet seconds but she interrupts.

“No dad, don’t..don’t even look at me like that” she breathes. “I know you don’t like him really much but....but isn’t my happiness more important than this stupid fight between you two?”

He opens his mouth to contradict but she only raises her eyebrow, knowing exactly that whatever he’d say to interject would be full of shit. She knows he can’t stand Luke and she’s way past trying to change his opinion about him. Not after all her tries to get them to bond have failed. Not after neither of them were willing to make amends with each other. She doesn‘t ask him to, she just wants him to lay all his prejudices down to be happy for her for a short moment, because when Luke asks her, she’s going to accept his proposal. No matter what her father thinks.

This realization sets into Ray’s mind shortly after.

He can’t help but roll his eyes, deeply inhaling before looking at her, looking to see if there was any doubt in her deep brown eyes.

“You sure honey?”

There was none.

“Yes papí. I’m... I’m sure.” she admits shyly, before quietly giggling, almost in disbelief, seeming genuinely happy.

The sound momentarily makes Ray forget about his own doubts.

Only to come back to him when he hears another voice coming from the top of the stairs.

“Jules?”

Luke emerges into view seconds after. When he spots Ray, the tiredness on his face shifts to one of his stupid smirks and Ray wants nothing more than to scrape it off of him.

Before he can do that though, Julie gets in his line of sight again, putting her finger over her lips, signaling for Ray to keep quiet about their previous conversation. He shoots her a quick nod, one that doesn‘t seem as genuine as the one before Luke made his way into the kitchen.

„Ray.“ the boy greets him from the side, coming behind Julie to wrap his arms around the girl’s waist and lay his head on her shoulder. If it were anybody else, Ray would find the gesture sweet, especially when his daughter turns her head to peck her boyfriend‘s lips. But it‘s Luke.

He hardly gets along with him as it is. How‘s he going to endure having him around all the time now? Him being a Molina?

For the rest of the morning, Ray keeps quiet, wavering in those silent torturous thoughts and only when they leave to go upstairs, he notices that he had been reading the same line over and over again in one of the newspaper articles.

“SUNSET CURVE: New rising stars?”

Oh come on for fuck—
_________

What Ray doesn’t expect is anything big to happen today. He expected Victoria to come over to bring one of her Pastelles before going to Pilates. He expected to drive Carlos to baseball, but then the boy informs him that training had been postponed to next week. What he doesn’t expect is Reggie asking him to help with one of his amps in the studio. And when he follows his son through the heavy garage doors, he certainly doesn’t expect Alex and Luke in front of their setup.

One look around the room and he sees Julie sitting on the old leather couch in the back.

“You know what’s going on here?” he asks, hopeful she could give him an answer.

However Julie only shakes her head, seeming as unknowing as her father.

The next second, Luke clears his throat, catching the attention of the entirety of people in the room.

“Jules?“ he says, diverting his attention to the curly haired Latina in the room, which meets his glance with a sincere but curious smile. He looks at her with shy eyes, reluctance in his voice and when he goes over to kneel in front of her, that all- so familiar bounce in his walk has seemingly dissolved and oh no...

Come on universe, not now. Be on my side!

“Jules I...” Luke interrupts his silent plead. “Look I..I know we’ve only known each other for a little more than 5 years and... and I know this might sound crazy but.. but we’re all a little crazy right?”

Ray wants to roll his eyes at the way he stammers his way across his explanation, but when he looks over at Julie she only nods her head, completely encaptured by his words and it’s the only thing keeping him from actually voicing his complaint.

“I know we’re still young and there still so much we wanted to do, but don‘t you want to take on these adventures together? Doesn’t this feel... completely...right?” He takes his hands of the neck of his guitar, the strap now comfortably sitting around his neck, to put them over hers. Ray can see the little squeeze she gives him, but before giving her a chance to answer, Luke continues talking.

“I... I wanted to ask you this for a very long time, but this guy-“ he shoots his fingers in Ray’s direction-“has kept me from doing so.”

And okay... wow. Great speech Luke. Great way of making a good impression on your girlfriend’s father. Very convincing and totally fair. Let’s see how you can save your ass.

Luke turns his head, taking his hands off of Julie’s and standing up again. He remains focused on Ray while walking up to him and meeting his hard stance with a sort of sheepishness. And then he extends his hand, the other one holding the neck of Rose’s guitar, waiting for Ray to shake it.

“Ray...I know our relationship isn’t the best and I know you don’t approve of me being your daughter’s boyfriend and you probably never will.” he starts and Ray almost wants to nod at him, but decides against it because he senses that the boy in front of him isn’t exactly finished.

“I don’t expect you to change your mind. I just want you to listen to me, so that I can ask you. One more time.”

Ray doesn’t answer, doesn’t accept the hand in front of him, only raises his eyebrow and shoots an expectant look, waiting for Luke to do what he had so obviously planned.

(Come on, there’s no way Reggie needed help fixing that amp, that thing had been broken since he took it out in the rain.)

Sadly the rejection doesn’t seem to faze Luke at all. Instead he laughs quietly, turning on his heel and walks back to the rest of the band.

“You ready boys?”

And as Reggie nods, bass in hands, Alex counts them in while sitting behind his drums.

“1,2,3,4..”

Luke begins singing.

“Saturday mornin', jumped out of bed
And put on my best suit”

As Luke sings the first verse alone, also the only one strumming a few chords on the guitar, Ray instantly recognizes the song, internally already groaning.

“Got in my car and raced like a jet
All the way to you”

And then Alex comes in with his drums, Reggie following right after him.

“Knocked on your door with heart in my hand
To ask you a question”

The boy directs his attention to Ray, before singing the next line, knowing what’s about to come.

“‘Cause I know that you're an old fashioned man
Yeah (yeah)”

A drum beat follows right after. Then a shift to the precorus.

Ray can’t help but let out a silent amused puff because those lyrics are definitely not true. He definitely isn’t old fashioned and the boy in front of him, whose eyes shut together as he sings the part, cringing at himself, knows it as well.

But then the next part comes on and Luke walks his way up to Ray again, looking at him with fake apprehension.

“Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life?
Say yes, say yes, 'cause I need to know
You say I'll never get your blessin' 'til the day I die”

At the following words, he takes his right hand off the guitar momentarily to point his fingers at Ray, who lets out a quiet chuckle, something that gains him a smile in return.

"Tough luck, my friend, but the answer is no" he sings.

Luke makes his way back to where he had originally came from, the bounce that Ray had always detested back in his steps, before all three boys join their voices to sing the next part together.