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Julie thinks it’s a fluke the first time Luke calls her “Boss.”
Something, perhaps, that’s meant to be an additional apology on top of the one he’s already sincerely offered up. Unnecessary given that Julie’s already decided to forgive Luke for his missteps, but welcome nevertheless.
He tosses the word out and into the open so casually, Julie almost doesn’t even have time to let the weight of it settle over her. But it’s harder to miss the effect it has on her the next time he uses it. Hard to ignore the sudden rush of serotonin that courses through her veins whenever Luke uses it again from there on out.
She’s not expecting it when he shows up alone in the halls of Los Feliz High in between third and fourth period. He’s leaning up against the locker next to hers with such an air of confidence, it almost feels like it’s routine. Like it’s a perfectly normal occurrence for Luke to wait there and surprise her every day in between periods. And it’s easy to slip into their easygoing, back and forth banter despite the butterflies that materialize low in her belly, spurred on by the spring in his step, and the way his twinkling eyes crinkle around the edges when a grin slowly blooms across his face.
Luke looks a little nervous today. A little bashful, and a little more unsure than he usually does as he lingers in front of her after they take care of the band business. He stumbles through a short speech about how he thinks she makes him a better writer as one hand comes up to ruffle the hair at the back of his head. The whole exchange is endearing in a way that Julie’s not expecting. Disarming in a way that makes it hard to think straight. Which is probably why she doesn’t do much thinking before she says what she does next.
“I think we make each other better.”
The seven small words hang between them for what feels like an eternity. In reality, it’s probably only for a handful of seconds, but it’s long enough for Julie to fleetingly wonder if maybe she’s just put too much of her heart out on display for Luke to examine. If perhaps she’s just disclosed the one secret she’s desperately been trying to keep buried deep, and close to her chest for the past couple of weeks. But then Luke’s lips part ever so slightly, and her heart hammers away in her chest as she watches his whole face soften before her very eyes. A giddy rush courses through her veins over the realization that her words are the cause of his sudden switch in demeanor. The thrill of knowing she has the power to render him momentarily wonderstruck only intensifies when his next words come out breathless and sudden, as though he’d never even planned to utter them to begin with.
“You know, why don’t you ditch school today— let’s go rehearse,” he says before he can help himself.
It’s a tempting offer to say the least, but one Julie knows she shouldn’t take. She shakes her head in a feeble attempt to regain a bit of clarity before she answers.
“I can’t,” she laments. “I promised my dad— school first.”
“Right. You had school first,” Luke quips back, shoving his hands into the front pockets of his dark wash jeans. “And now, you’re leaving…to go rehearse.”
There’s a playful smile that’s beginning to tug on the corners of his lips, and he’s bouncing on the balls of his feet while his head cocks to the side as he stares at her through hooded lids. Julie knows Luke well enough by now that she can tell when he’s turning up the charm in an effort to get his way. She chuckles breathily, praying silently to whoever’s listening that Luke never clues into the fact that she finds him to be infinitely more charming when he’s no trying so hard.
“I can’t,” she says firmly. “I promised Nick I’d be his dance partner.”
And that should be the end of the discussion— Julie thinks it is. But Luke is anything but predictable, and she’s not expecting it when he takes another step toward her, swaying forward ever so slightly as he speaks again.
“Come on, Boss,” he says, the words coming out slow and drawn out. “I can’t do this without you.”
And there’s that word again. His own little term of endearment for her. The one that sends a flurry of butterflies straight into her stomach whenever he tosses it out in casual conversation. But it’s different this time. She’s never heard him say it quite like this, with his voice low, and deep, and gravelly— not unlike the slight growl that colors his vocals in choice spots during their performances. Luke’s leaning close enough that Julie swears she can feel each word that follows “Boss” reverberate in her own body, and her mouth parts in awe as a treacherous shiver works its way down her spine.
Julie knows that this is the part where she’s supposed to double down. Knows that this is the moment where she’s supposed to saunter past Luke (seemingly unfazed) while she tells him that they’ll have plenty of time to practice— when she sees him after school.
She should. But it’s taking a bit longer than it normally would for her brain to start functioning again at a capacity that might allow for her to string words into sentences.
“Julie…?” Luke prompts when the silence between them stretches out too long for his liking.
“I…”
“Julie, hey!” It’s the sound of Nick calling her name as he makes his way toward her, clad in black from head to toe, that finally breaks the spell. “You ready to show ‘em what we got in there?”
He trades his exuberance for a look of concern when he’s just a few feet away. At first, Julie thinks it might have something to do with the fact that Nick has just (unknowingly) walked right through Luke, who’s currently eyeing the lacrosse player suspiciously from where he’s lingering just over his shoulder. But it’s Nick’s next words that clues her into the fact that his newfound concern has nothing to do with Luke at all.
“Are you feeling alright, Molina? You’re looking a little…flushed,” Nick says, his eyebrows knotting together in worry.
Her face heats at Nick’s observation, and Julie’s not really sure why she does what she does next. But before she can think better of it, she finds herself leaning into the out that’s just been spontaneously offered to her.
“Actually, I am feeling a little sick,” Julie lies, trying her best to make her voice sound fatigued as she rubs a hand over her face for good measure.
Luke snorts in an attempt to cover up a laugh at Juile’s poor attempt to sell the fib. She’d give anything to shoot him a particularly heated death glare right now, but she knows doing that will only garner more questions from Nick.
“Oh jeez,” Nick starts, taking a step back as though he might catch whatever Julie's suddenly come down with. “There’s a flu that’s going around that took out half the guys on the team last week-- d’you think you caught that? D’you need to go see the nurse? Can you make it on your own, or should I call Flynn?”
Julie’s eyes widen at the influx of questions Nick lobs her way. Meanwhile, Luke, who’s been silently watching the entire exchange go down, suddenly decides that he’d like to weigh in on the matter.
“Not even gonna offer to walk you to the nurse’s office?” Luke scoffs, crossing his arms over his front. “Some dance partner he is.”
“Shut up!” Julie hisses through gritted teeth.
“I’m sorry?” Nick replies, befuddled over her sudden outburst.
“No! I just meant like, shut up! That’s sweet of you to offer, but I think I’m just gonna go down to the office— it’s closer— the nurse'll probably just check my temperature and ask if I want to go home anyway, so it’ll save me a trip,” Julie says quickly.
“Okay…” Nick still looks a bit perplexed, but it's clear he’s giving her a pass given her current state. “If you’re sure…?”
“Positive,” Julie nods.
“Well, I’ll miss having my secret weapon in dance class,” her partner laments.
“Uh oh! I think somebody has a crush on Julie!” Luke cuts in with the other boy being none the wiser.
“But I’ll cover for you, and make sure Ms. Kelley knows you were feeling sick and had to head home,” Nick assures.
“Thanks,” she says through a soft smile.
“No problem— get some rest and hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow,” Nick says, already waking backward and toward the direction of the gym.
She waits until Nick’s fully out of view before she turns back to Luke, who’s already got a wide grin plastered across his face as a result of the realization that Julie’s actually opting to go home with him after all.
“So…band practice?” He asks innocently.
“Don’t look so pleased with yourself,” Julie chides. She tries her best to keep a neutral expression schooled on her face as she brushes past him and heads in the direction of the front office. “If anything, you should be ashamed that you’re such a bad influence.”
“Aww, Jules— you can pretend you’re mad at me all you want,” he calls after her. “But I know you’re smiling!”
He’s not wrong, but damn it if Julie’s going to humor Luke by proving him right. She bites her cheek to keep from grinning too widely as he bounces up next to her.
“And don’t make me regret this,” she adds before she motions for him to wait outside while she gets the okay to go home early.
She makes quick work of feigning sick to the school secretary, who only stares her down for a few seconds before she lets Julie sign herself out. And just like that, she and Luke are strolling out of the front doors of Los Feliz High together.
She comes to a grinding halt when they reach the edge of the curb in front of the drop-off and pick-up zone.
“I usually take the bus home when my dad’s on a shoot, but it won’t be here until school gets out,” she explains. “I guess we’ll just have to walk.”
“Is it far?” Luke asks.
“Couple of miles,” Julie replies. “So we’d better get going.”
They walk in silence for a while, which is a bit unnerving given that Luke is hardly ever this quiet— unless he’s scribbling away in his song book. Julie racks her brain for something to say that might break the ice, but everything she comes up with doesn’t seem quite right. She sighs in quiet, defeated exasperation.
It’s just Luke. You talk all the time, she thinks to herself. Why is this any different?
It shouldn’t be— Julie knows this. But it still feels different.
And Juile’s not quite ready to admit to herself why that is— even though she very well knows the reason why. So instead, she follows his lead as they continue their silent walk home, wrapped in her own thoughts, every so often giving into the desire to steal a look at the boy walking beside her, hoping she’s timed the stolen glances well enough that Luke doesn’t notice.
It’s rare that she sees Luke without one of his cutoff shirts, but he’s wearing sleeves today— a well worn purple polo pullover to be exact— and Julie’s fingers itch to reach out and touch it in an effort to find out if the fabric really is as soft as it looks.
Snap out of it, Molina— it’s just Luke.
But Julie’s already in far too deep for the words she thinks to herself to do much good. Because Julie always knows she’s in trouble whenever her mind wanders over to thoughts of Luke. And lately, it feels a lot like he’s all she can think about.
Sometimes she racks her brain and tries to pinpoint the exact moment when the shift occurred. Tries to figure out when it was that the first thought she had every morning when she woke stopped being about she was going to wear to school that day. When it was that her first thought every morning morphed instead into wondering if Luke might be loitering outside the studio doors, ready to bestow her with a bright grin a quiet “good morning” on her way up the driveway. She wonders when it was that dizzying hazel eyes and soft, perfect smiles started becoming the last two things she thought about before she drifted off to sleep every night.
She spends so much time with Luke these days it’s often hard to remember that he’s a ghost. That he’s not just a normal boy who makes her heart flutter away in her chest whenever he holds her gaze with his own for a bit longer than necessary, eyes shining brighter than any star she’s ever seen.
It’s dangerously easy to forget that he’s nothing but cute air in moments not unlike the one they're in right now. Especially when they come up on the main road, and Luke wordlessly maneuvers himself in between her own body and the passing cars speeding through the busy intersection that runs just in front of her high school. But then she feels her right side start to tingle, and when she looks down, it’s impossible to miss the way their hands pass through each other’s every so often as they continue on their trek. It’s one of those sudden, sobering reminders of the fact that even though Luke is incredibly real to her, there’s no getting around the fact that they exist in two very different worlds.
“What’s that you’re humming?” Luke asks, pulling Julie away from her own thoughts.
She hadn’t even realized she’d been humming anything at all. But once Luke calls attention to it, it’s impossible for her to get the simple chord progression out of her head: two sets of slurred notes with a quarter rest in between. They ring out with so much clarity in her head, Julie’s half convinced the music must be floating out of one of the cars stopped at the red light up ahead.
“It’s nothing,” she says, feeling flustered all over again— hoping that Luke chalks any visible flush in her cheeks up to walking home in the toasty, late autumn heat.
“Jules,” he pouts. “I thought we were friends.”
Friends. The label stings more than it should, but Julie does her best to shove the ache aside and press on.
“We are friends,” she assures.
“Friends don’t keep secrets from each other though,” he points out.
“Friends also respect each other’s boundaries,” she quips back. “Do we have to have another talk about boundaries, Luke?”
“You’re no fun,” he shoots back through a playful roll of his eyes.
“There’s nothing to share!” She insists. “I don’t even know what it is yet—”
Julie regrets that tiny, three letter word as soon as it slips out and Luke’s eyes grow wide in excitement.
“You don’t know what it is yet?” He echoes. “So it is something!”
“It’s not it’s— well…maybe…” Julie stammers. “I’m not sure. Can’t we just drop it? Didn’t you say you wanted to use this time to practice anyway? What are you thinking for staging tonight?"
“Sounds like a ballad— we don’t have one of those,” Luke says enthusiastically, effectively choosing to ignore her attempt to pivot from the conversation at hand. “It was never really our style with Sunset Curve, so we’ve never really done one. But for our band? With your voice? Jules, you’ve got the voice of an angel— it would be so good!”
He’s doing that Luke thing again where he gets so riled up about music it’s hard to rein him back in. And part of Julie doesn’t even want to, because there’s something sort of magical about the way Luke’s face lights up whenever he gets going like this. But the magic fizzles out quick, and Julie feels a lot less enchanted by it once Luke starts demanding that she sing what she’s got for him again— but a little louder this time. (“Just so I can get a feel of what we’re working with here, Boss.”)
“Luke,” Julie whines, she can see her street up in the distance now— but they’re not nearly close enough to the studio (where Reggie and Alex are presumably waiting for them) for this conversation to end as quickly as she wishes it would. “It’s not ready yet. How about you drop it now, and I promise you’ll be the first to hear it if it ever is ready.”
“Come on, Boss— you can’t just dangle new music in front of me and then just not share it,” Luke begs, poofing away from her side and reappearing right in front of her.
“Gah!” Julie startles, stopping just short of passing right through him. “How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?”
“That’s like taking candy from a baby!” Luke carries on, walking backwards now so he can face her as they turn onto her street. “Or like taking pizza away from Reggie! You know how much he loves food— you wouldn’t do that if any of us could still actually eat, would you?”
He’s used the word “Boss” today more than he ever has before, and Julie’s starting to wonder if maybe she’s being a bit too obvious in showcasing just how much she loves it when he calls her that.
“Okay. New proposition. How about you just tell me what it’s about?” Luke tries instead, jogging up ahead so he can hold the gate open for her.
“Did you completely miss the part where I said it’s not really much of anything yet?” Julie laughs as he waves her through with a flourish.
Luke’s quiet for a moment, trailing behind her as they make their way down her driveway, and Julie wonders if perhaps he’s dropping the subject for now because they’re coming up on the studio.
She heaves a sigh of relief when her fingers wrap around the cool handle of the studio doors, stopping just short of sliding them open when she hears Luke call out to her.
“Hey, Julie?”
He says her name so softly, it's impossible for Julie to resist the urge to whip around so she can face him fully. She almost wishes she hadn’t as soon as her eyes land on him, because Luke’s doing that thing again. Looking a little nervous, and a little unsure— just like he had earlier that very morning when he’d come to see her at school.
“You don’t have to say if you don’t want to, but I was just wondering if…well…if maybe you just didn’t wanna talk about whatever that song was that you were humming because it’s about someone special?”
Julie’s heart gives a painful lurch. She’d thought she’d been doing a pretty good job of keeping her feelings a secret, but if Luke’s asking, then there’s no way he doesn’t know. And this isn’t exactly the moment she’d daydreamed about whenever she’d thought about confessing her feelings to the boy in front of her, but maybe this is the way it’s supposed to go.
“Luke,” she starts, her heart beating wildly away in her chest as she flounders for the right words. “The thing is…well, I just…”
“You don’t have to say anything, Boss— I get it,” he says, putting her out of her misery.
“Oh…” Julie starts, fiddling with the bracelets that adorn her wrists, bracing herself for rejection. “You do?”
“I do,” he assures her through a warm smile. “We don’t have to talk about it now. But I mean, even an idiot would've clocked the way that dance partner of yours was looking at you back at school.”
“What? No! That was nothing,” Julie starts. “Me and Nick, we’re just—“
“I get it, boundaries, I know,” Luke presses on, effectively cutting her off.
And Julie’s not entirely sure how Luke’s gotten it all so incredibly wrong. She’s also not sure why she suddenly feels the need to correct him instead of just taking the easy way out and letting Luke carry on believing that he’s got it all right.
It might be easier, a small voice in her head whispers. To let him think you like someone else.
But as soon as her mind vocalizes the thought, Julie knows it wouldn’t be right. She can’t stomach the thought of Luke thinking she’d ever write a love song about anyone else.
“It’s not about Nick,” she rushes out quickly.
“It’s not?” Luke asks. His eyes search her face, as though trying to find the truth in the words she's just spoken aloud. “So, someone else then...?”
“Yeah,” Julie confirms. And it’s not quite the truth— not yet— but it’s the best she can muster up for now.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. I just wanted to say that, you know, if you ever did want help finishing up that song, well…you know I’m always here for you, right?” He asks hesitantly, his hand once again coming up to sift through his hair. “You know I’d do anything for you, Jules, don’t you?”
“Yeah, of course I do,” she says finally.
“Cool,” Luke says, top teeth digging into his bottom lip as his face splits into a wide grin. “Band practice then?”
“Yeah," Julie sighs through a tight smile. "Band practice.”
It’s her worst practice by far— but if Reggie or Alex notice, neither of them say anything. Distantly, Julie wonders if it’s because Luke’s shooting them both pointed looks when she’s not looking, silently forbidding either boy from pressing her on the matter.
Julie couldn’t bolt out of the studio faster if she’d tried when Luke casually calls practice off a bit earlier than he might have on any other afternoon before a gig.
She tosses some halfhearted excuse about needing to wash her hair over her shoulder on her way out of the studio, hastily shooting a 911 text to Flynn as she takes the concrete steps up to her house two at a time.
Julie really should take advantage of the extra time she’s been allotted to get ready for their big gig tonight. If they play their cards right and put on an unforgettable show for the cameras, there’s no telling what new doors tossing that footage up on YouTube might open for them. But her fingertips are itching with unwritten lyrics begging to be set free, and that same melody from earlier that hasn’t left her head all afternoon is back with a vengeance. It's ricochetting around in her head, and it's impossible to ignore now that there’s nothing else left to distract her from it. And once Julie’s eyes land on her dream box, sitting proudly on a high shelf in the corner of her room, she knows exactly what it is she needs to do.
The words pour out of her faster than her hand can fly across the page, spurred on by flashes of the time she spent alone with Luke that very day, and half-formed fantasies of twirls and lifts in a candlelit room. Her heart feels a little lighter with every bittersweet lyric that materializes on the blank page before her. And she barely has enough time to scrawl the words Perfect Harmony across the top of the page, and tuck the song into her dream box for safe keeping, before Flynn barges through her bedroom door.
“What’s the emergency? Do we have to cancel the gig? How sick are you?” Flynn asks the questions in quick procession before she takes one look at her and comes to a halt. She's silent as she drops down onto the mattress across from where Julie’s sitting at her desk.
“You know…if you’d only mentioned you were lovesick, I would have picked up Ben & Jerry’s instead of Pepto Bismol and DayQuil,” Flynn says, drawing Julie’s attention to a small brown bag containing the supplies in question. “It’s Luke, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Julie says lamely.
“Okay,” Flynn says without skipping a beat. “Here’s what you’re gonna do.”