Chapter Text
In retrospect, Luke Patterson was never supposed to meet Julie Molina.
Really, he was never supposed to meet any of his friends.
If his parents had their way, he would have stayed in the school district he was already in and gone on as a normal, boring student who went to a normal, boring high school.
Unfortunately for them, that wasn’t their son.
Luke was nine when he fell in love with music. Ironically, it was at the hands of his mother.
She was cleaning out their basement one day and found all her old music albums from the 90’s. She and her sister had moved to Seattle on a whim during the height of the Grunge music scene, and according to his mom, they had been pretty into it at the time. She told Luke it was a phase of hers, and she had long moved past it.
Nevertheless, she played a few songs off her Nirvana and Pearl Jam albums as she and Luke had a spontaneous dance party right in the center of their living room. But while his mom basked in the nostalgia the music brought her, Luke was experiencing it for the very first time. And when they were done listening, she was able to neatly tuck the memories and the music right back into her past where they belonged.
But Luke couldn’t do that.
Because for the first time in his life, he felt like he’d found something that fully helped him express himself. Something that he truly connected with. Not the sports teams his parents made him play on, or the science fairs they forced him to participate in, but music.
Immediately, he asked his mom if he could have her old CDs, which she agreed to with a smile, not understanding what had just been awakened inside her son. He spent the next few hours locked in his room, listening to every single album, every single song in his mother’s collection.
And when he was finished, he listened to them all over again.
When he finally emerged from his room, he walked straight over to his parents, who were sitting on the couch watching a movie and told them he wanted a guitar and that he was going to be a rockstar.
He remembered watching his parents exchange an amused look, not thinking much of it. What child didn’t have aspirations to become a famous superstar at one point?
So, they decided to humor him and buy him a guitar. They thought it was a phase. That it was a cute childhood dream that would fade with time, and maybe the fact that he knew a bit of guitar would be a nice fun fact to share with his colleagues one day.
But then he started getting into trouble at school when his teacher would catch him with his headphones in. And once he reached middle school, he’d cut class just to get a little bit of extra time practicing on his guitar. Or when he would go to class, he’d spend the majority of the time with his head down as he scribbled song lyrics onto what was supposed to be his notes for class.
His parents definitely didn’t think his music obsession was cute anymore.
Every time they punished him for his grades by taking away his guitar only contributed to the ever-growing wall between them and Luke.
Eventually, two weeks into seventh grade, his guidance counselor suggested he move schools. She recommended one that had a music program, but also maintained a focus on the core classes.
His parents were hesitant at first, not wanting to enable his dream of being a musician. But they were also aware that keeping him where he was at wasn’t working.
So they compromised.
Luke could change schools, and as long as he kept his grades in his core classes up, he could keep doing music.
So that was how he ended up at his brand-new middle school that led into the Los Feliz High School music program.
And the rest was history.
Well, okay. Maybe not history quite yet. But it was definitely where the story started.
He never told anyone (until years later, that was), but Julie was the first person he met from their group.
…Okay, ‘met’ was probably a bit too generous of a word, but she was the first person he discovered existed out of all his friends.
He wanted to get to school early on his first day to explore the music classroom he would get to spend the next two years in. Technically, the actual music program didn’t begin until ninth grade, but the middle school offered advanced classes to prepare those who wanted to get a head start before entering Los Feliz. Of course, Luke signed up immediately.
He didn’t expect anyone else to be in there so early in the morning. At his previous school, no one used the music classroom unless there was an actual, well, class going on. But he should have known better. He went to an arts-oriented school now. Of course there would always be someone using the space, no matter the time. Sometimes artists had to take what they could get. Luke knew that better than anyone.
The first thing he noticed – or rather heard – was the melodic notes of a piano. He recognized it instantly as the end of the song Lost Stars by Adam Levine.
Then he heard the voice that accompanied the piano, which made him falter a bit. It was a girl’s voice, soft and sweet, but Luke suspected that that was a stylistic choice, and that whoever this girl was had a powerhouse of a voice when she wanted to. He was pretty certain it was the prettiest voice he’d ever heard.
And then finally, he noticed the actual people. As he assumed, the person performing was a girl, with smooth (well, at least it looked smooth from where he was standing) brown skin and dark curly hair to go with it. Standing beside her, leaning on the piano, was an older woman, who Luke presumed to be the music teacher.
Finally putting the pieces together, he realized that he was interrupting a private lesson of sorts. As quietly as he could, he backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. When it finally clicked shut, he let out a breath, relieved that he was able to go unnoticed. The last thing he needed was to make a bad impression on anyone on his first day at a new school.
He thought back to the girl, with her brown skin and curly hair and angelic voice. Luke had no idea who she was, but all it took was that minute of hearing her sing for him to know he wanted to.
Reggie was the person from his friend group that he officially met first.
He was in his second period – math – and the teacher hadn’t printed enough copies of the worksheet, so he had people pair up to work together.
Luke slid his desk over so that it was closer to his neighbor, a boy in all black minus the red flannel he had tied around his waist. Despite his dark attire, his green eyes, freckled face and friendly smile instantly put Luke at ease.
“Hi,” he said cheerily. “I’m Reggie.”
“Luke,” he introduced himself, smiling back at the boy. “Luke Patterson.”
Reggie laughed. “Trust me, I know.”
Luke raised an eyebrow at him, confused.
“I just mean, we don’t get a lot of new students here is all,” he elaborated. “So when you showed up, everyone kinda took notice.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
“So, what brings you to our lovely school?” Reggie asked, a goofy smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
Immediately, Luke perked up. “The music program, actually. Well, Los Feliz’, but wanted the head start and all, y’know?”
Reggie’s smirk widened as he joked, “Well, you’re in luck my friend. Because you just happen to be looking at the best bassist in the entire school. No big deal.”
Luke laughed. Yeah, this seemed like his kind of person. “Nice! I play guitar. And sing, too.”
Reggie’s eyes widened. “Dude, no way! My friends and I are trying to start up a band, but none of us want to sing lead. We already have a guitarist, but two guitars never hurt no one. You interested?”
Luke wanted to tell him that yes, he most certainly was interested. But he had just met this guy. And yeah, he seemed pretty cool right off the bat, but what if he turned out to be completely insane? Plus, he didn’t even know the style of music they played yet, or if they were any good. And he’d never been in a band before. What if they all hated each other? What if they made it big but then had a huge blowout and broke up?
…He was probably getting ahead of himself there.
“Mr. Peters, Mr. Patterson, is there something you would like to share with the class?” Their teacher asked, saving Luke from having to answer Reggie’s question.
Immediately the two boys shook their heads.
“Then I suggest you pay attention.”
They were silent after that, but not before flashing each other an amused smile.
Yeah, he was gonna like it there.
“So, since you’re a musician, you know most of the other musicians around here too, right?” Luke asked once they were dismissed from class.
The entire morning, Luke hadn’t been able to stop thinking about that piano girl. Couldn’t get that angelic voice out of his head. She had to be well-known around here, right? With a voice like that?
“Yep,” Reggie replied, popping the ‘p’ as he shot Luke a smile. “Known most of the kids in this school since Kindergarten, musician or not.”
Luke grinned back. “Awesome, ‘cause I was actually wond-”
“Ohh! Here come some now!” he interrupted, tapping Luke excitedly on the shoulder. “They’re the bandmates I was telling you about. AKA, my best friends!”
As much as Luke wanted to find Piano Girl, he had to admit that he was pretty stoked to meet these friends Reggie had been going on and on about. So, he tucked away his Piano Girl inquiries for the moment and focused on the two new faces in front of him. Alex and Bobby, if he remembered what Reggie had told him.
It didn’t take long for him to get a read on them. The moment Bobby complimented his Nirvana shirt, Luke knew he had found his people. And watching Reggie, Alex, and Bobby interact with each other, the obvious fondness in their eyes even as they constantly harped on each other, showed slivers of a friendship Luke had always secretly coveted but had never obtained.
It wasn’t that he had a hard time making friends – in fact, it was quite the opposite. Most people had a tendency to like him instantly. Which he knew sounded pompous and egotistical, but it was true. He’d always been outgoing and friendly. But as he’d gotten older, he’d come to realize that the majority of his friendships were surface level, never connecting through the things he was truly passionate about, like music.
But something told him he might have finally found that connection he craved with these boys.
Before he knew it, they were asking if he wanted to sit with them and their other friends at lunch, and two periods and one meet-up at Bobby’s locker later they were walking through the cafeteria when he finally saw her.
Piano Girl.
And not only had he spotted her, but he was walking straight for her table. He tried to rein in the panic he felt welling up inside of him. He wasn’t one to get nervous about many things, but there was just something about this girl…
“’Sup, ladies,” Reggie said once they reached her and the other two girls she was sitting with.
It was all Luke could do not to laugh at Reggie’s shameless attempt at flirting. He’d only known the boy for a few hours, but he had already learned that he liked to flirt with practically everyone. Whether or not he was successful…well, that was another story. But at least it took Luke’s mind off the butterflies that had suddenly appeared in his stomach.
“Reggie!” one of the girls snapped. She had light brown hair with not a strand out of place, paired with big brown eyes that blazed with fire at Reggie’s words. “What did we tell you about saying that kind of stuff?”
Okay, so, she had an attitude.
Reggie deflated almost instantly. “If I’m gonna be an obnoxious flirt, don’t bother trying to be friends.”
She smiled sarcastically. “Good boy.”
He heard Piano Girl let out a large sigh as she locked eyes with Alex.
“Don’t look at me,” Alex told her. “I can only do so much to control him.”
She sent him a playful smirk, jutting her chin toward Attitude Girl. “Yeah, well same with her for us.”
Okay, well, she had a sense of humor. He too had a sense of humor. He could do that. He could joke with her.
Luke mentally facepalmed himself. If he said anything, he’d probably end up sounding like an idiot.
Attitude Girl rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back to the boys. “Well? Are you guys going to sit or just stand there like idiots for all of lunch?”
…Okay, so she was definitely a no BS, bordering-on-rude kind of person. Nevertheless, the boys accepted her invitation. Or, at least, her version of an invitation.
“Sorry about her,” Bobby said on behalf of Attitude Girl. “You get used to it.”
Almost immediately after the words left his mouth, he let out a cry of pain, reaching down to grab at his leg as he glared at Attitude Girl.
The two of them stared each other down as Bobby finally introduced Luke to the three girls.
“Luke, this is my lovely cousin, Carrie, and her two best friends, Flynn and Julie. Girls, this is Luke Patterson,” he said, gesturing to each one as he said their names.
Somewhere in the back of Luke’s mind, he registered that Carrie and Bobby were cousins, and suddenly their dynamic made a lot more sense. And somewhere else in the back of his mind, he registered Flynn welcoming him and Luke saying something in greeting back. But none of that really mattered to him in the moment. Because at the forefront of his mind, his only thought was that he finally had a name to put with the face of Piano Girl.
…And, well actually, a face to go with the voice, if he was being honest. He hadn’t been able to get a great look at her that morning – too mesmerized by her musical abilities at first, and then too focused on trying to retreat without being seen – but now he was able to see all of her, up close and personal. And she was pretty.
She was really, really pretty.
Her curly hair was half-pulled back into a hairclip and framed her face perfectly, and all he wanted to do was touch it to see if it was really as soft and pillowy as it looked. And her eyes. They were a deep, deep brown. Almost black, the color in them only visible when they caught a beam of light. But it was the way they made him feel that really stopped him in his tracks. The way they stared straight into his, unwavering. The way he felt like he couldn’t hide a thing in the world from them. The way they were glaring at him-
-wait what?
The realization sent him crashing back into reality and sure enough, there they were in all their beautiful glory, glaring at him as she huffed in what Luke could only assume was annoyance.
“Ow!” Julie suddenly looked away from him, turning to glare at Carrie, who gave her a silent look as if telling her to talk to him. “Oh, right,” she mumbled. She seemed to find it in her to force a smile his way (which, of course, even that was really pretty), but she didn’t meet his eyes this time. “Hi.”
Luke swallowed, shoulders deflating and heart sinking a bit as he stared at her, trying to will her to meet his gaze.
He didn’t want her to talk to him because she had to. He wanted her to talk to him because she wanted to. And she was making it blatantly obvious that in that moment, she did not want to. Maybe she had seen him that morning after all? And she was upset with him for interrupting? It was the only thing he could really think of that would cause this girl to dislike him so quickly.
He finally settled on an anticlimactic “Hi,” before turning his focus back on the rest of the group.
If she didn’t want to talk to him, that was fine. Well, it wasn’t fine, it actually kind of sucked. A lot. But he’d wait.
She had to warm up to him eventually.
Like he’d said before. Most people did.
As it turned out, Julie Molina was not most people.
Which, really shouldn’t have surprised him. He felt…something different the moment he laid eyes on her. What that meant, he wasn’t sure yet.
But that didn’t mean it didn’t disappoint him – or confuse him for that matter.
Luke was used to people automatically liking him. He was just a naturally sociable, charismatic guy that people tended to flock towards. But for some reason, Julie refused to give into his charms.
Well, he was probably giving himself too much credit there. Maybe it wasn’t even that she refused to give in. Maybe she was just immune to them.
All it did was pique his interest in her even more. He knew it was cliché. To like someone who didn’t like him, who wouldn’t even give him the time of day, which only made him more intrigued. He knew it was weird. And probably unhealthy. And really, he was about to just let it, let her, go completely. Was ready to accept that she’d be nothing more than a background character in the story of his life.
But then he heard her sing.
Really sing this time. Not just the final lines fading out to end a song, but an entire, four-and-a-half-minute power ballad.
It was during their music class when he finally got to hear her entire rendition of Lost Stars, which apparently, she had been rehearsing for the upcoming talent show and their teacher allowed her to use the class as her test audience of sorts.
And it was…
Otherworldly.
He didn’t know exactly what face he made – he had kind of blacked out during the whole thing – but it was ridiculous enough for the boys to poke fun at him.
“Dude, you look like you just had a religious experience,” Bobby snorted.
And Luke was still in too much awe to respond to him because in a way, he felt like he had. The first time he’d heard Julie sing, he thought she had the voice of an angel. And that still rang true. But it wasn’t good enough. She was like…like a combination of an angel and a wrecking ball. Like she had the power to build up or destroy those in her path. Either way, they were at her mercy.
Yeah, this girl was in no way a background character. She was meant to be front and center.
“This is the first time he’s heard Julie sing,” he heard Reggie say as he playfully patted Luke on the back. “Don’t worry, Luke. It’s a natural reaction.”
Finally, Luke was able to find words to respond to them. Just…not necessarily coherently.
“She was…I mean, like…how is…that was…”
Luke ran his hands through his hair, overwhelmed at how one tiny person could exude so much talent.
Alex sent him an amused yet knowing smile as he nudged his arm. “I’d say you get used to it, but something tells me you won’t.”
Luke blushed at that.
“Shut up,” he muttered.
But he knew Alex was right. If there was one thing the guys learned about him very quickly, it was that he lived and breathed music, and in a perfect world, he could surround himself with people just like him.
He had found that with the boys.
And now he had found that with Julie.
Well, if he could just figure out how to actually talk to her.
It turned out, talking to Julie was the hardest part of all. Partially because she refused to even acknowledge his existence, even though they sat together at lunch every single day, but also because with every day that passed, he became more and more aware of her talent and just how special she was.
It intimidated him, if he were being honest. To be in middle school and already have a voice like that. As far as Luke was concerned, she was in a league of her own.
A small part of him once entertained the idea that maybe that was why she refused to give him the time of day. That maybe he didn’t live up to her standards, that he wasn’t good enough.
He nixed the thought almost immediately. Although he did firmly believe that she was too good for him, he’d seen Julie interact with a lot of people in the short time he’d known her, some who weren’t even musicians, and she was nothing but sweet to them. It was literally just him she had a problem with, and he had no idea why.
So that was great.
It made his mission to befriend her a lot harder.
But he finally, finally caught a break at lunch about two months in.
Well, maybe a break was a bit too generous of a word. But she did finally talk to him, even if it wasn’t necessarily the conversation he had been picturing in his mind.
It was over Romeo and Juliet, of all things.
The play had been the bane of Luke’s existence for the last month or so. His mom’s book club had chosen it one week when they decided they wanted to reread a classic piece of literature, and his mother had been obsessing over it ever since.
She had forced Luke and his dad to watch not only the 1996 version, but also the boring, traditional 1968 version. Which Luke was pretty sure could be considered torture for a twelve-year-old boy. And to make matters worse, he now had to read it for school.
So long story short, Luke hated Romeo and Juliet. It wasn’t like it was even that great of a love story anyway. The two of them weren’t even together long enough to know if they could stand the test of time. In his opinion, killing them off was the only way to end it, because with Romeo’s track record, Luke didn’t have high hopes for them as a couple.
Which was exactly what he was trying to explain to Flynn that fateful day at lunch.
“Romeo and Juliet is considered one of the best and most classic romances in the world,” Flynn told him. “Why are you so insistent on it not being a love story?”
“I’m not!” Luke started to protest, but Flynn gave him a disbelieving look. He sighed before continuing, “Look, all I’m saying is that the whole ‘you’re the love of my life, I’ve loved you from the moment we met thing,’ kind of pointless when it comes to Romeo.”
“Why is that?” Flynn asked.
Luke could feel himself start to vibrate, a habit he had when he talked about something he was passionate about. Usually it was just music, but apparently the famous Shakespeare tragedy fell into that category as well.
God, his mom’s book club was really rubbing off on him. He had to start locking himself in his room when she hosted them or something.
“Because he’s a serial romantic,” Luke said matter-of-factly.
And he was about to elaborate even further when he suddenly heard a voice ask, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
It took Luke a moment to register two things. One, that it was Julie who had cut into his and Flynn’s conversation. Two, that she was actually speaking to him.
If he would have known it would be Romeo and Juliet that would get her to finally acknowledge him, he would have brought it up a long time ago.
But he didn’t have time to celebrate his victory as he clocked the annoyed tone of her voice and the way her mouth was set in a hard line as she stared at him.
Luke knew that look all too well.
It was the same look his younger cousin gave him when he’d accidentally broken the arm off her favorite doll. The same look he gave his parents when they tried to talk him out of pursuing music.
She was looking for a fight. A fight that, quite frankly, Luke didn’t want to have.
But she was talking to him. She was looking at him, and just her gaze focused on his was enough to make his heart stutter and mouth go dry. So in that moment, he made a decision. A decision that, although he didn’t know it at the time, would create lasting effects for years to come. If a fight was what she wanted, then a fight was what he was going to give her.
Luke narrowed his eyes at her, a silent way of accepting her challenge before diving into a much longer rant than he ever thought possible when it came to this particular play.
“It means that Romeo falls in love like that,” he snapped his fingers for emphasis. “He was in love with Rosaline and was all ‘woe is me’ until literally the second he met Juliet, and then he’s suddenly in love with her? Nah, I call bullshit. He doesn’t even know anything about her. He’s in love with the thought of being in love. It just lasted longer with Juliet because she felt the same as him, unlike Rosaline. I’d bet if she didn’t, and if another pretty girl came along, he’d fall in love with her too and forget about Juliet.”
It was the most he’d ever said to Julie Molina, and in all honesty, he was pretty proud of the fact that he’d managed to string all the words together in coherent sentences.
But she, obviously, did not share his sentiments as she sighed in annoyance before relaying her counterargument.
“Romeo was in love with Rosaline before the play even started. You don’t know how long he loved her for, or how much he knew about her, and you don’t know if there were others before her or if she was his first love, so there’s not enough evidence to be able to call him a ‘serial romantic’.”
Julie paused a moment, catching her breath before continuing. “And plus, isn’t that how love works anyways? You love someone, and if it’s unrequited, you get over it eventually and then love again and repeat until you find a mutual love. That’s what he did with Rosaline, and he found it with Juliet.”
Okay, so, she made some good points. And he definitely had never thought about it like that before. But he couldn’t let her know that, couldn’t let her win. He was in too deep at that point. Now, he just wanted to be right.
“That’s a lot of assumptions there, Molina.”
“So is your claim that he would fall in love with the next pretty face he saw,” she fired back without hesitation. “And plus, the whole point of the play is that Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers. I’m pretty sure Shakespeare actually meant for their love to be true love.”
“Oh did he now? Did you ask him personally?”
“It’s common knowledge! Well, to most people, at least.”
Ouch.
There was a drawn out pause between the two of them as their eyes locked in on each other, a silent war raging between them. It was as if they were daring the other to break the silence, to talk first. Just as they’d been doing since they were first introduced. Luke figured she was the one to break it the first time, so he’d do it now.
“The play is stupid,” he finally said, not able to think of anything else.
“The play is romantic.”
“You would think so, wouldn’t you, Julie.”
And yeah, he knew it was a dumb and immature thing to imply, but as he saw her jaw clench in anger, he knew it had served its purpose.
“Just because my name, something I had no control over, is similar to one of the titular characters has nothing to do with how I feel about the play!”
And checkmate. He smirked at her as she finally unraveled.
He never had time to respond, however, because suddenly the school bell went off, signaling the end of lunch. He kept staring at her though, watching as she tore her gaze from him to look at their friends. He clocked the slightly taken aback look that crossed her features, and he wondered if she’d been so caught up in their debate she forgot where they were, just as he had.
He cleared his throat as he dismissed the thought.
No.
There was no way someone like him would have that effect on someone like Julie Molina.
Finally, he looked away from her and towards Alex, Reggie, and Bobby. “Boys, you guys ready?”
Reggie was the first one to respond. “Yeah, let’s go.”
Their group muttered a round of awkward goodbyes, Julie refusing to look up at any of them as they did so. As they were walking away, they heard Flynn call for them to wait for her, so they stopped as she ran up to them.
The five of them walked out of the cafeteria in silence, but the second they were out the door, Flynn began smacking Luke repeatedly on the arm.
“Ow, Flynn, what the hell?” he cried.
“What the heck was that back there?” she exclaimed, ignoring his cries of pain. She didn’t sound upset though, more genuinely curious and maybe even a bit…excited?
“That,” Luke replied, “was an argument.” But even he didn’t believe his words.
“That’s BS,” Bobby jumped in.
Alex hummed in agreement. “Yeah, that wasn’t just any argument. That was like the kind of argument Ashley Tisdale and Zac Efron had in that Suite Life episode before they sucked each other’s faces off.”
“Oooh, it so was!” Flynn squealed.
Luke held his hands up, silencing them. “First of all, gross. Second, no, no it wasn’t! That was basically the first time we’ve ever even had a real conversation. And it obviously wasn’t a pleasant one so just drop it.”
“I dunno, Luke,” Reggie wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “You don’t seem too upset about it.”
Luke could feel the blood racing to his face. Obviously, denial was not working out for him, so he switched to a different tactic.
“It doesn’t matter how I feel about it, that’s how Julie feels.”
The teasing ceased after that but was replaced with a somber atmosphere.
“Sorry, Luke,” Flynn said, grabbing his arm again, but this time gently. “Maybe she’ll come around one day.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Luke replied.
But he wasn’t so sure about that. Not when he thought about the way her soft brown eyes immediately hardened whenever they locked with his, like she was building some sort of wall to keep him away. Or at the way her mouth thinned into a straight line and her jaw clenched when he’d opened his mouth to speak.
Luke became aware of three things in that day.
Number one. Julie hated him. And he didn’t know why. It confused him. She confused him.
Number two. He definitely did not hate her. He wished he did, it would make his life a hell of a lot easier, but he didn’t.
Number three. He realized he wanted Julie Molina in any way he could have her. And if that meant arguing about something as stupid as Romeo and Juliet, he’d take it.