Chapter Text
“Carlos?!” Julie exclaimed as she watched a teenager with a head of brown hair exit the driver’s side of her dad’s car amongst the hustle and bustle of the airport.
“Hey!” he grinned at her. “Dad had a work emergency.”
“And he let you drive?” she asked, frozen, bent part way over to lift her suitcase.
“He had a work emergency,” Carlos repeated in an effort to defend himself. He glanced from her face to her suitcase. “You going to put that in the car or what?”
She snapped herself out of it, remembering that this was the airport and there was sure to be a cop coming by any minute now to force them out of their spot. Carlos popped the trunk open and Julie lifted her suitcase into it, shaking her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe you’re driving now.”
He shrugged at her, aiming for nonchalance, but Julie didn’t miss the slightly bitter look that crossed his face. “That’s what happens when you disappear to Boston for school and barely come home.”
She put her suitcase in the trunk before turning and pulling him into a hug. “I missed you little brother.”
She felt his arms wrap around her for a second before he remembered he was a teen boy hugging someone in public and pulled back. "Are we leaving this place or what?'
“How are things?” Julie asked as they hit the 5. Her and Carlos kept in touch, but it was mostly via texting silly memes and a biweekly family zoom. They never really spent much time talking one on one about things.
“I’ve got a few weeks left of class, then I’m done with sophomore year!” he crowed excitedly.
Julie grinned, not wanting to remind him that junior year was historically way worse than sophomore year. “Then it’s off to camp with you.”
“Julie.” Carlos scoffed. She could hear the eye roll.
“What?” she asked, genuinely unsure what she'd said that had so offended him.
“I’m sixteen, I’m not going to camp ,” he corrected. “I’m going to Vidcon and then I’m doing that film program I told you about.”
She laughed. “I know. That should be fun.” But it’s also a camp for teenagers, she refrained from adding.
“Yeah.”
Julie hesitated for a moment. “Is, uh, dad’s coworker still staying at the house?”
She watched as Carlos’ lips twitched up briefly. He was hiding something.
“Yeah, yeah his coworker is still staying at the house." She raised an eyebrow at the way he said 'coworker'. It was as though it was a code word for something. While Julie had come to terms with her dad dating some day, she was pretty sure he wouldn't let a girlfriend move into the house under false pretenses. If Carlos's weird emphasis wasn't about that though, then what was it? "He’s" - ok definitely not a girlfriend then - "taken over the guest bedroom. Dad and I are pretty sure he’s planning to take up permanent residence there.”
Hopefully that was a joke. “What’s it like living with a stranger?”
Carlos let out a laugh this time. “It’s fine. Weird at first, but we all adjusted.” He glanced over at her. “It’s nice sometimes that we have a third at dinner again. The house can be quiet without you. No one’s there as a dad or Tia buffer when they get to be a bit much.”
It was Julie’s turn to laugh. “I can imagine.”
“Now that you’re back I can start getting away with stuff again.”
Julie laughed. “You better be careful or I’ll start tattling.” The threat had no heat behind it, but Carlos did her the courtesy of pretending to be scared.
Forty minutes later they pulled into the driveway and Julie felt her shoulders relax. She was home. Going to Berklee School of Music had been the right decision, but she really missed her home. Her family. Her space. Boston was great, her friends at Berklee were great, but nothing quite beat the comfort of being home. Well, nothing quite beat the comfort of being home and knowing that your best friend was also in town and would be coming by the next morning for a day of catching up.
Going to a different college than Flynn was almost as tough as being away from her blood relatives.
She forcibly pulled a reluctant Carlos in for a hug before pulling her suitcase out of the trunk. Then she glanced over at the studio. Maybe she’d put her suitcase in her room and then see about writing something. An idea had been tickling at the back of her mind since she’d looked out of her airplane window and seen the Pacific Ocean in the distance.
She put her stuff inside, and then called out to Carlos, letting him know that she was going to go to the studio.
“Oh!” He jumped up from the couch, surprising her. She’d thought he’d gone to hang out in his room. “I’ll come with you.”
She eyed him. “Why? You never come to the studio with me.”
“I-” he looked around the room hurriedly. Suspicious… “I left something in there that I need to grab.”
Julie raised an eyebrow. What was going on here? “O-kayyy” she said, elongating the word hesitantly. “Let’s go then.” Best to get this over with quickly.
They entered the room, and she watched his shoulders slump almost immediately as though he had been expecting to see something there. Weird.
Julie walked slowly around the room, fingers grazing the piano, while Carlos made a big fuss about using the bathroom before returning back to the house. Whatever he was up to, Julie was sure she'd find out sooner rather than later.
Once Carlos was safely out of the studio, closing the door behind him, Julie sat down on the piano bench, breathing in the room around her. Not a lot had changed since she had last been here, but she could tell someone had been using the space. It looked like her dad had moved some of her mom's equipment around. There was now a- a blue electric guitar? - Julie eyed it in confusion, trying to place it. No way was that her mom's. Weird. Had Carlos taken up guitar and not told her? Had her dad?
She spent another minute puzzling over it before she shook herself. She was here to play some piano without the threat of an assignment looming over her head. She let out a breath, closing her eyes briefly as her fingers touched the keys. She played a few notes before settling in to record a voice note with the tune that had been niggling at her brain.
She played for over an hour, losing track of time after her dad had stopped by to say hello and hug her before starting on dinner. She got lost in the freedom of not having to book a music room and the joy of being back in this magical space. Nothing was more empowering than playing in this room where she had once fallen in love with music, then lost her ability to play, and then eventually found her way back to the music once more. Found a way to play music again without her mom physically by her side.
The final notes of She Used to Be Mine (from the best musical she's seen so far while in Boston, Waitress) were still lingering in the air, tears glistening in her eyes, when an unfamiliar voice made her jump.
"Uh," a throat cleared. "Ray wanted me to tell you that it's time for dinner." She whirled around to see who it was, but by the time her eyes had landed on the doorway, he'd gone back into the house.
She entered the kitchen five minutes later and saw the three of them - dad, Carlos, and the unnamed guest - finishing setting the table. Ray greeted her with another hug. “It's so good to have you home mija.” He let her go and gestured to their guest. “You met Luke in the garage a few minutes ago, right?.”
It was then that she noticed that their guest was younger than she had expected him to be. He wasn't her dad’s age. This guest was her age, and when he turned to shake her hand, she almost fell over. This wasn't a random coworker like her dad had implied, it was Luke Patterson of Sunset Curve - front man of one of the most famous bands in the world following the release of their newest album the prior year - and their lead singer/guitarist was in her kitchen? What the fuck was going on??
“The famous Julie Molina," Luke said, interrupting her thought spiral and holding his hand out for her to shake, waiting patiently while she clearly panicked. "It's nice to finally meet you."
She reached out and shook his hand, brain going blank. "You're- you're Luke Patterson. Carlos, look, it's Luke Patterson of Sunset Curve." Oh God .
Luke chuckled and Julie released his hand, horrified by the way she had just stuttered on.
"A fan then, huh?" He smirked at her and she wanted to disappear.
"Just a little surprised you're standing in my kitchen right now,” she said, trying to play it cool. Maybe her family hadn’t ratted her out as a fan? “I saw you on The Grammy's last week and-" she took a breath, shaking her head. Calm down Julie. "How can I not be a fan with the way that your band is single handedly bringing punk back to pop on the mainstage."
His grin widened. "Your dad said you were going to school for music-"
"And her dad also wants to eat this century," Ray interrupted, handing Julie a salad bowl. "Mind if we take this conversation four feet to the left and start eating?"
After dinner, Carlos pulled out Settlers of Catan and they all played for a few hours. It was surreal to say the least.
Objectively Julie knew that she was playing a board game with a rockstar that had apparently been living in their guest bedroom for months. In reality it only took about five minutes for him to go from ‘stupidly hot and talented musician’ to ‘sworn enemy’. Him blocking her road to get ore was just as frustrating as Carlos building a city right where she had planned to. Actually, it was worse. Carlos was her brother, Luke was a guest. What was his excuse for blocking her like that? Wasn’t he supposed to be extra nice to her?
"No! Please don't build there," Luke pleaded with her as she grinned, making a show of putting a road right in his way. ‘No!!”
"What was that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him once the road was in place. "You didn't want my road there? Well rockstar, you should've thought of that before you put your road in my way."
Luke opened and closed his mouth, clearly surprised. Julie was confused to find that it looked like he was also blushing.
She watched curiously as he grinned down at his cards, biting his bottom lip for a moment before meeting her eyes. "Ok, wrecking ball."
"Wrecking ball?" Julie asked, dumbly, butterflies in her stomach pausing in confusion.
" Yeah," He smiled earnestly at her for a moment, hazel eyes meeting hers and instantly making her want to melt. "I heard you singing in the garage earlier, your voi-"
"Yeah, yeah, Julie's got an amazing voice," Carlos interrupted. "Will you finish taking your damn turn already?"
" Carlos ," Ray said warningly.
"I mean-" he scrambled. "Will you finish taking your turn please. "
Luke gave Julie one last look before returning his attention to his cards. "Well, now that my plan has been ruined…"
"Roll the dice already dude!"
Julie had almost fallen asleep when her eyes flew open. Luke Fucking Patterson was asleep down the hall from her and she hadn't even told Flynn? Flynn was going to kill her.
Julie: You awake?
Julie: 911
Julie: I have news
Julie: HELLO?
Flynn: where's the fire? Some of us are trying to sleep
Julie: Can you keep a secret?
Flynn: your dad still doesn't know about the time you snuck out to go to Nick's party, right?
Julie: Good point
Julie: You can't tell anyone about this
Flynn: yeah, I got that. Do you get that it's 1am?
Julie: You know the coworker my dad has been letting stay at the house?
Flynn: yes…
Julie: It's Luke Patterson
Julie: From Sunset Curve
*Incoming video call from Flynn*
"Girl, what?!" Flynn hissed the moment Julie accepted the call.
"I know. I know," she whispered back.
"How the hell-"
"I guess dad has been working for their label and got assigned to their band for a few weeks while their normal photographer was on maternity leave."
"And Luke ended up staying at your house, how?? Shouldn't he be able to afford his own place?"
"Girl, I will let you know once I find out. My dad managed to evade interrogation by keeping Luke around at all times."