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Gigs weren’t new for Sunset Curve, and under normal circumstances, Reggie was fine.
Climbing on stage? Easy.
Rocking out? Child’s play.
Winking at cute girls in the crowd? Somebody give him a challenge.
Tonight at JJ’s, however? Not normal circumstances.
Julie, his cousin and absolute favorite person in the entire world, was coming to see him play for the first time tonight, and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so excited.
He was in the middle of rehearsal the day she called and told him she’d gotten into UTC and was headed to Chattanooga in the fall, and he’d screamed so loud Alex almost peed himself.
Yeah, life was going to be pretty perfect from now on. He and his best friends were killing it on the local scene (it was only a matter of time before they got picked up by a manager), and Julie was coming to spend the next four years hanging out with him and seeing them perform and-
“Reg, time to go, man!” Luke yelled from the door of the green room.
Alex was behind him, twirling his drumsticks. “Yeah, hurry or Luke here’s gonna get all the girls’ attention!”
Oh.
Right.
Showtime!
Luke rolled his eyes and shoved Alex into the hallway. “It’s not about the girls, ‘Lex, it’s about the music!”
“Speak for yourself!” Reggie laughed, tumbling down the hall behind them. “Tonight it is all about the girls for me!”
Alex snorted. “Reg, it’s all about one girl for you tonight, and she’s your cousin. Don’t be weird.”
“Yeah, but she’s my first cousin.”
“Nope!” Alex stopped the two of them dead in their tracks. “Quoting Mean Girls when talking about your family is strictly forbidden.”
Reggie raised an eyebrow at Luke, and they both looked at Alex and said, “Boo, you whore!”
“Uuuugh, why do I put up with you two?”
Luke threw his around Alex’s shoulders and popped a loud kiss to his temple as they made their way side stage. “Because you love us and your life would be so much less muchy without us!”
“GIVE IT UP FOR SUNSET CURRRRRRVE!” a loud voice announced as they walked out onto the stage. Luke jumped up to his mic, shot Alex a nod, waited for the four count, and immediately dove into the opening riff to “Now or Never.”
The crowd went wild from the get-go, and Reggie couldn’t stop the grin tugging at the corners of his lips. This was what it was really all about: Connecting with the people around them, making a difference in their day. Luke had given speech after speech about it since they were fourteen, and while Reggie always knew in his head that it was the truth, he’d only just begun to understand it with his heart, too. But he got it now. He really did.
Especially when he saw a familiar pair of brown eyes flashing with joy under a storm of black curls.
Julie! There she was right there in the front row, singing along and dancing with a girl with long dark braids.
(Oh helloooooooo, who was she??? )
“We ain’t searchin’ for tomorrow,” Alex sang as they jumped into the bridge.
Crap! That was his cue!
(Julie and her cute friend later, FOCUS REGGIE!)
He barely managed to hit his line before he missed it completely. “Tomorrow!”
“‘Cause we got all we need today!”
“TODAY!”
The rest of the hour-long set went off without a hitch. Julie caught Reggie smiling at her and waved, and he just managed to get a wave back to her in the middle of a rest for him. The boys talked, laughed, and cut up with the crowd, many of whom they all recognized from other gigs around town. All-in-all, it was a perfect show.
“Thanks so much for an amazing night, folks!” Luke hollered into his mic. “Once again, we’re Sunset Curve!”
“Tell your friends!” Reggie and Alex yelled along with the crowd.
Reggie found Julie one more time and gestured that he had to go to the back to debrief with the guys for a few minutes. Julie nodded, shooed him away, and pointed to the door, mouthing, “Meet us outside!” before hooking her arm through Flynn’s and dragging her away.
Reggie followed Alex and Luke back into the green room, all three tugging each other into a tight, sweaty group hug once they were behind the closed door. It was probably the most disgusting moment of Reggie’s life, and he wouldn’t have changed it for all the money in the world.
“We murdered it out there, y’all!” Luke crowed, punching his fists in the air.
“Were you expecting anything less?” Alex asked, scraping dripping blond locks out of his eyes.
“Of course not, but…” Luke tore his gray beanie off his head, spread his hands, and spun in a circle, nearly smacking Alex and Reggie in their stomachs.
Reggie playfully shoved Luke away. “Dude, tiny room!”
“Sorry!”
Reggie chuckled and put his bass in its stand, rolling his stiff shoulders. “All’s forgiven as long as you drive home.”
“Yeah, I’m beat. And I have to go take my kit apart, so I’m not driving.”
“Fine,” Luke whined, though there wasn’t any malice behind it. “I’ll drive. Even though I’m exhausted…”
Alex thumped him in the forehead and sauntered back toward the door. “Bouncy puppies don’t get exhausted, Luke. They play and play and play and play until their batteries run out, and then they start the whole process all over ago.”
“Are you saying I’m a puppy?”
“I’m not not saying it!” Alex said as the door slammed behind him.
Luke crossed his arms and pouted. “I’m not a puppy.”
Reggie draped an arm over Luke’s shoulders and patted his head. “Easy does it, Luke, or no belly rubs for you tonight.”
Luke snorted a laugh and shoved Reggie away. “Get off me.”
Reggie laughed, then pulled his phone out of his pocket when he felt it buzz with what turned out to be a notification from the Sunset Curve official Tiktok.
“ doubtroub__dj mentioned you in doubtroub__dj’s live video: Got a Question”
He blanched when he looked at the picture. It was that same super cute girl Julie dragged off with her in the crowd!
Interesting… People were normally screaming about how hot they were (which, fair) or how talented they were. It was rare anyone had a question for them. “Hey, Luke, c’mere,” he said, holding up his phone.
Luke bounced over. “What’s up?”
Reggie tapped the notification, which opened on a shot of Luke in the middle of his guitar solo from “In Your Starlight.” Doubtroub__dj’s laugh echoed through the phone’s speakers, her voice saying the white words in the middle of the screen:
Please tell me if he’s attractive or just a white-boy guitarist on stage.
The phone image panned quickly to the side and focused on another girl laughing as she stuck her tongue out at the camera.
My friend wants to know!
Reggie paused the video on the laughing girl. But that was-
Julie?
Behind him, Luke gave a strangled whine, and Reggie turned to see him staring at the image, his cheeks burning a deep red under his widened hazel eyes. “Who… Who is she?”
Reggie looked back at Julie, then at Luke (whose eyes were glued to the image of Julie), then Julie again.
Wait a second…
Oh, this was perfect.
Reggie was amazed he hadn’t thought of it before. They both lived and breathed music, they were both kind and bubbly, and they were the exact same amount of goofy.
Julie and Luke would be perfect together.
Hmmm.
Maybe there was a way to make that happen.
Reggie had to play it carefully, though. If Luke realized Julie was that Julie before he was solidly into her, he’d never date her on the basis of “bro code,” and Reggie did not have time for that. “Uh, she’s apparently a fan who wants to know if you’re actually as hot as your guitar makes you look.”
Nailed it.
Luke squeaked again, his blush spreading from his cheeks all the way to his ears. “She-she does? Wh-why?”
Sweet cheese and crackers, this boy was completely unaware of anything around him that wasn’t music related. Including just how attractive he was. And it wasn’t in an “oh, I’m gonna say I’m so ugly so I can get attention” kind of way. He genuinely never thought about it. Or girls, for that matter. Any time a girl liked Luke, he’d completely miss the signs she gave him, and by the time he got it, she’d gotten tired of waiting for him and moved on. That lack of understanding was the reason Luke had never had a girlfriend, and the guy was notorious for getting an idea ten minutes into a meet-and-greet and ducking out to go work on it, leaving Reggie and Alex to fight off the screaming masses on their own.
But if the slack jaw, dopey half smile, and gentle giggle (giggle??? Oh, he couldn’t WAIT to tell Alex) that whispered through his lips were any indication, that had changed in an instant.
Luke was definitely solidly into her, as he should be.
Way to go, Julie.
Reggie pulled his phone back to him, turned his camera on, and started a Tiktok of his own. “He’s attractive!” he chirped, then aimed his phone at Luke.
It took less than a second for Luke to realize what Reggie was doing. “Stop it, stop it!” he yelped, diving out of the shot and onto the couch.
Reggie laughed and turned the camera off, satisfied with what he got. “What, don’t want our mystery girl to know that you are, in fact, attractive?
“You… I… Well…” He pinned Reggie with a petulant glare. “Ugh, you are so lucky you can play bass.”
“And you are so lucky you have me as your wingman, or you’d die alone.” He quickly stitched the video with doubtroub__dj’s and posted it, mentioning her so it got her attention.
Less than a minute later, his phone buzzed again, this time with a dm to his Instagram. The profile picture was of Julie and doubtroub__dj, only the name next to this one was Flynn Taylor (flynnie_grace).
Hold up, how in the hell did she find his personal Instagram account? His privacy settings had privacy settings!
Flynn Taylor:
I know you’re probably wondering how I found your Insta this fast…
Crap, was she psychic, too?
Reggie Peters:
The thought did cross my mind.
Flynn Taylor:
Jules. I found you in her followers list. Duh.
Oh. Yeah, that made sense.
Look, I’m gonna cut to the chase:
My girl has a type, and his name is Luke.
Think you could bring him and Alex with you once the chaos dies down?
That… That was actually…
Reggie Peters:
You read my MIND!
Flynn Taylor:
Perfect!
Julie’s told me so much about you already, and I can’t wait to officially meet you!
ALL of you 😏
Reggie felt his own cheeks heat for a moment.
Did she mean what he thought she meant?
“Alright, psychos,” Alex called from the hallway, “my kit’s in the van and I need nachos. Willie’s finally off work, and he called and said he’d meet us at Taco Mamacita, so grab your guitars and vamos!”
Luke scrubbed a hand over his face and nodded, sliding his blue Fender into its case. “Oh man, is he already there? If he can go ahead and order, I’d kill for a salsa sampler and a couple of Memphis tacos.”
Alex packed up Luke’s Custom 24 and turned to Reggie. “Reg, get your bass and get to the van before I eat Luke’s guitar.”
“Hey!”
Reggie nodded absently, then looked back down at his buzzing phone.
Flynn Taylor:
How ‘bout it, Bass Boy?
He grinned.
Reggie Peters:
Hang tight, we’re on our way out.
Tell Julie Luke has a type, too, and her name is Julie.
He slid his phone in his pocket and headed toward JJ’s front door with the others, then pulled it out again to snag one last video of Luke and Alex sniping over whether to get their own appetizers or share, zooming in on Luke laughing at the very end.
He opened Tiktok, uploaded the video, and added a caption exactly like the one Flynn used.
Is this what it’s supposed to look like when you’re a minute and a half away from your life changing as you know it?
The video zoomed in on Luke’s face, still sporting that goofy grin.
My friend wants to know…