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echo! echo! echo!
Happy Juke Jeudi! <3
Julie and Luke do some writing, and it leads to an unexpected moment between them. Just a quick little oneshot, just under 2k :)
They’re sitting on the couch in the studio.
Luke’s pressed against her, his thigh against hers, her arm against his. He’s staring at her with wide eyes, brows raised, open in a way he always is whenever it’s just the two of them in the studio together. The way he always is when they write music together.
Awe, that’s the word for it.
Not that she would say that out loud. Luke would probably not disagree though.
She gets it, she understands, because the way they work together fills her with awe too. It’s so easy, writing with Luke, because no one has quite gotten Julie’s love for music like Luke has, except for her mom. It’s a small, special little place in Julie’s chest, right next to her heart and her soul.
[[MORE]]“Do you think recall is better, or maybe just use remember?” He taps the back of his pen against his lips. “I liked what you said? Echo? But I’m not sure how to make it fit with the rest of the line.”
He tilts the page of their notebook toward her, balancing it between their thighs. She leans in; she briefly loses the warmth of their pressed-together arms until he follows, nudging. He’s cool to the touch, except for when they linger. She turns her head, finds him right there. He smiles at her, looking at her face. His eyes flicker down.
“What?” she asks, grinning, smile growing despite herself.
“Nothing,” he whispers, his smile shakes and his brow furrows as he stares at her. “Just looking.”
“Just looking?” She quirks her brow at him. “At what?”
“You.” His voice fades off. He clears his throat. “Watching you think.”
She giggles. “Right. Okay.”
Julie nudges him with her shoulder, and Luke’s head drops as he smiles. His cheeks turn pink, and Julie always marvels that he can still do that. He’s her ghost, but he still blushes.
“Echo works,” she says, giving him a break.
He raises his head and blearily looks at her, eyes crinkling in suspicion, but he takes the out.
“’‘Hear that I echo,’” he reads slowly as he scrawls the word onto the page, “ In’ should go here, 'in every moment that's…’ and that’s all I’ve got. Maybe happened? Or will happen?”
“I like echo,” she says, eyes scanning the page, “it feels like… because it feels like it’s more resonating. Like you’re not remembering or recalling, you’re something that expands out. Not just a memory. Echoes bounce, right? It still feels like something that could reach into the future.”
“Like me,” he jokes.
“Like you,” she agrees.
Luke’s smile briefly turns into a frown. “You don’t think Alex and Reggie wil mind that this is just the two of us? I always wrote for four, and…”
She smiles. “They won’t. I already asked. I told Reggie he could perform one country song. Alex says he gets to go crazy on the fills for Wasted Time though.”
Luke groans, falling back against the couch. She grins and turns back. He’s watching her through squinty eyes, narrowed at her with his nose all scrunched up. She laughs at him.
“Alex’s fills are always good but why’d you tell Reggie that! We have to stay focused; people want to a clear identity, and so do labels! If we go off script—”
“And this won’t?”
Luke groans.
She pokes his arm. “Hey, it’s fine—!”
He reaches around and grabs her, pulling her into his chest. Her chin bumps against his t-shirt and she looks up as he looks down. His arms are cool, slinking around over her shoulders so that his hands rest on her back. Her hand on his chest, just over his heart, where it should be and would be if he were still alive. His cheeks tinge pink. Julie wants to reach up and touch them. Would she be able to feel the heat?
Rapid pounding in her chest reminds her to breath. She stiffles her quickening breath and it’s shaky.
“Hi,” he whispers.
“Hi,” she whispers back.
The notebook slips off their legs and to the floor.
She spreads her hand out against his shirt and Luke’s eyes flutter closed. Her chest is empty, she’s forgotten to breathe, and each breath she takes to recoup is shaky and stuttery, unable to be fully realized. Her hand trails across his chest and she leans down, kissing the spot over his heart.
His lips quirk up, lower lip shaking, and his hands squeeze her closer. Fingers rough after years of playing guitar, they scratch at her skin as he drags his hands under the hem of her shirt. Julie lets out a fluttery laugh. Luke’s eyes scrunch as if he’s looking directly into the sun, and then he leans forward and kisses her forehead.
She drags her leg up over his. It’s strange, her back bent a bit awkwardly, his arms around hers, her leg over his, but Julie doesn’t mind at all. She wants to be as close as she can, closer, and she wants to feel the coolness of her ghost realize in a warmth they create whenever they’re pressed against each other. She sighs in his arms, but then his arms loosen.
Julie opens her eyes, tilts her head up so she can look at him.
He stares over her head. Julie turns as far as she can look in his arms, and finds nothing there. Just the studio. Alex’s drums. Luke’s other guitar leaning against the wall. Reggie’s bass to the left of it. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing different from the usual cloudy afternoon spring light that filters in through the window.
“Do you see it?” he asks, his brows furrowed over his grey eyes.
He looks so confused, she has to check again. She looks, but there’s nothing. “Is it another ghost? Luke? Hey. Look at me.”
But he doesn’t. His gaze is locked. He starts to sit up, shoulders falling back as if he’s been brought to attention. Luke’s eyes are faraway, and they look brighter than she’s ever seen them.
“Wow,” he breathes. “It’s so warm.”
“Luke.” Julie straightens, forces herself up as his arm falls lip behind her. It leaves a gaping feeling of cold. She reaches up and brushes her fingers under his chin, gently coaxing him to look at her. “Luke, what are you seeing?”
Even as he turns his head at the quiet touch of her hand, his eyes never leave the spot behind her. Julie’s lips quiver. He’s so still, quiet. There are tears in his eyes, wet-rimmed and red. Whatever he sees in front of him, it’s making him cry. The look in his eyes is familiar; awe. Julie’s seen it before.
She doesn’t say it out loud.
“I…” his voice falters. “It's…” he lets out a yearning whimper. His hand twitches up and Julie feels him tense beneath her fingers, coiling like a spring ready to go. “It’s a light, Julie…” He swallows. “I…”
Urgency floods her, a frantic thudding in her chest forces her hands up to grab both sides of his face. Distantly, she recognizes that it does feel warm. She thumbs the soft skin under his eyes, wipes away tears that escape. “Luke, listen to me! Hey! You can’t go—!”
Luke’s eyes are still focused on the light. His brows furrow, turn in in confusion. He is hearing her, she knows it. The revelation spurs her into action. She forces him to look at her, turning his head as gently but as urgently as she can until his eyes finally settle on her. The expression on his face shocks her; he looks pained.
He wants this, she realizes, he wants this. His lips quiver, his eyes leak tears.
Julie falters. She’s going to be selfish. And she knows she shouldn’t.
“Stay,” she whispers, “please don’t go. You can’t go yet.” Her heart skips beats. Her chest is empty and void, a yawning pit that’s opening up and become a cavernous wound. “You can’t go, because you’re supposed to be here with me, remember? You and I? We were supposed to find each other and you’re not allowed to go. You can’t leave me, Luke.”
He whimpers again. “But I was so happy. I have to go now.”
Julie squeezes her eyes shut. Turning her head, she opens them again. There’s nothing there that she can see. She’s not part of this. As she looks, hoping she’ll find the culprit and see the enemy, the feeling of warmth under her fingers begins to fade. Julie snaps back.
Luke’s not all there. Her fingers sink into his cheeks. She’s on her knees on the couch in front of him, and where he was becomes empty, and she nearly falls over. She steadies herself with a hand through his shoulder. Luke barely even notices. He’s turning back to look at the light.
Julie studies him through her own tears. He’s out of her reach again, a ghost. She’d always been afraid this would happen again; the first few weeks after they could first touch, so long ago, she’d dreamt they’d lose it. And here it is, right at the end. But he looks so earnest, so hopeful.
“Please don’t go,” she whispers, closing her eyes. She sniffs. “Please.”
This is too soon. This isn’t fair.
“Julie?” he says.
Her eyes snap open.
He’s looking at her again, but his expression hasn’t changed. Luke Patterson’s ghost reaches up and cradles her cheek. Faint, like sunlight on your face in the winter. Julie leans in, chest bowing as she sobs.
“Can I go?” he asks her.
Julie searches his face. No. No, she wants to say, you can’t go. Be selfish. But under his hand is thae warmth that he must be feeling, warmth that comes from the light, and it’s as if she’s home. She get’s the share in it, just this moment.
“Okay,” she whispers. “Go.”
And then he’s gone.
He doesn’t fade. One moment there, one moment gone. The warm light Luke had described was never there for her, so it doesn’t fade either. The room is emtpy aside from her. Nothing else exists here.
The final moments betwen them feel like someone else’s half-remembered dream. Described to her, but not lived. It’s as if she’s just woken up, too, her limbs heavy with lead. She struggles, reaches up, touches the corner of her eyes and wipes away the tears. She suddenly doesn’t remember crying, just waking to them. Her fingers traces down her cheek, cool to the touch, sticky with tears, and then up to her forehead where he’d kissed her.
Her fingers linger there before she drops her hand. Julie falls back, twists and curls up on the couch. The spot where he’d been wasn’t even warm. He’d left no impression. A ghost. An echo, even.
It takes her minutes to stand up. Maybe longer. She staggers away.
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okay I don’t remember if I posted this but this is me stealing machine girls nachos with that frenesi sample
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Happy Birthday @phantomxarmy - Here’s a Juke meetcute to celebrate!
Snowboarding Meet Cute (needs a better title)
Not Skywalker has a Spotify notification that JAM I am is listening to their Faster, Faster would be better playlist.
Luke grinned as he put his phone back in his pocket and looked around. It always pleased him when someone wanted to listen to his music, or even music he liked. He couldn’t tell who the fan was, but he selected that playlist too as he started down the mountain. Reggie, Alex and Willie already ahead of him.
[[MORE]]It was the first day of their annual skiing trip. He hadn’t thought they’d make it at all with how busy they’d been with gigs and work and then Reggie got sick and Alex decided to invite Willie and then almost canceled the whole thing because he’d invited Willie and was worried it was too soon for a trip.
He caught up to Alex laying in the snow quicker than he expected. He was a decent snowboarder but for some reason the addition of Willie on this trip made him stupid. Third trip down the mountain and this was already the second time he’d wiped out.
“Dude.” He pulled Alex up.
“I know.” He sighed. “I know.” He readjusted his boots, totally avoiding his eyes. “At least he didn’t see me fall this time.”
“You’re too in your head dude.” He laughed. “Willie likes you. Stop trying to show off.”
“I wasn’t!” He threw his hands up and one of his gloves went flying. “Shit.”
Alex turned to hop over to his wayward glove when a tiny snowboarder with long curly hair flew by him singing. “Come on baby we ain’t gonna live forever. Let me show you all the things that we could do…”
It was the same song playing in ear. He’d heard of people being dumb struck, but he didn’t think he’d understood the phrase until this moment.
“Who was that?”
“Who was who?” Alex grumbled as he got his gloves back on and slid down a few feet to him.
“That girl.” He frowned. “You didn’t see her? Hear her?”
He shrugged. “I thought I heard someone, but when I turned around it was just you.”
“She was booking it.” He laughed and shook his head. “You good?”
“No.” Alex sighed. “But I’m ready.”
Luke smacked the side of Alex’s helmet. “Get out of your head. He likes you.”
“Do that a few more times.” Alex grumbled. “Maybe my brain will finally believe you.”
~*~
He saw her again when she was on the chairlift riding back up the mountain with a friend. He’d had to stop on his way down again. This time to help Reggie, who’d thought he’d try jumping one of the small ramps. He’d sort of made it. He’d landed ok and then another skier swerved into his path. He was going too fast to swerve, so rather than hit them, he’d grounded himself.
Luke heard her singing again before he spotted her in the sky. She was still listening to his playlist. The current song was Heartbreaker by Pat Benatar, and she was absolutely killing it. Her friend was laughing and possibly recording her. He squinted, trying to see.
“I could use a little help when you’re done ogling hot girls.”
“I wasn’t…” He rolled his eyes as he turned away to help Reggie up. “You can’t even tell if she’s hot from here.” Once Reggie was steady, he turned to look for her, but she was out of sight and sound again.
“With a voice like that.” Reggie gave him a pat on the shoulder. “She’s hot.”
“I’m just curious about her.” He shrugged. “She’s listening to my snowboarding playlist.”
“Then send her a message.” Reggie scoffed as he hopped into position and started back down the mountain.
“No…” He almost pulled his phone out, glancing up the mountain again. “That would be weird.”
“Suit yourself!” Reggie called.
~*~
He was on the chairlift when he saw her slaloming down the mountain much slower than the first time she flew past him. She was keeping pace with her friend. He wondered if she held back like he did. It was hard going back up the slope if your friends had a problem and you needed to help. He spent a lot of his time helping, but that was ok.
She wasn’t singing as far as he could hear so he didn’t know if she was still listening to his playlist or not. It was several hours long so she definitely could be.
He pulled his phone out to see if he could tell and there was a message from JAM I am waiting for his approval. He didn’t hesitate to accept it.
“This is an excellent playlist. It’s sad you haven’t gotten to get the full use out of it. Assuming you can actually shred.”
A slow grin spread across his face.
“Why are you smiling?” Alex leaned over his shoulder, and he tilted his phone so he could read it.
“What?” Reggie called from the other side of Willie. “Did the siren message him!?!”
“The siren?” Willie looked back and forth between them.
“You know, a siren, beautiful woman whose voice is so captivating she lures sailors to their death.”
“So we’re going with siren for the girl that Luke has been talking about all day.” Willie nodded. “Seems appropriate.”
“I don’t think she’s trying to lure me to my death.” He laughed.
“That message sounds like a challenge to me.” Alex shrugged. “You up for getting your ass handed to you by a tiny woman.”
“With a beautiful voice.” Reggie winked.
“Even if her plan isn’t murder.” Willie grinned. “There are other ways to kill you.”
He bit his lip looking back down at the phone then down at the mountain where he could barely make his mystery girl out now. It had been a long time since he took a chance with his heart. He glanced at Alex and Willie’s clasped hands and sighed. “Well, all gotta die sometime.” He sent her a message back.
~*~
He’d told her to meet him at dusk if that worked for her.
It did.
So here he was standing at the top of the mountain nervously scrolling through his playlist, looking for the perfect song when he felt more than saw someone slide up beside him.
He’d left the guys at the lodge. The whole point of her message was to go all out and even the lure of a pretty girl wouldn’t make him ditch his friends on the mountain if something happened. So, he was alone and desperately trying to appear cool and calm.
“Hey.”
He looked over at her. Dark honey eyes stared back at him from a beautiful face that had to be near his own age of the universe had any kind of heart.
“Hey.” He nodded. “I was just trying to decide on a song.”
She craned her neck toward him trying to see his phone, so he grabbed her elbow and slid her closer. Their snowboards clacked against each other as she grabbed his arm with a squeak and a laugh.
“Sorry!” He dropped her arm as soon as she was steady. “Sorry.”
“It’s cool.” She grinned. “Just unexpected.”
He tilted his phone toward her again. “See anything you like?”
He watched her bite back a smile as she scrolled the list quickly. “I was thinking…” She stopped it on another Veronicas song. “This one.”
He blinked at the song title, trying to run the lyrics through his head but there was like this bluescreen static happening and he couldn’t think. “I’m not the best at this so I’m just gonna ask.” He licked his lips and looked down at her again. “Are you hitting on me?”
She pressed play on the song before lowering her goggles over her eyes. “Maybe.” She smirked. “If you can keep up.” She didn’t wait for a response before starting down the mountain.
“Shit.” He shoved his phone in his pocket and followed. Putting his goggles in place and securing his gloves as the song started to pick up, as did their pace.
She was fast, but so was he when he actually got to let go, and for the first time today he did just that.
He stayed right behind her, or beside her all the way down the mountain. They wove around each other as they sped over hills and around other skiers. It was a four-minute song and for the first time today he was going to reach the bottom before another song could start.
Who was this girl that flirted with music and could snowboard better than he could. Sang like an angel and had the prettiest eyes he’d ever seen.
He sang. “Been going crazy from the moment I met you.” He swerved around her making her laugh and speed up just a little more as they got closer to the bottom.
She came to an abrupt stop, and he skidded to the side, falling back on his butt in surprise, but still sliding into her. She fell on top of him with a laugh.
“Oh shit, you ok?” He grabbed her around the waist as they bounced off the barrier and finally came to a stop. “I’m so sorry.”
She pushed up off his chest enough to pull her goggled off her face. “Julie.” She smiled at him. “My name is Julie.”
“Luke.” He pulled his goggled down. “Hi.”
“Hi.”
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Something Old, Something New
Thanks @phantomxarmy for the tag!
Rules: Share something old - a snippet of a favorite fic you wrote, that you are proud of; OR share something new - give us a sneak peek of something new you are working on. Feel free to do both, if you want to. Then tag (or not, your choice) other writers!
Something Old: Taking it way back to my first JatP fic, a snippet of the love confession scene from I Hate the Way I Don’t Hate You. I remember writing this entire fic in the span of like 2-3 weeks, which is very fast for me lol. I think I’ll forever be chasing the high of the peak of my JatP hyperfixation!
“Me leaving had nothing to do with you,” he reassured her. “In fact, I almost didn’t because of you. I didn’t want to be away from you.”
She felt tears spring into her eyes and before she could stop them, they were falling down her face. But then, there were Luke’s thumbs, ready to catch them and gently wipe them away.
“But you did,” she whispered.
He sighed, his face crumpling in pain. “I had to. For me. I needed to figure some shit out on my own,” and, well, that confession left her wondering if there was more to Seattle than he initially let on.
Julie sniffled, and she could feel the rollercoaster in her stomach ticking its way up to the top in anticipation. “Well can you be done now? Because I really, really missed you.”
A big grin spread across his face as he let out a slight chuckle. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m done.”
And then he kissed her. And it was like all the rollercoasters from before were just the small peaks, the warm-ups, all preparing her for the grand finale. Because when his lips melded with hers for the first time, she felt the big drop. And finally, finally, she allowed herself to embrace the feeling.
Something New: A new (unedited, I’ll add lol) snippet from my WIP, a Hollanov fic inspired by Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I truly have no idea when/if I’ll ever post this (the HR fandom lowkey scares me at times), but I’m really enjoying having the urge to write again!
SVETLANA: Of course I worried about him. He was fourteen and had been through something extremely traumatic. He already wasn’t great at dealing with his feelings, but it’s not like he had any particularly good role models to look up to in that department.
But he never let it interfere with hockey.
ROZANOV: I think I was sixteen when I truly realized just how far hockey could take me. My coaches approached me about scouts from the KHL and MLH and they started asking which league I would prefer to be drafted into. I started making lists. Like ‘Prospects to Watch’ and things like that.
It was fun, I will admit. I liked being the best at something. I enjoyed watching my name rise higher and higher on the prospect lists, seeing all the names I would pass.
But there was always one name that I could not seem to distance myself from. One name that rose just as fast as mine.
Not sure who hasn’t been tagged yet but I’ll tag @bex2313, @story-courty @pearlcaddy @angela-feelstoomuch and, as always, anyone else who wants to participate!
Answer
Thanks for the ask! Yes, Happy New Year IS the next SEO Lukeverse. I’m trying to do a timeloop but still working on the “why” of it all. So far I’ve gotten his first day “done” thrown some possible reasons in there but not sure if that’s actually what I want the reason for the time loop to be or do I want another reason.
This part is near the beginning. Alex of course knows “something” is wrong but not what. They’re on the phone together… and reminder, Flynn is a ghost.
[[MORE]]“Have you talked to Flynn?”
“I haven’t seen Flynn since yesterday.” There was a long pause before he continued. “Have you?”
He frowned, thinking, when was the last time he’d seen Flynn? Maybe early yesterday evening when he’d left the Cassino? He’d spent the night with Julie the night before. They spent most nights together now, but she was needed at the Cassino to get ready for their own New Years’ celebration tonight and he’d wanted to do that extra long patrol, so he’d come home to actually sleep since staying with Julie didn’t lead to a whole lot of sleeping.
He caught himself before he could fall into a daydream about his hot girlfriend and tried to remember when he’d actually last seen Flynn. She’d been busy with something…
“Just call her.” Alex interrupted his thoughts.
He shook his head at the phone. “Haven’t you texted her?”
“Not what I meant Luke.” He could hear Alex rolling his eyes.
And with good reason.
Alex meant call to her, with his mind.
Which was a thing he could do now.
He tried not to think too hard about the how of it all as he closed his eyes and thought of Flynn. He caught a glimpse of her in his minds eye kneeling in front of a dress, sticking pins in it before…
“What the fuck do you want? I’m in the middle of something.” Flynn sighed.
“She there?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, let me put you on speaker.” He hit the button and laid his phone on the island.
“Who’s that?” Flynn frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Alex says his brain feels itchy.” Luke shrugged.
Flynn leaned over the phone. “Itchy how?”
Answer
“You can hear me,” Julie says to herself, her breath stolen from her throat. Louder, she gasps, “The camera! Look at the camera!”
He startles, but does, instantly, eyes focusing in on the camera whirring in front of him. He narrows his eyes at it, leaning down and toward it so his face is big on the screen. Julie stumbles back, falling to her butt. She blinks up at the boy. He doesn’t speak.
Julie swallows. “Can you see me?”
He frowns. “I can see the camera. I’m… I’m looking at the camera lens.” A pause. “Can… you see me?”
“Yeah…” Julie twists herself to sit up on her knees. She touches the side of the screen. “You’re on the tv. This is… this is a recording.”
His frown somehow deepens. He shoots a look at the camera like the answer is obvious, even though it very clearly isn’t. “Yeah. I’m recording.”
Julie nods, and then quickly shakes her head. “No! I mean, this is a recording like… like this is already recorded! This already happened! I’m watching this on a tv!”
The boy’s dark brows furrow. “I don’t understand. I don’t…” he shakes his head, backing away nervously.
She touches the part of the screen with the date. “You recorded this in 1995, right?”
The boy slowly nods his head. “I… am.”
“I found a couple of tapes in the loft. The one behind you—”
The boy twists in his spot, arching his back and peering up at the wooden structure loft above him. He blinks up at it, before he slowly twists back toward the camera. He doesn’t say anything, but his eyes narrow and his dark brows nearly obscure his eyes.
“—my dad asked me to clear stuff out and I found this old tv and the tapes and we got a VCR and I put the tapes in and it’s you and your friends. Your name is Luke. And your friends are Reggie and Bobby and Alex. And you’re in a band! Sunset Swerve!”
“Curve,” he says sharply, “Sunset Curve.”
yeah! they’ve got a magic camera and the boys are instead trapped in the camera. or they are really just in 1995. or… something. man I dunno.
Answer
you and @writerownstory both asked about this one! ♡
I had some dialogue pop into my head and it morphed into something akin to the lyrics for champagne problems. So then my idea was to see how many lyrics i could work into the fic, and like all creative endeavors in my life, this has spiraled uncontrollably. I have tried again and again to just make this a short little thing but I don’t think Brain is going to agree to that at this point anymore. Here’s to hoping I can finish it by next year New Years?? ;)
I’m pretty stuck on this one though. I try to work on it here and there. I have bits and pieces of each of Luke and Julie’s pov’s so far, but more for Luke by a landslide. I have several “tabs” on ellipsus going in this fic — “they know each other”, “strangers”, and “strangers - oh no sad” versions going for Luke’s pov. The bones are all kind of there but the pieces won’t fall into place/connect how I need them to. Maybe I need to take a page out of @alyssoid’s book and make an outline for once?!
Luke inherited Rosie’s, a record store in The Village (nyc) that he now owns and lives above. He’s not with Sunset Curve anymore (both version’s reasons are sad, but the ‘oh no sad’ version is like…extra tragic backstory and I don’t know why my brain insists on focusing on that version right now?!).
Julie hasn’t been home in over ten years, since her mom passed, but wanders into Rosie’s late on New Year’s Eve dressed to the nines, after declining her boyfriend’s proposal. Luke has something for her that her mom left her. (Okay, so they’re not complete strangers, they knew each other in passing, when Luke would visit the record store when Rose owned it and Julie worked there but they haven’t interacted as adults).
And so what if Julie’s now ex kicks her out of their apartment and her dad has moved to LA and the only person she knows right now is Luke? Hmmmmm ;)
Story clip below! :)
[[MORE]]The woman is flicking through the vinyl, moving some around at random intervals as though she knew where they belonged better than he did. She doesn’t seem to find whatever it is that brought her in tonight, though how she could tell is anyone’s guess because even he couldn’t sort albums that quickly and still recognize them. He glances up at her, ready to gently ask her to leave, or at the very least, stop fucking with his meticulous sorting system, but she finally looks up, dropping his gaze just as quickly, just not fast enough to hide red rims.
“Do you always dress this elegantly to peruse second-hand records on New Years Eve?”
She gazes back up at him, slightly perplexed or perhaps curious about the direction he was starting out their conversation in. All other thoughts go out the window as he takes in eyes as dark as the ocean floor, the depths of which could crush him with the hollow stare she’d just given him, softening his desire to kick her out as swiftly as humanly possible. What he wouldn’t give to see her lit up from within, and not just because she was the most gorgeous woman he’d ever laid eyes on, but because no one deserved to look so desolate.
He joins her in flipping through the albums on his side of the deep bins he’d inherited with the shop. Any modernization plans had flown out the windows at the sight of these likely hand-crafted storage system in front of him. Honestly, it had never really been a consideration on his part (though his investors had certainly seemed to think they’d had some say based on how often they’d sent designers to his office before finally giving up). The whole vibe of the shop had always felt like Jimi Hendrix meets Prince meets Local Green Witch, with its plants, crystals, and other sun-catchers in the windows, the royal purple velvet drapes that separated the main room from the “listening booth” (an old storage closet that had been converted) and beaded curtains hiding the stairs to his apartment above.
“Huh?” Belatedly she adds, “Oh, no my boyfriend requested this outfit tonight.” before peering back down at the albums in front of her.
Well, that didn’t go as planned. He’d been hoping for some kind recognition that she was maybe in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Her hand hovers over an album without actually touching it. “He proposed.”
“And where is the lucky fellow so I can congratulate him?” He hopes his voice is neutral as he goes back to flipping through the albums in front of him.
“I said no,” her voice is so small and timid, so unlike the bold red lip she boasted. He pauses his search once more but doesn’t look up at her.
“I’m sorry,” he apologizes sincerely and gestures at her outfit, finally meeting her eyes again. “You would have made such a lovely bride.”
“What a shame I’m fucked in the head,” she says, a sarcastic smile quirking at the corner of her mouth.
“We’re all a little crazy,” he smiles back. Something nags at him that this isn’t entirely accurate on her end, but you never know with people. “Sometimes you just don’t know the answer until someone is on their knee and asks you.”
“Good lyric,” she mumbles. He wouldn’t have heard her if he hadn’t been thinking it himself.
“You write?”
“In another lifetime, maybe,” she murmurs, mostly to herself again. “Knees,” she adds, emphasizing the suffix.
“Huh?”
“He got down on both knees to propose.”
“He was…begging you?”
“See? You get it,” she breathes out gratefully at his understanding and starts pacing as she rambles a mile a minute, her nose scrunching up in what would otherwise be adorable if not for the fact that furrowed eyebrows and wild hands accompanied her monologue. He might not know much about proposing, but he was pretty sure that using it as a networking event was not the way to go, even if the historic ballroom did sound pretty cool.
“A proposal should be personal and warm. If it’s going to be tons of people, there should at least be a few people you know, not complete strangers and and his baby sister splashed out on the bottle.”
The boyfriend hadn’t even invited her family or friends?!
She stops talking, stops wearing a hole in the squeaky wooden floorboards he’d found hidden under atrociously ugly tiles (one of the only changes he’d made to the store), but still, he waits. Sometimes people just need a listening ear.
“He chose New Years Eve in fucking Manhattan. It could have been so magical. It should have been magical. But no. He stole my new year, my…my fresh start, my clean slate,” she lets out a giant groan. “I said no and I meant it. So I shouldn’t be complaining about it, but…it could have been incredible, right?” She looks up at him but doesn’t let him answer. “It could have been in front of the Rockefeller tree or in Central Park covered in snow. It could have been somewhere meaningful to us, some place like here, you know? Here. Where life and love and happiness meet. Where my m—” She cuts herself off, with seemingly no intention to correct herself or finish that thought.
“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” he says, a little too fondly for someone he just met.
“What?”
“Nothing. That was a bad attempt at a joke. Could be good for future marketing plans though,” he covers lamely. “Come get a record and a ring.” A judgmental look deepens on her face the longer his jazz hands go on. He drops them and his chagrined smile, clearing his throat. “I’ll workshop it.”
Answer
Haha, hi again @onlygenxhere ! I know you saw my previous post about this idea, but I will give you another little tidbit from it!
The guys find out about the song before Julie does and they (lovingly) tease Luke endlessly about writing such a sappy love song that’s so different from the type of music he usually writes for the band. They also encourage him (read beg him to) just talk to Julie and be honest about his feelings. They can ALL see how the two of them really feel about each other. But Luke is stubborn and doesn’t want to risk ruining his friendship with Julie. He is also under the (misguided) impression that Julie is perfectly happy with Nick (even if he secretly hates the guy for being a sucky boyfriend to Julie and thinks she deserves so much better) so he doesn’t want to do anything that might ruin her happiness, especially after the loss of Rose.
Answer
Hi friend, thanks so much for the ask! So this little idea was inspired by Sidelined 2: Intercepted and In the Air, one of the songs Charlie sings in the movie. (Admittedly I have not watched the movie in its entirety, just the trailer and all the clips of Skylar, Charlie’s character, that were floating around the JATP side of TikTok, not to mention the dance scene that gave all of us Perfect Harmony flashbacks lol.) Anyway, that was enough to stir up the Juke side of my brain and this idea was born:
Julie grew up with the guys in her life as friends, they lived in the same neighborhood, went to the same school, hung out in Rose’s studio all the time, Sunset Curve practices there, etc. Julie isn’t part of the band though (yet!). And while Julie is friends with all the guys, she and Luke have always had a special bond, because of their mutual love of music. He’s really there for her when her mom dies and she struggles to get back into music, despite being equally as devastated by Rose’s passing. But they’re just friends (or so they both claim). Part way through high school, Julie starts dating Nick. He’s not super horrible or anything, but he’s not the best boyfriend either, he’s just more focused on lacrosse than music or Julie. Luke, naturally, writes a song about his “secret” feelings for Julie. (Realistically, the only people who don’t know that Julie and Luke are hopelessly in love with each other and have been for years are Julie and Luke.) At some point Julie finds out about the song, they both confess their feelings, Julie breaks up with Nick, and Juke is endgame.
In the Air Lyrics:
[Chorus]
No, he can’t love you in the way that you like
The way that I, the way that I would, yeah
And you can try to hide it every day, every night
But you feel it inside, tryna push it away
But babe, it’s in the air
It’s in the air
You push it away but it’s in the air
[Verse 1]
The pressure that you put on yourself
I wish you knew you got nothing to prove to me
I see you choosing him but he’s choosing himself
And I know how it feels to be used
Does he hold you through all your sleepless nights?
Does he know you in the way that I do?
[Chorus Repeats]
[Verse 2]
You know the truth, yeah
You dance around it
Not everything that glitters is gold
Deep down you know what to do about it
Gotta do what’s right for your soul
[Chorus Repeats]
Text
KRUSH JUKE - SECOND THOUGHTS
Looks like easy listening half-time juke was a thing in Hungary six years ago!! Great track, so laid back and full of fresh ideas. This whole compilation is worth checking out too!