Chapter Text
Chapter 1
Luke strolled in the garage in high spirits. School was officially out so that meant Sunset Curve, all day every day, baby! Apparently, Reggie had helped the band out in getting some gigs. They had one lined up at the end of the week, so rehearsing was a must.
He grabbed his guitar, raring to go, he let out a sigh when he saw Alex still fiddling with his high hats and Reggie still standing, not having picked up his bass.
“What’s the hold up, Reginald?”
The bassist rolled his eyes at the use of his full name. He pointed to the open garage door, “It’s just… shouldn’t we wait for Bobby?”
“Yeah,” Alex agreed, “Since, it’s technically his garage… and everything.”
Luke shook his head, not letting the mention of Bobby ruin his good mood. That guy has been getting on Luke’s nerves lately. Been flaking out of rehearsal, arriving late to sound checks and not even bothering to help them when putting equipment away.
“He said we can use the space anytime, guys. And we need to use it. We’ll just start already and wait for Sir Bobby to come and grace us with his presence,”
Alex tested out his kick drum, scrunching his nose, “Where is he anyway?”
“Probably trying to score chicks at the mall or whatever crap he usually does,”
Maybe that was what irked Luke about Bobby the most. Letting himself get distracted by all the girls that come to the show. Luke had a sneaking suspicion that Bobby was only in it for the fame and attention. Which is nice and all, but for Luke- it was the music. It had got to be about the music. He had nothing else.
So that's why he couldn’t understand how Bobby could let girls come between him and the music. Luke never had that issue. Nah, he was focused on making sure Sunset Curve would be able play to the masses and make songs that really resonate with people.
Reggie finally came around and picked up the bass, “So, Now or Never ?”
“Hell yeah!” chorused Alex and Luke. Reggie laughed.
Alex raised his sticks to count them off, “1, 2, 3-”
A loud noise started blaring out of nowhere that made the boys jump. Reggie hastily unplugged his bass and held it to his ear, “Not me.” he remarked, thinking it was some sort of amp problem.
Luke did the same but the noise was still there, “What the hell?”
He raised his head, trying to figure out where it was coming from. He walked out of the garage and realized it wasn’t just random noise, it was music. He could hear the beats thumping more clearly, and just hear them more in general. It was way louder out here.
The guys followed him out.
“Someone’s got the stereo on a little too loud,” Reggie commented, wincing at the volume.
Alex cocked his head, trying to listen, “I’d be mad, if it wasn’t so good. Who is it anyway?”
Luke didn’t realize that he had been moving further away from the guys and closer to the source of the music. He closed his eyes, the melody sounding familiar,
“Television ,”
“I think we already established it’s a stereo, Luke,” Alex swatted Reggie on the shoulder.
“He meant the artist. You know? The band from the ‘70s?”
A grin broke out on Luke’s face upon recognizing the song, “That, right there boys, is definitely ‘Marquee Moon’!”
Reggie made an ‘ah’ sound, now remembering the song, “But who would be playing ‘Marquee Moon’? Here? No offense, but besides Bobby’s place and yours, this street has terrible taste.”
“I know,” Luke’s curiosity was getting the better of him. He bounded up the garden stairs, “We gotta check it out.”
So much for practice. The boys followed him out of Bobby’s yard and went to find out who’s playing the music.
They wandered across the street. It turned out they weren’t the only ones trying to figure out this little mystery. Luke caught eyes with his neighbors, the Hendersons, who were probably pissed off about the noise and were confused to see Luke walking around sans guitar.
Usually the noise complaints made around here were about him and the band. Whoops.
He threw them a smirk. Reggie mockingly saluted the married couple while Alex smiled apologetically. The blonde was always the nicest one in their group, maybe because out of all them, he was the most embarrassed by his friends’ antics.
They walked a bit more and saw a house with a moving truck and a whole bunch of boxes out on the driveway. The band weaved their away around the movers and the furniture until they were at the front door. Luke rang the doorbell. They couldn’t hear if it rang or not, probably missed amidst the music booming from upstairs.
A woman with voluminous curly hair opened the door. She gave the boys a warm smile which struck them. Not many people in this neighborhood gave them this much of a courteous greeting.
“Why, hello,”
Alex opened his mouth to speak, “Uh… uh hi. This is sort of a weird thing… but… well’ you see…”
Luke stepped in, “Excuse my friend here, we were just some houses away when we heard, like the freakin’ amazing musical stylings of Television coming from your house.”
“Oh my goodness,” the woman looked embarrassed, “I’m sorry, we’ll turn it down-”
Luke shook his head, “No, no, no. Feel free to keep it on. Turn it up even!”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it” Reggie smiled, “We were about to start our band practice when we heard it. Cool to know that there’s another house in the neighborhood that likes to rock.”
The woman’s eyes widened, “You’re in a band?”
“Sunset Curve!” Alex spoke finally, after getting his nerves under control.
Reggie winked at her, “Tell your friends.”
“I was actually driving by with my kids when we heard you guys practicing. You sound really good.”
Luke could hear Reggie pull Alex aside, “ Dude, she likes our music! ” he whispered excitedly.
“Doesn’t count… she’s a mom,”
“Anyways… so you just moved here? With your family?” Luke asked.
“Yeah. My husband’s out right now with my son, Carlos. But my daughter’s home. We were having a bit of a jam session ourselves before she found my records,” she gestured to upstairs.
“You...play?” Alex spluttered, incredulously.
She shrugged, “Been in a few bands myself back in the day. Funny though, not the bed or chairs are even moved in, but we made sure that the piano and guitar were in the house first.”
Sounds like my kind of people, Luke thought.
“It’s official, you’re the coolest neighbor ever,” Luke pointed over to his own house not too far from this one, “I’m like two houses away. I’m Luke, by the way.” He reached out to shake her hand. Reggie and Alex did the same.
“I’m Rose,” she quirked an eyebrow, “You boys in high school?”
“Yup. Officially on summer break right now,”
“Perfect. Maybe you guys can show my daughter around. She’s around your age. Speaking of which-” she stepped back to call up the stairs, “Julie! Come down here, mija !”
The boys heard stomping down the stairs before a girl appeared at the door by Rose. She had almost the same hair as Rose, but it tied up and she was donning glasses. She happened to be holding a record sleeve in her hands.
“Mom?”
“I got some boys here that I’d want you to meet,”
The girl’s eyes widened while pulling the cardigan she was wearing closer to her, “Moooom, I’m still in my pajamas,”
It was then Luke turned his attention downwards to find the girl wearing giant dinosaur feet slippers. He couldn’t help but laugh a bit, causing the girl to glare at him. He immediately shut up.
“Sorry,”
“Julie, this is Luke, Reggie, and Alex,” Rose introduced them to her.
“Hi,” the girl waved slowly.
The guys smiled back at her. Luke went to shake Julie’s hand, and couldn't help but get a closer look at the girl and he couldn’t help but admit that she was pretty cute, even if she had been a bit cross with him not too long ago. She pursed her lips, a bit shy. He eyed the record sleeve in her other hand.
“Sweet, you like New Order?”
He watched her cold exterior melt significantly. She smiled.
“Yeah… I’m crazy about the ‘80s,” she admitted, “The Cars, Annie Lennox, Hall and Oates- stuff like that.”
“Killer,” Luke breathed out, “Got Fleetwood Mac on your set list?”
“‘Rhiannon’ is my go-to karaoke song, actually,”
“Interesting. People tend to go for ‘Dreams’,”
“I think it’s fun to sing the name,” Then Julie surprised Luke when all of the sudden she sang, “ Rhiannon. ”
Wow.
Reggie and Alex seemed to share the same sentiment. But they were able to voice their appreciation outloud. Luke was still struck silent. It was soft and it happened for like 2 seconds, as if she wanted to do it before she lost the nerve. But for a throwaway line, she hit it perfectly.
“Damn, Julie!”
“You’ve got pipes!”
Luke managed to find his voice, “Uh… yeah. Wow.” Julie thanked them quietly while Rose wore a proud expression.
She should be.
“Hey Luke, you might wanna let go of her hand? We wanna meet Julie properly too,” Alex pointed out.
The shaggy haired singer glanced down and saw that their hands were still entwined. He cleared his throat as he released her hand. This made way for Reggie and Alex to eagerly shake Julie’s hand.
“You should totally come by during band practice sometime,” Reggie suggested.
“Well,” Alex took in the moving truck and the mountain of boxes and furniture outside their house, “Whenever you’re all unpacked, obviously.”
“Yeah, we’re over there. Across the street. That’s our other member, Bobby’s, place. We’re practically there all the time. But, um, I live close by. If you wanna stop by there too,” Luke offered up, which caused the guys to look at him in disbelief.
They knew he never really invited people over, with all the stuff going on between him and his parents. But he wanted to be friendly. Julie and her family seemed pretty cool, the kind of people that he can vibe with and just go on and on about music. Definitely be a nice change, especially since his folks weren’t too crazy about him being in a band.
He kinda wanted to learn more about Julie though. The girl had taste and the voice to back it up? He could tell from how well she could control her voice that she could have totally belted out ‘Rhiannon’ if she wanted to.
He wouldn’t mind hearing the whole song actually.
Julie nodded, a bit flustered of all the attention. Luke cursed inwardly, she practically just moved in and here he and his friends are trying to get her to hang soon.
“I’ll try to. Just gotta... you know… get settled.”
“Right. Right,” Then, his phone went off. He checked and saw that Bobby finally showed up to the garage and was wondering where everyone went.
“Uh,” he addressed both Julie and Rose, “we gotta head back.”
“Well, it was nice to see you guys," Rose brought her hands onto Julie's shoulders, "Feel free to come over anytime. I make a mean blueberry muffin.”
“Sold!” Reggie exclaimed ready to take up on her offer soon. He ushered Luke and Alex to get going.
Luke still lingered, looking at Julie, “I don’t know if ‘90s alt rock is your speed. But I hope you like our sound.”
“Luke! Let’s go!”
He said his goodbyes and hurried on down the driveway to catch up with Reggie and Alex.
Once they were out of an earshot of the house, Reggie let out a laugh, "Dude," he said to Luke, "What was that?"
"What was what?"
"I hope you like our sound ? What happened to 'Sunset Curve is the greatest band ever'?"
Luke grimaced, he had been known to be kinda cocky when it came to the band. He had been guilty of saying such things on a daily basis.
"You were soft. Like real soft," Alex commented, "It's kinda nice to see your sensitive side."
"I was just being nice. She's shy. Didn't want to scare her,"
"Oh, so shaking her hand for like 5 minutes and the prolonged eye contact didn't scare her?"
"Shut up,"
"We're just messin' with you, man," Reggie slung his arm over Luke's shoulder, "Julie's nice. We like her too."
You better not. Luke had to bite back his surprise by his sudden possessive thought, especially for a girl he just met.
He knew what Reggie meant, obviously. That they like her as a friend... Cool.
Luke brushed it off, not wanting to talk about the whole thing anymore, "Don't we have practice? Can't leave Sir Bobby waiting, right?"
Luke ignored the looks Alex and Reggie were sharing before they all broke out into a sprint. By the time they came back and Bobby read them the riot act, Luke didn’t seem as keen to start practice as before.
Even when he managed to pick up his guitar and started playing their song and singing about how they were ready to go and nothing would get in the way of their dream, his focus drifted to the girl with curly hair and glasses who now lived two doors down from him.
Okay… now he could see where Bobby’s coming from.