Chapter Text
Luke drummed his fingers on Julie’s kitchen counter partly out of boredom and partly to make his annoyance known. Not that he had any real doubt that his target could possibly be unaware of his current frustration. It was coursing through him so strongly he would be surprised if she couldn’t feel it physically radiating off of him.
From his position sitting on top of the counter, cross legged and hunched over, Luke had a perfect view of Julie sitting at the table, books and papers spread out around her. That wasn’t the problem of course. The problem was who was sitting with her at the table.
Nick.
The guy seemed to have become a permanent fixture in the Molina household these days, frequent study sessions with Julie often bleeding over into invitations from Ray to stay for dinner. Invitations the kid never seemed to turn down. The little weasel. Floppy blonde hair, a letterman jacket, and totally pg vibes that somehow said “your daughter will lose her mind over me” and “I’ll have her home before 10” simultaneously. No wonder Julie’s dad kept inviting him to dinner.
It wasn’t that Luke begrudged Julie’s need to study. Sure, he’d tried to talk her into skipping class a couple of times and he had encouraged her to sneak out her window that one night but it wasn’t like he wanted to be a totally bad influence on her. He had never really cared for school. It had always felt like nothing more than an obstacle between him and where he really wanted to be and an excuse for his parents to get on his case. He knew it was important to Julie though. So it was important to him. Sort of. There were limits.
Multiple study dates with Nick per week was over the limit.
Not that they were dates. He knew Nick had a bit of a thing for Julie but she had never seemed to pay him that much attention. Until now, a traitorous part of Luke’s brain pointed out.
He drummed his fingers more aggressively against the counter earning him a glare from Julie though she quickly schooled her expression into a tired smile when Nick looked up.
“Everything ok?”’Nick asked, offering Julie one of those signature dopey smiles he seemed to wear almost permanently these days.
Luke hated it because it reminded him of the one he could feel stretching across his own face so often in Julie’s presence. It made him uncomfortable to see himself as another goofy kid totally bowled over by how amazing she was. It made him more than uncomfortable to think he might catch Julie returning such a smile with Nick rather than him. Not that he was prepared to admit that out loud just yet.
“Yeah, I’m good,” Julie immediately contradicted her words by letting out a yawn which she hurried to cover with her hand. “Sorry. What did you get for number 3?”
They went back to talking about math and Luke went back to glowering at the back of Nick’s head.
Couldn’t he tell that she was tired? She always seemed to be tired these days. Tired while she studied with Nick, tired while she ate with her family, tired while the band practiced and tired while she worked on lyrics with him. Or more often than not had to put off their writing sessions because she could barely keep her eyes open.
He didn’t want to make her feel bad about it of course. But if he was being honest it sucked. It didn’t exactly come naturally to him to put off something he really wanted to do, though since Julie had accused him of only caring about himself he’d been doing his best to prove to her just how much that wasn’t true. So he always sent her off to bed with a smile and reassurance that he wasn’t mad. Which he wasn’t.
Except at Nick and his inability to take a hint.
Deciding enough was enough, Luke pretended to stretch, inching his elbow along the counter until it nudged the bowl of fruit sitting there and sent apples tumbling to the floor.
Julie and Nick both snapped their heads around to first track the apples rolling across the floor then up to the counter where Luke still sat, a slightly smug smile adorning his face.
He expected it when Julie’s eyes snapped to his, full of irritation, but he wasn’t expecting Nick’s to land there as well, a slight smirk flashing across his face for a single instant before his eyes slid past Luke’s face and settled on Julie’s instead.
What the hell was that?
Before he could focus too much on what he thought he saw Carlos picked that moment to pipe up from the foot of the stairs.
“Julie, I think your friend needs a time out,” Carlos chuckled. “I’m sorry, I mean a few minutes in the meditation corner to think about why he feels the need to act out.”
Nick looked up from where he had crouched to help pick up the apples.
“I didn’t do anything though,” Nick protested.
“Not you, Julie’s ghost friend,” Carlos explained, eyes shooting dramatically around the room in all the wrong directions looking for Luke’s presence. “Can’t you sense him?”
“Your brother’s weird,” Nick told Julie, placing the last apple back into the bowl and brushing his hand against her shoulder.
Luke fought the urge to find something else to throw at him.
“Tell me about it,” Julie groaned, rolling her eyes.
She yawned again, seemingly unable to stop herself.
Luke felt his chest constrict with worry.
“Well, I had better be going,” Nick said, glancing at the time on his phone. “We still on for working on that history paper tomorrow night?”
“Um, well I’m not sure. I might need a night off. Check in at school tomorrow?” Julie asked. Her smile was only slightly strained but it was more than enough for Luke to pick up on.
“Sure, sounds good.”
And then he was finally gone.
“Finally!” Luke shoved himself off of the counter with both hands, landing with a thump he knew Carlos wouldn’t hear. “Does that guy ever take a hint?”
Julie shot him a warning look.
“Carlos, why don’t you go ask Dad if we can order pizza for dinner?”
“He’ll never go for it,” Carlos said dismissively, still glancing around the room dramatically in search of ghostly evidence.
“Tell him it was my idea and that I’ll do the dishes,” Julie countered impatiently.
Carlos gave her an examining look.
“This is clearly a ploy to get me out of the room so you can communicate with your spirit friends but I really want pizza so...DAD!”
And with that he was gone, off in search of Ray leaving only Luke leaning against the counter and Julie standing with her arms crossed.
“I miss pizza,” Luke said forlornly.
Julie just frowned and Luke sighed. So he wasn’t getting out of this conversation then.
“What was that about?” She demanded.
Luke considered pretending not to know what she was talking about. A few weeks ago he would have but it felt like they were beyond that now. She would just see straight through him anyway.
“I don’t like him hanging around so much,” Luke said bluntly. “Why did he suddenly lose the ability to do homework on his own? Can’t he tell you're tired?”
Julie sighed.
“People get tired, Luke. Living people. We still have to go to school and do our homework and...and...mow the lawn.”
“You don’t really have a lawn, Julie,” Luke argued. “Just a big garden type thing and…”
“That’s not the point,” Julie huffed, throwing her hands up in exasperation. She took a deep breath seeming to calm herself and then took a step closer to him.
“Look, I know I haven’t been pulling my weight in band practice.”
“What? No, Julie, that’s not what I meant.”
“But Nick told me he needs to raise his grades so he can keep playing lacrosse and he and Carrie broke up and he could use a friend. You can understand that right?”
She looked up at him with her big eyes and he struggled against the urge to just melt into a puddle at her feet. He wasn’t sure if that was a ghost thing or a “Julie is too cute to handle” thing. Possibly both.
“I can understand you’re a good person and you want to help people,” Luke said gently. “I mean look at us right? You’re practically a one woman ghost life improvement squad. But you have to take care of yourself too.”
Julie returned his smile, shifting almost imperceptibly closer to him. He wondered if she knew she was doing that. He wondered if she knew she was doing a lot of things.
“I know. Thanks, Luke. Band practice after dinner and writing session after that?”
Luke sighed, shaking his head with a rueful smile.
“See, I don’t think rest and take care of yourself must mean the same thing in 2020 as it did in 1995 cause I’m pretty sure that’s not what I said.”
“I really want to write with you though. I’ll go straight to bed after. I promise.”
Luke held up his hands accepting his defeat. If he was being honest he was mostly just glad it seemed he was off the hook for his stunt with the apples.
Julie had started to walk away, but she turned to grin at him over her shoulder.
“Oh, and I think Carlos is right.”
Luke shot her a quizzical look which she answered with a mischievous one of her own.
“You could use some time in the meditation corner to think about why you feel the need to act out.”
Luke laughed.
“I’m a rockstar baby, acting out is kinda my thing.”
Julie didn’t have a quick response and he was pretty sure he spotted a blush on her cheeks.
He liked that. He made a mental note to try to bring it out more often.
Luke chuckled again, offering Julie one more grin before poofing out to the garage.