Part Vingt-huit

A/N: Carrie and Flynn make up. Some Julie and Luke time.

Also, this is going up to 'teen' just to be safe. There's some slightly suggestive content in this chapter.

Some of you said sap was okay, here you go.

Consent is key, but communication is also essential!

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It was Thursday, and Bobby had arranged with Ray for the dinner that night. It had been two days since Julie and Carrie had reached their truce, if not rekindled their friendship, and one day since Flynn and Carrie had had a heart-to-heart. The thing about Flynn is, she's loyal. She doesn't take betrayal well (hence the eggs she tried to tell Julie were a mistake, after she had lied about the band), but if she's in your corner, she is all in. And after speaking to Carrie, she was once again, all in with her.

Julie was a little confused, but it was better than them continuing to snipe at each other, so she'd take it. The only problem was, they were suddenly whispering and giggling together, several times without her. Julie felt a little left out, but she was trying to ignore it, especially because they always welcomed her when she walked up, even if they were somewhat obviously changing the subject from whatever they had been talking about before.

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"So, we set for getting the decorations this weekend?" Flynn asked Carrie as they mixed up the topping for the apple crumble they were making for the dinner with everyone that night.

"Yeah, my dad is weirdly excited, he said he's going to talk to Julie's band and see if they would play some of his old songs with him for part of the night. They're suddenly, like, his favorite people."

Flynn ducked her head, "Mmhmm. So, what costume are we going to persuade Julie to wear?"

Carrie frowned in thought. "Well, you said she's dating that Luke guy in her band, what about a couple's costume? Do you think he would go for that?"

An evil grin spread across Flynn's face, "Oh, yes. That I would love to see, and he's stupid over her, so I'm sure we could get him on board."

"What are you thinking? You don't just smile like that and not already have an idea."

"Well, Julie's favorite movie used to be 'Aladdin', and Luke is kinda allergic to sleeves."

Carrie cocked her head to the side, mentally trying to picture it. "Which Jasmine outfit for Julie? Turquoise or Red?"

"Ooh, definitely red, with the high ponytail."

Nodding in absolute agreement, Carrie slid the completed apple crumble in the oven and faced Flynn. "Thank you for letting me help."

"Hey, we talked and we're cool, Carrie."

A small smile and, "Well, still. Thanks." Carrie paused. "Do you think it's too much for her first birthday without her mom?"

"I think her mom would love it, and, while it may be bittersweet, Julie will be glad in the end not to have spent the day wallowing."

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Dinner at Bobby's was actually really nice. Julie hadn't realized how busy they had been, between the guys becoming solid, Willie joining them, the trip to Canada, Luke's stuff with his parents, and then Carrie, other then a bunch of family movie nights and a few songwriting sessions with Luke, the last few weeks had been crazy. She hadn't even realized Halloween was coming up, not that she was sure she was ready to do much celebrating this year. Her mom had loved Halloween, and there was also the little matter of it being Julie's birthday. Her first without her mom.

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The food had been eaten, and everyone was just finishing up some awesome apple crumble that Carrie, and surprisingly Flynn, had made for tonight. Julie couldn't help but let her gaze drift to them at the other end of the table, once again whispering and giggling without her. On her left Carlos was absorbed in his dessert, and everyone else was engaged in a discussion about the way the music industry had changed in the last two decades, what with digital sales and streaming. Julie couldn't help but feel a bit detached, thoughts of Flynn and Carrie, and her mom, running through her mind.

Suddenly, though, she was choking a bit on her apple crumble. Luke was sitting on her right and he must have noticed her distant look, because he had leaned over and whispered in her ear, so close she could feel his breath, "Are you okay, Jules?"

Normally this would have been fine, but he had accompanied it with gently setting his hand on her leg under the table, and now Julie was blushing. It didn't help that she had already been distracted by him all night, he had on dark-wash jeans, a green pattern flannel that brought out the flecks of green in his hazel eyes, and a plain white t-shirt. It wasn't sleeveless, but it was tight. And earlier, before she had forced herself to focus on dinner, it had been a struggle to keep her hands to herself. Things were only made worse by the fact Luke had gotten some new cologne in Canada, and he seemed to instinctively know the perfect amount to wear, not too much (a pitfall so many teenage boys she knew fell into) but still enough, so when he was leaning into her space she couldn't not want to bury her face into the crook of his neck and breathe in.

"Jules?"

'Oh, god. Whatever you do, Julie, do not look into his eyes right now.' She scrambled to think of a response that wouldn't give her thoughts away. She quickly cleared her throat, "Um, what are you going to be for Halloween?" She could just tell he had a quizzical expression when he replied, "I hadn't really thought about it yet."

Julie snuck a few deep breaths, "I don't know if I want to do the whole Halloween thing this year." She didn't know why she couldn't have thought of a different topic, she didn't really want to talk about this, or she thought she didn't, but the words came spilling out to him anyway, "My mom loved Halloween."

He softly squeezed her leg, obviously trying to be reassuring (it was not). "And your dad mentioned it's also your birthday." His voice was quiet and sympathetic and right next to her ear again. She knew he was trying not to let the rest of the table overhear, in case she didn't want to talk about it with everyone, which, to be fair, she didn't, but... It was just difficult to have this conversation when all she could think about was his hand on her leg and the fact that he was taking forever to make the next move in their relationship. She didn't want much more than what they were doing now, but it would be nice if she knew he actually wanted her. They hadn't even French kissed yet. And she knew he could speak the language, so that seemed deeply unfair. God, all of this just made her miss her mom so much.

Everything began crashing into her at once, and she turned to Luke, her eyes filling with tears. "Can we go outside? Please."

He was already half-standing before she even finished speaking, his arm going around her and pulling her up into his chest, shielding her face from the rest of the table. "Julie isn't feeling very well, I'm going to take her home." Luke shared a meaningful look with Ray, incidentally they had happened to have a conversation about how Julie might have some trouble with her birthday this year just the other day.

"Thanks Luke. You okay getting an Uber?" This was said with a raised eyebrow, Ray was well aware Luke was just going to poof them home once they got outside.

"Yeah, it's all good."

Everyone tossed some "Feel better, Julie!" comments after them as Luke led her out.

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Luke landed them right in her room, maneuvering onto her bed and settling her right next to him.

"I'm right here if you want to talk, but it's okay if you don't, too."

She shuffled around, climbing fully onto his lap and giving into the urge to hide her face in the crook of his neck. Aside from a few tears that had slipped out as they left dinner, Julie wasn't really crying anymore. She still felt overwhelmed, though. 'I wish I could tell my mom about Luke. She would love him, and she would have the best advice.' Julie hummed a little as Luke held her closer with one arm, his other hand going up to stroke her hair.

'Actually, why can't I tell my mom about him?' With a deep breath, Luke's scent filling her nose and completely relaxing her, she thought of her mom.

'Hi mom. I still don't know if you sent the guys to me, but I can't thank you enough if you did. As I told you outside the Orpheum, they brought music back to me. Also, I-I've fallen in love with one of them. He's incredible on the guitar, and he sings, and we've written some amazing songs together. His name is Luke Patterson, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to spend forever with him. I can never convey how grateful I am that he's basically alive again. It's an insane miracle, and I'm never going to take it for granted. I was feeling a little overwhelmed because my birthday is coming up and you're not going to be there, and he's just holding me and being there.' She gave a purely mental sigh, 'Actually, part of why I was so overwhelmed is because I was feeling a little insecure. He's gorgeous mom, and even though we've said 'I love you' I can't help but wonder...'

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Luke couldn't help but shift a little under her. He was in blissful agony. On the one hand, he loved having Julie in his arms, sitting on his lap and breathing into his neck. On the other hand, well, he was a 17-year-old boy (well 18 according to his license, but same difference). And the girl he was head over heels in love with was in his lap, wrapped in his arms, and breathing into his neck. He was running lyrics through his mind trying to distract himself when she finally broke the silence between them.

"Luke?"

"Ah, yeah Jules?"

She lifted her head and met his eyes, her eyes holding a question he couldn't quite decipher.

"Jules?"

She just tilted her head and kissed him, her tongue swiping across his lips and seeking entry for the first time. He couldn't stop the small moan that escaped, as he readily opened his mouth and tangled his own tongue with hers. He loved this girl. He never wanted to push her into anything, but he hadn't quite counted on her making the first move forward to be so damn hot, even though he probably should have. He broke the kiss sooner than he would have liked, but for good reason, bodily picking her up and moving her off his lap to sit next to him instead, panting a little.

Her face scrunched up in confusion and a tiny shadow of hurt, as she also tried to catch her breath. "L-luke?"

He dropped his head to her shoulder, his arms still around her. "I just need a second Jules."

"Wha- Oh. Oh."

"I know you're smiling. Stop it, it's not funny." He couldn't quite hide the amusement in his voice, though.

She giggled, then full out laughed.

Luke lifted his head up, mock pouting at her, puppy eyes and all.

"Y-you don't understand!" Julie inhaled deeply, becoming serious, "I was just thinking about how I wished I could talk to my mom about this." She waved a hand between the two of them. "It seemed like you and me, we, were kinda stuck, and I couldn't help but be a little unsure."

His jaw dropped, "How could you not know?! I'm- you- it's- I- Julie." He chuckled dryly to himself for a moment, one hand going up to wipe across his face in consternation. "Julie. I didn't want to push you, I wanted to let you set the pace. But, I never imagined you would think I didn't want you, I always want you." Luke cupped her face with one hand, "I promise to communicate more. I'm much better with lyrics than words (and I know lyrics are words, but you know what I mean), but I will work on my words for you. Julie. T'es l'amour de ma vie."

"What does that mean?" Her voice had dropped to a whisper, getting lost in his eyes and the something that she had only caught glimpses of before.

Luke replied with an intimate smile, his words barely audible as he swayed towards her for another kiss, "You are the love of my life."

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A/N 2:I have decided to combine Halloween and Julie's birthday. I have a short scene already written, with a *different* point-of-view and I'm so excited to get to it and see reactions.

Hope you liked the costumes Flynn and Carrie *want* for Luke and Julie.

I'm planning it to be Julie's 17th birthday, so I figured it was time to at least address the fact that they are *older teenagers*. Depending how long this fic keeps going they might *eventually* progress a *little* more, but it will probably be 'off screen'.