Part Trente-quatre
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Julie woke to the sound of Luke singing softly, his guitar on his lap, alternating strumming chords and scribbling in his song journal. He was facing the end of the bed and didn't notice her waking up right away.
She caught a few of the words and just lay as still as possible so as not to interrupt him.
"And it's clear to me now
I found a place, somewhere to fall
Somewhere that I can belong
When I see you I see home"
Luke bit his lip, crossing out some chords and re-writing. Then, he must have felt her gaze, and his head turned, a tender, loving smile on his lips, "You're awake."
"Yeah. That was beautiful, Luke," her voice was a quiet whisper, not wanting to disrupt the tranquillity around them. It was obviously still very early in the morning, the sun barely peeking over the horizon, based on the muted rays slipping through the edges of the curtains covering her windows.
"Thanks. I just was thinking about how, well," he paused and ran a hand through his hair, "can I play it from the beginning?"
"Always, Luke. I love your songs," Julie sat up and leaned over to kiss his cheek, and then lay her head on his shoulder, loosely holding his left bicep with her hands, so he would still be free to play his guitar.
He pressed a kiss to her head, and trailed his fingers across the strings.
"Well, for years now, I feel I've been out travelin'
No road, no way, no place to navigate
Just lost in the wind before I even began to try
That all has a strange way of changin'
In a moment like this with you, baby
It's like findin' what I didn't know I was lookin' for
And that storm I fight
It gets still inside
And it's clear to me now
I found a place, somewhere to fall
Somewhere that I can belong
When I see you I see home
Girl, is it me, but ain't the stars aligned?
Is it my imagination or are they a little more bright now?
Yes, just a little more light now?
'Cause I can be a man depended on
I can be somebody's somebody and home to someone
And isn't that such a nice thought to walk with?
And I can feel that smile
That I ain't seen in a while
And it's clear to me now
I found a place, somewhere to fall
Somewhere that I call my own
When I see you I see home
Let the night get cold and let the cold winds blow
And let you and I replay a song my own
'Cause it's clear to me now
I found a place, somewhere to fall
Somewhere that I call my own
When I see you I see home
And it's clear to me now
I found a place, somewhere to fall
Somewhere that I call my own
When I see you I see home
I see home"
"It's still just acoustic, I haven't written anything but the guitar part." Luke set his guitar aside as he spoke, scooting up on the bed and pulling Julie fully into an embrace. One arm holding her close, and one stroking through her hair as she snuggled into his chest.
"I don't think you need anything more," Julie lifted her head and met his eyes.
Time stretched in the silence between them, before they both leaned in and their lips connected. They traded gentle kisses as the sun rose, just enjoying the serenity of the early morning.
Slowly they slid down in Julie's bed, and the kisses turned softer, shorter, and shifted into cuddling, and holding each other close.
Luke was breathing deeply, being this entwined with Julie was intense, but he loved it. He knew she was it for him, and he didn't feel the need to push, they would get there when it was right. For now, holding her like this was enough (although he wouldn't deny he might need a cold shower before breakfast later). They slowly drifted back to sleep, it was way too early to be awake for the day.
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Much, much later, everyone had gotten up and they were all laying around the living room, enjoying the lazy Sunday afternoon. Alex and Willie were cuddled on one end of the couch, Willie chatting with Carlos, who was sitting on the floor. They were actually watching and paying attention to "Chopped," the others not so much, although Alex was at least somewhat tuned into their conversation and making a stray comment now and then.
Julie and Luke were in what had become their regular position on the loveseat, Luke's arms wrapped around her and occasionally whispering, Julie with a pen and Luke's song journal in her lap. Sometimes humming along to his words and recording them on the page, or nodding as he hummed and she wrote her own words down.
Reggie was at the far end of the couch, hunched over his phone, he had gotten a late 'Good morning!' text from Kayla and they had been having an intermittent conversation for most of the day. But, he didn't really know what to say. He liked her, obviously, it was just he didn't actually have a lot of experience with relationships.
Reggie's parents had fought, a lot, even when he was little there was arguing. He had never really seen an actual, good relationship. Underneath everything Luke's parents were kinda a mess, and Alex's, well, Reggie didn't know them very well, but they couldn't accept Alex so forget them. As much as he went through the motions, winking and flirting with girls, the truth was he wasn't so smooth when one of them flirted back.
Being at the party last night had at least given them some topics of conversation, he and Kayla had talked about Dirty Candi, he had talked about playing bass, some things about their friends, Carrie for her, Julie for him. It had been okay, aside from the slight stress of keeping the 'I was actually born a long time ago, but then I died and came back as a ghost, but now I'm pretty much alive again' secret.
However, texting was not easy, especially for a (not-quite-anymore) ghost who had not had a cell phone until a couple weeks ago. Every response to her felt like a test question, and he agonized over each one.
'Should I put a smiley face at the end? The one with teeth or without? Wait, no teeth, stupid Alex, I swear, 'Crooked Teeth is not about me! Argh. Do I sound stupid? Will the joke make sense? Why don't people like to talk on the phone anymore? Not that I want to talk on the phone, I'd be stammering like an idiot.'
"Hey, Reggie?" Ray called to him from the kitchen, where he was getting together the ingredients for tacos that night.
Reggie popped up, any excuse to get out of his own head, "Do you need help with dinner, Ray?" He mentally cringed at the slight hopeful tone of his voice, he was working on not being too clingy with Ray, he didn't want to annoy him. His dad had always gotten sick of Reggie hanging around him.
"Yeah, Reggie, there's a lot of cutting up ingredients to do, and I know you're great at that."
His cheeks slightly dusted pink from the compliment, Reggie walked into the kitchen to join Ray, "Um, thanks."
Ray's smile dropped a bit at the uncertain response, he hadn't managed to talk to Reggie much about his parents, but that was yet another red flag. "Reggie," he started quietly, "did you ever cook with your parents?"
With a poorly concealed physical flinch, Reggie just shook his head no, and set about chopping up the lettuce Ray had laid out.
A deep sigh escaped Ray, his heart breaking for the sweet boy he had become so attached to, "They missed out then. You're an amazing cook, and I can't tell you how happy it makes me to share the kitchen with you to make food."
There was a pause, then a soft sniffle, and Reggie's arm went up to wipe his eyes with the sleeve of his flannel.
"Oh, mijo," Ray glanced over to make sure everyone else was still occupied in the living room and stepped up next to Reggie. He carefully took the knife from his hand, setting it on the counter, and told him to leave the lettuce. Wrapping an arm around Reggie's shoulders, he tugged him around and opened the kitchen door, maneuvering them both outside for some privacy.
Once the door was safely closed, Ray pulled Reggie into a close, full hug. The boy stayed stiff for a short breath and then pretty much collapsed into mostly silent sobs, grasping onto Ray like he was the only thing holding him together. Ray could feel his own eyes fill with tears, how had all these boys had the worst luck with parents when they only deserved the best? It truly wasn't fair.
'Well, I can't change what was, but again I sure as hell am going to do my best to give them everything they didn't have before,' Ray stroked Reggie's hair, the way he did when Carlos was upset. Dinner could wait, this was much more important.
Eventually the shuddering subsided, and Ray took the chance to speak, "Reggie? Do you want to talk about it?"
Reggie shook his head, still pressed against Ray's chest, before suddenly switching to nodding.
"I-I just..." an almost audible hard swallow, "I don't really know what it feels like."
"What what feels like, mijo?"
"A happy family," he lifted his head just enough to catch Ray's eyes for a split second before looking away, "You guys are the closet I've ever seen."
Ray squeezed him tighter for a moment, "Hey, that's not quite true. You and Alex, and Luke, even Bobby a little, you guys look like a pretty happy family to me. A family doesn't have to be blood. Sometimes blood family isn't right, sometimes you have to find and create your family. And that doesn't make them any less family, in fact, it almost makes them more, because you chose them, and they chose you. That family can always get bigger, too. Me and Julie, Carlos, even Flynn and Carrie, we're all choosing to be part of your family, and I hope you're choosing us?"
Reggie had looked back part way through Ray's speech, eyes glistening and an awed look of realization and happiness dawning, "Really? You- you mean it?"
"Of course. You're stuck with us now," Ray grinned at him, tousling his hair with one hand. "Also, based on the way your phone keeps lighting up, I think there's someone else who would also like to be there for you too?"
At that Reggie turned bright red, stammering, "Uh, well, I don't... she's just, I mean..."
"Reg, it's okay. Just be yourself and be her friend first, things will fall into place as they're meant to, and you can always come talk to me. Or Julie, or Alex, or Luke, or anyone, you know that, right? About anything?"
Burying his face in Ray's chest again and hugging him tight, Reggie replied, his voice muffled, but pleased, "Yeah, thank you."
Ray gave a light laugh, "Good. You ready to go make some amazing tacos?"
Reggie stepped out of Ray's arms, wiping his face on his sleeves to clear the remains of his tears, "Yes. Let's go."
They went back inside and settled in to cook, Reggie relaxed and feeling more secure and at peace than he had in ages.
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A/N: The song is the live version of "I See Home" by Tyler Hilton