This one is based on a review from Rose the Fox. I had to change some details because I've already written a Valentine's Day one and I used the bit about getting caught by Reggie and Alex in another chapter and I used Nick a little differently. Plus your suggestion was pretty similar to a chapter I read in a different fic and I didn't want to steal from that author. But. Here it is, mostly as requested haha.

The Worst Party

Julie had been skeptical about going to this party in the first place. Flynn had insisted it would be fun, and Carrie wouldn't care she was there, or even acknowledge her. It did seem likely, it wasn't like Carrie really acknowledged her at all anymore since Julie and the Phantoms had gotten bigger.

So, reluctantly, she agreed to go. She put on a cute floral dress and put her hair up. She even put on a little eyeliner for a party look. Flynn drove and they walked in to the ridiculous mansion that was Carrie's house.

The place was already packed with basically everyone from their year, which made Julie retreat into her shell a little, but Flynn pulled her into the kitchen to grab a drink. It was only then that they realized this was the kind of high school party that came with alcohol.

Julie didn't know when the parties had switched from sodas to beers but clearly she had missed the memo because nobody else seemed phased by it. She and Flynn studiously avoided all the alcohol on the counter and grabbed sodas from the fridge. Julie was already starting to regret this idea.

And then she got separated from Flynn, who got pulled off to the side by another girl from the jazz band. She was so unprepared to survive a high school party without a wing woman that she started inching for the door. Just then, she ran right into Nick, who said, "Hey, watch where you're going Molina. You look nice, by the way." He smiled at her and she smiled back, appreciating the comment but not feeling anything else. Her crush on Nick had really fizzled out since the band… well since Luke… had come into her life.

But he grabbed her by the hand and led her towards the couches in the living room where they sat, chatting. At some point, Nick had his arm on the back of the couch behind Julie, in a way that so easily could have become him putting his arm around her. Julie stiffened at the idea, not wanting to lead Nick on but also not having anyone else to gravitate towards since Flynn had disappeared.

It wasn't until it was too late that Julie noticed Carrie was in the room, with her eyes locked on Nick and Julie. The look on her face left little doubt in Julie's mind about how Carrie felt about her talking with Nick. What she didn't realize was that Carrie had also had several drinks by this point in the party.

So Carrie, with even less of a filter than she generally had, marched over to stand in front of Julie and Nick, practically towering over them.

"Oh ho so little Julie Molina thinks she can come to my party huh? What, you think your crappy little band has made you popular now? Well nobody wants you here, and you can bet I don't want you here," she yelled, slightly slurring her words.

The whole room fell silent and Julie could feel everyone's eyes on her but she could only look at Carrie's face, filled with drunken rage.

"I… I didn't…" Julie stammered, unable to speak up in front of so many people when she was being put in such a horrible position.

"Oh boo hoo I forgot, you can't even talk in a room of people without your precious band behind you. You're so incapable of defending yourself it's pathetic Julie. Everyone in this room knows it. You're pathetic."

At this point, Julie's eyes were filling with tears, and nobody stepped in to say a word in her defense. Nick's arm slowly slid away from behind her.

Just when Carrie was opening her mouth to say something horrible again, a loud crash sounded from the dining room, and a loud thump was heard in the room directly above them. A moment later another crash came from the kitchen.

"What the hell? Are you guys breaking my dad's stuff? He's going to kill me," Carrie whined, and immediately forgot all about Julie as she went to investigate the sounds. Flynn finally reappeared a moment later, a guilty expression across her face as she saw the state Julie was in.

"Come on Julie, let's get you out of here, I'll drive," she whispered gently and pulled her up off the couch where she had been sitting. Flynn gave death glares to everyone around them and the crowd parted to let them through.

Julie didn't speak on the car ride home, and Flynn didn't push her. Instead, she honked her horn at every driver who committed the smallest infraction (and it was in Los Angeles, so there were many) and gripped the steering wheel tightly. When they pulled up in front of Julie's house, Julie numbly got out of the car and waved to Flynn without saying a word. Thankfully her dad and Carlos were asleep already so nobody was around to interrogate her about what had happened.

When she got to her room, though, she found what would have been a comical scene at any other time. Reggie was sitting in her chair, arms crossed angrily. Alex was clenching and unclenching his jaw muscle, sitting on her bed. And Luke was aggressively pacing the width of her very short room.

"Julie!" they chorused, as soon as she entered the room. Just the sight of them, her best friends, made her burst into tears. Alex and Reggie were stunned into silence and stillness, but Luke instinctively rushed over and pulled Julie tightly into his arms.

"None of that was true. None of the people in that room believed what she said. Don't you dare believe it for a minute Julie," he said in a quiet, soothing voice that was trying very hard and utterly failing to cover the rage he was also feeling.

Reggie echoed Luke, saying, "Yeah, it was all garbage. She was just drunk and mean and even if we did break some things, she deserved it."

At this, Julie looked up. "You… you were all there?" she asked through her tears.

Alex scuffed his shoe against the floor and said, "yeah, well, we all know how Carrie can be so we wanted to make sure nothing bad happened. And obviously we sucked at making sure of that because things did happen, but we knocked over some stuff to distract Carrie and get her to leave you alone."

She smiled her thanks at them, but burrowed deeper into Luke's arms. He nodded his head towards the door, and Alex and Reggie took their cue to leave.

Luke pulled her down to the bed, while keeping his arms around her. He gently stroked her hair until her tears slowed to a stop.

"I can't believe you guys did that," she said softly into his chest.

"Well, we love you Julie, we want to protect you."

That almost made her start crying again but she pushed down the urge. "I love you too," she said. After a moment's silence she added, "All of you…"

But Luke had caught her meaning and gently kissed the top of her head, and then her temple. Julie looked up at him, and got caught in his gaze like it was a tractor beam. Then, slowly, Luke leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cheek, and then to her jaw, before finally grazing his lips over hers.

Her eyes fluttered closed, surprised at the multiple turns of events she had experienced that night, but she kissed Luke back, glad to have this safe space to retreat to after her public humiliation. She should have known he really meant it when he said he'd do anything for her.