Cross-posted on AO3.
If someone were to have told Julie that morning she'd end up trapped in a bathroom with Luke Patterson that night, she would have laughed in their face.
Because really, how does one even get trapped in a bathroom?
One word.
Earthquake.
It was supposed to be a quiet night.
Just a quiet night in watching movies until the sun came up. A weekly tradition Julie, Flynn, Luke, Alex, and Reggie started when the boys had realized their random fourth roommate assigned to them was the absolute worst and threw a fit every time they tried to have people over.
It was a tradition Julie came to cherish, because what was better than spending the entire night with your favorite people in the world?
Of course, Luke wasn't even supposed to show up tonight. Not after the fight the two of them had yesterday. Not after Julie tried to confide in him about whether she should try to go for it with Nick, only to have it all thrown back in her face as Luke practically told her that Nick is too good for her.
She knew Luke had gotten to know him better this semester in Covington's Jazz guitar class, but she didn't think they'd gotten so close to where he can say with certainty that she wasn't what he deserved. The conversation tore through Julie's heart more than she'd like to admit.
And okay, no, technically, he hadn't been uninvited from movie night. Julie just thought he'd have enough common sense to realize she needed time away before they worked through this one.
But because Luke is Luke, and he decided long ago that the term 'boundaries' didn't apply to him, he showed up anyways, wanting to hash it all out as soon as possible.
Which is why Julie had angrily dragged Luke up the stairs into her bathroom, as far away from their friends as possible so that they hopefully wouldn't hear the yelling that was inevitably about to happen (even though she had a feeling they would be eavesdropping on them anyways).
But little did Julie know, she wouldn't be leaving anytime soon.
Because one minute she's giving Luke a piece of her mind, and then the next everything around her is shaking and shower items and toiletries are clattering to the ground and it's almost impossible to stand upright and then Luke is practically lunging at her, not hesitating for a moment before using himself as her own personal human shield.
Julie isn't sure how long it goes on for, but it feels like forever, even though logically she knows earthquakes generally are rather short. But when the world once again goes still, she slowly lifts her head from where it had made such a natural home against Luke's racing heart and opens her eyes, only to find him already looking at her.
"Are you okay?" he asks after a beat of silence, his eyes frantically roaming over her face and down her body, checking for any sign of injury.
"Y-yeah. I think so," she says, still shell-shocked. Her eyes immediately home in on a patch of red on his temple. She reaches for it, hand still shaking as she examines the slightly sticky substance and the area around it.
"But you're not. God Luke, you're bleeding!"
He brings a hand up to his head, their fingers brushing ever so slightly as she removes hers. He winces as he makes contact with the wound. "It's okay, I'm fine. I think the shower curtain rod fell on me. Not life-threatening or anything," he reassures her.
Julie nods, taking in the way his everchanging eyes are currently a vibrant blueish-green, the color they always turn when he has adrenaline coursing through his body. Usually after a gig or something though.
Not a freaking earthquake.
Oh no. Gig. Band. Friends.
"We need to find the others," she says, untangling herself from Luke's protective hold, ignoring the way her body drains of warmth almost instantly without his embrace.
Stop it, Julie. You're supposed to be mad at him.
"Shit, yeah we do."
Julie scoots past Luke, the bathroom finally feeling just a bit too small as her shoulder brushes against his chest as she makes her way to the door.
She reaches for the handle, turns the doorknob, pushes and then…
Nothing.
The door wouldn't budge.
"Um, Luke? I think we have a problem."
Luke frowns, immediately understanding the words Julie has yet to say. "You're kidding."
Julie rolls her eyes. "We just went through a fucking earthquake, Luke, why would I be kidding around right now?"
Luke just sighs, taking the one step it took to get to Julie and the door. "Here, let's both try pushing."
And they do try, but to no avail.
It's official. They're stuck.
Julie can't help but jump to the worst possible conclusion. That their friends are all unconscious and severely injured or worse. That she and Luke are stuck in this stupid bathroom and no one knows to come looking for them and–
She pounds her fists against the door. "Fuck! We need to get out of here! We don't know if everyone's okay or what else may be going on, and what if-"
"Jules, hey, look at me," Luke interrupts. He cups her face with his hands gently, but firm enough to where she can focus on his touch. Ground herself to reality with it. "It's okay. We have our phones. We'll just call them."
Oh. Of course. Apparently in her panic, she forgot phones exist.
They call Alex, and to their immediate relief learn that he, Reggie and Flynn were able to make it outside after the earthquake was done, but that there are ceiling beams that had fallen, which prevented them from being able to reach the two of them.
Julie assumes one of the beams is pushed up against the bathroom door, locking them in. Their friends had already called 911, but they have no idea how long it'll take for them to get there.
Finally, Luke hangs up the phone, an awkward silence falling between the two of them.
"Well," he says, finally breaking the silence, "if we were a movie, this would be the epitome of a 'record scratch, freeze frame' moment."
Julie lets out a long, frustrated sigh.
She might actually kill him.
But Luke continues. "Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in-"
"Luke, shut up!" Julie exclaims. "Can we please just, like, sit in silence until we get out of here?"
His shoulders deflate slightly, and Julie refuses to look at his face because she just knows he has that kicked puppy look going on and it's next to impossible to stay mad at him when he looks like that.
"Fine. Whatever."
They sit in silence for the next twenty or so minutes, Luke on the edge of the bathtub and Julie with her back against the door. They text their families to assure everyone is unharmed and update them on their situation. Julie makes plans to sleep at her dad's house that night, figuring there was no way the authorities would let her and Flynn back into their house once they were rescued.
Eventually, Luke can't take the silence anymore.
"Julie, can we please just talk about this already? I already said I was sorry."
She rolls her eyes. She knows Luke can't stand it when people are mad at him, especially Julie because, well, it barely ever happens. They've been like two birds of a feather ever since high school. Ever since he and the boys and Flynn were able to get her through the most devastating time in her life.
But he still doesn't get it.
"I don't care if you're sorry, Luke. It's the fact that you even said something like that to me in the first place."
Luke groans in frustration, standing up from his place on the edge of the bathtub. "You're misunderstanding what I meant, Jules!"
Julie rises from the floor, refusing to give Luke the higher ground.
"You said, and I quote, 'you're not good for Nick.' How else am I supposed to take that?"
Julie isn't even upset that he disapproves of the idea of her and Nick. Because at the end of the day, Nick is just one more guy in a world full of them. Nothing special. Not the one she truly wants.
Julie realized years ago that she was in love with Luke. But she also realized that any shot she might have had with him, she missed. There's too much history, too many years of friendship to risk anything more now. So, she was finally trying to get over him. And that was supposed to start with Nick, the cute classmate of Luke's that they would occasionally run into at their regular venues. Someone who has actually shown interest in Julie. Someone who has so many similarities to Luke, yet in Julie's eyes is barely even a fraction of the person he is.
Because really, how is she supposed to ever replace Luke?
Luke, the only person next to Rose who can rival her passion for music. Luke, whose eyes always drive her crazy because there's no word in the world that can describe their color. Luke, who has the biggest heart she's ever seen in a person, even if he refuses to admit it.
And that's what really hurts. That Nick can't even hold a candle to Luke, and he still doesn't think she should be with him.
"I said you're not good for him, Julie. Not that you're not good enough for him."
Julie takes a step towards him, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "What's the difference? Please, Luke. Explain. Because obviously I'm not getting it."
Luke hesitates, running a frustrated hand through his hair, careful to avoid his wound. "H-he's just wrong for you, Jules! I don't know what else you want me to say."
"Why, Luke? If he's so wrong for me, then who's right for me? Because from where I'm standing, it seems like he'd fit into my life quite easily," she says. "He's nice and he loves music and he'd understand a touring schedule and he-"
It takes Julie a moment to process what cuts off her tangent. Only when she feels Luke's hand cupping her jawline does she realize he's kissing her, his other hand against the small of her back keeping her firmly in place.
Oh god.
He's kissing her. He's actually kissing her.
It's over all too soon, Luke not even giving her enough time to fully register what it feels like to finally have his lips pressed against hers, let alone properly kiss him back.
He doesn't move out of her space though, eyes locked on hers as he gently strokes just under her bottom lip with his thumb, their shaky breaths mingling with one another.
Julie's entire face feels hot, blood pounding in her ears as she tries to ground herself back in reality. She breathes in his scent, something else that she has no name for but is still just so evidently Luke, before releasing it all in one long, shaky breath.
Did that really just happen?
"That's why."
"Oh."
Oh? She's been waiting years for this moment, had fully convinced herself that it would never happen and when it finally does, all she can say is oh?
Luke seems disappointed in her response too, his shoulders sagging once more, the kicked puppy face making another appearance only this time it's so much worse because he's completely misinterpreting her response.
"Luke I-"
"Fire department, call out!"
He shoots her a sad yet understanding smile as he releases her from his grip, and Julie just wants to scream and tell him how long she's waited for this to happen and kiss him again and again until he believes her…
But she can't. Their first priority has to be getting out. Everything else will have to wait.
"We're in here!" Julie calls back to the firefighters, her eyes never leaving Luke's.
From there, time seems to move slow and fast all at once. It takes another fifteen minutes before the rescue squad is finally able to open the bathroom door, but when they do they hurry them down the stairs and out of the house and she and Luke barely have time to hug Flynn, Alex and Reggie before they're being ushered over to the awaiting EMTs for a routine medical exam.
They clear Julie quickly but keep Luke a bit longer to inspect the wound on his head.
Julie waits off to the side with her friends, keeping a close eye on him, too wired to think about anything other than that kiss and finally clearing the air with Luke.
Finally, the EMT walks away and Luke stands up from the back of the ambulance, and Julie wastes no time in beelining over to him, abandoning Flynn in mid conversation.
Luke's eyes widen as he sees her approaching, a nervous smile pulling at his lips.
"Good news, I don't need stitches. They just said to-"
This time Julie's the one to cut him off, wrapping her arms around his neck as she tugs him down to her level to finally, finally kiss him properly. In the way she's always wanted to.
He hums in surprise, but it doesn't last long before he's kissing her back, his own arms snaking around her waist to pull her even closer. And Julie realizes she now has yet another reason to add to her list of 'Why No Other Man Can Compare to Luke Patterson'.
Because this? The way his lips feel pressed against hers? The way their bodies fit together perfectly? The way he gently asks to deepen the kiss, and then confidently explores her mouth once he's granted permission? This. This feels right.
They finally pull away, not out of want but more so out of necessity for air. They stare at each other, and even in the dark of the night Julie can make out his bright eyes.
"Oh," Luke says, a teasing smile spreading across his face.
Julie giggles. "Yeah. Oh."
"My god, finally!"
The pair pulls away to look back at their friends, Flynn's hand covering Reggie's mouth as his punishment for breaking their moment.
"Sorry," Flynn says, shooting them a big smile. "Ignore him. Please keep doing what you're doing."
"Seriously," Alex chimes in. "If we knew all it would take was an earthquake to get you two together, we would have summoned one a long time ago."
Julie groans, tucking her face into Luke, deciding that her head on his chest was her newest favorite place in the world. "Oh my god, the teasing is going to be nonstop from here on out."
Luke chuckles, hooking a finger under her chin to lift her head and look into her eyes.
"It's fine. We just made it through an earthquake together. Pretty sure we can survive anything."
And then he kisses her again.
