Luke was always a rowdy child. He was always getting in trouble at school for drawing on tables when he got over-enthusiastic while coloring or would play a little too rough on the playground. His parents were never happy when he got in trouble, but they weren't exactly mad. That is unless he dragged his best friend Alex down with him.
By the fourth grade, Luke's parents had become fed up with getting calls from the school every other day about how Luke was misbehaving, so they decided they needed to find him an outlet to get his energy out.
They signed him up for every sport they could think of - Baseball, soccer, touch football, karate, ice hockey, track... Luke got kicked out of all of them for being too violent and/or too loud.
One day, though, Luke was singing along to a song on the radio with his parents in the car, and they decided they should sign him up for music lessons.
They brought Luke to a music store and let him pick out an instrument, as long as he promised he would actually learn to play. He picked out a dark blue guitar. It was way too big for him at the time, but he insisted he wanted that one and not one of the kid-sized ones.
He was a natural. He loved going to lessons every week, and they even bumped him up to two lessons a week because he loved it so much.
Luke was getting really good by the time he started middle school. That's when he and Alex met Reggie and accepted him into their group.
It was also around then that Luke started to realize he wasn't exactly straight. He knew he wasn't gay, he definitely liked girls, but sometimes he would find himself staring at a cute guy for a little bit longer than any straight guy would.
He confided in his mom about it (she was always advocating for gay rights so he knew she would accept him no matter who he loved). She said there was this term called 'bisexual', which meant that someone liked both boys and girls. He decided he liked that.
After meeting Reggie, the two of them started getting into trouble all over school. They would be late to class or mess around somewhere they definitely should not have been. After getting roped into Luke's schemes in elementary school, Alex avoided him as much as possible when he could tell he was in a mischievous mood. His parents were super strict and he didn't feel like getting grounded all the time.
Eventually Luke and Reggie toned it down because he decided to start a band with his friends. He knew his parents would never let him do it if he was still getting in trouble all the time.
Alex and Reggie suggested the find a fourth member, and Luke begrudgingly agreed. Reggie was right, after all - no trios ever make it.
It took them a while to find Bobby, but he was new at their school in their freshman year of high school and was in their band class. He played a solo on his first day and the three of them all decided they needed him in their band. They asked him at lunch that day, and he accepted their offer. He even let them practice in their garage.
They quickly found out Bobby was kind of a douche, but they were glad they had a fourth member. They could ditch him once they made it big if they wanted to, anyway.
Alex coming out was kind of a shock to Luke, but not a bad one. He was really happy for him, and to tell the truth, he had a little bit of a crush on Alex. Luke usually didn't go for blondes, but Alex was just so sweet.
Luke kinda wanted to ask him out, but he didn't want to ruin the band dynamic if Alex said no or if they broke up or something.
But one night while they were studying in Luke's room, they ended up kissing, and it was kind of amazing. The two of them started spending as much time together as possible.
Pretty much any time alone that Luke had, he was working on stuff for the band. He would write songs, come up with rehearsal schedules, try to get them as many gigs as possible.
Their first gig was Bobby's mom's book club. It was kind of lame, but they still got to play in front of real people, so it was great. All of the ladies seemed to enjoy it. And the snacks were rad. Soon they started playing whenever they could, wherever they could. It was exhausting, but it was exactly what they needed to do to get to the top.
Since Luke was spending most of his time either with Alex or working on the band, his grades were starting to slip. His parents were pissed about it. Luke felt like it was a constant fight about what was more important - school or the band. Luke argued that he would never use his high school education, anyway, since he and the band were going to make it big. His parents wanted him to focus on his studies and wait until after graduation to be in the band. He could tell they didn't believe in him or his dream.
At the end of sophomore year when Alex got kicked out, that's when things started to change for the band. Alex was living in the studio (unbeknownst to Bobby's parents), and Reggie was spending most nights there. Luke was there as much as he could be, which caused more fights with his mom, but he didn't care. He just wanted to spend as much time with Alex and the band as possible.
They spent the summer getting more and more well known, and by the time school started again, they were a pretty big name for a couple of high school kids.
But, as the summer went on, Luke and his mom were fighting more and more. Luke had hoped it would get better since he didn't have school to focus on then, but it just got worse. Luke started spending more and more nights at the studio, and he was there most nights by the end of summer.
The first three months of Junior year were a whirlwind of fights with parents and late nights and gigs. Luke was starting to consider dropping out of school to put more time into the band.
Luke floated the idea past his mom a few weeks before Christmas.
"Mom, I want to drop out of school," he said one night out of the blue.
"What for? That stupid band?" She said, already raising her voice.
"It's not stupid!" Luke exclaimed.
"While you live under my roof, you're going to school!" His mom put her foot down - literally.
"Then I guess I don't live under your roof anymore!" Luke said, running into his room and grabbing an old backpack, and shoving in the last few things that he didn't already bring to the studio.
They continued to argue as Luke grabbed his blue hoodie off a chair in the living room and shoving it in his bag, then grabbed his guitar that he had brought along in the vain hope that she would want to hear some of his songs and slung it over his shoulder. he went outside and got on his bike and peddled away as fast as he could without looking back.
Luke sunk into a bit of a depression after leaving. He tried to drop out of school, but Alex talked him out of it, and Luke knew deep down he was right. So he continued to go.
He put all of his spare time and energy into the band and didn't really start to feel like himself again until they got the gig at the Orpheum on New Years.
Once Luke was feeling like himself again, he started to realize that his relationship was a little... weird. Luke had always been a very physical person, so he would just casually sling his arm over his friend's shoulders or cuddle with them on the couch without it meaning anything. And it just gotten to that point with Alex. It didn't really mean anything to Luke anymore. Not like it did when they first got together over a year ago. It was like the fire had burned out.
One day, a week before their Orpheum gig, Alex and Luke found themselves alone in the studio.
"So, we should talk," Luke and Alex said at the same time. They both laughed in an empty kind of way, then sat down on either end of the couch, facing each other.
They sat there in awkward silence for a moment, neither of them knowing how to start the conversation.
"I think we should break up," Luke said out of the blue. He didn't mean to be so direct (or hurtful to Alex), but he just didn't know what else to say.
"Me, too," Alex said simply, surprising Luke.
"You do?" He asked.
"Yeah," Alex replied. "It just feels like we're better as friends."
"Yes, exactly." Luke agreed, smiling a little. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt his best friend in any way.
They sat there silently for a minute again before Alex said, "Let's not make this awkward."
"Yeah." Luke agreed. They both stood up and hugged, then moved on with their lives.
What Luke didn't know at that moment was that his life would be cut short right before his dream came true.