back to life | luke patterson

XVII

"I don't get it. Why would he not tell me?" Carrie says, the girls gathered in Julie's room. "Maybe it was for the better. I mean... Look at how you're acting right now." Julie says. "Really Julie? Seriously? I knew it was a mistake coming here. I don't even know why I'm telling you this." She stands up from Julie's bed. "Don't trust the girl who steals everything from you. Even her own father." "Carrie-" "You don't get it Julie. I'm so tired of my dad choosing everything over me." "Carrie, he wouldn't-" "Wouldn't choose to give you that record deal instead of me? Because I'm pretty sure you signed the papers." Carrie lashes out at Julie. Julie lets out a small gasp. "I didn't know..." "Of course you didn't. You don't know a lot of things." She says, wiping away her tears. "I'm so sorry Carrie."

Julie hugs Carrie tightly. She doesn't give in at first, but eventually warms up to Julie's hug. Something she missed deeply and hasn't felt in over a year. "Julie, I'm so sorry too. I know how hard it is to lose someone you love. I shouldn't have been so rude to you. I regret every second of it. Rose was such a good person. She was like a mom to me too after I lost mine... I can't imagine what you're going through." Carrie cries. "I forgive you." Julie wipes her own tears away, then Carrie's. "No more crying, yeah?" "Yeah." Carrie laughs. "Friends again?" She asks. "Best friends again." Julie replies. Genevieve smiles, happy her two best friends finally made up again.

"How about Dirty Candy? Do you wanna join me and Gen again? Flynn is welcome too." Carrie says. "I would love to, honestly. But I'm part of a band now and-" "It's okay. There's always gonna be a place for you and Flynn in Dirty Candy no matter what. If you ever wanna perform with us again, just say the words and we'll do it." Carrie says, pulling Genevieve up from the bed into a group hug. They hear a sneeze come from outside the door. Julie rolls her eyes and opens it, the three boys falling onto the floor.

"Don't worry. We weren't listening." Reggie says from the floor. Luke slaps the back of Reggie's head. "It's a little too late for that Reg." Alex says, sitting up and rubbing his arm. Julie glares down at them and shakes her head. Luke puts his hands under his head and winks at Julie from the floor. "How you doin'?" He says. She holds her hand out. "Get up. You look stupid." She helps him, Alex, and Reggie up and goes to sit back on the bed.

They all poke around Julie's room. Alex picks up a picture of Julie and her mom. "Hey! Be careful! That's my favorite picture of us! If you break it, I'll break you." "It's okay Jules. I'm super careful. Plus, I'm pretty unbreakable." Julie raises an eyebrow and takes a jump at Alex, pretending to hit him. He flinches, and takes a step back. "Yeah. Super unbreakable." She laughs.

Luke stands on a stool, inspecting the stuff on Julie's shelf. "Hey Julie? What's in the box?" "That's off limits." She says "Oh, okay. Girl stuff." Luke responds, putting his statement in finger quotes. "Oh! Like butterflies and glitter?" Reggie asks. Genevieve and Carrie hide their laughter. Alex slaps his forehead with his hand. "Oh come on. I'm sorry about him. Both of them." Alex says, motioning to Reggie and Luke. "It's fine. There might be some butterflies and glitter." She smiles at Reggie. They hear a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Julie yells. Flynn walks in, surprised by the group gathering in her room. "You know how rude that is? Not inviting me to a mini get together?" Flynn jokes. "You would've known if you actually checked your phone." Julie teases. Flynn looks at her phone, seeing the text notification from Julie. "Right... Sorry." Flynn shrugs, spotting Carrie on the bed. "What are you doing here?" "Flynn, it's fine. We're good now. We talked it out." "Are you sure? Because I won't hesitate to-" "No more demon." Julie says, placing her hand on Flynn's shoulders. "No more demon." Flynn responds. They hear a knock on the door. They boys hide behind Julie's bed.