electric touch // luke patterson

making the bed - olivia rodrigo

"they're having cake," julie said lightly, "that's something."

gracie inhaled shakily when reggie said, "it's a... it's a birthday cake," nodding to the girl, "for luke."

alex looked at gracie, soft concern filling him at the state of guilt and sadness she seemed to be going through.

julie said quietly, "i never knew luke was hurting this much."

alex turned from gracie to look back at luke, "yeah. it's even worse because when he died, he... left on bad terms. you know, his parents didn't want their seventeen year old in a rock band, so... he just left." gracie's lips were parted as she stared at luke slowly climbing off of the counter, walking towards his parents who had sat down beside the cake.

she watched as he sniffled while alex explained, "he never got the chance to make up with them." luke was standing by his mom's chair, watching his dad light a singular blue candle onto the cake. he bent down, blowing it out.

"that's why luke was so angry." reggie told them as the mentioned boy sat down in the empty chair reserved for them to watch his parents look around.

"if trevor had given luke credit for writing all the songs, then... his parents would've known his dream was worth chasing."

gracie took a deep breath, "they would have been so proud." she croaked.

a silence rung out while luke's parents joined hands after his father had relit the candle. luke looked between them, gently floating his own hand above his mother's before pulling away.

his parents were crying, gracie realized, just as much as she was. luke licked his lips as he kept his eyes on his mother, too caught up in watching them that he didn't prepare to blow out the candle again. by the time air left his mouth, the candle's smoke had long sense been floating through the kitchen.

he looked at it before his eyes went back to his mom.

"we know how bad it hurts," alex began, standing up, "whenever someone that should've had your back... completely let's you down." gracie took a step back, looking over at alex as he watched the two girls.

"we never meant to make you feel that way." he said in a soft voice.

"gracie, we love our band, and luke does too. please give us another chance." reggie spoke up.

the blonde wiped her cheeks, looking over at julie, "it's julie's band." the brunette, with her saddened face, turning towards the windows again. gracie forced herself to join her, her eyes watching as luke's red ones stared at his mom guiltily. they were eating the cake, and gracie wondered quietly if chocolate was his favorite.

gracie had stayed in the bathroom for a good ten minutes after they all got back to julie's house. she retched into the toilet, doing nothing but gagging and coughing, for a few minutes until she forced herself to get up and calm down. she was fine. she tried her best to clean up her makeup, but the red smudges on her cheeks and her puffy eyes and lips made her crying almost more obvious.

that's why she found herself standing with her guitar around her body, chewing gum and waiting for alex to begin. as soon as the blond kicked up the drums and reggie had joined with his bass, gracie strummed her own guitar, nodding along to the beat.

"♪ marching on proud ♪ turn it up loud ♪" julie sang, her fingers playing the keyboard softly, "♪ cause now we know what we're worth ♪" gracie jumped lightly when luke appeared in the chair beside her, immediately cutting off the music as the band turned to him.

"woah, julie." he looked over at the blonde, standing up, "gracie."

julie smiled from her bench, eyeing the two, "grab your guitar. we got work to do." he looked around, the guys nodding as they waited, until his eyes landed on gracie.

his eyebrows immediately knit together at her puffy features, but she only smiled and said softly, "come on."

he smiled, chuckling slightly as he picked the blue instrument up by the neck and walked over to julie who was standing, "what made you come back?"

julie wrung her fingers together, "i realized how important music is to all of us... and we've lost so much already. we can't lose this too."

he gave her a sincerely thankful face, "thanks." he whispered.

julie smiled, her eyes catching the staring pair of gracie. the blonde was quick to duck her face behind her hair, looking down at her shoes like she was the whole time. she avoided eye contact with the approaching luke as long as he could until he was right in front of her.

"what about you, pretty girl?" he asked lightly, swaying on his feet.

she looked up, her eyes meeting his. a soft smile found its way to her face and she blushed, knowing julie was watching knowingly, "you know, the band is kinda cool."

"that's it?" luke asked with a hint of a smile.

she shrugged, glancing at the boys all facing her, "well, my grades already dropped a fair amount, i may as well keep going with the band if i get compliments from a pretty cool guy as well." his cheeks turned red instantly making her grin.

he scratched his head, spinning to face julie, "all right, boss. where we at?" julie chuckled as gracie grinned proudly, knowing of the effect she had on the ghost.

"oh, and by the way," gracie added, strumming her guitar casually. the brunet turned slightly, his ears reddening as well, "happy birthday."

he gave her a surprised look, glancing at the guys who were all smiling.

julie chuckled, "let's go from the pre-chorus."

"one, two, three four," alex counted them out.