Finally Free -- JATP Luke x MaleOC

"We're playing a school dance?" Reggie said as Jay tossed both his bag and himself onto the couch.

Luke's couch.

"Sweet!"

"It's not exactly the Strip," Luke said, not enthused about the performance like Reggie was.

"And you're not exactly alive, so maybe you should be happy we have our first gig," Reggie said snarkily, making Jay chuckle.

"Nice one," he said from the couch and Reggie pointed to Jay as a response.

"I wasn't in love with the idea at first either," Julie said as she watered the plants at the back of the garage. "But it could be a great way for us to build a following, right?"

"Yeah, yeah," Reggie agreed. "We need to play wherever we can, whenever we can."

"No, you're right," Luke said, convinced by their statements. "Let's rock those kids' faces off and then play the clubs."

"And then record a single that gets a billion streams," Julie asked.

"I don't know what that is, but hopefully it lands us a manager and a tour," Luke responded.

"And then we release a bunch of hit albums."

"Put out a country album that does surprisingly well," Reggie said, excited. Jay couldn't see anything but the decorated ceiling, but he assumed that Reggie's statement had earned looks from Luke or Julie because he had continued with "I shred on the banjo, so..."

"Then I'll learn how to fiddle," Julie said.

"And before you know it, we're being inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame!" Luke exclaimed, banging his fists on the piano.

"But one of us isn't there," Reggie said. "Because we had a blowout in 2032. My money's on Alex, he's just too sensitive."

"My money's on Jay, he hasn't moved since he got here," Luke said snarkily, making Jay's head jerk up to glare at him.

"At least I'm here," Jay grumbled, sitting up on the couch while fixing his hair. "Where even is Alex?"

"Who cares bro, let's get rehearsing!" Luke exclaimed.

"I'm sure he's fine, wherever he is," Julie said, reassuring Jay.

"He can catch up once he gets back," Reggie shrugged.

Luke and Reggie went to grab their instruments while Julie walked over to Jay and held out a hand, an expectant smile on her face. Jay glanced at it before gripping her hand tightly, pulling himself up and moving to grab his journal.

"You're sure you're okay with us using your song Jay?" Julie asked.

"Yeah, it's fine," Jay said, handing over the journal to Julie. Julie took it gingerly in her hands and smiled at the older boy, a silent thank you passing between them before Jay grabbed the nearby electric and stood by Julie and her keyboard, right in front of the garage entrance.

The three of them rehearsed for quite a while before the blonde drummer came back in, walking through both the garage door and Jay.

"Woah," both boys said, staring at each other before Reggie greeted Alex.

"Where have you been?" Luke asked. "We need to start practicing."

"Yeah?" Alex said, looking at Julie for answers. "For what?"

"Dance news!" Flynn announced as she entered the garage.

"Break time!" Jay said with fake enthusiasm, resting his guitar on the nearby stand and tossing himself back onto the couch.