Chapter Text
Oh my god, he was, like, so stoked to be doing this.
First of all, it wasn’t everyday Luke got to talk to a human. Well- he had never spoken to one period. It wasn’t meant to happen, but now that he had, Luke was all the more curious to interact with Julie and spend some more time on Earth.
(He almost didn’t want to leave, there wasn’t this kind of energy down there that HQ couldn’t even begin to tap into.)
Second of all, Julie was… well, out of all the humans he had observed and paired, she was different. An interesting different. A fun, mysterious, refreshing different-
But he could do without the whole ‘I don’t believe in romance’ thing.
Then again, that was what intrigued him most about the girl. Not her heartstopping voice or her immunity to cupid powers. (Although he didn’t mind hearing more of that voice in the near future…)
It was startling to read up about her mom, and it did explain much of why Julie felt the way she felt. This preference to solitude was clearly a line of defense to protect herself from being left behind. It explained why her social circle was so small and consisted of mostly people she had known for most of her life, like her family and Nick.
And that should be all the more reason to pursue something with the guy!
Okay, Luke, reel it back, he told himself. He did promise that he wouldn’t push her towards Nick. This was purely an educational experience and whatever Julie decided to do with what she learned, that was her business.
But he was so determined to get this girl believing in love, like not even joking.
Maybe it was because he was a hardcore romantic, but Luke just… loved love.
And he just wanted that for everybody.
Watching all the couples fall for each other was the absolute highlight of his work.
Like, two people, the best and the worst of themselves just complimenting each other, vibing - this connection between them unlike anything ever before? It was always so deep and so powerful. And the euphoria he could feel radiating off of them when it happened? Warm and infectious and would send him smiling for the rest of the day.
That hyper-empathy sure was a godsend because the closest Luke ever came to feeling that way himself, was when he was playing music…
Immediately after returning to HQ, miraculously undetected, Luke made a beeline to the Archives and borrowed every single resource on modern day romance he could get his hands on.
Yeah he was a Cupid. He should be this all knowing being of love and romance, but Luke wanted to cover all of his bases when it came to teaching Julie.
He really was going in blind, grabbing YA novels and chick flicks left and right before deciding to just… take everything from the last 20 years. Ignoring the judgmental stares for the mountain of shit he was collecting (and how loudly he was collecting them), Luke booked it for a breakroom he knew would be empty.
They didn’t have houses here in Love HQ, or beds really. The breakroom was the next best thing for any semblance of privacy and quiet time. There was an unspoken rule amongst the Cupids to not use them though, being the workaholics they were. It was actually kind of frowned upon to be doing anything but work, but Luke didn’t care.
And besides, it wasn’t like sneaking in a jam session with the guys, something he had been scolded at many times before (and had actually banned him from all break rooms for a period of time). If someone were to walk in, he could pretend to be working.
Although that may be suspicious to most.
Headphones in, listening to Huey Lewis’s ‘Power of Love’, Luke was fully immersed in a copy of a Nicholas Sparks novel (which one, he didn’t fuckin’ know. They were all the same in hindsight), when Reggie found him, clearly seeking refuge from work.
His fellow Cupid grinned at him, struggling to take a seat next to him, amidst the towering piles of books, DVDs, and soundtracks.
“The Library of Love open for business?” he quipped, laughing at how stupid concentrated Luke must look right now, “Seriously, what’s all of this?”
Luke slipped the headphones off, having them rest on his neck. He tapped his page with the end of his pencil, “Research.”
“Uh huh,” Reggie watched him jot a couple notes down in his journal, his journal meant to be reserved solely for songwriting. But not like any of the songs would see the light of day anyway.
This added to his friend’s suspicion.
“Harrison’s really got you doing a lot of grunt work,”
“Not Harrison,”
“Can’t be, not when you’re practically buzzing. It’s like you want to be knee deep in books-”
“And movies,” Luke waved around a copy of Titanic , ”Got them too.”
Reggie crossed his arms, “Mind telling me what’s going on?”
“This is for an assignment,” Luke admitted, closing his book ( Walk to Remember it turned out) and already moving on to Jenny Han’s works, ”Well, an unofficial one.”
“No such thing, buddy,” Reggie poked him in the stomach, “That’s usually code for ‘doing something I’m clearly not supposed to’.”
Luke shot him a look, “Yeah, you’d know that, wouldn’t you?”
He was referring to the smartphone burning a whole in the other Cupid’s pocket, the one he wasn’t supposed to have. In fact, no Cupid was allowed to have tech from down below unless for educational purposes. And from what Reggie told him, he was using this phone for anything but that.
Instinct took over and Reggie hurriedly swept the room for any potential eavesdropping, panic blossoming in a blush rising from his neck and into his cheeks.
“Hey,” his hand was on his friend’s wrist, steadying him, “Relax. We’re the only ones in here.”
Reggie breathed a sigh of relief, “Sorry just… just a force of habit.”
“No worries. Not like I’d leave you to the wolves. And I know you’d do the same for me…”
It must have been his use of a cryptic tone that Reggie finally caught on, his brows shooting up.
“You were on Earth, weren’t you?” he whispered-yelled at him, gesturing to the tableful of stuff.
“He was where ?!”
The boys were on their feet at the sound of a new voice, only to be relieved that it was Alex, who had happened to walk through the door.
Luke flinched, knowing he was in for it now.
Alex crossed the room in seconds, the drummer’s hands gripping tightly on his shirt collar while Reggie leapt to close the door, keeping watch for any other cupids who could potentially walk in.
“Hey Alex, I-”
“Dude, you’re gonna get put down in Archives for the rest of eternity if you keep doing shit like that!”
“I know, I know-”
“Imagine if Harrison caught you,” The blonde’s voice lowered in volume but raised in pitch, pointing heavenward, “Or worse.”
Luke wrenched away from his friend’s grip. Sensing the start of a spiral, he helped Alex to a chair, but the cupid refused and began to pace the length of the room.
“And there goes the band!” he muttered, “Did you know they assigned Bobby to our section after you left?”
Luke groaned, “ Bobby? The guy who’s always playing Michael Bolton?”
“It’s. Been. Torture!” Reggie complained, punctuating each pause with a head bang against the door.
“Seriously, you need to do whatever you can to be forgiven and come back to us. If I hear one more rendition of ‘If A Man Loves A Woman’, my gay heart won’t take it. I will die.”
“We’re Cupids, boys. We don’t die,” Luke reminded him.
“You clearly haven’t had a set with Bobby. You’d want to die by the end of it,”
Ugh. Luke didn’t need that image of Bobby on his lyre, leading the boys in creating a romantic atmosphere with Michael Bolton… So outdated...
“No, don’t you worry about it. I got a plan to get back out there on the ground, jamming with you guys in no time,”
It took some time but Luke and Reggie managed to get Alex to a chair. And once he was seated, Luke finally took notice of the disheveled state the cupid was in. His normally pristine white hoodie and jeans were scuffed up with streaks of gold- the cupid blood, and the cap he wore on his head was crooked, the bill dented.
“The hell happened to you?!”
Alex glared into space, “A Trickster happened,”
“The same one?”
“Yeah,”
Luke and Reggie shared a look. Not again.
There needed to be some balance in the universe, Luke understood that. And since there were Cupids, the embodiment of love and togetherness- basically sunshine and rainbows, then there must be those who offset that- the literal embodiments of chaos- Tricksters.
It wasn’t like they were out there promoting hate or whatever, but more like they lived to cause trouble and make the humans’ lives harder than they needed to be. Luke had a few run-ins with some of them (none of which were good), and from then on he would steer clear whenever he saw one.
Alex was the same way too, yet no matter what he did, he would keep encountering a Trickster whenever he was out on solo assignments. And it seemed like this Trickster’s own assignment was to wreck Alex’s- going out of their way to keep a Match from happening.
The last he heard about Alex and this Trickster was an incident at the museum. Alex had been busy orchestrating the mood for a couple meeting at gallery opening, and this Trickster had thought it would be funny to start screeching inside the museum, freaking everybody out and killing the mood.
Luke would have found it funny if it hadn’t caused Alex so much distress.
They prompted Alex to fill them in on what happened today, which was another foiled attempt to Match, but this time Alex made the mistake of trying to chase after the guy to confront him.
Apparently he couldn’t keep up and got battered in the process.
“Look, he’s always targeting you when you’re alone. Bring some backup. At least Reggie. Bobby too since he’s in,” Luke instructed, but inside he was ready to go down to wherever the hell those Tricksters meet and make the guy pay.
Alex shook his head, “No, I can handle a stupid little Trickster,” He hissed, much of his superficial wounds beginning to heal, “God I hate that they’re always just so… so…”
“Annoying?” Reggie tried.
“Destructive?” Luke followed up.
“...so smug. His stupid little, smug smile after he ruined everything. The guy had the audacity to wink at me before rolling away!”
Reggie cocked his head, “Roll?”
“He’s on one of those skateboards that humans ride. Like come on, you’re like us. Just poof everywhere,” And Alex was on his feet once more, “But don’t think we could just change the subject. What’s this about Earth?”
For a minute, neither Luke or Reggie said anything.
Alex pinched the bridge of his nose, pointing to Luke, “Why is it always you” then to Reggie, “And you too, who drag me into your shit?”
“Because you’re like 90% of our impulse control,” Luke said.
“Yeah, see what happens when you leave us alone?” Reggie made a sweeping motion over the table, “Luke’s reading!”
“That’s- that’s not a bad thing, Reg,” Then the rest of Reggie’s words caught up to Alex, “But hold on, why are you reading?” he asked Luke-
-who decided to bust out a sheepish smile, “Can you keep a secret?”
“Luke-”
“Just, listen...”
And it was Luke’s turn to do some explaining to his friends, about where he was tonight as well as the reason he was voluntarily reading . By the time he finished, he was met with a pair of slack jawed expressions.
“ #9102020?! Really, Luke?”
Oh. Apparently, Julie had racked up quite the reputation, given how shocked Reggie was. And how stressed Alex was.
“Her name is Julie, and she needs help,”
“Yeah, serious institutional help because… she can’t- she couldn’t possibly see you and hear you!”
“She can. And she’s Immune to whatever cupid magic that makes us invisible- and did I tell you that I can’t get a reading from her?”
Reggie leaned forward, pure wonder in his eyes, “What is she?”
“A human. And a lonely one. And shouldn’t it be up to us to get her to her True Love?”
“But you’re supposed to be up here, at your desk. Not on the field,” Alex reminded him.
Luke knew that, and he knew that going to see Julie was going to require some sort of sneaking around. But he was sure he got it handled, planning to space out his visits so it wasn’t obvious, not lingering on Earth for a noticeable amount of time.
“Don’t worry about it,” he assured.
“Luke,” Alex warned.
“I’ll be careful,”
Luke didn’t want to have this conversation right now, and he was already migrating to the table before Alex could try to talk him out of this. He patted the stack of DVDs, switching the subject.
“Now, how many of these Rom-Coms can I knock out before tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow, already?” whistled the blonde.
“Yeah. Best to start early,”
“Um, Luke. Aren’t you forgetting? There’s only so many hours on a regular Earth day? You’ve got, like, enough movies here to last a whole human lifetime.” Reggie pointed out, pulling out his phone and marking the time.
“But she needs to see these. These,” he swiped the case for Dirty Dancing , holding it up “are the building blocks of manifesting the kind of kick-ass romance you’d always dream of!”
And since Luke couldn’t read Julie, seeing how she would react to some of these would give him a better idea of what he was working with. Movie taste could say a lot about a person.
If he could pinpoint her favorites among these, then he would know what kind of romantic fantasies she could be secretly harboring. And maybe help make her believe that such fantasies were in the cards for her.
“Need to vet them before I leave some of them with her”
The other two grimaced, “What? Like homework?”
“I don’t wanna overwhelm her, guys,”
Giving her movie recommendations would allow for Julie to go about them at her own pace, and he couldn’t be there to watch a bunch of these with her- the time frame too small.
But then again, it would be an excuse for her to put them off. Luke was trying really hard to ignore the other cupid’s comments on her file, the words ‘uncooperative’ occupying his mind, but he wouldn’t put it past Julie to say she watched them when she really didn’t.
He should be more firm about this, now that he thought about it.
“Oh, Luke, Luke, Luke-y, Luke.... ” Reggie tutted, an idea sparking, Luke recognized, “I think there’s a much better way to go about this...”
Reggie was a genius.
A total genius. If Luke could name a Cupid more romantic than him it would be Reggie. Even Alex, who normally had a sarcastic remark ready every time Reggie opened his mouth, applauded the idea.
The boys helped him figure out the specifics of the plan, helped him scour the database for the perfect place for it. And, since time flew by differently in HQ, before he knew it, Reggie was telling him it was already time for him to go.
Luke poofed into Julie’s apartment, catching the girl off guard and she would have fallen off her barstool if Luke hadn’t been nearby to catch her.
“Hey!” he chirped, setting her upright.
Hair tied into a messy bun and sporting a baggy mustard-colored sweater, Julie was clutching at the spot on her chest where her heart would be, “Jesus, you scared me!”
“Sorry,”
Julie took some deep breaths, probably reigning in her frustration. She adjusted the glasses resting on her face, having been knocked crooked upon Luke’s sudden arrival.
“Normal people don’t do that. And you… Cupids definitely shouldn’t do it either. What are you doing here?”
Luke flopped onto her couch, sending her pillows tumbling to the floor, making himself comfortable, “It’s tomorrow o’clock isn’t it?”
“Oh my bad, you’re punctual. I’m just rude and forgot,”
Wow, her sarcasm could rival Alex’s. But it really was his fault that he didn’t specify the time, Julie had probably been spending the day super vigilant, anticipating him popping up from around the corner. Whoops.
He took her in now, dressed in her pajamas (wait, were those… dinosaur slippers?)- she seemed ready to go to bed.
Yeah, not on his watch.
“Get dressed,” he all but instructed.
And of course it was met with resistance,“Why?”
“Time for your first lesson,”
“Where are we going?”
Finger raised to his lips, he smiled, “It’s a surprise,”
“Cuz that’s something every girl wants to hear from people who break into their apartments…” she muttered but shuffled off to her bedroom anyway.
She emerged 10 minutes later in jeans and a different sweater- oh, which reminded Luke.
“Do you have a shirt I can borrow?”
“Looking for something with,” she eyed his all white outfit, “sleeves?”
He shrugged, “Anything really. It’s just where we’re going, we’re most likely to run into my coworkers. Can’t have them recognizing me.”
“Ah,” she was back in her room, her voice still carrying from the opened door, “I take it that you’re not supposed to be doing this. Helping me.”
“Yeah no,” He left the couch and leaned against the wall adjacent to the hallway leading to her room, “This is off the record.”
“Then what’s stopping them from sending another one of you?”
“Trust me. No one’s lining up to be your Cupid right now,”
Julie appeared, a pleased smile firmly set on her lips and wielding a large black T-shirt, “Nice.”
“Lucky for you,” he accepted the offered article, “I don’t scare easily.”
“Wow. Lucky-”
Luke stripped off his white shirt, exposing his bare chest.
“-me.” she finished lamely.
Julie gulped, looking like a deer in headlights. Quirking an eyebrow at her sudden tongue-tied blunder, Luke slipped her shirt on his body… slowly, at which Julie averted her eyes and excused herself to grab her shoes.
Again, he was having fun teasing the human.
Once dressed (he was thrilled to see it was a Nirvana tee) Luke tasked Julie to drive the two of them out of the city, giving her the instructions he got from HQ, dodging Julie’s questions until they arrived at their destination 20 minutes later.
“A drive in?” Julie remarked, pulling into the lot and passing the fluorescent neon signs that said so.
“A movie marathon!”
He pointed to the showings and indeed there were three movies lined up for the night- all ‘90s Rom-Coms.
“I did mention Netflix yesterday, right? You know I have that. At home,”
“No, you need the whole experience,” Luke insisted, squirming in his seat, absolutely jazzed to be here, “If I’m gonna be teaching you about romance then I gotta take you back to the start,”
There was already a parade of cars entering the spacious lot in front of the screen. Julie had to fight tooth and nail to snag a spot. And it was a good one too, right smack dab in the middle.
“Ah yes, a car park,” she switched off the engine, “The birthplace of romance. And my friend Flynn. Or so she tells me.”
Um. Ok?
Luke… wasn’t sure how... to respond to that, so he was fiddling with her radio for the set station, “Look, it’s a truth universally acknowledged that movie dates are, like, always the perfect first dates-”
Julie faced him, a slight edge in her voice, “Is that what this is? A date?”
His fingers slipped on the knob, static blasting out the speakers, wreaking havoc on his ears.
“Oh,” he shook his head vigorously, hands up in surrender, “No, no, no-”
“Wow, you could say ‘no’ a couple more times-”
Luke winced. He didn’t- he didn’t think-
Oh Aphrodite.
That was certainly what it looked like, didn’t it?
With the two of them in a car park full of couples preparing to watch (or not watch, Luke knew what couples would get up to in their cars) these rom-coms… and oh fuck, with him flashing his abs at her back at her place (he was just messing with her! He would do that kind of stuff with Alex and Reggie!)-
Julie was, yes, very pretty and really cool, but he wouldn’t. Although she wasn’t his assignment in an official capacity, Luke was supposed to be professional. He was meant to ease her into the idea of romance, to get her to trust him enough before he could give her more out-there pointers.
And one way to not do that was make her think he was pulling the moves on her.
“I’m not trying to hit on you, I swear,” he explained so as to not scare her away, “I’m just your love teacher. That’s all.”
It worked somewhat, she relaxed slightly, most likely due to his piss-poor phrasing.
“Please tell me you’re a better singer than speaker,”
He sighed, feeling safe enough to smile again, “I am. I’m just trying to say that it’s great when starting out. Easing you into this whole romance thing. Like, no pressure when on a movie date, right?”
Yeah, movie dates would get a bad rep for being awkward. Not a lot of opportunity for conversation, too dark to see the other person clearly if not for the projector, the anxiety of whether or not to make a move, the slightest brushing of hands or nudging of thighs-
But that was the beauty of it. The absolute rite of passage one must take before embarking on more elaborate and emotionally taxing dates.
Now, he had read up on Julie’s file and she had been on quite a few dates, but it wouldn’t hurt to bring it back to the basics, to have her surrounded by that kind of nervous energy, the kind mixed with sweaty hands and soda-stained lips, the unbridled excitement a teenager would feel while on the cusp of their first venture into love.
He hoped to recapture that magic here tonight.
Julie seemed to agree with his reasoning, and relaxed more now that it was clear that Luke was doing this purely for educational purposes. She took it upon herself to adjust the radio so they could hear the previews playing on the screen.
“What movies are we seeing again, Lover Boy?”
“ 10 Things, Pretty Woman, and Clueless, ”
Clapping her hands together, she let out an enthusiastic, “Yes!”
“Y-You like them?”
She seemed offended by his incredulous tone, “Of course. I’m not a downright cynic. I have taste.”
Oh thank gods. They could have had a real problem if she didn’t like any of these classics. He and the boys were raised on this shit. They practically screened these films to Cupids fresh from conception.
Humans had Barney and Dora, Luke had Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant (but they were not showing Knotting Hill tonight- Dammit!)
“Alright, don’t enjoy them too much, you could learn a thing or two from the movies,” he kicked back in his seat as the first of the movies began to play on the big screen.
“Can I learn with popcorn?” she asked, “I’m starving…”
After Luke poofed to the snack bar and copped two bags of popcorn, they began her lesson.
Luke couldn’t remember the last time he sat down and watched a movie, much less it happening in a drive in. He had been to a couple in the past, even to this particular location, but it was always for work and he could never stay for too long.
The first movie went on swimmingly, and by the time Julia Roberts was strutting down the street in her fancy new digs on screen, Luke could safely say that none of his colleagues were showing up tonight to do their job, allowing himself to unwind.
Not fully though, because he kept sneaking looks over to Julie, gauging her reaction to the movie every now and then. It was great to see that she was actually enjoying herself, too enraptured by what was happening on the screen to notice his creepy staring.
She sighed wistfully at all the right parts, laughed during the jokes, and joined in the audience cheering during the final kiss on the terrace- which was fan ‘freakin’ tastic.
And it only puzzled Luke even more.
How could a person root for romance but didn’t want that for themselves?
During the intermission between Pretty Woman and Clueless , they chilled in the car and talked about the movie, and Luke was finally hitting his stride when talking to her now, especially when it was the most normal conversation the two of them had ever shared. It was nice.
There were the occasional hoots and hollers from the many teenage couples, but nothing too obscene. Luke was hopeful that this night would turn out well, that Julie was slowly warming up to him, and that she wouldn’t have regret letting him bring her here.
Pretty soon the next movie started, and although less on the ‘Rom’ side in this rom-com, Clueless was one of Luke’s favorites. Mostly because he was able to quote the entire movie off the top of his head.
He caught himself reciting Paul Rudd’s lines verbatim, and this time Julie was the one to look over at him, but before he could apologize-
“What’s the point? Everywhere you go there’s valet,” she followed up with Cher’s line, not missing a beat.
And then so it went, the rest of Clueless they were running the lines back and forth, almost challenging, to see who would slip and miss a word or two, and Luke was stunned to think that he may have just met his match.
They got to the one scene where Cher was about to realize her feelings for Josh, Julie was in mid-monologue when loud bickering from the car next to them interrupted her.
She did a quick once over and sank into her seat, trying not to mind the noise and focus on what was happening on screen, but Luke full on turned and saw an older couple arguing intensely with wild hand gestures and everything.
Luke frowned, and before he could stop himself he was snapping his fingers, switching the radio station in the other car. Gradually, the bitter words ceased to be, replaced with music softly playing in the car (it may or may not have been their song). His ears picked up on apologies, some sweet sentiments shared, and oh-
Yep, they were now making out.
Safe to say they were no longer fighting. You’re welcome everyone.
“Couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Julie said, witnessing what just happened.
“They shouldn’t be talking during the movie,” Or yelling...
Now it was the second time tonight that Julie regarded him somewhat frostily, “Hey if they wanna fight then that’s their business.”
“And interrupt Cher’s big moment at the fountain?” he waved off her concern, trying to direct her attention back to the screen, “Shh, you need to see this, this is very important-”
But Julie wasn’t done, “You know life isn’t at all like the movies?”
“It could be,”
“Nah. Life’s not as predictable,” her eyes flickered to the now made-up couple, “And it never goes the way we want it.”
Woah. Ok.
Julie wasn’t a fan of his powers. She didn’t like how he used them just now, and Luke didn’t get it. He did a good thing, right? He stopped the fighting, and the last time he checked, fighting was bad. He saved the evening for them.
Did she have a problem with him meddling? But that was what he did. It was basically ingrained in his being, in all of the Cupids really-
Like the ones who had paid her a visit before. Who had tried to force her into doing something she clearly did not want, to get her to follow the plan.
Fuck.
It must have been so jarring for her to see him influence humans with just a snap of his fingers, how effortlessly he could do it, and if Julie hadn’t been the only exception, she would have easily been like that couple, susceptible to his meddling.
Before he had prided himself that he was nothing like his soulless coworkers, but tonight just proved that he wasn’t at all that different.
Luke had no response, the worst time to be terrible with coming up with words, and so Julie took it as ignorant silence and stuck to her side of the car.
She was quiet for the rest of the movie.
Luke honestly expected Julie to call it a night after the second movie, but instead, she left the car to go and stretch her legs. And not one to want to leave things unsaid, he wasted no time in following her.
She wound up at the snack bar. He was straggling behind but he could hear her order a milkshake.
Awkwardly, he rested against the side of the wooden structure that had seen better days while she waited at the counter.
“I didn’t mean to, you know,” he cleared his throat, “Be like them.”
Julie pulled her phone out, tucking it between her ear and shoulder as she fished out her wallet, “You’re all used to getting your way, aren’t you?” she pretended to speak into the device.
“Some of us, yeah,” he revealed, “But it’s not like I was controlling their minds. I just give a little push.”
For some reason, that hint of disappointment in her gaze gutted him. He had only known this girl for a little over 24 hours and already he couldn’t stand to make her so upset.
“Have you tried letting things happen naturally? Or is that not your style?”
“Weird to say naturally when, technically, we Cupids are forces of nature,”
“Look, it’s just-” she stopped to pay for the milkshake, now taking the frozen treat in her hand, “It’s just strange. I know that’s what you guys do, but it’s wrong. At least, it feels like it for me,”
“Even though we’re trying to make people happy? I want to make people happy. And I could. That’s wrong to you?”
It sounded like he was dismissing her feelings. But no, he just… wanted to hear exactly what she thought about it. No minced words, just spell it out for his dumb Cupid ass to understand.
There was a lot he had yet to understand about how humans operate. He thought he knew… but everything with Julie made him question all that he had ever learned.
“Let me put it like this,” her patience wearing a bit thin, “Do you want people having a say with who you could be with?”
“No,”
“Exactly,” she took a sip of her milkshake, “I want to be happy. But on my own terms.”
Luke processed what she said, and it was… admirable. What she was striving for. It made sense to him now. Made sense why she fought back against the Cupids that had come before him.
She wanted a say in how she wanted to spend the rest of her life.
Whether that would be Nick, someone else, or no one entirely.
For all the time Luke had known Julie, it was only now that he saw her resistance to Cupid powers as some sort of blessing. She had control. She exercised that control. Cupids got mad, and they shouldn’t be.
Having any sort of freedom was something that Luke craved, to be free to go wherever, to play the music he wanted to play.
He might just be jealous of Julie at the moment. The girl who did not believe in romance was living more of a fulfilled life than any of them could ever imagine.
They began the slow walk back to the car, Luke maintaining a respectable distance behind her, “You could go home if you want-”
“Oh no. I’m staying for 10 Things I Hate About You . It’s my all-time favorite. Might as well see it since I’m here,”
Luke nodded but didn’t enter her car along with her, he wasn’t sure if she would appreciate his company right now.
He made rounds on the lot while the last movie played, thinking more about what Julie said. And the more he thought about it, the more he wondered why he didn’t just cut his losses and poof back to HQ. It would for sure save him and Julie a lot of trouble.
Leaving Julie behind didn’t seem like an option though. Not one he would have liked to choose anyway. He was already hooked, this girl had totally changed the game, and Luke wanted to still play.
But it was up for Julie to decide if they should continue.
No matter where he was on the grounds, he kept his eye on Julie while she watched the movie. He saw her bobbing her head to Letters to Cleo, mouthing the dialogue like she had done earlier, and, of course, leaning forward in her seat every time Heath Ledger was on screen.
Now, Luke could only put together what kind of guy this Nick Danforth-Evans was, but it wouldn’t be inaccurate to assume that he was nothing like Patrick Verona, the guy that Julie was obviously oggling. This devil-may-care attitude, roguishly handsome tough guy with a dose of softness was more up her alley, it seemed.
And she deserved to choose someone that aligned with her tastes. And she could choose. Lucky.
Damn, it was like the concept of choice and free will was foreign to him until now. Or at least set in a different light.
It was so intriguing.
Just like Julie.
He stayed away from her until the credits rolled and cars began to head out. She rolled her drivers window down as he approached.
“Can I see that you get home safe? Then I’ll get off your back,”
If this was some slick way to try and spend more time with her, Julie didn’t comment. Or refused.
Expressionless, she nodded and unlocked the door so he could pile in.
It was quiet on the way back , only the sound of the radio playing in the background but it set so low that Luke strained to hear it. Oh well, it made it better to conjure up another round of apologies before he had to go back to HQ.
Though it wasn’t until Julie was nearing her place that she threw him a curveball-
“I had a good time tonight,”
Luke’s neck could have snapped at how fast he turned his head at her.
“W-What? Really?” he asked incredulously.
Did-did they not experience the same night?
Her grip on her steering wheel slid along the curve. She blew out a weary sigh, the crease on her forehead coming in and out of view until it disappeared.
“Things have been...shit at work, and it’s been a while since I was able to go out and do something else for a change. For what it’s worth, I kinda needed this,” she confessed, “So thanks.”
“Oh,” was his dumb reply, “Glad that it helped. In some way.”
The silence resumed until they arrived at her place.
Turning into the garage and killing the engine, Julie unclipped her seatbelt and moved so she fully faced Luke, folding her legs underneath her on the seat.
“You said ‘happy’ earlier,” she recalled, her brown eyes boring into his hazel, “Not just tonight. But yesterday too.”
“Yeah,”
“You know...when the others were trying to set me up with Nick, I’d ask them why, like I did with you yesterday. Why were they so invested in the success of my love life? They gave me all these reasons, most of them saying it was meant to be, that they wanted me to follow the plan...”
She paused.
“...Not once did any of them say it’s ‘to make me happy’.”
Those bastards.
They never… they never factored in Julie’s happiness? How could they not have thought about that?
Soulless. He was right to say that about his coworkers. It was all about the work to them. Matching people and facilitating love was a job, something to clock in and clock out for. Love to them was recorded for paperwork, not for poems or songs. It had always irked him that it was treated that way.
Good to know that there was something setting him apart from the rest after all.
“That’s why I do this,” Luke went on, “I like seeing how my gifts, like my music, make people feel. If I could make a difference in their day, in their lives, if I could just put a smile on their face,” he shrugged, “that’s when I feel like I’ve done my job.”
He was nearly out of breath as he concluded his little speech. And he meant every word of it. He needed to know that he cared not because he was supposed to. But he actually did care whatever happened to her.
Their staredown went on for a couple minutes more before Julie asked, “When’s the next lesson?”
The surprise never ceased, “You still wanna do this?”
“Yeah,”
“Uh,” Luke recovered, racking his brain to answer her question he had not been prepared for, “Not sure. I already took a gamble leaving two days in a row. It would have to be a while before I could visit you again,”
“Noted,” She leaned forward, to whisper: “Hey, a little tip for next time?”
“Yeah?”
“You’ve ever heard of this thing called ‘knocking’?”
That got a chuckle out of Luke, “Vaguely.”
“It’s a human custom,” she enunciated slowly, with a flourish of her hands.
“For gods sake, I’m aware, Julie,”
"Good," She punched him in the shoulder, “If I can get one of you Cupids to learn boundaries, then that’s when I feel like I’ve done my job.”
Now it wouldn’t be so crazy to think that it might just be Julie’s job. That she could be sent by some higher power to keep Cupids like him in line. She had already done it with the 9 before him, definitely knocked them down a peg or two.
“I’ll, uh, see ya around?”
The right corner of her mouth twitched and she waved, “Bye, Lover Boy.”
He took it as his cue to poof out of her car, off Earth, and into HQ.
Appearing in the breakroom, where his boys were waiting for him, Luke couldn’t shake the feeling that during a lesson meant for Julie, he had walked away learning something.
They all asked the questions- how did it go? Did any Cupids catch you? Did it work?
But it was one question that made him freeze.
Reggie’s eyes drifted from his face and onto his chest.
“What are you wearing?”
In all the confusion, Luke had totally forgot-
He was still wearing Julie’s shirt.