Archive of Our Own ^beta

It wasn’t until after Julie and the Phantoms had won their third Grammy award that Luke got the courage to show Julie the song he’d been working on since the week after they got out of the dark room. He approached her about a month after the awards ceremony.

“Hey, Jules. Uh, I have these lyrics down, but I think this needs piano.” He held the folded paper out to her. It was worn and rough around the edges from being carried in his pockets for so many years. 

“Of course, Luke.” He braces himself as she opens the paper. Her beautiful smile drops the second she reads the title. Her eyes flash to him and take in his nervousness. Luke knows she’d never reject a song, but he also knows that she can tell how personal this one is. “Okay, let’s see how it goes, then?”

Her tone is nothing but soft and accepting. Of course, Luke thinks, she’s Julie. You can trust her with anything. He hums out a melody and they fall swiftly into the world of writing.

//

The moment you arrived

They built you up

The sun was in your eyes

You couldn't believe it

The sun glared in Luke’s eyes as he stared out onto the pier. He had dragged the boys down there the third weekend in a row, saying, “Come on, boys! It’s summer! Everyone is down at the beach right now, it’s a great place to expose lots of people to our music and make a following.” So here they were, sweating through another California heat wave, playing an acoustic version of In Your Starlight on the pier. 

As the last strum of his guitar rang through the air the small crowd around them began to clap.  “Thank you! We’re Sunset Curve!” Reggie chimed from his right, “Tell your friends!” The people began to disperse, some walked up and complimented them, others just dropped spare change into Luke’s open guitar case. 

Once the crowd was almost completely gone, Reggie had handed out his t-shirts, and Bobby had gotten at least one girl's number, Luke was still reeling from the performance. Sure, it wasn’t the Orpheum, but there had been at least 20 people standing in front of them by their second to last song. “Boys, I think that’s the best we’ve ever played.” He heard murmurs of agreement from the boys around him, but more talk about getting out of the heat than anything else. Luke packed up his guitar and counted their tips.

“Hey, what do you guys say to some hot dogs?” It was a unanimous agreement.

//

Riches all around

You're walking

Stars are on the ground

You start to believe it

Luke could count maybe 5 different record managers in the club. The club that Sunset Curve was scheduled to play. Only two songs, yes, but still. They were going to be heard by people who could actually give them a shot. Luke was ecstatic. He could barely contain his excitement as he practically bounced around in front of his boys. 

“Okay, so we’ve decided on Now or Never and My Name is Luke, right?” They had gone over which songs they were going to play about 5 times in the last 15 minutes. He was acting kind of like Alex did when he got super worried, but Luke wasn’t worried. They were gonna do great, they’re Sunset Curve.

“Yes, Luke. You can stop asking now.” He could tell Bobby was getting annoyed with him, he always had the shortest temper of the four of them. Luke heard the band that was before them start their last song.

“Okay, boys. We got this. Oh, this is awesome! Alright, band circle.” They huddled around together, Alex’s hand went in first, then Bobby’s, then Luke’s, then Reggies.

“1… 2… 3… Legends!” They threw their hands up to the sky and Luke could see a million stars staring back at him. “What do you say to hot dogs after the show?” Reggie says as he throws his arm around Luke.

//

Every face along the boulevard

Is a dreamer just like you

You looked at death in a tarot card

And you saw what you had to do

They hadn’t been signed that night at the club. But that was okay, these things take time. Luke just had to work better on improving their sound. They were good right now, of course they were, they’re Sunset Curve. But every band can always get a little better.

The only problem was that they hadn’t had any gigs as good as that club in a month. Luke was starting to lose hope when Reggie dragged him to the summer carnival. “You’ve been holed up in the studio for a week now. You need a break, Luke.” Alex had been saying that to pull him out all day, but Luke wouldn’t budge. He was frustrated and he was determined. After almost 2 hours of failed distraction attempts from Bobby and Alex, Reggie had been called in. Luke thought it was unfair. The boys knew he couldn’t resist Reggie’s puppy dog eyes. It hadn’t even taken Reggie 20 minutes of asking Luke to go somewhere with him until Luke was walking out of the studio. 

Reggie bounced along Sunset Boulevard like a kid hopped up on sugar, pulling Luke along behind him. He was going on and on about the fair that was in town and how he had saved for weeks to be able to buy the whole band tickets. Luke would’ve preferred that they were playing the fair instead of attending it but beggars can’t be choosers can they? Luke was looking at the passing faces with little interest, still lost in his thoughts. They passed a lot of people playing guitars or keyboards on street corners. Everyone is in LA for a reason, they all have a dream that they want to come true. 

They spent most of the night at the county fair. Alex and Bobby goaded him into doing a lot of stupid things, especially getting on one of those rides that spins you around super fast and makes you feel like you’re getting sat on by an elephant. One of the last things they had decided to do was get their fortunes read as a group. There was no point in paying for individual reasons, they’re Sunset Curve and they never do anything separately. Also, they were 16 and broke. 

Luke doesn’t believe in fortunes, not really. If you were to ask him what he believed in he would tell you music. But when they walked out of the fortune teller's tent he was a little rattled. There had only been three tarot cards, in your present was the one that meant waiting, in the past there was the one that meant trials and hardship, he figured these fit the bill. What had shaken him was the future, instead of something like prosperity which is what he had been hoping for, the fortune teller pulled Death from the deck. Death itself was an ambiguous card, but he couldn’t help but feel off the last few minutes of the reading. He shook it off and chalked it up to cheap fair tricks.

“How do you guys feel about hot dogs right now? I’m getting hungry.” Bobby suggested as they walked away from the tent, his arm around Alex. “As long as we can get cotton candy too!” Reggie added. Luke just shook his head. They did get the cotton candy. 

//

Nights at the chateau

Trapped in your sunset bungalow

You couldn’t escape it

Yeah

Drink of paradise

They told you put your blood on ice

You’re not gonna make it

Luke was just over 17 years old when he ran away from home. He had come back especially late from an attempted gig at a book club, which didn’t go well. His mom had found his newest test grade and wasn’t happy. They yelled and screamed at each other for hours before he couldn’t take it anymore. He biked straight to the studio. 

He didn’t go to school the next day, or the day after. In fact, he didn’t go to school ever. Luke stayed holed up in the studio, working harder than ever before, desperate to prove to himself, and his mother, that he could make it as a rockstar.

He had seen the way crowds reacted to them, their sound was good, they were gonna do it, they’re Sunset Curve. Alex, Reggie and Bobby were worried about him, he could tell, but he kept telling them, “Boys, I’m fine. I’m just focused on the grind, you know? We’re so close to making it.” They gave him thin looks. He pretended not to notice.

All of his working did pay off though. By the summer they had a local tour set up and a demo recorded. Best of all, their closing show was at The Orpheum. It was a dream come true. Luke had wanted to run home as soon as it was all set up, run back and say, “Hey mom, I told you I could make it! I told you I could do it.” Luke had often found himself halfway to his house before he came to his senses and backed out. The problem was that they hadn’t made it yet. Their demo was recorded through a good friend but it wasn’t selling in stores. Their tour was set up themselves by calling local clubs and setting up nights in advance. They hadn’t been signed by a record yet. The show at The Orpheum was the hardest to pull off, but they had managed it. Bobby’s parents knew people.

So he couldn’t go home and show his parents that he’d made it yet, because he hadn’t. Not really. But he was close. They were close; on the edge of something great.

They had just finished playing the Sunset street corners at 1am when he suggested for the first time in months that they go get hot dogs. 

//

But nobody knows you now

When you're dying in LA

And nobody owes you now

When you're dying in LA

When you're dying in LA

When you're dying in LA

When it came down to it, at the end of their summer tour, they hadn’t made it. But tonight they were playing The Orpheum ! It was Luke’s dream come true, the beginning of it at least. They rocked the sound check too. Tonight was going to be awesome, they were going to get signed, of course they would, they’re Sunset Curve. He couldn’t believe how far they’d come from playing on the pier. As he hopped off the stage, a thought popped into his mind.

“Why don’t we fuel up before the show? I’m thinking street dogs.” It was their tradition, hot dogs on show nights, and sometimes other nights. Bobby backed out, recently deciding to go vegetarian. That didn’t entirely make sense to Luke but he wasn’t going to judge his friends' choices. As Alex, Reggie, and himself walked out of The Orpheum and onto Sunset Boulevard, he talked to them about the connection they had with the audience and how awesome it was going to be. He was ecstatic, exactly like that night they played the club almost a whole year ago. 

After they had their hot dogs, he toasted to all their good fortune, and their future success. But after they had finished their food and were about to head back to get ready to go on, his stomach started to hurt badly. It wasn’t more than 10 minutes before he realized that they wouldn’t make it onto the stage. Reggie was already passed out beside him and Alex was trying to keep it together for his sake but Luke could tell he was in just as much pain. 

His final thoughts before he gave in weren’t anything like he had imagined they might be, but then again neither was his death. He had thought he’d die in his sleep maybe, or some freak accident, which he supposed this was, but the main point is that he thought he would’ve already put out a few albums. He thought he would’ve gone back home and apologized to his mom. He thought he would’ve bought a big house for him and his boys to share, with their own home recording studio and a pool. He thought he would’ve played The Orpheum. 

His final thoughts ended up being that he was sorry. He was sorry to his mom and dad for never having the courage to make things right while he was alive. He was sorry to his boys for suggesting street dogs before the show, and sorry to Bobby because they were going to leave him alone. He remembered the fortune teller over the summer, and to the last tarot card. Death was supposed to be ambiguous wasn’t it? This seemed pretty spot on. 

An hour later, he was meeting Julie Molina.

//

Dying in LA wins their fourth Grammy award.