Feedback Loop

(I dont own these characters) Yes, I wrote a brand new fanfic before finishing What If I Fell For You.... 

Julie hasn't meant to stay late.

The studio lights had dimmed to their automatic night mode, casting everything in soft amber. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, the demo track looping in her headphones - raw, unfinished, and somehow already unforgotten. It was nothing like her favourite bands normal sound. 

Luke's voice was different here. Not the confident frontman she'd seen on stage, but something stripped back. Vulnerable. The kind of vocal take that wasn't meant for anyone else's ears yet. 

She didnt know why she sang with it. Maybe because the melody left space for her harmonies. Maybe because the ache in his voice matched the one she hadnt spoken aloud in weeks. Her harmony was instinctive - gentle, layered, like she was trying not to wake a sleeping memory. 

She didnt hear the door open. 

"You added that?" Luke's voice cut through the quiet, low and curious. 

Julie spun in her chair, yanking the headphones off. "Sorry- I didn't mean to mess with anything. I was just-"

"No, it's good." He stepped into the room, hoodie hald zipped, guitat slung over his shoulder like he, the leader singer of sunset curve, hadn;t planned on staying this late either. "I didn't think the chorus needed anything. But now I'm not so sure."

Julie blinked, "You're not mad?"

Luke smiled, and it wasn't the stage smile. It was the one that made her stomach flip. "Mad? You just made my song better. I should be thanking you."

She looked down at the keyboard, suddenly aware of how close he was standing. "It's just a harmony."

"It's not just anything." He leaned over her, shifting to stand right next to where she stood, and tapped the spacebar so the track would play again. Her voice layered over his - soft, aching, like they were both trying to say something without saying it.

Julie watched him listen.

His eyes closed, head tilted, fingers tapping against his thigh in time. When the chorus hit, he opened his eyes and looked at her, causing them to have prolonged eye contact.

"That part," he said. "Where you drop to the minor third. That's the moment."

Julie shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. "It felt right."

Luke nodded slowly. "You always know what feels right."

She didn't know what to say to that. So she didn't.

He grabbed one of the seats from under the desk, breaking eye contact with her, and sat with just enough space between his guitar and the edge of the desk. "You ever think about writing together?"

Julie hesitated. "I'm just an intern."

"You're not just anything, I'm Luke, by the way" he said again, and this time it felt... personal

She looked at him - really looked. The way his fingers curled around the neck of the guitar, the way his eyes softened when he wasn't performing. There was something in him that matched something in her. 

Like a chord progression they hadnt named yet. 

"Julie. I don't know if I'm ready," she said quietly intoducing herself with a reply to him. 

Luke strummed a few notes, absentminded. "Neither was I." I turns his head to look at her, "The first time I wrote a song, I cried halfway through. Thought it meant I was weak."

Julie took out the seat next to him with his eyes following her, sitting down carefully, "Did it?"

"No." He turned back to the booth in front of them. "It meant I was telling the truth." He turned back and looked at her again. 

The silence bettern them wasn't awkward like Julie though her first interaction would be. It was charged, vulnerable. Like the studio itself was holding its breath for them both. 

Julie reaached for her notebook sat next to the computer keyboard, the one she doesnt show anyone. She flipped it to a blank page and wrote two words: Feedback Loop. She didn'f know if it was a title or a warning. 

Luke notice. "That for me?" 

She smile, looking back at him, "Maybe."

He grinned, and it was the kind that made her forget how to breathe. "Then I guess I owe you a verse."

Luke gets back into a position to play his guitar, and his fingers move instinctively, coaxing out a melody that hadn't existed five minutes ago. It was tentative - Just a few notes, barely formed - but it held something. 

Neither of them knew if it was a question or a promise. 

Julie didnt speak. She just listened. The way he played was different now. Less performative, more personal. Like he wasn't trying to impress her. Like he was trying to find her in the sound his fingers made. 

He paused, glancing sideways. "You hear anything?"

Julie nodded slowly. "A harmony." 

Luke smiles, eyes finding the strings again, "Of course you do."

She reaches for her notebook again, flipped to a fresh page. This time, she didnt write a title. Just a line. 

I didn't mean to stay late. But I'm glad I did.

Luke leaned back in his chair, letting the last chord fade into the quiet. "We should keep going."

Julie turned to him, placing her closed notebook back on the bench, "Now?"

He shrugged, "Why not? The studio's ours. The night's quiet. And you already started something."

She hesitated, then moved a the piano keyboard from the back of the bench to infront of herself. Her fingers hovered again, but this time they werent unsure. They were ready. 

Luke adjusted his guitar, eyes meeting hers. "Let's see where it goes."

And just like that, they begun. 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Author's Note- 

What do we think of this? 

Oh wait - I've already written all 10 chapters of this...

But seriously, what do we think??