1995

A young girl, aged seventeen, watched as her boyfriend sat on the couch he and his band shared. He hadn't looked up from his notebook since he sat down, and it was worrying her. He was never one to be silent unless something was worrying him. Robin Mercer stood from her seat and made her way towards Luke Patterson. She sat herself down next to him and felt his hand take hers. He intertwined their fingers before pressing his lips softly to her knuckles. Robin smiled lightly before running her unoccupied hand through her hair. She felt a tear fall onto her hand, and turned to her boyfriend. "Luke." The boy glanced up at her before quickly wiping away his tears. "Baby, is this about your parents?" Luke had a falling out with his parents a few days earlier and left his house a few days earlier. He had been staying with Robin and her twin brother ever since.

The boy nodded slowly before glancing down at the notepad sitting on the table in front of him. At the top of the paper read, 'Unsaid Emily'. He was writing the song for his mother, but the poor boy would never be able to sing it to her.

Robin bit her lip softly as she looked down at her lap. "Luke, are you sure that this band was worth running away from your home and the people who love you?"

"You love me."

A soft chuckle left Robin's lips as she heard what the boy responded with. "Yeah, baby. I do." Her face grew once again serious as she turned back to him. He was watching her closely, not sure what she was going to say to him next. "But is this worth it? Leaving your family?" Robin shook her head slowly before continuing. "You know I love this band as much as any of you, but it is just a band. Your family is forever."

Luke eyebrows furrowed before he let out a scoff. "What are you trying to say? That I made the wrong choice?"

This frustrated Robin. "I'm asking if you think you made the wrong choice." The girl corrected her boyfriend. "I just don't want you to make a choice that you're going to regret."

"You think I made a mistake?" The words left Luke's mouth in a hurry as his anger rose.

Robin shook her head. "Baby, that's not what I said."

The boy glanced down at the ground, trying to calm himself down. "You know how much this band means to me." Robin tried to respond, but Luke cut her off as he made eye contact with her once again. "I thought that if anyone would understand it would be you, but I guess not."

"Luke, you know that I understand." Robin brought her hand to his cheek, trying to help him remain calm. "Baby, you know how much I love being in that band, just you guys. I just don't know if it's worth losing your family."

Luke pushed her hand away and stood up from the couch he was seated at. "I'll see you tomorrow night at the show."

Robin's eyes widened as she stood, as well. She reached out, grabbing onto her boyfriend's hand. "Luke, can we talk about this? I know you don't fighting before a show."

The boy looked down at his girlfriend and the expression on her face brought tears to his eyes. "I thought you would understand why I had to do that." Robin nodded softly as she stepped closer towards him. She brushed her thumb against his cheek, wiping away a tear. "I just- I can't do this right now."

"What?" A look of confusion spread across Robin's face as she moved back slightly. "What are you saying?"

Luke avoided his girlfriend's eye contact. He knew that he could not possibly tell Robin what he needed to say while looking into her beautiful brown eyes.

"I think we should take a break, Robin."

*

"One, two, three!"
"Take off,
Last stop,
Countdown till we blast open the top.
Face first,
Full charge,
Electric hammer to the heart."

As he strummed his electric guitar, Luke made eye contact with Robin from across the stage. She stood next to Reggie Peters as she plucked at her electric violin. The girl quickly glanced down, trying to keep her composer. Luke simply shrugged it off as they started the bridge.

"Clocks move faster,
'Cause it's all we're after now. Oh."

Reggie glanced over at his friend, before motioning towards Luke. This was the part of the number where the two boys sang into the same microphone, but Reggie was worried too much about his best friend. The girl let out a sigh before she nodded, and Reggie hopped towards the center of the stage.

"Won't stop climbing,
'Cause this is our time, yeah."

Luke sent Reggie back with a soft push, and found his way back to his center lighting.

"When all the days felt black and white,
Those were the best shades of my life."

Robin and Reggie leaned towards their shared microphone as everyone started on the chorus.

"Don't look down,
'Cause we're still rising
Up right now,
And even if we
Hit the ground,
We'll still fly,
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever,
But live it like it's Now or Never."

As Luke turned, the rest of the band started on their small solo bits.

"We ain't searching for tomorrow."
"Tomorrow."
"'Cause we got all we need today."
"Today."

As Luke began to sing again, Robin became distracted with how good he looked in his sleeveless tank top. Why did he have to wear that tonight when she was supposed to be mad at him?

"Living on a feeling
That's been running through our veins."
"We're the revolution that's been singing in the rain."

The boy watched Robin closely as she sang her solo, and the two made eye contact once again. Luke bit his lip softly before swinging his guitar over his shoulder to begin the clapping section.

"Don't look down.
'Cause we're still rising
Up right now."

As Luke hit the downbeat on his guitar, smoke flew out of the wings.

"And even if we
Hit the ground,
We'll still fly high.
Keep dreaming like we'll live forever,
But live it like it's Now or Never.
It's Now or Never."

As the band hit their lap beats, the servers working at the Orpheum that night cheered for them. One girl in specific whooed as she clapped for their band. Reggie brought his face to the microphone. "Thank you! We're Sunset Curve!" He spoke with a smile pointed towards the girl sitting on the booth.

Bobby, one of their bandmates set down his guitar as he made his way towards Luke. "Too bad we wasted the tightest we've played on the sound check."

"Wait until tonight, man, when this place gets packed with record execs." Luke quickly turned as if to hug Robin. He saw Reggie holding the girl in a tight embrace as the two giggled in excitement. Luke's expression dropped slightly before he shook his head, trying to push the girl out of his mind.

Reggie pulled away from his hug and turned to the girl's twin brother, Alex Mercer. "Alex, you were smoking."

The blonde boy smiled, shaking his head. "Oh no. I was just warming up. You guys were the ones on fire."

Robin furrowed her eyebrows slightly. "Bro, could you just own your awesomeness for once?"

"Alright, I was killing it." She smiled as her brother engulfed her in his arms, swinging her around.

The lead singing let out a awkward chuckle as Alex let his sister down. "Okay, well, I'm thinking we fuel up before the show. Street dogs?"

"Yes!" Alex nodded, pointing his drum stick towards the boy.

The boys jumped off the stage, and Luke helped the girl down as always. He noticed Bobby started to walk off and crossed his arms over his chest. "Hey, Bobby. Where are you going?"

Bobby brushed them off as he walked towards the girl at the booth. "I'm good." He leaned forwards on the table, sending the girl a smile. "Vegetarian. I could never hurt an animal." Luke smirked, leaning his elbow against the boy's shoulder. Reggie, Alex, and Robin followed closely behind, anxiously wanting to see what Bobby was trying to do.

The girl at the booth smiled at the group. "You guys are really good."

"Thank you." Luke nodded in return.

"I've seen a lot of bands. Been in a couple myself." She explained herself. "I was really feeling it."

Luke glanced back at Robin and slightly raised an eyebrow. "That's what we do this for." He chuckled before looking back towards the girl. "I'm Luke, by the way." Robin's eyebrows furrowed as he was noticeably flirting with the girl.

Reggie quickly pushed passed his other band mates. "Hi, I'm Reggie."

"Alex." The blonde haired boy seemed less impressed by the new girl than the rest of the boys.

"Bobby." He pressed his elbow into Luke's side, almost pushing him towards Robin.

The raven haired boy wrapped his arm around Robin, shoving her in front of the other boys. "And this lovely girl is Robin. She's a little shy, and doesn't really like introducing herself, so I'm doing it for her."

Robin sent Reggie a glare before looking back towards the girl. "Yeah, I'm Robin."

A smile appeared on the girl's face as she pointed between Robin and Reggie. "Oh, are you two..."

The two teenager's eyes widened as they simultaneously moved apart from each other. "Ew, no." Robin shook her head out of disgust.

"Yeah, no, she's Luke's girl." Every band member's head snapped towards Reggie who let out a sigh. "Ugh... Sorry, you guys are in a fight."

The girl giggled. "Well, it's nice to meet you all. I'm Rose."

Reggie glanced down and remembered he was holding a CD and a t-shirt in his hands. "Oh, uh- Here's our demo." He handed the girl the disc. "And a t-shirt. Size beautiful." Robin let out a groan and rolled her eyes at Reggie's horrific pick up line.

Rose held the shirt up to her body and smiled. "Thanks." She then folded it up, putting it over her shoulder. "I'll make sure not to wipe the tables down with this one."

"Oh, good call!" Alex nodded. "Whenever they get wet, they just kind of fall apart in your hands."

Bobby let out a sigh. "Don't you guys have to go get hot dogs?"

Luke nodded, leaning towards Rose. "He had a hamburger for lunch." Reggie slapped the boy's shoulder as the four teenagers exited the building. "That's what I'm talking about!" Luke exclaimed as they walked into the alleyway behind the backdoor.

Alex crinkled his nose. "The smell of Sunset Boulevard?"

"No." Luke laughed, making his way towards the front of the building. "It's what that girl said in there tonight. About our music, all right? It's like an energy."

"It connects us with people?" Robin finished for him, causing Luke to glance down at her and nod.

He sent her a sad smile. "They can feel us when we play." He pulled the three closer towards him. "I want to feel that connection with everybody."

Reggie frowned, looking down at the couple of shirts in his hand. "Then we're going to need more t-shirts."

Robin let out a giggle, causing a smile on Luke's face. It did not matter that he was mad at her. Whenever that girl laughed, it made him smile. "Come on, boys. Let's go get some dogs." She began walking closer towards the hoard of fans lined up outside the Orpheum.

Reggie approached two girls standing by the end of the line as the rest continued their walk. He handed them a couple shirts. "Ladies." As soon as the realization hit the girls of who they were talking to, Reggie had returned to his friends, and they were on their way to the Hot Dogs.

When the group arrived, they began loading up their Street Dogs from the condiments that were inside the hood of a car. "Man.. I can't wait until we eat someplace where the condiments aren't served out of the back of an Oldsmobile." Alex complained as he placed a piece of pickle on his dog. He approached the owner of the car. "Hey, sorry. I got some pickle juice on your battery cables."

"No problem." The man nodded. "It'll help with the rust."

The man slapped Alex's arm playfully, as the blonde stared in awe at him. "That can't be..." He glanced back at his friends who were already making their way towards the seating. "Okay, what?"

The four approached the couch they would always eat their Street Dogs at, but Robin and Luke weren't seated together in the middle as usual. Robin sat on the outside, then Reggie, then Luke, and then Alex. "This is awesome, you guys." Luke let out a happy sigh as he looked around him. "We're playing The Orpheum! I can't even count how many bands have played here and then ended up being huge." Robin nodded, looking down at her Street Dog. "We're going to be legends!" He lifted his dog. "Eat up, guys. 'Cause after tonight, everything changes."

They brought their four hot dogs into the center and clinked them together before beginning their meals. Alex frowned as he chewed his dog. "That's a new flavor."

Reggie shook his head, shrugging it off. "Chill, man. Street Dogs haven't killed us yet."

After a few moments Robin felt herself growing sick, and that was the last thing she remembered.

Word Count - 2290
Author's Note -
Hi guys!
This story was kind of inspired by a tiktok POV I made of Luke that was to a outer banks audio lol. I just really loved the idea of that, so this came to be!
I hope you all enjoy this story as much as I will enjoy writing it!
Please comment what you want to see in future chapters, and do not forget to vote!
Have a nice day, lovelies💕