Flynn was rapidly growing to appreciate Luke as a person. She didn’t like him the same way Reggie did, she was far too gay for that. They had talked Reggie through the misunderstanding, and now he was just excited that someone actually wanted to play with him. As far as Flynn could tell, Luke was keeping their secrets, too. Willie had told her that when Alex or Julie were talking to Reggie, Luke would nudge him when they weren’t looking so he knew to focus on them so he could read their lips. Flynn could tell they were getting closer, but any time she mentioned it to Reggie, he would tell her they were just friends and he didn’t want to jeopardize it. She wouldn’t ask Luke about it, because that would betray Reggie’s trust in her, and she knew how hard it was for him to really trust someone. Willie was the only one making progress on his crush. Luke had told them that Alex was very much single, and very much gay, so Willie flirted with him whenever he had a chance. From the few times Flynn had been around to hear it, it usually just left Alex getting flustered and rushing away. Which both Flynn and Willie took as a good sign, because Willie kept telling her that Alex would start to smile before he blushed and stuttered. Flynn wasn’t ready to approach Julie yet. She would have to tell her she was blind. It’s something that can be hard to miss with prolonged conversation.
Alex was panicking. He refused to admit he was panicking. But he, Luke, and Julie all knew it was true. He had been crushing on Willie since the start of junior year when he first saw him shake his hair out of ponytail at the start of gym class, holding the hair tie between his teeth as he gathered the hair to put it back up. Alex had a Gay Panic and it left him stumbling over himself for the rest of class. Alex spent over twenty minutes gushing about how pretty he was to Luke before the other boy had enough and Julie stepped in to listen to him. He expected the crush to die down over summer break, but at the start of senior year, Willie was suddenly around a lot. His brother had joined their band, and Willie was walking him to and from rehearsal. Sometimes Willie would say things that Alex thought were flirty, but he knew he was getting ahead of himself. Willie was always hanging around the girl from Julie’s art class the year before, and he and Julie were both disappointed to realize they were probably dating. Which led to today. They were rehearsing in Julie’s garage that doubled as their studio. Willie and Reggie were running late, but Luke got a text that they were on the way. When they finally rounded the corner of the driveway, the girl, Julie had told him her name was Flynn, was with them. It didn’t seem like Willie was staying this time, to Alex’s disappointment. But he quickly covered it up. Reggie turned to face them as they talked, something Alex noticed he did a lot, and he could’ve sworn he heard Reggie call her sis. Weird, but he guessed if someone was dating your brother for a while you would consider them family. He wouldn’t know. The closest he had to siblings were Luke and Julie, but he did sometimes refer to Julie’s brother Carlos as his little brother, too. So Alex resigned himself to just looking dreamily at Willie while they talked. Willie looked up, catching Alex’s gaze and gave him a wink. Reggie turned to see what he was looking at and starting giggling, whispering something to Flynn that made her giggle too. And that’s when Alex saw them. Pinned to Flynn’s jacket were a bunch of pride pins. He recognized a few of them by the colors. Lesbian pride colors. He finally let himself hope. He made a mental promise to point it out to Julie later.
Luke refused to believe he was as bad as Alex. He also refused to admit he had a crush. Sure, he talked nonstop about Reggie the first time he heard him play in class. And sure, he thought Reggie was the most beautiful human being he’d ever seen. And sure, he had sometimes wondered if kissing his lips would feel as good as hearing his laugh sounded. Okay, so he might have a crush. But he had it under control. He didn’t turn into a mess every time he saw him like Alex. And he didn’t avoid trying to talk to him out of fear of embarrassment like Julie. But he was making progress. Excluding making Reggie cry on the first day of the school year, he had made progress. He made him blush three times when he told him that he was funny or smart. And to him, that was progress. He could work with progress.
They were three months into school when Flynn pulled Luke aside. “I am hesitant to ask this. But I need your help.” Luke raised an eyebrow before remembering she couldn’t see him.
”Are you going to tell me what you need help with or do I need to guess?”
Flynn pressed her lips into a thin line for a moment before she looked where she thought Luke’s face was. He stepped into the right spot so no one would notice. “After school. I need to draw you.”
”I’m sorry, what?” Luke blinked at her.
Flynn let out a sigh, “I need to draw people I know for my project in art class.” Her voice had lost the fight it usually held, and Luke wasn’t sure how to feel about the resignation in her tone. “My teacher said I can’t draw my parents or Willie’s parents or Willie or Reggie anymore. So I need a new person. But the only way I can draw someone is if I feel their face so I can map out their features. You’re the only other person I know that knows that I...can’t see. So please. Help me.”
”Hey, yeah,” Luke said quickly, “Of course I’ll do it. Anything you need.”
Luke couldn’t help but grin when the fire was back in Flynn’s voice at the next sentence, “I do not need pity. But thank you.”
”So, can I ask you something? Since we’re kinda friends now?” Flynn raised an eyebrow, “Okay, since we’re friend adjacent now that me and Reggie are friends?” He tried. Flynn gave him a nod so he continued. “Do you have a thing for Jules?”
”Wh-what!?” Flynn almost shrieked, and she could feel her face flushing. She didn’t need to see Luke to know he was smirking.
”Cause, she will totally kill me if I say this, but she really likes you. She always talks about how pretty you are and how funny and smart you are in class with her.” Luke decided he was going to help Julie. Boundaries be damned.
Flynn smirked and Luke was afraid, “Tell you what, I’ll admit I have a crush on Julie, when you ask Reggie out on a date.”
”I mean you kinda just admitted it.” Luke couldn’t help but to tease her.
”You know what I mean. You ask Reggie out, I’ll ask Julie out.”
Luke took a moment to think about that. On the one hand, he didn’t think Flynn would tell him to do it if she knew Reggie would turn him down. But on the other hand, he didn’t know if he was ready to find out if Reggie liked him. He loved spending time with Reggie, and he still didn’t understand how the three siblings looked nothing alike, but whenever he was around Reggie he didn’t care about anything else. Luke was able to be himself. And Reggie thought he was funny. Not many people thought he was funny, sure they laughed at him. But it was usually when he was doing something embarrassing. And the way Reggie blushed when Luke complimented him made Luke feel warm. And when they sat close together on the couch in the studio, their arms would brush and Luke would feel his stomach fill with butterflies.
”Okay.” Luke finally said. “You have a deal.”