"What are you doing?" Robbie asked as soon as Julia picked up the phone the following morning. She had enjoyed the first night back in her own bed until the phone ringing had woken her up.
"At the moment? Lying in bed with a sneaking suspicion that you're going to ask me to get out of bed," she replied groggily.
"It's almost 11 o'clock," Robbie scoffed.
"So, I'm right. You want me to get out of bed," Julia stated.
"Yeah, pretty much. Let's go skating," Robbie demanded.
"You have a Sunday morning off, and you want to go skating?" Julia repeated. "Aren't you exhausted?"
"Skating with you is like skating with a baby. Not too hard," Robbie chuckled.
"Ugh, rude," she rolled her eyes, despite the fact that he couldn't see her. "Where are we going skating?"
"The pond at my parents' house is frozen. You can bring Danny and Kelly if you want."
An hour later, Robbie, Kathy, Julia, Danny, and Kelly were skating around the pond at the McClanahans' house.
"How are you the only one in our family that is bad at skating?" Danny snickered as he watched Julia cautiously move on the ice. Her arms were outstretched in a feeble attempt to keep her balance.
"Maybe because I haven't lived in Minnesota for the last several years," Julia pointed out with a sneer. She blew a piece of hair out of her eyes, struggling to stay upright on her skates. "There's not a lot of ice in Los Angeles."
"Don't listen to her, Danny. She was bad even when she did live here," Robbie smirked, skating a circle around Julia. Julia glared at him, before reaching down to scoop up some of the ice shavings on the pond. She did her best to shape it into a sphere and threw it at Robbie, hitting him squarely on the chest.
"My aim isn't too bad, though," she grinned triumphantly. Robbie's expression was some mixture of disbelief, annoyance, and mischief.
"You deserved that," Kathy laughed at her brother. Robbie cocked his head to the side, looking at his sister curiously. She frowned. "Rob, don't even think about it."
"Think about what exactly?" He teased, skating over to the side of the pond and picking up some snow on the ground and smirking at his sister. She glared at him, before copying his actions. Soon the siblings stood on opposite sides of the pond, forming snowballs in their gloved hands.
"Pick your sides, Brooks family," Kathy said with a dramatically serious tone. Danny, Kelly, and Julia looked at each other for a long moment. Kelly was the first to move, going to stand beside Kathy. That didn't surprise anyone, as Kelly was still nervous around Robbie due to her crush. Julia moved next, carefully skating over to stand by the other girls. Her fight had begun with Robbie so she thought it was only fair that she was on Kathy's team.
"Boys against girls?" Robbie suggested, looking at Danny. Danny thought for a long minute, before he grinned wickedly. He skated over to stand by the girls, laughing at Robbie's shocked face.
"How is four on one fair?!" Robbie called out as Kelly, Kathy, Julia, and Danny began to fervently make snowballs.
"It's not," Julia laughed as they began to throw the snowballs, leaving Robbie to try to counterattack unsuccessfully. He managed to throw a few snowballs in between getting hit, but he only got Julia's shoulder and Kathy's leg.
"You guys!" Robbie yelled, holding his hands in front of his face as he continued to get pelted with snowballs. He tried to sound angry, but he couldn't disguise his laughter. "You guys, this isn't fair!"
"Can't be any worse than hockey practice," Danny pointed out, making everyone laugh. Robbie gave a sort of shrug and a nod.
"Yeah, you're right it really can't be," he agreed. "But why do I continue to let the Brooks family torment me all the time?"
"Because you love us," Julia reminded him as the snowballs slowly came to an end. Everyone's cheeks were rosy with the cold, and they breathed heavily from the exhaustion.
"I bet we can convince my mom to make us grilled cheese and tomato soup," Kathy thought aloud. Both Danny and Kelly agreed enthusiastically, and soon they were racing to get their skates off and get inside. Julia and Robbie watched the three of them go, taking their time as they sat to take off their skates.
"How's it feel to be home?" Robbie questioned her as they enjoyed a rare moment of alone time.
"It's nice," Julia smiled. She tried not to blush, but she failed. "Jack told me he loves me."
"He did?" Robbie asked, raising an eyebrow. "And you reacted by...?"
"I said it back," Julia admitted, looking up at Robbie with a nervous smile. Robbie smiled, looking out over the pond.
"I knew you two would be good for each other. I can tell he cares about you," Robbie looked over at her, nudging her shoulder with his own. "I'm happy for you, Jules."
"Thanks," she said sincerely. "Can you believe all that's happened since August?"
"No," Robbie chuckled. "When are you leaving?"
"Um...well, I haven't told anyone this yet. I wanna get it worked out before I get anyone excited. I think I'm gonna stay. You guys leave for New York in like a week anyway. So I might just stay here and go back to California after the games," she explained.
"And that would mean you'd get to spend your birthday with us," Robbie pointed out.
"Which would be great," Julia nodded. "The only potential problem is that the label wants to throw an album release party. I don't have a ton of control over when they want it to be. And I kinda don't have a choice about going."
"Well, obviously not. It's an album release party for your album. You have to go. Plus, aren't you ready to get back to it all?"
"I guess," Julia shrugged as they got up, walking toward the house. "I've kinda enjoyed my time off. Sometimes it makes me wonder if I screwed up when I ran away and joined a band. I could've graduated high school and stayed here."
"You really think you ever could've been happy? Do you think you could've even been content?" He asked with a frown. "Just thinking back to sixteen-year-old Julie I can't imagine her not wanting everything you've achieved."
"I know, but sometimes I can't help but think that I did it all because I was chasing Sylvia. I was chasing the love I never got. And the attention. I don't miss it as bad as I thought I would," she continued.
"You know I support you regardless, but I think you're crazy for even thinking that. It's like you're forgetting just how talented you are, and how much you love music. So maybe you like attention, but you can't deny your musical talent. You always seemed so happy on stage. Fame be damned, but you couldn't give up the music," Robbie argued. Julia took in his words, mulling them over as they entered the house.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," she conceded. She trusted Rob to know her, sometimes better than she knew herself.
"Yeah, I'm always right," he grinned.
"How are you feeling about the games coming up so soon?" She asked, figuring it was Robbie's turn in the hot seat.
"Nervous," he confided in her with a deep breath. "I feel good. I feel as prepared as we can be. Just nervous."
"I know you're nervous, but you guys are gonna do great," she tried her best to comfort him, but it really was hard. Despite the deep faith she had in the boys and in her uncle, it was difficult to imagine them beating the Soviet powerhouse.
"Yeah, I just don't want us to embarrass ourselves," Robbie huffed.
"And what about after the Olympics?" Julia asked gently.
"I've been talking to the coach of the Sabres," Robbie started. Julia knew he had been drafted by them in 1978. "Depending on how the Olympics go, they might want me to go to Buffalo after the games."
"Robbie, that's amazing!" Julia gasped. "I mean, us being on opposite coasts isn't my favorite thing in the world, but maybe you'll play the Kings sometime."
"They want Rammer, too. I don't even think he's gonna graduate college," Robbie chuckled.
"I'm really proud of you," she told him with a smile. Robbie just grinned bashfully.
"Yeah, I just hope for your sake we don't play Chicago anytime soon," Robbie teased. Julia suddenly remembered that with her friends and boyfriend going to the NHL, they would play each other often.
"I'm just gonna be busy whenever you guys play each other," she decided.
Later that night, Julia sat on her bed, twirling the phone cord around her finger as she listened to the line ring.
"Yeah?" Came Tommy's voice after another ring.
"Hi, stranger. How's it going?"
"Oh, it's just groovy. Did you listen to the album?" He asked excitedly.
"Yeah, and I'm so happy with it! Do you like it?"
"I think this one is really gonna be it, Jules. I'm proud of it," Tommy agreed.
"I'm proud of us," Julia sighed, smiling over at the record that sat on the end of her bed. She had spent more time than she would like to admit admiring it. It somehow already meant more to her than their first album, which she would have previously thought impossible.
"Did you play the album for your little lover boy?" Tommy snickered.
"For your information, I did. He liked our band before he became my boyfriend," Julia stated matter-of-factly.
"And what did he say when he heard the new album?" Tommy prodded.
"He said he loves me," she said quickly, before she could even think it through.
"He said what?"
"He said he loves it," she corrected quickly, her heart pounding in her chest. She knew it was no good. Tommy knew what she had said. It was quiet for a second before Tommy spoke again.
"Jules, are you in love?"
"Yeah," she finally admitted breathily.
"Not to rain on anyone's parade, but weren't you dating that other guy in, like, October? I mean you never showed any interest in dating anyone until you went to Minnesota and now you've had two boyfriends," Tommy pointed out. He tried not to sound as bitter as he was feeling.
"I know it sounds crazy, Tommy. But Jack just gets me. And the only reason I was ever with David was because I was trying to ignore my feelings for Jack. Robbie likes him, and so does my family. You're gonna like him, I promise," she implored.
Julia thought that Tommy sounded jealous, and she knew that he was jealous. Not that Julia was in love with someone else, but that she was seemingly putting her new love ahead of the band. After years of terrorizing the music scene with his partner in crime, Tommy thought their future seemed at risk of being utterly boring if Julia was in love.
"Okay, fine. I'll try to give him a chance. I just feel like you're really into this guy. What if he breaks your heart?" Tommy questioned her.
"He won't. He's been so supportive of me. And he fully supports me coming back home to L.A.," she explained.
"And when are you doing that?"
"Well...," Julia started before Tommy groaned.
"You're killing me, Jules."
"The Olympics start in like two and a half weeks! What would be the point of coming home when I'm gonna go to Lake Placid anyway?"
"Well, no one has confirmed anything yet, but they wanna have the album release party the second weekend of February," Tommy sighed.
"That's my birthday weekend, and the team is playing the Soviets in New York!" Julia protested, but Tommy stroke abruptly.
"I know that, but Walter Yetnikoff specifically wants to have the party that weekend. He thinks we've been off too long," Tommy clarified grimly. Julia groaned. Walter Yetnikoff was the president of Columbia Records. While he was well-known to be a strong advocate for his artists, he was also stubborn, business-oriented, and short-tempered. Julia doubted that a teary phone call explaining her situation could convince him to change his mind. Maybe she would just have to think of another solution.
"Tommy, I need you to do me a favor. I need you to get me Walter's direct phone number," she said quickly.
"What are you gonna do? Julia, do not piss him off. He'll end our careers," Tommy warned.
"I'm not gonna piss him off! I know what I'm doing."
After a little more persuading, Tommy and Michael worked together to get Julia Walter's number. She could feel her hands shaking and her heart pounding as she dialed the number. She had never reached out to him, nor had she ever had a one-on-one conversation with him.
"Y'lo?" A gruff voice answered.
"Hi, is this Mr. Yetnikoff?" She asked, trying to sound braver than she felt.
"Depends on who the fuck is asking," he replied in his thick Brooklyn accent.
"It's Julie Brooks. From Stonehead," she said in the most cheerful voice she could manage. His tone changed quickly.
"Julie, sweetheart, how the hell are ya?"
She grimaced when he called her 'sweetheart,' thinking how it would never sound as nice from anyone's mouth as it did from Jack's.
"I'm doing really well, Mr. Yetnikoff. How are you?"
"Just grand, doll. I assume there's a good reason you're calling me at home on a Sunday night."
"Yes, there is. I just had a really fantastic idea for the album release party."