𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑚𝑖𝑑-𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝐽𝑢𝑛𝑒 29, 1985
Julie's summer had started off great, but was now going terribly. All she did was work, all she ate was crap she grabbed in between shifts, and all she cared about was summer ending.
When Julie wasn't working at The Gap, she was babysitting Holly Wheeler. When she wasn't babysitting Holly Wheeler, she was holed up in her room, reading and listening to sad music. Or Queen. Mostly Queen. According to Max, Steve was to blame.
Since the day that Julie and Steve split, Max has grown increasingly worried about her sister. Julie tried to pretend that everything was okay, that she wasn't slipping further and further away, and that she was strong enough to move on. Max saw right through her efforts. Julie barely slept anymore. Her mind didn't shut up enough for her to able to.
Only adding to Julie's misery, sweet El used her powers to see into Julie's mind to check on her almost every day. And every day, Julie heard her in there, and shut her out. Robin was the only person that made Julie truly laugh and smile these days, so seeing her was the only reason Julie went in Scoops Ahoy.
Julie and Robin had kept their promises to gift each other free stuff from their jobs. 'In the wallet', as they called it. When Robin had breaks, she would go see Julie and give her an ice cream. When Julie had breaks, she would deliver some of the items Robin had previously picked out, blatantly ignoring Steve.
Robin was impressed that Julie actually went into Scoops, seeing as Steve was there every single time she went in. As much as it made life easier for Julie to pretend nothing was wrong, it only worried Robin more and more. She wondered how much a single person could take in their life, and between Julie's family life and Steve, Robin feared that Julie was at her breaking point.
Neil Hargrove wasn't very thrilled with the new attitude his daughter had taken on. When she wasn't around Max, Julie had started to become a lot like Billy. Hostile, aggressive, and just mad at the world. Neil didn't care enough to ask what was wrong, or why Steve wasn't seen around the house anymore. Susan found out through Max.
Keeping busy was the only thing that kept Julie's head on straight. Neil thought she was dramatic, but finding out the boy you love is in love with someone else is enough to make a person like Julie crumble. She focused on other things. Her jobs, and right now, Holly.
Julie had gone with Karen and Holly Wheeler to the public pool, seeing as the mother and daughter went most days. It was Julie's day off from work, and she had offered to go watch Holly for the day without payment so Karen could relax, and not worry about her. Karen still paid Julie, and would probably always pay her.
In her orange one-piece bathing suit with her hair in a high bun and sunglasses on her face, Julie sat at the edge of the shallowest waters and splashed around with Holly. There was good muic playing, Karen and some of her friends were lounging and reading, there were kids playing Marco Polo, and there were certainly not enough lifeguards on duty.
"Watch this," Holly said, taking a deep breath and going underwater for ten seconds. When she came up for air, she was very proud of herself. "Did you see?" she asked excitedly, her little legs kicking the water beneath her.
"I did! You did so good." Julie said, putting her hand out towards Holly for a high five. Holly slapped her hand onto Julie's, smile wide as she dove back under the water.
From the corner of Julie's eye, the teen saw Heather Holloway, who was a lifeguard at the pool climb down from the lifeguard chair, making Julie inwardly groan. She, as well as everybody else knew what was coming next. Billy Hargrove. Billy was very unfortunately a lifeguard, his reign of terror extending past high school to his summer job.
Billy had on his lifeguard uniform, sunglasses over his eyes and a cigarette in his hand. As he walked towards the chair that Heather decended, Julie saw a few mothers, including Karen checking Billy out. Gross. He's barely eighteen, Julie thought, cringing with disgust. It took time off of his route, but Billy didn't head to the chair at first. He stalked towards his sister, who was sitting by the edge of the pool.
"Don't touch me, there's a five year old right below me." Julie warned, feeling Billy's presence behind her.
Billy knelt down behind Julie, his cigarette dangerously close to her skin. "Why should I care about some kid?" He said, voice low.
Julie saw the mothers trying to make themselves look sexier, staring at the interaction between the twins. "She's Karen Wheeler's youngest. "
Billy stuffed his cigarette in his mouth, taking a long drag before removing it. "Lucky you." Smoke blew into the side of Julie's face, causing her neutral expression to sour. Julie and Steve had quit smoking together, as neither of them enjoyed it enough to continue. It was just an escape.
Julie didn't expect what came out of Billy's mouth next. Billy didn't know what prompted him to say it. "Cute suit. I like it." He said, taking one of the straps in his hand and snapping it against Julie's skin, causing her to wince.
"Go away, you asshole. We're both on the clock." Julie said, pushing Billy away.
Billy stood up. "I just complimented you for the first time ever, and this is how you repay me?" He scoffed.
Julie nodded, turning her head to look at him. "Yup."
Billy sauntered off, but not without lightly pushing Julie in the water with his foot. Lucky for him, Julie steadied herself on the edge of the pool before he could. Now that Billy was on the right path, Julie could relax again, watching Holly swim around.
A whistle blew loudly, not far from Julie. "Hey, lard-ass!" Billy screamed, silencing the rambunctious crowd of swimmers. Julie looked across the pool to a boy who was running on the deck. "No running on my watch! I gotta warn you again, and you're banned for life. You wanna be banned for life, lard-ass?" The kid shook his head. "Didn't think so." Billy blew his whistle again, igniting the crowd again. Lard-ass walked to his destination, just as Billy walked towards the mothers.
Holly played in the water for another ten minutes, until she got out of the pool quickly and sat on the side of the pool next to Julie. "What's up, babe?" Julie asked, putting her arm around the little girl.
"Can we get ice cream? From the funny sailors?" Holly asked, swinging her legs in excitement. Julie knew she was talking about Scoops Ahoy in the mall, and as much as she didn't want to go and see Steve, she couldn't say no to Holly. She wouldn't say no to Holly.
Julie sighed dramatically and slumped her shoulders, something she did when Holly won her over. "Let's go ask your mama, okay?" Holly and Julie both knew Karen would have no problem.
Holly cheered, standing up and rushing to where Karen sat, throwing her dripping wet body over top of her. "Whoa, miss Holly. What's got you all excited?" Karen said, smiling at Holly as Julie came walking over.
"Can I get ice cream?" She asked, her five year old grammar kicking in.
"It's on me. I was gonna take her to the mall." Julie jumped in, putting her sunglasses on her head.
Karen smiled. "That's fine. Are you gonna walk?" she asked, grabbing Holly's towel and clothes while Julie grabbed her canvas tote bag from under Karen's lounge chair.
Mrs. Wheeler knew that Julie struggled to get her driver's license, so anytime they drove to the pool or somewhere else, she helped her to learn, which Julie appreciated more than Mrs. Wheeler knew. "Yeah. It's not too hot today, and I'll put more sunscreen and her hat on her."
"Perfect. Have fun, you two." Karen handed Julie Holly's things, the girl kissing her mother's cheek and bouncing along to Julie's side. The girls waved as they walked away towards the changing area.
Julie pulled on some clothes, drying Holly off and putting her clothes on her. Julie rubbed some more sunscreen on both her and Holly's skin, finishing her preparation with their sandals and a hat on Holly's head.
•••
Steve was scooping ice cream as usual, trying to ignore his ex-girlfriend's best friend. Robin was hellbent on making Steve aware that she thought he sucked. They had made a bet that he couldn't get another girl to be with him, after Julie. Robin didn't think he could do it, and Steve wanted to prove her wrong.
But he didn't think anyone could replace the girl he had and lost.
The same nautical tune was playing as Steve scooped chocolate ice cream into a cone. "Alrighty, one scoop of chocolate. That's a buck-twenty-five. Anything else?" He handed the cone over to the girl in front of him while she grabbed her money. "Ooh, Purdue. Fancy." Steve noticed the girl's sweatshirt, reminding him of the IUPUI sweatshirt Julie wore religiously.
"Yeah, I'm excited." The girl said, chuckling with her friend.
Steve began to ring her up on the register. "Yeah, you know, I considered it, Purdue, but then I was like, you know what? I really think I need some real-life experience, you know, before I hit college, see what it feels like. Kinda like, uh, I don't know, see what it's like to earn a working-man's wage, you know? Uh..." The register started beeping, ending Steve's rant. He was too oblivious to notice the looks he was given by the girls in front of him. "Oh, I'm sorry. I think that's like, really important."
"Yeah, totally." The girl said.
"Yeah, anyway, this was, like, so fun. We should kind of like, you know, I don't know, maybe hang out this weekend or--" Steve dropped the girl's change, her coins clattering. "Oh, sorry about that. Uh... I don't know. Maybe next weekend or--"
The girl cut him off. "Yeah, I'm busy." She said, putting her change into her wallet.
"Oh, that's cool. I'm-- I'm working here next weekend, so... the following weekend's better for me." Steve said.
"No, I'm sorry, I can't." The girl said, before her friend jumped in.
"Okay. Thanks." Both girls started chuckling as they began to walk away from the counter.
"I... This is... my first day here." Steve knew it was useless, but he tried anyway.
Robin watched the whole exchange from the back room, preparing for the girls to leave. "And another one bites the dust." She said, pulling her board from the corner of the room to the window, marker in hand. Steve turned around, head hung low. "You are oh-for-six, Popeye." Robin said, adding a sixth mark to the 'You Suck' side of her board.
"Yeah, yeah, I can count." Steve leant against the counter, arms crossed.
"You know that means you suck." Robin reitterated what the board said.
Steve nodded. "Yep, I can read, too."
"Since when?"
"It's this stupid hat." Steve said, walking closer to Robin while she pushed the board away. "I am telling you, it is totally blowing my best feature." He groaned.
"Yeah, company policy is a real drag." Robin monotoned, her blue eyes showing no interest. "You know, it's a crazy idea, but have you considered... telling the truth?"
"Oh, you mean, that I couldn't even get into Tech and my douchebag dad's trying to teach me a lesson, that the only reason I went for this job was so I could be near Julie, but now she hates me, I make three bucks an hour, and I have no future? That truth?" Steve ranted. Robin of course knew all of this, but it was still entertaining to see him worked up.
"I wonder why Julie hates you." Robin said, tilting her head to the side.
"Yeah, I know." Steve groaned. Everytime Robin brought it up, he felt guilty all over again, but he knew he deserved to.
Robin looked around Steve's head to see a shocking sight. Juliana Hargrove was crossing the threshhold into Scoops Ahoy, a place she rarely entered. "Hey, twelve o'clock." Robin pointed to Julie, who's hand was being held by Holly Wheeler. She was too invested in Holly's story to see Robin looking at her.
Steve whipped his head around, eyes going wide as he spotted the girl. Julie had on a pair of denim shorts and a green striped tank top, the straps of her bathing suit peeking out. Her face was tan, and her hair was up with sunglasses adorning her head. She held a bag on her shoulder, and wore sandals. She looked good, but she wasn't Steve's to look at anymore.
"Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Okay... Uh..." Steve whispered, turning back around before Julie caught him staring. "I'm going in. Okay? And you know what?" Steve took his hat off and threw it into the back room. "Screw company policy."
"Oh, my God, you're a whole new man." Robin said sarcastically, preparing for the laughs she was going to get.
"Right? Ooh." Steve said, turning to see Julie and a girl he recognized as Holly at the front counter. "Ahoy, ladies! Didn't see you there." He said loudly, making Holly gasp. Julie was not amused. "Would you guys like to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me?"
Julie looked beyond Steve to Robin, raising her eyebrows at her. Robin rolled her eyes. "Hey, dingus? The kid wants a small sized vanilla with sprinkles. Make is snappy, she's on the clock." Before leaving the pool, Julie snuck into the office and called Robin using their phone, already telling her what Holly wanted so she didn't have to talk to Steve. Robin thought it was a little excesive, but she agreed.
Steve sighed, rolling his eyes. He scooped the ice cream for Holly, adding sprinkles before holding it out to Julie, who took it and handed it to the little girl at her side. "Anything else?" he asked, ringing Julie up.
Julie shook her head, fishing the money out of her bag and handing it to Steve. "Keep the change." She winked at Robin as she picked Holly up into her arms, walking off with the happy girl.
It was hard for Julie to look in Steve's direction after they split, but now those feelings turned into anger. She was angry that Steve was trying to get girls so soon, and she was angry that he existed. Even though Julie was so busy with her job and with Holly and Max, she still found time to be upset. In the wake of Julie and Steve's messy breakup, Julie was left with everything. And nothing at the same time.