Sure enough, Julia was unable to keep her dry toast breakfast down. She lied across two bus seats, a trash bag in front of her and a blanket thrown over her. She was in the front row, with no one behind or across from her.
"So, let me ask you something," Rizzo said to Jack as they sat beside each other a few rows back from Julie. Jack turned away from the window, looking to his friend.
"You've hated Mac since 76, you started a fight with him the first day of practice, and now you two are all buddy-buddy."
"That's not a question," Jack pointed out. "And you heard Herb that day at practice. We're a team. I'm hopefully not going anywhere and neither is Herb's golden boy, so we might as well get along."
"My question is, does any of this have to do with Julie?"
Jack gave Rizzo a funny look.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, are you being friendly with Mac because you wanna be friends with Jules?"
Jack rolled his eyes, shaking his head at Rizzo.
"You're being ridiculous. Mac and I can be friends. Plus, have you met Julie? I think she'd have no problem being my friend even if Mac didn't like it."
"Yeah, but she values his opinion so maybe you want him to like you so he says good things about you," Rizzo argued.
"You're taking this way out of proportion. Jules and I are friends. Mac and I are friends. We're all just friends," Jack stated, starting to get annoyed with his friend. He meant what he said. He liked Julie, but Jack O'Callahan was never the type to pretend to like someone he didn't, not even for her. Somewhere along the line, he had realized that Rob really wasn't that bad. He didn't think the two of them would ever be the best of friends, but he didn't mind Robbie.
"Relax, OC, I was just making an observation," Rizzo defended himself. "Jules is cool, and you two seem to be hitting it off."
Rizzo and Jack had been friends since college, and Rizzo had seen Jack flirt with more girls than he could count. Jack has certainly been known as a ladies' man around Boston University. Rizzo could tell Jack and Jules were genuinely friends. Jack liked to make fun of her and joke around with her, which was different than his usual quick and charming flirting. He seemed to actually care about his friendship with Julie.
"Yeah, she told me a lot of stuff about her family and LA and stuff. She's a lot different than I expected her to be."
"What, you mean back when you had a crush on her?" Rizzo couldn't help but tease him. After they had gone to see Aerosmith in 76 with a group of their friends, Jack couldn't stop talking about her for a week. Jack's lips were pressed into a thin line as he glared at his friend.
"Back when I had a crush on her, she was Julia Brooks, this big rock star," Jack explained, before shrugging, his face softening a bit. "Now, she's just Jules."
"Ya know, she probably appreciates that. I'm sure she's dealt with her fair share of people only wanting to be her friend because of her fame."
Before Jack could respond, they heard Julie throwing up again. Although, there wasn't much left in her so it was more like painful dry heaving. Jack looked around the seat to where she was curled up and saw Herb and Doc checking on her. Jack checked his watch. The good news was, they were probably pretty close to the hotel. The bad news was, she had been sick for nearly 24 hours, and Doc had decided if it exceeded 24 hours, Julie was heading to a hospital. When he got on the bus earlier that day, Rob had informed his teammates that they were able to keep her fever from getting above 101, but they couldn't get it to go down. Herb seemed incredibly stressed out. He had been nice to bring Julie along (Of course there was always the constant fatherly instinct over her, and he didn't entirely trust Patti to be able to keep her out of trouble. Especially with the boys gone.). But now with her being sick in a foreign country, he felt bad. He wasn't able to fully take care of her, and he certainly wasn't putting her on a plane alone to go home, plus he still had the team to worry about.
"Actually, I'm starting to feel a little better," Julie reassured her uncle. He looked at her skeptically, as Mac came up from his seat a few rows behind her.
"You empty yet, kiddo?" He asked, sitting in the row behind her, looking at his best friend with pity.
"I think so," she groaned, rolling from her side onto her back. "I just want to get to the hotel and go to sleep."
"We're almost there, Julie, and we'll get you straight to bed. We don't have to be on the road tomorrow, so you can sleep in," Herb promised his niece, patting her shoulder gently.
Rob couldn't help but smile a little bit. As long as he'd known Julie, Herb had a soft spot for her. Rob wasn't sure if it was because of her parents, but he knew that Julie, Kelly, and Patti were the only ones who were on the receiving end of this soft Herb. Certainly none of his hockey players had ever experienced it.
"Do you want some more water?" Rob offered her his water bottle, seeing as hers was empty. Julie looked at it for a moment, before noticing her dry lips and parched mouth. She nodded, slowly sitting up and taking the bottle from her friend.
"You might wanna pour that into your water bottle, Julie. I don't need Mac getting sick from your germs," Herb instructed her. She poured some of the water into her own bottle, drinking it quickly.
"Remember when we both got the flu at the same time when we were 15?" Mac reminded her, causing her to grin up at him.
"We sent Julie to stay with you to keep the germs out of our house," Herb chuckled.
"My mom took such good care of us all week," Rob reminisced.
"I miss your family," she grinned at Rob. "And your mom's chicken noodle soup. I miss your mom a lot."
"She'll be at some of our games, closer to home. We can always go see her when we get back," Rob suggested.
Julie had spent a lot of her time at the McClanahan household. His mother, Beverly, had been like a mom to Julie, along with her Aunt Patti. His father, Paul, was always kind and welcoming to her. Rob also had a sister, Katherine, who was four years younger than him.
"Does she hate me?" Julie suddenly asked, her tone barely above a whisper. Her eyes bore into Rob's, pressing him for an honest answer.
"What? No, Mom could never hate you," Rob insisted, looking at her sincerely. "You know she loves you like her own daughter, she could never hate you."
Julie nodded, looking away, deep in thought. She sighed quietly, taking another sip of water. Herb returned to his seat, seeing as his niece seemed to be done getting sick for a while.
"She asks about you," Rob offered quietly, seeing his friend didn't quite believe him. "A lot."
"I should've called her more. I should've called you more," Julie stated.
"You were busy, Jules. We knew that. You called a lot, honestly. Mom said you always remembered her birthdays, plus Dad and Kathy's. You wrote to me and them."
"Until I stopped because all I could think of was getting high," Julie said, her voice filled with regret. Mac sighed, moving a piece of hair off her forehead.
"Hey, don't do this now. That's over. Me, Herb, Patti, the band, everyone is ready to forgive all that and move on. We love you. We just want you to be happy and healthy."
She looked up at him, her eyes glossy with tears.
"I don't know what I'd do with you, Mackey."
He just smiled at his best friend, happy to have her around everyday. He really hadn't realized just how much he had missed her. When she first moved, he was absolutely gutted, but over time he got used to having a long-distance best friend. Now, however, he was already dreading the day she would get on a plane heading back to California.
Once they arrived at the hotel, Rob helped her get up, and practically carried her off the bus. Mark grabbed her suitcase, as Craig went to go check them into their rooms. As soon as they got the room keys, Rob and Mark took Julie and her stuff up to her room. Rob put Julie down on the bed, filling her water bottle up and placing it by her bed. Mark set her suitcase down as the door opened behind them.
"Hey, sicky," Jack said, being followed into the room by Jimmy and Rizzo.
"How ya doin?" Jimmy asked, as they gathered around her bed with Rob and Mark.
"I feel a lot better, I'm just tired. And cold. Probably gonna miss your game tonight. I'm sorry, guys."
"Wow, that's so selfish," Rizzo rolled his eyes. "You've been throwing up for the last 24 hours and you're going to take a night off from watching us play to rest?"
"I always knew she was a fake fan," Jack said to the boys, shaking his head.
"Maybe you just need to prove you can win without me" she told them softly, yawning as she climbed under the comforter, ready to drift off into sleep.
"We'll come see you after the game," Mark promised, although he wasn't sure she even registered it, as her eyes were already closing. She muttered something, but none of them could quite understand her, so they just told her goodbye and left her to sleep.
The boys were pumped on the bus ride back to the hotel. They had won their game, but more than winning, they felt like they were finally beginning to make--small, but significant--improvements to the way they played together as a team. It was easy to take a bunch of talented athletes and put them together wearing the same jersey, but it was entirely different to be a team. By the time they arrived back at the hotel, their energy level was off the charts. As Jimmy, Jack, Rob, Mark, Silky, and Rizzo made their way back to their rooms, they were discussing going to a bar they had seen not far down the street.
"I'm gonna go check on Jules," Mac declared, walking towards her door. The boys decided to follow him in, and they were surprised to see that Doc and Herb had beat them into the room. Immediately, they noticed that Julie's face had the color back in it, she was sitting up in bed, and her forehead and hair were damp with sweat. She gave the men entering her room a smile.
"Good news is your fever has broken," Doc said. "I think one more good night of sleep and you'll be feeling back to normal."
Julie thanked Doc, as Herb placed a damp washcloth on her head.
"Glad to hear it. We're sick of not having a cheering section," Jimmy grinned at her. Herb and Doc said their goodnights, leaving Julie to talk with her friends.
"How was the game?" She asked them, settling back down in her bed.
"We won, 4-1," Jack informed her, all the boys looking proud of themselves.
"Good! Are you all off to celebrate?"
"We saw some bar down the road we might go check out," Rizzo told her, as Mac sat down beside her on her bed, dabbing the washcloth on her forehead.
"Unless you want me to stay here with you," Rob offered, looking down at her.
"No, no, go have fun. I'm probably just gonna fall back asleep anyway," she insisted, although she looked wide awake for the first time in twenty-four hours.
"Are you sure, Jules? We don't mind staying and hanging out," Jack told her, sitting on the foot of her bed.
"Seriously, go. I mean it, I'll be just fine here by myself," she assured them. "You heard Doc, I'll be fine by the morning."
"We shouldn't be out late," Rob told her, getting up from beside her as the boys told her that they would see her later, leaving her alone yet again.
Jimmy walked to the room he shared with Jack feeling more than a little melancholy. He had been quiet all day, and Jack felt bad that it had taken him this long to figure out what was wrong with his friend. It was his mother's birthday. Jimmy's mom had passed away a few years earlier from cancer, and it had really taken a toll on Jimmy. Jack, Rizzo, and Dave Silk had been there for him, they had gone to the funeral, but Jimmy was quiet. He didn't talk about her often and when he did, it was never much. As they made it back to their room, Jack decided it was finally time to say something.
"I know it's your mom's birthday, Jimmy. I'm sorry we're not home so you could visit her or anything," Jack said quietly. Jimmy liked to go to the cemetery where his mom was buried to visit. He would sit and talk with her, just update her on life.
"Thanks, Jack," Jimmy looked to his teammate, before looking away. He had to admit Jack's words surprised him. He didn't think anyone else would remember. Not to mention, Jack wasn't typically an emotional guy, not with words anyway.
"I wish I knew what to say. I never do. I didn't know what to say when Jules told me her dad died, either," Jack sighed, going to his suitcase to get some clothes to change into.
"Julie's dad died?" Jimmy asked, sitting down on his bed and looking up at his teammate. Jack looked to him and nodded, changing into his clothes for the bar.
"Yeah, that's why she lived with Herb and Patti before she went to California, and why she's with them now."
"What about her mom?"
"Her mom left when she was eight. Her and her dad moved to Saint Paul, and then he died when she was 13," Jack told him. Jimmy was suddenly not feeling like going out to the bar at all. They heard a knock at the door, before Dave Silk and Mark walked in.
"You guys coming?" Silky asked them, clearly ready to go celebrate.
"You guys go ahead, I'm gonna stay in tonight," Jimmy told them. Jack raised his eyebrows, looking to his friend.
"You sure, Jimmy?"
Jimmy guaranteed he would be okay, and waited for them to leave. Once they were gone, he wasted no time going down the hall and knocking on Julie's door.
"Come in," he heard her call. He walked in to find her sitting up in bed, reading a book.
"Hi, Jimmy," she said, but he could tell she was a little surprised to see him.
"Hey, Julie," he greeted, walking into the room and standing a bit awkwardly at the end of her bed.
"Did you decide not to go out tonight?" She asked, putting her book down and sitting with her legs crossed on the bed. He just shook his head, looking at the ground, clearly distracted by something.
"Do you wanna sit down, Jimmy?"
He finally looked at her, his blue eyes focused on her. It took a second to register what she said, but he finally sat down on the bed opposite of her.
"Are you alright?" she questioned. She had never seen Jimmy look so solemn.
"Not really," he admitted, giving her a crooked smile. "It's my mom's birthday, and she passed away a few years back. I'm just having a bad day."
She looked at him with sympathy, her heart aching for him and herself a little bit.
"Did OC tell you about my dad?"
He nodded, staring at his shoes.
"I thought it might be nice to talk to someone who gets it."
"I get it. It sucks. It's been nearly eight years since my dad died, and it still hurts."
"That gives me hope," he laughed dryly. "God, she was the best. She loved hockey. She was crazy about it. She loved taking me to practice. It was her dream for me to be on this team. I just wish she was here to see it."
"I'm sure she's proud of you, Jimmy. But that almost makes it harder. You just wish more than anything that they were here to witness you succeeding, being everything they ever hoped you'd be."
"Like sometimes, it's not even worth it because they're not here."
They were quiet for a moment, before he looked at her.
"Do you believe in heaven?"
"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I guess so. It hurts less to think about Dad being somewhere that he can still look down on me and stuff, ya know?"
"Yeah. I mean, I come from that Irish-Catholic Boston household, so my family all believes in that stuff. I'm trying really hard to believe in it. I take comfort in thinking about my mother in heaven."
"How big is your family?"
"I have 4 brothers and three sisters. What about you?"
"Just me." she shrugged, secretly jealous of Jimmy's large family.
"That's gotta be hard, with no one to lean on."
"Yeah, it was. Thank goodness for my grandparents and my uncles. And Mac, of course."
"How did you and Mac become friends?"
"I was the new kid at school when I moved to Saint Paul. It was the middle of the school year. No one was very nice to me for the first couple of weeks. Then Herb took me to the rink to practice my skating one Saturday, and Mac was there. He asked me if I wanted to play one-on-one hockey with him. He beat me. Bad," Julie remembered, a smile on her pretty face. Even Jimmy cracked a smile at that.
"Is any of your family planning on coming to the games?"
"Hopefully my dad. He took it really hard when my mom died. And then he lost everything. If it wasn't for my mom wanting me to be on this team, I would've signed with Atlanta and been able to help take care of the family. But I couldn't do that to my mom."
"Well, hopefully I can meet your dad at the games," she said, stretching her arms above her before looking at Jimmy. "Would you be opposed to continuing this conversation as we go find food? There's absolutely nothing in my stomach."
Jimmy chuckled at her, although he had to admit he was hungry too.
"Are we getting room service?"
"Oh, my God, we're going out."
"Are you sure you should? You've been sick as hell, maybe we should just stay in."
"Jimmy, I have seen nothing but hotel rooms and a bus for the last twenty-four hours. I might as well be on tour," she laughed, going to her suitcase to find some clothes that weren't pajamas. "We're going out."
"So tour is not as exciting as it seems?" Jimmy asked as she headed into the bathroom with a pile of clothes in her hands.
"Not in the slightest!" She called from behind the closed door. "It's all interviews and radio shows. Then you get fucked up, do a show, get more fucked up and get to either a hotel or a bus to do it all again the next day. It's cool the first time. After that, it's just exhausting."
"I guess I never really thought of it that way."
"Don't get me wrong," she said, coming out of the bathroom in jeans, a Rolling Stones t-shirt, and a leather jacket. "I'm bitching about it, but I wouldn't change it for the world. I feel lucky everyday. I absolutely love what I do."
"No, I know what you mean. Like I love playing hockey, but sometimes I wish it was just on a frozen pond with my buddies without all the fanfare. You just wanna do what you love without all the extra bullshit."
As the two of them left her room and eventually the hotel to find a little restaurant, they continued to talk about their families. Jimmy told her all about his brothers and sisters, and growing up in Boston. Jimmy was the oldest, and Julie could tell he felt a strong sense of responsibility towards his siblings. Jules told him about her house in Hollywood, where she lived with her band.
"Why wouldn't I live with them? They've been my second family for years," she explained when he asked why rockstars would have roommates.
"Don't you ever get sick of them? You live together, work together, tour together. I'm guessing you all go to the same parties and the same clubs."
"It's not a small house by any means, Jimmy. I have my own room and bathroom. And plenty of places I can escape to if I'm annoyed with everyone," she laughed. "But to be honest with you, I've never really been big on alone time. I like to be around people. I can be alone for a little while, or like when I'm sick, but I think I'd hate to live alone."
Jimmy pointed out a little restaurant across the street and the two of them made their way over. From the looks of it, it mostly served soup, so they each got a bowl and sat down at a little table in the corner. After a few minutes of quiet eating, Jimmy spoke up again.
"Do you miss them?"
"My parents or my band?"
"Band."
"Terribly," she answered almost immediately.
"And parents?"
She was quiet for a minute, staring out the window. Jimmy thought he saw tears welling up in her eyes.
"Dad, yes. Mom, no. She wasn't much of a mom, anyway," she shrugged. "It makes me sad, though. I wish she had been better. It always made me feel like shit, knowing she didn't want me."
Jimmy really didn't know what to say. They had losing a parent in common, but Jimmy can't say that he ever felt unwanted by his own parent. They quietly ate their soup, as Jimmy watched her, totally lost in her thoughts.
"How long do you think before you'll go back to California?" He asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"I don't know," she told him. "I guess when everyone decides I'm ready to go back. It's weird because I was like 17 years old with basically no supervision, and now at 21, I'm under a lot of supervision. But I guess I need it."
The two of them laughed, finishing up their meals. They were both quiet as they left, taking in the sights and sounds of the city. It was pretty chilly, but luckily it was a short walk back to the hotel.
"Ya know, Jimmy, this was fun," Julie stated as they neared the hotel. "I'm glad I get to hang out with you guys. You certainly make my exile more bearable."
Jimmy thought to himself about how glad he was that she was there. He hadn't spent much time talking to her, like really getting to know her. She was more down to earth than she came off at first. Plus, Jimmy was grateful that he had someone to talk to about losing a parent.
"Jimmy! Jules!"
The two of them turned around to see their friends walking towards them. Rob, Dave, Jack, Rizzo, and Mark were about fifty yards away on the sidewalk. Jimmy and Julie stopped to wait for them, laughing as Jack and Mark got into a race to see who could reach them faster.
"Yeah! Kiss my ass, OC!" Mark yelled, slowing down in front of Jimmy and Julie, Jack hot on his heels.
"That was bullshit, you got a head start!" Jack argued. "You're a cheater."
"Like you with bowling, OC?" Julie smirked at her friend. Jack gave her a fake glare.
"Let's not bring up the past, Julia."
"Whatever, John."
"Well, someone seems to have made a miraculously fast recovery. What are you doing two doing out?" Rob asked as the rest of the boys finally caught up with them. There was a sense of disapproval in his voice, but he decided not to say anything about her being out and about.
"I was starving, so we went out to find food. I'm finally feeling better. Well, I'm still tired but I don't think I'll throw up again."
"You don't think? I swear, Jules, if you ralph on me our friendship is over," Jack informed her.
"I'll be sure to aim for you then," she grinned as the group made their way into the hotel. "So, how was the bar?"
"Good. It's fun to watch Silky strike out with girls in another country," Rizzo said, causing all of them except Dave to laugh.
"What are we doing now?" Julie asked, looking to the boys.
"You should probably get to bed. Herb and Doc might kill you if they know you left," Rob said to Julie as they got into the elevator.
"No, I'm bored. I've done nothing but lie in bed for hours, Rob."
"You heard Doc. You need one more good night of sleep. Just go to bed, Julia."
"I would argue with you, but I'm too tired."
Rob just rolled his eyes and laughed at her, ruffling her hair.