The next morning, Herb was surprised to hear silence from Julie's bedroom around the time when she normally would've been awake and getting dressed for practice. Julia always went with him, desperate to get out of the house and see her friends.
"Julia? Are you coming with me?" Herb asked from the hallway, knocking on the door gently.
"No," she said sternly, leaving no room for Herb to question her decision. He shrugged, before continuing on with his morning.
"Well, looks like Julie's staying here today," Herb informed his wife as she poured him some coffee. Patti froze, staring at Herb.
"She's not going with you? By choice?" Patti questioned, causing Herb to shake his head.
"I guess not. Whatever happened must've really irritated her. I'm sure it'll work out, honey," Herb reassured his wife, before taking his coffee and heading to practice. He started his car, but couldn't refrain from pausing for a few seconds, wondering if he might see Julie rushing out, saying she had changed her mind and was coming with him. When he realized it wasn't happening, he went ahead without her. He didn't want to get involved with her personal business, but he couldn't help but wonder. He figured whatever had happened at practice had something to do with the phone call from the stranger, but he didn't want to assume anything. Julie could be rash, and hopefully whatever had happened was something that could be worked out with a little communication.
As the boys began arriving at practice, Rob was surprised that Julie wasn't waiting for him like she usually was. Rob sighed, figuring that she was probably still mad at the boys. He made his way to the locker room to get ready for practice, making a mental note to be sure to call her later. He realized he probably should've called her the night before, but he doubted she would've been ready to talk about it yet. He knew the boys hadn't meant anything maliciously, but he also knew that Julie was pretty adamant about not needing to be looked after. That was a statement Rob could argue for hours, but it wasn't worth it. It was typically better to just let her make her own choices, and be there to help her when she made a mess.
"Mac, have you seen Jules?" Jack asked as he entered the locker room.
"I think she stayed home," Rob told him with a shrug. Jack sighed, his shoulder dropping.
"I didn't mean to piss her off this bad," Jack swore once again, going to his stall to get ready for practice.
"I know you didn't. I'll call her later and try to fix it," Rob said.
"Ask her to come over for dinner tonight, so we can all apologize," Jack suggested. Rob looked to his teammate with one eyebrow raised.
"Let's not push it, OC."
Late that afternoon, Julie sat in her bed, writing lyrics in her notebook. Most of the anger she had felt the day before was gone, and now she was mostly just excited for her date the following night. She was so busy writing and humming quietly to herself, she didn't hear the knock on the front door downstairs.
Patti took a break from the cookie dough she was mixing to answer the door. She smiled upon seeing Rob on the other side of the door, not only because she loved having him around, but also because he could help get Julie out of her funk. Or at least help Patti understand what it was about.
"Hi, Robbie. What a pleasant surprise," she smiled. Rob gave his ever-charming smile back.
"Hi, Mrs. Brooks. Sorry I didn't call, but I just wanted to stop by to check on Julie."
Patti moved aside and held the door open to him. He entered the house, but refrained from immediately bounding up the stairs to his friend.
"You know, I don't know what's gotten into her," Patti sighed, before glancing up the stairs and lowering her voice. "A boy called for her last night, too. Do you know anything about this?"
He couldn't lie, not to Patti. He just had to hope Julie wasn't eavesdropping on her friend and her aunt talking about her.
"She met this guy at a record store when we were with her. They were obviously into each other. So she went back with Kathy the other night and he asked her out. She came to practice yesterday and she was so excited, but some of the other boys found out," Rob avoided eye contact. He couldn't deny he felt weird talking about Julie's dating life to her aunt. "They got a little overprotective, I guess. And you know Julie, she wasn't too fond of that."
Patti chuckled, all of it clicking together.
"Yeah, that sounds about right. Well, go see if you can get her out of this mood. If you're successful, I'll let you have a cookie," Patti joked. Rob just grinned at her, before going up the stairs. He passed Herb's office, politely waving to his coach as he walked to Julie's room at the end of the hall. He knocked on her door, waiting until he heard her telling him to come in.
"Hey, kid," he said, poking his head in to see Julie sprawled out on her bed. She sat up on her elbows upon hearing his voice.
"Robbie. What are you doing here?" She questioned, sitting up on the edge of the bed as he sat beside her.
"I just came to check up on you. We missed you today," he said, bumping her shoulder with his own as he sat beside her. She looked down at her lap and shrugged.
"I was still pretty mad at them this morning. Especially OC. Like who does he think he is?" Julie ranted, her face twisting in annoyance. The anger she thought had dissipated was rushing back to her.
"He didn't say it to make you mad, Jules," Rob tried to reason with her.
"Well, he did! I don't care if he was trying to make me mad or not. I don't need someone telling me what I can and can't do. I'm perfectly capable of making those decisions myself," she argued, standing up and pacing around her room as she spoke.
"And no one said you're not. But those guys, OC, Silky, they're your friends. Friends watch out for each other. Me, Bakes, Verchota, we've known you longer. We know you can take care of yourself. Maybe it's just that some of the other guys feel like they need to watch out for you a little more."
"I didn't ask for anyone to watch out for me," she huffed.
"You don't have to ask your friends to watch out for you. That's what makes them friends," Robbie reminded her. She stopped pacing, turning towards Robbie with a glare.
"I hate when you make a good argument," she said after a moment of silence. He cracked a smile, flopping back on her bed.
"You know, it's hard being the brains and the beauty in this friendship," he lamented, before being hit with a pillow. "Ow!"
"Shut up, that didn't even hurt," Julie told him, falling back on the bed beside him and staring at the ceiling. "So, what? Am I supposed to apologize to OC?"
"I think you can apologize to each other, and everything will be fine," Rob assured her.
"You think Jack is going to apologize to me? Jack O'Callahan?" Julie asked, glancing over at her friend.
"He felt bad after you left yesterday. He was looking for you this morning. He wanted me to invite you over for dinner tonight so he could apologize," Rob informed her. She stared over at Robbie, not sure what to say.
"Well, now I feel like an ass. I mean...I guess they were just looking out for me," she stated quietly.
"Everyone needs people to look out for them. Everyone needs a team. And you're on our team, Jules. Even if you can't play hockey or even really skate worth a shit."
Rob was quick to grab the pillow she tried to hit him with, the two of them laughing.
"I'll talk to them tomorrow after practice," she decided, feeling much better about the whole situation.
"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I was promised cookies," Rob said, jumping off her bed and walking out of her room.
The next day, Julie sat watching the boys practice, fiddling with her hands nervously. She knew she needed to talk to Jack, Silky, and Jimmy. Especially Jack. She had blown up at him the worst. Rob had a good point when he said that they were just looking out for her. Julie practiced in her head what she wanted to say, but much to her dismay practice ended all too soon. She knew she had to face the boys sooner or later, but she was really hoping it would be later. She sighed as she made her way towards the locker room to wait for the boys to come out. Neal Broten was the first to come out, and he looked at Julie with a grin.
"Well, look who decided to come to practice today," he teased, making her roll her eyes.
"I couldn't stay away from you guys for too long," she joked, shrugging at him.
"If you're looking for your best buddy, he should be out soon," Neal told her. She shook her head, sighing.
"Don't waste your breath, Robbie is always one of the last ones."
"I meant OC," Neal clarified with a smirk. Julie looked at him like he was absolutely nuts.
"OC?" Julie reiterated.
"What?" Jack asked, suddenly coming out of the locker room. Julie turned to look at him, quickly becoming nervous.
"Bye," Neal said quickly, walking past them toward the lobby. Jack and Julie stared at each other for a minute, before they both opened their mouths to talk. They both shut their mouths just as fast.
"Go ahead," Jack said, taking a few steps toward her. She sighed, before she started talking.
"I'm sorry I got mad at you. Mac pointed out to me that you were just looking out for me, and you didn't mean anything bad by it. And that friends look out for each other. So I'm sorry," she said quietly, glancing between the ceiling and the floor.
"It's okay. I'm sorry that I was being a little overprotective. I know you can take care of yourself, I just like to make sure," Jack told her awkwardly. The silence was deafening as they both stood there, avoiding eye contact with each other.
"Friends?" Julie finally asked after a few seconds.
"Were we ever not?" Jack asked with a smile.
Julie smiled at him, feeling a flood of relief washing over her. She couldn't help but lean in
to hug Jack, happy that they were back on good terms. Their apologies were short, and to the point, but they were happy for everything to be over with. Jack happily hugged her back, glad to be back in her good graces.
"Aw, what a sight," Rammer laughed as he and Steve Christoff exited the locker room.
"They're happy now, but it'll be just a few minutes until they're at each other's throat again," Steve chuckled. Julie and Jack just rolled their eyes.
"I need to talk to Silky and Jimmy, too," Julie told Jack, who just nodded. They waited patiently for them to come out, catching up with all the guys as they exited. Jimmy and Silky were easier for Julie to make up with, probably because she wasn't as mad at them. Julie stood around talking with the boys until Mark came out of the locker room.
"Jules! Are you excited for your big date tonight?" He laughed, walking over to her and slinging an arm around her shoulder. Her cheeks lit up red.
"Yeah. We're going out for dinner and drinks," she told them, a smile tugging up the corners of her mouth.
"Is he picking you up?" Steve asked. Julie nodded, while all the boys just stared at each other.
"Imagine picking a girl up for a date and Herb Brooks opens the door," Rammer shuddered, his eyes wide.
"Imagine Rammer picking a girl up for a date," Silky rephrased, making them all laugh.
"Poor girl," Julie sighed, shaking her head.