"Whose Corvette is that in the driveway?" David questioned when he picked Julia up the next day for the boys' game.
"It's mine!" Julia told him happily. "I'm learning how to drive."
David's jaw dropped, glancing back to the car in the driveway.
"You bought a Corvette? To learn how to drive?" He clarified. Julia rolled her eyes at him and sighed.
"Spare the lecture, I promise I've heard it. Are you ready to go?"
David chuckled at her as they walked out of her house, Julia calling goodbye to her family.
"Are the kids not going to the game tonight?"
"Patti said no since it's a school night," Julia shrugged. She stopped walking in front of her car, grinning down at her car.
"Isn't she so cute? It'll probably still be a few weeks before I can take her out, but I can't wait," Julia exclaimed.
"Do you wanna take it out tonight?" David asked, but it was clear he was hesitating a little bit.
"Oh, no, it's okay," Julia told him quickly. "We can just take your car."
David nodded and the two of them made their way to his car.
"Big game tonight?"
"Well, they're playing the U. Uncle Herb was their coach up until this season. Now his assistant coach is their head coach. But Robbie, Neal, Janny, Verchota, Baker, Christoff, Strobel, and Rammer were all on the team last season. Buzzy went there, too, but he graduated in like 74."
"Wow," David chuckled. "I'm gonna feel like a traitor if I'm not rooting for the U."
"The boys might lose their minds if they see you cheering for their opponent," Julia warned him with a laugh, but there was certainly a layer of truth to what she said.
"Fair, fair. I'll just make sure they don't see me," David smirked.
"Fine, but don't be surprised when they're not nice to you at the Halloween party next week," Julia told him.
"Oh, right. I meant to talk to you about that. I've gotta close at the store that night, so I'll be late. Do you just want me to meet you there?"
"Yeah, that's fine. I'll just have Robbie take me and you can meet us there whenever you get off," Julia told him with a smile.
"Are you sure the guys are cool with me coming?"
"Of course they are," Julia insisted. "Why wouldn't they be?"
"It just seems like a few of them aren't crazy about you having a boyfriend," David chuckled. Julia's heart raced and her face lit up red. They had hung out pretty much every night they'd been free, but they had never had a conversation about what they were.
"Boyfriend?" She repeated. David looked over at her with a smile, taking her hand in his.
"Yeah, I was thinking so. That is, if you wanted to be my girlfriend?"
"Well, yeah," she smiled. "And don't worry about the boys, they really do like you."
"If you're sure," he nodded, still holding Julia's hand in his.
"Oh, look, O'Callahan is heading to the box again," Kathy remarked as they watched the game. Jack had just gotten into a fight with one of the Gophers.
"He just can't get enough of beating up on Minnesota boys," Gayle laughed.
"He probably wishes it was Robbie," Kathy grinned, making all the girls laugh.
"OC wants to beat up Robbie?" David questioned.
"There was this big rivalry between the Minnesota and Boston boys. Jack and Robbie certainly weren't the best of friends," Julia explained to him.
"That's putting it lightly. They fought the first day of practices," Kathy added on. Julia turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow.
"Wait, Jack and Robbie got into a fight?" Julia repeated.
"Yeah, Jules. O'Callahan hit Robbie unnecessarily and then they fought. Did you not know this?"
"No," Julia said, frowning at the ground. "Robbie and I weren't on speaking terms when practices started. I guess all the boys conveniently forgot to mention that."
"Well, at least you know they're over it, now," Gayle told her assuringly.
"Is OC always fighting? Danny made a comment about that the other night," David spoke up, staring at an obviously pissed-off Jack in the penalty box.
"Jack isn't very good with words, so I think he usually resorts to punching. He's leading the team in penalty minutes," Julia said half-heartedly. For some reason, it was really bothering her that she didn't know Jack and Robbie had fought. She knew they hadn't really liked each other, but she didn't know it had ever gotten physical.
"I guess that's one way to solve problems," David said, and Julia tried to ignore the judgmental tone of his voice.
I wonder if that Brenda girl is here. Jack said she goes to the U.
"Who is Brenda?" Kathy questioned as Julia realized she had voiced her thoughts out loud. She stuttered for a minute before she just laughed it off.
"Oh, this girl Jack is taking out this weekend. He was telling me about her. Poor boy is so nervous," Julia told them with a fake laugh.
"OC doesn't seem like the nervous type," Gayle observed.
"Hey, maybe we can double-date sometime. That is, if you and OC are getting along," David chuckled.
"It's so hard to tell whether they're friends are not," Kathy said to David, who nodded. The rest of the game was pretty uneventful, the boys beating the U 8-2. Julia has expected the game to be a little closer, especially considering the way everyone in Minneapolis talked about Tim Harrer, the Gophers' star player. He was good, but he alone wasn't enough to beat the boys. Gayle, Kathy, David, and Julia waited for the boys to come out as students from the U moved past them.
"Hey, David," a tall dark-haired guy greeted as he approached with a red headed girl.
"Hey, how's it going?" David nodded to the couple.
"Julia, these are my friends, Bobby and Sharon. Guys, this is my girlfriend, Julia."
Julia and the couple made polite conversation while Kathy whispered to Gayle.
"Did he just call Julie his girlfriend?"
"Yeah, I think so," Gayle said, the girls sharing a surprised look.
"Hey, we're having a party next weekend at our place. You guys should stop by," Sharon told Julia and David.
"Yeah, definitely. Sounds like fun," Julia agreed. The couples said their goodbyes before the boys made it out to see them.
"What a game," Jack grinned as he and Rizzo approached them.
"You just like fighting people," Julia pointed out.
"Not true," Jack rolled his eyes. "Hey, David, did you see Julie's car?"
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome," David nodded with a smile.
"What a car," Jack sighed happily. "Doesn't it drive great, though?"
Julia glared at Jack as David just shifted his weight on his feet. Now David would know that Jack had driven her car.
"We didn't take the Corvette. We took David's car," Julia told him, and Jack's eyes widened. For once, he really wasn't trying to make David feel bad, he just assumed Julia would've let him drive the car.
"Well, take it for a spin soon," Jack said awkwardly. "It's fun."
"Right. Well, I'm gonna go find my parents," Kathy said before making a quick escape.
"I'm gonna go find Buzz," Gayle said, before following Kathy's lead.
"We should head out. Tell the boys I said good game," Julia told Jack before grabbing David by the hand and walking toward the door. Once they were in his car, David looked over at her.
"Can I ask why you and Robbie weren't speaking?"
Julia shrank back in her seat, before looking at him with a frown.
"I knew I would have to tell you this eventually, and you've been really nice to not ask, but it's probably time you know why I'm in Minnesota."
"I wondered, but I didn't wanna be rude," he admitted quietly.
"So when I was living in LA and touring and everything, I sort of...well, not sort of. I got addicted to cocaine. I was drinking and doing other stuff, but the coke was the real problem. Robbie called me out on it once, and I got pissed. We had been best friends for years, and I got mad at him for looking out for me. I was so messed up," she started. For some reason, explaining this to David felt harder than telling anyone else. "This one night at a bar, I got some coke from this guy, and then he told me he knew this really cool place where they had just about any substance you could think of. He offered to take me, so we went. He drove drunk and high, and we got into a wreck. No one was killed or anything, but my band was over my behavior. They said I could pick rehab or coming home to stay with my uncle. I've been here since August."
David was silent for longer than Julia was comfortable with. She could feel her stomach flipping as she waited for him to say something.
"I get it if you don't wanna see me anymore," she said quietly.
"Are you crazy?" He asked, finally looking at her.
"I'm not mad, Julia. I just don't know what to say. I'm sorry you went through all of that."
Julia breathed a sigh of relief when he held her hand in his.
"I know it's not under ideal circumstances, but I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I met you," David told her sincerely. Julia leaned over to kiss him, before relaxing back in her seat.
"Please don't hit this car," Robbie pleaded as Julia drove around a nearly empty parking lot a few days later.
"I'm not," she insisted, rolling her eyes at Robbie. Julia was turning out to be a better driver than any of the boys would have guessed, but that didn't stop them from being overly-cautious anytime they were in the car with her.
"You're not doing too bad," Jack nodded from the backseat with Jimmy.
"Why didn't anyone tell me Robbie and Jack fought during the first practice?" Julia suddenly blurred out. Everyone was confused for a second before Jimmy finally spoke up.
"It didn't seem that important."
"We were just becoming friends. I wasn't gonna make things weird by telling you that Robbie and I had fought," Jack admitted.
"But still, no one ever even mentioned it?"
"How did you even hear about it?" Robbie asked her.
"Kathy mentioned it, and she was all surprised that I didn't know. Then on the way home David asked me why Robbie and I weren't speaking at the time, so I just told him everything," she told them bitterly.
"Well, that's a good thing," Jimmy told her.
"Imagine asking a girl to be your girlfriend and then three hours later she tells you she's an exiled coke-addict who can't be trusted on her own despite being 21 years old," Julia huffed.
"He asked you to be his girlfriend?" Robbie asked, raising an eyebrow. Jack didn't say anything, but just stared out the window.
"Yeah, on our way to the game," she said, but she still sounded sad.
"Jules, if he's worth a shit at all, he's gonna stick by you no matter what. If he can't see how great you are, you don't need him anyway," Jimmy reminded her. Julie cracked a bit of a smile.
"You're such a dad, Jimmy," she laughed. "He was cool about all of it, though."
"Good. Hey, aren't we not too far from Grooves?" Robbie asked.
"Yeah. He's probably working," Julia told them.
"Why don't you drive over there?" Robbie suggested.
"Do you think I'm ready to drive on the road? Like with other people?" Julia asked, her eyes growing in fear.
"Only one way to find out," Jack shrugged. Under the close guidance of the boys, Julia drove the short distance to the record store, surprising even herself with how comfortable she felt. The boys were being encouraging and patient, even when Jack had to take over to fix Julia's terrible parking job.
"We'll work on parking tomorrow," Jimmy told her as they made their way into the shop. David was behind the counter pricing some records when the bell above the door alerted him of their presence.
"Hi," Julia smiled, practically slipping up to him to peck him on the cheek. "Guess what I just did?"
"Hi," he grinned at her show of affection, waving at the boys. "What did you do?"
"I drove on the road. And I didn't even hit anyone," she said excitedly, making all four guys laugh.
"That's definitely a good thing. I'm proud of you. Are you guys surviving driving lessons?" He asked the boys.
"She's not even as bad as I was expecting her to be," Jack admitted with a shrug.
"Hey!" Julia gasped, glaring at Jack.
"I think the nice way to say that was, she's better than any of us were expecting," Jimmy spoke up. After a few more minutes of small talk, Robbie told them they needed to head back if they wanted to make it home in time for Rizzo's dinner.
"I'll see you Saturday?" David confirmed, looking to Julia.
"Yep," she smiled at him. He wished the boys luck, telling them goodbye as they made their way outside.
"Jack, David wants to double-date sometime. If your date Saturday goes well, of course," Julia told him.
"I'm sure it'll be great. And yeah, a double-date would be fun," Jack agreed. Jimmy and Robbie tried not to laugh out loud at the ridiculous suggestion.