Author's Note: See, what did I tell you? Back with a vengance, oh also I forgot my promise, Liz, way to pick up on the Sandlot reference!
Oh, and it's not just you Donna, I haven't gotten any alert emails either...its a little annoying.
Summary: Julie talks to Charlie and decides to live her life. Luis gets a little into this whole coaching thing
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.
Chapter 7: Growing up is hard to do
Over the next few days Julie made a lot of attempts to call Luis. But each time he usually just hung up on her. Now she finally understood what he must have felt like, each time he hung up it cut deeper and deeper into her. Adam had been by her side for every phone call, and had even tried a few times to call himself. Finally two days later Luis didn't pick up the phone, but Charlie.
"Hello." Julie smiled, maybe now she could get some answers. Adam gestured towards the door and Julie shook her head.
"Hi Charlie." She said, taking a deep breath. "Is he there?"
"No, he's at the shop." Charlie said quietly. "He wouldn't talk to you anyway, you know that."
"I figured once he cooled off a little," she said, "but I should know better. We're too alike that way."
"Which is the problem." Charlie laughed. "He's hurt Jules, same as you were."
"This is different." She said. "We're not together any more, we're not planning on being together, its different."
"Not to him, it's the same." Charlie explained. "You betrayed him, at least in his eyes, both you and Adam."
"But we," she started but he cut her off.
"Julie, don't worry about it. I saw it coming, I warned him. Have you talked to anyone else about it?" He reassured her.
"What do you mean you saw it coming?" Julie said, as far as she knew this wasn't anything anyone could have seen coming.
"Answer my question first!" Charlie smiled at the other end.
"No, I was going to call Connie but I, well, I…" She couldn't bring herself to say what she felt.
"You don't know how she'll react?" Charlie smiled. "You think she'll flip out, and not want to be your friend any more."
"I know it's not fair to the team." She said. "What we're doing, I know it isn't fair. But it isn't fair to us to not let us try it."
"Julie, he's always felt that way about you," Charlie smiled, "We all knew, at least all of the original Ducks knew. He has since LA. He told you that right?" Julie sat quietly and looked at Adam.
"No," she whispered, "no he didn't." He looked at her curiously.
"That's why we saw it coming," Charlie explained, "Don't let the team stop you from being happy Jules. We're not really a team anymore anyway."
"Don't say that," she said, tears in her eyes, "We'll always be a team."
"Yeah," Charlie sighed, "I guess so. I gotta get to work Jules, call Connie."
"Yeah, thanks, bye Charlie." She whispered. She hung up the phone and looked at Adam. "Why didn't you tell me?" She said quietly.
"Tell you what." He said moving in closer to her.
"That you, I mean, that since we were kids…" she started to cry, and then leaned in and kissed him. Then he understood.
"I didn't think it was important." He sighed, "Besides, there was always something in the way. I mean, back then you only had eyes for Portman." Julie laughed.
"Yeah, don't remind me of that one." She rolled her eyes.
"And then it was Eden Hall, and you were all so mad at me. And then Scooter and Luis, and even after Luis there was the team, I couldn't do it, tear apart everyone after we had already split geographically. Charlie always told me to go for it. He thought it was stupid."
"I love you." She whispered.
"I love you too, I always have." He said, as they touched foreheads.
"I talked to my mom last night." Julie said, wiping her eyes. "She wants to know if you're committed to Minnesota for Thanksgiving."
"I can't say my dad would mind getting the money back on the plane ticket." He laughed. "And I do have three brothers, so my being in Maine would make them happy. More turkey for them."
"So you'll come?" Julie said, a huge smile on her face.
"Yeah," He said kissing her lightly on the mouth. "Why not? Look I've got a paper due tomorrow, I'll call my parents tomorrow at alert them to the change."
"Good night." Julie smiled and fell back onto the bed. So she hadn't needed Luis' blessing to keep the Ducks at bay after all.
Charlie took a walk down to the rink where he and Luis would be conducting practice that night. He liked it here; it still made him think of a simpler time, before the Ducks became something resembling a complicated soap opera. A time when he was Spazway, the worst player on the team with the biggest heart, when he saw his Mom finally let her guard down and fall in love, which he always called a warm up for when she met and fell in love with his step father. It was a winter that had changed his life forever, and one that he wouldn't quickly forget.
"Ok, so I got the eggs." Luis said walking over. "What are they for exactly?"
"To teach them to pass of course." Charlie said. "What did you think?"
"Um, that we would teach them to pass with pucks?" Luis said, "That's how I learned."
"Duck hockey Luis," Charlie smiled, "Concentration, not strength."
"Right," Luis laughed, "I'll start collecting soda cans."
Jim, one of the kids they had met in the shop skated up to Charlie and Luis. They had already had a few "diagnostic" practices already as Charlie had called them to see what work needed to be done. Jim's problems were a lot like Charlie's when he was little he just wasn't very good. "Coach Conway, what exactly are we doing today?"
"Today Jim, you are going to learn how to pass with me, and then Coach Mendoza is going to run sprints with you." Charlie smiled Luis' way.
"I'm going to what?" Luis said and then he leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Charlie, some of these kids can barely even stand on skates, they can't keep up with me."
"Good, they'll have something to aspire to." Charlie smiled. "OK team, line up!" He shouted and blew his whistle. He took an egg and held it up. "Soft hands," he began.
After practice a winded Luis sat on the bench and took his skates off. Charlie came over and sat down next to him.
"They have potential." Charlie said. "They aren't playing like Ducks yet but they'll get there."
"Yeah," Luis smiled. "Thanks for talking me into this. It was a good idea."
"So, speaking of good ideas, guess who I talked to right before practice?" Charlie said as they walked towards the door.
"Uh, Rick Reilly?" Luis said, he had heard that the old varsity captain was now coaching the Hawks.
"No, Julie." Charlie said. "She called again."
"Super." Luis said sarcastically. "We're out of milk we should stop by the mini mart on the way home."
"Don't change the subject." Charlie said. "I told her you were mad, that you were hurt. But I also told her that it was ok."
"Traitor." Luis mumbled.
"No, no, I had to." Charlie shook his head. "Listen, this team has fallen apart enough Luis! We don't play together any more, we're scattered all across the country, even those of us that live in the same city barely speak to each other! Julie and Adam were going to be together whether or not we supported them. The team needed it."
"There is no more team Charlie!" Luis shouted at him. "Wake up! The team's over, the Ducks are dead. They died the day we stopped trusting each other. Maybe the new ones will do better than we did."
A/N: Enjoy, review, etc...
