After taking in the applause from the crowd, Julie and the boys exited stage left, where Flynn was waiting for them. "YOU GUYS WERE AMAZING!" she squealed, grabbing Julie and spinning her around.
"Thanks for pushing me into this, Flynn! And for helping me not totally freak out this afternoon!"
"Dude, that was epic! We were way better as Julie and the Phantoms than we ever were with Bobby!" Luke exclaimed, clearly still on a performance high.
"Uh, was Willie here tonight? I thought I saw him sneak in during 'Flying Solo.'"
"That girl from Carrie's band was totally checking me out!"
"Guys! We just did that! And we crushed it!" Luke exclaimed again!
"Yeah we did!" Julie pulled the guys into a band (plus Flynn) hug.
"Ew, I love you guys, but you're all sweaty, so let me go!" Flynn demanded. "Besides Julie, Ray, Carlos, and Tia are all here, and I know they want to see you."
"Oh yeah! And I want to see Carrie and Willie, too!"
"So Willie is here?!" Alex persisted, grabbing Julie's arm as the others headed out from backstage to the floor of the club. "Did you invite him?"
Julie nodded. "Are you mad at me?" she asked, scrunching her face up.
Alex paused for a moment, evaluating. "I should be, but I guess not."
"Good, cause you were on FIRE up there! Luke and Reg are right, you're definitely at your hottest when you're wailing on the drums."
"Um, you've discussed this?" Alex asked, affronted.
"I mean, Carrie's hottest is when she's working the sound board-girl is a pro. And Flynn's is either when she's styling someone or rapping," Julie shrugged. "It's a thing people know about their best friends."
"Well, it doesn't matter, because Willie barely knows who I am," Alex said, ignoring Julie's comment.
"Okay, I know that's not true. Why do you think that?"
"Because we ran into each other in the Thompson building and dude didn't recognize me!"
Julie scrunched her forehead. "That seems weird. We've hung out together, the three of us."
"We studied together once."
"Still… I'm sorry, Alex. If I'd known I wouldn't have invited him."
Alex shrugged and twirled a drumstick in his fingers. "It's whatever. Look, you go see your family and Willie and whoever else, Luke, Reg, and I are gonna hang over with the other bands over near the stage, chat, talk some shop, and maybe a scout will show some interest. And don't forget about our tradition!"
Julie nodded. "Okay. I'll be back in a few minutes to hang with you guys."
"No rush, we're old pros at this," Alex said with a faint grin as they followed the others out onto the floor.
"I'll see you in a minute!" Julie promised as she started weaving through the crowd.
"Cool, we'll be over there!"
"Dad! Tia! Carlos!" Julie finally found her family in a booth near the back of the club. "What did you think?"
"You were wonderful, mija! And the crowd seemed to love you!" Ray said as he stood up to pull his daughter into a hug.
"You looked and sounded incredible Julie! I just have the most talented niece around, apparently!" Tia agreed.
"Thanks, guys! I'm so glad you were here!"
"Yeah, you were okay. Dirty Candy did great though," Carlos said. Julie hit him gently on the back of the head.
"I saw you jamming to 'Edge of Great,' Carlos, you can't hide from the girl on stage!" she laughed. "But yeah, Dirty Candy was amazing!"
"Hey Julie!" Julie turned around to see Willie standing there, looking as laid-back as ever in grey shorts and a green t-shirt with a skateboard company's logo. His hair was pulled back into a messy bun. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," he apologized when he saw that she was talking to a few people.
"No, you're good. Willie, this is my dad Ray, my aunt Victoria, and my little brother Carlos. Guys, this is Willie, a friend from my Shakespeare class."
Ray held out his hand to Willie. "It's nice to meet you, Willie. Julie has said some very nice things about you."
Willie smiled. "She talks about you guys all the time too. She's lucky to have such a great family."
"Yeah, they're the best," Julie agreed. "I'm glad you came tonight!"
"Me too! You guys were awesome!"
"Thanks!" Julie turned to her family. "Do you guys mind if I go find the band? I guess the guys have some after-show tradition that they want to initiate me into."
"Go on, mija! We'll see you tomorrow for lunch?"
"Of course! Thanks again for coming! I love you guys!"
Julie started weaving through the crowd, and Willie followed close behind her.
"Jules, why didn't you tell me Alex is in your band? I would have worn something a little nicer than this!"
Julie stopped in her tracks and he nearly ran into her. She turned to him accusingly. "According to Alex, you don't even know who he is. Would you care to explain?"
"Oh…" Willie looked a little sheepish. "I was trying to be chill, ya know? So I may've acted like I couldn't quite remember his name? When we saw each other yesterday?" Julie gave him an unimpressed face. "I know! I panicked. Which is not like me…"
Julie rolled her eyes and mumbled something under her breath that sounded vaguely like, "ridiculous," and then kept moving. "Well do me a favor and make sure you know his name when we go talk to the band right now."
"Well duh! He was awesome!"
"Of course he was! I have very discerning taste in bandmates!" Julie laughed as they walked up to the guys who were chatting with the girls from Dirty Candy.
"Julie! That was amazing!" Carrie gushed as she pulled her bestie into a hug.
"Thanks Carrie! You guys were phenomenal too!" Julie echoed.
"Who's this?" Carrie asked abruptly, retreating from their hug.
"Carrie, this is my friend Willie. Willie, this is Carrie, one of my roommates and the frontwoman of Dirty Candy."
"Hey Carrie, nice to meet you. I missed your set, but your costumes are epic, so I know you guys were great!"
Carrie smiled. "Thanks, this is Kayla, Jasmine, Ellie, and Grace."
"Nice to meet you girls," Willie acknowledged, and then turned to the boys. "Hey Alex, Reggie. You guys were great!" Then he held out his hand to Luke. "Hey dude, you must be Luke. I'm Willie."
"Willie, huh?" Luke didn't smile at all as he shook the proffered hand, and Julie was pretty sure he was trying to crush it.
"Willie's in my Shakespeare class. We've become pretty good friends," Julie said, trying to lighten the mood. When Luke still hadn't released his hand, she grabbed their joined hands. "As cute as it is to see you trying to hold Willie's hand, Luke, you maybe should get to know him first."
Reggie and Alex laughed, and Luke's scowl lightened up. Flynn waltzed over to them from the other side of the table. "Willie! Good to see you! What'd you think of Julie and the Phantoms? My girl has got an amazing voice, don't you think?"
"Hey Flynn!" Willie grinned as she pulled him into a hug. "Yeah, Julie's great. All of you guys are super talented!" He looked at Alex as he said it, and Alex blushed. Reggie smirked.
"Well, as fun as this is, we have a tradition to uphold!" Luke announced. "Reggie, Alex, Julie, let's go!"
"Luke, can't we hang out a little longer?" Reggie asked, pulling a face at his bandmate and subtly nodding to Kayla from Dirty Candy.
Luke rolled his eyes. "Fine. I guess a few more minutes can't hurt." Reggie's face instantly brightened and he turned his attention back to Kayla.
"So I actually have some questions about this tradition?" Julie asked. "No one will tell me what it is."
"It's a secret ritual, Jules! You can't know until you've been initiated!"
"Yeah Julie! Go along with it! Dirty Candy has one!" Carrie added. "I mean, ours is way cooler, but-"
"Carrie!" Luke interrupted.
"Oops, sorry Luke. You shouldn't tell Flynn secrets. She spills everything to me!"
Julie turned to Carrie. "You know?" She looked back at Luke. "Luke, why does she get to know?"
Luke rubbed his neck. "I needed some help from Flynn. To make sure you'd be okay. And apparently she can't keep secrets from Carrie." He rolled his eyes. "That would have been good information to have earlier."
"Well can I know now?"
"No! It's a rule!"
"Ugh, fine!"
Carrie turned to her girls. "Ladies, we should probably get going. We have a club to hit, and the boys have some things of their own to do!" She turned back to Julie. "Have fun, text me or Flynn if you need anything, okay? And we'll see you later."
The guys and Julie piled into Reggie's van after a quick goodbye to Flynn and Willie, and Julie asked again. "Okay. Where are we going?"
"Well first, we go home to change," Reggie explained from the driver's seat.
Luke passed a sparkly duffle bag over the seat to Julie. "Flynn packed you a bag."
"Oh thank goodness you had enough sense to ask Flynn and not Carrie," Julie sighed as she dug through the bag. "Flynn believes in style, but she also believes in comfort."
"Yeah, you're definitely going to want to be comfortable."
"Okay, what happens after we change? Should I be nervous?"
Luke laughed. "You'll find out when we get there!"
When they got to the boys' house, Julie changed and washed off her makeup quickly (Thank goodness for makeup wipes and Flynn's forethought to pack them!). When she emerged from the bathroom in a tank top and leggings, Luke shook his head. "She forgot a hoodie. Here, borrow one of mine, you'll get cold." Luke ran back to his room and grabbed a dark blue hoodie and tossed it to Julie. She pulled it on and was instantly surrounded by the smell of Luke. She inhaled deeply as she followed the boys out to the car.
All four of them piled back into Reggie's van and they started driving. "Okay, where are we going?"
"The park!" Reggie announced excitedly.
"We have ice cream, a projector, a sheet, and my laptop," Alex explained. "We have a movie night in this small park in Brentwood."
"We also have popcorn, we're just excited because Bobby was lactose intolerant, so he made a fuss about only bringing snacks everyone can enjoy." Luke said with a hint of disgust. "But thanks to Flynn, we know your favorite ice cream flavor, which is luckily compatible with everyone else's."
"Seriously? You had to keep 'band movie night' a secret from me?" Julie asked, trying to be annoyed and failing.
"You know you love us!" Luke responded teasingly, and Julie couldn't help but grin.
"So do we watch the same movie every time?"
"Not anymore!"
"And thank goodness for that! I was really over Sid and Nancy," Reggie said in disgust.
"Yeah, same. I'm glad to change things up, finally!" Alex agreed.
"So what are we watching?"
"Well, the rule has always been that we watch a musical or a movie where the music is prominently featured. So tonight we have three options: A Star is Born, Baby Driver, and That Thing You Do!"
"I would ask which Star is Born except I love them all! Those are three great picks, guys!"
"Oh good! They were Alex's suggestions!" Luke said.
Julie gave Alex a high five. "Alex, you have superb taste in film!"
When they got to the park, the boys quickly set everything up without Julie even needing to lift a finger. They hung a sheet over a tree branch, laid out a blanket and several pillows to lay on, and pulled out snacks and more blankets to sit under. Julie found herself sitting between Reggie and Luke as they turned on Baby Driver. She felt so comfortable and safe and was having a lot of fun sharing popcorn and a gallon of cookie dough ice cream with the boys (seriously, why is ice cream more fun eaten straight out of the container?). But about halfway through the movie, she fell asleep, curled into Luke's side, with her legs stretched out over Reggie and Alex's laps.
The next morning, she woke up on the couch in the boys' house, still wearing Luke's hoodie. "Crap, what time is it?" She reached for her phone, which was plugged in and sitting on the coffee table.
She heard Alex laugh from the kitchen. "It's like, seven, Julie." She stood up and walked into the kitchen, where Alex was drinking a cup of coffee. She immediately grabbed a mug and poured herself a cup.
"Why are you up?" she grumbled. Julie wasn't not a morning person, but she didn't exactly do well when she was up too late at night.
Alex laughed. "I'm a morning person. According to Reggie I was out even before you were. Of course, they woke me up when it was time to go. Luke just carried you to the car instead." Julie blushed. "He was going to let you sleep in his bed, but the couch is way more comfortable, so we convinced him that you'd prefer the couch."
"Yeah, thanks for that." Alex merely nodded and took another sip of his coffee. "I don't suppose you could take me home? I have lunch with my family and I need to shower beforehand. Not to mention, do Flynn and Carrie know where I've been?"
"Yeah, we texted them when we left the park that you were just gonna crash on our couch. Flynn's response was just the laughing emoji. A lot of them actually. Carrie reminded us of her threats from when we first met her," Alex said drily.
Julie rolled her eyes. "My friends are ridiculous."
"Yeah, but they're great too. And yes, I can take you home. Just let me grab my keys."