"I can't move!" Connie complained the next morning.
"Shhhh not so loud!" Julie scolded rubbing her head.
It turned out that Kirsten was in fact Tammy's older sister who ran a bar in downtown Minnesota and had brought a decent quantity of alcohol with her.
"Aren't you girls up yet?" Tammy's cheerful voice made Julie wince.
"No" Connie replied burying her head under her blanket.
"Breakfast will be ready in half an hour and I think the showers free" Tammy told them before closing the door behind her.
"I swear she had way more to drink than I did" Julie complained wondering how on earth Tammy could be so functional after their night of hard drinking.
"She stuck to margheritas though. I believe you had three then switched to shots of whiskey" Connie informed Julie.
"Right" Julie remembered bits and pieces of the night before.
"Yes Gaffney you drank everyone under the table" Connie confirmed.
"Woo hoo" Julie's effort was somewhat forced.
"Ew, I smell gross. I think I need a shower" Connie forced herself out of the bed.
"Wake me when you're done" Julie told her pulling the blankets back to her side of the bed.
Julie's cell phone starts ringing.
"Or not" Julie grumbled allowing Connie to collect the ringing phone from Julie's handbag.
"Oooh its Charlie" Connie peeked at the caller ID before handing it to Julie.
"Fucking Conway" Julie snarled.
"WHAT?" she snapped answering.
"Aw did I wake you Jules?""Yes and you'd better have a good reason"
"What about a 6'4 dark haired, big muscled Chicago native reason?""Huh?"
"Portman's here Jules, and the guys want to catch up with you and Connie some time this weekend"
"Oh"
"I know that voice, you have a hangover don't you! Ha! I knew we should have crashed your party last night"
"Sshh! Charlie I have a headache!"
"Poor baby, anyways we were wondering if you and Cons were free tonight? We can have pizza and beer like old times. Well not the beer part, that's a new one"
"Sure Charlie, now can I go back to bed. The bed I'm sharing with Connie" Julie couldn't help but add that last part.
"The bed you're WHAT?"
"Just kidding she's gone for a shower but when she comes back….."
"Shut up Gaffney!"
"Jealous much Conway?"
"I'll see you two tonight, six o'clock, my mom's apartment"
"Okay Charlie see ya"
"So whats up with Charlie?" Connie re-entered the room with her hair in a towel and some clean clothes on.
"The guys want us to hang out with them tonight at Casey's apartment. Pizza and beer sound good to you?" Julie was being very careful not to think too much about beer. Hangover bellies were sensitive things.
"Sounds fun" Connie decided.
"Yeah" Julie agreed suddenly feeling a little giddy at the thought of seeing Portman again after all of these years.
"You know what else might be fun?" Connie asked.
"What?"
"Going to mall and buying new clothes. I dunno about you but I want to show up tonight looking so hot the guys will wonder what hit them" Connie grinned devilishly at Julie.
"Yeah!" Julie brightened up. The thought of showing up at Casey's apartment and having Dean Portman's jaw drop to the floor at the sight of her would be awesome.
"So shower, now!" Connie ordered.
"Yes m'am" Julie had some newfound energy to get out of bed. Standing up however was a different story.
"Ugh" Julie said holding her stomach but she nevertheless carried on towards the bathroom.
"Hope you guys don't mind I just invited Jules and Cons over for pizza and beer tonight" Charlie addressed the room full of tired guys watching cartoons in their sleeping attire.
Fulton nudged Portman who had to pinch himself to ensure that what Charlie had just said was real.
Sure enough it was.
"The velvet hammer and the catlady. Wow, I never thought I'd live to see the day we'd all be in the same room again. Well with the exception of Fulton's wedding, and other weddings, and maybe the odd funeral, well not our funerals of course but…" Averman was on a ramble.
"Shut up!" Russ held his hand up to indicate that Averman should stop talking.
"Catlady, now there's a name I haven't heard in a while, and Velvet what?" Dwayne was confused.
"Velvet Hammer, Connie was our enforcer in D5 until Fulton came along" Guy laughed remembering the time Connie pushed Averman to the ice.
Charlie studied Guy's face carefully as he talked about Connie. The thought had crossed his mind on more than one occasion that Guy could still be in love with Connie after all of these years. It wasn't easy to get over your first love, Charlie knew that firsthand, even if he'd never had his first love to start with.
FLASHBACK
"Cons are you mad at me?"
"No, why should I be?"
"I dunno, you seem to be avoiding me and the other Ducks lately"
"I'm just bummed about Guy I guess"
"I thought you broke up with him"
"I did Charlie but now I'm not so sure"
"Oh"
Charlie Conway had just figured out that Connie Moreau would never be his, not in this lifetime anyway.
END FLASHBACK
"Hey Portman where are you going?"
"Back to sleep"
"Already? But you only just got up"
"So?"
"Averman just let him go"
"Thank you Fulton"
In truth, Portman didn't want to go back to sleep, he just wanted to go upstairs, lie down and think about Julie and what might or might not happen with her tonight.
FLASHBACK
"Hey catwoman"
"Hey Portman what's up?"
"Not much, what about you?"
"Not much either"
"Dean honey aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"
"Oh Julie this is Natalie"
"Hi"
"Hi, I'm his girlfriend"
"Okay, well nice to meet you I've gotta go"
"Bye Julie"
"Yeah bye"
END FLASHBACK
Julie had forgotten all about Natalie, the girl Portman had hooked up with the week after their little 'encounter'.
She certainly hadn't forgotten the hurt over it though.
"Julie you look amazing!" Connie gushed spying what her friend had tried on in the boutique.
"You think I should wear this?" she indicated to what she had on.
"Yes definitely yes!"
"Okay" Julie changed out of the clothes and back to her old ones.
"Those boys aren't gonna know what hit them" Connie gushed as the girls left the store.