Chapter Text
There’s a shoebox in Molina's studio-sudo garage. Left to be forgotten by time long ago; buried underneath a pile of garbage bags and was never meant to see the light of day again. But one day… one day Ray couldn’t help it anymore and decided to go through his little dream box full of memories from a time when he, Rose and Bobby were all happy together.
The boys found the box by accident. At least; that’s what they told Julie when she walked in and saw the mess on the piano. Pictures, polaroids, were strewn all over the top of her mom’s piano. Folded up sheets of paper strewn all over the place; incomplete songs and love letters written in her mother’s hand writing. “What the heck is going on here?!” She asked, dropping her backpack on the ground with a loud thud . Reggie winced and she cringed, remembering a conversation they had about his parents and their fighting. “Sorry Reggie, I didn’t mean to yell…” Julie apologized, taking his smile as an apology.
“Reggie poofed in the garage last week and saw your dad going through this box of old stuff,” Luke explained as he gestured to the mess on the piano. Julie narrowed her eyebrows and crossed her arms.
“So you thought it would be a good idea to go through my dad’s private stuff?” She asked half-scolding them. Reggie instantly backed away from the table, his arms up and palms facing out.
“It was all Luke’s idea! I told him about seeing Ray going through the box and Luke tricked me into showing him where it was!” Reggie exclaimed, tripping backwards over the piano bench. Julie stifled a laugh, then noticed how still Luke was. She took a hesitant step forward and could see the now-crinkled picture in his hand.
“It’s him,” Luke said, his voice so low she would’ve missed it if she wasn’t so close to him. “Guys it’s Bobby .” His hand was shaking now, muscles tense as he leaned against the piano for support. Julie wrapped Luke’s hand with hers and it seemed to calm him down, so she leaned further into him, pressing into his warmth.
“Wait,” Julie said, recognizing the girl Bobby was posing with. “He’s standing with my mom. Why didn’t you guys tell me you knew her?” She asked, eyes starting to fill with unshed tears. Alex peered over her shoulder and snickered.
“Hey Reg,” Alex said teasingly. “Looks like her mom was size beautiful .” Luke let out a choked coughing sound and Reggie’s eyes widened in realization. Julie frowned slightly,
“Size beautiful?” She asked, confusion dipping into her voice. Reggie’s cheeks flushed bright red as Luke made a gagging sound from the back of his throat. “Alex what’s so funny?” Julie demanded when the drummer doubled over in laughter, wrapping his stomach with his arms.
“Reggie, Luke, and Bobby all flirted with your mom. She worked at the Orpheum, right? We met her the - well, the day we died. I guess she and Bobby must’ve kept in touch or something,” Alex said with a shrug. Julie lightly took the small bundled up stack of pictures from Luke’s hand and flipped them over so they could read the sticky note taped to the other side.
“The funerals…” Julie whispered, reading the words out loud. A tear fell onto the picture but it wasn’t hers. Turning to her right she could see the sadness in Bobby’s eyes reflected in Luke’s.
“I don’t know why but I -” Luke let out a choked hiccup. “I guess I always thought he never went to our funerals.” Alex grabbed the small stack of pictures tied up by the rubberband and thumbed through them.
“Shit,” Alex muttered as he undid the rubber band to spread out the images. “He went to all of our funerals.” Julie’s heart clenched, she hated it whenever her boys were sad and she couldn’t really do anything to make it better.
“I don’t… you guys…” Reggie said trailing off as his little sniffling sounds filled the air. Julie wrapped her arm around Luke tighter and she pulled her in for a hug.
“Hey guys, looks like Rose and Bobby were together. Dumbass vegetarian actually managed to pick up a girl with that line,” Alex said with a chuckle. He put the funeral pictures aside and was reading an aged sheet of paper. Julie snatched it from him and couldn’t help but smile at the image that was folded up inside of it. Both her mom and her dad were in it with Bobby this time. Bobby still had that sad look on his face, like it was hard for him to smile. Julie’s parents on the other hand both looked like they were idiots in love, curled around Bobby in the back of a van.
“He took Lucille! If he sent her to a dump I’m going to kill him,” Reggie promised. Julie turned to Alex for help and he shrugged in response.
“Reggie got emotionally attached to Sunset Curve’s van and named it Lucille even though Bobby was the one who actually bought it,” Alex explained.
“It looks like they were all together,” Julie said unable to hold back how surprised she sounded. “Like, these are all from dates and stuff…” she trailed off as the boys continued to look through the pictures of their old bandmate.
“He looks…” Reggie trailed off when they started to uncover folded up pieces of paper that ended up being love letters and silly little love songs.
“He looks happy,” Luke said, eyes on one particular picture that caught Bobby mid-laugh, his eyes sparkling at someone off-camera. Julie couldn’t help but feel a little bit hurt that her dad hadn’t shared this part of his life with her. “I can’t remember the last time he looked that happy,” Luke said. That her mom hadn’t said anything about it before she died, or that Trevor Wilson didn’t bring up the fact he used to date both of them in the nineties. Her dad looked so happy in the pictures, surrounded by the people he loved. If Julie had any say in the matter she was going to figure out a way to make her dad this happy again.