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Julie thinks a sense of normalcy is finally coming back. She has to admit, when they moved to Oregon for a fresh start three months ago, it wasn’t looking great. On day one alone, they had to pull over because she had a panic attack, Carlos got carsick and threw up on the side of the road, and it had poured as they tried to move in, soaking the flimsy cardboard boxes and smudging the writing beyond any legibility. Once they moved in, they realized two of Julie's songbooks got lost in the move, and Carlos spent the whole first week driving them up the wall with cult facts, convinced some spiritual leader was going to steal him into the countryside or lock him in an underground base in Mt. Hood.
Eventually though, things started too look up— even if she still had therapy once a week. The smallest of victories felt like big ones. She stopped crying every time her dad came to kiss her goodnight and her mom didn’t follow. Her dad learned to make something other than pasta, so now their family dinners weren’t as bland as their lives felt without her mom by their side. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better.
They had tried for a while, to settle back into their lives in Los Feliz, but the house just felt cold without her mom in it. There was broken memory in every corner, the echo of a laugh down every hallway. Her dad took to sleeping in the guest room— he never moved back to the bed they shared, even on their last night in LA.
Leaving her best friend Carrie definitely sucked, but she and Flynn have become inseparable; and as her dad always says, she’s only a phone call away. They didn’t move on, not by a long shot, but the pressing weight that was constantly on Julie’s chest had lessened a little.
She even started singing again. Only in the car, with no one else around except maybe Flynn or her brother, but she’s doing it. Much to everyone’s relief, she was able to transfer into the music program at her private school without auditioning again, meaning she won’t have to preform out loud until the showcase next month. Maybe it enabled her fear of singing without her mom a bit more, but she’s still grateful.
“This test is going to be a disaster,” Flynn says, holding a cup in each hand as she drops down next to Julie. She places one down on Julies desk, her collection of colorful bangles around her wrist clattering against the light wood. “The new Dutch just opened up though, so we can make ourselves feel better with a rebel run after school.”
Dutch Bros coffee was by far one of the best discoveries since moving. When Julie walked into school on the first day two months ago, she had just assumed that there was a café on campus she missed; the little blue windmill logo was everywhere. Not just coffee cups either: sweatshirts, hats, t-shirts, bumper stickers— all with the Dutch Bros logo or name. Flynn had declared it a travesty when she heard Julie had never been, looking almost as upset as she did the first time she heard Julie pronounce Oregon like or-a-gone (in her defense, it was easier to just go to Starbucks where she knew what she wanted— she never even attempted to look up another coffee shop in the area).
Flynn explained the drive thru coffee chain as “a caffeine-addicted, high school social butterfly’s crack den”, and just like that she was hooked. They went that very afternoon to try out different drinks. Flynn particularly likes their rebels, Red Bull style drinks with sweet syrups mixed in or blended into a slushee like consistency. Julie usually just prefers coffee, if she’s honest, especially in the mornings.
“How you can drink energy drinks all day and not go batshit insane is beyond me,” she comments, shaking her head before sipping her coffee with a smile. She can feel the liquid as it travels down, the satisfying warmth filling her body as she clutches the cup closer to her.
“Sorry, I can’t hear you over your 911 with six shots of espresso. Pot? Meet kettle,” Flynn dismisses easily, rolling her eyes without any real malice behind them. Julie was tempted to retort, but the sugar, Flynn, mainly just to be annoying, but it didn’t really matter— Julie got rebels enough that the comment was hypocritical from the start, and they both knew it.
Flynn flipped her braids behind her, taking a sip of her Ocean Water Rebel. The electric blue hue of the energy drink matched perfectly with the shimmery shirt she wore under her black fur jacket, which Julie couldn’t confirm wasn’t done on purpose. If she had to guess, pretty sure it was.
“Face it, you’re just as addicted to caffeine as me. And besides, we have a whole other reason for going,” she said, leaning in closer to Julie and dropping her voice into a whisper, “Willie said when he went in for training, there were these cute boys from another school. I think he’s working the afternoon shift with them.”
Julie wasn’t sure if it was just the ones in their area or if it was the general culture of a place that’s fast, easy, and caffeinated, but Dutch Bros is almost always run by high school or college kids. Whether it was the runners taking orders from cars, the baristas making drinks, or the cashier animatedly talking to you on register, she’s pretty much never seen someone over the age of 25 working there. It always made going there a bit more fun (especially when they were cute, and you could flirt with them through the window).
“Cute boys and caffeine? How could anyone say no to that,” Julie jokes right as the bell rings. As the teacher calls for their attention, she leans over to whisper to Flynn. “I’ll drive.”
...
The sky’s turned overcast by the time they pull into the lot with the new Dutch stand, much to Julie’s excitement. Flynn always made fun of her love for rain, saying
it was ‘the single most SoCal thing about her’ but Julie never cared. There was something so refreshing about it, like a new beginning. It never failed to invigorate her.
The line outside of the new Dutch Bros isn’t as bad as they expected, only about 5 cars deep. It seems to be going a bit slower than normal, probably due to the newness of the stand, but the two of them aren’t in any rush anyway. There’s not much else to do in a small town other than drive around and listen to music, which was exactly what their plans were for the afternoon. As Better Than Revenge by Taylor Swift finishes fading out, Julie reaches to turn the music down before getting stopped by Flynn.
“No no no, one more song,” Flynn says, as the intro to Miley Cyrus’s Heart of Glass cover starts to play. Julie turns the knob the opposite way, music blasting out the car as they sang along. Julie belted her heart out to the song, uncaring about anyone hearing her. It was times like these that she misses her mom the most. When the new memories came, good ones, and her mom wasn’t in them.
For a long time, enjoying music without her mom felt like she was drowning. Everything was just noise, trying to consume her as she zoned out. Dissecting music was something her and her mom did all the time; finding hidden meanings among the notes and melodies was one of their favorite pastimes, second only to making them up on their own. It wasn’t until they left LA could she start to hear music as melodies again- when everywhere she looked wasn’t a reminder of the life they would’ve had together, a path that died along with her mom in the hospital bed. Though she still has a long way to go, enjoying music helps; it hurts, but not as much as losing that connection altogether did.
Less than a minute later, the song was interrupted by a knock on her window. Flynn screams before Julie really registers what’s going on, and promptly follows suit, her belted note turning into a shriek like a scratched record.
The blond runner just waves, smiling at her face of shock behind the glass. He motions to roll down the window, and she scrambles to turn the music down before doing so.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he says with a light laugh. She can tell by the slight shakiness in his voice that he’s nervous, probably from their screaming, but he covers it up well. “Great song though, Miley does such an amazing cover. The original just doesn’t have that power behind it, you know? And you guys do a pretty good job of covering it yourselves.”
Julie blushes, remembering for the first time that they were in a relatively stationary line, and everyone probably heard the music blasting from her car as they waited. She can faintly hear the heavy bass music coming from the stand now that hers is low though, so she hopes most people didn’t mind the added noise. The runner, at least, didn’t seem to care in the slightest.
Julie studies him as Flynn gushes to him about the cover. He has ocean blue eyes and a light pink baseball hat that sat backwards on his head, covering most of his blond hair. The sleeves of his blue work hoodie had been pushed up, revealing two small friendship bracelets around on his wrist: one alternating blue, red, light pink, and black lines, and the other a rainbow chevron. Silver rings and chipped black painted nails were stark against his fingers, holding an iPad in one hand and a walkie talkie in the other.
“Anyway, Welcome to Dutch Bros, what can I get you guys?”
Before they can answer, the walkie talkie crackles to life. “Alex, are you talking to the girls that can sing yet? Are they cute?” The voice asks, causing who Julie can only assume is Alex, to roll his eyes.
He sighs before clicking the side button and bringing the device to his mouth. “Yes, Luke, I’m at their car, and they can hear you,” he scolds. “I’m so sorry about him.” He directs towards them, finger still holding down the button so the speaker can hear him apologize.
“Oh, uhh, sorry,” the voice adds somewhat sheepishly. Alex goes to put it back down, seemingly satisfied with his apology, but stops when he sees Flynn’s expectant stare. He brings the black box back up to his face. “Okay. Yes, they’re cute. Would you like to flirt with them over the walkie talkie or can I actually take their orders?” He asks the person on the other line, the attitude in his voice clearly teasing. They hear a shout from the hut, laughing as a head peaks out the register window. Julie can’t really see him from far away without her glasses, but she waves through the window anyway.
Alex shoves the walkie talkie into his sweatshirt pocket and leans into her window.
“So, what can I get you guys? A breve, a rebel, maybe my best friends’ number?” He asks easily, causing both girls to laugh. His nerves seem to have settled a bit, like making fun of his friend kept him in his element. Flynn jumps in with her order first.
“Can I have a medium hand-blended Unicorn Blood Rebel?” She asks. Julie rolls her eyes fondly at the request but doesn’t berate her for her second rebel of the day.
Alex nods, smiling a little as he types it in. “That’s my friend Reggie’s favorite. He does not need any more energy or sugar, but he still drinks them all the time. He’s also working today actually.”
“Oh. Is he cute?” Flynn asks in response, eyes wide in teasing interest as she leans over the center console with a smile. Alex stares at her for a second before dropping his head.
“I knew this walkie talkie thing was a bad idea,” he remarks with a betraying smile, taking the black box back out of his pocket. “Reginald, one of them wanted to know if you’re cute.” A second later, the device speaks again, now in a somewhat frantic voice.
“Well? Did you tell her I was cute? Alex. Man, come on, you have like, the one qualification needed to decide if I’m cute or not. Am I cute? Tell her I’m cute.”
“Why didn’t they ask if I was cute?” Came the voice from earlier.
He shakes his head and doesn’t respond, putting the walkie back down. Julie just laughs as he glances at the white shack again, a look of distain clear across his face.
“Okay, objectively speaking, he’s cute— in an excited puppy sort of way. They both are, unfortunately. They’re dumb and annoying and a pain in my ass, but they’re great,” he says, voice laced with equal parts fondness and distaste for giving his friends compliments. It reminds Julie of an older brother who’s being forced to admit he actually likes his siblings; the performative reluctance all a part of the act.
“Anyway, what would you like?” He asks again, trying to steer them back on task. Julie starts to answer but gets cut off by the walkie again.
“Wait, tell her I also play bass. In a band!”
Reggie shouts through the crackle. Luke pipes up quickly, haste clear in his voice. “I’m in the same band! I play guitar and-”
“Guys, seriously? I’m kicking you both out of the band if you don’t stop bothering me! I’ve been at their car for like, twenty-five years and I still haven’t completed their order,” Alex complains, cutting them off. He shakes his head before giving a exasperated look to Julie, who just sends back an amused expression. Briefly, she wonders if he’s actually annoyed at the two other boys— but something about the way he indulges them every time enough of a confirmation that it’s just his personality.
“I’ll have a medium iced Peach Ring Rebel,” she says, glancing in her rearview mirror to check for cars again. “And don’t worry, I think you managed to evade any angry customers.”
“It’s not them I’m worried about; I’m pretty sure our manager Caleb already hates us for drawing dicks all over the clock in sheet. He’s not here, but sometimes he just knows when you’re not doing your job anyway,” he responds with a shrug as he types in her order. Scrunching his nose in distaste, he flips the iPad around. “Your total is 12.56- no hard feelings, would you like to tip?” He asks, looking surprised when she answers with a “yes, of course!”. She tips him $5 just because she could, laughing at his excited, “nice, thanks!” In response.
“Gotta look out for the cute wingman who can appreciate Miley Cyrus as the goddess she is,” she says with a smile. He smiles back, a light blush on his cheeks from the compliment.
The gray car in front of theirs pulls up to the register window. He walks beside Julie’s car as she pulls forward, then drops back down to lean back into the window. “So whatcha guys up to tonight? Do you have any fun plans?” He asks, true to the signature Dutch Bros hospitality.
“So far, we just had this. Our friend Willie is working and told us to stop by,” Flynn responds, watching as a blush rises quickly on Alex’s face.
“Oh, you guys know Willie? That’s cool. He’s cool. He’s here— which you already knew because you came to visit him. Right. You’ll probably see him at the window.” he cuts off his rambling with a cough, trying to play off his reaction. He glances down, suddenly very interested his fingers as he takes a deep breath before continuing. “So, are you guys like close with him? Or dating him?”
Julie and Flynn burst out a laugh, causing Alex to smile somewhat nervously.
“Close, yes. Dating? Definitely not. He’s not really a labels person, but we’re not... really his type,” Flynn explains. Alex nods with a soft oh, and takes a breath, relaxing slightly as he smiles to himself.
“You might be, though,” Flynn adds cheekily, causing Julie to smack her lightly on the shoulder with a look. Flynn just cackles as Alex’s face blooms red again, shuffling in place as he ducks his head. They all look back at the register window and watch as the car starts to pull away.
“We’re playing at Eats & Beats tonight, you guys should come if you want,” he says, turning back to them with a small smile. They agree, and he pulls out of their window for the final time. Another two cars have pulled in— back to work.
“Luke will be excited to give you the rest of the info, just ask him,” he smiles, turning away briefly before turning back and leaning back down.
In a slightly joking tone, he leans back into his rehearsed speech, “thank you for your order, if you could please pull right up to the window, you can pick it up from the register. If we don’t see you, have a good rest of your night!”
“Are your friends’ numbers apart of our order?” Flynn yells as he walks away. Julie sees him laugh through the side mirror as he walks away the walkie talkie being brought back out and up to his face to say something too far to hear.
Julie isn’t sure what she was expecting, but the boy at the register was somehow exactly how she thought Luke would look like and nothing like him all at once. His brown hair is somewhat messy and in his face, and his Dutch Bros basketball jersey shows off his toned arms well. His bright eyes compliment his easy smile, and Julie could already tell his they’re the kind that gets given often but never fails to make your heart stutter. Definitely cute.
“Hey, nice to meet you. I’m Luke,” he says, somewhat quietly compared to the Green Day song blasting behind him. He has a cluster of beaded bracelets on one wrist, but Julie can’t help but notice the one striped string bracelet matches that Alex’s one.
Another person in the stand, who Julie can only assume is Reggie, comes up from behind Luke, throwing an arm over his shoulder. He had an easy happiness about him— Alex was probably spot on with the puppy description. She could already feel her heart breaking at the thought of him being sad, and she barely knew him. He wore his work shirt under a shiny black leather jacket, despite the fact that Julie was pretty sure it was warm in the stand. The sleeve of his leather jacket had ridden up around Luke’s shoulder, displaying a matching bracelet on his wrist. Reggie, then.
“Hey. Reggie,” is all he says, pointing to himself as his introduction. If he didn’t look so flushed, Julie thinks he might’ve come off as cool.
“Julie. And that’s Flynn,” Julie responds with a smile. She fixes her hair subconsciously, playing with the butterfly clips as she looks up at Luke. Flynn waves from the passenger seat, and Reggie leans a bit lower to see her, smiling wider when he makes eye contact.
“Shit, no way! The girls you guys were obsessing about is Flynn and Julie?” Julie hears Willies say from the back, his face appearing briefly in the window to wave before declaring he’ll come outside after he finishes with their orders.
“We can’t block the line!” Julie yells into the room, getting a “just pull to the side!” in return. She focuses back to the boys, who were both still standing in the window, though now a bit confused.
“Willies one of our best friends,” Flynn explains, which isn’t exactly true- he’s still more Flynn’s friend than Julie’s, since they’ve known each other since they were kids. The first time Julie hung out with them, she almost had a heart attack and their ability to enable each other. They ended up in a skate park at two in the morning, watching him try to teach Flynn a kick flip, which almost turned into an impromptu ER visit. It was one of the dumbest, most fun nights she had had in a while— Julie’s happy to give him the title.
“So, the runner, Alex? Told us you were playing a gig tonight,” Julie says, looking at Luke with a smile. She watches as his face light up at the mention of the event.
“Yeah, we go on at 8! You should totally come,” he says animatedly, and Reggie nods enthusiastically in agreement.
“Oh, were coming. Maybe we can get Willie to come too,” Flynn responds, and Julie watches carefully as Luke and Reggie share a look. Luke glances over to Alex as he leans over the window towards the car.
“Dude, please ask Willie to come. Alex refuses to do it. And he won’t let us do it either, even though Willie told him he wanted to see him play sometime,” he says, double checking to see if Willie had heard him before leaning back. Julie and Flynn just nod knowingly, promising to invite him as well.
“What’s your band name?” Flynn asks, looking up the setlist for the night.
“Sunset Curve,” Luke supplies.
“Tell your friends,” Reggie adds in quickly, winking at Flynn. She eyes him, looking up and down before nodding appreciatively.
“I will, especially about you,” she responds flirtatiously. They all watch with matching amused expressions as his brain short circuits. He stands there with his mouth open, struggling to form a response for a couple seconds before Luke takes pity on him.
“Alright, buddy,” Luke comforts, patting his shoulder. “Let’s finish up their drinks.” He maneuvers Reggie away from the window as the two girls laugh and hum along to the music, now playing Working for the Weekend by Loverboy. Willie walks up to their window right as Luke comes back into view, a drink in each hand.
Willie reaches through the window, grabbing the cups from Luke. He stops to read the lids with a brief laugh, before putting them back down on the ledge.
“You flipped them,” he says, taking the lids off of both cups and switching them around. He throws the two clear straws back to them. “Also, do better.” Luke immediately grabs the straws back up from the ledge.
“Alex was judging us and we didn’t want them to feel objectified!” Luke defends, retreating for a moment before handing him back pink straws. “And for the record, the code isn’t real.”
“The code isn’t real until it is real,” Willie retorts back easily. “Right now, it’s real.”
Luke glances back at Julie, unable to hold back a smile. “Got me there,” he says, causing Julie to scrunch her nose with a smile.
Willie takes the drinks and the new, code approved cute straws and motions for them to pull up to the side of the hut, away from the window.
“Goodbye Luke, see you tonight!” She calls as she pulls away, watching him wave back in response and Reggie crash into the window to do the same. She pulls into one of the faded spots a couple feet away from the side of the building, out of view of the three boys. The rest of the strip mall is relatively empty, the loud pumping music feeling out of place now that the Dutch Bros isn’t in Julie’s main vision.
Willie hands them their drinks, smiling as they read the lids.
For Julie, the cute singer with the butterfly clips :) -Luke
For Flynn, the cute singer with the cool fur jacket!! -Reggie
Both had their numbers added in on the bottom.
“Considering Luke’s is legible, I’m pretty sure Reggie actually wrote them both,” Willie muses with a light laugh. “I’ve seen that guy fill out a clock in sheet and man does his handwriting suck.” He leans into the car a bit more, his voice dropping lower despite being far enough from any prying ears.
“They’re cute though, right?” He says, raising his eyebrows suggestively as he grabs Flynn’s drink from her hand. She makes a noise of protest but doesn’t stop him as he takes a sip. He just smiles at the annoyed look she gives, taking another before handing it back. She swipes it out of his grasp, staying mad for only a moment before a mischievous grin overtakes her face instead.
“They totally are, Julie’s for sure gone for Luke already,” Flynn teases, rolling her eyes at Julie’s sound of protest. “Don’t even try, I saw you fixing your hair all cute— you can’t fool me. But you, Willie, you didn’t mention one of them being totally and completely into you!” She half shouts. Julie immediately shushes her as Willie laughs, a light blush prominent on his tan skin.
“Who, Alex? I don’t even know if he’s for sure into guys,” Willie shrugs, “I keep saying things like ‘oh was that girl cute’ or ‘nice rainbow bracelet’ and he just never says anything one way or another.”
Flynn gives him a look. “Considering how totally nervous he was when he found out we knew you, and how happy he got when I subtly implied you liked guys, I’m pretty sure it’s not a problem.”
Julie laughs at Willies doubtful look and shakes her head at her best friend.
“It wasn’t subtle. She told him he looked like your type,” Julie confides, earning a sound of betrayal from Flynn. “But he totally did ramble about how cool you were and then asked if one of us was dating you before that.”
“That sounds much more like the Flynn I know,” he says. If he was upset at the lack of subtlety, he didn’t show it. Willie had a way of not caring about things like that— a trait Julie often wished she had.
“Look, all I’m saying is we were invited to their show tonight, and Luke specifically said that you should come because Alex wanted you there,” Flynn says. Julie nods in confirmation; she’s pretty sure Luke hadn’t meant for them to tell Willie when he told them about Alex’s wishes, but honestly that was his mistake— the idea that Flynn would keep anything from her or Willie was ridiculous.
They look up when they see a figure rounding the corner. Alex looks around briefly before smiling at Willie, shoving his hands into his pockets as he makes his way to the car.
“Hey,” Alex starts. His voice was quiet and somewhat breathless, like someone had taken the air from his lungs right before he spoke.
Willie smiles back, hitting him lightly on the arm. “Hey, hotdog.”
Julie glances at Flynn, confirming she also caught the nickname. Willie always nicknames the guys he likes— they can’t figure out why, but it’s a weird tell Julie and Flynn poke fun at him for all the time. Alex blushes at the name, rolling his eyes slightly in embarrassment. The two girls let them stare at each other with dumb smiles on their faces for another moment, before Julie snaps them out of their daze.
“Did you need Willie?” She asks Alex, amusement shining through her eyes at his fumbling when he realizes they’re both watching them. He shakes his head to clear his thoughts, sending a sheepish smile to Julie before speaking.
“Oh um, yeah. Luke’s leaving early for something with his parents, so we need you back to do the window. Reggie wanted to be the runner, so I’ll be in the back with you,” Alex says, rolling awkwardly onto his heels as he shoves goes hands further into his pockets.
“It looks like it’s about to rain— Why would Reggie want to be the runner?” Flynn asks, causing Julie to elbow her quickly.
“I’m sure he just wanted to spend some time out of the building, Flynn,” Julie says pointedly, turning to Alex with a smile. Relief floods his features when he realizes she’s not going to question him further. “You can take him. We were about to leave anyway— we’ll see both of you tonight!”
Julie hears a faint yell for them from the building, yelling at them to hurry. Willie bounces his eyebrows once at Alex, lips breaking into a smile as he grabs Alex’s hand and pull him into a jog towards the building. Alex waves at them over his shoulder, and Julie raises her drink in response before rolling up her window before turning to face Flynn. They sit in silence for a moment before breaking out into laughter.
“Did we just agree to a triple date with Willie and three cute guys in a band?” Flynn asks incredulously. “Wow we’re good.”
Julie just laughs in disbelief in response as her fingers trace the number on the lid. Her smile feels frozen onto her face, like even if she tried, she wouldn’t be able to frown. She puts the contact into her phone and types out a text.
hey it’s julie from dutch! just wanted to tell you that we’ll all be there tonight.
She hesitates over the send button long enough for Flynn to steal the phone from her hands and tut at the message.
“Here’s what we’re gonna say instead,” she says out loud, typing something out before showing it to Julie triumphantly.
hey, it’s julie from dutch :) i just wanted to tell you we’ll be there tonight!! willie is coming too- maybe we can all hang after or something if you guys are free :)
“I don’t usually use that many smiley faces,” Julie responds skeptically, but Flynn waves her off and presses send anyway. His answer is almost immediate, and they both cram together to read the message.
Sick I’m glad you guys are coming! We should totally hang after, I’ll tell the guys :)
“You’re welcome,” Flynn says smugly. “I expect to be maid of honor at your wedding.”
Julie rolls her eyes with a smile, still staring down at the text. With a sudden twist in her gut, she realizes it’s her first crush since her mom passed away. Her smile turns somewhat sad when she realizes there’s going to be no running to tell her about the new boy she met, or how he’s in a band. But for the first time in a long time, she feels kind of okay with that. Julie takes a deep breath and sends a silent prayer to her mother, telling her she loves her.
She plugs her phone into the aux cord, scrolling through the playlist she made of her mom’s favorite songs before picking one she loves.
“I love this song!” Flynn shouts, turning the music louder and dancing in her seat as Julie pulls out of the spot. As Whatta Man by Salt-N-Peppa blast through the speakers, Julie feels her bout of sadness melt away. As the first fat drops of water splatter on to her windshield, Julie smiles a bit wider.
“Reggie just texted me that we should come to the garage after the show! I have no idea what that is, but it sounds fun so I said we were in,” Flynn shouts over the music.
Julie thinks back to the rain on moving day, and how it brought her here, to this moment. She can take a couple more beginnings like this.