Chapter Text
"Hello! You're live on Double Trouble Radio! What's your name and what song would you like to request?"
For what must be the hundredth time that day, Julie flips a switch on the radio board to activate the new call. She loves this part of her job; getting to interact with all of Double Trouble’s listeners, hearing what kinds of music people are listening to.
She’s been working at the radio station with Flynn since it started, ever since Rose planted the idea in her head, one rainy Tuesday while they were in the car on the way home from one of Rose’s doctor appointments. “You know, mija, you and Flynn would be really good at this,” she’d said, nodding at their own car radio, where a woman’s voice was explaining the “top ten pop songs of the decade!”
When Rose died, Julie seriously considered giving up her and Flynn’s radio show altogether. It was a combination of her friend’s persistence, her dad’s poorly-concealed disappointment, and her own love for Rose that kept Double Trouble on the air during the darkest months of Julie’s life.
One thing that Julie found really helped during that time was taking calls from listeners; hearing how much people loved the station and the music Julie and Flynn chose to play—music that Rose herself had loved—eased some of Julie’s ache a little bit.
So now, that’s what Double Trouble does, for a couple of hours each morning: they take requests from listeners, talk about music with them, and Julie gets to remember the way Rose’s eyes would sparkle as she talked about classic rock with the grocery store cashier, or classic Christmas songs with the other shivering customers in line doing holiday shopping.
A loud, enthusiastic voice answers Julie right away, no hesitation. Its owner sounds out of breath for some reason, like he ran a mile to pick up the phone. He speaks quickly, impatiently, like the radio’s about to shut off forever, or something, and his request will never be heard.
"Hi, I'm Luke and I'd like you to play 'Now or Never' by Sunset Curve!"
The boy’s overly confident voice only serves to confuse Julie. ‘Sunset Curve’ definitely doesn’t sound familiar—are they a band she should know about? This boy certainly seems to… Julie glances over at Flynn, but she doesn’t see any recognition in her friend’s eyes, either. She frowns in confusion before turning her attention to her song repertoire, wondering if it even contains anything by this band at all, but she comes up empty. She readjusts her headset over her ears so she can reply to the caller, hoping that he won’t be too disappointed.
"Unfortunately we don't seem to have that in our library! Is there—"
“You don’t ?” The voice sounds offended, appalled; it shoots up a couple of octaves in alarm, like Julie just told him she doesn’t know what music is, or something.
“What kind of radio station doesn’t have Sunset Curve?” the boy rants. “I thought your whole selling point was ‘undiscovered or underappreciated artists’,” Luke protests. “I mean you played Dirty Candi last week. Dirty Candi! ”
He says the name of the up-and-coming girl group like a curse, and Julie pauses in confusion. She wonders what this boy could possibly have against Flynn’s girlfriend’s band; Dirty Candi’s music is pretty good, and it’s always a hit with their listeners. Carrie’s stuff is on Double Trouble Radio practically every day… even if it hasn’t been requested. Julie raises an eyebrow at Flynn, the culprit behind all of the Dirty Candi music. But Flynn just shrugs back at her; Julie knows that getting to play her girlfriend’s music on the radio is one of Flynn’s favourite parts of their job.
Julie rolls her eyes goodnaturedly before speaking into her microphone again.
“Is there another song you would like to request? Since we don’t have any Sunset Curve?”
The boy scoffs, but he doesn’t take the opportunity to change the subject over to different bands. He seems determined to get whatever Sunset Curve is on their station somehow, and Julie’s half-shocked and half-annoyed by his persistence.
“You should! I'll send you a copy of 'Now or Never'!"
She wonders what’s so special about this Sunset Curve. She wonders how popular they are; they must not have that huge of a fanbase if their stuff hasn’t been popular enough to be requested yet. Julie opens her mouth to ask the boy this question; after all, if Sunset Curve is a cool, up-and-coming band, it might be worth it to have their songs on their station. One part of this job Julie loves is the opportunity to give new bands like that a start; it’s exactly what her mother would do, after all. She can almost hear Rose’s voice in her head. Everyone deserves a chance, mija. Everyone needs a hand sometimes .
But the line disconnects before Julie can reply. She wonders what the boy was in such a rush for. She wonders if the band he likes—Sunset Curve—is even any good. Based on his voice, his persuasive tone, he didn’t seem like somebody who would take no for an answer. So Julie supposes she’ll find out. She resolves to be on the lookout for the demo C.D…. and makes a mental note to check out ‘Sunset Curve’ on Youtube later. Just to make sure the station’s not missing anything major.
She shares an eye-roll and exasperated grin with Flynn as her friend receives the next caller.
~~~
Julie doesn’t have to wait long to hear from Luke again. The demo C.D. he promised to send hasn’t even hit their mailbox yet when his excited voice is crackling through their phone lines yet again, only a few days later.
"Good morning! You're talking with Flynn and Julie of Double Trouble radio! What's your name?"
"Morning guys! It’s Luke again!"
Julie stifles a snort at the familiar voice as Flynn continues the call. "Luke? The Sunset Swerve fan?"
"Firstly, it's Sunset Curve !" Luke shouts. It sounds like he’s brought friends this time; a couple of other voices accompany his, and Julie can't help but laugh at the exasperation in their tones. "And secondly, I’m not a fan !”
He says fan in a similar tone someone would use if they found a live slug in their dish at a restaurant.
“Not that we don’t have fans, ‘cause we do, of course . But I’m not one of them. I am one-quarter of Sunset Curve! Our guitarist and the lead singer… aaand I wrote 'Now or Never' ! Plus all of our other songs—no, Reggie, I am not taking credit for ‘Home Is Where My Horse Is’, don’t worry—and I really think—no, I know —that your listeners would like our sound!"
Julie takes over the call, angling her microphone to better pick up her voice. "I take it you want to request 'Now or Never' … again?"
"Obviously," Luke scoffs. “And this time, the whole band’s here, so you have to play it!”
There’s some shuffling on the other end of the phone line, a quiet “ Shut up, Bobby!” , and a snicker before Julie speaks again.
"As much as we'd love to," she says, with a teasing lilt to her voice, “we still don’t have any of your music. Hadn’t even heard of your band until a few days ago.”
“You haven’t gotten it yet?” Luke asks in disbelief. “I mailed the demo C.D. two days ago!”
“Yeah, well, you know the U.S. Postal System,” Julie teases. “It’s not always the most reliable!”
“That’s not—okay,” Luke sighs.
“So, unfortunately, until we get your demo we cannot play your music. Is there another song that you’d like to request?”
“No—” There’s a scuffle on the other end of the line and a rapid cacophony of indistinguishable insults (Julie is sure that at least half of the words wouldn’t be acceptable for airing) before another voice pops onto the line. “Hi!” The new voice says brightly. “I’m Reggie—bassist for Sunset Curve— and I’d like to request ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’!”
Julie and Flynn exchange bemused looks and a half-stifled giggle. “We would be delighted to play that, Reggie,” Flynn replies as a distant scream of “No!” echoes down the line. “We love a bit of country music here on Double Trouble.”
“Speak for yourself,” Julie says.
“We love country music, thank you,” Flynn repeats. “You’re a man of good taste, Reggie.”
“Can you repeat that so Luke can hear? He won’t accept that ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ is good—Yes, it is Luke! Shut up and let me enjoy my music!”
Flynn and Julie laugh again as the other end of the phone line descends into chaos once more. “Here is Reggie’s request: ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ by John Denver!”
Julie mutes their mics as the first swells of music begin to play. She sighs theatrically as she turns the surround sound down to its lowest audible volume. “Sometimes,” she says, “I hate this job.”
Flynn retaliates by turning the music up to full blast, the dulcet tones of John Denver shaking the remains of the coffee in Julie’s cup. “You just don’t understand good music, Jules.”