Stardust Chords || Greta Van Fleet

Chapter 28: You Succeed

I suddenly felt safe.
Something I hadn't felt in a long time.

I cautiously leaned further into him, feeling his grip get tighter on my shoulder.
"Thank you." I whispered. I felt him shrug, keeping his eyes forward.
"We don't have to talk about it." He said softly, his lips curling into a smile. "As long as you're okay." I nodded, leaning my head on his shoulder for a moment before we got too close.

"Jewel!" Josh called out. "What side is my good side?" I couldn't help but laugh, playfully shaking my head as Jake and I mutually pulled away from each other, not wanting to bring any more attention to it.

"I'm sure every side is your good side, Josh." I joked, stepping back to look at the entire set up as Jake made his way over to the guys.
"You hear that?" He said, flashing a toothy grin to the rest of them. "She said I was the best looking."
"I didn't say anything." I laughed, grabbing the clipboard and looking over the list again.

We had about ten more minutes before the line from outside would be let in, and I was already starting to get nervous.
"Are you guys ready?" I asked, seeing that they'd only be meeting about twenty of them today. That shouldn't be too hard to handle, but I had never done this before. I didn't know what the protocol should be, how long each person should have with them, what they were comfortable with.

I just wanted to do a good job.

"Oh, this is so much nicer than trying to talk to people on the street." Sam said. "And now the photos won't look so blurry. Those selfies they take don't do me any justice. Make sure you make me look good, Jewel."
"Don't worry, Sam. You look great." I assured him. He then leaned over to Jake, playfully hitting his arm, motioning back to me. I felt my cheeks burn, knowing they were talking about me.

I wondered what they all talked about when I wasn't around. I'm sure it had gotten a little more obvious that Jake and I had been spending a little more time together alone lately, but even still, it wasn't like there was anything to talk about.

Jake then looked over at me with hopeful eyes, as if wondering where his compliment was. I wanted to say something, but no words came out, my face flushing red before I hid it back behind the clipboard again.

Soon enough, the side door opened, another member of our production team peeking his head in, giving me a thumbs up.
"All ready?" He asked. I nodded.
"All good, thanks Theo." He gave me an assuring nod before heading back out into the hallway.

Before shutting the door, I could hear the nervous voices, the excited shrieks. I thought back to a time when I would get excited about my favorite bands, wondering how it would feel when they were finally in front of me, when I was talking to them, face to face. Unfortunately, in most cases, they were right when they said not to meet your heroes.

But I had some sense of relief knowing that those kids out there had picked the right ones to put their faith in.

I peeked back over at the guys, for the most part, appearing excited, all aside from Jake who's hands were nervously shoved into his pockets, his eyes making their way around the room before landing on me again, giving me an awkward grin.
"You okay?" I mouthed to him. He gave me a half shrug, his smile growing. I peeked over at the door, quickly making my way over to him before it began.

"What's going on?" I whispered. "You seem.. off." He shrugged again.
"I don't know, I just.. I don't want to disappoint them."
"Why would you disappoint them? They're excited to meet you." I assured him. He nodded, avoiding my eyes.
"I just.. I don't know. I guess I just.. want to be everything they think I am." He said, and it almost broke my heart.