Shadows (A Sara Bareilles fanfic)

Many The Miles

"What?" I yelled into the phone. I could barely hear Josh, an old band member, over the wind coming from my car window. I rolled it up as he repeated himself. 

"I said hey." 

"Oh, hey!" I said cheerfully. "I miss you." 

"You too. I've been thinking, you should come to L.A. and visit." 

"I might. I'm almost done recording." 

"How's it going?" 

"Really good. What about you?" 

It felt weird talking to him like this. Before we had parted ways, we were like brother and sister. We still are, but it was kind of awkward. I still felt guilty even though he was so selfless about my decision, and I wondered how he truly felt. 

"I'm good, too. I'm getting ready to tour with a few bands soon... not much going on." 

I laughed. "I can fix that." 

"Trust me, I know. Seriously, it's been way too long." 

"Awww. Who knows, I might fly there tomorrow. Actually, I think I will." 

Josh laughed. "Seriously?" 

"Yeah! Nothing better to do," I said. 

"Sara Bareilles, you are my favorite human." 

"I know. I'm mine, too." 

I smiled, liking how the conversation really wasn't that weird after all. It was warm. Josh felt like home, somewhere I hadn't been for quite a while- literally and figuratively. We talked for another hour, until he had to go get ready for a rehearsal. I thought of something after we hung up and texted him. 

"How far do I have to go to get to you..." I typed. 

He immediately replied. "Many the miles :)" 

"But send me the miles, and I'll be happy to follow you, love." 

He sent me back a screenshot of the number of miles Google said it took to get from New York City to Los Angeles. 

Tears formed in my eyes. Not out of sadness. The opposite of that. Out of knowing that no matter what came between me, Josh, and Dan, we would always love each other. Even if I had made the decision to leave L.A. and had to leave them, too.

 Maybe they weren't my music family anymore, but they were still my family, and I realized how much I'd missed them. 

Many The Miles had always been our song. Every night on tour when we played it at a show, we glanced over at each other repeatedly, and we all knew why. The song was about the connection between us and the fans, and most importantly, us ourselves. 

"There's too many things I haven't done yet..." I realized how the first line alone applied to us. When we'd met a decade ago, I was young and inexperienced, and they'd helped me with not only music, but myself, and they'd been there with me through so many of my life's adventures, and we all planned on keeping it that way. 

I'll follow you anywhere, love.