Meet On The Ledge || Greta Van Fleet

Chapter 36

November - 2017

"Maggie..." My hands shuddered at even the slight chance of looking him in the eye. I quickly tried to scan my card to get into the building, but dropped the whole key ring. I let out a loud sigh. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. I reached down and picked them up. I looked down at the keys in my hand, playing with the little beer opener and then I decided to turn around. When I did my eyes glazed over just looking at him. He made me feel sick.

"H-Hi." I wasn't expecting to speak, but I did. I found that maybe he didn't know what he was going to say, he looked down to his feet. I looked down as well. I scrunched my nose up like I might cry, but shook my head, stopping myself. "Right.." I was about to turn around when he spoke again, barely audible.

"Hi.." This time when I looked at him, he looked right in my eyes. I felt my body moving, step by step until I was met by the little semicircle of boys.

"Do you.. Do you guys maybe want to come up? We can have a drink?" I was shocked by what I had offered. Just a few minutes ago I was telling Sam that I couldn't be around them.

Danny responded for the group with a wide smile, "Sure!" I looked through the rest of the group, seeing if they felt the same way. Sammy looked equally as thrilled, Jake had a little smile on his face, but Josh -- he just looked at me with those eyes. I had hurt him and I accepted that, but he was the one I tried the hardest to forget.

"You don't have to.. I just thought that we could catch up or something.."

"No. We want to." Sam said. I gave them a meek smile with a barely noticeable nod. I gestured them to follow me as I led them back up the steps and into the building. I watched as they each signed the security guards sheet and gave him their IDs for copying. We walked to the small elevator all squeezing in. It was quiet, so quiet that it brought a new meaning to the saying 'you could hear a pin drop'. I led them through the long hallways and opened my door, allowing them to go in first. I watched as they all found their place in the room, sitting on the bed, in the chairs, on the counter tops.

"Anyone want a beer?" I saw head nods and got out five of them, opening them, then passing them out.

"So... How've you been Mags?" Danny asked.

"I'm- I've been good. I wish I had come to Paris a long time ago." I said nervously, picking at my cuticles. "I watched a lot of movies to prepare myself." I giggled to myself.

"Classic." Sam said.

"I heard you guys were touring, something about an EP... Not that I'm a stalker, my friend just really like you."

Jake cleared his throat. "Yeah, have you heard it?" I smiled, trying to not be weird.

"I've heard a few of the songs." I said, undoing my heels. "I was more emotional than I thought I would be." I took a large sip of my beer trying to fathom why I had let this reunion happen, but then I saw that face. It lit up, Josh was smiling at me. "What?" I asked dumbfounded, thinking I'd never see his face like that again.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about you crying while listening to Safari. I'd paid to see that." Everyone laughed and I found myself sticking my tongue out at him.

The night was slow, but once the beer kicked in it moved faster than I would've liked it to. The music was pretty loud, but I hadn't gotten any complaints so far. Dancing on the bed with Sam had been fun, but soon I became dizzy and moved towards the window, opening it and pulling out a cigarette. I lit it and looked out at the street. Hearing the quiet compared to the laughter in the room. A figure came up next to me. Josh. I didn't really know what to say. "Can I take a drag?" He asked. I nodded handing it to him. "Sooo... Maybe we should talk?"

I nodded, my head lower than expected. "Josh I- I'm really sorry about that night. I-" He cut me off quickly.

"I'm not going to lie to you. It hurt... But I also know what you were going through, I should have never let it happen." I felt tears brimming, but held them in.

"I just feel so awful about it, I told you things would be different. I mean I lied to you." He grabbed a hold of my shoulder, calming down my breathing. "I think about it all the time, you know. It wasn't just," I stopped watching as the guys were talking, turning to look at us every once in a while. I continued in more of a whisper, "I just want you to know that it meant more to me, that night, more to me than you think." He nodded, looking into my eyes. He took my head in his hands, kissing my forehead, breathing loudly. I let my head fall into his chest and wrapped my arms around him. When I pulled out of the hug, I smiled at him, putting my hands on my cheeks to mask how red they suddenly were. The boys now had their full attention on us and I saw a smile sitting on Sammy's lips. It was going to be alright, I hadn't talked to Jake, hell I didn't really want to right at that moment, but I knew that everything would be alright.

— Author's Note —
This is so shitty, but I hope you liked it. I have more up my sleeve, just waiting on the inspiration. I hate things to be too cliché. Anywho, love you guys for supporting this story so much. It brightens all my days! Also I started an instagram that's rock based, so if you want you can follow it, it's @sadnessforweakness