Greta Van Fleet Imagines

Bags (Sam) Part 5

Song: Crosses by Jose Gonzalez

Okay so I totally thought this was going to be the final part but NOPE this is a long one and then there's one final part to come, so thank you to whoever's stuck around this long! I was really feeling it with this one, so hope you like it :)

Heartbreak is chronic. It's constant, a permanent scar. We like to say we can get over heartbreak, but the truth of the matter is, it never truly goes away. Everyone remembers how it felt when their first love went away, how horrible it was after their first breakup, romantic or platonic. Everyone remembers their first loss, their first abandonment, their first betrayal. We all move on, but those feelings, those experiences, they stay, either as persistent, dull throbbing or engraved deeply into us.

You never got over Sam. Though you were over your feelings for him, it still hurt every time you saw him. You didn't necessarily long for him anymore, nor did you wish you still had him. No, this was a nostalgic pain; the hurt one feels when looking back and remembering good times that ended up in disaster, when they see someone or think of a memory and think "wow, I wish that didn't have to end". You look back on times with Sam and just miss the feeling of him, because you had grown so used to it, and loved it so much. So yes, you never got over Sam, but that didn't mean you hadn't moved on.

Neither you nor Noah expected much to come out of your time at the lake house. Sure, you both had a fun time together, but figured it would be short lived. But that last night you both felt something, a connection you hadn't been expecting, and instead stayed up until sunrise alternating between making out and talking. The two of you barely stopped talking after that, texting and calling and Facetiming between spending time together in person. He was sweet to you, and you both shared a lot in common. You made each other laugh uncontrollably, and you felt safe in his arms, him comfortable in yours. It was the perfect match.

The same couldn't be said for Sam and Ellie. Sam was a generally chill person; Ellie was not. Sam loved rock music and its roots; Ellie didn't have much of an appreciation for it. Sam didn't understand the appeal of social media and taking couple pictures for instagram; Ellie did. They didn't get each other or have a lot in common, and as much as they tried to understand one another, it never really clicked. Ellie was outgoing and had a very social lifestyle, loving events and big group hangouts and large groups of people. Sam was fine with all of that, but preferred smaller, more intimate settings. As much as Ellie tried to understand the rockstar lifestyle, she struggled with the long periods of poor communication when he was working, and tours and events that kept him away from her. They tried, they truly did; it just wasn't meant to be.

The final straw in their relationship ended up being Sam's behavior. You hadn't seen it too much as you tended to stay away from most situations that involved Sam, but apparently over the months he'd grown, as Danny put it when ranting to you about the changes in his best friend one night, colder. Ellie had much harsher words for it and was the only one brave enough to say it to his face, but Sam had seemed to shut everyone out. No one could ask if anything was wrong; the answer was always no, or shouts of anger. It seemed to be easiest for him to let everyone dislike him, so he tried his best to make that happen, little by little. Thankfully the boys weren't going so easily; they saw what was happening, and were not about to let their relationship change. His brothers weren't going anywhere, and Danny wasn't about to give up on that friendship. But it cost Sam Ellie, and after, he fell even further into himself.

Several months passed before you and Sam really talked again. You'd gone back to school, and the only times you really spoke were over text in group conversations. It wasn't until you were home for Thanksgiving break that you finally talked in person. You initiated the meeting, because it was driving you crazy that Sam could suddenly become so distant from you so fast. You wanted an explanation. So, you texted him one night, asking if he'd be up for grabbing coffee and going for a walk. He agreed.