Ketchum, ID

ch 20 - julien + surprise;)

Julien

 I don't know why I hadn't thought to bring up the fact that we were leaving in a week to Jo. Maybe I was scared, maybe I thought it would scare her; either way, it had not been brought up until Phoebe texted it in the group chat. I felt the shift in her mood after that text, and I knew I had to talk to her about it.

"About what Phoebe said in the group-" I started before Jo cut me off.

"It's okay, we don't have to talk about it. We can address it as a group when they get here," Jo said in a small voice.

"Baby, please talk to me about it," I pleaded with her. "I hate seeing you upset."

"I mean, it sucks that we're just getting to know you guys when you leave so soon, but I'm glad I got to even meet you at all," she said with a small smile.

"I'm glad I got to meet you too," I said, mimicking the same gesture. "And don't you for a second think that us not being here means we're not going to talk. We'll be blowing up that group chat even more when we're apart and you know it."

"I was hoping you weren't thinking it was that easy to get rid of Alex and I," Jo laughed. "We're very persistent when we want to be."

"I'm sure you are," I replied with a warm smile.

"So, how about that room tour?" she asked me with a smirk.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Alex :o

Running around the bar like a chicken with its head cut off was never my favorite thing to do, but it was usually how things ended up going after I clocked in. Working at a bar with all of your friends is the dream, but owning a bar is a completely different story. Constantly trying to please everyone on a shift, making schedules, making sure orders get put in, making sure everything runs as smoothly as possible; it could get exhausting at times. To say I was thankful for Jo was an understatement. She always knew how to de-escalate a situation, how to keep me on track, how to keep me smiling. She truly was a blessing.

Sending her off with Julien did make me happy for her, but it also stressed me out for the last hour or two I knew I would be spending at Ketchum-All. Jo kept me grounded, and without her I wasn't sure I would be able to get everything I needed to get done today done. I could feel myself getting more and more stressed as I typed out everything I needed to get done tonight in the group chat. That was until Lucy and Phoebe came and found me in the office.

"As much as we love free drinks, it's not as fun without you out there with us," Phoebe said.

"I'm sorry guys, sometimes I actually have to pretend to be an adult and work. It sucks," I said with a laugh so they wouldn't take it in a mean way.

"That's actually why we came back here," Lucy said. "We want to help you."

"I could not possibly ask you to help me. It's all boring stuff you guys would want no part in," I said honestly.

"We are nothing if not your humble servants," Phoebe said as she bowed down to me, causing Lucy to follow in her footsteps.

"I mean, if you guys are serious, I normally rely on Jo a lot more than I realize I guess," I said, sort of laughing.

"You guys work too much," Phoebe said seriously. "And that's coming from a musician."

"We do, but we love what we do. It's our little passion project. We used to joke about this guy that lived on our street a few years ago that had a Chevy on cinder blocks forever, and anytime someone asked him about it, he called it his passion project. We decided to never let our bar be a Chevy on cinder blocks."

"That's deep," Lucy said. "And that's coming from a musician," she finished, causing me and Phoebe to laugh at the callback.

"Feel free to use that in your next song," I said with a wink.

"I just might," Lucy replied.

Between the three of us, we got everything that needed to be done in record time. Phoebe checked the coolers to see what I needed to place an order for, Lucy checked on all the bartenders and servers we had on the floor tonight to see if they needed anything or if anyone was opposed to me leaving a little early tonight, and I made the closing side work sheet and hung it up in the kitchen. We all decided to meet back in the office after doing our assigned chore, and after everything was done that's exactly what we did. We still had not fully addressed the fact that they were leaving, other than me yelling at them earlier, but I figured I would leave that until we got home.

"If our record doesn't take off the way we're hoping it will, I'm moving here and working here for sure," Lucy said when we all met back up in the office. "Everyone here is so nice!"

"Even the kitchen guys! That never happens!" Phoebe said. "I had to ask one of them to show me where the cooler was, and he showed me where it was without rolling his eyes! Where are you finding these people?"

I laughed and explained to them that every person here was queer and they were two beautiful women coming in out of nowhere, so of course everyone was going to be nice to them.

"They were probably just happy to not have to see me or Jo's faces for a minute," I said, laughing. "Well ladies, I think that covers it for the nightly manager duties, who's ready to go intrude on Jo and Julien's alone time?" I said with a smirk. 

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note:

alex pov alex pov alex pov alex pov

but fr that was fun to write who knows who else will get a pov