Ketchum, ID

ch 32 - jo

 After Alex and I found our way to the dressing room, we sat down on the couch. We scrolled on our phones for a few minutes before Alex finally deemed it acceptable to bring up the events of the past half hour.

"So let me get this straight, because you know I'm not," they said in an attempt to make me laugh, which of course succeeded. "You accidentally told your girlfriend you love her, she said it back, she told a room full of her fans–some who are in love with her–that she has a girlfriend, Phoebe announced said love on stage, and people cried."

"I mean, yeah. That's what I lived I think," I said, still incredibly brain fogged from the life I was currently living.

"Okay, so we're on the same page. This is insane. I can't believe we've done such a good job at surprising them that you were on the phone with her and in the same room as her at the same time and she still has no idea," they said.

"I mean I heard the girl in front of us say that Julien kept looking at her, so she may know we're here and just didn't acknowledge us for my sake?" I said, not entirely believing in that sentence.

"I really don't think so," they said.

"Yeah I don't really believe that either," I replied with a laugh.

We went back to scrolling on our phones in silence for a few more minutes, and I was looking under Julien's name on twitter when my phone started ringing. I had forgotten I had turned my ringer on, and the volume was much higher than I remembered. Julien's picture flashed across the screen, and I was about to answer it when the door flung open, revealing none other than my girlfriend and her two best friends. We all stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before Phoebe screamed at the top of her lungs, causing me to flinch.

"OH MY GOD!" Phoebe shouted after her scream.

"Surprise!" Alex said with jazz hands.

We stood up off the couch as the three of them ran over to us, tackling us right back onto the couch. We all laid in a pile, hugging each other when I felt tears forming in my eyes.

"OH MY GOD!" Phoebe said again, causing Alex and I to laugh.

"You were here the whole time?" Julien asked.

"I hated lying to you, but we wanted to surprise you," I said, nervous she was about to be mad at me.

"I can't believe I called you and you were in here," she said, dumbfounded.

"Well actually we were in the crowd when you called," Alex corrected her.

"You were in the crowd?!" Lucy asked.

"We were, and we were right behind a group of girls with a sign that said, and I quote, 'I want the little boygenius,'" Alex said.

"Oh my god! I looked right at that sign, more than once!" Julien said.

"I was so scared you were going to see us," I said. "We wanted to surprise you during the show, but after the girlfriend announcement-" I started before Phoebe cut me off.

"Yeah I would have come and hid back here too. Especially after that girl in front of you guys reacted the way she did."

"Yeah..." I trailed off.

"I don't think they had any idea though," Alex admitted. "I even threw in there that I thought the three of you were in love to throw them off our scent," Alex said with a smug look on their face.

"You did not," Lucy said, stifling a laugh.

"Oh but I did," Alex said, causing all of us to burst into laughter.

We all got up off of the couch and started to get caught up when we realized we had been talking every day. The only thing we really had to get caught up on was how we pulled this surprise off.

"Well, we hired some new people at the bar," Alex said. "And when you guys announced the tour, we knew we wanted to be there for the first show."

"When do you guys go back?" Phoebe asked.

"We were hoping you wouldn't mind if we tagged along for the next two nights?" I said in a voice that completely gave away the fact that Alex and I were nervous about not asking them before just showing up on their tour.

"Why is that even a question? I can't believe you're asking us this," Lucy said in an offended tone.

"We did manage to get the whole weekend off so we could hang out while you guys were here in New York," Alex told them. "But I will admit that we only bought tickets to tonight's show."

"Well you don't need tickets to be here," Phoebe said. "We'll get you crew lanyards so you have access back here while we perform."

"It'll be good to have more familiar faces around," Julien said while looking directly at me.

"Ditto," Alex said, managing to speak my thoughts.

"We wouldn't miss it," I said, holding Julien's eye contact.

"Well let's get out of here! Where are you guys staying?" Phoebe said.

"We got a hotel for the next few days if you guys wanted to stay with us?" Alex said.

"I would love to not sleep on a tour bus if possible," Lucy replied. "Let me go find someone and tell them so they don't think we've gone missing or something crazy," she said as she started to walk out of the room.

Phoebe and Alex looked at each other and somehow telepathically communicated. They both got up, locked arms, and walked after Lucy, leaving Julien and I alone.

"Hi," I said with a small smile.

"I love you," she said.

"And I love you," I said, my smile somehow managing to get even bigger.

"Thank you for coming," she said with a smile. "I can't believe you're actually here," she said as she wrapped me in her arms.

"I wouldn't miss it, angel."

We hugged each other for a minute before she unraveled her arms and pushed me back to hold me at arms length.

"What are you doing?" I asked through a laugh.

"Just making sure this is real," she said, moving closer to examine my facial features.

"It is," I said with a smile. "Can I make sure this is real?"

"I thought you'd never ask," she said with a smirk.

I stepped forward to connect our lips and I could feel her smile into the kiss. I had been waiting for so long to do exactly this, and I could not believe it was finally happening. We kissed for a minute before we broke apart and rested our foreheads against each other.

"That was the longest two months of my life," I admitted.

"I'd be lying if I didn't say same," Julien replied.

"I love you, Julien Baker," I said with the goofiest smile on my face.

"And I love you," she said with an even bigger smile.