You're the One - Part 1 || Greta Van Fleet

Chapter 189: Life as We Knew It

When I got back into the bus, I could hear Jake in his bunk, quickly peeking up at me with nervous eyes as I made my way over.
"What is it?" I mouthed to him. 
"Is that her?" I heard from his computer. My cheeks burned, shooting him a confused look.
"Y-yeah.." He stuttered, forcing a smile.
"Bring her in! Let us say hi!" They said. My heart started beating faster. Who was he talking to? And why did they want to talk to me?

"Do you want to?" He mouthed, biting down on his lip. Part of me felt like I didn't really have a choice. I reluctantly made my way over, sliding into his bunk next to him. I could see two other people in camera and an endless stream of comments rolling up on the side of his screen, suddenly getting faster and faster and I leaned into view.

"Congratulations!" They cheered. "Jake just told us! You're engaged! How exciting!" My stomach dropped. I peeked over at him with a gentle smile, to which he gently squeezed my leg out of frame, giving me his "I'm so sorry" eyes that I could never be mad at.

"T-thank you!" I said, forcing a wide grin. "It's.. it's still very new. So, it's still so weird to say." I laughed, reaching over, grabbing his hand.
"Oh! Show us the ring!" They exclaimed. I hesitated, peeking over at him again. He nodded, and I held my hand up to the camera. The comments began rolling in so fast that you couldn't even read them anymore. How could anyone deal with this? This was so overwhelming. No wonder he was so exhausted after these.

"Oh my god, that is beautiful. He clearly has amazing taste. Are there any wedding plans yet?"
"No, n-not yet. We're still just.. enjoying the moment. Nothing serious is happening until this all slows down." I managed, trying my hardest to ignore the rapid notifications, but couldn't help but catch at glimpse at some of them, making my stomach drop.

Isn't that Josh's girlfriend tho? or did I miss something? 
OH MY GOD THAT'S THE GIRL FROM THE VIDEO.
Well she got ONE of them.
Ugh Jakey NOOOOO!!!! 
omg i am heartbroken
OMG THAT IS THE GIRL FROM THE VIDEO

"Well, I don't see that happening anytime soon." They laughed. I sighed, nodding, knowing they were right.
"But it's so exciting." I added. "And I'm so happy for him. He's incredible and he deserves this, they all do, so there's no rush. He knows I'll be here. But.. I'll get out of your way. Thanks guys!" I waved, quickly making my way out of the frame. Jake leaned over, gently grabbing my hand before I was out of reach, giving it a gentle squeeze. I couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks for having me guys!" Jake said, giving them a gentle wave.
"Thanks for talking with us! Good luck! I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of great things from you in the future!" I saw a smile escape his lips as his cheeks burned, covering his mouth with his hand to try and hide it. He was so cute. "Thanks for watching everyone, tune in next week for the results!"
"Thanks guys." He said again, before clicking out, taking a deep breath and lying back in his bunk. I leaned in the doorway of the back room, staring down at him until he finally peeked back up at me.

"I'm so sorry." He groaned.
"What happened?" I laughed, shaking my head, sitting back down next to him.
"It just.. it slipped out. I know you didn't want to tell anyone, I'm really sorry, when you walked by they asked who I was talking to and-"
"And you said your fiancé." I laughed. He nodded, his smile growing.
"I'm so sorry. I.. I like saying it."
"It's okay." I sighed, gently touching his cheek.
"But you're a private person, I know you just wanted this to be ours."
"Yeah, but.. it's okay. Really. It was bound to get out eventually, right?" He nodded, biting down on his lip.
"I just never want you to be uncomfortable. I already feel like.. you sacrifice so much for me, and you really didn't sign up for this. We should be able to have things that are just ours."

I sighed, running my fingers through his hair, pulling him into a gentle kiss.
"I love you. And if loving you means that the rest of the world knows it too, then so be it." His smile grew as he leaned in, kissing me again, tangling his fingers in my hair, pulling me closer to him.
"I love you." He sighed, his eyelids getting heavier.
"Whens your next interview?" I asked.
"In about.." He peeked over at his computer. "Fifteen minutes." He groaned, lying back down, clutching his pillow.

"You look exhausted." I giggled, lying down next to him. He leaned his head against mine, reaching out for my hand, intertwining our fingers.
"If I close my eyes right now.. I'll probably pass out." He laughed, his voice getting quieter. "You know.. they're probably gonna wanna talk to you in the next interview.. considering.."
"Already?"
"Well, it was live, so.. word travels fast." He muttered. I sighed, wondering just how much that one slip up was going to change everything.

"I'm.. I'm sure they're not gonna want to talk to me." I said softly, gently rubbing my thumb over his. He turned towards me, gently holding my face in his hand.
"Look, I'm the one that messed up, you don't have to go along with any of this if you don't want to. It's okay, I won't be.. upset or offended or anything. If you want to go and wait for me in the back room, that's okay."

And then the door to the bus opened, Josh making his way up the steps.
"So, you guys decided to tell everyone, huh?" He asked. My cheeks burned.
"W-what are you talking about?" Jake asked, sitting back up. Josh tossed his phone over into Jake's lap, showing an endless timeline of screenshots from the interview.

"How.. how is this happening so fast?" I asked, feeling my heart beat faster. Jake peeked over at me, noticing my tone. He sighed, tossing Josh his phone back.
"It was an accident. I.. I didn't mean to. We had no intention of saying anything."
"Well, the whole world knows now. So, good luck trying to have any privacy anymore." 

I then heard my phone from the other room, endless alerts, one after the other. Going back to grab it, I could see notification after notification popping up, so frequent I could barely use my phone. I went back out, tossing my phone down onto Jake's bunk. He looked over, his eyes going wide.
"Jess, I.. I didn't mean.. I.." I sat back down, turning my phone off.
"It's.. it's okay. This is just.. something we have to live with now, I guess, right?" I said, more so trying to reassure myself. He nodded, his face dropping.

Josh continued to scroll through, his face eventually dropping.
"What?" I asked, only imagining what else could possibly be happening. He bit down on his lip, shoving his phone into his pocket.
"Um.. nothing. It's nothing." He lied.
"Let me see." He hesitated, holding his stare on me.
"Jess, I.. I don't think it's a good idea if you-"
"How bad could it be?" I asked, holding out my hand. He sighed, going into his pocket and pulling his phone back out, handing in over.

My heart sunk as I continued scrolling, the photos of Jake and I slowly turning into screenshots and gifs of me and Josh from the music video.

"Jess, don't worry about it, it's in the past, don't let them bother you." Josh assured me, gently taking the phone from my hands, shoving it back into his pocket. I nodded, peeking over at Jake who had already lied back, pretending to be asleep. I reached over, gently pushing the hair out of his face, knowing that life as we knew it was about to change.