Ketchum, ID

ch 13 - julien

  After hearing the news that Jo was going to sing for us, Phoebe and I walked over to the stools at the window and sat down on either side of Alex. As I turned to face Jo, I was mentally critiquing my own performance in there.

"What are you gonna sing?" Phoebe asked.

"I actually don't know. I hardly agreed to do it in the first place, let alone make it far enough in to the deal to pick a song," Jo replied.

"Hold on," Alex said, standing up from their stool.

Alex walked over to Lucy and motioned for her to stop over by the couch with them. I looked at Jo as she watched them walk away.

"So how'd you like Salt In The Wound?" I heard Phoebe ask, forcing me to take my eyes off of the woman standing in front of me.

"Are you kidding me? That was fucking amazing!" she said in an excited voice, causing me and Phoebe to laugh. "Julien, your voice is insane! Yours is too Phoebe, please don't think I think you're anything less than incredible, but those SCREAMS!" she said, emphasizing the last word.

"Thank you," I said as I felt myself start to blush. "I always get in my head after singing in front of someone, so that means a lot."

The three of us talked through the song, what changes Phoebe and I think we could each make to our own delivery of the song, and where on the actual EP we would put this song for the tracklist to flow as naturally as possible. As we were talking, Alex came back over and sat back in between Phoebe and I again. I watched Jo's face fall as Lucy grabbed her arm.

"Let's go miss girl. It's showtime," Lucy said to her, dragging her back into the room and shutting the door behind her.

"What song are they gonna sing?" I asked Alex.

"Oh, just you wait, Baker. I think you're in for a treat. I picked one of her favorite shower songs," they said with a smirk, causing a little bit of jealousy to stir within me. I want to know all of her favorite shower songs.

I watched as Lucy situated her guitar and showed Jo where to stand with excitement bubbling inside of me. I couldn't take my eyes off of Jo. I did the same thing she did and gave her two thumbs up and flashed her a smile in hopes of calming some of her nerves. I watched as her mouth fell open as Lucy said something to her. They nodded to each other, and Lucy started to strum an all too familiar tune on her guitar.

"Tell me something girl," Lucy sang out as Jo closed her eyes. "Are you happy in this modern world? Or do you need more? Is there something else you're searching for? I'm falling. In all the good times I find myself longing for change, and in the bad times I fear myself," Lucy continued strumming her guitar.

I watched Jo as Lucy played the guitar interlude before her part. Her eyes were still closed, as if she was getting into her own groove.

"Tell me something, boy," Jo sang with a slight rasp to her voice. "Aren't you tired trying to fill that void? Or do you need more? Ain't it hard keeping it so hardcore? I'm falling. In all the good times I find myself longing for change, and in the bad times I fear myself."

"I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in. I'll never meet the ground," Jo belted with such power. "Crash through the service, where they can't hurt us. We're far from the shallow now."

"In the shallow, the shallow," the two women sang together. "In the sha-ha-sha-la-la-la-laow, in the shallow, the sha-ha-low. We're far from the shallow now."

I knew what came next, but I could never have prepared myself for what was about to come out of Jo.

"Ohhh, oh, oh, oh, oh," she belted with such intensity and raw emotion in her voice. "Whoa, ohh, oh, oh, oh ,oh. Woah, oh, oh, oh, oh, ohhhhh," she finished out the bridge and held the note until her next verse.

"I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in. I'll never meet the ground. Crash through the surface, where they can't hurt us. We're far from the shallow now," they sang together, harmonizing perfectly.

I watched Jo as they sang the last few lines of the song with tears forming in my eyes and goosebumps appearing on my skin. I glanced over to see Alex and Phoebe's reactions. Alex just looked at me with a knowing look on their face, but Phoebe looked absolutely as stunned as I did. She looked over at me as a tear fell from her eye. I laughed to myself and turned my attention back to the two women in front of me as they finished the song.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP THAT WAS AMAZING," Lucy yelled, causing Jo to sheepishly look at the floor.

"She's not lying," Phoebe said into the microphone in front of us so they could hear us in the room.

"Come out here, immediately," Alex said into the mic.

Lucy took her guitar off and her and Jo stepped out of the room. I immediately hopped down from my stool and walked over to Jo and wrapped my arms around her.

"That was absolutely incredible," I said to her. "I don't know what I was expecting, but that way exceeded expectations."

She was slightly shaking as she hugged me back, and I rubbed circles on her back. Lucy, Phoebe, and Alex came over and turned our hug into a group hug which felt absolutely right in that moment.

"I don't normally sing like that in front of anyone," Jo said into my shoulder so that only I could hear her.

"Well thank you for singing for us," I whispered back, and she squeezed me even tighter than I would have imagined possible. "You are so talented, and I am so grateful you were brave enough to be that vulnerable with people you just met yesterday."

"Well now that you've all heard me sing, you're never allowed to not be my friends," Jo said out loud to the group.

"It's true," Alex said. "Why do you guys think we've been friends for as long as we have?"

"The ol' ball and chain," Jo said in an unserious voice.

"You love me. It may be deep deep down, but I know you love me," Alex responded.

"I do," she said. "I love all of you even though we just met. We've all been so vulnerable together already and I cannot believe it."

"You haven't heard our next song yet, babes. Then we'll really get vulnerable," Phoebe said with a laugh.