you can't help but become the sun / julien baker

chapter twenty-five

"She's asleep, I moved her into her bed. We'll be okay, I'm gonna work on cleaning up her house," Magnolia was on a joint call with everyone in Hell Town, minus the girl who was sleeping.

"I'm glad, she scared the shit outta me," Phoebe had a feeling something was up with her friend, when it came to Julien, she just knew.

"Have you slept at all?" Lucy asked, Chloé had told her about the impulsive drive to Tennessee.

"No, I'm not tired at all. I think my adrenaline is keeping me from passing out," Maggie started picking up the shoes and clothes, putting them away where they were meant to go.

Chloé sighed, "Please make sure you get some sleep, you drove for hours."

"I will, I promise. How do I dispose of an unopened bottle of whiskey?" She asked, picking it up from off the ground and sitting it on the counter.

"It's unopened? Please just dump it down her sink," Phoebe almost pleaded. Everyone was grateful that It was unopened.

"Do you need anything?" Tina asked, she sounded more tired than Maggie.

"Not right now, thank you though. I should probably go, so I can focus on cleaning up."

The goodbyes were quick, Maggie threw most of the clothes into the washer. "Thank you for keeping your mama safe for me, Beans. You're a very good girl," she scratched behind her ear.

The sink was the next thing she tackled. After gathering all the dishes from Julien's bedroom, the washing process could begin. Magnolia's least favorite chore of all time was doing the dishes but that didn't matter when it came to Julien. She would do anything for her.

When each dish was finished and drying, she opened the bottle of whiskey. The sickening fumes hit Maggie like a punch to the nose, she gagged as she dumped every last drop of it down the sink.

Julien had been sleeping for an hour and a half when Maggie finished cleaning up her house. The girl handed Beans a treat before grabbing one of Julien's acoustic guitars and a capo.

After Magnolia got hurt and quit dancing, she kind of taught herself how to play Josiah's guitars but eventually realized she wasn't very good. She took the capo and placed it on the four fret, quietly plucking out the pattern of a song she couldn't remember the name of.

Julien woke up, she raised her eyebrows watching her girlfriend play. The gentle humming and picking were barely audible, so Julien had woken up on her own. "Of course, you know how to play," Julien's raspy voice startled the girl. Maggie turned her head to see her girlfriend, who was now sitting up.

She placed the guitar down on the floor and scooted close to her girlfriend. Magnolia wrapped her arms around the girl, pulling her to her chest, and burying her face into her neck.

The content of that day came crashing down on her all at once, her grip on Julien tightened. "I love you, don't ever scare me like that again," Magnolia whispered.

"I love you, I'm sorry you had to drive all the way here, I feel like an idiot," Julien sighed, leaning into her girlfriend's touch.

"I'd drive anywhere if it means I get to see you. Your house is clean, Beans is probably asleep, and I took care of that bottle."

"I thought about opening it, but I didn't. I'm glad I didn't," Julien moved so she was sitting on her girlfriend's lap.

Maggie tucked Julien's messy hair behind her ear, "I dumped it down the sink, it's gone. We don't need that shit."

"Is it bad to say that I don't want you to leave?" she asked, cracking a smile for the first time in a month.

"I don't wanna leave either, I don't have clothes though. I left in such a rush that I didn't bring those," Magnolia laughed.

"Well, who said we have to wear clothes?" Julien smirked.

"Oh? So now you have jokes?" the younger girl's hand found its way onto the older girl's hip. Maggie's lips were inches away from Julien's.

"Maybe I do," she shrugged, moving as close as she could while keeping just enough distance to prevent their lips from touching.

"You're lucky that I love you," Magnolia whispered. "And that I'm extremely tired right now."

"Hm, I love you too" Julien cupped Maggie's face and kissed her. "We should sleep then, yeah?"

"Yeah."

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a/n: I said the next update would be Friday but Lord knows i'm the most impatient person ever.

happy 'merica day 🙏

-A