You’re The One
Part Thirteen
Paring: Josh x Sage (Female OC)
Word Count: 2.6K Words in this chapter
Summary: Sage is trying to adjust to her new life in Frankenmuth by auditioning for the school play. But will her past hinder her from reaching for her dreams? Or will Josh be there to lend a helping hand?
Warnings: None for this chapter
Moodboard created by @parizonefourfour (Thank you for being the best editor <3)
A couple weeks had passed since that first rehearsal with Josh and his brothers. Many nights of laughs and music filled my nights, and eventually I was able to get Cora to come along with me. This night in particular was very exciting for the both of us. Tonight we’d get to see the boys play live for the first time. The day had been filled with helping the boys pack everything into the van for the drive out to Saginaw.
“I can’t believe we’re groupies for a band.” Cora huffs out as we both struggle to push Sam’s keyboard case into the back of the small white van.
“We aren’t groupies,” I wheeze out, giving one final push to the case as it slides into the van. “We’re just friends helping out.”
She smirks, leaning her body against the open door behind her, “I think one of us is a little bit more than a friend.” Rolling my eyes, I give her a small shove. I knew she wasn’t wrong but it was still weird to say that Josh and I were anything other than friends. I mean yeah, we would go out and we spent a lot of time together, but we’ve never officially put a label on things. And I’m comfortable with what we are now, so why change anything? I mean, it was weird. I wouldn’t say no to being Josh’s girlfriend, but if he wasn’t ready to ask, I wasn’t going to push him.
“It’s not like I’m the only one here with some feelings.” I say, flashing my eyes between Cora and Jake, who had started walking up the driveway with one of his guitar cases. Cora’s face drained of color as she turns around quickly to see if he was close enough to hear.
“Shut it Sage.” I laugh and start walking back towards the house, raising my hands up in surrender.
“I didn’t say anything.” It was honestly adorable to see Cora get flustered over a boy. Normally she had all the confidence in the world, but with Jake it was different. Maybe it was the amount of confidence he also exuded that made her shy. Or maybe there was just something a little more special to him than any other guy. Cora and Jake had been getting really friendly over the last few weeks of spending time at the Kiszka residence. Even though they weren’t as obvious with their feelings as Josh and I were, I could see the brewing romance starting from the first night Cora came over with me. I could tell by the way she smiled and laughed at all of Jakes goofy impressions, and how she was suddenly interested in all of the same music as him. One night, on our ride home, I told her to cut the act and just go for it, but for once in her life, Cora was unable to speak.
As I made my way up-to the garage, I see Josh pointing at different things for Danny to grab before we all stuffed ourselves into the van to head to the bar. He didn’t seem to notice me walk up at first, his eyes watching carefully to make sure Danny had grabbed everything he asked him to.
“Anything else I can grab for you?” I say as I wrap my arm loosely around Josh’s waist.
His brain was busy, his eyes double checking every inch of the garage to make sure they didn’t forget anything, “I think we have it all…” His arm wraps around my shoulder without thinking, an automatic movement, like we had been doing this for years. He finally takes a second to look down at me, and I can see that he’s trying his best to make this night go perfectly. “Thank you so much for helping us. You really didn’t have to.” I smile up at him, tightening my grip into a hug against his body.
“I’d do anything to help you guys, I am your little groupie for the night.” I laugh sarcastically, thinking about how Cora’s eyes would roll if she heard me call myself a groupie, and reach up to pinch his cheek lovingly. His laugh engulfed mine as he kissed the top of my head.
“Well if that’s the case, maybe there is a few more things I could get help with.” Josh’s hand reaches down to my cheek, pulling my face closer to his. Just as his lips brush mine, a yell coming from the door into the main house makes us jump apart.
“EW. GROSS. STOP IT.” Sam’s long legs burst into the room, a cheeky smile splashed across his face. “Look. Sage you’re great, but I need you to stop making Josh be all gushy. I can’t stand all this romance in the air.” As Sam walks by, Josh smacks his little brother on the back of the head. Sam laughs and flashes a middle finger at Josh as he continues his walk towards the van, hopping in and climbing to the back seat where Danny was waiting for him.
Laughing I grab Josh’s hand and start pulling him towards the car, “I think that’s our queue, Romeo.” Keeping up with me, he tightens his grip on my hand.
“I think so Juliet.”
We make it to the side door of the van, where Cora and Jake had been practically huddling together and talking. When they see us walk up, Jake jumps into the middle row, tapping on the seat next to him, his eyes locked onto Cora’s. I give Cora a knowing look as she hops into the van, making sure to keep some space between herself and Jake. Josh waves his hand dramatically, letting me into the van before himself. Using his arm as support I clumsily climb into the open row towards the front of the van, Josh quickly sliding in behind me.
“Alright. Music roulette. Who’s going first?” Sammy yells from the backseat, waving his phone tauntingly in the air as he speaks.
“Music roulette?” I say, looking up at Josh.
Jake laughs, “We pass around a phone and everyone picks one song. We decide if his garbage or not and if it’s good you can keep picking, if it’s bad, you’re banned from picking music for the rest of this trip.” Cora and I both laugh. The thought of the boys picking music and roasting each other on the choices made has to be great.
“Now who loses this game the most?” I say to Sam.
“Your lover boy up there definitely has the biggest losing streak out of all of us.”
“Hey! It’s not my fault that you guys don’t have taste!” Josh snaps back at Sam.
“Well I guess some of us are just not as cultured as you Joshy.” Jake says back to him, his voice oozing with sarcasm. “I think we should let our lovely guests go first Sammy, see if they have what it takes to keep up with us.” Jake quickly takes Sam’s phone from his hand and hands it over to Cora, who face looks both terrified and excited at the same time. Cora has great taste in music, but the idea of being taunted by it is enough to make either of us nervous.
I see her type something quickly into the phone, adding it to the queue, before handing the phone over to me. It takes me a second to decide on what song to pick, but I type it in quickly before handing the device over to Josh. He seems to have this planned out already because its only seconds before he hands the phone off to Jake.
“What did you pick?” Josh whispers over to me, and I grin at him with a sarcastic smile.
‘Thats for me to know and for you to find out.” Josh wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into the small space that was still in between us.
“Alright, you have all chosen. Let’s see how this goes.” Sam dramatically presses play on the queue and the opening chords to ‘Fire Walk With Me’ by the Black Keys fills up all of the empty space in the van. I look back to see the reaction of the boys, all giving reassuring nods and smiles to the beginning of the playlist.
Jake leans into Cora and whispers so quietly that I’m only barely able to make out the words. “That’s my girl.” Cora giggles and flushes an even brighter pink. I give her a wink before looking back over to Josh, who’s eyes have been burning a hole into my cheek this entire time.
“Whatcha looking at Joshy.” I playfully say to him.
Josh’s face flushes a soft pink, a sweet smile appears on his lips, “I’m just really excited that you’re coming out tonight.”
I smile and reach over, grabbing the hand he didn’t already have wrapped around me. “It’s gonna be a great night, all of you are going to be amazing. I know it.”
We look at each other, the music playing from the car’s radio staring to quiet down as it fades into the next song. The opening piano of John Denver’s ‘For You’ starts to play and I cant help but look away from Josh. Staring out the car window I listen to John’s tender voice swell and the lyrics fill with me emotion. It hadn’t taken long for this to become Josh and I’s song. It’s cheesy, I know. But there was something about this one that makes me think of him every time I hear it. It’s only a few seconds into the song when I notice that the rest of the van had fallen silent. I look back to see everyone staring up at Josh and I, and I instantly become nervous. I knew it was slightly a risk to play something this sappy in front of all of them, but music was the best way for me to communicate my feelings to Josh. And I knew that if I played it, that he would know how I was feeling in that moment. It was like our own secret language that only he and I understood.
“I’m giving this one to you Sage. But it’s your only warning. The only reason you aren’t booted its because anything by Mr. Denver is a classic.” Sammy says from the backseat. I see Danny shove him with his shoulder before I turn my head back towards the window.
Watching the fast moving trees go past. Josh’s arms pulls around my waist, him letting me lean against him as we both start to watch all of the orange trees fly by us.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆
Cora and I sat at a table close to the stage as the boys out the finishing touches on all of their equipment. The bar was what you would expect of it. Old, dimly lit, a little sticky, but it was packed. The boys had gained a following of locals at this bar, mainly a bunch of old men who were living their rockstar dreams through the music the guys played.
“I’m really excited for tonight.” Cora’s voice made my ears perk up, looking over at her I see her eyes aren’t looking at mine, but looking up to Jake, who was messing with some of the strings on his guitar.
“I think you’re just excited to spend a little more time with Jake.” I tease, sipping a drink of my water as my eyes leave Cora’s face and look up at Josh. He was busy messing with one of the thousands of wires and chords they boys had connected to their amps.
“I really like him, Sage.” Our eyes stayed glued on the Kiszka twins, both in their element. Their smiles and laughs radiating a warm and exciting energy into the crowd.
“I know what you mean.” As soon as the words leave my lips Josh’s eyes meet mine, he blows me a kiss from his spot on the stage. I reach out and grab the invisible kiss, sticking it into my pocket. Josh’s cheeks flush pink before looking back down at the chords and plugging his mic into the one he had been searching for.
After a few more minutes of the boys fiddling around, Josh made his way up to his microphone, his front man persona taking over his entire personality.
“Well good evening Saginaw, we’re Greta Van Fleet. Let’s have a great night!” As soon as Josh’s words, well more like screams were finished the thunderous sound of Jake’s guitar made everyone stand on their feet. Cora and I joined the crowd in singing and dancing along to all of the classic rock songs the boys knew like the back of their hands.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆
Josh ran up to me as soon as the boys finished the first half of their set. Spinning me in the air as he caught me in a tight embrace. “How are you guys enjoying it? Are we doing okay?” Josh looked between Cora and I, his eyes eager and excited.
“You guys are even better here than I’ve heard in any rehearsal.” Cora beamed at him, “I wish you had invited us sooner!”
“Well we need to live in the now. And right now Cora, this is the now.” Jakes words came up from behind the group of us, his arm draping around Cora’s waist as he spoke. The adrenaline obviously giving Jake the boost of confidence he needed to be able to start to claim Cora as his for the night.
We spent the few minutes they had on break talking about the past hour of music the boys had played. Cora gushing over every one of Jakes guitar solos, and Josh making fun of any little mishap that we never noticed through the whole set.
⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆
The rest of the night flew by so quickly, that I was disappointed by the time the boys had finished packing up the van to head back to Frankenmuth. Josh and I were the first to get into the car, trying to find a little time to get to be alone.
“Sage thank you for coming out here with us. It really means more to me than you know.” Josh pulled me close to him on the small seat we were sharing in the van.
“Anything for you Josh.” I could feel his body relax against mine, his skin still damp with sweat. His lips found the top on my head, taking in a deep breath before he could pull away.
The comfortable silence we sat in led me back into the thought that Cora had mentioned earlier in the day. We both cared for each other so much, but what were we? Friends? A couple? Some weird space in between? The thoughts start to consume my being, causing me to shift, unable to sit comfortably.
“What’s wrong?” Josh’s eyes look down at me, the once excited boy looking like a lost puppy.
“Josh… what are we?” His face shifts through several emotions, obviously deep in thought at the abruptness of my question. “I mean… we’ve been spending a lot of time together. Basically everyday. And I think its obvious that I care for you a lot and I-” Josh’s lips cut me off before I can continue my spiral. His kiss deep and passionate, his hands pulling my face close to his, making me unable to break free.
When he finally pulls away, he keeps his forehead attached to mine. Closing his eyes and trying to take deep breaths. “Sage. What do you think we are?” His eyes remained closed and I try and reach for my words.
“I know what I want us to be.” Unable to speak above a whisper.
“And what his that?”
“I want to be yours Josh.” My words come out shaking, unsure of what his response will be.
“You are mine Sage. All mine.”
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