Ketchum, ID

ch 23 - jo

After Alex and I got off work, the 5 of us decided that we would stay at Lucy, Phoebe, and Julien's place tonight since they had to check out of the place in the morning. We went straight there from work, and Alex was visibly upset in the car.

"What's wrong, baby?" I asked them as we pulled out of the bar parking lot.

"I don't want them to leave," they said as a tear rolled down their cheek.

I reached across to wipe the tear from their cheek as I felt my eyes start to fill with tears.

"I know, but it won't be for too long. We'll see them again," I said, unsure if I was comforting them or myself more.

"But we just got to know them. How is that fair that we only got to hang out with them for two weeks and now they're leaving?"

"They have to go release their music, baby. You know we can't hold them back from their dream," I said in a sad voice.

"I'm gonna miss them."

"Me too, angel. Me too."

When we got to their house they had been renting, we all got out of our cars and the tension was incredibly obvious. No one wanted to bring it up, so we all went inside. We decided that tonight would be the best time to get everything packed up and cleaned before they had to be out of there tomorrow. We got everyone's stuff packed up and put into the car, and then we got to cleaning. After everything was clean and looked just how it did when they got there, we all flopped down on the couch exhausted.

"So tomorrow's the day," Alex said.

"Tomorrow is the day," Phoebe said as she looked down at the floor.

"But we'll have matching tattoos after tomorrow, so it'll be pretty hard to forget about each other," I said, trying to make everyone a little less sad.

"I could never forget about you guys," Julien said. "You guys are pretty remarkable," she said as she looked directly at me, causing me to blush.

"To you two and your kindness," Lucy said, raising her imaginary glass.

"And to you three and your dope ass music," Alex said, following Lucy's lead.

The next day, we did one last look around the house to make sure everything was in order, and to make sure no one had left anything behind. After seeing everything was all good, we piled into our cars and went back to Alex and I's house. Alex and I changed clothes, and then we all sat around laughing about things we'd done in the past two weeks until it was time for us to start heading to the tattoo shop.

"I'm gonna need someone to hold my hand," Lucy said in a nervous voice. "This is going to be my first ever tattoo."

"Mine too," Alex said.

"You really like us that much?" Phoebe said to Alex. "Lucy has no choice but to like us that much, but you? You're positive?"

"I've never been more sure of something," Alex said smiling.

After we each had a tooth tattooed on our wrist, we took a picture of them before the tattoo artist bandaged them up. After everyone was bandaged, we decided to head straight to the bar. My shift didn't start until 6 and their set didn't start until 8:30, but Julien, Lucy, and Phoebe needed to make sure everything was in order for them. Phoebe and Lucy had already mentioned they needed a drink before going on, and I could tell Julien was nervous as well. Once we got to Ketchum-All, the bar was already packed. Alex had posted on all of our social medias that boygenius was playing again for Live Music Thursday, and everyone that heard them on open mic night had been hyping them up in the comments all day. There were already almost 200 people in the bar, waiting for them to go on.

"You guys have caused a pretty big fuss," Nick said to them as they sat down at the bar. "I just got here 20 minutes ago, and the crowd has almost doubled in that time."

"No way!" Julien said.

"Yes way," Nick continued. "You guys are mad talented. I would be lying if I said you guys did not play a factor in me getting here a few hours before I normally would on a Thursday."

I felt pride swell in my chest hearing Nick tell them this.

"I was wondering why you were here so damn early!" I said to him, laughing.

"Well I came to see the show and have a few drinks made by my favorite bartender in Idaho," he said with a wink. "I knew people would show up for this one, so I had to make sure I had my seat."

"Well, let me get clocked in and I'll be out to get those drinks started," I said to him as I turned to head into the kitchen.

"Is it true those girls that sang on open mic night are singing again?" asked James, the bar's head chef. James was a friend that Alex and I had in common in college that moved out here to work in the kitchen when we opened the bar. Him and his boyfriend both ended up working here, and Alex and I could not run the bar without them.

"It's true," I said as I punched my clock in numbers into the computer.

"Thank god," James' boyfriend Ian said. "I love everyone you guys have play here, but I was starting to get bored of the other guy."

"Well be bored no longer," I said with a laugh. "Boygenius is playing tonight, and it'll be a very special show because it's their last show before they go back to LA."

"They're going back to LA?" Ian asked me. "I thought you and the little one had something going on?" he said, causing me to blush.

"I mean we've kissed a few times, but they have to leave so they can actually release the EP they're performing for us tonight."

"They're performing unreleased songs? Holy shit! That's sick!" James said.

"It is pretty sick, isn't it?" I asked, that proud feeling growing even more. "I guess we'll see how much of a fan base they can conjure up out here in Idaho."