Ketchum, ID

ch 33 - julien

 When Phoebe, Lucy, and Alex came back, Jo and I were sitting on the couch talking about how people in the crowd had reacted to the news. We knew there would be some people who were unhappy, but seeing how it affected her firsthand was what I was worried about. I didn't want people's opinions of her to scare her away, but that didn't seem to be a problem to her.

"I mean, I get it," she had said. "Look at you, if I wasn't your girlfriend I'd be jealous too."

"But also look at you," Phoebe said as the others came back into the room. "If my favorite music artist announced they were dating you I don't know who I would be more jealous of."

"Finally! Someone gets me!" Alex exclaimed, causing all of us to laugh.

"I mean no one knows who your girlfriend is, but if we're seen hanging out with you two I think word will get out pretty quick," Lucy said.

"I think I'm okay with that," Jo said confidently.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to jump into something you're not entirely ready for," I said to her with a hint of worry in my voice.

"I'm sure," Jo replied with a small smile as she placed her hand on my arm.

I smiled back at her, and the five of us started the walk to Alex and Jo's hotel. Phoebe took a picture of Jo and I holding hands as we walked, and she sent it to both of us. In the picture, Jo has my jacket wrapped around her shoulders and I'm looking at her with a smile on my face. When we got back to the hotel without running into anyone that recognized us, we all took turns taking showers. While Jo was showering, the rest of us were talking about the picture Phoebe had taken.

"Okay, hear me out," Phoebe said. "We post this picture on the boygenius instagram saying she surprised you at the show tonight."

"I don't know," I trailed off.

"I think it's a good idea," Alex said.

"I mean, you can't see her face, and you can see me and Alex walking so we could say that both of them are here," Lucy said.

"And we did talk about them at the show tonight," Phoebe chimed in. "I'm already seeing tweets and tiktoks of us talking about the inspiration for Ketchum, ID."

"So if we posted and said they're actually here visiting," Lucy said as she raised her eyebrows.

"I think you should do it," Jo said, scaring all of us because we didn't know she was out of the shower.

"See! And it's her opinion that I was worried about! I'm posting it," Phoebe said as she pulled instagram up on her phone. "I won't tag Jo or Alex in it so no one will know, but now when people see the videos of us talking about the songwriting process, they'll have this picture to know they're real people."

"Tag me in it so I can repost it," Lucy said as she also pulled instagram up on her phone.

"I guess tag me in it too," I said reluctantly.

"Already planned on it," Phoebe said as she winked at me.

The next morning when we woke up, the picture was all over social media. People trying to figure out who Alex and Jo were, people talking about how cute it was that Jo was in my jacket, people saying how cute it was that they surprised us at the show, overall there seemed to be a positive reaction to the whole girlfriend announcement. We had all decided that we would walk around New York City tomorrow, and that today we were just going to hang out and soak up all the mundane tasks with them.

We got up and got dressed before deciding that we would spend today at the venue. Jo and Alex told us they'd meet us there, and they went to go get us some lunch. Phoebe, Lucy, and I went to the venue and hung out outside talking to some fans before we went inside to get Jo and Alex their crew badges so they could be backstage with us with no issues. When Jo and Alex finally made it inside, they came back to our dressing room with bags filled with takeout and their crew badges around their necks. Jo looked so cute with her lanyard on, I couldn't help but secretly take a picture of her when she was laughing at something that Lucy had said.

"The people outside are so nice," Jo said.

"We got to talk to them a little bit before we came inside, and all anyone wanted to talk about was the picture," Phoebe said with a laugh.

"The amount of people that asked JB about her girlfriend was so funny," Lucy added.

"What can I say? I'm a celebrity now," Jo said as she tossed her hair over her shoulder, causing all of us to laugh.

"My little celebrity," I said as I walked over and wrapped my arms around her.

"CRINGE," Alex yelled as Phoebe and Lucy mimicked throwing up noises.

"You're just jealous," Jo said to Alex as she stuck her tongue out at them.

"But which one am I more jealous of? The world may never know."