Greta Van Fleet Imagines

light my candle-jmk

I've been in a big phase lately so here is this for y'all. Enjoy! I could have made it closer to the actual show but I couldn't stop myself from writing out the scene completely so I settled for the mystery.

Warnings: none :-)

Jake stood at the door, rather impatiently tapping his foot. "Anything else? I have milk, bread, a girlfriend for Sammy, booze, and a garbage can."

Sam, who had just placed his sunglasses on his face, looked over. "Is that why you're taking me with you?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "Of course, you need to get out more." Josh snorted. The brother, who was already halfway out the door, pointed back at him. "And you're next. Get your dating profile ready."

The twins began to bicker incoherently, Jake fighting that Josh needed a girlfriend. Josh retorted with how he was happy with the way his life is right now. It didn't take long for the conversation to become unintelligible, just the twins making noises and faces at each other. Sam pushed Jake towards the door, nearly throwing him out. With a slam of the door, Josh was left in an empty apartment. Though they loved each other, his brothers were beginning to drive him crazy. Living in close quarters with the two guys he spent his entire upbringing with was getting tiring. Jake was the first to move out. Josh then followed, moving into the other bedroom. The two attended college, majoring in different subjects and barely seeing each other on campus. Two years later, Sam joined the mix, attending the same school. Though he technically was supposed to be living on campus, he hated his roommate. Instead, he settled for the pullout couch in the living room. The three of them had their own jobs and lives, but they were beginning to fall into their summer routines.

Millions of things ran through his mind of what he could do. He did the quick math to calculate his time. It was a thirty-minute walk to the budget grocery store Jake preferred, giving an hour or so to start with. Jake wasn't a big shopper. He had a list and a purpose. He rarely strayed from said list, and he was in and out of the store in fifteen minutes. Sam, on the other hand, was a looker. He picked up each and every brand of an item on the list, weighing the price against the ingredients. Shopping usually took him about an hour. With both brothers together, it would be another thirty to forty-five minutes on top of the commute.

By the time Josh finished the mental math and decided on having some time to himself, the lights flicked off. With his afternoon that was supposed to be spent watching the cheesy telenovela on the big tv ruined, he slumped on the couch.

He was excited to figure out if the evil twin, Ricardo, in the show was going to continue posing as the nice twin, Bernardo, to win the inheritance of Mariela. He began watching it to test his Spanish skills. Instead, he got into the show, waiting patiently for a new episode every night. Unsure of how to spend his day without electricity, he began to tidy up. While Jake usually cleaned the apartment, Josh liked to create a little bit of problems. He went to the bookshelf, turning a few books upside down and rearranged the fruit bowl on the counter, making it look rather phallic with two oranges and a banana. A knock on the door snapped him out of his chaotic spell.

"What'd you forget?" He asked, opening the door.

Instead of his brothers shoving their way into the apartment, there stood a girl. "Got a light?" She asked, holding up a candle.

Josh sputtered out something that resembled a sentence. He took a deep breath before trying to speak again. "You look familiar." He moved to let her in. He had seen her around, not just in the building once or twice, but somewhere else. At this point, he noticed her cradling her cardigan closer to her body and trembling. "You're shivering."

"It's fine." She set her gloves down on the counter. "My heater has been busted for a while, but the landlord won't fix it." She turned to face him, holding up the candle once again. "Would you light my candle?"

"You really look familiar." It was eating away at Josh. Where had he seen her? It had to have been when he wasn't in the right state of mind. There was no way he could forget a face like hers.

"What are you staring at?"

Realizing that he had been gawking at her, he began to dig through the kitchen cabinets and drawers. "I have matches somewhere, but my brother keeps them hidden because of-"Josh stopped himself, his fingers landing on the sandy side of the box. "Found 'em."

He struck one of the two matches in the box, holding it over the wick for a moment. The flame quickly transferred, making the mystery girl smile. The flame almost just as quickly disappeared. After trying again, the wick stayed lit.

"Do you go to the club on Miller Avenue?" She asked. "That's where I work."

"Right!" The mystery was finally solved. His memory jumpstarted, his next words slipped out. "They used to handcuff you to the pole, right?"

She nodded, no hint of embarrassment on her face. "It's a job, right?"

Josh felt bad for asking.

"Thanks for the light," she winked, closing the door behind her.