The Weight of Dreams || Greta Van Fleet

Chapter 56: What Would You Do?

Jake's P.O.V

I couldn't contain my smile as I practically skipped down the hallway. I was her boyfriend. Even though it wasn't publicly, that's still what she called me, and that was all that mattered. We knew how we felt about each other, and that made the idea of finally telling her how I felt.. that much easier.

I peeked into every dressing room along the way to see where the guys were for our interview. Part of me wondered why press even bothered talking to us, but I'm sure it was just another excuse to try and get as much dirt as possible about Juliette.

But I had learned my lesson.
After all, she was my girlfriend now.
And the last thing I was going to do was let anyone talk about her.

Finally, I saw them making their way into one of the rooms. I hastily made my way in, not wanting to be anymore late than I already was. I could tell they were starting to get annoyed with me, having been tagging along with Julia majority of the time while they had to tough it out with each other. It wasn't fair, I knew that. And we had started this together. It was only right that I stayed with them.

"There you are!" Josh said, plopping down on the couch. "I was afraid Sam was gonna have to talk for you again." I shook my head, quickly going over and sitting down next to him.
"Sorry." I muttered. "Juliette wanted me to sit in on her interview, so-"
"And whatever the Mrs. says." He mocked, playfully shoving me. I tried my best to contain my grin, but I knew my blushing face always gave me away.

"How is she doing?" He asked, now seemingly genuinely interested.
"She's okay." I sighed. "The crowds just get to her, so.."
"I can imagine. It seems like every time there are more and more. I don't know how she does it. Doesn't she ever just.. get sick of it?" I shrugged.
"I'm sure she does but.. this is just.. her life."
"And your's now too." He laughed. "You know, the more you two are seen together.. soon enough they're gonna start trying to get to you too. And.. I can't say that it won't help us." I rolled my eyes, shoving him away.

"You know that's not why I'm doing this." I muttered, feeling my face get hot. He nodded, smirking back over at me.
"I know, I know, you're in love."
"Alright, shut up. Where is this guy anyway?" I smirked, trying my best to change the subject, despite the fact that all I wanted to do was talk about how much I loved her, but I knew that no one really wanted to hear about that.

I never wanted to become that guy.
But I was absolutely becoming that guy.

"You can talk about her, it's okay." He said softly, smiling back at me. "It's exciting." I bit down on my lip, peeking back at him.
"Yeah." I sighed. "It is. And.. I feel like.. well, she called me her boyfriend today."
"Have you told her you love her yet?" He asked, playfully nudging me. I shook my head, feeling my cheeks burn.
"N-not yet."
"And why not?" I shrugged.
"I just.. I want it to be the perfect moment."
"So.. why don't you just make it the perfect moment." I shrugged again.

"I guess it would just be easier if.. she said it first." I muttered, despite knowing that.. I should be the one to say it first. But our situation was different. She technically already had a boyfriend. She knew how I felt, but I just needed her to tell me, and then.. I could give her everything.

And then I saw Josh peek over at Sam, shooting him a look. Sam shook his head.
"What?" I asked, now wondering what they knew.
"Nothing." Sam sighed. "Where is this guy?"

Finally, there was a knock on the door, instantly letting himself in, and giving us a subtle wave.
"Hey, I'm Calvin, you must be Greta Van Fleet." He said. My stomach dropped.

Calvin?
The same guy from before?

I quickly pulled my hair up, putting on my sunglasses and slipping my pass under my shirt, hoping somehow he wouldn't recognize me, but I knew this wasn't going to go well.
"Hi!" Josh said, thankfully taking the lead as he got up to shake his hand. "Nice to meet you, thanks for taking the time to talk to us."
"Of course." He said simply, already making himself comfortable, taking out his notepad. I could tell he was still angry about before.

This definitely wasn't going to go well.

"Alright let's get right into it." He said, much less enthusiastically than he had been with Juliette. Probably because there was no hope of getting lucky with any of us. And we weren't in short dresses.

"So how does it feel being on a tour like this? I'm sure it's nothing like what you guys are used to."
"Absolutely." Josh said. For once, I was happy that he'd gladly take the lead. "We're so thankful that Juliette gave us this opportunity. The fans have been amazing and so welcoming, and we couldn't be more appreciative. It's been amazing so far."

"And how well do you think, with your different genres, the both of you mesh together? When you were announced, everyone was a little confused, you know, considering.."
"Right. Well, honestly, at it's roots, Juliette isn't all that different from us. She's a true musician, and she plays everything, and you can see that in her song writing, she just happens to also be an amazing dancer and.. the people want to see that." He laughed, trying his best to shrug off the fact that the questions were already being directed at Juliette.

But we had all expected it.

"Oh, that we do." He laughed. I could already feel the anger building inside me. "So, from what I understand, you're all single guys. What has it been like getting to be around her so far? Any chance of breaking up the dynamic duo?" Sam laughed, leaning forward to answer. Thankfully someone did before I exploded.

"We're gentlemen, and Juliette has been nothing but gracious to us-"
"I'm sure she has." He winked. "We're guys, after all. Can you blame us? I mean, look at her, she's hot as hell, and we all know it. She clearly knows it with the outfits she goes out in every night. There's no way she's not begging for this attention, and if I was Don, I can tell you, after a show like that-"
"You'd what?" I snapped. "What would you do?"

The room went silent, his face dropping as he turned to me. I knew exactly what he wanted to say, exactly what he would do, like he wasn't trying to do it before, right in front of me.

"Juliette is an artist and she doesn't get nearly enough credit for what she does, and it's insulting that guys like you reduce her down to something for you to just ogle and grab at. She is more talented than anyone I have ever met, and it's disgusting how much that gets overlooked just because.. what? She's a woman? She doesn't wear a smock on stage? So what, she looks great, that's.. the least interesting thing about her. And.. the fact that people don't even take the time to really get to know her, it just.." I took a deep breath, stopping myself before I took it too far.

"Now.. if you want to ask questions about us, we'd be more than happy to answer them but.. if you only booked this to try and get us to talk badly about Juliette.. you can forget it." Calvin held his glare on me, no doubt trying to intimidate me, but I didn't care anymore. I didn't care what anyone did. Not anymore. Not when it came to Juliette.

To Julia.

"I think I got everything." He finally said, closing his notebook and getting up, heading for the door. The rest of the guys stayed quiet, which I appreciated. I knew that this interview was never going to be about us anyway.

And without even a goodbye, he walked out, slamming the door behind him.
"I'm sorry." I sighed, letting down my hair, running my fingers through it. "I just.. I couldn't-"
"It's okay." Josh said, slapping my back. "We understand."
"He was the same guy who interviewed her before, and.. I swear I was gonna kill him."
"Alright, well, thanks for not doing that, we still have a show to put on." Josh laughed.

"I just wanna see her." I mumbled, hating how much I missed her the second we were apart, wondering if she missed me too, or.. was I just being pathetic now? Either way, I didn't care. I just knew that I only felt whole when we were together.

"Well, I don't think you have to wait much longer." Josh whispered, nudging me. I looked over, my heart jumping when I saw her leaning in the doorway.