𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙶𝙴𝚃 𝙷𝙴𝚁࿐ ྂ ᴊᴇꜰꜰ ʙᴜᴄᴋʟᴇʏ

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ᴏɴᴇ

JUNE, 1991
NEW YORK CITY.ೃ࿐

MAY HAD BROUGHT UNEXPECTED CHANGES.
Mads was home in Syracuse once more. Polly had quit her job. Jeff had begun playing tiny coffee shops, accompanied only by his guitar. Now the beginnings of summer was upon them, and maybe it was because of the seasonal emotion changes, but Polly was content. Her life seemed to be back in balance.

She chose to relish in that fact rather than wondering when things would go awry again.

From her small sofa came a familiar song- one of the first Jeff had played for Polly. A little over a year ago he had just moved from California, had just met her. From some of the first moments they'd spent together Jeff was sure she would quickly become more than a dear friend, which is why he'd played that old Bob Dylan song. To sing what he had yearned to say to her from the start.

"To be alone with you at the close of the day, with only you in view while evening slips away. It only goes to show that while life's pleasures be few," Jeff sang, the lyrics still remaining true to what he felt a year earlier.

She wished she could live out the rest of her life in the small living room, a beautiful man singing beautiful songs as she hung onto every second of every melody. She would never get tired of that impossible living room life.

The problem was that the living room wasn't destined to stay as one. It would have to become a stage and the brick walls would melt away and expand. The furniture would disappear and in its place would be rows of amplifiers and lights.

Polly was over this fact by now, really. It may not even happen, she told herself. But even if it did, that wouldn't mean it'd be over, at least not completely.

She told herself she had to learn to be okay with that 'not completely' instead of kicking herself as she fell asleep thinking about the future.

"Jeff." Polly spoke, surprising herself. "You do know people are gonna come around? That you're gonna get all these offers and deals?"

He shrugged off her question, muting his guitar strings that rang out. "I don't want to sign to anything, especially right now. You just get signed and dropped."

She shook her head. "You wouldn't get dropped though. So what's stopping you?"

"You don't know that Polly," he remarked quietly as she sat beside him. "People will always be around." He nearly cringed at his words, sounding like a dick. "I mean- I'd probably have other chances."

"You would. But why are you waiting?"

"I'm not waiting, I could've met with an A and R guy in April if I wanted. I just don't need to." He reasoned, knowing his words were somewhat true, somewhat a lie.

He'd be lying if he said Polly had nothing to do with his decision making.

"When the time comes, after everything and you've made a record and you're gonna be famous and shit, what's gonna happen?"

Jeff thought about his words carefully, knowing the time wasn't right to make a joke. "We can get married. By an Elvis impersonator. In Vegas." He smiled, laughing at his own joke- knowing he'd marry her anywhere, Elvis impersonator or not.

Polly laughed along with him. "That sounds perfect."

༻✦༺

Polly sat on the floor of her darkroom as she thumbed through old photo albums, one of the albums was simply dated from February to September of the past year. The months from which Jeff had moved, then moved back to California.

The little pictures documented all that had gone on at the time. Brooke, now busy with filming a movie in Hollywood, resting on her brown couch with Jeff's arm around her and beer bottle in his free hand. Another, Polly smiling up at him, eyes so full of love even though she didn't know it at the time.

Jeff playing guitar, a blurry photo he'd taken of Polly, cradling the Fender Mustang he'd gotten for her birthday.

As she sat cross legged on the old hardwood, doused in red light, holding the books. She wondered if she'd ever be in the same position again, but showing them to her family. Her and Jeff's family.

Will that ever happen? She asked herself, no answer coming to mind. She was twenty-three. No reason to wonder about the future when there were many years to live out before anything like that ever happened.

It did sound nice though. Polly couldn't deny that.

She kept on telling herself to keep her mind in the present, not in the clouds of future, although she failed at that with all the thoughts that raced through her mind in a constant rhythm.

Forever was never guaranteed.

Though it seemed like it was for them.

Their relationship didn't depend on fancy dinner dates or revolve around fighting and making up.

Listening to music both Jeff and Polly had written, stumbling through the city hand in hand and trying to spot stars through smog was enough for them.

Both had never wanted more than that, never required less. So, maybe their forever was guaranteed.

Jeff found Polly's eccentricities amusing rather than annoying. Polly found Jeff's qualities admirable rather than odd.

The way he talked about a record, old or new. The way his face looked when he sang and the way he concentrated on little things. It all enthralled her.

Which in turn also scared her. How someone could be so effortlessly appealing, how she could be so irrevocably in love.

It made her vulnerable, something Polly hated being. But she'd be vulnerable for him.

༻✦༺

a/n
ok I swear this gonna get more entertaining. bare with me 💛-
thank u for reading !!