𝙵𝙾𝚁𝙶𝙴𝚃 𝙷𝙴𝚁࿐ ྂ ᴊᴇꜰꜰ ʙᴜᴄᴋʟᴇʏ

ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-ꜰɪᴠᴇ

POLLYS BED WAS JEFFS FAVORITE PLACE TO WAKE UP,
preferably if she was still in his arms or rested on his chest. But even if she wasn't, her sheets still smelled slightly like her perfume, where she had laid still warm.

Jeff took each day with her as it came, rarely thinking about their future, unless in a positive way.

He was still reluctant on signing, never wanting to commit and be dropped or be controlled by the label, telling him what and how he should record his music. One day, someone would sell it to him, but for now, he was content with the large assortment of live shows and demos.

Knowing that for some inexplicable reason, people truly enjoyed listening to him, staying out late to watch him at Sin-è was more gratifying than any record deal could ever be. Really, he only needed to know that one person enjoyed his music to continue, that person being Polly. But the crowd was nice.

The recent times were the best they'd been in years for Jeff, and he was realizing that he'd found his forever home, finally done away with his rootless past. He was happy, and knowing that his younger self would be pleasantly surprised by that made him even happier. It seemed that he had everything, never really needing anything more than the essential things- Polly, his guitar, and his notebook.

Though the thing that brought him the most happiness was seeing Polly happy. Sure, shed been happy before, but not like now. She seemed to no longer doubt herself, no longer scared to be loved. She worked with the music she loved, capturing beautiful moments in time with her old 35mm camera. She'd become the person she wanted to be since seventeen.

It was both rewarding and bittersweet, in the way that she was getting older. Twenty-four wasn't old by any means, but it seemed like she was a teenager only a short time before, when in reality it'd been five years.  Growing up was now just aging.

The loosely titled song Jeff had begun to work on the previous year, Forget Her, had sat in his journal, untouched and unplayed, for he had no reason to forget Polly. In the moment, he believed it was all over, but it never really was over between them.

It seemed they were the most in love they'd ever been, but either could say that about any point in their relationship. There were no specific heights, it was all highs. When he woke her up to watch the sunrise from the roof, playing guitar as it rose. When he watched her develop photos, waited to walk her home from work.

Polly still thought he was way too good for her, but now she didn't let it bother her as much as it had in the past year. He would be too good for anyone. Jeff still insisted she was too good for him, to which she rejected but secretly smiled whenever he said so.

To be that loved was still foreign to her, and each day she accepted all his love a little more.

༻✦༺

The ceilings of the Knitting Factory were short the stage low, only a couple feet above where the small crowd stood. The red-orange lighting engulfed the venue, bouncing of the glasses that lined the bar and the finish on Jeff's guitars.

He was almost done with the fifth song of his set, Eternal life. The only moment Polly had left the side of the stage was to get a drink, even then she had her eyes glued on Jeff while she waited for it. She was proud, enamored, and happily drunk from the music all at once.

Before he begun his next song, he gave her a smile, as if to say it was for her. "Strolled through fields all wet with rain, and back along the lane again. In the sunshine, in the sweet summertime, oh, the way young lovers do." He sung the Van Morrison song with undeniable passion, as he always did.

Polly sung along quietly, having learned the song from Jeff singing it all throughout her apartment. "I kissed you on the lips once more, we said goodbye at your front door."

The stage could've melted away, along with the lights and crowd, only Polly and Jeff remaining and he still would've been happy singing to her as if she was an entire crowd. And for a moment caught in his gaze, it felt like it had melted away, the people around her blurred and only Jeff she saw. Throwing his head back as he sung, calloused fingers picking the notes in what seemed an effortless manner.

How lucky she was to have those hands to hold, that voice to hear.

"Turned to each other saying 'I love you, baby I do.'" He smiled as the lyrics escaped his mouth, breaking Polly's eye contact to look out onto the people in front of the stage. Some just watching, some dancing freely, others turned in their barstool to watch the man.

"I kissed her with the snow falling down, in the street light was a sweet light." He sang the last few verses, strumming the chords a bit harder than before. "Oh, the way young lovers do."

He finished the song.

If you watched Jeff closely while he sang and played guitar, you could see it wasn't just that. His face was a movie of a million different feelings, each slight crease a different memory that inspired a carefully crafted song.

He put those memory's, those feelings into his playing, into his wavering voice and tone. And the crowd could feel it too, if they wanted it enough.

"Thank you." He said, retuning his guitar, blissfully unaware of the effect his voice had on the crowd, unaware of the amount of lust and admiration Polly felt towards him in that specific moment.

What a silly thing to say when you've just poured your heart out to complete strangers.

༻✦༺