Meet On The Ledge || Greta Van Fleet

Chapter 22

— Author's Note —
Hola peoples! Just for a warning, I'm terrible at French. I'm good at speaking it, but rather bad at writing it. The only reason I take it is because I love my teacher!! Now that I've bored you, enjoy! Love yous...
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2015

Jamie's face softened as he looked to the corner of the room. I spun around and there in the doorway stood everyone.

Two years later (2017)

"Bonjour! Je prends une bière, Kronenbourg, s'il vous plaît." I spoke.

"Oui, Mademoiselle. Tout de suite!" The bartender responded. I looked down at my fingernails, picking at the red polish, but it didn't budge. "Et voilà, rien d'autre?"

"Non, rien pour l'instant. Merci beaucoup!" I sat in the bar drinking my beer, feeling down. I would return to NYU in a few months and the idea, while exciting, saddened me. I love Paris, it feels right to me.

"You are an American, no?" The bartender sparked conversation.

"Yes, I am. I'm here at NYU Paris."

"Oh, a New York woman. I love New York." I smiled at him.

"It's pretty amazing, but I can't say that it beats here."

"I've been to New York a few times and it is very good compared to here." I giggled at his phrasing of words. "I went to see a band there. Do you like music?"

"I love music." I pointed down at my ratty Bob Dylan t shirt.

"Bob Dylan.. He was here a few nights ago." I looked at him hard, trying to see if he was joking.

"No way!" He nodded his head, telling me he was speaking the truth. "What is he like?"

"Just like how you would imagine, but older. He was in here with Elton John."

"Wow, that must have been cool." I tried to stay interested and I normally would have been overjoyed, but I knew I had to leave soon. As he finished speaking I said, "Well, it was nice meeting you..."

"Alexandre, tu peux m'appeler Alex."

"C'était un plaisir de vous rencontrer, Alex." I said getting up and heading towards the door.

"Attendez ! Quel est ton nom?" He yelled to me.

"Maggie.." I said finally walking out into the crisp autumn air.

I walked fast to my dorm, knowing I would get yelled at by my friends. As I opened the door to my apartment, I was met by a mess. Textbooks and papers covered my full size bed (perks of NYU Paris). I quickly neatened up the papers and made my room. Moving to the bathroom I looked at my face, I was breaking out from stress and I didn't look good. Then to my hair, which was filled with product. I got undressed and let the water run in the shower. As I stepped under, I woke up out of my tired feeling. I went to run my fingers through my long hair, forgetting about the events earlier that morning. I had made the big cut, my hair was now a bob off my shoulders, but not to my chin. I liked the idea, but it would take some time getting used to. As I stood washing myself, I let my mind wonder. I didn't go home for Thanksgiving, but I would be home for Christmas in a few weeks. Ew, stop, I don't want to think about Michigan... But I have to think about. No. No. I won't think about it. I mentally began choosing an outfit for tonight, the Friday night ritual of Le Discotheque.

Hopping out of the shower, I blow dried my hair. Since it was freshly cut, it hadn't settled yet, so I went in with my straightening iron. I put on quite a bit of makeup, but enough that it wasn't like a mask. As I placed the bright red lipstick on my lips, there was a knocking at my door. "Who is it?" I asked in a funny voice.

"Who do you think it is?" The voice responded, I laughed knowing exactly who it was. I cracked the door open and Jules kicked it so I would opened it and let her in. "Jesus, I need a drink." She laughed. Jules was from California and her personality was wild and fun. I admired her, but was also always worried for her. She laid down on my bed and went looking through my books. I walked to my closet in my towel and picked out a sparkly sheer tie in the front shirt, then a black lace bra, so I wasn't so exposed. I took a pair of Levi's from my drawer that had a little kick at the bottom and underwear to match my bra. I pulled on my clothes and Jules looked curiously at me. "What's this?" I looked at her hand. She was holding my old copy of Jane Eyre, the one my mother found one day while doing curation work in San Francisco.

"Oh, it's just an old first edition that my mom bought."

"No, I mean this." She said, pulling a postcard from the middle of the book. My body froze. It was 'the' postcard. I hadn't looked at it for at least two years. "Earth to Mags, come in Mags!"

"Sorry, it's uh just a card I think." She looked down at it, spinning it around and reading. I knew that from an outsider's perspective you couldn't understand it, but I also knew that that Jules was smarter than outsiders. She read aloud

"'Now I see I'm all alone,
That's the only way to be,
You'll have your chance again,
Then you can do the work for me,
Meet on the ledge, we're gonna meet on the ledge,
When my time is up I'll see all my friends,
Meet on the ledge, we're gonna meet on the ledge,
If you really mean it, it all comes round again.'

Meet me...

J."

"Hey, wait that sounds familiar. Where do I know that from? Is it a song?" I smiled at her perplexed face and the warm memories instead of the harsh ones.

"It's a song by Fairport Convention." I said to her.

"Fairport who?" I laughed at her. "No it's not that, it's something else." I thought about it and didn't know.

"Is it in a movie, or something? Jeez Julie, think!" She yelled at herself. I went to my closet and got out a pair of lowish, chunky, strappy heels that were bright red and were casual, but fancy as well. I sat next to Jules while she thought silently and put on my shoes. As I was about to buckle my second shoe, Jules yelled "I GOT IT! I KNEW IT, I KNEW IT WAS FROM SOMETHING ELSE!" She was so excited and at this point my stomach hurt from laughing.

"What is it?"

"It was covered by this rock band, they're new and totally great. Greta Van Fleet." I felt my face drop along with my heart. I was blocking out Julies voice and all I could hear was a muffle. "Maggie... Maggie... MAGGIE!" I brightened up, but not that much. "You have to stop doing that, it's freaking me out." She said.