AllFreeNovel
Share Us
TWENTY-ONE
The day was even longerthan I’d expected.
Rocco only growled a couple of times—much to the entertainment of the classes, some of which tried to get a rise out of him by staring at me.
We ate lunch together at his desk, our feet tangled a bit while we downed far too many sandwiches and snacks together.
The afternoon crept by even slower than the morning had, and I found myself wandering YouTube with a headphone in my ear, and only a fraction of my attention on Rocco. He was giving the same lesson he’d already given five times, and I was pretty damn bored of it, despite the passion he clearly had for the subject.
Somehow, I ended up listening to some indie musicians I’d never heard before. I found myself tapping my foot to the beat, thinking about how I would change a few of the songs a bit if I were them, and how I had already changed some others when I’d put my own twist on them for classes I’d taken.
The musicians were good—but I was too. I felt a bit awkward admitting it, but I knew my music wasn’t awful.
I’d been focused on saving my music for my career, but why not stick it on the internet and see what happened?
I was uploading my first video when Rocco came over to me, leaning over the desk to watch what I was doing. His chest brushed the back of my shoulder, his head resting comfortably against mine.
“What?” I asked him, glancing over at the classroom. It was empty. “Oh. Sorry.”
“Don’t be. Can I listen?”
My face heated a bit, but I handed him the second earbud. He tucked it into his ear as I watched the video I’d put together, making sure it turned out as well as I’d thought.
He nodded his head a bit as we listened, his arm draping over my other shoulder and wrapping around the top of my chest as if he was giving me a bit of a hug.
I loved it.
“Damn,” he whistled, as the song ended and I hit the button to confirm the video.
My face heated. “Bad damn, or good damn?”
“Definitely good. You’re incredible, Mads.”
“Thanks.” I bit my lip, shutting my laptop. He released his hold on me, stepping back to give me a bit of space. I cleaned my stuff up in two seconds, and then stood up while he grabbed his bag off the ground beside where my feet had been sitting.
“You’ve got to be starving. Want to stop for food?” he checked.
“The answer to food is always yes.” I pointed toward the door.
He flashed me a grin, and we headed out together.
We fell into a pattern,after that.
Work, food, work, food. My YouTube page didn’t explode, but it did slowly start to make me money, which I definitely wasn’t going to complain about.
Three months passed quickly, and I was making more on YouTube than Rocco was as a teacher. He was so damned proud of that fact that I couldn’t help but be proud too.
It didn’t make me feel alive, like running as a wolf did, but it was fun, and it felt good to be getting something out of all the music I’d spent so much time creating in college.
Christmas break came in hot, and the pack split up to go spend the holiday with their families. They’d gotten over Rocco’s lies, and had admitted that he had been in an impossible situation with his brother.
We spent the majority of Christmas day with Rocco’s family, and it wasn’t awkward at all. They all knew my situation with my family, and June (who video chatted with me for a few minutes to say merry Christmas from some country whose name I couldn’t pronounce).
Ryder’s mood was just as dark as it had always been, and he was just as quiet as he had always been too. When we left, Rocco was grimacing, and I put my hand on his leg as we drove away in an attempt to make him feel a little better.
“It’s not your fault that she rejected him,” I told Rocco quietly.
“I know. I just hate that there’s nothing I can do to help,” he said, frustrated.
