Undiscovered Melody |COMPLETED|

Chapter 18

"Penny?" said Jagged as he sat on the floor of his hotel room and rubbed Fang's belly.

"Yes?" said Penny as she looked up from her phone where she was reviewing Jagged's calendar for the next month.

"I'm not ready to leave Luka and Jules. I've barely begun to get to know them," he said. Fang growled a bit when Jagged stopped rubbing. "Oh, sorry. Got distracted," he said to Fang and when he started the rubbing back up, the crocodile let out a contented sigh.

"You're not thinking of postponing the tour, are you?" asked Penny, her voice ending on a high, nervous pitch. "Because . . . I'd have to . . . and then he'd get so mad . . . and then . . ." Penny started to feel a panic attack coming on at the thought of how many people would soon be yelling at her on the phone. She started to pace around the room and fan her face. At the interruption to his happy morning time with Jagged, Fang suddenly rolled over and stood up and then let out a loud growl. Penny stopped in her tracks and stared at Fang, worried about making any more movements.

"Daddy's here, Fang," said Jagged soothingly. "Roll back over and Daddy will give you more belly rubs." He patted Fang gently on the head until his eyes closed and he laid back down and rolled on his back to expose his belly. Jagged continued to rub until Fang let out a loud snore.

Jagged glanced over at Penny who was still frozen on the other side of the room. "No, Penny," said Jagged quietly. "I'm doing the tour. I want to do the tour, but do you think I could . . ." He trailed off unsure whether what he was thinking was actually a good idea. He would be putting himself out there- risking being rejected- and he was really bad at taking rejection.

Penny slowly inched her way over to a nearby chair and sank into it, her eyes glued to Fang. "You want to do the tour but what?" she said.

"Luka and Jules, they're epic musicians. They could be a great addition to the band and I wouldn't have to give them up so soon after meeting them. Would they choose me?" he asked.

"It's not necessarily only about you, you know. They're teenagers with lives here. But, I think we could make room for them on tour if that is what you want," she said.

"I do!" exclaimed Jagged, causing Fang to startle a bit at the noise before settling back down. He lowered his voice to a whisper and then continued. "Although their mum may just murder me if I ask. I better start with the older one first and find out if there is any interest before I let Nanarky in on my plan. I could really use someone on my side, shielding me from those laser eyes of hers she gets when she's mad at me." Jagged shuddered.

"That sounds like a good plan. Do you want me to call Luka?" asked Penny, starting to jot down some notes in her phone about what might be needed if there are two teenagers on tour with them.

"No, I'll do it, thanks. I'll just wait until after Fang's got all of his relaxation time in.  The world is never a better place with a cranky crocodile."

- - -

"Come on, it's time for Fang's walk," said Jagged a moment after Luka arrived at the room.  He had texted Luka earlier and asked if they could meet privately, without Juleka. At his words, Penny promptly appeared at the connecting door to the other room holding Fang's leash.  Jagged walked over and took it from her and Penny slowly backed up out of the room. 

"Who's ready for his walk? You're such a good croc, aren't you?" said Jagged in a baby-talk way.  Fang started to slowly waddle toward the door, apparently quite used to this routine.  Jagged opened the door and let Fang out into the hallway and Luka followed them, closing the door behind him.  Fang confidently headed down the hallway.  As his snout passed the wall into the next hallway, Luka heard a scream and rapidly retreating footsteps followed by a slammed door.