slow burn // derek discanio

ten

It was Monday morning, the beginning of my second week at Free Steel. Since the band was now living with me, we all walked into the building together.
"You guys all friends?" Jamie, the secretary, asked.
We had never really told anyone that we were friends or that I was dating Derek so that it wouldn't affect our jobs, so we just responded with, "Yep!" hoping there'd be no further questions.
"Aw, that's adorable!" she exclaimed.
We continued on our way down the hall until we had to part ways so that they could go to the recording studio and I could go to the offices.
"Don't work too hard, Albany," Derek told me, giving me a quick kiss before he left.
I smiled as I continued down the hall and entered the office I shared with a girl named Sarah and a guy named Nick. They were the ones teaching me how to do my job for the most part.
"Hey, girl!" Sarah said as I walked in.
"Hey!" I replied, sitting at my desk. "What's the plan for today?"
"The two of us are working in the studio with State Champs," he told me. "I'm going to be showing you how to run the equipment and stuff."
I smirked. "State Champs, huh?"
"Yeah, you heard of them?" he asked.
I laughed. "Oh yeah."
A few minutes later, Nick and I were walking down the hall to where Derek had just kissed me. We entered the studio and I couldn't help but smile as I saw Derek sitting in the booth. We made eye contact and he grinned at me.
Along with the band was one of the producers, Adam, helping them put together one of their new songs. I sat on the other side of the glass with Nick in front of the soundboard. Nick was explaining to me how everything worked, but I was a little distracted by Derek. I'd just be watching the first few times, anyway, so it was fine.
After a long time, they had finally planned out the song and were playing it for the first time all together. As Derek sang, he kept looking at me and smiling, making me blush.
"That guy's a little weird," Nick commented.
I laughed, turning to him. "Why is that?"
"He keeps staring at you, doesn't it weird you out?" Nick chuckled. "It's weirding me out."
I wasn't sure how to casually explain it to Nick. "It's fine, we're friends," I explained. "Well...more than friends."
Nick raised his eyebrows. "Albany? Winning over a client!" He nudged my arm.
"No! We've been together since before we both started working here," I told him. "We just didn't make it widely known when we were both trying to be hired at the same time."
"Well, trust me," he said, "I'm going to make it well known soon!" He laughed, nudging me again.
"Are we going to, like, be in trouble?" I asked. "Are we not supposed to date?"
"No, don't worry about it," he assured me. "They don't care as long as you do your job and everything."
"Oh good." I breathed a sigh of relief.
A while later, the guys were done in the studio and it was time for lunch. I walked out of the building with the guys and we headed to a sub shop nearby. By the time we returned after lunch, word had spread to nearly everyone in the building about me and Derek.
As we walked in the building together, Jamie said, "I knew you had to be more than friends!" It was weird that people took such an interest in this, but there's really not much other gossip around here.
In fact, for the rest of the week people worked that into every conversation. Even if I was being told to work with another band, someone would say, "Sorry you don't get to flirt with your boyfriend, but they'll have to do."
I hadn't let our relationship get in the way of our work but it seemed like other people were.
On Friday afternoon before I met the guys by the front door, I walked into the head manager, Steve's, office.
"Hey, Albany! How are you doing?" he asked as I walked in.
"I'm good, thanks," I told him. "But there's something I wanted to talk to you about."
"Before you do that, I just want you to know how thrilled I am to hear that you and Derek are dating!" he exclaimed.
I paused, confused. "Really?" I thought he'd be okay with it, but I didn't think he'd be thrilled.
"Yes!" he replied. "So tell me, what were you here to talk about?"
"Oh...it was about me and Derek," I explained. "It hasn't affected my work ethic or anything at all, but I've noticed that it seems to distract other people. I would feel so guilty if work wasn't being done because of us, so if that's the case I am willing to quit to keep State Champs here."
I had never made such a sacrifice in my life, but it was worth it. The only other options would be to break up or drop State Champs from the label, and I wasn't going to let either of those happen.
"Wow, you really love him, don't you?" Steve asked, suddenly sentimental.
I froze. I had never called it love before, but it definitely could be. Instead, I stammered, "I, um, yeah."
Steve smiled. "That really is beautiful. But I'm not going to make you do that. You're relationship is actually a plus for the company!"
I furrowed my brow. "Why is that?"
He laughed. "Publicity! Once State Champs gets a bigger following and it goes public that you're dating, fans will be all over it! Every girl will be wishing they were in your shoes, so they'll buy more albums, more tickets, more meet and greets, and the band will be huge!"
I was speechless. I wasn't sure how I felt about our relationship being used for publicity. Of course I wanted their band to be successful, but is it real success if it's because of the lead singers girlfriend? I didn't know what to do.
"Well, thanks for speaking with me today," I quickly said before darting out of the room. I swiftly walked to the front door to find the guys.
"Hey, you okay?" Derek asked immediately, putting his arm around my shoulders.
"I'm fine," I told him. "Sorry I'm late."
"Don't worry about it," he assured me. "What were you up to?"
I didn't want to lie, but I hadn't decided if I was going to tell Derek the whole story yet. "Talking with Steve."
"Wow, was it important?" he asked.
I thought for a moment before honestly answering, "I don't know."
Derek chuckled at my strange answer. "Well, it doesn't matter because in a few hours I'll be on my way to Albany with Albany, and we're going to have a great weekend." With all the drama, I had forgotten that the wedding was this weekend.
I smiled up at him. "I can't wait."