Turning The Page

Nineteen

I'll have to admit that I did feel a touch more comfortable sitting at the table with everyone when I thought Aurie and Cricket were just like me... But after hearing their stories of college and their current lines of work making music and dancing together whereas I have only been sitting on my butt reading books and being spoiled within an inch of my life since graduating high school... I can't help but feel maybe just a touch inadequate compared to my newest friends and Dear Gods what I wouldn't do to have Cassie and Quinn here to even out the scales a little bit... Like yes... Technically, they have jobs... But Massage Therapist and Florist are a long way from what Aurie and Babybug have described, and being just a house husband doesn't feel nearly as unimpressive when the two of them around to even out the playing field... At least next to them, I wouldn't stand out so much...

Even just eating breakfast, which Aurie isn't actually eating for whatever reason, our table has been approached three separate times by other Lunas and members of the pack that actually runs this hotel, all of them offering up pen and paper to Aurie and Cricket for them to sign and hand back with a kindness I wouldn't have expected from two people that are apparently so known in their line of work, though it does line up perfectly with the impression I had been given of them through our shared text conversations. They're kind of famous... But they're nice, and from what I can tell both of them and their mates are good people... Not even having the heart to turn away those who approach them for autographs even though they made very sure to make it clear to Daddy and I that this is a vacation for them, and they wouldn't be drawing any extra attention to themselves... Something that had made us both breathe a sigh of relief, because while seeing the two of them at work on stage would be unbelievably cool... I don't think Silas and I would ever be alright in the kind of crowd that gathers for concerts and stuff of that nature, and I would hate to hurt their feelings by trying to weasel out of going to one. 

...

Silas

...

"Silas. Buddy. You okay?" Harper, while meaning well, brings up the subject of how uncomfortable I feel right now... 

I hadn't started out this uncomfortable... But then people started coming up to the table that I don't know... People I don't know looking at me and at Adrian and I absolutely do not like it one bit. 

I don't even like it when my own pack gets close to me... And yet here I find myself not only surrounded by strangers the day before the conference I didn't want to come to in the first place with some of said strangers feeling comfortable enough to approach our table in order to interact with Adrian's new friends, "Not... Not really." 

Not with my wolf feeling like he's chewing me to pieces on the inside as a reaction to the stress he currently feels so entirely surrounded by an environment that he is not comfortable with, and it's taking all I have not to let that stress translate into squeezing my Princess to bits while he tries to coax me into eating a few more bites of the pancakes we had fixed up at the buffet... I know he knows I'm stressed out at the moment... I had dropped the thin mental wall I normally keep between us to keep him from worrying over whatever issue the pack had thought to bring to my attention at any given moment and I am glad that I did... My sweet Bean has been in my head comforting me nonstop ever since while carrying on with his friends trying to spare me from having to jump in any more than I actually need to, the topic of Korean pop having been moved from releasing me from having to retain any further information, Adrian more than willing to give me the cliff notes of the conversation later if I need them. 

"Is-It's being in such a crowded space- Isn't it?" It surprises me that Cricket seems to have a little understanding in his eyes when I manage to peel my eyes away from the exit to meet them, the little Luna not even flinching when he meets my gaze, "Harper gets that same look in his eyes at our concerts when he's in the crowd instead of backstage. He and his wolf can't stand it, can you Papi?"

...

Adrian

...

I almost can't resist the urge to raise my eyebrows at Cricket as he refers to his mate as Papi... even though it makes me feel a little bit better about possibly being comfortable enough in front of him and Aurie to call Silas Daddy the way we both prefer me to... But I am able to reign my eyebrows in just in time to catch Harper bob his head up and down before further elaborating, "I can't stand it... And I agree that it's kind of crowded in here...Though it must feel even more so to you with what you are. Would you guys rather bring breakfast somewhere else?"

For a moment I almost spit out the sip of the coffee I had finally gotten my hands on, the insinuation being that Silas isn't quite like everyone else a surprising one coming from someone who has no idea that he's the odd wolf out in the lot of Alpha's here having timber genetics... Something I had not thought to share with either of my new friends because it isn't my personal detail to share, no matter how much grief it might eventually save us in the long run if he allowed me to explain it to our pack and the packs around us so they actually give him the space he craves without making him feel bad for it both before and after.