The Room Was Humming Harder
#15 of Hockey Hunk Season 4
HH#124
S04E08
*
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE UP ON WEDNESDAY!
Hehhey, dearies, and welcome FINALLY to the Hockey Hunk!
It's been a bit longer than I intended since the last episode, but life intervened, I did not have the time to work on the story as much as I'd like to, and quite frankly, if I had written something, it could have ended up being a lot of crap, and I don't anyone wants to read crap, even if it's written by me. It'd just make everyone feel...crap. Hence, I know it's been two weeks since the last chapter, and the expectations are running high...so I'm a bit nervous here, but bear with me. I've done a lot of thinking over these past two weeks, which have reinvigorated my view of the overall plot arch of the story in general, and I can say with some confidence that we might've bought the story a couple of extra seasons, perhaps. *chuckle*
But that's me being starry-eyed, perhaps. But we'll see. The story shall go on for as long as I feel like it has something to say, something important, and judging by that requirement, I don't think we're done yet. I hope that things will be business as usual until the small Christmas break, and then it's the whole winter/spring season ahead of us!
So here we go...chapter 124..."The Room Was Humming Harder"...I wonder if anyone gets that reference :P
Also, don't forget that the Fan Art Fan Fiction Challenge is still going on until Saturday - there's still plenty of time to take part! Check Hockey Hunk Fan Art Competition/Challenge Starts Now! for more info!
As always, your feedback is most appreciated, and will help me to improve, of course. Also remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!
Have a nice read!
*
So there I was, my heart beating fast and my thoughts in a turmoil. I knew I had to act. I couldn't let this thing stay there, on top of all things, bearing down on me when what I really needed was some peace and quiet and Doberman smooches in my life.
Yes, please!
I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Mason was minding his own business for now, his locker was open and he was in the delicate process of pulling out his read shirt from the hanger. His bushy frat boy tail swung about a little over the wolfy rear covered by those jeans.
Don't you dare to look there, Rory Gliese!
I breathed out and peeked into my own locker again. The offending, if innocent-looking bag remained where it was, next to my spare shoes, demanding my attention. I took a deep breath of locker air and let it out through my nosepad. I knew that this was my chance to take.
"Hey, Mason!" I chimed, still facing my locker.
"Huh?" the wolf's voice replied from behind me.
Ohshitohshitohshitohshit.
_ _
I turned around tentatively and saw that the wolf had stopped pottering about and he was now looking back at me with mild curiosity.
Here we go...
I grabbed the bag by its handles and pulled it out of the locker and into plain view.
"Is this yours, Mason?" I asked, trying to keep my voice as normal as possible as I held up the suspicious Taylor University Library convenient canvas carry-on.
Mason's ears jumped as soon as his eyes registered the bulging object hanging from my paw, and I could see that his tail stilled its gentle swishing motion between his legs as he kept on looking at me. My own ears must've acted similarly, nervously, as we stood there, neither of us doing not much more besides breathing. It sounded a bit louder than it probably should, especially in this small concrete-walled room.
"I..." I started, and found myself in a dead end as soon as I had started, stopped, swallowed, hoped for a miracle, and started again, "well, Alex said that it could be yours so I thought I'd ask."
Mason's fluffy paws twitched against his sides as he kept looking at me and my...offering, so to speak, the bag that contained some fur care accessories, a pair of cheap headphones, an unidentified piece of clothing and a notebook with homemade pictures of liplocking wolves and lynxes for illustrations.
The frat wolf blinked and his tail swished out tensely against the small bench in front of his row of lockers.
"You...showed it to Alex?"
He sounded so damn tense. Shit!
My paw flew over my head and onto my neck, stroking over it in a small act of self-grooming and comfort just as my lips tugged into the automatic happyhappysmile number 2, "Awkward Social Situations Smile A".
"Oh, well I found it in my locker when I was changing and Alex showed up just then to help me out and he said that it could be yours because he...uh..."...oh shit...don't stall...don't stall...stay calm...stay sharp...."....Alex remembered you carrying around a bag that looked this..."
I gave the back a little shake for emphasis and pressed on.
"And I was just wondering what it was doing in my locker."
Mason's fingers clenched rhythmically against his hips as he stared at me and the bag, obviously still very tense and unhappy, too, even though he wasn't doing the classic canine thing of baring his teeth, not by any means.
The wolf cleared his throat.
"Could I have that?" he held out his paw, speaking in a terse voice.
The tension in my own body grew enough to send a twinge of pain through my lame leg, and all I could do was to nod quickly and hold out the bag. Mason practically leaped across the small, bare room and took it from my grip, not roughly, but quickly, oh yes, and then spun around in his retreat to his side of the room. I could only see his hunched shoulders and his twitching tail when he put the bag down onto the bench and leaned over to presumably check that everything was in order. I could see his paws moving through the articles within, the same ones I had fondled earlier to find out just whose the bag was, and I'm sure I had left a noticeable and possibly lion-busting mess in my wake.
It was too damn quiet, and I had to speak, anything, to get through my nerves.
"So I guess it's yours then?" I asked.
Mason's tail jumped and his paws still on the bag for a moment, before the very same paws pulled on the handles and then shoved the whole thing into his open locker. The wolf turned around once more and faced me, watching me, though I got the distinct feeling that he was avoiding eye contact.
"Yeah," Mason said.
"Well I was just wondering," I scratched my neck again, "what it was and how it got there..."
"My locker was a bit crowded," Mason replied quickly, perhaps even too quickly. "I...needed to put it somewhere...."
While that was a more than reasonable as an explanation to why the bag was in my locker, it still didn't really tell me why he had put it into mine while there were empty ones available, several ones, in fact.
"Well it's not like I was using mine, heh," I let out a nervous chuckle.
His tail twitched again, and mine wasn't being too calm either, playing the leather snake on the floor for most part, since I was sitting down.
"Well, I'm sorry I didn't ask you," Mason mumbled.
My ears jumped a little. Was he now feeling remorseful about sneaking behind my back with the bag in my locker? He was already probably feeling bad about being late and awaiting the upcoming mauling by Marge with baited breath. And now I was putting him on the spot for...about what, exactly? Breaking into my locker, or...or something else? I wasn't even sure about that, anymore. I'd done my own bad deed by rummaging through Mason's bag in my spying urge to find out its ownership, and I had seen things that I wasn't supposed to see. I knew things about Mason he probably didn't want me to know, and I...felt it burn under my cheeks, and making my tongue tingle.
"It's fine," I said, then. "You needed it, I guess. Alex said that you've been hauling all sorts of stuff with you lately, no wonder you needed the extra space."
Mason's ears jumped again.
"Stuff?"
"Yeah, he mentioned a sports bag or something," I replied, "wondered what it was."
Mason made a quick, uncomfortable face before he spun around and went for his locker again. His tail swung still as red cloth soon covered the casual T-shirt and the grey-furred arms of the young wolf who was only giving me the back of his head to look at.
Damn.
"Is everything alright, Mason?" I tested the ice.
His paws did not stop their mechanical work of buttoning the shirt, even though his tail and his ears betrayed him.
I held my breath.
"If something's going on..."
The wolf rumbled and turned to face me, ears half-flat and tail in a state of a flutter.
"Why do you think something's going on?" Mason's voice was awfully loud in the confined space of the room and made it sound even more dramatic than it probably was.
I felt my own ears flatten under the accusing tone of the wolf, and didn't like the sensation at all. I knew I was on precarious ground, anyway. Making my knowledge known to him...could, I, even?
"Well..."
Mason didn't give me a chance to carry on. His paws became fists, against his flanks.
"You saw it," he rumbled, "You saw it, didn't you?"
My eyes widened, hearing that harsh tone, and that oddly specific accusation coming from the wolf's tense muzzle.
"Well, I...."
"You saw it...." the wolf groaned, "oh, shit..."
I felt a nasty sensation, behind my breastbone, and made a face. The wolf was definitely getting more and more uncomfortable, and there seemed to be only one reasonable explanation to it. He didn't like me knowing about him.
"It doesn't matter to me, Mason," I said, thinking that to be the most reasonable and truthful thing to say, "It's not..."
"Don't tell anyone," the wolf growled between clenched teeth, cutting me off again. "Okay?"
My belly clenched painfully. Was the wolf threatening me now? That posture wasn't the usual easy-almost-lazy one that I associated with the laidback wolf, but looked more like...well...a bit too much like I had seem him at that stupid karaoke bar during that strange, scary incident, weeks ago.
"Uhmm...."
"Promise you won't!" the wolf grunted again. "Promise!"
"Promise what?" my brow knit in a frown as I wondered on just what he wanted to me to say. My voice was probably
Mason slammed his locker shut with one of his paws and stepped closer to me, so that he was only a yard away from me and glaring down on me from a close range. My heart began to race as I felt his breaths falling on my face. I felt cornered, and tensed for it.
"Mason..."
"Just don't tell anyone, please, Rory," the wolf muttered, his voice softer now, though still so very tense. "Please."
"I...of course I won't, but..."
"I have to go now, or Marge is gonna tear me a new one" the wolf stepped back, suddenly, leaving me in a cloud of Mason-scented air and no Mason.
"Mason!" I called when the wolf was halfway to the door, prompting him to stop.
"What?" the wolf rumbled, shoulders very tense, looking back at me over one of them.
"I won't tell," I breathed out, "but if you need to talk about anything..."
"I can't talk about it," Mason breathed out. "I'm sorry, I have to..."
The wolf was out of the door and beyond my reach well before the heavy door closed down pulled by its spring, and I was left sitting there alone, feeling a bit chilly, confused, and worried about that young wolf.
"Oh, shit," I spoke aloud.
*
Screw that. I was feeling tired and unhappy and worried about all too many furs as of late, and it was starting to get on me. I felt hungry, too, and I hoped that the food Peter was planning would be on the table by the time I got back to Bell's End. I just hoped that I wouldn't miss the bus.
Getting back into my street clothes was one thing, but a wholly another challenge was to face the wolf again, not five minutes since our argument in the locker room. I held onto my crutches tight once I had scaled the stairs up and then pushed the door open....but there was no Mason downstairs, not behind his usual little counter. No wolf with earphones in sight, which meant that he was upstairs.
Shit. Damn. Peter was so going to get an earful of this.
I walked past a Bordercollie browsing the second-half shelves and then tackled the final set of stairs before I emerged onto the main floor. A quick look showed the disembodied head of Crystal hovering somewhere between the Taxidermy and Psychology sections, which meant...which meant...
"Ohhh there you are!" Marge chirped from behind cash register number one.
I took a couple of hobbling steps under the watchful gaze of the purring cougar, who was flanked by an uncomfortable-looking wolf standing in my usual position. His eyes dropped to the little screen as soon as I was within sight, avoiding me.
Poor wolf.
"Hi!" I called out, determined to keep things nice and normal, for everyone's sake.
"Happy to be going off, finally, Rory?" Marge grinned, her tail looping curiously behind he ras she stood there, arms folded over her bosom.
I wondered if that was a snide at the late-coming wolf standing by her, but I was not about to start making further inquiries about that. I just needed to get out of here and go somewhere that I wasn't being bombarded with weirdness and drama and unhappiness. Oh, Peter...I hoped he was feeling better now...or at least would cheer up once I showed up. That thought was more than enough to put a little smile on my lips.
"Sure," I grinned as I stopped by the counter, "but it was great to be back, too."
"Well routines always help," Marge replied, "Even when things are in turmoil."
I couldn't help but glance at the wolf standing there, looking so ill at ease.
"And Mason's keeping my place warm, too!" I replied in a more cheerful tone, hoping that it'd sound as normal as possible.
The wolf's eyes jumped upwards from the cash register and met mine, briefly, and I gave him a small, but an encouraging, smile, I hoped, as quick as it was.
"I'll make sure of that," Marge said as she softly elbowed the wolf.
"You leaving now, Rory?" Crystal beamed as she appeared, too, from behind me, carrying a brown cardboard box in her arms.
So much attention...again...
"Yeah," I smiled to the mare, "time to go now, but I'll be back soon."
"Well you better!" the mare nickered cheerfully as she went on her way.
"I'll get back to you, Marge," I said, "and I'll see you all soon."
Mason was again avoiding my eyes, but I hoped he got the message, too.
"Bye, studmuffin!" Marge grinned.
"Bye, sweetie," I smiled as I headed for the door. "Best to you all."
"And you too, Rory, you definitely need it!" the cougarette replied.
"Thanks," I smiled before I finally reached the door and navigated myself into the sunlit Lewis Boulevard, my head spinning with freedom and confusion.
My ass might've been tired from all that sitting, but walking was what I wanted to do, and that I did, step by step, going along the throng of furs enjoying the warm day doing shopping and other kind of business in downtown, and there was I, too, slowly making my way along the Boulevard towards the corner of March Avenue, where my bus stopped. The air might not have been crisp mountain air, no, but it was nice, though. I could feel a little breeze, too, ruffling on my ears and my head furs, and it made me feel better, despite the heat.
I hoped it was gonna be one of those better buses, with air conditioning to keep furs from fainting inside their metal tube transport in this lion-frying sunlight.
My phone whirled in my pocket just about when I reached Atelier Marcus. I stopped and leaned onto one crutch and one good leg as I dug my paw into my pocket and wondered whether it would be Peter telling me that dinner was ready, my mother bugging me about how the workday went, or Mason sending a vaguely threatening "BE QUIET OR ELSE" to me. My heart was probably thumping a little as I got the phone out, but my ears made a much more pleased flick maneuver when the name on the screen was none other than "VICTOR HOLDEN"
Awww...just what I needed, really, some small Dobie attention after such a stupefying day. I clicked open the message.
U AT WORK STILL?
_ HOW IT WENT?_
_ _
I smiled and quickly thumbed out a
JUST LEFT, GOING FOR BUS STOP
_ _
and sent that out before putting the phone back into my pocket, smiling still for the fact that he'd remembered. Well, of course we talked about it last night on Facebook, sure, but still...heheh.
I had only proceeded a few dozen yards before my phone made its usual noise again and prompted another go at me playing the three-legged lion and trying to get that phone out of my pocket without falling on my poor ass. That was quick of the Dobie.
THINK I SEE YOU NOW :)
_ _
What?
What?!
My eyes jumped immediately from the little screen, going around in a great circle to scan the surroundings. Was he joking? Some funny humor it was if it was that...and I was standing there in the middle of the street, phone in paw, looking around like some sort of a silly character.
There was a Dobie standing about fifty yards away, a paw raised in the air in a wave, and that same paw was holding a cell phone in its clasp.
*
Thank you for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed the read and that it sparked a lot of thoughts and comments! *chuckle*
See you on Wednesday!
Cheerio!