Chapter 32
Zara and Aaron were checking the Spotify page for Broken Phase and looking through how many streams each song had gotten since their newest album's release. They had a running bet about which song would end up more popular. Zara's favourite song was coming in second, and Aaron's was first. Thus, he was gloating and nudging her repeatedly with his elbow as she tried to maintain her balance on the chair.
"Damn, I'm so good." He nodded in agreement with himself, looking smug.
"Whatever. I'm not far behind." Zara glared at him over her shoulder with a sour expression.
"We'll see who wins next week." Aaron nudged her with his elbow again, and she replied with a vigorous shoulder barge.
The front door opened, attracting their attention. Aaron and Zara looked up from the screen. Leon walked inside and smiled at them both. He was perfectly put together as usual, wearing a forest green button-up shirt with white thread and brown ankle-length chinos. The sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, and she died a little inside. The man must be intending to kill her slowly.
"Hey, man." Aaron greeted him.
"Hey, boss man," Zara said with a little wave and smile, barely able to find her voice.
"Morning," Leon replied evenly to them both.
"How was everything?" Aaron asked with barely a hint of concern in his voice.
"No dramas. Everything is all good." Leon gave a thumbs up, and Zara smiled and returned it.
It was just after 10 a.m., and Leon had a doctor's appointment to check up on his recovery first this morning, so he was a little later than usual. When he disappeared down the hallway, Zara felt a sharp smack on the back of her head. She yelped and turned to Aaron with an accusatory gaze, too shocked to say anything.
"You are so fucking dumb. He hasn't even been here for a minute. It's early in the day, and you've already broken the man's heart." Aaron was scowling at her, looking so done.
"What did I do?" Zara asked in confusion.
"Do you really think he wants you to call him 'boss man' after last weekend?" Aaron stared at Zara like it was apparent.
"Oh…it was just a force of habit." She sulked, realising her mistake.
Hopping up from her chair and barging past Aaron with a sharp glare, she headed down the hallway and found Leon plugging in his laptop. He smiled at her, but it was a little reserved, and she realised her error. She had upset him a little bit with her off-handed greeting. She hadn't thought it through and was too busy being enamoured with him to think clearly. Fucking idiot…
"Um, sorry. I didn't mean to…" Zara wasn't quite sure how to word it.
"It's all right. I don't know what I was expecting." Leon admitted shyly with his chin on his chest.
"Aaron said I was dumb, and it was too early in the day to break your heart. He whacked me, too." She rubbed the back of her head where he'd hit her.
Leon huffed in laughter, but the smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and she panicked. Maybe she'd upset him more than she had first expected. Zara stepped closer and dropped her eyes to the floor. There was no point in apologising again since she would just repeat herself, but she'd do it anyway.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. It was just habit." Zara's hands rung in front of her nervously.
"It's okay, I know you didn't mean it like that. I just…" he trailed off and shrugged, unsure what he was trying to express.
"What would you like me to call you?" She asked shyly.
They'd not talked about the change in their relationship yet, and it wasn't the right time to do it since they had a busy day ahead of them. It would happen soon enough. He huffed and walked to stand in front of her.
"Leon." He offered simply with a hopeful glint in his eyes.
"Okay. Leon, it is." She looked up at him and wondered what he would do since he was moving closer.
Instead, he just stood in front of her, only a few inches away, so she had to tilt her head upward to look at him properly. Since he was so close, she expected that he would touch her or something, but his hands stayed in his pockets. His eyes flicked between her and the floor bashfully. It didn't seem like he would initiate anything, so Zara took the first step. Gently tugging on the front of his shirt, she brought him down to her level while standing on her tippy toes to kiss his cheek. Hopefully, this would make up for her worrying him earlier and reassure him that her feelings had not changed. Releasing her grip on him so he could straighten, she saw how his shoulders relaxed. His eyes were wide with surprise, and a bright, warm smile stretched across his face, and she turned and left his office, heading back to her desk.
Aaron walked past her, rolled his eyes dramatically, and groaned when he saw the look on her face. She flipped him off and stuck her tongue out at him without hesitation before sitting back down. Before Aaron had asked to check on the Broken Phase streams, she had been replying to an email and returned to the appropriate tab.
At some stage, she and Leon would have to discuss what was happening between them. Although they briefly discussed it over the weekend, it wasn't enough for her to feel like she knew where she stood. It was clear that he wanted a relationship, but were they still just seeing each other, or did he think they were already in a committed relationship? Her lack of self-confidence was probably causing her uncertainty since she still needed to be reminded and reassured of simple things at times. One of the things that had probably made her fall so damn hard for Leon was his patient and reassuring nature, even though it had been professionally based so far. She always felt he had complete confidence and trust in her skills and didn't need to micromanage or look over her shoulder to ensure things were getting done. He always thanked her and let her know when she'd done something well, giving her a great sense of his direction and vision for the studio so she could confidently work autonomously.
Once she had sunk into her work, she was only drawn back out when their first booking for the day turned up. After giving them a quick run down and tour, since it was their first visit to the studio, she left them to get set up and went to check on Aaron. He was in the control room with his headphones on and gave her a thumbs-up when he noticed her in the doorway. Next was Leon, but he was on the phone, so she returned to the front desk. After a few minutes, he said goodbye to whoever he was talking to and immediately heard the sound of his footsteps coming towards her rapidly.
"Aaron! Zara!" He said excitedly. She leapt up and met him and Aaron in the control room doorway.
"We've got another band locked in from Golden Sky!" He exclaimed happily, and Zara's jaw dropped.
"Holy shit, that was fast!" Aaron was similarly surprised. "Who is it?"
"They're called False Utopia. I think I've actually met the guitarist before. Vaughn's assistant just asked me if we would take them next month. We'll have to clear the calendar for a while." Leon informed them with a broad grin.
Zara brought up the calendar for next month, and they had a recording booking for one week for three tracks in the second week but nothing afterwards.
"I'll block out the calendar now. Third week onwards, " she thought out loud, and Leon nodded in confirmation.
Aaron and Leon gave each other a proverbial manly hug, patting each other on the back hard enough to make noise while Zara chuckled at them. She was quickly brought into the embrace by Aaron, who beckoned her over, and she squished between them as they put their arms around her. Aaron patted her just like he'd done Leon, almost knocking the wind out of her, while Leon's hand stayed against the small of her back. Taking full advantage while he had the chance, she put her head on his chest and squeezed both of them with her arms around their waists. Leon groaned in subtle protest, but it turned into a laugh before she released them both, and they all stepped back.
"I'll have to give you both a bonus for this. I couldn't have done it without either of you." Leon said with a genuinely grateful smile.
"Of course, you could. You're a fucking genius." Zara said with a smirk, and Leon frowned at her. "But I guess having us here makes it easier." She added, her smirk turning into a warm smile, and nudged Aaron playfully.
"Don't get too big for your britches," Aaron retorted to her but smirked proudly.
"That's the pot calling the kettle black." Zara quipped in a funny voice.
"I've changed my mind. You pair will be the death of me." Leon said with a deadpan expression but couldn't hide the mirth in his eyes.
He couldn't contain himself any longer and started laughing, which caused Zara and Aaron to quickly follow him into hysterics. They laughed together in celebration…