After they finished the lunch Avery had provided, Jakob took her to an area of the house he had claimed as his own, and fitted as an area suited for his hobbies. It was an eclectic mix of an extensive computer set up, a piano towards the center of the room, guitars and violins hanging on one wall, and the remaining walls contained floor to ceiling bookshelves with various tomes of different ages and languages.
“This is…unique.” she said, trying to be polite.
“It’s easier on me if I can keep all my hobbies together so that when I get restless I can reach for something more readily. I tend to get into some form of trouble or another if I don’t. At least, according to Avery I do. Have a seat.” he said, gesturing to a chair.
Mandy took a seat as Jakob walked past her to the instrument wall. “What do you play?”
“Guitar. Jett and I had talked about me learning bass as well, but we wanted to start with one and not overwhelm me.”
“Good idea.” he said as he scanned the wall, finally reaching for a guitar, pulling it down and handed it to her.
“Play what you’ve learned. I want to hear what you know so far.”
“It’s really not much.” she said, taking the guitar from him and settling it into her lap, taking a minute to tune it before playing. Jakob sat a short distance away, taking on a studious disposition as he listened to what she could do, and watched for any bad habits.
Mandy paid attention to the instrument, feeling along the neck and hitting strings int he appropriate order, as she had been taught. She’s talented – just needs refinement. Mandy paused for a minute. Jakob hadn’t spoken. Damn it – that meant she was picking up thoughts. She tried to focus on blocking out thoughts, but she ended up flubbing her playing.
“Something on your mind?”
She paused and nodded. “I was trying to reinforce something with my magic. I lost focus on what I was doing and messed up. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I haven’t seen any bad habits thus far. Keep playing for me though, you’re doing well.”
Mandy nodded and began playing again. She liked to play – it was relaxing, fun…kind of freeing. She ended up humming along to the song she was playing. Jakob watched with interest, and when she had finished, he had a question for her.
“You seem rather musically inclined. Is it just guitar or is there something else?”
“I sing too.” she admitted. “I’m surprised Daniel hadn’t told you. Part of our final exam was to sing a song, acapella.”
“Would you mind humoring me, and sing it? I’m rather interested in hearing your vocals.”
“Could I get a pitch please?”
He nodded, and headed over to the piano, playing a pitch scale for her to warm up to. Based on the warm up alone she seemed to have a nice voice. He leaned against the piano, and gestured for her to go ahead. She smiled a slightly nervous smile, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. A short minute later, she began to sing ‘Ave Maria’ for Jakob, much as she had for Brandon some months back.
She had just completed her song, when she picked up a stray thought. If only she weren’t off limits, dating and belonging to someone else. Behind that thought was a sense of mild irritation and frustration, but nothing showed in his face when she looked at him. She blushed a little. He was a bit of a looker, and hella charismatic. She felt drawn to him, but was trying to keep boundaries in mind.
“How was that?” she did a double take when she looked at him. He was brushing something away from his eye – something that left a smeared stain.
“Beautiful. I haven’t heard singing like that in a very long time.”
“I’m glad you liked it.”
He gestured for her to sit down. “Excuse me for a moment.” he said, stepping out of the room. Mandy sat there feeling a bit overwhelmed, wondering what he was up to, when one of the wolves padded into the room, and placed it’s head on her lap. She smiled and scritched behind an ear. “You’re just beautiful, aren’t you?” the wolf’s tongue lolled out in response. The wolf kept her company until Jakob had returned, his face now free of smeared blood.
“Okay then. Where were we?”
“Singing? Guitar?”
“Guitar, yes.” he said, heading over to the wall, pulling another down. “Try and follow me.” he said, playing slow and letting her try, correcting her when and if she made a mistake. This went on for a while, until he finally dismissed her.
“Do you need a ride?”
“I can call Dad – he said he’d pick me up.”
“No sense in him driving all this way. I can take you home.”
“If you’re sure…”
“I am. Come on.”
*****************************
She got up, picking up the purse she had left on an end table, and followed him through the house to the driveway, climbed into his car, and settled back in the seat as he drove her home. Along the way back to town, he would steal the occasional glance at her, something she didn’t seem to notice, as far as he knew. He was damning himself a little – she practically a child and he having an interest – well, perhaps more of a piqued curiosity about her. He s hook his head at one point.
“Something wrong?” she asked.
“No…just a bit on my mind.” he looked over at her and smiled. She smiled back, but turned away before she could blush, though she imagined that he guessed that part anyway. Still, she was hoping that it was dark enough in the car for him to have not noticed.
“So what do you do other than play music and sing?” he asked after a few more minutes.
“I’ll be going back to school in the fall to continue working on my music degree.” she answered honestly. “I like to spend time with my friends, but I haven’t been able to do that a lot because Daniel always has me over to practice magic, and by the time I’m done I’m almost to exhausted to drive home, let alone spend time with anyone.”
“That’s unfortunate. I did have words with him, however. When I was over I could tell by studying you for a few minutes that it was wearing thin. He shouldn’t be having you over as much or driving you so hard. If he does, let me know, alright?”
“Alright. Thank you.”
“No problem. I take care of your father now, so I might as well extend you the same courtesy – you’re important to him, and he has an important job to do for me. Helping you is just an added benefit for him, and me as well.”
“You too? How’s that?”
“I find you enjoyable company.” he stated honestly.
“You haven’t known me long.”
“True. But you are engaging. I’m surprised you aren’t surrounded by people of either gender clamoring for your attention.”
“Is that your way of saying you’re surprised I’m not with someone?”
“Essentially.”
She smiled. “Well, I am. We’ve been together about a year now. We’re relatively open about our relationship.”
“Oh?”
“Sex and intimacy are different things.” was all she would reply.
“Intriguing.” he muttered, his brain switching to a psychological mode. they were silent the rest of the way home, which wasn’t much farther. He pulled into the driveway and unlocked the doors to let her out.
“Say three times a week practice, until school starts? Or do you think that will be too much?”
“If Daniel’s actually cutting back as you say, it should be fine.” she said. “Thanks again for that, by the way.”
“As I said, no problem.”
she gathered up her purse and got out of the car, giving him a little wave before heading into the house.