Chapter 82
Chapter 82
***Chastity***
I couldn’t believe Rowen had agreed to do this with me. I thought for sure he would say no. I would have been disappointed, but I would have understood. Guys didn’t tend to enjoy this kind of thing. I learned that this week when Norm was talking to Marcus about it, and Marcus had said it wasn’t really his thing. I signed up on whim because I liked the painting more than anything. The more I thought about it afterwards the more I was sure Rowen would say no. I was glad I was wrong.
Once we’re done eating we decide to wander around the pack town for a bit before going to the painting class. We were in a book store when Rowen spoke up, startling me.
“Can I ask you a questions?” Rowen said from behind me.
“Sure.” I responded.
“Did people bother you too much the last two days with referring to you as Luna or Future Luna?”
“Some, but I just did my best to do what Dee-Dee told me. She told me to block out the reference to that, and focus solely on the conversation being had.”
“And that helped?”
“Yes it did. The people who came up to us were interesting, and I liked learning a little bit about their packs.”
“You weren’t uncomfortable, or intimated at all were you?”
“A little but, but the women helped. I just kept reminding myself that they were Omegas like me. It helped that they were all very nice.”
“I’m glad.”
“Can I ask you a question?’
“Of course.”
“Your friend Wade, his mate is male, correct?”
“Yes.”
“How does that work for pups?”
“You know I asked him the same question. I was pretty embarrassed asking him that, but he’s pretty open with that kind of thing. Some medical procedures humans have we’ve picked up over the years. One of them being surrogacy. When they are ready to become parents they will find a surrogate to carry, and birth a child for them.”
“How can they do that when most females have mates? How does that even work?”
“He said that he has a female in his pack who’s mate is also female. They don’t want pups of their own, but would be honored to carry his pups. They’ll implant a fertilized egg, she’ll carry the pup, and birth it.”
“That is good of those females.”
“Yes. Well she’s his mate’s cousin. She wants them to have the family they dream about.”
“That’s sweet of her.”
“Very. Find anything you like?”
“Not really. We need to get to our class any way.”
“Alright.”
Rowen took my hand, and we walked to the paint studio chatting quietly about some of the people he introduced me to over the last two nights. I was enjoying this time with just him. I had feared I would be uncomfortable, or nervous, but it was all very natural. I laughed when we walked into the studio. Norm, and Marcus were standing there putting on smocks. Marcus didn’t look too happy being there. I knew he had done this to make Norm happy.
“Chastity! Rowen! I didn’t know you would be here.” Norm said excitedly.
“My sweet girl wanted to do this so how could I say no?” Rowen said with a smile.
“Aww.” Norm gushed.
“Does that make us suckers?” Marcus asked with a snort.
“Probably, but for the best people, right?” Rowen responded.
“So true. If it makes him smile I’ll do it.” Marcus agreed.
“Come on you three, we don’t want to be late.” Norm said with a bounce, and we all chuckled.
“My excited boy.” Marcus muttered with a smile.
“He’s good for you though.” I said with a smile.
“The best thing that ever happened to me. I smile more than I ever have with him in my life.” Marcus responded with a big smile.
“I’m the same way with my sweet girl here.” Rowen said as he put an arm around me.
I kind of felt bad because I knew Rowen wanted this day for just us. I was willing to sit away from Norm, and Marcus if he wanted, but Rowen refused. Once we were seated in front of easels, the instructor got up, and started to speak. He had us all laughing as he showed us the different brushes, and their uses. He made sure to do it a manner that was funny, and fun.
The whole class was pretty fun. He used funny little explanations, and noises to show us how to make the colors work together, and to create the textures. I also giggled at the faces Rowen would make as he worked on his painting. If he was working on a smaller detail he would stick his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, and crinkle his brow. He would make swishing sounds as he made bigger strokes. When he was doing the dots for stars in the sky he would make a Bloop sound. He had me in fits of giggles the whole class. Marcus, and Norm seemed to love it too.
When he wasn’t making his noises he would listen as Norm, and I talked about school. He even brought up his warrior training school idea to Marcus who thought it was a great idea. It was really nice to just be the four of us. I liked that not once did Rowen act as though he was better than Norm or Marcus. He also seemed genuinely interested in their thoughts, and opinions on things. When class ended, and everything was cleaned up, the four of us left the shop holding our paintings. I thought Rowen’s looked the best. It looked almost identical to the one the instructor used as an example. I had added little additional spots of color to look like flowers in the woods of mine. Marcus laughed at his because his trees came out all different sizes, and shapes that didn’t match up at all. Norm had gotten a little bored with the trees so he went completely off the rails with stick figures, and animals. It was cute though.
“Did you two want to join us for a bit as we walk around town?” Rowen asked as we left the shop.
“I appreciate it, but we need to get over to our house. Two of Norm’s brothers are coming to help me rip out the old kitchen cabinets.” Marcus explained.
“Did you want some help?” Rowen asked to my surprised. I hadn’t expected him to offer to help those of lower rank then him.
“Nah. We’re good. You, and Chastity enjoy your day today. You should head over to the movie house. If you like old comedies, they’re playing The Three Stooges. It’s black, and white, but funny.” Marcus responded.
“I’ve never heard of it, but maybe we’ll check it out. Thanks.”
“No problem. Well we’re off. See you two later.”
We said our goodbyes. I smiled as I watched Norm skip along beside Marcus talking excitedly.
“They’re good together, aren’t they?” Rowen asked quietly.
“Yeah. They are. Marcus helps ground Norm a bit, and Norm loosens Marcus up.” I answered as I looked up at him, and smiled.
“So, movie?”
“Sure. If it’s funny I want to see it.”
“Well lets go then.”
Rowen took my painting, then put an arm around my shoulders, pulling me close. I wrapped my arm around his waist, and we headed for the movie house. I’d never been there before, but Lexi told me it was set up like a movie theater from the 50s. I was excited for this..
“You know what might be something fun to do back home?” I questioned as we walked, a thought coming to mind.
“What’s that?” Rowen asked.
“Movie nights. Maybe behind or in the Community Center, when it’s done. We could show old movies like once a month, and invite the whole pack to come watch them. There isn’t a lot done together as a whole. pack, other than some celebrations, and the Independence Day barbeque.”
“Hmm. I like that idea.”
“We need more community events. We’re a big pack, and while we’re close in some ways, I don’t think we’re close in enough ways to know for sure that the pack members can rely on anyone, and everyone.”
“You really think that?”
“Well kind of. The pack knows that they can rely on their leaders, but they don’t know they can rely on each other so much.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Well when a pack member needs someone to watch their pups, or elderly family member, they call Joe for someone. If the pack hospital needs someone to sit with a patient they call Joe. They don’t think to call other pack members. They kind of rely on him to find someone. Now that I’m not there he has to make a bunch of calls to find someone. Maybe if the pack interacted with each other more they could find people they could call directly for help instead of having to go through a third party.”
“Huh. I never thought of that.”
“I know Joe likes to know when members of his pack need help, but I’m sure it would take pressure off him if he wasn’t the one that had to find the help they needed. I know he likes to be the one to find they help they need as well, but that can be a lot of work, and he’s already a busy man as it is. One day that
would fall on you. Why not help the pack as a whole, and get them together more so they can have people readily available.” Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
“That job actually used to fall on mom, and the majority of the time she would go help herself, but after she passed away, dad took it upon himself to do it. One day it will fall to my Luna.”
“I remember her doing that because she would take me with her every chance she got. She would put off what ever she was working on to go help.”
“Yeah she would do that. Sometimes she would stay up late to finish her own work so she could help the pack.”
“That had to be hard on her.”
“She never once complained about it. She loved helping the pack in every way she could.”
“I know. She used to tell me that her greatest joy of being a Luna was helping her pack in every way she could.”
“Yeah. She said that. Anyway, back to your original point. I think it’s a great idea. You’re right that our pack members would thrive if they were closer to each other. If you can come up with some ideas on things to do to bring the pack together I will make sure to do all I can to make them happen.”
“You will?”
“Of course. It’s for the betterment of our pack. I’m just no good with thinking of ways to bring them together. You’ve already had two great ideas, and I have no doubt you’ll come up with more.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome sweet girl.”
I smiled up at him as we got in line to buy movie tickets. He smiled down at me then gave me a quick kiss. Once our tickets were purchased we found seats good seats in the theater then Rowen went off to get popcorn, and drinks. I giggled when he came back with a big bag of popcorn, two sodas, and a box of Reese’s Pieces. I loved that candy. We settled in with his arm around me, me partially leaning against his chest, and enjoyed the movie. Every time I laughed he would kiss the side of my head. When I asked why he did that he said the he loved my laugh, and that it made him want to share in my joy some how. Of course that caused me to blush.
By the time the movie ended I realized I needed to get back to school. I still had some homework to finish up. Rowen didn’t complain about my need to do work though. He said he had work to do as well. We were making our way back to school when we came upon a handmade jewelry shop. I looked down at my charm bracelet I hadn’t taken off, and got an idea. I definitely wanted to remember this day. I pulled Rowen in behind me, and went right to the charms section.
“Do you know what you’re looking for?” Rowen asked from beside me, as we looked at the charms in the display case.
“Not really, but I’m sure I’ll know when I see it.” I responded, crinkling my brow as I didn’t see anything I liked.
“What about that one?” Rowen asked as he pointed to one,
I followed where his finger was pointed. At first I just saw a bunch of little random shaped charms then I spotted the one I think he was pointing to. It was a paint palette with a paint brush over top of it. It made the most sense since that was the first thing we did today. I nodded, and the jewelry shop owner came over to get it. He was even kind enough to add it to my bracelet. Once that was done, we headed back to Cloverland.
After grabbing dinner, the rest of our evening was spent doing our own work. I found I really liked just having him beside me as I did my work. We didn’t talk much, but just being together was really very nice. I kind of hated that we weren’t going to be able to do it every night though. He had to leave in the morning to go home. At least we still had video chat. I went to sleep that night, wrapped up in his arms with a smile, but a bit of a heavy heart because he was leaving the following day, and I knew I would miss him.