My Masturbation Recording Was Listened To 146 Times By The Ice Hockey Hunk Chapter 08
We made up.
I’m that easy.
The flowers were fresh and the cake was decent.
Mostly it was the “I’ll get jealous” that made me stupidly happy.
He said he’d been dealing with some stuff and he’d figured it out. He promised he wouldn’t shut me out again for no reason.
The next evening after class I went to the podcast studio to record some extra material.
The moment I walked in, Liam looked up.
“Good mood today?”
I touched my face. “Is it obvious?”
He smiled and handed me the headphones.
When he stepped closer I instinctively leaned back.
His hands stilled for a second, then he smiled.
“Relax. I’m just fixing the height.”
I felt awkward.
He hadn’t done anything wrong, but my body still tensed when he got near.
Once we started, he had me read a short goodnight script—simple lines like “Get some sleep tonight,” “Good night,” “Tomorrow will be better.”
When I finished he took off his headphones, looking pleased.
“Really good. Your voice is perfect for this kind of show.”
I started to feel a little proud, then he added:
“But you can loosen up more. This is a latenight talk show, not a news broadcast. Try talking the way you do when you’re with Zach. Softer. More natural.”
I stared at him. “What?”
Liam smiled. “When you talk to him your voice changes. It’s warmer.”
Something about that made me uncomfortable, like a private thing had just been casually examined.
I was about to say something when someone knocked on the studio door.
I looked up.
Zach stood in the doorway holding an iced coffee.
The second I saw him my whole body relaxed.
Liam pulled off his headphones. “Here to pick Serena up?”
Zach’s expression didn’t change. “Yeah.”
Liam looked at him for a couple of seconds; the smile faded a little.
“We’re not done yet.”
Zach checked his watch.
“It’s nine.”
Liam said, “If she wants to do another take—”
Both of them looked at me.
I cleared my throat and started packing up.
“We’re good for today.”
Zach’s mouth curved in a tiny, almost childish look of victory.
Liam lowered his eyes and didn’t argue.
On the walk back Zach took my bag without asking.
I reached for it. “I can carry it.”
He didn’t even glance at me.
“Hands still broken?”
“…Fine.”
I gave up and walked beside him, sipping the coffee he’d brought.
At the entrance to the apartment building he suddenly stopped and looked down at my shoes.
One of the laces had come untied.
I started to bend down, but he was already crouching.
“I can do it—”
“Don’t move.”
The streetlight caught the side of his face. His lashes threw a small shadow.
His fingers worked the laces with the same easy skill as always.
I remembered being a kid and never learning how to tie my shoes properly. He used to do it for me every morning. Eventually I got old enough to feel embarrassed about it.
Now he was doing it again like it was nothing.
My heart started beating too fast.