My Mate's Touch

Chapter 24 - Luca

I got into the shower, my mind occupied. It was almost completely dark, so where in the world was Elias? I washed my body and lathered my hair with shampoo, trying not to worry. I had just finished showering and turned off the water when I heard the front door open, breaking me away from my thoughts and back to reality. I dried my body and my frazzled brown hair and hastily threw on a t-shirt and briefs, opening the bathroom door so I could greet Elias.

"Hey," I said, making him stop and quickly plaster a smile onto his face. "You came back late, Aspen already went home. How was your tour?"

He smiled brightly but I could see him slightly falter. "It went well. There was a huge library that I'm going to drag you to sometime."

I playfully huffed. "Only if the chairs are comfortable so I can take a nap."

He chuckled quietly and then continued walking to the bedroom. I looked at him as he walked off. Something seemed a little odd, but I couldn't pinpoint it. I didn't want to bring up anything that Elias wasn't ready to talk about, especially since I didn't even know if there was anything wrong, so I kept my concern to myself for the night. I went to the kitchen to get a nighttime snack while Elias showered, and we headed to bed at the same time.

"Goodnight, Elias," I whispered, even though he normally said it first.

"Goodnight, Luca."

I tried to go to sleep but it was bothering me that Elias seemed a little down. He was hiding it very well, and it probably would have slipped past me had we not been so close or had I not had my werewolf instincts. After a moment of shifting in bed in a futile attempt to get comfortable, I realized that I wouldn't be able to have peace of mind if I didn't check up on my best friend.

"Hey, Elias?" I turned around so that I was facing him even though his back was towards me.

"Yeah?" He responded a bit groggily, already close to falling asleep.

"Is everything ok? You seemed a bit down earlier."

There was a pause before he answered. "I'm fine, Luca. Everything's ok, I'm just tired, that's all."

"Would you tell me if you weren't ok?"

I heard the covers rustle in the dark room, notifying me that Elias had turned around to face me. "I'm ok, Luca. Really."

Liar. "Ok. Well, you can always tell me if something's wrong. You know that, right?"

"Mhm, I will." I heard him turn away from me and bury himself further into the covers. "Goodnight."

I turned back over too. As I'd originally thought, he'd tell me what was bothering him when he was ready. I was still bothered by the fact that Elias was obviously upset about something, but I knew that the last thing he'd want was for me to pressure him to spill his problems. Reluctantly, I went to sleep, the last thing I heard being the sound of Elias softly snoring.

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Aspen came over early in the morning and barged into my apartment, waking Elias and I from our much needed rest. As much as I loved being with Aspen, her naturally excited personality could be a little too much for me in the morning sometimes. That thought quickly went away when I began to smell a warm scent from outside of my room, and she'd revealed to Elias and I that she baked some blueberry muffins for us.

We all got up and went to my couch to eat. I took a bite of the warm, rich, buttery goodness and sank back onto the couch in bliss. Elias and Aspen did the same, holding their muffins like they were valuable treasures.

"So, I thought we could watch the warriors again today!" Aspen grinned.

I nodded, half listening and chewing on my muffin until her words finally registered. "Wait, all three of us will be watching?"

"Yeah! Well, I might get some practice in, just for the fun of it."

"Yes!" The fact that I could just watch today made me more ecstatic than it should have. Not to be dramatic, but the aching in my muscles was finally subsiding; it would have been tragic to train and make them hurt again right off the bat.

Aspen spoke again, her words a bit sloppy since she'd just taken another bite of her muffin. "Elias, you're a bit quiet. You're usually begging to watch the warriors train."

"Yes, I-I'm excited!" He mustered. I guess he was still a bit off from last night.

"Great! We can leave closer to lunch time," Aspen said, standing up and walking out of my door and back to her apartment. "That'll give you two lazy bums a few more hours to wake up a bit."

Normally, Elias would have giggled at Aspen's statement, but he didn't this time. I turned my head to the side and looked over at him, biting into another muffin and sighing. It was bothering me so much that he wasn't being his usual self. Whatever was bothering him must've been quite serious, turning a ball of sunshine like him into a reclusive boy whose mind was constantly elsewhere.

I would try to enjoy today, and I'd hoped Elias would enjoy himself, too. I wished I knew why he was feeling down. If watching the warriors training later didn't cheer him up, that would mean that Elias had a bigger problem than I'd thought.

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Luca is worried about his cinnamon roll friend. Will Elias eventually confide in Luca or will he keep the burden to himself? If you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a vote and comment what you thought! - D ♡