As the laughter between her friends died down, Liona was roused from her thoughts by the slightly hesitant footsteps of Erik. He seemed to be afraid of approaching them, so she looked up and smiled warmly at him, to encourage him. She didn't know why he was the way he was, but it just made her want to protect and soften his environment just a little. Maybe someday she would find out why he was so scared and apologetic over everything.
"There he is! The boy of the hour!" Alli called out.
"Ooh, look what he has!" Chloe said, cheering.
Liona took note of the cutely decorated cookies, that were a specialty of this particular coffee shop, that Erik was bringing out to them.
"Uh, um, my coworker says these are for you three for being the best customers…" Erik said hesitantly, as he stopped in front of their table.
"Wow! Thanks! I guess all our loyalty points are paying off!" Alli said as she reached for a cookie, causing Erik to recoil, almost imperceptibly before he set the plate down in front him on the table and hastily took a couple of steps back.
"Thank you! Hey, you're on break, why don't you sit down and join us?" Liona suggested.
"Ah, n-n-no, I couldn't do that…" Erik tripped over his tongue a bit as he fumbled the words out. It made Liona curious and a little sad at his reaction.
"Oh, that's too bad. We were hoping to get to know you a little." Chloe said.
"Well, if it's a matter of you working right now, then will you join us after you get off work? If you let us know we can come back then and hang out." Liona suggested again.
"Oh. I don't get off work until late tonight…" Liona noticed that Erik tried to avoid looking her in the eye. He was pretty skittish after all.
"Really? The coffee shop isn't open that late. If you really don't want to hang out with us, just say so…" Alli said between bites of cookie.
"I-I-It's not that!" There was that stutter again.
"Then what is it? First you worked at the grocery store yesterday, now you work here today, so what, do you have another obligation? Another job maybe? Can people even work three jobs?" Liona asked the last one out loud, not expecting a serious answer.
"Ye-yeah." Erik looked down at his feet. She got the strange sense that he was scared of admitting that.
"You mean you actually work three jobs?! How?! I barely have time to study and hang out when it comes to finals week, yet you are working three jobs? How do you do your homework or hang out with your friends if you work so many jobs?" Liona was genuinely curious. She had no idea it was possible after all.
"Didn't he say he was new to the area?" Chloe piped up, as she too, munched on a cookie with her coffee.
"Oh, that's right, you probably haven't had the chance to make many friends yet. All the more reason to hang out with us if you want." Liona insisted.
"Uh, um, I-I d-don't. I-I c-can't. I-I w-won't. I-I'm s-sorry." Erik stuttered badly in front of them, and the scared look returned to his eyes.
Liona tried to soothe Erik. She didn't know why she was trying since he was a beta, but something inside her was telling her to try and make him feel more comfortable. She saw him relax a little as she released her pheromones, but only a little. He might not be a beta after all, maybe he was an omega, he was rather small if he was an alpha.
"Why do you keep apologizing?" Alli asked curiously.
"Yeah, you haven't done anything wrong and it's a little odd." Chloe agreed.
"Chloe, Alli, give him a break. I pretty much ganged up on him and kept trying to get him to hang out with us. Of course, he's uncomfortable! I should be the one apologizing for making him feel so uncomfortable by asking him and not giving him time to think about it."
Liona turned to Erik and properly apologized to him. "I'm sorry, Erik. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. Let me give you my deets and you can contact me when you have had time to think about it. You can even delete it if you want nothing to do with us." Liona pulled out her phone and was waiting for him to bring his phone out, to transfer the information, but he made no move to do so.
"I-I'm sorry, but I-I d-don't have a phone that can do that…"
Liona was curious about this statement. "Oh, if it's an older model, then I can just send a message and you can manually add my contact info." Liona watched as Erik pulled out an ancient phone and set it on the table. It had to be at least 20 years old, if not older. It was practically an antique. "Wow! You have a working Universe series phone! I think my mom had one of these when she was my age! They haven't made any from this series in decades! Do you collect them?" She asked excitedly.
"No. This is the only one I have." Erik told her firmly this time. She smiled at his boldness showing again. She liked to see this side of him, where he has his spine.
"Well, here is my info." Liona brought up the display and projected it so that it could be seen by Erik. She watched, as he took out a really old pen and paper and wrote her info down, before stuffing it in his apron pocket.
Erik looked like he was about to take a deep breath before he explained to them what he meant earlier. "I meant that I don't have friends to hang with and I can't hang out after work because I won't have the time. I work 3 jobs and I have to hurry home to help look after my siblings. I can't because it's not going to work out since I will be too busy."
"What about school? Did you find out what school you're going to yet?" Liona asked him, now that his confidence seemed to have returned.
"My sisters and I are going to the public school district so I'm sorry, but we won't be attending your fancy academy."
"That's too bad, but the public school isn't so bad, otherwise my Uncle Artemis wouldn't teach there. Oh! That's right you were so awesome at soccer, that I'm sure my uncle will put you on the team if you try out. He has a good eye for kids with talent, just like my Aunt Emma who teaches literature at our school." Liona gestured to her friends, who nodded. "But I guess my Uncle Atreus would be the coolest of them all, he's actually working for NASA. He's a mechanical engineer, but really, I guess the coolest of all my aunts or uncles would be my Aunt Noel…" Liona was nudged by Alli, so she stopped and then clapped a hand to her mouth. "I'm so sorry for going on so much! Aggh! Now I'm embarrassed!" Liona laughed.
"Liona, really! You have a huge family, no need to brag!" Chloe laughed. "I mean my mom and dad only had me and my older brother, so you're lucky to get four siblings!"
"More than I have! I'm an only child!" Allison laughed as well.
"Well, you both are my family, and you always will be!" Liona grabbed her friends and brought them in for a hug since she was sitting between them.
After that, Erik had to go back to work, so the girls headed out to their hair and nail appointments. They discussed a lot of things when they were out of earshot of Erik, but none of it bad, just more curious as to why he had to work three jobs as well as look after his siblings. They speculated since they were new to the area that he didn't have any family nearby to lend a hand, and so as the oldest he took it upon himself to help out when he could. They didn't think poorly of him for having so many siblings, but it did leave them wondering why his mom had decided on so many.
As they went on with their day, they had fun de-stressing before their study session later that day. After they saw the latest blockbuster in the theaters, they headed for a fast-food joint near the theater to eat lunch. Although they didn't expect to see Erik again when they arrived later that afternoon. He was working at the register and he took their orders, quickly and efficiently, wearing the uniform of the popular fast-food chain. This confirmed for Liona that he was working three part-time jobs and that this was his afternoon job. That meant that mornings he worked at the coffee shop, afternoons at this fast-food place, and evenings at the grocery store. She had no idea how he managed to do all three as well as help his mom with his siblings.