Erik listened to Liona chat with him during the drive to his workplace. As they talked, the rain that had been threatening to fall all afternoon finally started as the skies opened up into a full-on downpour. He silently cursed the fact that he didn't have a jacket and his only hoodie that he had, he had given to Nikki since it was too small for him now.
He wondered silently if there was enough money in the budget to buy a used jacket or sweater for the rainy weather in this area. The last place they had lived was so bone dry, that rain was a rarity. So he was unprepared for the weather to open up, as it just kept dumping buckets of rain down without any sign in sight of it lessening.
As it poured outside, Liona kept him entertained with conversation, so he got a better idea of the kind of person she was. He had pegged her all wrong, as the brainless beauty just leeching off her parents. However, from the sounds of it, she would rather just be allowed to find herself outside of her parents' identity, whomever they might be. He didn't blame her, from the sounds of it the people around her besides the two girls she was friends with, only saw her for her family connections, rather than the beautiful, creatively smart, and funny girl she was. She seemed to feel more pressure from her family's low expectations than if she was to be forced to be a straight A student. That probably hurt more than she was letting on.
He could see and almost feel the anxiety she was hiding behind, the worry of failing and disappointing her parents. She didn't really seem to care about the huge birthday bash she was being thrown, and instead only was excited on the surface for it. Her real excitement was for the birthday she would spend with her family, where she no doubt could probably be herself. Instead, she had to portray a rich girl and maintain her image as an influential family's daughter in front of her classmates. It didn't sound as if her family was pressuring her to be anything other than herself and to at least pass her classes, which only seemed like it was more pressure for her to deal with. The way he saw it, she was really close to breakdown if she kept it all inside as she was.
What surprised him, though, was the invitation to her birthday. He didn't expect that. At first, he thought she was just joking, they barely knew each other, and she was inviting him to her house or wherever her party was being held. She hadn't given him any details, only that he was invited, and her birthday was on St. Patrick's Day. Well, she had also said her favorite thing was clovers. That was pretty cute, he thought. Lucky clovers for a lucky girl…
He silently scolded himself for even heading in that direction of thought. He didn't have the luxury of getting involved in a temporary relationship with a girl, let alone one that was probably already taken and was probably somewhat expected to marry another rich and influential person. Even if he had the luxury of time to date a girl, he would never have a shot with someone as pretty and funny as Liona. She was miles out of his league.
When he mentioned her family being nice, she laughed and explained a little about their views for her, and it tickled his senses that she laughed as prettily as her smile and that it matched her bright personality. However, when she asked him about his dad, he was really reluctant to say anything. His dad was not the kind of person he looked up to and didn't like him at all. Maybe as a kid, when he was still around a little more often and paid attention to him and Nikki, he had been once upon a time someone he looked up to.
But growing up, and seeing his behavior repeated countless times, soon made his admiration turn to disgust for the kind of man he was. He never wanted to be like his dad and force a girl into heat and then run away from his responsibility. He compared his dad to a criminal stuffing his pockets full of money since he stole all that hard-earned money from his mom who actually worked for it just to put food on their table.
The only good memories of his dad had been when he was small and taught him to be a ninja and hide in plain sight. He had only that one real good memory of spending quality time with him when Nikki and Kylee were still pretty little and before Sarah had been born. In fact, that was the year he clearly remembered his dad running off, leaving mom heavily pregnant with Sarah. If he thought about it, that behavior probably started long before Sarah had been conceived, but he had been too young to notice. Besides, his mom had always had a smile on her face back then, probably hiding her hurt at his actions, for their sake.
When they pulled into the parking lot of his workplace, it was still pouring down rain, but the time on the nav console in Liona's car said he still had a few minutes before he needed to clock-in. He was reluctant to leave the warmth of the car and leave Liona. He had enjoyed talking and listening to her. She gave him a warm smile when the car parked in the first available space in front of the building.
"So, you get off in a couple of hours, want me to stick around and give you a ride to your other job too? I don't really have anything to do today now that school is out for spring break. I can kill a couple of hours and watch you work. Besides, that rain isn't going to stop anytime soon and since you don't have a jacket or sweater, I can at least help keep you dry between shifts." She offered him this with that brilliant smile of hers that sent his stomach fluttering again.
'Why is she so pretty? I can't keep pretending that I don't think she's attractive…' He blushed as his thoughts kept gravitating to her beauty. He was acting like a low class alpha horndog only after her for her looks… 'Who am I kidding? I am a low-class alpha…' Before he could berate himself further, she made up her own mind.
"You know what? I'm hungry. I didn't pack a lunch today, since it was only a half day. I think I'll go in and order a bit of food. Since I like to take my time eating, I'm sure by the time I'm done, it will be time for you to get off work. I'll just drive you, since I'll be here anyway."
Before he could process this, Liona was already opening her car door and with a delightful belly laugh she motioned for him to follow suit. When she got out of the car, she made a mad dash towards the entrance of his workplace and once undercover, she beamed that infectiously cute smile his way again. At this rate, his butterflies weren't going to go away any time soon.
She was soaking wet at her shoulders where the rain had fallen on her pretty jacket that he hadn't noticed before, but it was also emblazoned with her school logo. Now that he could take a closer look, he finally understood the lion reference the assholes were referring to her as, earlier at his school. Her school logo featured a kingly lion standing on its hind legs, holding up a shield with various academia symbols emblazoned on it.
He thought it was neat how her name meant Lion and wondered if her school mascot featured lions like the crest did. Maybe her family really liked the whole Lion theme and thought it was a fitting school for her. He gave himself a mental shake at that absurd thought. She said she came from an influential family, so of course they would send her to the only private school in the area. They probably couldn't imagine that their daughter had befriended a lowly public-school peasant like him.
As if reading his mind again, Liona spoke up as they entered the restaurant, "Yeah, my school mascot's also a lion, if that's what you were wondering."
He flushed, as he realized just where he had been staring on her. But how was it that she had figured out what he was thinking? Didn't she think he was a creep for staring there?!
"You were studying my school crest so intently; I could almost see the gears turning in your head!" She laughed, "You have a very expressive face, so it's pretty easy to read you. So when you start your shift, I'll order something to eat. In the meantime, I'm gonna grab a table and wait." She explained as she looked around the nearly full restaurant.
Erik didn't know how to respond, thankfully it was busy right now, so his manager didn't overhear her. He would probably react in one of two ways. Either he would harass her for loitering, or he would subtly sexually harass her by making disgusting comments about her body, since she was an omega and girl. Either way, his managers here and at the grocery store were scum, and he hated working under both of them.