When a door opened from inside the hotel, Ariel motioned them inside. "Hurry up, Aunt Yui was spotted talking to the hotel staff and at least one of Dad's men has been seen patrolling the hall to the ballroom. I'm not about to be grounded for helping you keep your boyfriend a secret, Liona." Ariel said urgently.
"Thanks for this, Ari, you head back to the party before Mom and Dad get suspicious that you aren't back." Liona gave her little sister a hug.
"Treat my sister right or you'll have to go through Rora, Nolan, Noah and I!" Ari glared half-heartedly since she had a partial grin on her face, Liona noted.
"Um, I don't plan on hurting her!" Erik spoke up, which made Liona smile.
"He's way better than anyone else I've dated, Ari, now shoo, before you're caught, and you're forced to spill the beans!" Liona said as she scanned the area.
"Fine!" Ari said before she motioned that she was watching them, which made Erik chuckle.
As they made their way down the hall, Erik asked, "Are your siblings always so accepting?"
"Actually, no. But they spent a bit of time observing you on their own time because they are tired of me dating assholes. Usually when I date someone, it ends amicably, but not always. A few particular boys have tried to cling onto me after I have made it clear that things weren't working out. Then my siblings get dragged into whatever delusions the boy had, and then it gets messy. A few, but not all, ended up having a long conversation with my dad, who I've told you works with alpha and omega criminals, so that usually gets them to leave us alone in the end. But I absolutely hate having to get my dad involved because then I feel like I wasn't able to handle the situation when I was the one that started things." Liona explained honestly to Erik.
"Why don't they give up if you make things clear that you're breaking up with them?" Erik was curious. He was also a little jealous that his mate had dating experience, which would give her a leg up on things she had experienced without him. He wanted to give her a few firsts, but that was going to be difficult from his perspective.
Looking around a corner, Liona saw that it was clear before she answered, "Because a lot of them are entitled assholes. They're rich snobs that don't know the meaning of moderation or restraint. They're greedy in every sense of the word and think they are better than anyone else because I agreed to try dating them. They believe that by somehow dating me that they have an in with my dad, and then when they start flexing their ridiculous notions about controlling me. I get pissed. No one, besides my parents, or I, get to decide how I conduct my life. And now that I'm 18, my parents will naturally leave me to make my own decisions and mistakes for the most part. I still have to obey the house and family rules, but that's beside the point." Liona took a breath before continuing, since she was getting angry just remembering the string of her more difficult ex's.
"The boys think that my agreeing to date them means that they are my keeper and dictate what I can or can't do or behave like, which really pisses me off. Then they whine to their parents that I'm not some perfect idol that they conjured in their heads, and well, it gets messy. But mind you, these are only a few of the handful of guys that I've tried dating. Most are reasonable and are perfectly willing to accept that I'm my own person and when I, or they, felt like the relationship wasn't going anywhere, we broke things off amicably after talking about it." Liona turned to take Erik's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
"Wow. I didn't know you had to go through that. I'm sorry that you had to experience that. I promise that if you feel like I'm being a jerk or if I'm doing something that you don't like, I will listen to you and work with you to help not be such a jerk. I don't want to be someone that you can't trust. If we talk things out and figure out our relationship together, then I think we might be able to be good together. I've seen it when people don't talk and listen to each other and that makes things fester and that resentment becomes so overwhelming that even the slightest attempt at communication breaks down before even being heard. I don't want that to happen to us." Erik squeezed Liona's hand back as she led him through the hotel. For the most part, the halls were empty and the few people they passed didn't pay any mind to them, for which he was thankful.
"Thank you for that, Erik. I, too, promise that if you feel I'm being unreasonable, that I will listen to you and work on not being so bad. I think if we both just talk to each other when either of us has a worry or concern about the other, then we can figure out how to be good together. My parents always talk things out when one has a concern, so I'd like to do the same with you." Liona meant it too. She didn't want to seem like a diva or an unreasonable monster to Erik. She was opinionated and not afraid to just speak her mind. Some guys had really hated that, but she felt like Erik wouldn't hate that about her.
Erik smiled as they turned a corner and reached the lobby. They had only barely confirmed their feelings for each other, and already were communicating and working on trying to be reasonable people that worked together. He knew his mom had been totally wrong about Liona. She was way more reasonable and amazing than any other rich person he had ever met. She was already trying to make sure that they got off to a good start together. He really appreciated that she was taking the time to assure him that she would work with him on this relationship. He just hoped that when he told her everything about him, that she wouldn't think he was some terrible person. There was still very much his fear of bringing up his past transgressions and being judged harshly and possibly ruining any chance of really getting to know her. He would hold off and wait to tell her about his sordid past until they knew each other better. That way, maybe she wouldn't see him as the awful person he was for breaking the law, even if it was done out of sheer desperation for his family.
"Hi, can I get my car brought around?" Erik hung back as Liona walked up to the valet kiosk and provided her valet ticket for her car.
"Of course, Young Mistress! We'll have it brought around momentarily." One of the valets said as another headed for the parking garage elevator that the employees exclusively used.
"Come on, Erik, let's wait over here for my car." Liona called him over to a seat near the entrance of the lobby. As he headed over to her, he could swear that one of the hotel employees glared at him. He cringed inwardly.
He was still wearing his work clothes for the fast-food place, and he was probably spattered in grease and oil. He had probably ruined that pretty dress of Liona's since he had completely forgotten in his joy of seeing her after the turmoil he had gone through in his head. As he sat down, he made sure to put a little distance between them so that he didn't make further contact with her and possibly transfer any more grease onto her dress.
Liona noticed that Erik had left about a person's width of distance between them when he sat down next to her, so she scooted over to sit right next to him. She even took his hand and intertwined their fingers together. "What's wrong?"
"I'll get your pretty dress more dirty. I came directly from work without changing, and I even hugged you earlier without thinking about it. I'm probably covered in a layer of grease and oil from working the grill and fryer today." Erik tried to explain, but it looked like Liona was about to laugh. In fact, she did laugh. Her pretty laugh always gave him butterflies and tickled his senses.
"You didn't get my dress dirty before when we were hugging, and you won't be able to get it dirty, no matter how much you hug me with a dirty shirt. My Great-Aunt designs functional formal wear that is versatile and wearable. If they do get dirty, it's not hard to clean, either. She prides herself in making sure her designs last longer than quick fashion that is only meant to be worn once. This dress is one of my favorites in her line of versatile formal wear. I chose this dress today because I knew I was going to be pigging out on a bunch of good food and would most likely slop something on myself at some point." Liona laughed and then rested her head on Erik's shoulder.