Chapter 2
"I apologize for the inconvenience that my leaving will cause." Lyla smiled at her manager just before signing into her register for the evening.
It had been a long day finishing finals and also waiting for the results. She thought that nothing could bring her down after finding out that she was officially done with college. That was till she came to work and was told that she would be closing.
Her manager already had her replacement scheduled to work the following week. And the gratitude that her manager had for her hard work was shown with a gold star pin on her shirt that said, 'College Graduate'.
The day shift was packed and the evening seemed to have made no difference.
And regardless of how many people were clearly already in the building Hawks still decided to enter. And not on his usual day or time. Making it all that more inconvenient.
Lyla noticed how he didn't ignore any of the civilians. If a civilian asked for an autograph he autographed whatever it was they threw in his face. He also did selfies with them and even did his own group selfie with the crowd with his own phone.
It also did not go unnoticed that although he was polite to the customers he did not decline when they offered for him to go ahead of everybody in line.
"Hey Lyla," Hawks said in a fun tone.
It never not amused Hawks when he'd see the annoyance on the cashier's face when he came in. Was he flirting? Yes. Did it mean anything? No. And he seemed to think that it was a mutual understanding between the two of them. Otherwise there would have been an issue a long time ago.
"Hello, how may I take your order? Would you like your usual?" Lyla ignored the familiarity that was addressed to her. Trying to move along with her evening. She only had 2 hours left on top of the hour it would take to close the building.
"I will have the extra crispy family bucket today. With a large Coke. And I'll take that princess I can undress today." Hawks was leaning against the counter as he gave his order. Smirking as he saw the veins popping out of Lyla's head.
"Of course. Anything else for you this evening?"
Hawks peered at the pin on her uniform. "Oh. College graduate. Does that mean I won't see you around here anymore?"
Lyla sighed. Clearly he was in the mood to take up more time than needed. "That's right. I start my architect internship on Monday." She made eye contact with him.
And she thought of the magazine she saw at the convenience store. He isn't just a regular guy, he makes a huge difference in many people's lives. She couldn't help but realize that he is so much more than what he seems to be when he visits her KFC location.
And although there was annoyance. There was fun in his flirty unnecessariness.
"This will be the last time I see you." She noted the sadness in her voice. Hawks also noticed it and couldn't help but feel the small pinch himself.
"You never know what will happen, princess." Hawks said with his hand out.
Lyla blushed and put her hand in his. It was a different type of flirting and she doesn't understand herself why she automatically put her hand in his.
Hawks couldn't help but burst out into laughter.
He squeezes her hand, "I meant the princess toy. But if this is an invitation to undress a different princess..."
Lyla snatched back her hand as fast as she could. "Clearly I was mistaken. Your food should be coming out shortly." And with those words she was sure to make a gesture for him to move to the pick-up area.
Hawks couldn't help but shake his head as he looked down at the kids meal toy. He had also grown use to the playful banter of the usual cashier. He had figured that that was his main reason for coming to this KFC for the last few months. And the frequency of his visits. Because the honest truth was that with his status he could go anywhere he wanted to get chichen. Free or not. But he had chosen this location due to its proximity to his apartment.
Would he still come to this location knowing that the pure joy he got in regularly annoying his favorite employee wasn't going to be a factor any longer?
Hawks looked over the counter to pick up his order from a male employee with a name tag of, Miko. The employee was cute and he could test it out on him.
"Thanks for the fruits of your labor." When Hawks went to grab his order he leaned in just a bit past the norm, "Speaking of fruit, do you have something sweet back there that I could have on the go?"
If it had been Lyla she would have pulled out one of the children's apple juice boxes and handed it to him.
But to the winged hero's dismay, the young employee quickly wrote down his phone number onto a napkin and handed it to him.
This made it too easy. But that didn't mean he wouldn't take up the guy's offer.
"The shift is over in a few hours." The employee smirked and placed the written on napkin in the bag with the food.
Hawks only felt a little bad thinking about how the napkin may only get used to wipe up a mess.
Returning the flirt he smirked back and grabbed his food, turning to leave he looked over at Lyla's way and watched as she worked hard to make it through the line of people in the store.
The rest of the shift went reallly smoothly. It probably had to do with the fact that shortly after leaving the store Hawks announced that he would be taking selfies with anyone and everyone.
So while the hero was out and around the corner doing his 'hero work', Lyla was inside the building making sure that she could get some of the pre cleaning duties done.
The manager had left during shift and she was the one in charge due to seniority.
She was supposed to be heading out with Haruto after her shift. Which was why she was wearing a fitted sparkling silver pantsuit with flats outside the back door.
He really did pull through when she had said that it should look business nice.
It was a good outfit for bar hopping. She wasn't really one for going out bar hopping. She was more of a stick-to-one-place type of person. But Lyla also didn't mind indulging her roommate every now and then.
They had seen each other at their best and at their worst.
She turned to check that the door was indeed locked.
And as she turned she saw something float past her. It was red and contrasted with the dark alley.
Lyla watched as the red object clearly wasn't floating due to wind or air movement.
Looking closer she saw that it was a red feather. A red feather that she followed as it moved around her.
A red feather that she could only think belonged to one person.
Hawks was lounging on top of the building as one of his feathers waited and sensed for the right individual to exit the building.
It had recognized and dodged the male employee and he simply had it twirling and dancing through the air waiting.
And then he felt it. He had always been a quick learner on sensing different people with his feathers. A six sense that he could never explain to others.
Just as his birdy senses started to tingle he felt a sharp pain like pressure on his feather.
Without a thought he opened his wings and swooped down.
Standing there was a woman that although he recognized he had never seen this side of her before.
Her scowl was the same and he instantly smiled and walked toward her.
Lyla stood her ground with the red feather in her fist. She didn't want to falter at the fact that she found Hawks gliding down attractive.
Hawks walked toward her and stopped directly in front of her.
This was the closest they had ever been. There was almost always a 3 foot counter in the way. The proximity alone made her fist loosen her grip.
Hawks grazed his fingers and opened her fist.
"You know, I feel everything that happens to these guys."
He took the feather out of her hand and touched it on the side of Lyla's face.
Making both of their eyes gloss over due to the light sensation.
Lyla stepped back and cleared her throat.
"I wouldn't have had to grab it if it wasn't spying on me."
Hawks stepped back and grinned, "Me? Spying? Do you really think I'm capable of such a thing?" The light laugh couldn't be held in at the end of the statement.
Lyla watched the movements of the bird man. They were casual and yet graceful.
The phone in Lyla's clutch rang. She pulled her eyes away from the hero and took her phone call while turning away.
Focusing elsewhere. She wasn't sure she could hold a conversation and watch the attractive winged hero at the same time.
Hawks watched as the woman turned to take the phone call. The downward turn of his lips indicated his dislike in their banter ending.
He took in pieces of the conversation. While doing so he looked the brunette over. The fitted suit flattered her curves. He had known that her personality was definitely the reason he continued his returns to the KFC but he really hadn't seen the woman much from her waist down.
It was clear that she had plans tonight from her outfit. Even the conversation was clearly about a meet up place.
But regardless of what the woman already had planned he had come there for a reason.
He made his way to the talking woman and made eye contact with her.
Again they were in a close proximity. The sudden movement had her stutter over the phone and holding his eye contact.
His affect on her brought a smirk to his face. To which she made a hand swatting motion at him.
Grabbing the phone gently but firmly, "Hey, She won't be able to make it. I'm taking her out tonight."
Hawks ignored the questions and gossip starting on the other end of the phone. He turned it off and slid it into his pocket.
Lyla was both impressed and annoyed at the audacity.
"And why would I cancel my plans and just leave with you?"
"Because for the past few months I've seen you working your ass off and now it's time to celebrate your time served. It's time for fun."
Lyla knew that the man before her was right. Did it really have to be his annoying ass though? She thought back to the convenience store and the teen oggiling the magazine that he was on.
It was kinda cool that she could hangout with the attractive Hawks for the evening. Even if people didn't fully realize just how annoying the hero was. It would probably be her last interaction with the person.
She sighed, "Okay, Fine. Some fun would be nice."
Without hesitation he went to grab the woman and take off into the air.