Kat's POV-
I tried my best to smile when I got into his car. It wasn't very convincing though, so I just took a long gulp of the hot coffee from my thermos.
Mmm coffee. The only reason to even get up out of bed.
"Well good morning, beautiful," Erik told me nicely. He eyed me while I was drinking the drink from the Gods with an amused look. "I see that I am very easily replaced by your coffee," he joked.
"Shush, my baby! You know that I would never even consider replacing you, love."
"Glad to be reassured," he snorted.
"I was talking to the coffee," I said with a sweet smile and then kissed my thermos.
Erik busted out laughing and shook his head at my antics. His laugh was almost enough to make the morning a bit more bearable.
"Here," he said as he handed me a breakfast sandwich. "I brought you some breakfast."
My nose instantly turned up at it, but I grabbed it from him, nonetheless. "Thank you, I'll eat it later."
"Kat," his voice was firm as we were driving down the road.
"Erik," I copied. He stared me down as soon as he got to a stop sign. "What? You don't trust me to eat it later?" I asked him. I knew I was starting a fight, but my crankiness didn't care.
"Kat, that's not fair."
"What's not fair is that you don't trust me!" I said very irrationally.
I mean, really... He had very probable cause to not trust me when it came to food. I shouldn't have blamed him. However, I was extra cranky that morning from my crappy sleep the night before, and in all honesty... I just didn't really want to eat that early.
"Katherine, stop!" He practically growled making my eyebrows raise. "Don't be like that."
"And what exactly does 'like that' mean, Erik?" He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off before he got anything out. "I suggest you choose your words very wisely, Erik. I am cranky, have only had a few sips of coffee, nauseous because of the smell of food in the morning, in a shit mood because of my nightmares, and frankly just straight up not having a good time right now. So, yes, please tell me exactly how to be."
Erik heaved a giant sigh as we sat at a red light and then he just laughed. He for real just busted out laughing and shook his head over and over again as we sat there in the car.
"What?" I asked annoyed that he was laughing at me.
After he began driving again and recomposed himself, he finally answered. "It's just... I would have never pegged you to be so cranky in the mornings. I thought that when you said that you're not a morning person you meant," he paused his words. "...I don't know, but not this."
"Sorry... I just think it should be illegal for anything to begin before ten AM, school especially." We both laughed. "I'm sorry, I know it's not an attractive trait of mine. I'm just a night owl, so mornings are not fun for me."
"It actually humanizes you a bit," he said with a shrug. "Is this how you are every morning?"
"Some days are worse than others," I answered. "You don't have to pick me up if you don't want to."
"I want to," he reassured. "I can't wait to get Chris in here one if these mornings to get his ass handed to him by you. It'll be so much fun!"
I snorted at his words. I couldn't believe that my crappy attitude hadn't driven him away from me. My parents always told me that no one would ever like me if that was how I acted. I could contain it most days, but early mornings on cranky days didn't work out sometimes. It was just Erik's luck of the draw that his very first day picking me up happened to be one of those days. I felt kind of bad for being so bitchy all the sudden.
"You said nightmares?" He asked as we pulled into school.
"Yeah well..." He gave me a look to continue. "I have them quite a bit. Not really too big of a deal. Side effect from my parents."
"I'm sensing that you don't want to talk about it."
"I don't want to talk about anything until I finish the rest of this coffee," I gulped down more of the hot brew.
After I drank more of the coffee, I turned to him while we sat in the car in the parking lot. "I don't eat in the mornings." Before he said anything, I continued. "Not because I'm starving myself or because my parents don't want me to... Food makes me nauseous in the morning and the coffee makes me not hungry at all. So, thank you for the sandwich, I'll eat it later," I told him firmly.
He finally relented with an eyeroll and a laugh. "Whatever Grumpy Gills."
----
By lunchtime, I was in a much better mood. I had finished my coffee and people were leaving me the hell alone because I was with Erik. Thank God! That was one of the perks of having the 'dangerous' Erik Jones as a boyfriend. However, I still couldn't see why people were so afraid... He was just Erik.
I sat down at their lunch table once again, just like I had the day before. Still, people went silent and pointed while gawking. I felt like disappearing right then. There was too much attention on me... Attention wasn't usually good for me.
Erik instantly wrapped an arm around me and pulled me closer to him. "No need to be nervous about what the over-involved high schoolers think," he told me with a kiss to my temple.
I nodded and let myself lean into him. He was right. I shouldn't let myself worry about their irrelevant opinions.
Nia eventually came and sat with us with a large smile on her face. "What are you doing over here? You're cramping our style," Chris joked with Nia and laughed at her eyeroll.
"Oh, trust me, if Kat wasn't over here... Neither would I be. Your company is ghastly and most unwanted," Nia retorted.
I laughed at Chris' pout. "You can't just come over here and only want her! That's rude!" Chris goaded.
"Why not? That's what Erik is doing."
"Erik is our boy!" Carter said in Chris' defense. Erik just rolled his eyes at the boys.
"Shall we go start our own table then, Nia?" I said with a smirk. "See who Erik goes with?"
"That's cheating!" Chris complained. I laughed and stuck my tongue out at Chris as he grumbled.
"So, Nia, how did sales go yesterday?" I asked suddenly about her first day in Christina Ward's boutique.
"You remembered!" She seemed genuinely shocked at my remembrance.
"Of course, I remembered, silly!" She didn't say anything at first which made me deflate for her. "No worries, Nini. The first day isn't that big of a deal. Once word gets out, your stock will generate more revenue," I said truthfully.
"No, actually... Christina said that the sales on solely my own things were over double what she had projected for the day! We actually almost met the weekly goal in just yesterday! In fact, her sales were up by thirty percent too!"
"Nia!" I said with genuine excitement for her. "That is so amazing! You're going places, I can tell."
Before lunch was over, my phone dinged indicating that I got a text. That was rather odd because literally no one ever texted me. Only my mom and she was a bit preoccupied at that moment.
Unknown: Hey Kat, it's Matthew Harrison. Your dad and I had discussed a dinner date for us while he was away. I was thinking Saturday night at eight o'clock. Is that agreeable enough for you? Formal wear if you please.
Matt
I stiffened in my chair as I read and re-read the text over and over again. I knew that Erik felt me too. He looked at me questioningly, so I shoved my phone his way. His eyes got murderous as he read the text.
"Excuse us," Erik said in an abrupt manner to everyone else at the table.
I got up and let him lead the way out of the cafeteria and into a less visited hallway. He paced after we made it to his desired hallway. He huffed, growled, and groaned in annoyance.
"What should I do?" I finally asked after Erik offered no help.
He stopped pacing and stood behind me. I leaned my back against his chest as he contemplated my question. He still said nothing.
"Did you hear me? What should I do?" That time I turned my head to where I could see him out of my peripheral.
He grasped me gently by my chin from behind and turned my face back to my phone. "Don't look at me. That is not a question that I can answer for you, Kat. What do you want to do? This is your decision to make. Don't think about me, your parents, or propriety. What do you want to do?"
I stayed silent for a moment as I stared at my phone. "That's absurd," I said exasperatedly. "You can't tell me not to think about all of you when you all are in my lives and are partially the reasons that I do certain things..." I sighed. "However, I understand what you mean. You want me to make this decision for myself and not because you influenced me in any certain way." I laughed humorlessly. "I feel as if I am doing a test that has no right answer."
Erik simply brushed my shorter hair away from the back of my neck and pecked me quickly right in the middle of the backside of my neck. "It's your call, Kat," he said simply. "This isn't a test. It's whatever you want to do."
I huffed and went back to the new message. I clicked on the contact info and then scrolled all the way down to the bottom. I felt Erik watching me with interest as my fingers moved over the screen. I then clicked the big red 'block contact' button then exited from the contacts and deleted the message all together.
"Out of all things that I thought you might've done... That was not one of them," he said with a chuckle. He spun me around in his arms and kissed me lightly.
"I passed the test then?"
"There was no test, Kat. Whatever you chose to do, as long as it was your decision, would have been fine."
"Sooo what you're say is... I passed," I joked.
"In my book, I suppose you did," he said with a laugh at my insufferableness.
"Well, what do I win?" I pressed.
He laughed hardily and shook his head at me. "What do you want?"
"You," I answered with no pause.
"You already have that, and I don't know if that's such a prize."
"Well then, I suppose I'll do with a kiss," I countered.
He sighed and pretended to look put upon. "Only because it's your prize," he grumped jovially.
"Oh, how terrible it is for you that you must kiss me. Such a hardship," I said sarcastically. "Now, Erik, do make it a good kiss. This is, after all, to be my winning prize."
His smirk deepened and he pulled me to him by my hips. His fingers brushed my hair from my face, and he stared into my eyes for just a moment. Then his lips were on mine, devouring me. He kissed me long and hard in that unfrequented hallway. I must say... That kiss certainly was prize worthy.
----
Without thinking about what I was doing, at the end of the night I placed my large order. Another fifteen burgers made and paid for. I didn't even think about the fact that I hadn't driven myself or the fact that I'd have to explain it all to Erik.
"You ready?" Erik asked while studying my big bags of burgers.
"Give me a sec, he'll be here in a minute or two."
Without further ado, Rodney showed up for the nightly burgers that I provided them with whenever I worked. "Thank you so much, Angel. I still don't know how we'll ever repay you," Rodney said again.
"I've told you that you don't have to! I don't expect you to."
Rodney rolled his eyes at my typical answer. "Ah, the friend," Rodney commented and shook Erik's hand with a smile as if he knew him. "I've told you that she was an angel, a true angel. You are incredibly lucky to have her in your life, sir."
"We all are," Erik agreed with a smile before he put his arm around my shoulders.
"Thank you once again... For being far too kind to us lowly folk," Rodney told me again.
"As I constantly tell you, friend. You are very welcome, and you are not lowly," I answered him with a smile. "I'll see you tomorrow, Rodney."
"You're not going to ask about it?" I finally asked him when we both got into the car.
"I have a confession..." Erik said with a sheepish grin. "That day that Chris and I came to the diner and had to take Lisa home... Well, I saw you walking in the dark, so I followed you to Holly Street." My jaw went slack. He laughed at my reaction. "I thought you were psychotic... or suicidal," he admitted.
I shrugged at his words. Fair point. "Well," I giggled. "That psychotic thing hasn't been disproven yet."
"Can I ask why you do that for them?" He finally asked.
"Because they need help, and I have the means to do so," I answered logically with a shrug.
"You truly are an angel," Erik commented matter-of-factly.
"Oh hush," I rolled my eyes. "I'm just doing what is right."
"And that is so very rare nowadays, love."
"It hardly makes me angelic." I rolled my eyes.
"No, but it makes you... you," Erik said and kissed my temple when he stopped at a red light. "And I'd prefer you to be nothing other than that."
A/n-
Hey y'all! Sorry that it took a wee bit. I have been so very busy. Please tell me what you think!!! Your comments encourage me so incredibly much! Thank you for reading! Don't forget to vote, comment, and share!
-KAF❤️