Chapter 20 ~ Food
Iris wakes up somewhere the next day, feeling like a train had hit her. Her whole body aches and she has no idea why. Her memories of the previous night is clear, yet she can't remember doing anything that would have had this effect on her.
She gets up from the bed and walks over to the shower. Maybe a warm shower will make her feel better.
It does, but only slightly. Her head feels worse now, but the pain in her body has subsided to a dull ache. She groans as she gets back in bed, still naked. Hannah slept in Daniel's room last night, so Iris has the whole place to herself.
She must have fallen asleep again, because the next thing she comprehends is cold air against her naked body. She groans, stretching, before opening her eyes.
A horrified Kanan is standing at the foot of the bed, his one hand over his eyes and the other holding the sheet that was covering Iris' body a moment ago.
"What the hell?!" She shrieks, pulling the sheet back to her. Kanan doesn't resist, letting go of the sheet as soon as she tugs on it. "Why are you in here?!"
"Why are you naked?!" He yells back, his cheeks going red. Iris would have found his blushing funny if she wasn't completely mortified right now. Kanan isn't really the blushing type.
"I asked you first!"
"Can you please stop yelling?! I have a headache!"
"Me too! And you're the one yelling!"
"Okay, let's both stop now," Kanan finally says in a normal tone. He takes his hand away from his eyes and sits down at the foot of the bed. Iris consciously pulls the sheets closer to her.
"So, I heard some things..." he trails off, scratching the back of his neck nervously. Iris frowns, confused.
"What things?" She asks. He shifts around a little, clearly very uncomfortable.
"Things that happened last night," he clarifies. Understanding finally dawns on Iris. Someone must have told him what he'd done last night. She's not sure if his nervousness is over the fact that he was drunk or that he was dancing with another girl.
"Okay," she says carefully. She's not sure what to say. He didn't technically cheat on her, only danced with another girl. She isn't allowed to be jealous over something like that, and she isn't, so she doesn't understand the problem.
"I'm sorry Iris. I know how much you hate it when someone drinks too much around you and then I danced with that girl, but it was only dancing, I swear, and-" Iris cuts his rant off with a kiss. Kanan hesitates for a moment, before responding and kissing her back.
"Now get out so I can get dressed, you pervert," she teases when she pulls away. Kanan grins happily as he gets up and exits the room.
***
Gerrard's words follow Xavier for the next few day. It got worse when he talked to Iris that night and started doubting himself. He felt like she understood him, both of them having lost their parents, but it was a very foolish feeling.
How would a human ever understand a werewolf?
As he walks with his pack members and the human girl, he starts to realise that he might not dislike her all that much. She may be annoying and sometimes utterly stupid, but she's a good person deep down. Very deep down.
"Hey, Mr Kingsley," the girl appears at his side, "Are we going to get lunch before we get on the plane? I'm starving."
The fact that she has never said his name bothers Xavier more than he would like to believe. She only ever calls him Mr Kingsley, and rarely talks to him at all. He believes he might have scared her that night at the gala, and he's ashamed of the way he acted. It was a bad time of the year for him.
"There's food on the plane," he answers coolly. Iris seems to think it over for a second, before scrunching her nose and shaking her head.
"No, I don't think there is. Unless you're talking about those odd vegetable things on the platters. I think I saw snails, too. In that case, no thanks. I think starving would be a better idea," she says. Xavier sighs heavily.
"Fine, go buy yourself something, then," he says grufly, slightly annoyed. She really does act like a child sometimes.
"Well, since you insist on being rude, you're coming with me. And you're paying," she states, taking him by the arm and pulling him along with her as she walks in another direction, away from her friends and towards the food court.
To her surprise, Mr Kingsley follows without any resistance. Iris can sense that he's annoyed with her, but she's not really afraid of him anymore. After all, the man is only human.
She's even more surprised that, when she's done ordering herself a burger at a greasy takeout restaurant, he actually pays for her meal. He doesn't say anything to her as she takes the bag with the food from the guy behind the counter.
They walk back to the group in silence, Iris happily munching away at her fries and Mr Kingsley silently watching her from the corner of his eye. She doesn't notice him watching, though.
Her friends are standing exactly where they left them. Kanan has a scowl on his face, glaring at the ground as everyone else talks around him. Again, Iris doesn't notice, and she smiles at them.
"Okay, I'm ready to go now," she announces. The group sets off again, dodging people as they try to get to their boss' private jet as soon as possible. It's night in London already, but it must only be three in the afternoon back home.
"You and Mr Kingsley seem very... well acquainted," Kanan remarks darkly as he puts his arm over his girlfriend's shoulder. She looks up at him, confused for a moment, before she realises what he meant. Suddenly she's not very hungry anymore.
"Really, Kanan?" Iris looks ahead of them, at Mr Kingsley's back, as she shrugs Kanan's hand from her shoulders. Annoyance is evident on her face, but Kanan takes no notice of it.
"What? It was just an observation," he mutters, shaking his head. Iris really doesn't understand why he's constantly acting jealous, but she realises that her attitude doesn't help diminish his suspicions either.
"Relax, Kanan. He literally just bought me food after I practically forced him to. You don't need to get all possessive every time I talk to any other member of the male species," she nudges his shoulder with hers in an attempt to lighten the mood. "The next thing you know, you'll be getting jealous of me spending time with Theo."
"Well, you do spend a lot of time with him..." Kanan grins teasingly. Iris swats his shoulder playfully, smiling to herself.
"Theo's my actual boyfriend. You're just the side guy," she says, making everyone in their group, excluding Mr Kingsley laugh.
They finally arrive at the gates a few moments later. Mr Kingsley leads them outside and onto the tarmac. It's extremely cold outside, the ground slightly wet from earlier rain, and Iris hugs herself in an attempt to block out the biting wind.
They walk the short distance to the private jet in silence, everyone too cold to really come up with a productive conversation starter. For some reason, Iris suddenly thinks back to when Mr Kingsley gave her his jacket, and she suddenly feels warm all over.
They're ushered into the aircraft by one of the on-board butlers. When they're inside, he takes their jackets and leaves them in the main area of the plane, where staff are already bustling around with their silver trays.
"I'm exhausted so I think I'll go sleep in one of the other rooms," Kanan announces. He yawns as if to prove his point, before walking to the back of the plane and disappearing through a door.
Without any further words, everyone settles into their seats. Again, Hannah and Daniel sit together, but this time Zander and Noah claim an entire row of seats each, making themselves at home.
The only place left for Iris to sit is next to Mr Kingsley, who is staring out of the window thoughtfully. She hesitates for a moment, not sure if she should be this comfortable around him, but shrugs it off a moment later. Her food is getting cold and she needs to eat.
"What is that?" Mr Kingsley asks, clearly disgusted as he eyes Iris' burger. It's one of those wierd ones with basically everything on it, and Iris decided that it's the most beautiful thing in existence.
"Food," she answers taking a bite from the greasy burger. Mr Kingsley just shakes his head, turning back to look out the window again.
"Have you never had junk food?" She asks curiously, confused by his reaction. Slightly annoyed, he looks back at her, then at the burger, before shaking his head. Iris' eyes widen dramatically.
"Are you being serious?" She asks in disbelief. She nearly drops her burger, and Mr Kingsley sends her a disapproving look before rolling his eyes.
"Yes, I value my health, thank you very much, and if you drop that thing on my floor, I'll throw you out the door myself," he says in reply. His threat sounds genuine and Iris finds herself concentrating on holding her food upright.
"Why don't you take a bite?" she suggests, carefully offering him the food. He scrunches his nose up and shakes his head immediately. This time, it's Iris' turn to roll her eyes at him.
"Take a bite," she demands, this time shoving the food in his direction. Begrudgingly, he takes it and takes a hesitant bite.
"This is amazing," he says as he takes another bite. Iris looks at him in horror as he devours half her burger.
"No! Don't eat all of it!" She shrieks, grabbing at his arm to get it away from him. He ignores her, holding her away from the food with one hand and shoving the rest of the burger in his mouth with the other.
"That was mean! You owe me a new burger, by the way. So much for sharing," she grumbles, folding her arms over her chest like a child as Mr Kingsley chuckles.
*ð*