Chapter 8: Roof Talk

"You worked at a diner?"

"Yeah. I was very lucky to work there, the people who own the place helped me with so much, I'll never be able to pay them back."

"What'd they help with?"

A small chuckle was heard in reply, "Be patient, you'll be told later. For now..let me tell you about what happened after I got off work.

"Aww...Alright."

♥---♦

Thursday, 8:36 pm. 1994, the 3rd of March. Earth.

Today at the diner had been exhausting for Angel the moment her shift started, people had flooded in to either eat, talk, or be plain rude to the staff. At least, to Angel they were rude. Many people shouted at her to rush, to get their order written faster than her hand could handle, some telling her how to do her job and a couple people made very...inappropriate.. comments about her body and uniform that made her want to run to the backroom and hide. The good things she could count about today though was that no buttons popped off her shirt, no one tried to lift or tug her skirt and Tina promised a new uniform in a bigger size. She could also be happy about tomorrow and the two days following it, the weekend. She didn't have to work at all and that meant three whole days to herself to do as she pleased, she couldn't wait. For tonight though, when it hit the end of her shift, she was just happy to make a beeline to her home and bed, she was more than ready for sleep.

So now, the she-wolf was nearly limping down the sidewalk across from the diner after saying goodbye to Tina and her family, her feet being in so much pain that each step felt like walking on needles. Although it wasn't just her feet in pain, it was her whole body screaming for rest after the stress and exhaustion caused by today. She was more than willing to give in to her body's signals right there on the sidewalk but she didn't cause she knew better. She might be in pain but she was sure just letting herself fall over onto the sidewalk would be even more painful. The little tick-tack sound of her shoes clicking with each of her steps kept her mind off the thought of letting her eyes close and seeing where she lands. Instead, it took her to another thought; her uniform. She looked down as she walked, her hand going to her above knee skirt as she remembered how someone almost, just almost, got a look at something they shouldn't of. Even though an earlier thought said no one tried to lift the skirt, it didn't mean she was exactly careful when she bent down to get stuff off the floors. With an exhausted sigh and enough tugging at the piece of clothing, she left it alone and looked forward as she continued her way home, wishing she could somehow teleport to her bed. Teleportation, in general, would be nice but just to the heavenly softness of bed was all she wanted right now. She spent the next few minutes of the walk pondering teleportation and its perks, only stopping when she sighed with relief at the sight of her home appearing into view. Her walking pace quickened, her heels clicking louder on the sidewalk as her body got a rush of energy, possibly the last of it. Her eyes scanned over the two-story house of hers before her eyes trailed up to the roof, the shadow of a person was seen sat there on the edge. Angel's ears twitched down when her body paused, making her quick-paced walking stop after a couple of hops and steps with little jolts hitting through her feet. Her mind didn't focus on how her body felt but instead on the shadow, her eyes narrowing as one of her hands went up and adjusted her glasses. Then she blinked, suddenly remembering she didn't need to have them on. "Whoops.." She mumbled, taking her glasses off and closing them to slip them into her pocket. Now without her glasses, she could see the silhouette better and before she knew it, a smile was on her face. He really doesn't listen, does he?

Angel sighed softly in annoyance even though she was smiling and rubbed the bridge of her nose to ease the pressure her glasses had caused there and to ward away a small headache. She started walking again and, despite being close to passing out, decided to go say hi to the male on her roof. He didn't notice her when she walked up to the gravel pathway that led from the sidewalk to her front door and she took this chance to look up at him and study him more closely. His gray eyes stared down at the ground, his tan skin seemed to let off a fire-like glow and his messy mixed colored hair of black and orange was being pushed around by the breeze that was slowly dropping in temperature while the sun was setting. To Angel, he looked..interesting and worth it to get to know. 'He is.' A voice spoke within her mind and she blinked, her ears going down as she tried to figure out who she was hearing. 'Go talk to him, little one.' The Alpha, that was the Alpha's voice telling her that. She didn't know if she was ever going to get used to having someone else's voice in her head. Angel swallowed when her nerves suddenly said hi and made her throat feel tight, she didn't want to go talk to Roy all of a sudden. 'I don't know about that..' She thought back, looking away from Roy even if her eyes didn't want to. 'It'll be fine, trust me.' The Alpha said. Angel sighed, knowing she couldn't disobey something the Alpha said. She glanced back up at Roy, seeing that he hadn't moved. She guessed it wouldn't hurt to go talk to him, after all, he did look bored. Disregarding her plan to go inside her home and sleep, knowing how exhausted her body was and that she suddenly didn't want to do this, she opened her wings to their full wingspan, and with one harsh downward flap of them, she found herself above the roof. She set her feet down on the roof and folded her wings once she was sure she wasn't going to land on Roy before looking at the still unmoving male once she had balanced herself. Then she looked above him to see the sun slowly setting behind the buildings in town, lights starting to shine bright through windowpanes once they had been left in cool shadows. Angel bit her lip when a shiver hit her body, making its way through her legs and to her chest as the cold nipped right through the thin material of her stockings. Maybe this isn't such a good idea. Angel hesitated to go to Roy, hugging herself as she rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself. 'Go to him, little one.' The Alpha gave an instant response to her hesitation, making the she-wolf let out yet another sigh, her ears going down at the puff of mist coming out with the breath. Talk to him a little bit, maybe just a couple minutes, that's all she's going to do, and then she's going into her warm house for food and sleep. She stepped closer to Roy, maybe a few feet behind him, and then took in a deep cold breath to calm her nerves before the cold made her shiver. She never was one to start conversations, the Alpha had to be understanding of this, right? Knowing that Angel's anxiety thought differently about this situation? 'Go.' Angel choked back a whimper when the Alpha gave a sharp and one-word order. She had to do this.

"Hey," Angel said, surprised by how clear she managed to make her voice but her nervousness kicked that surprise back when Roy didn't respond too quickly. It was maybe a second, maybe two or three before he finally turned to face her, his expression unreadable though she found that normal by now. "Hey." He replied, repeating her own single word but still replying, it was a start. She smiled at him, walking over beside him with his eyes following her before he looked off toward the sun again. "Didn't I tell you not to be on my roof?" She asked, remembering this morning when she had told him the exact opposite of what he had done. He shrugged his shoulders, replying "It's a free country." Angel had no idea what that meant but supposed it was another way to say he didn't care and did what he wanted. Him not listening to her now meant he'd never listen to her, her words wouldn't matter to him. She couldn't stop the frown making her smile fall. "How was work?" He asked, probably just to make small talk and the she-wolf may have not wanted to answer but it'd be nice to talk right now. "Exhausting." She sighed, kneeling carefully to sit on the roof and let her legs dangle over the edge, her eyes watching the still setting sun and allowing the last bit of its light to warm her. "Yeah, work can do that to you," Roy said, sweeping something off the back of one of his sleeves before he looked at her with a slight smile. Angel stretched her arms out, letting her bones pop and sore muscles ache just a bit before she set her hands behind her to lean her weight back on them. "Normally it doesn't but it was really busy and there was a ton of rude customers today," Angel mumbled, exhaustion slowly settling in and replacing the energy she had forgotten was just to get her inside her warm and comfy home, not up onto the roof to talk to Roy. It was a surprise that Roy had heard her but he did. "I've heard how hard being a waitress can be, and only being paid off of tips seems pretty tough. That's just what I think though." He said, having lowered his voice the same as she did and Angel figured it was to keep her comfortable, interested in talking, a way to keep her from leaving. She let her eyes drift over to him, watching him roll up the sleeves of his hoodie and her ears twitched down when she found herself really staring at him, focusing on little details. Like how tan his skin was, the start of strong muscle he had shown with rolling his sleeves up, and the way his hoodie looked on his body. All those details made her feel something unrecognizable, along with the moment she realized he was wearing her favorite combination of colors; red and black. She had to force her eyes away, knowing too much staring would cause her eyes to wander where they shouldn't. Luckily, Roy didn't seem to notice how her eyes had traced through little details he had shown under and on his hoodie. She cursed at herself internally, wondering why she suddenly was like this. She never stared at anyone, never focused on the details, never tried to see more of someone. It wasn't like her..or was it? Maybe now was different.

Angel found the feeling of wanting to fidget within herself, she was getting nervous for no reason other than the embarrassment of catching herself doing something that's not herself. She allowed her body to lean forward, her hands catching the end of her skirt, and then she brought her legs up to her chest, her heels being the only thing keeping her from tipping forward as they pushed her weight backward with the edge of the roof. She pulled her skirt over her knees to cover them and her tail curled around the underside of her thighs to cover there, her skirt became her finger's fidget toy with them gently messing at the lace that was on the end of it. "That doesn't make sense?" Angel finally replied to Roy and he turned toward her a bit to listen. "I get paid nine dollars an hour even with tips." She stated. "Really?" Roy asked, sounding surprised and she nodded. He crossed his arms over his chest, somehow making Angel feel like he didn't believe her. "Huh. Usually, the way waitresses get paid is through tips." Was that a way of saying he didn't believe her? Angel almost frowned with that thought in mind but stopped herself, simply shrugging with a blank look on her face to mask the frown wanting to show. She knew she was telling the truth, Tina paid her nine dollars an hour with tips so she could pay for food and other things, that was the deal they made. "I guess my boss pays differently." She said, only adding the 'I guess' in case he really did think she was lying. Or maybe it's her anxiety telling her he thought that. She sighed, feeling the exhaustion set in the more she sat there, she needed to get inside. Passing out still sounded like a good idea but at this moment, it was leaning more to bad than good. She'd probably scare Roy if she allowed it to happen. "That's pretty good," Roy said, causing the tired she-wolf to glance at him. It surprised her to find him still looking at her, paying attention to what she was doing and saying. No one paid attention to her this much, they normally looked away or cut her off to talk about their own things, why wasn't he doing that? 'Because he's different.' The Alpha said. Angel looked away from Roy and to the other side of the roof, her ears twitching down. 'What do you mean?' Angel questioned in thought, the Alpha chuckled. 'I will explain tonight. Just enjoy talking to him.' The she-wolf didn't want to wait for an explanation but she couldn't fight back with the Alpha, it could lead to bad things.

Angel sighed again and looked back over at Roy, finding he had looked away and was rubbing his face before he straightened up a bit. "What do you plan on doing for the rest of the day?" He asked, then paused, almost tensing. "I mean, tonight. Day's almost over.." He half-mumbled. Angel smiled, fighting her urge to chuckle. That was cute. The she-wolf blinked at her own thought. Cute? The frick you talking about, mind? She mentally shook her head at herself. "I plan on going inside and eating some food." She answered, stretching her tired body again and getting a few more cracks out of her bones before looking out toward the still setting sun, all of it almost being hidden now. The sky had taken a dark blue hue, slowly blending with the orange and yellow that was caused by the little light the sun still showed. Angel always loved the sunset and unknowingly, she found herself humming 'You are my sunshine' within her head while watching the sun hide itself away. A small smile found it's way onto her face, not a happy one but a smile of sadness and loneliness while tears snuck out to line her eyes. The sunset..reminded her of so much she missed, things she wished she could see but couldn't. So, as much as she loved the sunset, it was also something she hated. "The sky is really pretty," Roy said. Angel couldn't look at him, afraid of letting him see her cry, she barely knew him, crying in front of him wouldn't be good. "Mhm...It is." She mumbled back, her ears twitching down with her tail wrapping around her ankles. Now wasn't the time for this, not for a breakdown. Not in front of Roy, an almost stranger. Despite him being a stranger though, Angel felt..safe? Felt like she could cry and show him every reason why she was sad, angry, and missing certain things, certain people. She didn't understand this feeling at all, didn't like it either. She shouldn't be feeling like this. "I like it, a lot." He said and this time, Angel could feel his eyes on her, looking at her. "You know, your eyes remind me of the morning sky."

She had to look this time, needed to. She wiped her eyes of the tears wanting to fall before finally looking at him, blinking to make sure her eyes were clear from any tears waiting to come out. She really was surprised now when the moment she looked over, he and she had eye contact. Was he staring or was it just a coincidence? She felt a small blush warming her face when she saw he was studying her eyes. "They're a nice shade of like... blue? And they're really pretty." He complimented, answering her unasked question of how her eyes could remind him of the sky. She let herself study his eyes at the same time, looking over the grey color of them, his eyes actually reminded her of silver and the way it shined. She smiled a bit, her ears going back up. "Thank you." She mumbled, not at all used to being complimented. It caused weird feelings, especially when Roy is the one saying those things. 'Wait, why would his compliments cause these feelings when no one else's does..?' Angel questioned in thought, expecting an answer from the Alpha but she didn't get one. She sighed internally, figuring that the Alpha was going to be quiet till it was time to explain why Roy was different than everyone else. "I want to ask if they're actually real?" Roy broke Angel out of her thoughts with a question she was used to hearing. She chuckled, her ears twitching down before she nodded. "They're real, there's nothing fake about me even if that's hard to believe." She answered. To be honest, she was used to that question of if she was real. Even in a town full of supernatural, she had a lot of people ask if she was real or if something was fake on her, she'd have to tell them it was all real. Though..sometimes that led to more questions that made her uncomfortable... "That's really cool," Roy said, his smile becoming a slight grin. Angel couldn't help but let herself relax and smile more as well.

"I've got these pretty boring grey eyes, but I kinda like them," Roy said. Angel tilted her head, narrowing her eyes to look into his again, not understanding how he could say that. "Boring? Your eyes are really unique, not boring." She said, giving her true opinion because she had never met someone with grey eyes before and that did interest her. Well, maybe it was interesting to her tired mind, she couldn't say what she rested mind thought of Roy or his eyes at the moment. Roy didn't comment on her saying her opinion and that did make her a little sad but she wouldn't let her tired mind dwell on it, she'd cause some overthinking doing that. She sighed, looking away to see the sun disappear fully behind some buildings and the sky turned fully dark except for the moon's dim light as it was allowed to shine. "Well," Roy sighed, making Angel look back over at him. "Since you don't want me on your roof, how about we head inside?"

That's a dangerous question. Does it deserve an answer?