Fox Life

After Iris' declaration, Luca fell on her with another hug, swearing to never turn on her. Shadi was a bit more controlled and just nodded with a smile. "We missed you," she said simply.     

They then talked about everything and nothing for a few hours, until it was around five. At that moment, Luca declared that they should go to the cinema together. There was a new movie out, and they should do something like in the old days.     

It sounded fun, so Iris agreed, but said she needed to call Kyro about it. He would want to know that she'll be late today.     

"He's here?" Shadi asked with surprise. "He followed you home?"     

"Followed?" Iris shook her head, laughing. She then leaned in onto the table and whispered, as if she had the world's greatest secret at her hands, "He actually flew me in with his friend's private jet! Imagine, the whole plane with nobody, but the two of us!"     

Luca's eyes lit up. "I see where you're going with this," she said, winking. Iris hit her on the shoulder, laughing, then was surprised by Luca's next suggestion. "Invite him as well! Don't even think to hide him for yourself alone!"     

It was an unexpected turn of events, but Iris didn't think it was a bad idea. There were so few occasions that she and Kyro went out that she could count them on one hand. If that wasn't depressing enough, he knew nobody from her circles while she had at least met most of his companions.     

"Sure. Do you want me to drive you all there?" he said when she called to him.     

The girls were more than excited for that, nodding eagerly, so Iris agreed and said they'd come out in some ten minutes. When the waiter came, they all paid for themselves and left.     

Kyro's car stood nearby, and Iris led her friends to it. Luca, who was usually a ball of energy, suddenly quietened at that moment. When Kyro stepped out to greet them, she shook his hand and smiled shyly, even stumbling upon her own name.     

Shadi did somewhat better, but not by much. Although she clearly tried to hide it, her nervousness was palpable. Her usual reserved nature was enforced by some five times, turning her into somebody one could easily mistake for a robot.     

On the side, Iris could barely hold back her mirth. Kyro was trying to act like everything was perfectly normal, but her friends… they weren't giving him much to work with there. Whatever he said, they nodded at most, usually just staring at him wide-eyed.     

In the end, he turned to Iris with a look pleading for help, to save him from the situation which was turning more awkward by the second. She laughed at him, happy to have finally seen him thrown out of his perfect comfort zone, and ushered her friends into the car.     

They didn't get much better throughout the drive, so Iris talked mostly by herself from the front seat, sometimes telling directions to Kyro. Her friends watched her with awe, clearly finding something hard to believe.     

When they were in the cinema, Kyro went to buy the tickets, and Luca chose that moment to drag Iris away. Shadi was also by their side, not falling behind a step.     

"How do you do that?" Luca demanded from Iris once she was sure they couldn't be overheard.     

"Do what?"     

"Talk to him like he's one of us!" Luca shouted out. When it earned her a few stares from passers-by, she lowered her voice into a whisper once again. "He's a billionaire! Billionaire! And a handsome one to boot! Did you see his manners? The way he looked at us, spoke? It reeks of high class!" She shuddered for emphasis.     

Shadi didn't add anything, just nodded emphatically, then looked around to make sure their subject of conversation wasn't back yet.     

"But he's just like us…" Iris murmured.     

She looked at him standing next to the ticket machine and wondered at her own statement. Was he really the same? It wasn't hard to pick him out in the crowd of everyday movie goers.     

Although he was dressed in casual clothes, one could tell they were of higher quality at first glance. His bearing was also a little more aloof, a little more proper compared to everyone else. It wasn't a stark contrast, but it existed.     

If they had met under different circumstances, would she then have acted like her friends? Too starstruck to form words? Probably…     

'It's good that we didn't then,' she thought, smiling to herself at the memory of their first meeting. At the time, all she could think about was if he would figure out that she was a little too human and kick her out.     

"Why are you smiling?" Luca asked with suspicion.     

"I… I just remember our first meeting. He's really not as alien as you think. Just treat him as you might any other classmate," she said. Although she meant it, her friends didn't take it seriously. They looked at her in horror, then shook their heads violently.     

Kyro came back at that moment, and they all went into the cinema. It was a movie about some magical beings which many wanted to see, so their seats at the last minute weren't right in the middle, but still fine.     

Luca sat down closest to the center, followed by Shadi, Iris, and Kyro. Nobody wanted to sit by him, and he found it just as fine.     

When the ads started showing, attracting most people's attention, he leaned next to Iris' ear and whispered, "Had fun gossiping about me?"     

"We did no such thing," Iris said with righteousness, not daring to shift her gaze from the large screen in front of them.     

"You didn't?" he asked in a sly voice. "So I just imagined you trying to convince them that I'm not an alien?"     

At that, Iris turned to him. His face was mostly in the dark, with only the left side sometimes lit up by the light from the screen. But there was no way she could miss the teasing grin on his lips.     

"Just watch the movie," she told him, shaking her head with a smile.     

As he straightened with a muffled laugh, he took her hand. Their fingers intertwined, and Iris looked away, pretending like nothing had happened. She met Shadi's wide-eyed gaze, but didn't say anything.     

What was there to say? They were together, and that was all there was to it. She was certain her friends would get used to it soon enough. It would be impossible not to when she and Kyro were almost always together.