Bird-Dogging: an Academy Fan Fiction [on hold indefinitely]

Chapter Eight

          "You're my hero, Corey," I said to him while he gathered the parts from the laptop that he and Wil had dismantled.

      "Nein, fräulein," he responded, switching to flawless German. He continued in the language, "I'm more like the Jim Gordon to Victor's Batman. I just lit the Batsignal."

       "My German isn't so great, but did you just call me Batman?" a baritone voice said with a soft southern drawl. I spun around to the door. A guy around my age, wearing a white, button-up shirt and black slacks, was leaning against the door frame. His wavy, brown hair reached the nape of his neck and he brushed a stray lock away from his face. His whole aura spoke of sophistication.

Then his appraising eyes were on me, pausing at my chest. I blushed. Perv.

"Is that from Zelda?"

      My blush deepened as I realized I'd been mistaken; he'd been checking out the Princess Zelda shirt I was wearing. His gorgeous eyes blazed with curiosity as they met mine, and my tongue became glued to the roof of my mouth. The guy, whom I assumed was Victor, glanced at Corey and subtly motioned toward me. It reminded me of the way Dusty and Billy seemed to be able to communicate with just their eyes. Well, and their eyebrows too.

       "Hey, Vic. This is Sang. Sang, meet Victor. He's your real hero." Before Victor could put his hand out for me to shake, Corey held up the hard drive and continued, "Sang needs whatever you can pull off of this as soon as possible."

      He strode forward and took the hard drive in his hand, turning it over to take a look. "No problem, Cor. But I think I may need more than just a favor for this."

       "Oh?  What did you have in mind?" Corey asked, though the expression on his face told me he already knew what Victor was after.

      Victor turned to me. His eyes seemed to be aglow with confidence. "I have a dinner I have to attend on Sunday, and I am going to need a date."

      Sunday? Date? I turned to Corey and asked him with my eyes if this guy was serious. I hadn't even managed to say a single word to him and he wanted a date. Corey gave me a goofy smile to confirm that yes, Victor was indeed serious. I didn't return the smile; I began to panic instead. This was the fourth guy in three days asking me out. And he wanted me to go with him on Sunday. But I was working as a cater waiter on Sunday evening and couldn't leave Dusty hanging.

Commence panic! Will he not fix my hard drive if I can't go? I need my hard drive. Should I call Dusty and ask him to find someone else for Sunday? I really need that money though... especially now that I need a new laptop!

      Corey cleared his throat, pulling me out of my silent stress spiral. "Well, Victor, it's a bit short notice, but I think I can manage going with you on Sunday. Black tie?" he asked, defusing the tension in the room with his crooked grin.

       Victor turned back to Corey and waved him off. "We both know your bird won't let you off your leash. And I'm more of a bird lover anyway. Plus, Raven would kick my ass."

       "You know Raven?" My tongue had finally freed itself and spit out the first thing that crossed my mind. I pressed my lips together to keep from blurting anything else out, like 'you're gorgeous' or 'our babies would be beautiful.'

       "Big, scary Russian? Yeah, I know him." There couldn't be many Ravens in the area, but I was now positive we were talking about the same one.

       "Hey, I hate to interrupt this, but I need to head out. Victor, you can use my office here to retrieve those files. I need to head down to the server room to finish that project for you. I'll shoot you a text when I've got it scrubbed." Corey stood and pulled a bag over his shoulder. "Oh, and keep Sang away from my computer. You don't want to see her superpowers in action."