favorite liar | xavier thorpe

10. the weathervane (derogatory)

"I don't owe you anything," Xavier doesn't look back. "Not telling people is kind of the whole point of a secret society."

"Fine, then, tell me because we're friends."

Xavier doesn't answer Iris.

"Whatever," Iris acts indifferent to his silent treatment. "I'll get it out of you by the end of the day."

"Oh yeah?" Xavier seems to take this as a challenge, looking down for a split second at Iris as their paces match up.

"Yeah," Iris confirms. "Where are you volunteering?"

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

"Welcome to the Weathervane," some girl, around 20, greets Iris, Xavier, and a Gorgon girl who Iris can't remember the name of for the life of her as the three stand around the counter to go through some kind of orientation.

After a ten second tutorial on how the different machines work, how to make what order, and basic costumer service skills, the three Nevermore students are sent to change into the brown polos and red aprons they're given to wear around as they got to work, clearing tables and smiling politely.

Tyler and Iris also interact a bit, but the two don't have much in common besides Wednesday who Tyler gets a weird, dreamy look in his eyes whenever he talks about, so Iris isn't really into it.

Xavier manages to avoid eye contact with Iris the whole time which she finds ridiculous. She didn't even do anything wrong!

It isn't until she follows him into some storage room in the back where the two of them are alone is she able to have a real conversation with him.

"Why are you being so weird?" She decides to take the blunt route, realizing a second too late maybe that was a little too mean. . . for his standards that is. Considering he gets mad every time she looks at him wrong.

"Why didn't you want to join the Nightshades?" He counters as he searches through the shelves for coffee grounds or something.

"It was nothing personal," Iris doesn't understand why he's still stuck on that. "I mean, it might've been towards Bianca, but not you," she then adds.

"How come. . ." Xavier seems to debate whether or not he wants to ask the question before shaking his head - Iris likes how his hair moves with the act. . . anyway - "how come you only ever talk to me when I start the conversation, or because you want something out of me?"

Iris pauses, staring at Xavier for a moment, not really sure what thoughts are going through either of their heads. "I don't know what you're talking about," she finally says, partially telling the truth but also blanking on any examples that could prove him otherwise.

"It just feels like," he starts explaining more, "like, you rely on me to determine how we're going to feel about each other each day, and then never in put the same effort I put into us."

"I didn't realize you took this so seriously," but Iris knows he's right. She knows she tries too hard to get others to like her that sometimes she resigns all rights to have a say in their dynamic. Whatever they want goes. As long that makes them stay around for longer.

"Of course I do," Xavier finally looks at Iris, but now she's kind of wishing he wasn't. "We're friends." Iris lets herself look away. "What?" He's still staring at her.

"Do you know why Bianca hates me so much?" Iris allows herself to realize that is what's been troubling her. She's always hated being hated.

"Because she's mean," Xavier looks like he finds it silly that Iris is bringing the conversation to this. "She's jealous."

"Jealous of what though? What could I possibly have that she doesn't?"

"I'm not going to pretend to know the inner-workings of Bianca's mind," is Xavier's response - understandably - Iris doesn't really know why she's interrogating him about this.

"Yeah, I don't know, I guess. . ." Iris isn't really sure if she wants to get into this in the middle of a Weathervane storage closet, but she's come too far now. "I think she just makes me insecure, and it's like, why would you choose to talk to me when she's right there, y'know? Like you guys have history and. . . and I think I'm just waiting for you to realize that you don't want to be my friend."

"Whatever me and Bianca had is in the past," Xavier seems genuinely surprised Iris has shared all of this with him, "it means nothing now," he then assures. "We should get out there," he gestures after a moment passes of him and Iris just kind of staring at each other, Iris clearly not knowing what to do with herself after having such a deep conversation with a guy who she doesn't even know the favorite color of.

"Yeah," she manages to get out of whatever state of mind she was in, leading them to the door, Xavier following behind with a bag of coffee grounds, probably what he came for. She tries the handle, not realizing the door shut on them when she walked in, only to find it's stuck.

"The door is locked."

a/n:
awk