someone was banging on her door. her head pounding, iris rubbed her face and looked up, squinting against the light. she heard the front door click open as someone unlocked it, and leaned her head back onto the pillow. if she was to be murdered tonight, she might as well thank the intruder. anything to get rid of this headache.
keys clinked against the table outside, and she knew who it was. rowan. she remembered what he'd said to her last night and scowled.
he knocked on her door. she stuck up her middle finger. but he opened the door and she immediately hid her hand.
"morning, princess," he said. she opened her eyes and watched him as he placed a brown, paper bag on her desk. "got you lunch." he turned to her, and she could already see the uneasiness in his eyes. "it's three o' clock. have you not gotten out of bed?"
"thanks for the food," she said, rolling onto her side so she could turn her back to him.
"rose—" he began.
"thanks for the food," she repeated. "there's chocolate milk in the fridge. help yourself."
he walked around the bed and glared down at her. "iris, are we not going to talk about what happened?"
"no," she said simply, rolling onto her other side. he used her actual name. this was a serious situation. "i can't remember anything that happened yesterday."
"bullshit."
"you're bullshit."
he sighed through his nose, hands clenched at his sides. "fine. i'll be watching some TV."
"you do that."
"thanks."
"you're welcome." she closed her eyes again, praying that he'd leave. but before he could walk to the door, her phone started ringing on her nightstand. she recognized the ringtone and sat up—too quickly because the world spun around her and she closed her eyes again, hissing.
"i got it," rowan said, sauntering over to her nightstand.
"rowan, leave it—"
"daisy residence, how can i help you?" he asked. iris listened to the muffled sound of someone talking—someone unfamiliar—and opened her eyes just in time to see rowan frown. he turned to her, phone lowering. "who the hell is sap?"
her cheeks flushed. "friend i met. why?" it was clay's ringtone that she'd heard, so why was sap on the line?
rowan's brows pinched together. "he's asking if he can meet you somewhere. and if he can introduce you to someone named karl and alex to piss.... to piss piss-baby off?"
she stifled the smile that began to spread as she made grabby hands for the phone. but rowan took a step back.
"can i ask who're you?" he inquired. iris's jaw dropped. "okay...weird name to be honest.... what? why do you want to play minecraft with her? of all games?" rowan's face dropped. he turned towards her and asked sap in a much calmer voice, "who is clay?"
iris rolled her eyes and put her head in her hands. she heard sap laugh on the other end—nervously or mischievous, she couldn't tell.
"boyfriend?" rowan repeated, voice raised.
iris swung herself out of bed and ignored her pounding headache, snatched the phone out of rowan's hands, and said, "sap, what the hell are you doing?"
"oh, come on," he whined. "he deserved it. rowan's a piece of shit and he sounds like one."
"what if he could hear you right now?"
"then at least i could tell it to his face." sap sighed. "rye, i heard what happened—"
"it's not a big deal," she said stiffly. "forget about it."
he sighed again, like a disappointed dad. "how are you feeling? clay said you were trashed yesterday."
she pinched the bridge of her nose. "of course he did."
"okay, in my defense, we've been friends since we were kids. we tell each other everything. he didn't give me the details yesterday, just said something happened and you played minecraft with him while you were drunk, until you fell asleep on your keyboard."
she blinked. "i did what?"
"yeah!" he laughed. "and then clay stayed on call with you to make sure you didn't like, i don't know, die in your sleep or something. and you woke up at eleven, said some weird shit before dragging yourself to your bed. he had to hang up, though, but..."
"that's even more embarrassing than drunk calling him," she said. she didn't see rowan's eyebrows lower when she said it. "thanks for that lovely update, sap, but i'm starving and i gotta eat. give clay his phone back, will you?"
"oh???" he giggled. "how'd you know it was his? personalized ringtone, perhaps?"
"absolutely not," she lied, "i can just read things, unlike you. thank you and goodnight."
"night, rye."
she hung up, blowing out a deep sigh, and rubbed her eyes.
"who is clay?" rowan asked.
"shhhhh." she held her hand up in front of his face. "too early for interrogation. i'm hungry. either stay and watch TV or leave." she picked up the brown bag and went into the kitchen.
"iris—"
"too tired." she yawned for emphasis. "actually, i think i'd prefer to have my apartment to myself for once. see you later."
he took a deep breath. "fine. don't forget we have to pick up trevor at 6:30."
she frowned. "doesn't he have a game?" rowan's little brother was a sophomore in high school and played basketball. since rowan's mom worked constantly, it was usually rowan or iris that went to pick him up from games.
"yeah, but it starts early today." he sent a careful glance her way. "you're coming with me?"
she stared back. "do i have a choice? you're gonna drag me out of my house no matter what i say, so..." he smiled crookedly.
"see ya, nerd," he said, picking his keychain back up and walking out the front door. she sighed once the apartment fell back into silence.
she walked to the fridge and put the food into the fridge, not even bothering to check what he'd gotten her. then, she grabbed some advil, drank some water, and went back to bed for the rest of the day.
/ / / /
"it's too loud here."
"don't be a baby."
iris elbowed his stomach and he doubled over, wheezing. "come on," she grumbled. "i wanna sit at the front." there was still a quarter of the game left, so she wanted to watch trevor and the other kids play. they sat down next to a small group of girls who constantly giggled at the sweaty boys running in front of them.
iris's blue eyes traveled trevor as he ran with the ball down the court, dribbling close to the ground. he stopped far away from the three-point line, took a shot, and missed. she snickered, turning towards a frowning rowan, and drawled, "i thought he was supposed to be good at this."
"it depends on the day," rowan muttered. despite how much of an asshole rowan always was, iris couldn't deny he was a hell of a good brother. he always got softer around trevor, always tried to cheer him up. iris supposed it was because rowan was trying to fill the hole their dad left, but she didn't blame them. god knew that her family wasn't perfect either.
but iris teased anyways, "oh, i don't doubt—" one of the girls jostled into iris's shoulder as another pushed her, and iris turned, scowling. the girl's eyes were wide as she faced iris, her cheeks already turning read.
"i'm so sorry—" her friends snickered behind her, covering their mouths with their hands. "you good?"
iris tried to smile. "yeah, just got me off guard." she glanced back at the court. the girl was still embarrassed, so iris decided to make conversation to make sure the girl knew there wasn't any anger between them. "you have a brother here?"
she shook her head, tucking her dirty blonde hair behind her ear. "i'm only here because my friends wanted to ogle dion—"
"maia!" one of the girls shrieked, shoving her again. but maia just laughed.
she looked past iris, and at rowan. "brother?" she asked.
iris's eyes widened as rowan smiled next to her. "no— no, we're not related."
maia cocked a brow. "boyfriend?"
rowan's grin grew. iris stiffened, ears burning in embarrassment. "no. we're just friends. this is, uh... rowan. i'm iris."
maia smirked. "just friends. right."
iris sent her a playful glare as the opposing team called a timeout. the group fell into a comfortable silence, with iris messing with the rings on her fingers and rowan scrolling through his phone. eventually, a man came up to them and nodded to maia.
"time to go," he said.
the younger girl looked baffled. "but, there's still like— three minutes left on the clock."
"too bad," he said flatly. "your brother's waiting in the car."
she sighed heavily, pinching her lips together before standing up and grabbing her bag. iris's eyes were on the game, but her eyes eventually landed on the man, who was already looking at her. she smiled nicely. he was wearing a black baseball cap, white shirt, black sweats. looked like he was trying to grow out a beard as well.
maia swung her bag around her shoulder, waved goodbye to iris, and turned to the man. "well, are we going?"
"yeah," he said slowly, glancing away from iris nervously. "you go ahead, i'll catch up to you."
maia wrinkled her brow before glancing at iris, back at the man, and then at iris as a grin split across her face. "alright, then. catch ya later." she walked away, still grinning, and shot a wink over her shoulder at iris, who smiled back.
"can i help you?" iris asked, leaning back against the bleachers. the man's brows twitched forward in confusion, but then smiled nervously.
"i was wondering if i could have your number," he said. "or, at least, your insta or snap."
rowan turned towards her, frowning to tell her that he didn't like the guy standing in front of her. but iris sat up, grinning, and nodded. the guy pulled out his phone and gave her the OK. she started reciting off her phone number, knowing it from heart.
but he frowned. then glanced up at her, mouth open. then back at his phone. "i— sorry—" he laughed again, running his fingers along the line of his hat. "what did you say your name was again?"
iris found his nervousness cute. smiling widely, she told him, "iris. you?"
"uhhhh..." he trailed off. he glanced at rowan, wincing. "i'm so sorry—i don't mean to be rude. who are you?"
rowan ignored him. iris pinched his arm and told the guy, "this lovely gentleman here is rowan." his eyes widened, but she ignored it. "what's your name?"
but before he could answer, the final buzzer rang out, and the stands rose up in cheers, drowning out any normal conversation. "i'll text you later, yeah?" he shouted over the noise. she nodded, wary as to why he wouldn't tell her his name, but waved goodbye.
"he's weird," rowan said immediately.
"he's cute," she countered, standing up. "text trevor we're here."
"i'll be sure to tell him you were paying close attention."
she scrunched her nose up. "mean. come on, i wanna go home and sleep."
"you've been in bed all day."
"and?"
rowan rolled his eyes, tucking his hands into his shorts pocket. "whatever." she scowled at him, crossing her arms over her chest. she stood maybe a head shorter than him, so glaring up at him wasn't exactly the most intimidating compared to when he glared at her, but, she tried her best.
"you hungry?" he asked.
"no," she said. but the truth was that even though she hadn't eaten all day, she didn't feel hungry.
rowan knew this happened, so he asked, "have you eaten today?" she looked away, avoiding his gaze, a sheepish smile on her face. "i thought so. let's grab some chinese on the way back. does that work?"
"of course."
he hummed. "i'm going to find trevor. you cool to wait by the car?"
"yep." she held her hands open. "keys, please." he tossed them to her and she caught them effortlessly. brown eyes met hers and she winked as she walked out of the gym, barely missing the way his eyes knit together.
she checked her phone, wondering if the man who had asked for her number had texted her, but the only text messages were from clay.
she tried to hide her smile, but failed. she'd never met the guy, and he was making her smile through text messages? get a hold of yourself, she scolded herself, but couldn't stop the blush.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
ayo?? opinions on clay pov next chapter????
also holy moly i'm so sick rn. it's not covid but i feel absolutely miserable LMAOO.
anyways uh.., drop a vote? hehehe