"I know. Bradley and Colton tried to hide it from me, but let's be honest, it takes high stakes deception to fool Rory Morgan." Rory explained.
"You knew? I wanted to tell you the whole romantic story." I stared down at my coffee.
He took a sip of his vanilla milk. "I'll still listen. Go ahead."
Immediately, I started gushing about our date and the kiss. Rory listened, interjecting appropriate comments and questions occasionally.
"Well so, it gets weird now. I drove by his house this morning and-" I began.
"You drove by his house? Stalkerish much?"
I glared at him. "I prefer investigative. Now let me finish! The house was empty, I'm pretty sure. They don't have a garage, and there were no cars there. But Colton hasn't said anything about going out of town."
Rory nodded, and looked thoughtful. "Maybe it's a last minute type thing. I'm sure it's nothing weird."
"I hope not. I'm kinda bummed though, I wanted to talk about our relationship."
"You'll get the chance. If Ginger and I can discuss our relationship, you'll be able to discuss it with Colton."
"You're so happy about being with her." I observed.
He grinned. "I am." Then he frowned. "Is that lame?"
I shook my head. "It's cute. Now come on, let's go give Bee our support at her tryouts."
"But I want another vanilla milk." Rory said, with a longing glance at the counter.
I love Rory to death. I really do. But I didn't get the vanilla milk thing. Why is it a thing? Who decided one day, "hmm, there's strawberry and chocolate milk, better make vanilla!" Seriously. Who came up with this?
We drove to school and parked right by the doors. The auditorium was right by the front doors, so it was a short walk.
People were sitting out in the hallway, practically camping out. There was food, drinks, scripts, blankets, pillows, and chargers all over the place.
Bee was sitting up against the wall with Bradley. They appeared to be running lines together. Weird.
Rory and I made our way over to her. We plopped down next to her, and I stole a gummy worm from her giant bowl of gummy snacks. There were gummy worms, bears, Sharks, and a ton of other gummy animals.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"Well you don't know this, but I'm actually into music. I've never done a musical before, but Colton told me that I should try out because I'm "good" or something. That's why I was surprised when I saw Bee's audition stuff." Bradley explained.
"Cool man. What are you auditioning for?" Rory asked.
Bradley chewed his gummy shark. "Troy, obviously, but I'd be happy with getting the role of Ryan."
"Nice. Break a leg." I said.
The door to the auditorium opened, and everything was silent.
"If you hear your name called, stay. If not, thank you for auditioning. There's always next year Bay Anderson....." She went on to list a ton of names. "Beatrice Rhodes, Barney Rock, Bradley Sullivan..."
Bee and Bradley both grinned.
The musical was a huge deal at school. Tons of people auditioned every year.
People got up with their stuff, looking defeated.
"You guys should probably go. Auditions are until four. That was only the first round of cuts." Bee said.
Rory stood up and offered me a hand. I took it. "Well, break a leg, both of you, and I hope the next time I see you, you guys are Troy and Gabriella!" I said.
We left the school, and went back to Rory's house. Ginger was there, sitting on the front steps. She was sitting with her chin in her hand, staring off into the distance.
"Guys! Why didn't you invite me to go wherever you went?" She demanded.
"Because we were up early. Not all of us sleep until noon." Rory said.
"Rory," she whined, "it's only ten thirty. I have to get my beauty sleep."
Rory sat down next to her. "I think you'd be beautiful even without beauty sleep."
"Aww, you're the sweetest."
I gagged. "Let's calm down on the love fest. We're hanging out as friends right now. I don't want to be the third wheel, and if you guys are going to do that, I'm leaving."
Ginger raised her eyebrows at me. "Calm yourself. Nobody's going to yell at you and Colton when you're being all lovey dovey."
"Rory and I were going to have a Gilmore Girls marathon." I said, dismissing the subject.
"Seriously? You'll watch Gilmore Girls with her, but you won't watch Gossip Girl with me?" Ginger asked, with a slight frown on her face.
"I share a name with a main character." Rory defended.
"A girl character!"
"Still, she is worthy of my name."
Wait, hold up. Was Ginger jealous? Of me and Rory?
Ha. That's one I wasn't expecting. Rory and I were practically siblings. She knew we hung out all the time, and just because they're dating now, it's not going to change.
"Now come on. I have cookie dough, we could bake. Or you two could." Rory said, clearly noticing the tension.
Ginger grabbed Rory's arm. "Of course. Iris could be our chef."
"Go to hell, Ginger." I muttered.
"Is something wrong?" Rory wondered.
We walked into his house. His front door opened into his living room, which was warm and cozy, practically a second home to me.
"Okay, well, I'm going to go put the cookie dough in the oven, and let you two work this out." Rory said.
He almost sprinted to the kitchen door, and I heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like a lock.
"Ginger, don't be all weird and jealous. I don't like Rory, Rory doesn't like me, it's never gonna happen. We're going to hang out without you around, and you have to accept it. I hate to use this, but we had a relationship, friends only, before you were ever in the picture." I stated.
She looked sullen. "Fine. I get that you don't like him, and I get that he doesn't like you. I just don't like being left out."
I sighed. "Rory! You can come out now."
He opened the kitchen door and walked back in. Then he grabbed the remote and put Netflix on.
We spent the rest of the afternoon eating cookies and watching TV.
All in all, a perfect afternoon.
But now, it was evening, the night of my dinner with Bill.
I didn't want to go, but I knew Mom would be very disappointed if I skipped.
She said I could invite Colton though, so that was a plus.
The minus, of course, was that he wasn't picking up his phone or answering text messages.
Unreliable already, and we hadn't even been dating for a weekend.
I stared at myself in the mirror, unable to decide what to wear. Should I wear a dress? Or a blouse and skinny jeans? The eternal question, once again.
Finally, I decided on a pink button down shirt, blue skinny jeans, and a pair of tan Sperrys. I curled my hair, and put some makeup on.
I sat downstairs on the couch waiting for Mom to finish getting ready. We were meeting Bill at the restaurant, and driving with Percy and Melody.
I kept pulling out my phone to check for new messages. Not a single one. His phone went straight to voicemail.
Fine. I didn't want him to come anyways.
The remote was on the ground, so I picked it up and turned on the news while I waited. It was very depressing, but then again, the news always is.
Mom walked down the stairs slowly. Her brown hair was in an elegant bun, and she was wearing a black dress.
"You look pretty Mom." I said.
She smiled. "You look great too, Iris! Okay, I need my coat, I have my keys, my wallet, your brother... No, I don't have your brother. Go get him." Mom said.
"I don't want to get him. He's nineteen, he can get himself to leave with us." I whined.
She gave me a look, and I left to go find Percy. It turns out he was sitting in the kitchen, having a pre dinner snack.
I don't know how that boy is so thin.
"Percy, it's time to go."
He finished his last Oreo. "Okay. Melody is meeting us there, so we don't have to wait for her."
We left the house, got into the car, and left. The drive was short, because the restaurant was only ten minutes away.
Bill was standing in the parking lot, with a grin on his face. He was always smiling.
He kissed Mom, and shook Percy's hand, and then mine.
"So, how is everybody tonight?" He asked.
"We're great! And we're so excited for dinner." Mom said.
Melody pulled in, and got out. She said hello to everybody and then grabbed Percy's hand.
"Alrighty then, let's go inside." Bill said.
He led the way into the restaurant, and we followed.
After ordering our food right away, Bill turned to me.
"So, Iris, what do you like to do?"
"Well, I like to read, and hang out with my friends. That's really it. My friends are much more interesting then I am."
He took a sip of his drink. "I'm sure that's not true. What are your friends like?"
"Well one of my friends, Rory, he's practically family, is like a genius when it comes to English. He has the best grade in the class, and he wants to go to the Commer Literature University Program this summer. My other friend, Bee, she's like going to be a star someday, she's such a good singer. And my friend Ginger, well she's not like super talented in one area, but she's great anyway."
"Sounds like a good group of friends. Your mom told me that you're doing a bucket list."
"Oh yeah, we are. We went to Paris, and we dyed our hair for a day, and we're going to see a Broadway show. It's going well, but we still have a lot to do. So, what do you like to do?" I asked.
I was proud of myself for managing to have a polite conversation with Bill. It wasn't even that hard either, he was kinda easy to talk to.
"Well, I like to do my job, play golf, spend time with my dogs." He said.
I asked him about his dogs, and we proceeded to have a nice conversation.
It was in the middle of dessert, when Bill suddenly got up.
"I'm afraid I have to make my exit. It was a lovely dinner, and it was great to talk with you, Percy and Iris. Good bye Lily." He kissed Mom on the cheek, and then left.
"Okay so, Iris and I are in the tree in our backyard, and Dad's standing at the bottom waiting for us. I wanted to get down, I was done sitting up, like thirty feet in the air. So I'm like, "Dad, I'm coming down!" Then, Iris starts screaming and crying, because she's too scared to get down." Percy said.
He was telling the story of the incident that made me terrified of heights.
"Okay, so how old were you two?" Melody asked.
"I was six, and Iris was three and a half."
Melody nodded. "Okay, continue."
"Well, so, Iris is driving me nuts, so I'm trying to climb down the tree, and she grabs onto my arm. Then, I lose my grip on the tree and the next thing I know, I'm falling. I'm freaking out, obviously, and I know that, this is it, it's all over for me. My life is flashing before my eyes, I'm seeing kindergarten graduation, getting a kiss from a little girl in my class, and a lot of TV."
We all started laughing at him, and he began to laugh too.
"Well, so I've finally accepted my fate, and then Dad catches me."
"Didn't you make him fall too? From all of the force of falling?" Melody asked.
"Nope. I was a scrawny six year old. So Dad and I just look at each other for a minute, he bursts out laughing, and I jump out of his arms. I start bowing in the direction of the sun, and began screaming thank the lord. Then Dad climbed up to go get Iris, and they almost fell because he wouldn't stop laughing at me."
"And that's why I'm afraid of heights." I said.
Melody and Percy just laughed.
I liked Melody. She was just quiet when you first met her, she actually talked a lot.
We finished up our desserts and then left. Bill's strange departure seemed to be the last thing on everybody's mind.
Melody kissed Percy and left, because she was heading back to campus. Percy was staying until Sunday.
We pulled into the driveway and walked inside the house. I kicked off my shoes and walked into the living room. I had an uncomfortable feeling that I was being watched.
I reached for the light switch, and turned the light on. I looked around, and then I saw it.
A dog. A puppy, more specifically, sitting on the couch staring at me.
"Mom? There's a dog in the living room." I called.
Mom and Percy walked in. They stared at the dog, and the dog stared back at us.
"Surprise!" Bill said, jumping from behind the couch.
I jumped, from surprise.
"She's for you guys. She's a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Your mom said she wanted a dog, so I made it happen."
Mom walked toward Bill. "Thank you Bill! We'll love her. Now, how about you and I go for a drive, and Iris and Percy can get to know the puppy. You guys can name her."
She didn't seem too happy about this.
She and Bill left, and Percy and I were left with the dog.
I knelt on the ground. "Hi, uh, dog. We're your new owners. I'm Iris, and that's my brother, Percy."
Percy snorted. "She has no idea what you're saying."
He sat down next to me, and held his hand out for her to sniff.
"I'm going to go call my friends to come over." I said.
I pulled on shoes and ran across the street while calling Rory. He was with Ginger, so he said he'd be over with her. Bee said she'd get a ride from them. I called Colton, no answer, but Bradley came over.
He and I were sitting cross legged on my front lawn with the dog. Percy was inside, because he said it was "too cold".
"Do you know where Colton is?" I asked.
He rubbed his nose. "No idea. I haven talked to him."
Ginger's car pulled up, and Rory jumped out with his black Labrador, Rose, following him.
"What are you going to name her?" Bradley asked.
I shrugged. "I'm not sure yet."
"How about Bradley Jr.?" Bradley suggested.
"No."
"How about Lorelai?" Rory said.
I considered this. "I do love that show."
"Chuck! Or Blair!" Ginger said.
"I do love that show too." I said.
"How about Molly?"Bee said.
"I like that idea." Bradley said.
"Me too. Her name is Molly." I decided.
"Our dogs are going to be besties." Rory
said.
"Oh yeah! Did you guys get the leads in the musical?" I asked, suddenly remembering.
Bradley grinned triumphantly. "Yep. We'll be in rehearsals all the time now, so that's a downside but whatever."
We spent an hour or so hanging out. It was fun, but I wish Colton would have been there.
AN: The photo is a Bradley collage. I don't own the photos. What did you think of the chapter? Comment and vote please! Next chapter will be up May 29th.