Chapter 3

CONFRONTATION

The alarm rang out in the darkness of the house. With an annoyed sigh, Iris rolled to get her phone, falling off the couch with a yelp in the process. She hurriedly got up, vision blurry and white spots in her vision caused by getting up too fast. She realized that she had fallen asleep on her sofa instead of going to get in bed.

Which to her surprise was a lot more comfortable. Turning off the alarm she got up with a wide stretch, 

 a few joints cracking as she did. Iris quickly shuffled to her bathroom. 

The bathroom itself was very plain with only a few bare necessities here and there. She took her toothbrush off the sink and turned on the water, After spending about a good five minutes brushing her teeth she washed her face, and went to go pick out some clothes.

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Iris had quickly gotten dressed and left the house. They had gotten their bike and sped out of the apartment complex. It was pretty early to be up at least for her but the streets are as awake as ever. The sun is up a bunch of people walk or driving to their morning destination as Iris pedals fast on the sidewalk trying to get where she needs to be on time.

She was going to meet up at a coffee shop with her long-time friend Emilia. They had spoken of hanging out and going on errands today, Emila had offered to pick up Iris but her being the person she was she insisted she could do it by herself. After a couple of moments of zooming down the pavement, she came to an immediate halt. A few meters in front of her a tall stoplight gave her time to pause. Cars of all colors raced by you could hear the sound of their engines as they all hurtled forward to get where they needed to go.

Iris could smell the car exhaust in the air of the bustling street, there were people crowded on the sidewalk as well. She couldn't comprehend why so many people had to be up so early in the morning on a Friday. Then again there were many people who worked jobs or had to go to school. It would actually be weird if there weren't so many people busying themselves reading for the day.

It was very nice outside as well besides the smell of car fuel, the breeze was cool and gentle. It was calming to feel the refreshing air against the skin. A car beeped loudly causing Iris to come out of her peaceful thought process. The man beeping rudely yelled a 'come on lady' just as she hurriedly dragged her aged bike across the gravely cracked crosswalk.

After a few more minutes of persistent pedaling, she reached a street corner housing the coffee shop the meeting will be taking place. 

She parked her bike by the shop's side near the parking lot. 

Finally, the destination was reached; thought with a smile, breathing in and letting out a deep sigh I walked into the shop. It was a lot warmer here. There was a strong and lingering smell of coffee and all kinds of pastries. The small shop was beautiful… cozy looking per se, there aren't many many people here. "Iris," It was Emilia as she whispered and shouted my name across the room. 

She made her way over to me coming to my side to swiftly drag us over to our little table in the corner of the wide room.

Taking a look at the surroundings I made note of all the qualities of the shop. The walls were green, a darkish kind of sage green, the floor wood coated with a very deep brown color. There were lamps hanging from the ceiling some were shaped like butterflies and others were shaped like stars all emitting a soft white glow. The tables were wooden and all black just like the chairs, as condiments littered the table. In a few spots of the shops, all kinds of beautiful plants were scattered.

"Emila, where did you find this place? It's so…pretty," stunning really. She let out a humorous chuckle with a tooth smile." Pretty.. You have such a way with words Iris," she commented in a lively tone. 

She looked at me with a soft smile as the emotions shifted in her eyes, emotions of pity that she surely tried to disguise. "Iris…your mother….she came to my house the other day looking for you. I told her I didn't know where you could be, of course, most likely does not believe me."

"…I know it probably not the best to start off the conversation with that but it's best to just get it out of the way. I wanted to talk about coming to stay with me, I know-" she was abruptly and maybe rudely interrupted.

"Emmy we talked about this, I want to live on my own. I know you want to help but I'm ok."

Yes, it was very hard to just suddenly start living on your own bt nothing much has changed except for the financial situation. I don't see the reason she's being so pushy about it. In turn, she huffed and threw her head with a back exaggerated groan, then stopped her movement to look me dead in the eye.

"Are you Iris are you really and sincerely ok," Emmy emphasized as she questioned with a raised tone towards me. "Emmy-" "No Iris Im serious you haven't been answering my calls, we haven't seen each other in weeks, and you're really starting to worry me." It was quiet for a moment around the restaurant, people stared for a few seconds then went back to what they were doing. "

Emmy looked around after noticing the all-around quiet in the room for a few moments then slumped into her seat. "Listen, Emmy, I get it, I really do but I want any help I've been doing ok," I spoke in a low reassuring mumble…. at least I think so.

"OH, really did you forget that you made it so your messages also came to my spam mail just in case something happened to your phone." What's even the point of no one checking their spam mail anyways? "Yea, so what's it have to do with anything." Emmy stared with a deep frown, "That also means that your voicemails go to the spam account." 

A look of disappointment consumed her features. 'Shit'

"Emmy it's fine really-," "No it's not, you really didn't tell me, why didn't you tell me." She looked sad and sounded hurt, that's not what was wanted.  The weight in her voice was so heavy and disappointing. With a sigh, I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. 

"I was going to tell you…I just wanted to be able to figure it out on my own first." She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Why won't you let me help you?" she spoke softly as she could while reaching her hands out towards mine and holding them. 

Instead of continuing to look directly into her sad brown eyes, I decided to just stare at any other feature.

Her long curly hair. If you look hard enough you could tell she spent a while doing it, very pristine and styled. Her beautiful tan skin. She kept that maintain as well. Her hands were soft to the touch so you'd know just by looking at the glow of her round face. She tall been like that for a very long time, around 5'8. She wore a plain red long-sleeved shirt and black parachute pants, her nails were painted black with red tips. She sported red eye shadow with black eyeliner making her makeup match her eyeliner.

To me, she resembled a beautiful supermodel. She was slender and her stance was always strong.

She always gave off a confident air, which is one of the biggest things I admire about her. Sadly after trying to look everywhere I could I looked back into upturned eyes.

"I have. I have let you help me." Looking down at the table started into space. "Emmy, you've been with me since middle school. I know you care but there is only so much you can do.

….I don't want to live with you because if I do I bring my problems too. Do you really wanna deal with my mother? Or open up your space for your already full house. You are already taking care of most of your family as it is." "Iris...dont say that, you know your my family just like anyone else."

"That's not what I'm saying..."

"Listen... if you want to help me just trust that I can do this. Also, it would be great if we could get some food." Iris spoke with a soft smile.

As Emilia started to get ready to order Iris had made the voiced opinion to go somewhere else.