Iris was interested to know more about that record of two burnt kitchens, but Kyro wasn't sharing. He simply closed the bedroom door and went to his computer in the study.
It was a bit weird how he just left the two guests for themselves, but maybe that was their usual habit? Iris shook her head and picked up the rainbow mouse to chew on it. This whole sequence of events didn't make much sense to her, so what was another one added to the mix.
After some half an hour, the doorbell rang again, and Kyro brought two guys in. One of them was familiar to Iris from the escape fiasco, while the other was a stranger. He was tall, with glasses, and had an air of someone really serious and stuck up about him. If she had met him on the street, she'd have taken the necessary steps to not get in his way. Ever.
Now, however, he broke into a smile upon seeing the women that showed up behind Kyro. The amazon woman jogged into his arms and kissed him like there was no tomorrow, and only then allowed him to greet Kyro and Emily.
Ted, the familiar stranger, went to Emily's side and told her she looked beautiful. They exchanged a few sweet nothings, and the guys said their goodbyes to the girls and all went to the study. Iris followed after them, but their conversation focused on some kind of game she had no clue about, so she soon made her exit.
When she returned to the kitchen, she saw the two women working with familiarity together. They had already prepared the table and washed the fruits, so now they only had to finish making the small and cute sandwiches with a stick. It wasn't hard, and they joked about while doing it, but their conversations centered on people Iris didn't know. After half a minute, she walked away from them.
For once, the house was full of people, but she felt lonelier than ever before. All these people were friends with each other and Kyro, but not one of them knew her. Kyro didn't either, but he at least was somewhat familiar with her habits and personality. These others however…
They were strangers, and she stuck out among them like a white crow in a black-feathered flock. They didn't do it on purpose, but that didn't change the fact that she could only smile awkwardly at their conversations and nod. She didn't know the friends they knew, the history between them, or even the lives they led now.
Her presence didn't interfere with them, but that was little comfort for her. While living alone with Kyro, she had thought everything was normal, fine. But now… she was starting to see how twisted it had all become. Friends aren't a necessity to live, but when you see others enjoying themselves together so easily, how can your heart not ache?
She remembered her own friends, how they had all met. She herself had never been the spirit of any group, but it had been fun to get together at random and share your woes, speak your mind freely. When life became too much, they were always there for her to curse whatever was at fault for things going so horribly wrong, and she for them.
It had been such a simple everyday thing, its value had never occurred to her. But now, the moment Kyro looked away from her and decided to spend some time with his friends—even if in the same damn apartment—she felt like the most lonesome person on the planet. Besides him, there was no one she could talk or turn to.
The doorbell rang again.
Kyro stood up and motioned for Jimmy to take his place. "That should be Gale, I'll go get him." As he went to the door, he saw the fox sleeping in the middle of the way. "Go, find some other place to sleep if you don't want to be stepped on," he told it as he pushed it slightly to the side with his foot.
For that, he got a glare from the little thing, but it didn't try to claw at his foot, so he called it a victory and went to the door. The moment he opened it, ready to welcome Gale, he saw two women beside him, both of which were laughing in syrupy sweet voices.
He threw the door closed and locked it. Then, he went to his bedroom and picked up his phone. "You're not welcome."
"Hey!" Gale shouted out, loud enough to even be heard through the door as well. "Sorry girls, work," he told his companions and stepped away based on the sound of his footsteps. "You can't just not let me in."
"Try me."
"But I even brought some girls!" Gale complained. "Did you consider how obnoxious it was gonna be with those two married men being all lovey-dovey with their wives and us bachelors being alone? I was thinking for both of us!"
Kyro's eyes narrowed into slits, but Gale wasn't around to see it, so he continued chattering on about how thoughtful and smart he was. Kyro gave him time to speak, not interrupting, then once he shut up, he said, "Take your thoughtful self and those hookers away from my place."
He ended the call and returned to his friends in the study. They looked at him with amusement.
"Did Gale actually hire hookers?" Jimmy asked, looking way more interested than he should. "That's new even for him."
"Dunno," Kyro said with a shrug, sitting down onto one of the chairs and leaning back with a sigh. "With him, I wouldn't be surprised. Remember the time he hired a rock band to wake me up and then had to pay a fine so large even his pockets were empty for a couple months? After that, I stopped being surprised."
"That was epic." Jimmy laughed. "His face when the police came to arrest him was priceless."
"He did what?" Ted asked, looking between them in disbelief. Then, something seemed to have clicked in his mind. "Wait, I remember hearing rumors about it back in the day, but I thought they mentioned a serenade to some girl that was obsessed with some underground rock band…"
"Hahaha!" Jimmy cackled, and Kyro looked away, once more wishing to kill Gale. It was because of that stunt that everyone in class thought that the two of them were gay since second year. He was certain that even now some of them were thinking it, based on how they avoided him without any reason.