They walked up the stairs to the landing, all the heat forgotten, bound by nothing more than friendship and lingering lust. Her bedroom was far from its usual neatness, a warzone, and even her prized books were strewn all over the place like she needed help deciding what to read and had abandoned them not even halfway through. Brendon held onto Iris as she stumbled over to her bed to remove one of the books from her pillow, only to drop it beside her. Iris flopped onto her bed, blue hair spiling wetly over her blankets as she stared up at her best friend, who had taken to picking up all the books and clothing that had just been thrown all over the place. “This place used to be borderline OCD, and now it looks like a raiding party has killed your bookshelf and cupboard.” He threw what seemed to be a mountain of clothes into a bright pink, already overflowing washing basket. Her books were placed in no particular order on her floating bookshelves. He heard glass tinkling and bent down to find a stash of vodka bottles that Iris had stashed under her bed. He sighed and pushed them back under with a bare foot. Iris propped herself up on her arms and watched him intently with blue eyes almost drooping. Brendon pushed his best friend to the middle of the bed only to pull the blanket to the side so he could curl up next to her. He pulled Iris closer to him, and she snuggled up to him contently. A kiss was laid gently on her forehead before she was pulled towards his chest again. Iris breathed in the deep musky scent of him, he smelled like sea salt and fresh sea breeze. He was warm and filled a space in her heart that she didn’t know needed to be filled. Iris eased into arms that held her tightly. Her body relaxed, and sleep came quickly she fell into dreams.
Dreams, however, don’t care for the needs of the body and Iris’s sleep was deep but troubled. Oleanders curled around Wynne as he screamed in rage, while red tulips curled around Brendon as he reached out his hand, begging her to take it. Even in her dreams, she was uncertain and hesitated. Words that she couldn't speak floated in her mind. Iris could barely move as the two men turned to look at her with questions in their eyes. She started to move, to run away from their expectations of her. The expectations that would crush her in the waking world. Oleanders and tulips surrounded the two men with a shadowy figure standing to the side. Black hellebore bloomed around his feet, and she tried to make out his features even while running. Her feet carried her away until she stood in a field full of blue poppies. Their scent was intoxicating, and Iris could only stand and stare in wonder before oleanders, red tulips and black hellebore overtook the field. She closed her eyes.
Her eyes opened to her bedroom which was slowly filling with sunlight. Iris’s head pounded, and the sunlight hurt her eyes. A soft snore filled the room, and she looked at the arms holding her tightly. Brendn’s mouth was slightly open, and he breathed easier. The peace on his face was one she had seen very rarely in the last few months. She smiled and tried to crawl out from his arms, but he only pulled her closer. Iris sighed, but the sound of footsteps made her freeze. She gathered up the thin green cotton blanket Brendon had thrown over them the night before to cover her bare breasts. The door opened and slammed against the wall with a large thud. Brendon woke up with a start, and they both looked up to see Wynne standing in the doorway with her favourite coffee order.
“So I take a day’s worth of leave to actually be here for you and I find you in bed with another man, one that you know I intensely dislike.” Wynne’s voice sounded far away. “I’m guessing the two of you were drinking rather heavily last night, judging by the number of beer bottles that I found lying around.”. “So a new tattoo, heavy drinking and then you still decide to cheat on me with your best friend? Which one should I be more upset about?” Brendon opened his mouth to speak, but Wynne silenced him with a look that could have curdled milk. She looked at him, her blue eyes shone but it wasn’t tears, it was pure rage.
“I am not yours to parade around when you need me and then disapprove of what I am wearing or what tattoos I choose to show on the night. You and your family can all go to hell.” Wynne just stared and opened his mouth again. “You fucking whore, how fucking dare you?” he raged “After everything my family has done for you, you have the fucking audacity to say such bullshit.”
Iris laughed and stood up, the thin green cotton falling from her tattooed shoulder, exposing her body in its entirety, pale skin gleaming in the sunlight. Brendon slid to the end of the bed as well. “Wynne, my dude, we were drinking and it happened that we fell asleep. If you want to be upset at someone, then be upset at me. I was the one that brought the beers and brought the pizza.” He let out as he moved to the end of the bed “I was here last night, whatever happened, happened because of me.” Iris shook her head and turned so quickly that Wynne thought she was almost a blur. “It happened because it happened because I am so unhappy in this relationship that sleeping with him dries out my vagina.” She retorted “You could only be angry if something actually bloody happened which it didn’t. We had a few beers with some pizza and then fell asleep.”
Wynne looked at her in shock, a black curl fell over his forehead and his emerald eyes stared at her in shock and horror. “So you two drunkards fell asleep naked? Who are you trying to fool?” Rage, Iris, reflected was a strange thing to watch in someone that was usually as calm as a still pond. His face went red, and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down as he tried to force more words out of his mouth. Wynne looked at Brendon, his anger finally boiled over and he lunged for the naked man sitting on her bed. Iris dodged and Wynne slammed a fist into Brendon’s face. Repeatedly. The two men rolled around on the bed and screamed in fury while they did their level best to knock the other into the following week. Iris found herself by the door and she watched them act like overgrown children, punching and screaming at each other. Hours seemed to go past before Brendon managed to grab Wynne by the hair and shove him into the wall, knocking his head against it. Wynne collapsed and looked up sheepishly. They had rolled over the entire bedroom and dislodged books and various other trinkets all over her bedroom, some of her precious owls had even broken. Shards lay scattered in tiny pieces.
Looking at the shattered owls broke a dam inside Iris. Those owls had been a precious gift from her grandmother before she passed, owls that her grandmother had collected over the years of her life and passed down to her grandchildren. Some had been porcelain, others soapstone, some simply carved wood, but all of them had been precious to Iris. Her hand went down to the silver owl pendant she always wore, chips of the turquoise set as its eyes. Pure anger bubbled in her and she stalked out of the room down to the kitchen as the two men started screaming at each other again. Tears welled up and she clutched at her owl pendant, she looked around for something to do, anything to keep her hands busy while men decided who would share her bed. A whine came from behind her and she turned around to see her Cocopops looking at her with beautiful chocolate eyes. She busied herself around the kitchen, filling her dog’s bowls with food and water, she set about making herself coffee and something resembling breakfast. Still, the screaming in her bedroom carried on. She tried to block them out but they were worse than cats on heat.
Iris wandered aimlessly around the house with her faithful pitbull following at her heels until Cocopops let out a bark and she turned to watch her bedroom door slam shut and Brendon walking down, clutching a bloody nose in one hand and his bike keys in the other. “Don’t even bother.” was all he left her with and he stalked out the front door that also slammed itself shut in his wake. Iris stood there, the shock had forced her body to freeze and not a word came out.