One Last Shot

[13] Good Morning!

 Liam

Everything is so bright. My room is never this bright in the morning. Peeling my eyes open, I look around. The girls' house. Their living room. Fuck, I think I fell asleep when Iris was talking about that boring ass paper and how she hasn't slept. I did not ask. I feel warm. There's no blanket, but there's heat radiating from somewhere. I look down. No fucking way.

Iris' head is nuzzled into my chest, her arms wrapped around my torso. She's dead asleep and she looks at peace. I look at my placement, my left arm wrapped around her back, pulling her into me. My right hand in her hair. No fucking way we cuddled last night. Her eyes shoot open. She looks up and sees me, looks at our hand and body placement, and scrambles up.

"Gross!" She spits out.

"Yeah, I'm with you," I say, stretching.

"Did you fall asleep when I was talking about my paper?"

"How could I not? That was boring as hell."

"Morning sleepyheads," Lilly and Violet enter the living room.

"Oh no," Iris rubs her head.

"Sleep well last night?" Violet snickers.

"It's okay if you don't remember, I have some photos that may jog your memory," Lilly pulls her phone out, but as she turns her phone around to reveal the embarrassment of a lifetime, Iris tackles her and throws her phone across the room.

"Do not make this worse than it already is," Iris says to the two girls, in fits of laughter.

"I'm leaving, thanks for having me I guess," I say, getting up and walking out of the house as fast as I can. Getting home, I'm welcomed with a similar reception.

"Dude!" Jasper is cackling on the couch.

"Do not tell me those photos were sent around," I sigh.

"You bet they were," Archer laughs, waving them in my face. I get a glimpse at one of the photos, Iris and I curled into each other, literally snuggling. I feel like I'm gonna hurl.

"So gross," I say, pushing Archer's phone away.

"Here", Grayson hands me a stack of waffles. "I'm assuming you didn't eat at the girls' house."

"Oh he definitely ate something..." Jasper cackles.

"Dude!" I hit Jasper across the back of the head from behind the couch. "Have some respect for her at least."

"Wait, did you guys NOT fuck?!" He asks, shocked.

"No, we didn't. Not that I would've wanted to. We literally just fell asleep. I didn't even plan on it but she started talking about some boring shit and it put me to sleep almost immediately."

"Well now we know what your melatonin is," Grayson laughs. I have trouble sleeping. I don't have insomnia, but sometimes it feels like it. Any type of sleeping pill, melatonin, nothing works. I get enough sleep to function, but a little more than just what's enough would be nice.

"Very funny," I walk past them to change for class. Walking to class, there she is. "Hey," I walk over.

"I've seen enough of you today," she says, walking away, but I catch up with her. If I had to get shit for this from the guys, I'm going to make her life a living hell.

"Hey pretty lady," a brunette, looks like a total skeeze, is approaching us. Hell no. "You looking for a little fun tonight? I can show you a good time."

"I doubt some back alley drug deal with a group of stoners is fun," I snort.

"And who the fuck are you?" He asks, looking at me.

"Someone who's telling you you need to back the fuck off." Iris has said nothing, her arms are crossed, and she doesn't look too happy with me. The guy rolls his eyes, shoots Iris a look, and walks away.

"Now how do you know that isn't fun to me?" She sounds annoyed. I may have fucked up, but I wasn't even thinking.

"You can do better than that."

"I'm not looking to 'do better'," she's giving me air quotes with the most attitude I've seen from her since the first time we met. "You don't have a say in who I can hang out with."

"That's just not a safe scenario."

"I don't care! I'm not looking for safety or stability, I'm looking for loose fun. Stick to keeping your own walls up, don't create walls for me, asshole." She walks away, and I let out a huff. She's insufferable. How could anyone really care about her?