An Unexpected Girl

chapter five

"Korra, you don't get it. I might lose my job," Iris said, "I fucked up so bad and we haven't even been back on campus for a month."

Iris leaned back, resting her head against the couch. She brought her fingers up to her head, rubbing circles on her forehead. It was something she did whenever she was stressed and could feel a slight headache coming up.

"I should probably start looking for another job, even. But who the hell is even going to hire me after the word gets out that I basically almost killed someone?"

"Why did you try to carry the weights, though? You know you have no upper body strength."

"I know, Korra, I know." Iris groaned. "You think I haven't asked myself that question only a million times?"

The girls were sitting together on the couch of their apartment living room, whilst Iris relayed the events at the gym the day before.

"Dear, dear," Korra said, reaching out and giving Iris a pat on the shoulder. "Everything will be fine. Here, have a grape. It might make you feel better."

Iris doubted that a grape could solve her upcoming unemployment problem, but she took it none the less. It was the purple kind, her favorite type of grapes. Iris welcomed the burst of flavor in her mouth as a distraction from the multitude of emotions that she was feeling.

"And anyway, if you do lose your job, at least you'll have Niki to comfort you," Korra said, winking at Iris.

Iris shoved her lightly, but a small smile spread across her face.

"Speaking of Niki, any updates?" Korra asked, her dark eyes shining expectantly.

Korra sighed, putting another grape in her mouth.

"Not much, to be honest. I haven't really heard from her since the night of the party."

This was an understatement, as Iris had not heard from her at all. No text. Nothing.

"I'm sure she's just busy settling down back into school and stuff," Korra said comfortingly. "You'll hear from her soon. Don't worry about it."

Iris wanted to lie and say she wasn't worried about it, but there was no point in doing that. Korra would see right through it. She knew how much of a crush Iris had on Niki. After all, she had been pining after her literally for the past three years.

"Yeah, I guess," Iris said instead, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

Korra reached over on the couch, giving her friend a hug. It was a tight hug, and Iris hugged her back just as tightly.

Iris thought to herself that at least she had Korra. Despite everything else, she had Korra with her.

"Oh, James is here, we're going out tonight," Korra suddenly said, glancing down at a text message on her phone, "I'll probably be sleeping over at his tonight, so don't wait up!"

James was Korra's boyfriend. They had been going out since freshman year and it was so nice for Iris to see them still together. She wanted a relationship like theirs.

"Damn, Korra, I thought we were gonna have movie night tonight?"

"Was that tonight?" Korra asked, in her usual forgetful manner.

Iris rolled her eyes, but there was a small on her face. She was used to her best friends' usual forgetful manner.

"It's okay. We can have it some other time. Say hi to James from me."

"Will do! I bought the peach wine you like so much, you can have it to make up for me standing you up on movie night."

Iris shook her head. "I will not drink wine alone. That's sad and lame."