An Unexpected Girl

chapter forty-five

Iris walked towards her apartment door. Putting the key in the lock, she unlocked it and pushed the door open.

Korra was already back from her classes for the day and was now lying on the couch, staring at the blank television screen.

"Why are you watching the TV while it's off?" Iris asked as she stepped into their apartment.

"I don't know," Korra responded, readjusting herself on the couch, "it was overstimulating my ADHD brain, so I turned it on."

Iris simply nodded. She understood Korra sometimes got overstimulated by the most random things because of her ADHD.

"I feel like I haven't seen you in like two whole days," Korra said, focusing her attention on Iris, "you didn't sleep here the other night, I came into your room to borrow your black nail polish but you weren't there."

Iris knew the night she was referring to. It was the night of the party, the night she had slept over at Adi's and basically gotten rejected the next morning.

Iris swallowed hard, trying to push all her emotions deep inside of her. She had tried not to think of it at all these past few days.

"Did you find it? I keep my nail polishes on my dresser," Iris said instead, skillfully avoiding answering what Korra had said.

"Really?" Korra asked, scrunching up her brows. "Huh, I must've missed it. I'll go get it now."

Iris mumbled something in response as Korra stood up, heading towards Iris' apartment. However, she paused once she was in front of Iris, looking at her best friend curiously.

"Are you okay?" Korra asked, her eyes scanning Iris's face.

Iris forced a smile onto her face. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Korra gave her a look of disbelief, sighing simultaneously. "Iris, are you sure you're doing okay?"

Iris opened her mouth to lie. To say that she was okay and tell Korra that she was just tired from class, but the words seemed to catch in her throat. She opened her mouth to speak, but once again closed it after saying nothing.

"Iris," Korra said calmly, bringing her hand up to rest on her best friend's shoulders, "what's going on?"

Iris lost it then. She had been holding everything in for so long, lying to cover up everything that she was feeling, and she couldn't do it anymore.

Before she could stop herself, she was crying. It wasn't silent tears like normal, but a full-blown ugly cry.

Instantly, Korra's arms wrapped around her. She gently led Iris back to the living room couch, completely aborting her previous mission of recovering Iris' nail polish.

For a few moments, Iris did nothing but cry while Korra held her. The only sounds that could be heard were of Iris sobbing loudly. In a way, it was cathartic, letting all this emotion out of her. All the pain she had been feeling, all the emotion she had been suppressing, all came tumbling out.

"Everything is falling apart. My life is falling apart," Iris managed to say through her cries. "This was meant to be a good year. It was meant to be my year, but it has all gone wrong."

Korra nodded, rubbing her back soothingly.

"Are you finally ready to tell me what's going on?"

Iris wiped her tears, trying to calm her breathing. "You knew something was going on?"

"Yes," Korra simply deadpanned. "You are my best friend, Iris. I can tell when things are wrong, and I can tell when you're lying to me, but that's mostly because you're just a terrible liar. Your voice always goes all high-pitched and squeaky."

A laugh escaped Iris through her tears.

"There's also the fact that I have your location. I know you didn't go home over thanksgiving break. I also knew you were still hooking up with Niki."

Iris almost melted in embarrassment right then. She brought her hands up, covering her face with her palms. How could she have forgotten that Korra had her location turned on? They had each other's locations turned on and it had been like that probably since the very first night they had met each other back in freshman year.

"You knew all along? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I wanted to give you a chance to come to me and talk about everything when you were ready. I didn't want to rush you. I knew how big of a crush you had on Niki, which was causing you to ignore all her red flags."

Korra reached over then, pulling Iris' hands away from her face before slowly wrapping her in a hug.

"Everything is crashing down, Korra," Iris said softly. "It feels like every aspect of my life is falling apart."

Iris proceeded to tell Korra everything. She filled her best friend in on everything that had been happening, right from her father suddenly popping up into her life and how she had found out that her mom was having a relationship with him.

She told Korra about Niki, the end of Niki, and the feelings of intense hurt she was feeling. Finally, Iris revealed the tip of the icing in her life crashing apart; the conversation she had with Adi just a few days ago.

Korra was silent throughout, nodding diligently as Iris told her story.

"I knew there was something going on with you and gym girl," Korra said once Iris was done.

Iris shook her head. "Not anymore, it seems. Even she doesn't want me."

"I don't think that's true-" Korra began, suddenly interrupted by a loud knock on their apartment door.

Both girls looked at each other.

"Are you expecting someone?" Iris asked.

"No," Korra replied, "you?"

Iris shook her head.

"Let's just ignore them. Hopefully, they'll go away. This conversation is more important right now," Adi said.

Iris nodded in agreement. She really wasn't in the mood to face anybody right then.

"I'm just so confused, Korra. I feel so jumbled and confused. There's so much going on."

Korra nodded. "Let's tackle this one at a time. Hopefully, it'll be easier that way."

The knock on the door came again. This time, it was louder and more persistent. Once again, both girls ignored it.

"I don't even know where to start," Iris said honestly. "Everything just feels... too much."

"Let's revisit the gym-girl thing. What did you say her name was again?"

"Adi."

"Okay, from what I hear, she actually does want you. She just wants to make sure that you want her too-"

The banging on the door was loud and constant now.

"Oh my fucking goodness," Iris said, getting to her feet. "Who the fuck is that, and what do they want?" She stomped over to the door as anger brimmed inside of her. She couldn't even pour her heart out in peace.

"I swear to God," Iris said as she pulled open the apartment door, "one more knock from you and I will cut your fucking hand off."

Iris instantly froze once she saw who was on the other side of the door. She could hear Korra behind her asking who it was, but she couldn't speak. Her mouth was hanging open in shock.

"Iris Laurel Michael," Iris' mom said. "You will do no such thing."