Seven o'clock was coming in too quickly. We were walking slowly back home. My foot was hurting badly, but I was pushing off the pain. "Iris?" I looked up to be met with Mikey's hazel eyes. "I need you to promise me something."
"What?" I asked. He wrapped his arm tighter around me.
"That no matter what, you always talk to me. It could be three in the morning. I don't care. Speak to me whenever you need to. I know communication isn't your thing, but you need to promise me that you will talk to me whenever you are feeling sad or lonely. It doesn't matter if it's me mostly talking and you grunting a few answers. I just need to hear your you." I nodded at him. "Promise me we'll keep talking. Even if...even if our relationship doesn't work out how we wanted it to–"
"Please don't say that," I whispered sadly.
"I'm just saying if. I'm not saying I want it to end. But if it does, please keep talking to me. You're the only person I care about in this world. Yeah, I love my family and friends, but you, Iris...you're one of a kind, and I could never have anyone replace you."
"I promise I'll always talk to you," I whispered. I wrapped my arms around Mikey and held him tightly. "Please don't leave me." I quiet sob broke through my lips. "I miss you."
"I'm still here, Iris. I'm still here," he whispered comfortingly, squeezing me as tight as possible.
"But you're leaving," I cried. "You're leaving and I'm going to be alone."
"I'll still be here with you," he said and kissed my forehead. I looked over his shoulder. We were in the street we live in. Well, the one I live in since Mikey's leaving. I shut my eyes tightly. "You hurt your foot." I pulled away and looked at him. He frowned slightly at me. "Why didn't you tell me? I noticed a limp, but you're not even standing on your left foot. What happened?"
"When we jumped off the fire escape, I twisted it slightly. I'm all right."
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked in concern.
"Because then you'd take us home so I could get it checked. I wanted to spend this time with you, having breakfast and then getting our pictures back." I sniffed and rubbed the tears away from my face. "Nothing will ever make me forget this night with you."
"Nothing better because then I'd hurt the person who made you forget." I smiled at him. His smiled slowly slipped away. "I know you're moving back in with your dad." I looked away angrily. "I know it's going to be a pain in the ass living with him. If anything bad happens, tell me or your mom, okay? I'll come here and rip his head off. I'll run here if I have to." I smiled and hugged him tightly. He stroked my hair softly and held me tightly.
"I love you, Mikey way." He kissed me softly.
"I love you more, Iris Quinn." He squeezed my arms lightly. "We should get going. We're both in a lot of trouble." I nodded and chuckled slightly. We began walking down the street, his arm wrapped around tightly around my torso to help me walk.
"I think my mom regrets coming here. I've caused her so much trouble before I got here."
"Do you regret coming here?" I looked at him and smiled and his kind face.
"Never. I could never regret coming here. I met you, the guys are great as well, but I met you. That's all that I could ever need in my life." He smiled at me. Our houses came into view. My mom's car was in the driveway, so she hasn't gone to work. There were two moving trucks in front of Mikey's house along with a minivan. I shut my eyes tightly and took a deep breath. As we approached the house, we noticed Gerard, Frank, and Ray sitting on the grass.
