Iris & Mason

9. Iris

Iris.

It took me a whopping four hours to get ready for my date with Mason. I took a whole hour to shower just to make sure every single inch of my body was clean and shaved. Prickly arms are not cute nor do they score you any points on a first date with a guy like Mason. It took me about two hours total to pick out my outfit which ended up just being a simple floral dress, and one hour to get my hair into a sleek high ponytail just like I saw on Kim Kardashian. I applied, removed, and reapplied my makeup about seven times because I kept messing up my winged eyeliner and getting frustrated. Needless to say, I was stressed out about my appearance.

When Mason came to get me, he told me I looked beautiful and I felt relief come over me like a tidal wave. I wondered if he was just saying that out of politeness or if he actually meant it, but eventually decided to stop worrying about it and focus on how absolutely delicious he looked.

He had borrowed Adam's car for the night, not revealing our destination but telling me that we were going out of the city.

Since we hit traffic, there was plenty of time to make conversation. I asked him about his plans for the future with my own intricate plan in mind. He seemed pretty flexible, saying that he didn't even think marriage was something he'd be interested in until recently. Again, I chose not to think about that statement because I knew it would swallow all of my thoughts for the entire evening.

I wanted to be married with two kids, a boy and a girl, living in a cute house just outside the city with a garden and spice garden where butterflies flew through all day long. I wanted to stay at home with the kids and work from home, writing my latest novel, while my husband did his work and came home in time to spend time with his family.

And the scariest thing was, I imagined Mason to fill that spot that was once blank in my mind. He would be the husband that came home from work to recieve excited hugs from his kids. Of course I wasn't going to tell him that.

"Iris?" Mason snapped me out of my little bubble making my head jerk towards him.

"Sorry, what?"

I was so far into my daydream that I hadn't noticed that we had pulled off to the side, no cars around, only streetlights.

"Why are we pulled over?" I asked, confusion probably clear in my face.

"We just ran out of gas." Mason sighed. He looked extremely frustrated with himself, or maybe with Adam. Either way it was hot for some reason.

"What?"

He pointed to the meter, it's arrow rested on E for empty. I sighed right along with him, realizing that we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere with nothing to keep the car going.

"I don't believe this." I laughed. "What are the chances?"

"Pretty good if you forget to fill your tank." Mason replied matter-of-factly.

"What do we do?" I asked. This had never happened to me before. I watched as Mason put his thinking face on. I knew it was just that because his eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were tucked into his mouth. I had seen it a few times before.

"We have a few options. We can walk to find a gas station.."

"No." I interrupted. "I refuse to get any exercise."

"Okay." He chuckled, "Then I guess we're having our date right in here until we figure something else out."

"Okay, what are we doing?"

"We were supposed to have a picnic in this park. I made us some food and cheesecake for dessert. It was a really beautiful park." Mason seemed genuinely upset that this date was not going well like he had planned it, but one thing I have learned in life is that things almost never go as planned.

"Let's eat then." I jumped at the opportunity to eat something. I settled for a banana that morning and skipped lunch because I was too busy getting ready for the big date. I didn't want to screw things up with Mason. He was funny, sweet, gorgeous, and thoughtful.

Sweet baby Jesus, leather jackets did things to me that no other article of clothing could.

"I'll get the stuff out of the trunk. You just uh, sit back and relax. Get comfortable."

So I did. I adjusted both of our seats to go back all the way so we could sit with our legs spread out. It would be easier to make out this way if the thought ensued him. He came back with some wonderful food, a candle and a large ligter (of course he didn't have a pocket lighter) and two little packets that kind of alarmed me.

"Condoms? Are you serious right now?" My eyes were wide as I pointed to what has in his hand.

"What?" Mason seemed so confused, which alarmed me even more. Maybe he picked them up accidentally. Maybe I wasn't supposed to see them.

"Why do you have condoms in your hand? I see those little packets."

"Have you ever seen one before?" He asked.

"What? What do you mean? Of course I have. Why would you even say that?" The whole conversation was becoming increasingly awkward. I hadn't said the word 'condom' so many times in my entire life.

"Take a closer look." He handed me one of the packets, a redness spreading through my skin as I read what the package said.

"Hand wipes." I muttered.

"Hand wipes." He confirmed. "I'm not trying to seduce you just yet."

That made me smile. It made me feel like he respected me but he still found me attractive enough to seduce. There was kind of an awkward silence while I wiped the bacteria off of my hands and Mason pulled out a candle, setting it on the backseat where he assembled all of the food.

"So tell me about your life. I want to know what it was like growing up as Iris Webber." Mason said. Of course I didn't want to talk about that. Why would I? My childhood was unpleasant in every sense of the word.

"It's not much of a story." I tried to wave it off but he was persistant.

"I want to know about you." He said simply.

I sighed. "My mother died at my birth." Immediately his face went from fascinated to sad. I could tell he felt bad that he even asked, but I kept going. "My father had to raise me on his own. He kind of dwelled on it, never dating or anything. He always resented me for it even though he would never tell me that. He did his best. When I got out of highschool I thought I'd get out of his hair. He helped me find a place and made sure I had a job before I left."

My mind went back to a much more depressing place of my life, the one where my dad lived. It was where my whole past lived, really. I was itching to leave our stupid small town with its stupid strings that kept me tied to it. I felt grateful to be out of it.

"That's rough. You got through it, and it explains why you are the way that you are in some ways. In a good way though, you don't take life for granted." Mason said. He was the first person to refrain from saying 'I'm so sorry' or something generic and filled with obligatory pity. If I had any doubt that Mason was perfect, that statement blew it all out of the water.

He was exactly what I had been waiting for.