What Happened to Wyatt

11 ｉｎｔｉｍａｃｙ

ｗａｒｎｉｎｇ

There is sexual content described in this chapter. Reader discretion is advised.

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Iris and I are sitting across from each other at the kitchen island, my search for the elusive cooler put on hold. Iris draws in a deep breath. 

"The guy in the towel, the guy you saw in my apartment, he's my roommate. He hasn't been staying with me long. I'm friends with his mother. He moved out here for a job opportunity and he's been staying with me while he looks for a place of his own. There is absolutely nothing going on between us. I don't know what it is that you heard this morning, but it definitely wasn't what it sounded like." Iris explains. 

"What did you mean when you said that you were waiting for him? From the shower." I ask coolly, avoiding her eyes.

"Oh, I was rushing that morning to get to class on time. We were both running a little behind and we both had to use the shower. He used it before me, took my towel off the hook, and didn't bother to replace it, so I asked him to grab me one. It took him a little longer than I had expected. I'm sorry you had to hear that, and I'm so sorry that I never told you about Matt. I should have told you." Iris says softly. I look into her deep, blue eyes and I can't detect even a sliver of dishonesty. "Wyatt, I would never cheat, especially not on you. You have to believe me. I could never do that to you, I would never be able to live with myself..."

She was telling the truth. I had overreacted. I had been so quick to jump to conclusions, so determined to see the worst in her instead of giving her the benefit of the doubt. It's silent for a while, and I can tell Iris is anxious, awaiting my reaction. I let out a sigh as a wave of guilt washes over me. I should have been more trusting, but my reaction isn't surprising considering what went on in my childhood, as well as my past relationship. Those things still plague me, they are things I have yet to overcome. Things that have changed me and my perspective on the world as well as the people in it, but I know I can't keep living like this. I know I have to move forward, and a good step in that direction is putting more trust in the person before me. 

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I should have talked to you, confronted you about what I had heard and seen. I shouldn't have shut you out the way I did today, or when we last talked. It's just...I'm used to seeing the worst in people, it's what I expect. But I want this to work, I want you to know me Iris, and that's what I was coming to tell you Thursday. I want to tell you everything, I want you to know everything." I impart, all of the anger and frustration that had built up since the day I had shown up at her apartment slowly evaporating.

"Really?" She says breathlessly, a smile lighting up her face.

"Really. What do you want to know?" I ask, a slow smile spreading its way across my own face. 

"Everything. Just start from the beginning." Iris says softly. 

"I was six going on seven. For the first few years of my life, I was just like any other kid. I was carefree, naive, and I trusted and relied on my parents heavily. I had friends and my family...We were actually a family. It's hard to believe that those memories, those good days before everything went to shit, aren't just memories.

"I think it was around that time, the gap between the ages of six and seven, when things started to change." I start, pausing to glance over towards Iris. She gives me a small smile, encouraging me to go on. "My dad took on more responsibility at work. He wasn't home as much and things between him and my mother became strained. I was too young to understand it, too young to notice it, but my mother had begun to change. She began to lose herself.