Colour | Irby

Part 5

Iris' POV

I walk into the entryway of my split-level home, and immediately hear the voices of my family members floating up from downstairs. Talking to them isn't exactly something I want to do right now, so I make an attempt to be unheard as I go up the stairs. Unfortunately, that fails, and my mother calls out to me from the lower floor.

"Iris?"

I freeze in the middle of taking another step and turn around with a sigh.

"Yes?"

"Come down here! I have something I want to show you!" she calls.

I trudge my way down into the basement, wishing I could just go hide away in my bedroom for the rest of the night instead.

As I turn the corner, I see my mom holding up a lacy, white wedding dress with a long train. Her and Dad both smile sweetly, while my brothers watch them with expressions of boredom.

"What's that?" I ask.

"This was my wedding dress," Mom replies. "Your dad and I were cleaning out the storage room today and we found this."

"It's nice," I say, honestly feeling pretty indifferent toward the article of clothing.

"Isn't it? It was my mother's, and I always hoped it would be yours too."

"Well, there's a lot of time before that," I say.

"Plus that's assuming she even finds a guy who wants to marry her," Flynn chimes in.

He'd have to like waiting an hour before he can use the bathroom in the morning, and like her horrible cooking skills, Clayton signs to pick on me.

"Your sister will find a wonderful husband," Mom counters.

"She has to get a boyfriend before she can do that," Flynn says. "And she can't seem to do that much."

"Boys, that's enough," my dad cuts in, then he turns to me. "Iris, how was canoeing with your friend."

My breath goes silent, incapable of vocalizing anything for a moment, and I fiddle with the pink beads of my bracelet as I think. I haven't been able to stop thinking about her this whole time, and I honestly just want to pull my bed covers over my head and cry. My mind is still spinning from what she said. If she's gay, then that means there's an actual chance I could be with her, but I don't even understand if that's what I want. How could I want that? I've never wanted that before. And my family literally just finished a discussion about my future husband. How would I even be able to tell them that that might not happen?

"Um." I swallow hard, shaking my head as I respond, "Fine. I'm gonna go to my room."

Before anyone can say anything else, I spin around and rush up the stairs. I just want to work through things alone right now.

______________________________________

Libby's POV

The scent of rose radiates from the candle I found in my mother's bathroom, tinting the air in my bedroom. I haven't been able to think about anything but Iris yet, and it's nearing eleven o'clock, so I guess I should be trying to go to sleep by now.

My parents are out of town for a business meeting, so it's just my siblings and I tonight. My brother tried at one point to talk to me, but that ended with me locking my door to keep him from asking about Iris.

Suddenly, I notice my phone light up and see two texts come in from Andi.

Andi: How was canoeing?