Iris and the List

Iris and The Return

The window was cold. My head was leaning against it, as I listened to Mom and Katherine talk. We were back in Massachusetts, and it was 3:30.

"I swear, I just felt a connection with him. And it's so amazing that he's from New York. I'll get to see him again! He's special. He's different then all the other guys. I just know it." Katherine was saying.

"I'm happy for you. Are you going to call him?" Mom asked.

"Obviously. He gets back on Sunday, so I'll call Monday. Anyways, enough about me, are you going to see Bill soon?"

Mom nodded, smiling. "Tomorrow night actually. Percy is coming up from Boston, and bringing his girlfriend to come have dinner with us. Iris is going too."

Katherine turned her head to look at me. "I'm glad you're supporting your mother. Bill is a great guy."

I exhaled and continued to look out at the familiar sights of the highway.

Bill probably was a "great guy". He had certainly been very polite the night I had met him, and I had been rude. I know that I'm sixteen, and that I should be more polite to someone who could possibly be my future stepdad. And I know that Dad had been dead and gone for two years, and that I should have moved on. My dad, if he could talk to me right now, would probably tell me to make an effort, for my moms sake at least. Tomorrow, I would do my best to be very nice.

It's what Dad would want me to do.

We got to my house a half hour later, and brought all of our luggage in. Katherine went up to the guest bedroom and bathroom to take a shower, and Mom went to call Bill to let him know that we landed safely. I wandered up the stairs to take a shower too, to wash the nasty airplane germs off.

After my shower, I changed into navy blue yoga pants, a red V-neck long sleeved shirt, and a Red Sox sweatshirt. I went through my dresser drawer and took out a pair of slipper socks, as it was very cold in my house.

"Iris! We're ordering a pizza. What do you want on it?" Katherine yelled up the stairs.

Oh joy. Katherine was staying over instead of going back to her apartment. That meant that she would force us to watch a bunch of romantic comedies and then switch to sappy romantic movies. At around two am, she would start to rant about how all real guys were bad, and then begin to cry about how she would be alone forever.

This happened once every three or four months. My dad used to make fun of us for it, and he and Percy would sit in there and mock all of the characters and the plot. It was really funny actually. Ever since Dad died though, Percy makes himself scarce on nights Katherine comes over.

"I just want cheese on my pizza." I answered.

"I'll call you down when it's here. We're going to have a movie night!" She said brightly.

I sighed and laid down on my bed. Something was poking my back, and I sat up with a frown. It was my headphones, which I had forgotten here. I had to buy some at the airport. I picked them up and plugged them into my phone. I would have to deal with Katherine tonight, so I decided to watch Gilmore Girls. It usually put me in a better mood.

At around six the doorbell rang. It was the pizza, I presumed, so I paused Gilmore Girls. I walked down the stairs with my phone in hand, and saw Katherine holding three pizza boxes. She grinned when she saw me.

"We each have a pizza to ourselves. Isn't that great? Your moms picking a movie to start with in the living room. Go pour us some drinks."

She walked towards the living room and I went to the kitchen. We had pretty much every soda imaginable, so I just took a couple of each kind.