Hope.

• Chapter 11 •

• Tyler •

"Tyler, Iris is here!" I heard my dad yell, surprising me. Iris hadn't told me she was coming over.

Shrugging to myself, I walked outside the door yelling a quick "Coming!" To my dad before. I was so glad I finally got my cast off, I felt so much freer.

I made my way to the living room hearing my Iris walking towards me. "Can we talk?" She asked, her voice sounding strained and sad. I bit my lip, nodding as I walked back to my room. I heard Iris shut the door behind her before flopping down on my bed.

"We-we broke up." She choked out, and my eyebrows shot up in surprise. Iris and Mark's relationship wasn't something I was too familiar with since Mark tends to avoid me. But I knew Iris really liked him.

"Iris," I whispered, walking over to her and sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Come here," I said, feeling around for her hand before feeling her slim fingers entwine with mine. Her long nails grazed my skin, like always.

Iris didn't say anything for a while but soon after I heard sniffles coming from where she was sitting. I ran my thumb over the back of her hand before pulling her up.

I felt her hands wrap around me as she buried her head into my chest, sobbing. "It's okay," I whispered, rubbing soothing circles on her back. I felt her tears drench my shirt but I just pulled her closer.

After a while she pulled away, still sniffling. "It wasn't working out." She mumbled, finally. Her voice thick from crying. "He was acting like too much of an asshole to even care about his girlfriend," she said, letting out a dry, painful chuckle. "He never cared about me, Ty. He never will. And I can't date someone who doesn't love me back."

"I'm sorry, Iris," I said, softly.

"Don't apologize," she said before she started crying again. This time I was the one who pulled her into a hug, letting her cry onto my shoulder. I ran my fingers gently through her long, curly hair.

"He isn't worth crying over. He should be the one crying for losing someone as amazing as you." I said, gently pulling away from. I caressed her face with my hand using my thumb to wipe away a few stray tears.

"You're right." She choked out, placing her hand on mine. We sat in silence for a while before Iris spoke up. "I just wanna forget him, you know. I wanna go somewhere. Somewhere that'll take my mind off of him. Will you come with me?"

"Of course, I will, Iris. Anywhere you want. As long I don't have to jump off a cliff. But for you, I might do that as well." I said, and I heard her chuckle lightly before weakly punching my arm.

"There's this new vintage music store that has opened up. I've always wanted to hear stuff in vinyl," she said, though she was still sniffling. "It isn't too far from here, I don't think. I drove here so we can take the car,"

I nodded, smiling at her. "Let's go then. I'll just pull on a hoodie and grab my cane.

"Okay," she mumbled, falling silent again. I walked over to my closet before felling around for any hoodie, I didn't really care. I quickly pulled it over my head before grabbing cane off my dressing table and heading over to Iris.

"Let's go," I said, holding out my bad. I felt her slip her hands into mine, pulling herself off the bed with a low grunt.