Chapter Twenty-Two
Iris
The shrill of my phone alarm jolted me out of a dreamless asleep at exactly 6:45 a.m. My hand fumbled through the darkness of blankets and sheets until I found my phone to turn the alarm off. I snuggled back into my blanket and debated falling back asleep for another thirty minutes. A headache already pounded in my head thanks to the endless night of tossing and turning.
Just thinking about Noah made my stomach twist in a million different directions. There was no doubt in my mind that he planned on confronting me when he got the chance. After class and tutoring would be the perfect time to do it, too. There wouldn’t be any other students or faculty around to interrupt us.
And, he would ask the questions I didn’t have answers to. I was already confused enough about how I felt toward Noah and the situation in general. I didn’t feel ready to explain anything when I had no idea what I felt.
I burrowed myself further into my blankets with a weary sigh. Break had gone by too fast, and I needed more time to figure out how to face Noah now that we both had crossed a line together. Both of our futures were skating on thin ice because of the night we had spent at his house.
There was no chance I could face him just yet. I needed more time.
The sound of Bailey rummaging through the kitchen cupboards thirty minutes later pulled me back from the restless doze I had fallen into.
“Iris?” she called out. “Iris? Are you awake yet?”
Footsteps approached my bedroom door. I screwed my eyes shut when she pushed the door open, letting in a flood of light.
“You’re still in bed? Don’t you have your Freshman English class this morning?”
“Yeah,” I said, tugging the blankets up to cover my face. “Go away. I feel like I’m catching something.”
“You’re ditching, then?” Hands tugged at the blanket, but I held firm. “There is seriously something wrong with you if you’re actively ditching a class that means graduating in May.”
“Is it a crime to feel like shit?” I grumbled out. “I don’t question what you do, Bailey.”
“That’s because I have my life together,” she responded sweetly. “Come on. I know you aren’t sick. Even when you’re sick, you go to class.”
She managed to tug the blanket down to my nose. I stared up at her as she huffed in irritation, hands on her hips.
“Why don’t you just tell me what your problem is?”
That was the last thing I wanted to do before seven o’clock in the morning. Especially with Bailey, who would want every juicy detail as possible. I wasn’t ready to even talk about it to myself without fearing what would happen. I didn’t even know where Noah personally stood.
“I don’t have a problem,” I said. “I just don’t feel good, so can you let it drop?”
“Fine. Go tell your new freshman friend all about it,” Bailey quipped, turning on her heel to stalk out of my room. “I hope you aren’t pregnant because you’re sure as hell moodier than normal.”
Horror filled me. That couldn’t be possible. I was religious about taking my birth control pills, but my emotions were all over the place, just like my stomach since coming back from Noah’s. I shook away the possibility.
“That’s not funny, Bailey,” I grumbled.
She stopped in the door frame to turn and look at me with arched eyebrows. Her mess of brunette curls were clipped up on top of her head, but a few of them tumbled down about her face. Suspicion clouded her eyes.
“I meant that as sarcasm,” she said. “Why are you taking it so seriously?”
Realizing the trap, I wrapped the blanket tightly around myself to avoid Bailey’s far too perceptive eyes.
“I’m not. I just saying that it’s not funny. Shut the door on your way out.”
She closed it without saying another word. As soon as the apartment door shut firmly behind her, I climbed out of the bed to grab my birth control pills. I let out a relieved breath to see I had taken every single one on time. Getting pregnant would be the cherry on top of the shitty sundae I found myself in.
I glanced at the alarm clock beside my bed. No doubt Noah would be pissed that I skipped his class again for a variety of reasons, but I couldn’t stomach facing him. I crawled back into bed to stare up at the ceiling while listening to the sounds of apartment neighbors leaving for their days.
Eventually, sleep took a hold of me again, and I woke what felt like hours later to feeling of my phone vibrating on the bed mattress. I lifted my head to look for it, reaching out sleepily until I found it underneath my pillow again. I didn’t bother looking at the caller ID in my half-asleep state.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Iris. It’s Jen.”
My eyes slipped closed in relief to hear Jen’s voice, instead of Noah’s or Bailey’s. I rolled over onto my back to slowly blink back awake.
“Hey, Jen. How was New York with your family for spring break?”
“It was fine.” I could hear the distant echo of what sounded like chatter. The dining hall, I assumed from the sound of it. “I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. You didn’t show up to Professor Webber’s class this morning.”
“Yeah, I know.” It hit my sleep-riddled brain then what Jen had just said. “Wait a minute. I thought you had class with him in the afternoons.”
“I did. I asked him before break if I could transfer to the mornings, so it’d fit in my schedule better.”
“Oh.” The jerk wouldn’t work around my schedule, but he apparently was willing to work around Jen’s. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep myself from getting agitated with her. She was the only real friend I had that I enjoyed talking with anymore. Being around Bailey 24/7 was too much. “Well, cool. I’m glad we’re in a class together.”
“Me, too,” she said. “I just wanted to see if you were okay.”
I smiled slightly at the concern in her voice. “I’m fine. I think I came down with a twenty-four-hour bug sort of thing.”
“Oh no, I’m sorry. Do you need me to grab anything from the store or from campus?”
“I’ll be fine.” I I just wanted to be alone, and after my exchange with Bailey earlier, I felt uneasy at the thought of Jen coming over. Bailey had a tendency to be a real bitch towards people she felt threatened by. I didn’t want Jen having to deal with that. “Thank you, though. I appreciate you calling to check up on me.”
“Of course.” She hesitated for a moment. “Professor Webber is pissed that you missed class this morning.”
That did not surprise me.
“I know. I’ll email him later to explain what is going on,” I lied. I had no intention of emailing Noah. He wanted to dock me a few points for ditching, that was his deal. I’d make it up somehow.
“And, he asked me to remind you that your grade is based upon attendance of classes and tutoring,” she continued uneasily. “I don’t know what’s going on, but he was upset, Iris. I mean, he looked real peeved at you not being in class.”
I pulled at an errant strand coming from my blanket. That didn’t surprise me, either. He wasn’t mad about me not showing up to class this morning – he was pissed about me not replying to him all spring break and leaving his house without much of explanation.
“Thanks for the heads up,” I replied eventually. “I’ll get it worked out with him. I guess promise him that I’ll be in class and tutoring on Wednesday.”
“Okay. If you’re sure that you’ll be okay.”
“I will.”
We hung up after exchanging goodbyes. I tossed my phone into the sea of blankets on my bed with a sigh. Now I had to deal with Noah’s irritated mood come Wednesday morning. That was another cherry on top of everything.
“Maybe I’ll just be sick on Wednesday, too,” I said, rubbing at my aching head. “I can be sick for the rest of the week.”
Except I knew Noah would fail me then. I had to deal with it eventually.