Iris slid back and leaned against the couch, and after a moment Sam joined her.
“Do you like living with Quinn and Em?” Iris asked.
Sam shrugged.
Iris left a space for Sam to talk, then went on. “I guess they aren’t quite like parents cause of how old they are. Like, I remember other people treating them like they were kids.”
“Like, I know they’re not that young cause going to school to be a doctor takes forever, but I don’t know if Quinn even finished their school.”
“Quinn went to school?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, I guess theirs was one of the last ones to close. They don’t really talk about it except when they’re trying to explain something medical.”
Sam looked down at her formerly broken wrist.
“How’d you break that, by the way?”
Sam groaned. “I fell in a hole.”
Iris made a strangled noise that was clearly smothering a laugh. “Damn.”
“It was stupid. I shouldn’t have bothered them.”
Iris leaned forward to make eye contact, her brown ponytail flipping over her knees. She wore a striped turtleneck and blue jeans, with tiny moons piercing her ears.
“Why do you always act like nobody wants you around?” she asked.
“What?”
“You know we wouldn’t come over here if we didn’t want to. Right?”
Sam’s brain seemed to screech to a halt as she tried to catch up to what Iris was thinking about. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “Yeah, I know.” Her thoughts were too jumbled for her to understand, let alone communicate.
Iris dropped back against the couch and stared at the ceiling. “You know, I don’t know who my parents are.”
Sam snapped back to attention. “What?”
“My dads found us on the side of the road when we were little kids. I’m glad I was too young to remember much, probably would have messed me up pretty bad.” She gave Sam a bitter smile. “I guess you didn’t get so lucky, huh?”
“I remember my mom,” Sam said. “Not well, but I remember.”
“Yeah? What was she like?”
“She was nice. She was bright, I guess? I don’t know what happened to her.”
“Maybe she’s out there somewhere.”
Sam winced. “I don’t think so. She wouldn’t have let anybody take me if she could help it.”
Iris tapped her shoulder into Sam’s. “Sorry.” She laughed. “Guess I shouldn’t ask questions I don’t want answered.”
Sam allowed herself a little laugh in response.
“Hey,” Iris said, “Is there anything else that freaks you out? So we can stay away from it.”
“I don’t know. I didn’t think yarn on my hands would bother me.” Sam rested her chin on her knees. “I don’t like getting yelled at.”
“Nobody likes getting yelled at,” Iris said.
“Sure. And, I guess I don’t like using magic.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. It feels kind of gross, now.” Sam sighed. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”
“Okay.” Iris’s shoulder touched Sam’s and stayed there. “But tell me if you want to talk, okay? I want to know.”
Sam looked into Iris’s eyes and realized she meant it. “Okay,” she said.
Iris smiled a real smile.
Comments (0)
See all