Page 219 of Masters of Pleasure
“I wouldn’t have offered if I hadn’t meant it.I wanted you to call if you needed to talk.”
“Funny, I said something very similar to my roommate.”Iris sighed.“Sometimes, she just makes me so angry.I got home, and she was mad I’d gone out tonight, even though before I left, I asked her if it was okay or if she wanted to come, and she encouraged me to go out and said she was going to hang out with her boyfriend tonight.”She made a noise of aggravation.“I would have stayed home if I thought she was in any way upset since I’d already gone out last night.”
“Right.”Law wasn’t sure what else to say, but she seemed to want some kind of response, so he threw that out there.He couldn’t picture Iris as the type to leave her roommate to her own devices unless she thought her roommate would be fine with it.
“Domi and Rae and Avery were all here, too.They saw everything.If they thought Noelle was upset, they would have said something.Anyway, I got home, and Noelle immediately got on my case for going out.She said I put her on the spot, asking if she was okay with me going and that I didn’t care about anyone other than myself.”
“Well, that’s definitely not true.”Law could feel his anger rising.Though he hadn’t actually met Noelle, so far, he wasn’t impressed.He could hear the uncertainty in Iris’ voice as if she was worried about what her roommate was merited.“If you asked her if she wanted you to stay home tonight and she didn’t want you to go, she needed to say something.Or she could have come out with you.”
“That’s how I feel, but now I’m second-guessing myself.”Iris sighed.“Sometimes, I feel like I’m walking on eggshells around her because I never know what’s going to set her off.And when I try to see things from her point of view, I feel like maybe she has a point?Like, she didn’t want to seem like a spoilsport if she told me she wanted me to stay when Rae, Domi, and Avery were all there.”
“Okay, but even if that was true, she could have told you that when you got home instead of being angry.”
“That’s true.”Iris sounded thoughtful.
“Did she try to talk to you about it first?”
There was a pause.
“No, she was mad when I got home and jumped right into accusing me of ditching her.”
“You can ask Rae, Domi, and Avery if they thought she seemed upset when you went out.Though I feel like they would have said something before you left if they’d thought she was.”
Iris laughed.“I had the same thought.”She paused again.“Thank you.I feel better now.”
“Good, you should.”Law grinned.Surprisingly, he did, too.Being there for her when she’d needed him felt good.“Tomorrow, I’m just getting things done around the house, so if you need to text or call at any point, feel free.”
“Thank you.”She yawned.“Oh my God, it’s so late.I need to go to bed.”
“Go.Goodnight.”
“Night.”
Law laid down on his bed, feeling supremely satisfied.He didn’t even mind when Whiskers jumped up on his chest, doing her best to crush him or work her claws through the comforter to reach his bare skin.
ChapterTwenty-One
Iris
Was this what it felt like when a friendship was ending?Day of stomach twisting nausea every time she was home, doing her best to avoid Noelle in the common spaces, and cold silence accompanied by cold stares every time they did.Although she wasn’t the one doing the cold silence and stares, she wasn’t trying to make it better, either.
She had nothing to apologize for.
I will not apologize, I will not apologize, I will not apologize.
She kept repeating it to herself in her head.Though she was finding it was making her angrier and more resentful, which made her wonder if she was helping things by digging in her heels.
Domi and Rae were all for it.They were pissed Noelle had picked a fight with her when she’d encouraged Iris to go out and were very clear Noelle hadn’t shown the slightest bit of hesitation or unhappiness that Iris was going out or in coming with her.Avery was more inclined to try to understand where Noelle was coming from, but Avery also agreed that Noelle had behaved unreasonably, even if her feelings had been hurt.
Mostly, Iris talked to Law about it.He listened and didn’t offer much in the way of opinion, but the questions he asked her really clarified howshefelt about all of it.
Which was both sad and angry.
She didn’t want to live like this, but she also didn’t want to apologize and smooth things over when she’d done nothing wrong.Besides, going by their past, if she held out long enough, Noelle would just pretend as if nothing had happened.Again.
Though she wasn’t sure she felt like that was okay, either because she thought Noelle owed her an apology for picking an undeserved fight, at this point, she would take any kind of truce, so their living situation wasn’t so damn unpleasant.When Law asked her how often she did that, she was uncomfortably aware it was pretty much all the time.When he asked her when the last time Noelle had apologized for something she’d done, Iris literally couldn’t remember.
Between her other friends and Law, it was a little easier to hold her ground, even if it didn’t make the living situation pleasant.
