059
1293 Words
~iris
Everything had been… normal.
Too normal, maybe.
Duncan and I fell into a routine that felt dangerous in how easy it was.late nights, whispered words, stolen hours that blurred into each other.
Hot s*x by 10pm.
Alice and I were still okay. Laughing. Talking. Pretending nothing was shifting beneath our feet.
But Ky…
Ky was a loose end I couldn’t ignore anymore.
I owed her peace.
So I went to her place.
I still had my personal key.
The moment I stepped inside, my chest tightened. The house was a mess,clothes draped over chairs, empty bottles on the counter, dishes piled like no one cared anymore. This wasn’t Ky. Not the Ky I knew.
“Ky?” I called out, closing the door behind me.
No answer.
I moved further in. The silence felt heavy, accusing. Then I heard it,soft movement upstairs.
“Ky!” I called again, already climbing the stairs.
Her bedroom door was open.
She stood by the window, her back to me, shoulders tense. A glass of wine hung loosely in her hand, the deep red catching the fading light. She didn’t turn when I entered.
“I know you’re there,” she said quietly.
I stopped a few steps behind her. “You didn’t answer my calls.”
She gave a humorless laugh. “Funny. You stopped calling first.”
That stung more than I expected.
“I came to talk,” I said. “To make things right.”
Ky finally turned. Her eyes were tired, sharp, and hurt all at once. She looked like someone who had been holding herself together for too long.
“Right?” she echoed. “You don’t come here to fix things, Iris. You come here because you feel guilty.”
I swallowed. She wasn’t wrong.
“I never meant to hurt you.”
“You didn’t mean not to,” Ky shot back, taking a sip of her wine. “That’s the difference.”
The words hung between us, thick and uncomfortable.
I took a step closer. “I miss you.”
Ky’s jaw tightened. “You miss the version of me that didn’t know you were slipping away.”
Silence stretched. Outside, the wind rattled against the window, like it wanted in.
“I just want us to be okay again,” I said softly.
Ky looked at me for a long moment, then turned back to the window. “Being okay isn’t the same as being the same.”
And in that moment, I realized making peace wouldn’t be as simple as saying sorry.
I watched her back for a moment, the way her shoulders rose and fell like she was carrying something too heavy to name. The wine glass trembled slightly in her hand.
“Ky…” I said softly.
She didn’t turn.
“Why have you been so distant?” The words came out before I could stop them. “Is it because of me?”
That got her attention.
She turned slowly, eyes narrowing just a little. “Because of you?”
“The night we almost…” I stopped, my throat tightening. “The night we almost crossed the line. When I was still with Alice.”
Ky said nothing, just watched me.
I took a shaky breath and stepped closer. “If you pulled away because of that… then please listen to me. It wasn’t your fault, Ky. I kissed you first. I didn’t stop. I knew what I was doing.”
Her fingers tightened around the glass.
“I don’t want you carrying that,” I continued, my voice low and earnest. “I don’t want to lose you over it either. Please… just come back to being our friend. I miss you. We miss you.”
For a long moment, she said nothing. Then she sighed, the tension leaving her shoulders as she set the glass down on the table.
“Iris,” she said quietly, stepping closer.
“That’s not why.”
She reached up and gently tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, her touch familiar, grounding. Not rushed. Not wrong.
“I’m not angry about that night,” she said. “And I don’t regret it.”
My heart skipped.
“It wasn’t a mistake to me,” she added honestly. “But life didn’t pause just because we almost kissed.”
I frowned slightly. “Then what is it?”
Ky leaned against the window frame, crossing her arms. “My family’s falling apart. Again. My dad’s been drinking more, my mum’s barely holding things together, and my younger brothe…” She shook her head. “He got into trouble. Real trouble.”
I felt my chest tighten. “Ky…”
“I’ve been going back and forth, trying to fix things that don’t want to be fixed,” she went on. “And next week, I’m going home. Properly this time.”
“What?” I whispered. “You never told me.”
“I didn’t know how,” she said simply. “And I didn’t want you thinking you had to choose between me and your life here.”
I stepped forward without thinking. “Oh my God… I’m so sorry.” My voice broke. “I really thought it was because of me.”
Ky smiled softly and closed the distance between us. Her hands settled at my waist, steady and warm,not demanding, just there.
“I could never be angry with you, Iris,” she said. “Never.”
The way she said my name,soft, sure,made something twist deep in my chest.
I should have pulled away.
I didn’t.
For a second, the world narrowed to just the space between us, the familiar scent of her, the warmth of her hands. My thoughts scattered, reckless and loud.
Oh my God… I wanted to kiss her already.
The urge hit me fast and sharp, and it scared me how natural it felt.
I forced myself to breathe, resting my forehead lightly against hers instead. “You should’ve told me,” I murmured.
“I know,” she replied. “I’m telling you now.”
We stayed like that for a moment,too close, too honest, balancing on a line we both knew existed.
And for the first time in weeks, I understood.
She hadn’t pulled away because of guilt.
She’d pulled away because she was breaking too.
said quickly. “I’m not asking for anything. I just… I don’t want to lose you.”
She reached for my hand then, lacing her fingers through mine. Her grip was warm, grounding.
“You won’t,” she promised. “Even when I leave, I’m not disappearing.”
“When are you coming back?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Depends on how bad things are.”
I squeezed her hand. “Then we’ll make the time count.”
She smiled at that, small but real. “You always say things like that.”
“And you always pretend they don’t affect you.”
She laughed quietly, leaning back on the bed, pulling me with her so we were sitting closer now, our shoulders pressed together.
For a moment, everything felt normal again.
Too normal.
The kind of normal that makes you forget where the lines are.
I stared at our joined hands, aware of every breath, every inch of space between us shrinking without either of us trying.
“I’m glad you came,” Ky said softly.
“So am I,” I replied.
And as we sat there, still talking about her family, about memories, about nothing and everything, I couldn’t ignore the truth settling in my chest..
Some feelings don’t disappear just because you try to do the right thing.
- Writer
