He whistled as he walked into his dorm, a tune that he had picked up from somewhere, he couldn't recall specifically when. He shed his coat on the floor and grabbed the drink that Tyler had on the side of the desk he was sitting by.
"Hello to you too." He grumbled, snatching the glass back from his blonde friend.
"Sorry, Tyler." Reid said. "Just walked back from the other side of town. Was in the mood for a drink." Tyler eyed him cautiously.
"Are you feeling alright?"
"Peachy. Why do you ask?"
"You apologized, and called me by my name instead of some overrated nickname."
"So maybe I'm in a good mood." Reid said. Sitting himself down on a bed. "What are you studying for?"
"Don't change the subject." Tyler put down his pencil and tore his eyes away from his calculus book. "Caleb said you were in a shit mood Friday night. You stormed off, disappeared for the night and come back a day later happier than you've ever been. That isn't normal."
"Technically I didn't disappear, I came back to the dorms but you were out-"
"Don't change the subject Reid." Tyler said seriously. "Something's wrong with you."
"And you're worried?"
Tyler looked slightly taken aback, but responded with full force.
"No shit I'm worried!" He spat. "You're my best friend and you're suddenly disappearing for days at a time and I have no idea what the hell you're doing! You really thought I wouldn't be worried?"
"Well, I don't know what you think half the time." Reid said absentmindedly, fiddling with a pencil he had found. "You don't tell me shit either, baby boy."
Tyler was angry now.
"Because nothing ever happens to me, and besides, you never ask. The last problem I had was when the girl I liked asked you to the school dance in seventh grade, and back then you asked me what was wrong with me."
"She was a bitch, Ty, you deserved better-"
"That's not the point!" He yelled. "The point is that you're ruining the whole fucking point of having best friends! I don't know what the hell is going on in your life, and when I ask you, you don't say shit and start attacking me!" He seethed. His eyes fixed on a spot behind Reid and he stood up from his seat and reached to grab it. "And what the hell is with this stupid painting?"
"Tyler, shit, don't touch that!" Reid scrambled to his feet.
"Oh, and why shouldn't I? Touch, touch, touch…" He repeatedly poked the canvas. "touch touch touch touch-" Until he ended up placing his open palm on it and he froze mid-sentence."
"Shit." Reid whispered, lunging and grabbing Iris' painting out of Tyler's hands. The latter didn't react, just blinked repeatedly and looked down at the empty space where he had held the painting.
"What… what was that?" Tyler said in a whisper, all trace of anger in his voice gone.
Reid put the painting down, and took a deep breath.
"That painter girl in the park we met a few weeks back." He began shakily. "She paints. And when you touch it… that… happens." Reid finished lamely.
"Is that where you've been all this time?"
"Sortof." Reid said. "I'm trying to figure out what it is." He lied. Maybe that was his priority in the beginning, but now he went to see Iris for the sake of seeing her.
Tyler nodded, understandingly.
"Did you think it was just you?" He asked.
"Maybe." Reid was disappointed and relieved at the same time that he wasn't the only one that saw the images of Iris' paintings. Disappointed because it would have made him special, and the two of them closer. Relieved because it meant that if anything happened because of it he would have someone to help him. "Tyler, I don't know what I'm going to do. But you have to trust me with this. I will figure it out."
Tyler nodded, understandingly, still a little shocked.
"If you need any help…"
"I know. You're here for me. But please, don't tell Caleb or Pogue." Tyler raised an eyebrow. "Please."
"Alright." Tyler said, not questioning his friend any further. "I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into."
"I have suddenly remembered why Tyler's my best friend."
"Oh? And why is that?"
"He's the only one out of all the three of them that trusts me." Reid said, fiddling with one of his shoelaces. "And he understands me, or at least tries to. The others… Well."
"That's what friends are for." Iris said. "What exactly led you to this discovery anyways?"
"Secret." Reid said, knowing that she was the only person he could tell this to without said person getting angry.
"We dance 'round a ring and suppose, while the secret sits in the middle and knows." She recited almost mechanically. At Reid's puzzled silence she smiled and added: "Robert Frost."
"Well its lovely." He said sarcastically.
"It was either that or: What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets."
"Pleasant." Reid snorted. "Miserable." He mumbled under his breath. Iris laughed.
She resumed her painting. It was coming along slowly, the canvas taking its time to become covered with paint. But it didn't bother Reid, in fact, if he hadn't been sitting on the stool the whole time he would have forgotten all about the painting. Visiting Iris had become part of Reid's routine, the part he liked best.
"Wanna meet him?"
Iris stopped painting.
"Tyler. Want to meet him? He has a day off today, and he's spending it studying. He could use some distraction."
Iris made a sound halfway between a mumble and a squeak. Reid looked at her, a mix of curiosity and mockery on his face.
"What's wrong?" He said in a mock motherly tone. Iris flicked some paint at him.
"I don't like going out and meeting new people. Usually."
"What about me?"
"That's why I said usually." She sighed and put her paintbrush down. "I don't know what happened with you. Maybe it was because you seemed as scared shitless as I was."
Reid recalled briefly his panic at the possibility of being caught using.
"Tyler's nice."
"Doesn't matter." She shook her head dismally. "There are plenty of nice people in the world that I will never meet. Don't think that the thought fuels me to go out and meet them. Being social is just something I don't do."
"Well gorgeous its time for you to learn from the best." He plastered on his trademark smirky grin. Iris didn't react.
"Gorgeous?" she snorted. "Hardly. Reid, please, don't push it. I don't want to go out."
Reid looked at her quizzically. She really didn't want to get away from her dorm. But he was going to change that.
"C'mon." He hopped from his stool. He slipped on his coat, and reached over gingerly to grab her hand. She promptly pulled it back.
"No." She said simply. Reid just stared, knowing she wouldn't stare back (which made it worse,) and croaked out the most heart-wrenching word he had ever pronounced.
"Please?" He whispered. Iris just barely heard it, and he saw her face twitch slightly when he said it. He saw her bite her lip, a habit he had noticed she had when she was making a decision, and sigh, resigned.
"Fine." She grumbled. She stood gingerly from her stool, slipped on a coat and crossed her arms defiantly. "Happy?"
"Very." Reid replied.
I have no idea how this chapter just dissapeared... but its back. which is all that matters, right?
