Iris

Jimmy.

I kept my composure as I waved to Iris and drove out of her driveway. Once I was down the street and on the way to my hotel, however, I was practically bouncing in my seat and nearly steering the car all over the lanes. I struggled to try to keep straight. I gripped the wheel tightly and forced myself only to move it when I turned into the parking lot of the local Comfort Inn. I quickly climbed out and hurried to my room on the first floor, unlocking room 109.

I was already dialing Brian on my phone before the door had even shut. I knew the guys would all be hanging out already. I didn’t know what they would be doing but we were almost always together unless someone was sick. Even then we’d usually just annoy the shit out of them by showing up anyways with junk food. Yeah, maybe we should work on our bedside manners sometime.

But now was not the time to dwindle on such small things. Now was the time for me to obnoxiously scream into my friends’ ears about the miracle that had come in the form of my daughter agreeing to spend time at my home this weekend! I paced in the small path between the side of the bed and the wall as I waited impatiently for the phone to be answered.

“Hel - ”

“Brian! Guess what?!”

“Is he drunk?” I heard someone murmur, more than likely Johnny. I could only assume this means that Brian had answered the phone on speaker so everyone could hear me.

“No, I am not drunk,” I announced loudly, causing the guys to chuckle. “Guess who I just saw!”

“The Easter Bunny?” Matt asked.

“Tooth Fairy?” Zacky spoke.

“My mom?” This caused a murmur of ‘shut up short shit’. “Oh, so you can say stupid stuff but when I say it, it’s dumb?”

“No, we just think you’re dumb in general,” Brian replied. To me he asked, “Who?”

“Iris,” I announced happily. “And she likes me! She took up my offer to come stay the weekend!”

It was dead silent on their end of the call for a couple of moments. I froze in mid-step, staring wide eyed at the wall. Oh God, did I say something wrong? Were they angry I didn’t mention it to them before? We were beginning to write our new album soon, did they think her visit would distract me? Suddenly shouts of congratulations and wolf calls were produced from the other end. I chuckled, rubbing my neck as I sank onto the bed. It seemed a lot more comfortable than it had last night. All I did last night was twist and turn on the mattress.

“That’s great Jimmy! I guess we should probably clean up that guest room of yours for her,” Zack spoke. His voice was easily the loudest so he had probably stolen the phone from Brian’s hand. I heard grumbling and even a lone you’re kidding me, right? from the other guys. “Oh shut up, it won’t kill you.”

“It will kill me,” Johnny argued. This caused me, and I’m pretty sure everyone else too, to roll their eyes. Johnny would say that. He never cleaned his own room, much less his entire house. It was a wonder how he wasn’t infested with mold and rats. Oh yeah, his mom came over sometimes and scolded him like a five year old. It was fun times when Mrs. Seward came to visit.

“How did the adopted parents react?” I paused at Matt’s question, and it seemed that so did the other guys. Out of all the things he could have asked, that was it? I traced my memory back to when I had shown up at the Kingsley residence. Both Jocelynn and Elisha had been there, along with their son Trevor. The couple seem kind enough but Trevor, oh he had a temper. His voice reminded me of this person we frequently got matched up with on Call of Duty, but I didn’t think then was a good time to mention it.

Jocelynn and Elisha seemed happy enough to have me meet Iris, but there was a hesitation there too. I knew why they were so hesitant. Me meeting Iris was a time for her to choose - though I don't think she knows yet - between staying with the two of them or moving to Huntington Beach with me. And they weren’t ready to hear the outcome of the decision. Iris had told me about them and reassured me that they didn’t abuse her or were particularly cruel to her, so they had no reason to be nervous around me.She had confided in me that they don’t spend as much time with her as they should, but she thought it was okay. I knew if she chose to come with me that they would feel as if she didn’t love them.

That would never be the case though.

“Jimmy?”

“Huh?” I realized that I now laid across the bed, the phone still lazily held to my ear. I silently cursed myself. I had a bad habit to blackout at the strangest times and come back, not knowing what I had done or said in those few moments, or even minutes, of nothingness. “Sorry, just a small exit. What did I say?”

“Nothing much. Kept muttering about someone named Trevor,” Zack replied.

“Are you going gay on us Jimbo?”

I ignored Johnny, not even bothering to give my usual smartass, comeback. “Her parents were fine enough. A little anxious about her decision but I can see where they’re coming from. Her brother Trevor, however, seemed like he was personally holding me responsible for the murder of his pet goldfish.”

“He’s probably just being protective of her. It’s what older brothers do,” Brian pointed out. And boy would he know.

Brian used to threaten every guy McKenna, his younger sister, ever even mention of liking. He’s gotten a bit better but he still likes to make a point of the fact that if anyone did anything wrong to her, they’d have him and all his ‘tough, ready to go to jail buddies to deal with’. As much as I loved McKenna, I wasn’t going to jail for something she could handle herself. She already told us if a guy tried to do anything she didn’t like, she’d cut off his balls.

Somehow the thought didn’t calm Brian, only made him scared some random kid was going to play touchy-touchy in a naughty place.

“How did Iris react?”

“Matt, what is with your sudden infatuation with all the questions that have to do with feelings? Are you becoming a part time therapist?” I teased.

Matt’s signature, impatient sigh resonated in the air. “No, but I’m left to assume I’m the only one who cares enough to ask. Did it ever occur to anyone that depending on how each person reacted to the news would play an influencing role on if Iris decides to move in with Jimmy or not?” Silence greeted him for a few moments. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

Damn him for being such a smarty pants. “She took it pretty well,” I finally spoke, trying to play off that we didn’t have to admit Matt was right. Admitting he was right did terrible things to his ego. “She said that she had predicted this for a while now.”

“That you were her father?” Johnny piped in, shock evident in his voice. “She knew who you were before all this?”

“No, that’s not what I meant! She did know the band, kinda - actually it was barely enough to count. But I mean to say that she didn’t think Elisha and Jocelynn were really her parents. She told them that she was too much....not like them to be their kid.”

“How did she know the band?” Brian inquired at the same time Zack asked, “How’d she say she wasn’t like them?”

“I don’t know what she was referring to about being different from her parents. She told me that Trevor listens to us. She only knew the name of Unholy Confessions so I don’t think she’s just trying to get money or anything from me.”

“I wasn’t suggesting that Jimmy, I was just curious. No need to get defensive,” Brian told me calmly. I blinked, not even noticing I had said it harshly. I murmured an apology which Brian just informed me that it was okay.

“How much do you know about her?”

“The music, movies, and video games she likes. We mostly talked about me and Leana. I could tell she was hesitant to talk about herself. I just wanted to show her that she could trust me. I’m going to slowly work my way into more personal things later in the weekdays and this weekend. She had a five day weekend so I’m not in a rush.”

“Really? I wanna meet her!” Johnny exclaimed. There was a soft ‘thump’ which suggested that someone - or multiple people - had hit Johnny in the back of the head. I was beaming though. I was hoping that would be their reactions. It sounded weird but I wanted people to be as excited as I was to meet her.

“Don’t you worry. You guys will all get to meet her once she’s comfortable. I don’t know how she’ll react to you all, but I’ll ease her into the idea this week.”

“No problem dude,” Zack spoke. I could hear multiple people groaning and mumbling things that probably didn’t agree with what he had said. Louder, and with more force, Zack insisted, “We can wait as long as we need to. If we don’t she probably wouldn’t want to meet us anyways. People don’t like it when you force them to meet people.”

“She’ll want to meet me! I’m awesome!” Johnny argued.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I know I am,” I scoffed in reply. They chuckled in reply as Johnny began to protest about how he was ‘the coolest kid in the sandbox’. He was no longer a kid and I had no idea where a sandbox was, but that was his argument. “Okay, okay. Whatever Johnny. I’m going to let you guys go. I need a nap.”

“Not much sleep, huh?” Brian spoke knowingly. Every time I get anxious about something I hardly ever slept. God, I sounded like a teenager awaiting his first concert without parental advisement. “Alright, we’ll let you go. Have fun.”

They all gave their own versions of goodbye - some more profuse than needed - before both Brian and I hung up. I lazily placed the cell phone on the endtable before stretching my arm as far as it could go. I was barely able to reach the pole to slide the curtains shut. After that I curled under the cool comforter and kicked off my shoes. I don’t think I laid there very long but my dreams made me happy to be asleep.

I could imagine a world of Iris, Leana, and myself together.