Fox Life

It wasn't long before the two women showed up. Shadi was dressed in casual jeans and a T-shirt, her dark brown hair in a ponytail, while Luca wore a jean mini skirt matched with a white blouse. It didn't seem like she realized that it was autumn already and the weather wasn't as kind anymore.     

"Iris!" she screamed upon noticing her and ran through the whole cafe. Many people turned around, but Luca cared naught for them.     

She enveloped Iris in a bear hug, laughing like a maniac. "It's really you! I can't believe it!" Tears glistened in her eyes when she pulled back to give Iris a once over. "It's really you, right?"     

Barely holding back her own sudden tears, Iris nodded and wrapped Luca in a hug once more. Back then, she hadn't thought much of their friendship, but at this moment, she realized just how much she'd missed her.     

It didn't even matter to her that they were making a scene.     

"I still can't believe you're back," Shadi said from a few steps away, smiling gently.     

"Neither can I," Iris murmured, letting go of Luca and coming over to hug Shadi. "I missed you two so much."     

"Did you now?" Luca asked with a raised eyebrow, poking her side. When they calmed down and sat down, she leaned over and stage whispered, "Don't think we've missed that you've landed yourself a rich man."     

It was a topic Iris would have preferred to avoid, but since it was better than them asking why she had left, she refrained from changing it. Even if it pained her heart.     

As she scrambled to rearrange her thoughts into something fitting, a waitress came to distract them. Iris thanked her lucky stars and put together her story once again. It was different from what she had told Kyro's friends since now she had to incorporate her 'escape from everyday life' into it and couldn't speak anything about owning a fennec fox.     

A part of her felt guilty for lying to them, but she convinced herself that it was better than telling them the truth. Who knew if they'd end up in danger because of that? She herself didn't know if she was safe, or it was just a lull before the storm. After all, something, or someone, had been after her in the states.     

"You can't be serious." Luca laughed with her head thrown back, unable to stop herself. "That's just... How can you meet someone this rich in a pet show?"     

"You're one lucky woman," Shadi added, sipping her latte machiato with a grin.     

Luca shook her head, her short, almost black hair dancing around her face. "What did you do in your last life to deserve it? Were you Mother Teresa or something?"     

'A petty thief more likely,' Iris thought to herself, but didn't voice the thought. As lucky as she was to have met Kyro in her hour of need, the rest of her life had more than a few downsides to it. And even now, when everything should have been perfect, she was always looking over her shoulder, afraid to see a police car coming for her.     

They talked a bit more, with the girls sharing what they had been up to in the last half a year. Both of them had passed their exams and finished their bachelors and had by then started on the master's degrees. Shadi chose accounting while Luca was more interested in the marketing side of the business.     

Neither of them had boyfriends at the moment, and once the conversation returned to that direction, they turned to Iris to demand how she'd managed to snag herself such a good catch. And if there were anyone else they could meet 'by accident' in the states if they went there.     

Gale flashed through Iris' mind, but she resisted mentioning him. Her friends were better off without considering him as an option.     

But Luca seemed to have read her mind, for her eyes went wide the next moment. "Wait, isn't your bf's best friend single? That blonde-haired piece of candy? What's his name..."     

"Gale..." Iris supplied in a wry tone. Before she could say more though, inspiration struck her. There was actually a good way to stop this line of questions! "That… If truth be told, he actually has someone he likes. His single status is just for the media, to keep his image."     

It wasn't a lie that he had recently found someone he liked - Lily. She might not be his girlfriend, but she was someone possibly even more important to him.     

"Aw, that's too bad." Luca lowered her head at the table with a frown while Shadi just rolled her eyes at her.     

"Iris is back, and all you can talk about is boys this and boys that. I sometimes really wonder if it's a head that you have there on your neck or a painted cabbage."     

"Shush." Luca waved her off and stuck her tongue out at Iris. "I am happy that you're back. This witch by my side never listens to me when I want to share my woes."     

Iris chuckled, hiding it behind her cup of tea. "I don't know how you still talk to each other after so long without me."     

Her two friends looked at each other, an unspoken message passing between them. "Neither do we," they answered in unison, and all of them burst out laughing.     

After a few minutes , Shadi put her hand on Iris' on the table and asked in a low voice, "Are you really alright?"     

The sudden change in atmosphere startled Iris. "What do you mean?" She didn't want to sound defensive, but she did. The question just somehow brought out her walls. "Everything is fine."     

"I just don't want you to disappear again," Shadi murmured, her eyes locked with those of Iris. "Last time we thought everything was fine, you left without a word, only replying months later that you needed a break. And we didn't even notice it. For us, it was like thunder from a clear sky.     

"So please, if anything weighs on you, share it with us. We're friends, aren't we?"     

Words got stuck in Iris' throat. She wanted to speak, to share everything that had happened to her, but she couldn't. It was simply too dangerous. Wouldn't she be an even worse friend if she put them in harm's way?     

With all the willpower she had, she plastered a smile on her face. "I'm really fine," she said in a cheerful voice, her eyes crinkled with emotion. "I came back because I realized I couldn't run away from my life. I'm gonna take care of what I abandoned and then turn a new page with Kyro.     

"It might not be here, but I hope we can still remain friends." She shifted her gaze from Shadi to make sure Luca was also listening. She was. "It pains me to know that once I'll leave again we'll be an ocean apart, but that's what we've got the technology for, right?" The corners of Iris' lips lifted even higher, turning her smile even brighter. "I don't want to lose you two again."