Whoever said 'Out of sight, out of mind' is a fucking liar.

Iris Reed has been out of my sight for almost seven days now and there hasn't been a single hour where I haven't thought of her.

In fact, it seems like everything I am surrounded by, now reminds me of her. The copy of Pride and Prejudice lying on my nightstand reminds me of the afternoon she read it to me and we ended up falling asleep on top of each other. The shampoo placed in my bathroom reminds me of the lavender scent she carries around herself. The single steel straw in my kitchen drawers that she specifically bought for when she wants to drink her iced coffee here because plastics and turtles are not the best of friends.

Yesterday we had a game in Boston, which we won, so all of us went out and ate. With the menu in my head, all I could think of was how if I peeked over my menu I wouldn't see Iris's confused face, staring at the menu, unable to decide between the two very delicious-sounding dishes she has never tried before.

"Knight. We need you here." Valentino yelled from the kitchen.

Shaking my head to rid my thoughts of all things Iris Reed, I stood up from the couch, running my hands through the wet strands of my hair.

We had just returned from the practice and I couldn't be bothered with drying my hair, never mind tame them. I don't know how these idiots have the energy to do anything after the rigorous practice Coach Reynold put us through today because apparently; we became cocky towards the end of the game when we realized we're going to win.

"What the hell did you do?" I yelled out as soon as I saw the state of the kitchen.

"It just happened." Valentino said, cringing.

"I don't know how the kitchen counter just happens to be covered in ketchup?" I asked, groaning.

"Dude, he's a fucking kid. That's how it happened." Gray mumbled from the other side, cleaning the counter with Aiden, Jace, Noah, Mason, and Valentino.

"Now, are you going to help us?" Noah asked, washing the cloth he was using to clean the counter.

"Like I have a damn choice." I grumbled before going over and taking the cloth from Noah, who gave it up pretty easily.

Walking over to the counter, I scrunched up my nose because of the overwhelming smell of tomato ketchup. I like tomato ketchup but with fries, not spread on the counter. Also, an edible amount of ketchup is more of my preference.

"So, what's up with you?" Mason asked me quietly, as all of us engaged in smaller conversations to make this task more bearable.

"What's up with me?" I asked, looking up at him briefly.

"I don't know. You tell me. I'm not the one who got dumped by the girl they weren't even dating." He said, looking at me, probably done with sugar coating.

"You said it yourself. I wasn't dating her." I told him, monotonously.

"Oh, cut the bullshit." Gray said, throwing the cloth onto the counter.

"We've been trying to get you to talk for a week now. Come on, Knight. Just say something." Noah said, making me realize it wasn't a conversation between me and Mason but a conversation between me and the whole basketball house.

"What do you want me... wait a minute!" I said, stopping mid-sentence.

"This... this whole ketchup thing... You fucktards did this on purpose?" I asked, looking at the mess they created just to get me talking.

"No...Yeah." Valentino said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

"I told you this was fucked up." Aiden whispered harshly in Noah's ear.

"I should've guessed." I said, shaking my head. "Well, you clean this up, and maybe then I'll talk." I turned around and walked out of the kitchen with my hands covering my face, mainly to hide the shit-eating grin on my face.

Walking over to the couch, I just sat down when Noah, Gray, and Mason collapsed beside me, making me look at them with my eyes a little wide in surprise.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. Aiden, Jace, and Valentino will clean the kitchen and while they do it, you talk." Mason said, taking my phone from my hand and placing it on the coffee table face down as they did.

"What do you want me to say?" I sighing, rubbing my face, tired.

"How're you feeling?" Gray asked.

"I am feeling great. We won. What else could I want?" I said, shrugging.

"Oh, I don't know? Maybe a blue-eyed brunette whose name starts with an I." Noah said sarcastically.

Shaking my head, I sighed out as I thought about how to put my feelings in words.

I am hurt. I'm hurt because the only girl I've cared for, in a long while, was not even there with me last night to celebrate my win and I wouldn't be there for her when her parents fly down today and that's even heavier on my heart knowing her strained relation with her parents.

I am also angry, not because she didn't want a relationship, but because I wanted one. I couldn't possibly blame her for not wanting something. That would highly unfair of me. I'm just angry that I have been running away from a relationship for so long and now, that I want it, it seems to run away from me.

More than anything, I am confused. Confused about where we go from here. We can't just forget that happened and we are not nearly as good at pretending. So what, now? Do we just let go of the bond we have? Or do we talk it out? But knowing Iris, she can't possibly be ready for that conversation anytime soon.

"Hey! Speak! We can't hear your thoughts." Noah said, shaking my shoulders, snapping me out of my train of thoughts.

"I don't know how to feel..." I sighed before continuing, "There are just too many emotions for me to process."

Before I could continue or they could say something, all of us heard a very rapid knocking on our door. It sounded emergent.

Looking at the other guys with my eyebrows raised, I thought they invited someone over, but all of them just shook their heads.

With my eyebrows scrunched in confusion, I got up from my seat and walked over to the door.

Opening the door, I came face to face with an anxious Dani. Moving my wide eyes past her, I focused on Riley, who was busy pacing the hall with her phone pressed to her ear and her fingers massaging her crinkled forehead.

"We need your help." Dani said, strongly and pushed past me to walk inside the apartment, likely surprising the boys.

"Are you gonna come in?" I asked Riley as I heard the voices from the living room.

Looking up, Riley stared at me for a while before she sighed and walked inside while I closed the door after her.

"What happened?" I heard Mason ask Dani as I turned to face them.

All of them were standing around the coffee table. The boys looked incredibly worried, while both of the girls looked incredibly frustrated and even more worried.

"Iris is missing." Dani said, and I literally felt my heart skip a beat.

Without thinking, I walked forward and came to a stop in front of her with raised brows, urging her to speak ahead.

"She went out this morning to pick her parents, and it's almost eight in the night and I have no idea where she is. I haven't had an idea ever since she left the house. She isn't reading her texts or answering her phone. I don't know where she had been for almost twelve hours now." Dani said, almost in one breath, while her eyes filled with tears.

"There's a catch though." Riley grumbled from the other side of the room, still with her phone in her hand. She was on edge. Her voice and body were rigid and she couldn't seem to stop walking, making me realize just how frustrated, angry, and worried she was.

"So, I called her parents around three when they didn't come back to the apartment and she wasn't picking her phone. They told me, they were never going to come to LA. It was just a huge scheme to get her to talk to Chase. Apparently, she has been rejecting his calls, and he wants to talk. So, Chase flew down to LA instead of her parents." She said, suddenly her tears turning into flames.

Suddenly, I remember random moments from the days I spend with Iris where she would frustratingly reject many calls a day and whenever I asked her who it was, all she said was 'no one important'.

"Chase?" Gray questioned, his eyes flickering over to me before settling on Dani, who was engulfed in Mason's arm.

"I am so sorry, Iris." She whispered before pulling away from Mason.

"Chase is her ex-boyfriend who cheated on her. Junior year." She grumbled with anger and disdain clear in her voice.

With this one statement, things became a lot more clear than they were before. Why Dani and Riley were so worried about her not coming back or not replying. Most of all, Iris's behavior seemed more logical to me, but I don't want to go ahead and make any assumptions, and right now, that's the last thing I'm concerned about.

Iris went to the airport expecting to see her parents, but instead, she saw the guy who cheated on her. That couldn't have been worse. I couldn't imagine any reasonable scenarios at that moment. All I could think of how pissed she must have been.

Somehow, I felt a pang of guilt. Maybe if we weren't at the crossroads right now, she would've come to me instead of disappearing like that. Maybe if I didn't say something that night, she would've taken me with her to the airport and we could've avoided this.

"Ethan..." Riley whispered, finally without a phone in her hand.

"I am gonna go look for her." I said, before walking over to the side table and grabbing my car keys.

"We did, Ethan. We looked for her everywhere we could and anyway, you don't look like you can drive. Maybe Gray and Noah should go." Riley said, softly.

"No, I can drive. It's useless for all of us to look together. They can go and look at other places. We can't sit and wait. She must be really pissed right now." I said, whispering the last part to myself.

Before anyone could say something or stop me, I was already out of the basketball house and walking towards my car with only one thing on my mind.

I have to look for Iris Reed.

⤎❁⤏

I did.

I looked for Iris Reed till three in the morning, and there was no sign of her. After realizing that I've looked for her almost everywhere, I came to a stop outside her building. Parking my car, I just paused and breathed out.

Finally, taking a breath after what felt like hours. Dani and Riley were still at the basketball house because none of the boys thought it would be okay for them to stay alone tonight, considering Iris hasn't returned yet.

I have no idea what to do right now. I do not know where to look anymore, but I can't just sit here and do nothing. Running my fingers through my hair, all I can think is how I have no idea where to find the girl I'm falling for.

⤎❁⤏

Hey! How is everyone doing? It's been a long, long while. Did you miss me?... Please say you missed me because I missed you guys a lot.

Coming to the chapter, what do you think? Where is Iris? Did you enjoy Ethan's pov? I feel like it's been so long since I have written in Ethan's pov.

I was actually not going to post for another three days but I couldn't wait any longer to get back to the amazing feeling I get when I post and also, it felt like the right time to post since we hit 20K. How amazing is that!

Don't forget to vote and comment if you enjoyed this chapter and follow me on Wattpad and Instagram (spiicychoco) for more behind the scene updates. If you didn't know I was on a break, you should follow me because I posted about it on my announcement board.

QOTD: What's your favorite cheesy pickup line? (No judgments here, I promise)

Stay safe, stay grateful!