Fields of Iris

No Change

I decided on Jeans and a long sleeve black shirt as I made my way back to the farm. I wanted to still look like I was working, while also not looking like the complete mess I usually was. I even put my curly wild hair in a braid down my back, strands still falling around my face. I wasn't super fashionable considering the Hayward kids had no sense of style and often stained their clothes before handing them down and my foster parents didn't care much about buying us anything new at all. Raymond and I made our own kind of fashion, but we seemed to end up on two different sides of the fashion scale. .

"As I pulled up to the house, I noticed no new fancy vehicle in the driveway parking and walking into the house anyway. Maybe he really was going to the Mayor's instead. When I walked in I could smell the food cooking on the stove. I made my way towards the kitchen to see Mary running around.

"Oh Dear, thank goodness you are here. Jerry left an hour ago and Rusty can't get Poppins in the barn," Mary spoke as she rushed around the kitchen cooking. "Chase called finally and said that he would be here for dinner so I'm just trying to get dinner finished and the table set and Rusty was in bed all day so now he feels like he has to make it up and.."

"I got it, Mary! No worries. It smells great!" I harped to her as I moved to the backdoor hearing her let out a breath. I walked outside and made my way to the fence where Rusty was yelling to Poppins who sat on near the mud, making a mess as usual. Maybe that's why we connected so much. We always found ourselves covered in some kind of mess.

"Need a hand?" I asked, standing next to Rusty who groaned in frustration. "That darn horse is gonna be the death of me," Rusty muttered back, placing his hands on his hips.

"Mary needs help setting the table. I'll get her in the barn and check on Betsy while I'm at it," I responded as he nodded his head with a sigh.

"Alright, but you better scold her for causing trouble," Rusty muttered before making his way up the hill. I moved towards Poppins, kneeling down next to the old horse. "Hey girl. You gotta get in the barn now," I spoke, petting her wild brown mane.

"I know it's hard. I know it's easier to stay and play in the mud all day, but sometimes it's time to just... settle down and take a break. You can't hide out here all day and night," I spoke softly, not sure whether I meant the words to her or myself. She let out a small neigh before rolling back in the mud, knocking me over, slipping and falling next to her. I huffed, feeling the mud stick to my jeans. There goes trying to look nice! I couldn't look nice for anything. "Poppins! It's not time to play!" I stood up and patted her back trying to encourage her up. After a moment she stood up from the mud, shaking her head, splattering mud on my shirt and chest.

I picked up the rope and wrapped it around her neck and slowly began leading her to the barn. As I got close I noticed the barn door was already open. I knitted my eyebrow moving closer to see Chase standing inside. He had his hand held out to Loosey Lou petting her nose, his sleeves to his button up shirt rolled up.

I bit my lip now scared to be alone in the barn with him. Not that I hadn't been before but everytime we were working or at least he was pretending to work and would always find an excuse to pass on his work or indulge me with his popular problems knowing I was a vault for his secrets. He could always trust me.

I took one more step, slipping down into the wet ground once again. I looked down, brushing the grass off of my jeans before a hand appeared in my face. I looked up slowly to see Chase standing in front of me, a serious look on his face.

"Do you need help or not?" he asked as I simply looked up with wide eyes and mouth open. This was it. The moment. His beautiful perfectly cut brown hair and green eyes mesmerized me beyond belief. After another moment of not reaching my hand up he reached down and grabbed my shoulders helping me up, our bodies ending up way too close to each other as the air trapped in my lungs. "Looks like you haven't changed much, Iris. You know I didn't recognize you earlier without being covered in mud, but now I know that was you in the bait shop earlier," Chase spoke with a smirk on his face. He was always a charming guy and that didn't change either as he had the same twinkly smile.