Fields of Iris

Un- friendly Competition

Iris P.O.V

As I danced with Billy, it took my mind off of holding Cammie's hair back as she blabbed about how brave I was for staying in a town with no family. I couldn't believe Chase had told her I was an orphan, but even more so why he would talk about me at all. "All this time, I never knew you could dance," I remarked to Billy, who held one hand with my own and the other on my hip.

"Well, if you go to enough of the mayor's gala, you learn a thing or two," he responded as I raised my eyebrow.

"Those must be fancy. Sipping champagne and talkin' bout who's gonna take the white house next," I remarked as he chuckled, nodding his head.

"That sounds about right," he responded before silence filled around us. "I bet you'd look really nice in a fancy dress," he said as I blushed, peeking up at him.

"I don't know. Fancy ain't never really been my thing," I responded as he nodded. Once again, I heard the bell ringing at Bucky's and the room began to rumble as I looked over to see Chase had come back. Normally, I would be anxious about Chase misunderstanding me, thinking about the slim chance he may reciprocate my feelings. Right now, though, I had no intention of moving from my position with Billy.

Wayne jumped up first crossing his arms to Chase. "What are you doing back here? Don't you have your high fashion girlfriend to take care of?" he asked, clearly picking a fight. Chase simply scoffed and shook his head.

"Yeah, I thought I'd take care of something else first," he retorted, walking towards the pool table and picking up a stick. Oh, this night was just about to get interesting.

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Watching Chase knock the black ball into the hole made me almost jump up to cheer for him, before realizing I was still extremely upset at him. Wayne cursed in anger throwing down the stick. "No need to be a sore sport, Wayne. It's not like much has changed," Chase stated, finding some courage of his own.

Wayne, who had clearly had one too many to drink, shook his head and scoffed. "You got some nerve, you know that. Coming back here and flaunting your fancy car and fancy girlfriend to all of us," Wayne argued as Chase looked unbothered by his remarks.

"Trying to buy your family's home!" Someone else called from the background as it was clear this was a gang up situation brewing. I looked at Chase sympathetically as he began to feel more unwelcome with each passing second.

"You forgot where you came from," Wayne said, taking a long sip of his beer before throwing it down. "Maybe someone should put your uppity ass in its place," he stated as I nudged Billy to intervene. As mad as I was at Chase, I didn't want to see him get into a fight. He sat up nodding his head and jumping in between them.

"Come on now, Wayne. There's no need to get angry," Billy said before holding out his own beer to distract Wayne. He grabbed it and groaned, chugging it down. Billy turned to Chase, patting his shoulder before muttering that he should probably leave. I huffed as Chase turned and walked out, earning a few applauses from the people around him. I couldn't help but feel bad for him. He was once so loved in this town, and now he was the one who was an outcast. No one knows that feeling better than myself.

As Billy made his way back over to me, I turned away and ran out the door running after Chase who turned at hearing me call his name. "Hey. I just... they're mostly drunk in there so I wouldn't take it too personally,"  I said as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Trust me, I'm not. It's not like they got anything better to do," he said, making me cross my arms, regretting following him out here. He looked at me, realizing his mistake before shaking his head. "I didn't mean it like that," he said as I nodded my head.

"Like you didn't mean to tell Cammie I was the orphan girl your parents treated like a charity case," I remarked, revealing to him what his drunk girlfriend had said to me.

"I didn't say that. I mean not in those words at all!" He retorted as I saw a guilty look flash in his eyes. "Please, Iris. I'm sorry, okay. I should have never told her that about you. I shouldn't have told her a lot of things about a lot of people here," he remarked as I looked up to see him looking towards me.

"Well, I'm used to being called the town orphan. I'd apologize to Arnold though. He's not used to people calling out his toupee," I remarked as he chuckled and nodded his head.

"Yeah well, I thought I'd start with the most important one first," he said, catching me off guard as we made eye contact, my stomach fluttering at his eyes.

"You don't have to do that," I said, brushing the hair from my face, looking down as the nerves became too much.

"No, I do. I... you were right about me not being very good at playing stupid," he said as turned red, remembering my words in the truck. "I see you, Iris. I see you a lot more now," he remarked, the words confusing me and knocking me out all at once as I looked back up at him to see his gaze more intense now.

    "I..." I stuttered, trying to think of the words I wanted to say. I was still so upset with him, but in the same breath, I couldn't tame the heart in my chest that denied what my brain was trying to tell me.

"Iris?" I heard as I turned to see Billy waiting at the door for me.

I looked back at Chase with a sigh. "I should get back," I said before he nodded his head and I turned back, more conflicted than I ever had been with Chase Dodson.