Wildest Dreams:
By: Mew Ami
Beta Reader: Miakemi
Chapter Ten: Trash
Later that day, Iris was sitting on a bench in a park waiting for Élise. She was feeling anxious as she waited for her. She didn't tell Élise anything about last night or this morning when she called her. Iris started to tap her foot. What was taking her? She needed to talk to someone about this ASAP. Iris had no clue what to do next. She took deep breaths to calm herself down. Élise would know what to do. She was better in the love department than her. Iris had only dated once.
"Hey, Iris," said Élise as she approached her sister.
Iris sprung up from the bench. "Élise!"
"So what's so important that you had to see me in person?"
Iris grabbed her sister by her hands. "You were right."
"I was?" Élise looked confused. "Right about what?"
"That I had feelings for him."
Élise stared at her wide eye. "Are you serious...?"
"Yes. I realized it this morning."
"How..?"
Iris grinned and wrapped her arm around her sister's. "Why don't we take a nice walk and I'll tell you."
"Alright."
The two sisters took a walk throughout the park as Iris told her about her recent encounter with Mr. Agreste. Élise didn't say word as Iris talked. When she was done with her story, the two sister stopped in front of a pond.
"So now what?" Iris asked Élise.
"Well there are two things you can do. One confess to him and see what happens or two observe him to see if he feels the same way and then confess."
"What if he doesn't give off any signs?"
Her sister shrugged. "Then you take the plunge and tell him how you feel."
"Élise! I can't do that! What if he rejects me!?" Iris placed her hands on her face. "Then we'll never design anything ever again!"
"Iris, calm down. Look if your friendship with him is more important, then never tell him."
"I.." Iris looked at the pond. Could she love him from afar? She didn't want hurt their "friendship" or whatever bond they had. Mr. Agreste wasn't interested in dating after all. But now that she thought about it, there were signs that he was attracted to her. He blushed when he saw her in her nightgown and putting on a dress for him for the first time. And the way they teased each other. In a way, it was flirting? Iris looked back at her sister. "I guess I'll go with option two."
"Are you positive?"
"Yes. I don't want to miss this chance."
"Okay, then. Well, good luck."
"I'll need it," Iris laughed.
"Would you like to get lunch?"
"Of course!" The two sister then left the park and enjoyed a nice lunch.
The next day Iris was walking down the hallway to the dressing room. Right before she got toward the doorway Iris heard a bunch of laughing. The loudest laugh belonging to Charlotte. Iris stopped in her tracks. What was she up to now? Was she finally planning to do something to her? Charlotte hadn't spoken to her since the gum incident. She then heard Charlotte calling to the other girls in the room. Iris inched closer to the doorway to hear better.
"It's shocking isn't it?" Charlotte said. "But it makes perfect sense. She's his favorite because she sleeps with him. The slut."
Iris was frozen in place. They had to be talking about her. The way Charlotte was talking, it seemed like she had some evidence? Iris leaned against the wall. Was Charlotte stalking her? No. If she was, she would have spread rumors about her going over to Mr. Agreste's house sooner. Iris ran her fingers through her hair. She couldn't go in there now. They'd all be staring at her. She should just go home and call in sick. Yes, that was the best thing to do. Iris quickly turned around and ended up bumping into someone.
She breathed in relief that it was Lori and not Mr. Agreste. "Sorry."
"You okay, Iris? You look like you're freaking out," Lori said not caring about the collision.
"Keep your voice down!" Iris said in a hush.
"Why?"
"Charlotte is spreading rumors about me.."
"I see," her friend said and narrowed her eyes. "Wait right here."
"Lori, don't!" It was too late Lori went into the dressing room. Iris just stood there in panic.
"Whatcha got there, Charlotte?" Lori asked.
"Oh, Lori! Prefect timing! I have something for Iris. Would you mind giving it to her?"
Lori didn't say a thing and returned to Iris's side. She grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to a bathroom. Iris noticed she had a magazine rolled up in her other hand. She felt her stomach dropped. This didn't look good. When they got into the bathroom, Lori let go of her arm and checked the bathroom stalls. They were alone. Lori then handed her the magazine.
Iris unrolled and flipped it over to the front cover. The front picture was her giving Mr. Agreste the sketch book in her bathrobe. She felt her face grew hotter as she stared at it. Iris didn't bother to read the caption and just handed it back to Lori. So this is why Charlotte called her a slut. Without context it did look like they were sleeping together.
Lori looked at it and shook her head. "I guess the paparazzi figured out where you live?"
"I guess," Iris mumbled. She couldn't look at her friend in the eye.
"It wouldn't surprise me if Charlotte had something to do with this," said Lori as she rolled the magazine back up. "Care to tell me what really happened?"
Iris sighed and told her friend the whole story. As she spoke, she was fussing with her hair.
"Sadly there's nothing you can do other than wait for it to blow over."
"Charlotte is not going to let this go, Lori! She's going to convince everyone that I'm a slut."
"...Did she call you that?"
"Yes! Before you showed up! She told all the other models that I'm Mr. Agreste's favorite because I sleep with him. Ah! Mr. Agreste!" Iris's eyes flashed with panic. "He's probably seen this! Oh, what I am going to do!? He's going to fire me!"
"Iris," Lori said in a reassuring voice. "Calm down. He's not going to fire you."
"How do you know that!? I ruined his image!"
"Like I said this is going to blow over. This picture will barely hurt his image. You would need more dirt on him."
Iris turned around. "I'm going home. I'm going to call in sick."
"What? Why?"
"I bet he's going to hunt me down today about this. There's no way I can face him!"
"Running away won't solve anything."
"I'll talk to you later, Lori." Iris grabbed the magazine back from Lori and ran out of the bathroom.
Iris took the stairs down to the ground floor. She then ran straight to the front doors, and the moment she exited the building Iris ran right into someone. Iris felt the magazine slip out of her hand but wasn't aware of it falling beside her. She let out a gasp when she got a good look at the person. It was Mr. Agreste!
"Morning, Miss. Desjardins," he said.
"Morning!" Iris stuttered.
He gave her a concern look. "Something wrong?"
"I..uh.. I'm not feeling well! So I'm going home. Bye!" she then ran off. She came to a stop, when she entered the subway. The moment she caught her breath she noticed that she lost the magazine. More panic consumed her as she realized where she dropped it.
Iris then slowly made her way down to one of the platforms and waited for her train. She was trying to calm herself down. Maybe he wouldn't notice the magazine on the ground? Most people wouldn't look at the ground. But he wasn't like most people! The train arrived and Iris got on it.
When she finally arrived home, Iris went and took a nice long, hot bath. It helped her calm down quite a bit. After getting dressed, Iris decided to knit. It would help her keep her mind off Mr. Agreste. She grabbed her knitting materials from her room and sat down on the couch. She was going to make a scarf, which was silly to make since it was July. But hey! It was better to start it now before it got cold.
An hour passed and Iris wasn't getting very far into her scarf. Her mind kept thinking about that picture. She placed the scarf down on her lap and reached for the remote. Iris turned on the TV hoping the noise could distract her mind. But it was still useless. She was really worried about Mr. Agreste's thoughts. She shouldn't have run off like that. He didn't call her since she got home, so at least she knew she wasn't in trouble.
Iris placed the scarf down the coffee table and curled up on the couch. She tried to take a nap, but right when she was about to fall asleep, the apartment's maintenance came to fix the AC. While they were fixing the AC units, Iris just went back to her scarf.
After maintenance left, Iris decided to try reading a book. Luckily, it was able to hold her attention. She was so engrossed into her book that she didn't realize how much time has passed. It was now five thirty. The phone then rang which got her attention. Iris closed her book and set it down on the coffee table. She then got up from the couch and went into the kitchen to answer the phone.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Hello, Miss Desjardins." It was Mr. Agreste.
"Ah! Mr. Agreste!" The phone nearly fell out of her hand. Why was he calling her at this hour? Then it hit her. She glanced over at the clock on the wall and realized she was supposed to be at his house today. How could she have forgotten about that!?
"Is everything alright?"
Iris felt her heart melt. He sounded concerned about her. Did that mean he cared about her? Was he worried about her all day? She did run away from him after all. Now she was wondering why he didn't call her until now. Did that mean he didn't see the magazine? She was so deep in thought that she forgot she was on the phone with him.
"Miss Desjardins?"
"Huh? Oh!" Iris snapped back into reality. "What were you saying?"
"I was asking if you were alright. You seem upset this morning."
She went quiet again. Of course he didn't believe her that she was sick. The man was too observant for his own good. Well, at least he didn't care about her ditching work today.
"Miss Desjardins," Mr. Agreste said her name again.
"Yes?"
"Are you upset about that tab.."
Iris immediately hung up the phone. He saw it! Iris walked back over to her couch and buried her face into the pillows. Her life was over. There was no way she could face him. She caused him humiliation and brought shame to his company. He was probably just being nice before telling her that she was fired. The phone rang again and Iris sat up. She stared into the kitchen and let it keep ringing. When it stopped, she buried her face back into the pillows. She was such a coward.
She laid there for an hour. The phone rang once more and Iris got up from the couch. Time to face her fears. She shouldn't be running away. She went back over to the phone and took a deep breath before picking it up.
"Hello?" she answered.
"Iris!" It was her father.
"Oh hello, Papa," Iris said surprised.
"Are you busy right now?"
"No. Why?"
"Would you like to get dinner tonight? It's been awhile since you and I had some quality time."
"Sure."
"Great. I will come and pick you up in an hour?"
"Sounds good."
"Alright see you then," he said and hung up.
Iris put the phone back down on the receiver. She then went to her room to get ready for her date with her father. She wasn't really in the mood to go out, but she would have felt bad for saying no. Iris took a quick shower and put on a dress that was designed by her father. She always made sure she never wore anything designed by Mr. Agreste around him. It would upset him.
An hour went by and Iris was standing outside of her apartment building waiting for her ride. When her father pulled up to the sidewalk, Iris got into his car. He then drove off and took her to a very nice restaurant.
Inside the restaurant they sat in the back. Iris was enjoying a nice glass a wine as they waited for their meal. She couldn't help but feel uneasy about her father asking her to dinner. It felt so random. He had taken her out to dinner before in the past, but he always planned ahead. She wondered if he wanted something and didn't want her mother around. As the night continued he made no mention about wanting something. Iris put it in the back of her mind. She felt silly for being suspicious of her father.
Right when the waiter brought them their dessert, Iris's father cleared his throat. "I saw something today, Iris."
"Oh?" she looked up from her cake. "What was it?"
"You on a tabloid."
Iris sank into her seat. Then thoughts of her father wanting something flooded her mind. "I was?"
"Iris, don't play dumb with me. Would you care to explain to me what happened?" he asked. His voice was calm, but Iris could see fury in his eyes.
She was quiet as she poked her cake with her fork. If all he wanted was an explanation why didn't they just talk about on the phone? Iris pushed her cake aside. "No."
"No?"
"It's none of your business."
"Of course it is," he said angrily. "I am your father."
"No it isn't, Papa." she crossed her arms angrily.
"Iris, people were talking badly about you at my work."
"I don't care. Let them talk."
"Your mother is freaking out."
"Good."
"Iris!"
"What?"
"Your mother and I are worried.."
"Are you worried that I might be in a relationship with Mr. Agreste? Because you two don't approve? Papa, I'm 20 years old. I can date anyone I want," she cut him off.
"So you are dating him! Iris, yes you're an adult now, but as your father I do have a say if I believe your boyfriend is a bad influence."
"First off I'm not dating him." Her father looked relieved. "But you're wrong about Mr. Agreste being a bad influence. He's a good person. We're becoming close friends."
"Close friends?" her father looked lost for words.
"Close friends," she repeated. "There's more to him than meets the eye." Iris stood up and threw her napkin on the table. "I'm going home."
Iris's father looked shocked. "But why?"
"Because clearly you didn't want to spend time with me. You just wanted to get answers from me."
"Can you blame me? People at work were saying..."
"That we're sleeping together? Fine, if it helps, we're not. Like I said, we're becoming close friends." Iris dared not tell her father about her feelings toward Mr. Agreste. "Now, goodbye." Iris stormed out of the restaurant and caught a cab to take her home.
The next day, Iris had to force herself out of bed to get ready for work. She had to face Mr. Agreste. She shouldn't care about what people thought about them. If she was able to have that attitude with her father, then facing Mr. Agreste should be no problem. Iris ate a light breakfast before heading out to work.
When she arrived at work, Iris decided to drop her things off at her locker before seeing Mr. Agreste. She walked into the dressing room and some of the models stared at her. Iris took a deep breath and walked over to her locker. She told herself repeatedly not to care about their stares. She made it to her locker. After she put away her purse, Charlotte slammed the door shut and stood right in front of her. Iris jumped back and felt her heart pounding.
"Hello, Iris," she said and blew a bubble from her chewing gum. She let it pop and continued to chew it.
"Hello," Iris said and narrowed her eyes at Charlotte.
"Oh, no need to look hostile. I just wanted to see how you're doing. It's terrible about what happened! You must feel awful!"
Iris clenched her fist. She was trying to stay calm by humoring her. "Yes it was terrible. It's amazing how a person was able to capture such a picture."
"Indeed!" Charlotte said with a smirk.
Iris noticed the smirk on her face and just stared at her. "It was like they were standing there waiting for the perfect moment." She was now testing Charlotte.
She just laughed. "Ah, the life of a famous model."
"Charlotte, I'm not famous enough for people to follow me around." The gears were slowly turning in Iris's mind. What Lori said about Charlotte yesterday popped into her head.
"But you work for a very famous designer," Charlotte reminded her. "You were on the cover of his magazine once."
Iris folded arms across her chest. "Did you have something to do with this?"
"Me?" Charlotte chuckled. "Wouldn't that be childish?"
"Tell me the truth, Charlotte!"
"Alright fine," she said. "A friend of mine knows a person who works for that tabloid. I hired him and told him to take a scandalous picture of you."
"You hired someone to stalk me!?"
"Oh, no. I just told him to wait around your apartment."
"That's still considered stalking! He knows where I live!"
"Oh, get over it. It's what you deserve for taking the spotlight from me."
"With hard work. I don't play dirty like you."
Charlotte laughed. "Oh, I bet it is hard work. Pretending to like a guy like that. I bet you have to fake it. There's no way anyone in their right mind would make love to him."
Iris trembled in anger and without thinking, she raised her hand and slapped Charlotte right across her face. There was a giant gasp in the dressing room. All eyes were on them.
"Excuse me," said a voice. Iris turned and saw Nathalie standing there. "Mr. Agreste would like a word with you, Miss Desjardins."
Charlotte smirked.
Iris just nodded her head and followed Nathalie out of the dressing room. As they walked to the elevator, there was complete silence. Iris felt her blood pressure raising. She was fired for sure now. Mr. Agreste's assistant just witnessed her assaulting a coworker. They stopped at the elevator and Nathalie hit the up button. It came quickly and they got on. As they rode the elevator Iris felt she needed to at least defend herself.
"Nathalie," she spoke up and looked at the woman. "I can explain.."
"Explain what, Iris?" said Nathalie cutting her off. "All I saw was you and Miss Roux having a pleasant conversation."
Iris just stared at her. "You're not going to tell him...?"
"Tell him what?" she then gave Iris a warm smile.
Iris felt relieved and returned her smile.
When they arrived at Mr. Agreste's office, they walked right in. Mr. Agreste was sitting on the couch. There was a tea set on the table and sketches scattered across it. He was looking at a sketch and didn't notice them coming in. Nathalie pushed Iris toward him and just left.
"Good morning," he said, when he noticed her standing there.
"Morn-ning!" Iris stuttered still standing there.
"Please join me."
She just walked over to him and sat down in the chair adjacent to the couch. Iris was trying to relax, but her nerves were getting to her. She felt butterflies in her stomach. He didn't seem mad. There was tea..
"Would you like some tea?"
"I'm sorry!" Iris blurted out. "I'm sorry that I brought shame to you and your company!"
Mr. Agreste gave her a blank stare and then chuckled. "I was right."
"Huh?"
"You were acting strange yesterday when we bumped into each other," he explained and then picked up a magazine which he had sitting next to him on the couch. "Then I saw you dropped this." He held it up. "I had a feeling it upset you. Don't worry about it."
"So, you're not mad? I probably hurt your image."
Mr. Agreste didn't look phased. "If I were married this picture would have."
Iris felt stupid.
Mr. Agreste looked at the magazine. "All this is..." he then tossed it to the side and it landed in the garbage can. "trash." He then grabbed the tea cup and handed it to her.
She took the cup from him and placed it on her lap. "You're right. Generally, that's how I feel about them. I guess it's different when you're caught in a photo like that."
He nodded his head. "I'm sure people are talking about us, but it will blow over. We know the truth and that's all that matters."
Iris smiled at him then sipped her tea. She then stared down at the cup. Should she tell him about Charlotte? Again she had no proof. No one would back her up. Nathalie walked in at the end of their conversation. Iris decided to let it go. Her not being fired was the ultimate revenge.
"Since you didn't come yesterday, would you like to come over tonight?" he asked then paused. "And stay for dinner?"
Iris felt her heart flutter. She looked up back at him. "I would love to."
He smiled a little. "Come over at your usual time."
She took another sip of her tea. "What will we be having for dinner?"
"Not sure. Whatever my chef is making. He plans meals out in advance."
"You know one of these days I will have to make you something from scratch. What I made Saturday night was not a true reflection of my cooking skills."
"Oh really?" There was a hint of curiosity in his voice.
She nodded her head. "In fact, if you like I can prove it to you. Maybe one Saturday evening you can come over."
"Alright. I look forward to it. I will let you know when I'm free."
She felt her heart flutter again. Iris couldn't believe what she just did. "Please let me know. I'm usually free every Saturday." Iris still felt her heart going crazy. She needed to calm herself down. Starting a new topic may help. " So, did Mrs. Morin's daughter like the designs?"
"Yes she did. It took her almost the whole lunch to pick her dress."
"Great! Maybe you should start a wedding line."
He chuckled. "We'll see."