*DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN HARVEST MOON OR ANY OF IT'S CHARACTERS*

*ENJOY*

Happy Birthday

She leaned over the counter, beaming with her sea blue eyes. She cocked her head to the side and giggled. The mysterious cowboy glances up from his clipboard at her and then back down with a heavy sigh. The girl blushes and pulls out a purple box with a red bow on the top out of her rucksack. She places it on the edge of the counter near the cowboy. He looks up again at her and glares.

"What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?" His deep velvet voice flowed over the words spoken.

"Happy birthday Vaughn!"

His gave a shocked look. He picked up the package with a gloved hand and stared at it. His heart started to race and pound louder and louder. The box felt light in his hands. He solemnly tipped his hat to her, pursing his lips.

"Go ahead and open it. I hope you like it…" The girl fiddled with her fingers, looking around the room. Vaughn gently pulled the bow and unraveled the box. His breathing stopped for a second as he spotted the white cloth folded comfortably. The girl smiled at his expression.

"Chelsea… You… You shouldn't have… I mean… Thank you… But why?" Vaughn's voice was more thankful than harsh. He furrowed his eyebrows and locked his jaw.

"Well, I thought that you needed a new bandana… that one was getting torn and such… I hope you like this one…" Chelsea wouldn't look directly into his eyes. She was blushing so much, she wanted to hide her face.

He set the box down and reached behind his neck. He fiddled with the knot and undid the bandana. Chelsea was right, the bandana was falling apart. It had stains from Goddess knows what, and was practically hanging by a thread. Vaughn scoffed at the site of his deteriorating treasure and shook his head. He grabbed the new one and put it on. His purple eyes just stared at the blushing girl. She looked back at him and gasped.

"So you like it?!"

"Of course, thank you. This means a lot to me."

Since then Vaughn and Chelsea seemed to grow closer and closer. They started sharing secrets together, and memories from their childhood. Every Monday and Thursday, she would wake up early just to make him porridge and bother him at work. Her goal was to make that mysterious cowboy smile. She wanted to see him happy, and sadly… that was the only thing really keeping her at those quiet Sunshine Islands…