The Evening Starshine

A creek slowly prattled along, rocks breaking its course. The grass swayed slowly in the light autumn breeze. A girl slowly sat down by the creek, her long blonde hair blowing, her bangs fluttering across her eyes. The sun cast a nice ray between the trees, warming her face.

This is so peaceful, she thought. It's so nice to just get away from everything for a little while. Life on the farm was harder than she had expected, but profits were high, because it was late fall and she had already harvested her eggplants and yams. This had been the first chance she had to leave her farm, because her cow, Hatsuharu, had been sick for a few days. Fortunately, Gray had stopped by the other day to drop off the animal medicine she had ordered from Rick's shop.

Sighing, the girl got to her feet and grabbed her rucksack to head back to the ranch. She pushed her blonde hair back, taking in as much as she could of the peaceful woods. Breathing in deeply, she heard footsteps behind her. Exhaling, she turned to see a man walking toward her, hat brim covering his eyes.

"Oh Gray," she began, "I wanted to thank you again for getting my order from Rick's for me."

Blushing, the red-head replied, "Umm, don't mention it. So…umm how is Hatsuharu?"

"Oh he's doing much better," she said with a smile. "Thanks for asking."

Slowly, an awkward silence crept in. Neither knew exactly what to say to each other. Ice blue eyes met sapphire as they both looked up.

"Claire–"

"Gray–"

Again, the awkwardness settled in. Both waited for the other to finish what they started to say.

"Umm…" Claire looked up to see Gray nervously clear his throat and pull his hat down to hide his blushing cheeks. The "UMA" slogan almost covered his eyes, Claire noticed with an inward chuckle.

"Would you…umm… Would you like to go on a date with me tonight?" Gray blurted out in a nervous rush.

Claire was taken aback by the question. A date? With Gray? The blacksmith seemed like a cold and uncaring person around other people. He only really smiled his gorgeous and shy smile around her. But a date? What would they do? Mineral Town wasn't the most exciting place and if they went out somewhere together, people were sure to talk. Claire looked up and saw hope shining in Gray's brilliant blue eyes, and thank goddess the dork had pulled up his hat.

"Of course I would Gray," she said. "Do you have any idea of what we were going to do?"

Claire hated the fact that inside, she only said yes to make Gray feel better. She felt bad for him, he was always getting yelled at by his grandfather, and he never really had any good friends in Mineral Town, besides her, and he had been here longer than her.

"Oh wow thanks Claire," Gray said smiling, snapping Claire back into reality. "I was thinking maybe we could just sit on the mountaintop and watch the stars. Maybe have a little picnic. I know you like astronomy and the moon is supposed to be full tonight."

"Great," replied Claire. She didn't know the moon was supposed to be full and she was surprised that Gray knew about her passion for astronomy. "I can meet you up on the mountaintop around seven, if that's okay. I can bring our picnic too."

"Alright. See you then," Gray said, his usual gruffness returning. He turned and left the woods, probably heading back to work after his lunch break.

Claire didn't know if she was sad to see him g or not. She still couldn't believe that she had accepted going on a date with him. Karen was always telling her that she should spend more time with the guys in town, but Claire never had any time to. Gray was the only one who really ever bothered to come see her. Sure Dr. Trent came every now and again to make sure she didn't pass out, but no one else every visited really. Karen stopped by from time to time with Ann, normally convincing her to go off on one of their wild adventures together. With a laugh, Claire remembered the weeklong trip the three of them took in late summer. Rick and Popuri were kind enough to watch her ranch as Claire, Karen, and Ann traveled to a place called Waffle Island.

A weird name for an island yes, but the people there were so kind. Ann spent most of her time at the Sundae Inn, preparing meals with Maya and Chase. Claire and Karen went to the Ganache Mine District more often, but Karen went horseback riding with Kathy, while Claire talked with Luke and Owen. Luke was the carpenter's son and was excellent with an axe; he even taught Claire some new techniques. Owen worked at the mine because his uncle was a blacksmith. Both guys enjoyed spending some time with her and Claire was really glad that she took her vacation with her friends. In the winter, they all decided that they would visit a place called the Sunshine Islands, but Claire still needed a little more money for the trip.

Looking up at the sky, Claire realized that she had been standing around doing nothing for awhile. She wasn't mad though, she barely had the chance to relax so Claire was grateful for the long break. Putting her rucksack on her back, Claire exited the woods and walked back to her farm. Breaks were nice and all, but her ranch was the place where she was the most
comfortable.

AN: Hi to all my readers! (All four of you that is) This is one of my better stories, I think. It's definitely longer than my first one and actually has chapters! I'm a new writer and really appreciate every review I get. Please give me as much help as you can! Thanks! ^-.-^