1Every Girl's Dream
Chapter 1
Disclaimer: Do I need to say it? I own nothing from Harvest Moon.
Summary: Elli pines for a happier life than the one she has now, and her prayers might be answered by the strange new young man in town. ElliXCliff
Well, here you go:
It wasn't all fun and games, working in the Flowerbud Bakery and waiting tables for sloppy customers. Elli loved her job, of course, and loved her grandmother and Jeff, but some days the heat of the oven and the smell of butter and coffee were almost more than she could stand. On occasion she would swear that if one more bakery patron snapped their fingers to get her attention or spilled their tea all over the table in a soggy puddle, she was throwing her flour-caked apron on the floor and storming right out of there, no matter how much Jeff persuaded her to stay or how lonely she knew Grandma would be without her company. Of course, she never did leave. She always just tolerated her customers' often piggish behavior because, quite frankly, they put money in her pocket. And she needed money. Suppose Grandma got sick! How else would they afford good medicines? True, the local potions master did whip up some decent home remedies, but real medical treatment, the only kind she would trust for her grandmother, remained in the cities and cost a pretty penny.
Elli worried about Grandma, and spent most of her time off--scarce as it was--talking to the poor old woman, wondering how much time she had left with her last living family member. If Grandma were to die...Elli didn't know what she'd do. And yet, living her life in fear of losing her loved one...well, that wasn't really living at all. In fact, the burden her grandmother unwittingly placed on her was taking a serious toll on her social life. Elli longed to wander out of the village and visit Moon Mountain on her free Mondays. She wanted to catch fish in the river, collect walnuts for cakes, breathe fresh air that wasn't hot and thick and sweaty like the stuffy air in the bakery kitchen. And most of all, she wanted to meet people out there, chat with the neighbors she rarely saw. It was about time she took a break, wasn't it?
Alas, it was a busy time of year at the Flowerbud Bakery and she just couldn't leave Jeff to do all the work in the springtime rush. Between the two of them, they could barely catch their breath as it was.
It was a Wednesday, a particularly hectic one, and both Elli and Jeff were finding it exceedingly difficult to place all the orders bombarding them all at once. Everyone wanted cakes and pies and cookies to give to their sweethearts, tea and water to refresh them after a hard day's work. Customer after customer rushed into the restaurant, demanded service, and left just as quickly with their arms or stomachs full of the exhausted bakers' hard work, seldom leaving a tip or even a few kind words for their trouble. But finally, at about three o'clock, things began to slow down.
Wiping her aching hands on her now even dirtier apron, Elli heaved a sigh and flopped onto a chair, relishing the silence of the empty bakery.
"Some day, huh, Jeff?" she commented as she tried to suck a good breath into her lungs. "I thought we'd be swamped until closing time."
"Me too," Jeff replied from behind the register as he wiped the sweat from his brow. "I'm getting too old for this."
Elli began to laugh at his little joke, but was interrupted when the front door swung open again and in strolled Karen, the daughter of the man who owned the nearby vineyard, and Jack, the young man who recently took over the ranch just outside of town. She had seen these two together an awful lot lately; sometimes, as she peered longingly out of her bedroom window at night, she'd see them making their way to the village bar, ready for an evening of dancing and drinking and whatever other magic went on behind the door to that wondrous building. Elli knew she could go in and visit whenever she wanted, but most of the time she was just too tired.
Presently, Jack and Karen took a seat at the table in the corner of the restaurant and began chattering away, as excited couples do, and Elli once again stood up and took another order. As Jack and Karen ate, they paid little mind to the girl, which was perfectly fine with her, because she didn't want them to see her watching their every move.
Oh, how she envied the both of them! Karen, with her long, pretty hair and sparkling confidence...Jack, who had so much adventure ahead of him, what with the friends he was making and the places he was going on an everyday basis...they had everything she had always wanted and then some.
Eventually, after quite some time, the couple left, and Elli cleared their table and helped Jeff close up shop. She walked Grandma inside, putting away her rocking chair and tucking her into bed, and said her goodnights to her tiny wisp of a family. It was days like this that made her feel like crying at night, because all morning and afternoon long, tempting glimpses of friends and lovers danced in and out of her shop--never quite real, never more than a dream--and they all left her empty and jealous and plagued by an overall feeling of glumness. She just wanted what every girl her age wanted: a social life. And with all she had to juggle at the present time, this dream was virtually unattainable.
With a sigh, Elli climbed into bed and turned off her lamp as visions of dancing and joking with friends swirled wildly in her mind...
In the distance she could faintly hear Jack and Karen laughing as they entered the crowded bar across the street.
A/N: More to come! I will finish my other fic later, because I'm enjoying this one more. Please R&R!! Love you guys!