Hey, guys! I haven't written a fanfiction in ages. I had been reading this really great Harvest Moon fanfiction that RandomJaz wrote/is writing called Jungle Fever. Her fic inspired me to do this one. I absolutely love Chelsea/Denny, but I also love Chelsea/Vaughn. A little bit of Chelsea/Will, too. Who knows where this fic will end up. Haha.
Another year was beginning, the Spring air was fresh and warm, the birds chirped in the trees. Chelsea stepped out of her small house, looking out at her crop field and back towards her animal barns. She had just planted a good many rows of crops a few days before, so the hard work was mostly done.
The morning sun was bright, warm, and full of energy that washed over her as she watered the crops and made her way to the barn. She had lived here for a year, so her experience as a farmer had grown considerably since she started. The two cows and two sheep in the barn were very happy to see her when she entered. She had one of each kind of cow and sheep, and no need for any more. They kept her busy enough.
"It's a nice day, guys," she said cheerily, opening their stalls. "I think you can all go outside today."
First, she milked the two cows, then sheared only one of the sheep, as the other's coat wasn't yet ready. She then opened the big barn doors and ushered them out, now making her way over to the chicken coop. She had eight chickens, four silkies and four normal, enough that she could get eggs everyday and have a good many for meals and selling for some gold. She collected the eggs fairly quick and ushered the chickens outside as well.
Once all of the animals were in the field in their enclosures, Chelsea let out a sigh. The farm work was done for the day and it was only 10 in the morning. She wanted to take some time for herself now, so she went back to her house and went inside, closing the door behind her.
It was pretty well lit inside now as the sun was rising higher and higher into the sky. Chelsea pushed the curtains back on the windows to let even more light in. She grabbed the milk and eggs from her rucksack and stuck them into storage. She kicked off her boots and sat down at her table, resting her chin on her hand.
"A whole year," she muttered to herself, thinking back over the past year. Memories flooded her mind as she sat in her quiet house...
xxxxxxxxx -Flashback-xxxxxxxxx
It was summer of Chelsea's first year, she had gotten to know quite a few people on the other islands, and everyone seemed very friendly. Except for that Vaughn guy. She wasn't sure what his deal was, but he never spoke to anyone really, and when he did it was mostly to make a snarky comment, or to embarrass someone. Someone being Elliot.
Poor Elliot. Chelsea felt bad for the guy. He was the one that Vaughn picked on the most. She didn't think that that was fair at all, but how was she going to say something to Vaughn about it when she was too scared to even talk to him?
Chelsea and Elliot became very good friends, they hung out all summer, but when autumn rolled around things got busier, especially after Chelsea got her new animals. Her farm grew quickly, leaving less time for her to spend with her friends. After autumn had gone and winter came, things came to almost a complete halt on the farm.
Winter. The worst. Barely any money came in from the farm, so Chelsea had to save up as much as she could get from the livestock and poultry, but also save some for herself so that she didn't have to go buy food.
During the first week of winter Elliot stopped by, a grin on his face.
"Chels!" He sounded so happy. "You won't believe this."
He had walked into her house as though he lived there, but Chelsea didn't mind at all. She was so happy to see her best friend.
"What's going on?" Chelsea sat at the table and motioned for him to sit across from her, but he was too excited to notice.
"She likes me!" He was almost jumping with excitement, his light red hair slightly messy, from which Chelsea presumed was from running over to her house in such a hurry. "Julia told me she likes me!"
Chelsea grinned. That was another thing. Elliot told her everything, and one of those things was about how he had a huge crush on Julia for as long as he could remember.
"Oh!" Chelsea stood up and went around the table to hug him. "El, that's great! What happened? You need to tell me everything!"
So they sat for hours talking about Elliot and Julia, and how Elliot was going to ask her out on a date that evening.
"Chels," Elliot seemed to be a lot calmer now, but he now looked unsure. "What if- I mean - what if I mess things up?"
"You won't," Chelsea said firmly, grabbing his hand. "Trust me. You're the sweetest guy I know. Julia is such a lucky girl. I'm sure she has had a crush on you for ages, too! I've seen her look at you, you know."
"Really?" Elliot's face turned a soft shade of pink, a smile returning to his lips. "Gah... okay, I need to go. I should find something better to wear. I'll let you know how things go."
Elliot stood up from his chair, as did Chelsea, and they both walked to the front door. Elliot hugged her tightly before leaving, happily running towards the bridge that joined the islands of her farm and town. Chelsea sighed again, but smiled. She was so happy for her best friend.
Another week passed, boring and quiet. Elliot stopped by a day before to tell Chelsea all about the three dates he and Julia had been on and how they were all amazing. This made Chelsea start to feel lonely. Almost her second year here and she hadn't really thought about guys much, but now she was growing lonely.
Winter grew colder. The third week was upon her, the coldest and most brutal week of winter. Two typhoons in one week was bad. Debris was everywhere, her field was littered with stumps and giant rocks from who knows where. She spent a whole day clearing the first mess, only to have a typhoon hit again the following day. She gave up and left the mess, telling herself that she would get to it just before spring.
During the very last days of winter there was a knock on her door. It was pretty early, about 7am, and it was a Saturday. Chelsea had been lying awake in bed, so she needed an excuse to get up. She had fleece pajamas on and her hair was a mess from tossing and turning all night, but she answered the door anyway.
An unfamiliar face greeted her. He was tall, blond haired and blue eyed, slender but not too thin. He wore white pants and a white jacket.
"Um, hi," Chelsea said, opening the door a little wider now.
"Hey, sorry to bother you so early, my lady," his voice was soft, but deep. "You're Chelsea, right?"
She nodded.
"I'm Will," he held his hand out to her and she shook it. "I just moved here from the city a few days ago. I'm staying with my uncle Regis and cousin Sabrina. I was getting to know the people in town, ended up eating a meal at the restaurant and the cook said he got the produce from you. It was amazing. I just wanted to stop by and introduce myself and let you know that you have a wonderful set up out here."
He motioned towards her field and barns.
"Thank you, Will," Chelsea smiled and opened the door wider. "I'm sure you don't like standing in the cold. Would you care to come in? I can make us some coffee if you have time."
"I'd love that," Will walked into the house and looked around. "Lovely little place."
"It's not much," Chelsea said, closing the door and going to the stove to put on a pot of coffee. "It's home, though."
Will sat at the table and so did Chelsea after she put the water on to heat up.
"So I take it you've lived here a while?" Will asked, looking around at the kitchen, then back to her.
"Almost a whole year," Chelsea nodded. "The townsfolk are super nice people, they've all helped my settle in nicely."
"I agree," Will folded his arms across the table, leaning on them. "I've met everyone, I believe. Extremely nice people. I think I'll be staying here for a long time."
"That's good to hear," Chelsea grinned, getting up from her seat to put coffee into the now hot water. "It's always nice to have a new neighbor."
"Indeed it is," Will nodded as Chelsea handed him a hot cup of coffee. "Thanks."
They had spent a while talking before Will had to go. Chelsea needed to get her farm work done, anyway, so she said goodbye.
She didn't see much of Will in the next few days, but she figured he was pretty busy still settling down. The first day of spring Spring was the following day... which was going to be a very, very busy day.
xxxxxxxxx-End Flashback-xxxxxxxxx
A knock on the door brought Chelsea out of her thoughts. Her instant thought now was that Will was at her door. She had been thinking about him a lot in the last week. Almost running, she got to the door and opened it quickly, but it was only Taro.
"Good morning, Chelsea!" The short old man grinned at her, holding his cane tightly in his hand. "I just wanted to let you know that you've done a great job this past year. I just went and looked at your new spring crops and I already see the seedlings popping up! I'm so happy!"
"Thanks, Taro," Chelsea was happy to hear that he approved of how her farming had improved. "It's been hard, but well worth it."
"I'm glad," Taro nodded. "Anyway, the main reason I came by is to see tell you that Chen has some new furniture, and Gannon finally has blueprints for an upgrade to the house here, if you're interested in either."
Chelsea looked at her little house and the dinky furniture inside, realizing that she may actually need something new. "I'm definitely interested. I think I'll go with some furniture first, to get me started. Then once summer gets here I'll do a house upgrade."
"Good," Taro nodded and turned. "I'll be going now. See you around."
The old man left and Chelsea popped her boots back on, walking outside. The outside of the house was in fairly good condition, so she decided that summer was the best time for an upgrade. She decided to make her way into town to see what Chen had in stock.
The day was warming up quickly, so it was an exceptionally warm spring day. Chelsea saw Elliot and Julia walking together, holding hands. They both waved at her and she waved back, smiling at them both. Now at Chen's shop, she entered. There was new furniture all over the place.
"Hey, Chen," Chelsea grinned at the man behind the counter who was counting rings for shower curtains.
"Ah, Chelsea!" Chen's face grew bright when he saw her. "Wonderful! Are you here for the new stuff?"
"Mostly just looking to see if there is anything I need," Chelsea felt her pockets. Winter had drained her of funds, but she did have enough for some of the stuff here. She glanced around the room, thinking. Her bed was beginning to grow uncomfortable, and half of the time she felt cramped. Something bigger would be nice, but she didn't see any beds. "What about a bed? One a little bit bigger than the one I own now?"
"Ah, I'm sorry," Chen looked disappointed in himself. "I forgot to order new beds, but that's in the next shipment. I only ordered singles, so if you want something bigger you will need to special order it."
Chen slipped Chelsea an order form and gave her a pen, then gave her a catalog. "Write what you want and I'll have it shipped to you directly. Half-off, too. You've been a great customer, I'll give you a deal."
Chelsea was taken aback. "Chen, I will pay full price, you just need to let me know how much everything is after shipping."
"No," when Chen spoke with finality, the conversation was over. Chelsea nodded and flipped through the catalog until she found the perfect bed. Big enough for two people.. or at least a lot of wiggle room for one. She copied the number and name onto the order form, then handed it to him.
"Do you know about when I should expect it?" Chelsea asked.
"Either Wednesday or Thursday," Chen took the form and put it in a small pile of other forms waiting to go out.
"Awesome, thank you!" Chelsea grinned, then said goodbye and made her way back out into town.
It was well into the afternoon now and Chelsea was starving. Remembering that she only had eggs and milk in her refrigerator, she decided to do some fishing. She crossed a bridge to another island and went the beach to try and catch a few fish.
After an hour of trying, she finally gave up. Her stomach was rumbling now. She sighed, but jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned quickly only to see Denny standing behind her. His tan skin was shining with sweat, but he smiled as if it didn't phase him.
"No luck?" He asked, looking out at the water. Of course he would ask, being an expert fisherman and all.
"No," Chelsea said sadly, putting her fishing pole on the ground and sitting down in the sand. "I was hoping to get at least one. It would've been my dinner."
Chelsea could feel Denny's eyes looking at her. There was silence, then she felt his hand on her shoulder again. "Why don't you just come over to my place? I'll make you some dinner."
Chelsea felt like she couldn't refuse. Besides, Denny had cooked for her a couple other times and it wasn't that bad. She nodded and stood up, Denny grabbing her arm to help her steady herself in the sand. They walked together to his small house. Being that it was a fisherman's house, it smelled like the ocean and, well, fish. It wasn't the best smell in the world, but she could stomach it.
Denny got ingredients out of his refrigerator and started preparing dinner. Within thirty minutes it was done and he was setting a hot plate of food in front of her, then getting one for himself. It was fish and potatoes with broccoli. It smelled great, so good in fact that it almost covered the smell of the raw fish that Denny had caught earlier that day. The meal was very filling. Chelsea was grateful to have friends that would just make her a meal. Although she thought maybe Denny had other ideas. He was persistent to talk to her whenever she came to the beach, and he sure did like to be a flirt and a tease, so she didn't really know when he was being serious or not.
"I should probably head home. I forgot to ask Taro what the weather is supposed to be like tomorrow and I left my animals out."
"Clear," Denny said.
"What?"
"It's supposed to be clear."
"Oh," Chelsea did want to go home, but she felt bad to eat and run.
They sat in silence for a moment before Denny finally spoke. "Would you like to take a walk with me?"
"Sure," the response was quick, but she didn't know why.
They both got up and Denny cleared the table quickly, tossing the dishes into the sink. He opened the door and they walked outside. The sun was setting now and it felt a lot cooler than it had been earlier. They walked out onto the beach where she had left her fishing pole, and she grabbed it. There was a long silence between them, until Denny broke it.
"Hey," he had stopped walking, so Chelsea turned around. "Uh, I don't really know how to say this..."
Chelsea could see that he was fumbling for the right words, and she knew what was coming next.
"Um.." he put his hand to the back of his neck, like he did a lot when he was nervous. "I don't know if you'd want to... maybe hang out more? Gah.. I'm bad at this. Look, Chelsea, I like you."
Hearing it and knowing he was going to say it were two different things. Chelsea felt her stomach flip. She had never been told that before. Sure, once in first grade, but that was when she was a kid. She was a full grown woman now, so she knew this was real. Yet, she didn't know how she felt about Denny. He wasn't as good of a friend as Elliot was, but he always treated her with kindness.
"Say something," Denny sounded desperate now. She knew he didn't want to be the only one to say something.
"Denny," Chelsea looked down at her feet, frowning. There was sand in her boots. She tried to get her focus back to him. "Listen, you're a great friend. I just don't know if I'm ready to be with anyone yet."
"Ah," Denny looked down as well, nodding after a moment. "I understand. At least you know how I feel."
Chelsea looked at him, then touched his arm softly and kissed his cheek. "Thanks for dinner. I need to get home."
She didn't look back as she left the beach, but she was sure that he was smiling at her as she walked away. Once she got back to her island she made her way inside the house. She kicked her boots off and undressed, got a shower, then dressed herself into some lightweight pajamas.
Climbing into bed for the night, Chelsea couldn't help but think about what Denny said. She never thought about him that way, but now the thought was there and it nagged at her. Then there was another thought. Will. Tall and handsome. She didn't know how she could like someone she had I just met, yet not have thought twice about someone she had known for almost a year. Everything ached on her body. Winter had not been kind to her, and now that spring was here and things were already picking up fast she was dead tired.
She drifted off to sleep, hoping tomorrow would be a good day.