Hey guys! I know it's been a while, and for that I'm sorry. My laptop has just been fixed! So my stories are now up and running again. This is my first published story on Harvest Moon: More Friends Of Mineral Town. So please just give me some credit. This is a document that has been sitting on my computer for some time now but due to my laptop being incapable of cooperating with me, I was unable to publish it. I will be continuing with my other story that is up and running about Fred and Hermione (Harry Potter)
Thank you so much for your patience!
~Tweedlebugqueen

Jealousy

Chapter One: The Day We Met

There were three things that I absolutely loved about living in Mineral Town.

I loved the library. I enjoyed reading above all things, and I hoped to be a novelist one day. It wasn't considered a big dream, considering I had already written one novel as it was. But the dream was mine, and only mine. I was going to hold on to it, and I was never going to let my dream die.

I loved my parents, they kept me grounded. Sometimes I would fly into another world with my reading, and forget to live in the present. They had raised me and taken care of me my whole life. My dad, Basil, was a steadfast worker. He loved plants the same way I loved books, they would be his whole life if he didn't have me and my mom. My mom was wonderful too, she gave cooking classes on Saturday mornings, she helped me with all my troubles, and she took care of my father and I in ways only a mother could.

And then there was Gray.

What other word could I use to describe my feelings for him besides love? I caught my breath whenever he walked into a room, whenever someone said his name I looked around, hoping he would be there, my memory would always be able to remember his laugh.

I remember the day we met vividly. I hadn't lived in Mineral Town but a year when he arrived. I was fourteen, he was sixteen and was beginning an apprenticeship for his grandfather, Siabara, the blacksmith.

I had been down at the beach that day, reading again. I liked listening to the waves roll off the sand like they did whilst I read. The dock had always been empty, as far back as I could remember, but that day it had been different. A boat had come along and pulled up next to it, a sailorman had jumped off the edge and tied a rope to a wooden post to secure it. Naturally, I had been interested. At fourteen years old, you generally don't just ignore it when you feel like something big is happening right in front of you.

I just hadn't expected a sixteen year old boy to jump down after the sailorman.

I hadn't known his name then, I only knew that he was to be the blacksmith's apprentice. He was the first boy I had ever been attracted to. I mean, in our town there were two young men that were remotely close to my age: Trent, the doctor's son and Rick, the poultry farmer's son. I had never even considered them as cute.

I was fascinated by this new boy. He didn't look very muscular, but I knew that would change if he was to be Siabara's apprentice. He had what looked like short, sandy blonde hair, but it was covered with a blue and white UMA cap paired with cut off jeans and a t-shirt.

When I was younger, I would have told my mother countless times how this would look in a romance novel. Boy meets girl, girl likes boy, boy just wants to be friends, eventually they fall in love and lead a wonderful romance. To a fourteen year old girl, (going on fifteen) it had to happen. How could it not?

Part of that came true within weeks, steps one through three happened in the blink of an eye.

It was a tuesday, the market was closed. Normally, I would have gone and gotten a new hammer for my father there, like I always did when his broke. Dad never knew that I always just bought him a new one, so when the market was closed, I had no choice but to take his old one to Siabara and have it repaired instead.

I remember feeling happy on my walk to the blacksmith's, I would get to catch a glimpse of Gray. According to Popuri, he had graduated from athletic looking, to having sizeable muscles. I don't know how she knew, maybe she spoke with him on her way to the mountain spring every morning when they crossed paths. Maybe she peered at him through her window when he was leaving work every afternoon. Maybe she ran into him at a town festival. I wouldn't know, I rarely ever went to festivals.

But I was feeling anxious all the same. I had wanted to dress nicely, but I knew that would raise suspicion with my parents. 'Since when did our Mary ever do her hair?' they would think. Or perhaps, 'Why in the world does Mary have one of her best blouses on?' So I couldn't do that.

Suddenly, as though it had just barely happened, I was in front of the blacksmith's. I didn't want to go in now, I didn't know why. Just a moment ago I had been excited to see Gray again (that was his name, according to Ann).

When I remembered that I was actually here for something, and that my father would get angry if he knew I was too scared to go inside the same shop I had supposedly gone to every time his hammer needed repairing, I decided I had best go inside and get it over with. Before I knew what I was doing, I heard the shop bell ring, and I was inside the blacksmith's.

They were arguing, I had never known that they argued. It seemed as though Siabara was upset with Gray, for burning himself!

"I didn't mess the order up, you daft old man! I only burnt my hand!"

"A rookie mistake! If you had been paying attention to your work it would never have happened! Do you want to be a blacksmith or not?" Siabara was saying.

"I don't even know anymore! You only yell at me! I'm trying as best I can!" Gray shouted back.

I guessed I had come at a wrong time, but the second I turned to leave was when Siabara decided to notice my presence.

"Oh, don't leave! I was just helping my apprentice with his work, I'm sorry if we frightened you." he apologized.

"It's okay." I said meekly, "I just needed a repair."

"Come in, girl, come in! Let's see what we can do for you!" he boomed.

I set the hammer carefully on the front counter, brushing Gray's arm slightly.

"Watch it!" he snapped.

I shrank away from him.

"Gray! Never speak to a customer in such a rude manner! Let alone a lady!" Siabara scolded.

"I'm sorry, miss." he muttered, picking up the tool which he had dropped.

I nodded my head, but knew he hadn't seen it. "Are you hurt?" I said.

"It's nothing." he rolled down his sleeve to cover the burn.

"But you're bleeding!"

I ignored Siabara, who was trying to ask me what I needed repairing, and ripped the hem off of my skirt.

"No! You don't have to ruin your - "

"Hush! You just let me tie this around your arm!" I said.

Surprisingly, he stopped talking and rolled up his sleeve, allowing me to secure the makeshift bandage around his forearm.

"There," I said, satisfied, "that should hold until you can put some antiseptic on it. Burns are really dangerous, you know."

"Thank you." he muttered.

Siabara chuckled behind us, "When you're a blacksmith you get used to it! Now, what do you need repaired?"

I smiled shyly back at Gray before turning back to the counter, "This is my father's hammer. I don't know how he managed to break it this morning, but somehow he split the top of it in two."

Siabara clicked his tongue in understanding, "Tut, tut." he said, "Maybe he doesn't know how to properly use a hammer?"

I repressed the urge to roll my eyes, "He's a biologist, and a geologist as well. He works with rocks, his hammer needs repairs all the time."

"Why is this the first time it has been brought to me?" Siabara asked.

"Normally, I just go and purchase a new one at the market."

I could have sworn I heard a chuckle behind me, but when I looked back Gray had a look of complete seriousness on his face.

"You know, I could always make him an improved hammer. One that won't break as easily. The equipment that the market has stocked is hardly good enough for anyone who has devoted their life to a career involving tools. If he would like to pay just a little more, I could upgrade this hammer to copper or silver. If he was really ready to go the extra mile, I could fasten it from gold or adamantite. A hammer made of those ores would be next to impossible to break the same way this poor tool has been." Siabara informed me. He spoke about the hammer as if it had delicate feelings.

Father hadn't told me that he had never been to see Siabara before. Surely if he had, he would have told me exactly what he wanted. "I . . . uh . . ." I trailed off.

"Perhaps Gray could walk you home and you could ask him yourself? If you forget anything I just said, he could repeat it back for you. He hears it enough every day." Siabara said.

"Um, sure. I suppose that would be good. Do you want me to just leave the hammer here, or would you like me to take it with me?"

"No no, my dear, this hammer needs to be melted back together, you would need it to be here either way. Anyways, Gray will give your father the prices he needs when he walks you to your home. You should probably go now." and with that he turned around to record something in his storebook.

When I turned around, Gray was already shrugging into his jacket. "Shall we?" he asked me.

I blushed and gathered my fall jacket around me. "I guess."

We walked the first few steps in silence before Gray finally said anything. "So where do you live, anyway?"

"Uh . . . I live right beside Ellen and Thomas, on the same street as the market, but on the corner. Not the corner where the church is though, the corner that we're heading to now, the one just past Aja Winery." I knew I was babbling out of nervousness, but it seemed I just couldn't stop myself.

"Hmm. . . ." he trailed off.

"I don't know hardly any of the townspeople you know." he said, "I think you're the first person besides Doug and Ann that I have spoken to. Well, that is if you don't count my grandfather."

"Siabara is your grandfather?" I asked in astonishment.

Gray looked at me from out of the corner of his eye, "Yes, he is. He took me in a few weeks ago when my parents decided I needed to find a line of work. I was somewhat interested in becoming a blacksmith, so they sent me here to work with him." he said.

"Well then why do you stay at the Inn?" I asked.

Gray was quiet again. "I'm sorry, it's really none of my business." I gushed. "No! No, I was just thinking about my family. I stay at the Inn because he is too lazy to set a bed up for me in his room. Either that or he thinks I'm going to burn him with a flaming hot iron in the middle of the night. Can't say I blame him for worrying about it, we do argue a lot."

When he realized that I didn't understand he was joking, he winked at me. "City humor. Don't worry, you'll catch on."

From that point on, Gray was my best friend, and he later told me that I was his as well. I was fourteen and he was sixteen. Two years wasn't a big deal in my book, I forever hoped that he would someday give me cookies on Thanksgiving Day, or that he would invite me to the Starry Night festival with him. It never happened, the closest I got to sharing anything with him that was considered romantic was sitting on a blanket at the beach watching fireworks during the Fireworks Festival. And even that was a stretch, everyone in Mineral Town knew that Gray and I were best friends, inseperable. There was nothing romantic going on there, and as far as anyone else knew, there never would be. But still, I hoped.

It wasn't like we were suddenly best friends or anything, Gray was a very curious boy. He wanted to know about my past, my parents and home life. After that he wanted to know about the town and what the people were like. When he felt more comfortable around me he shared his hobbies and interests with me. I was astonished to know that he enjoyed reading, it made me feel happy to know that we had at least one thing in common.

"It's a shame this town doesn't have a library," he said one day, "I would go there after work and read, the quiet is just what I need after a day with him."

I giggled, he never said Siabara's name, just 'him' and it amused me. I sighed, "Yes, a library would be nice."

"You should open one."

My eyes widened. What had he just said? "You want me to open a library?"

"Sure," he shrugged, "you love books more than anyone I've ever met, and you have plenty of them. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to get book donations from other people as well, you know? You could put a notice on the bulletin board asking for old book donations that the townspeople don't want anymore."

For once, he surprised me. I thought that after all the time we had spent together over the past few weeks, I would know him better than this. I had no idea he had faith in me for anything, to believe I could open my own library was amazing to me.

"If I had a building to put it in, I would try my best to open a library." I said.

He grinned at me, "Maybe in a few years."

"Yes," I agreed, "that could work. My parents would never let me run a business at fourteen, let alone own my own establishment of books."

"You'd be better than any other person, Mary."

I hadn't anticipated the feeling of warmth that washed over me that day, I hadn't an idea as to what it was or what it meant, but I knew I liked it. Later, I found that feeling creeping down my spine every time that Gray said my name. He made me happier just by saying 'Mary' than saying anything else to me.

This was my weakness, and ultimately, the cause of my pain.

A/N: So what do you guys think? Good, bad?
Here's the thing. Authors really take hours of thought and deliberation to provide you with wonderful (depending on the reader's opinion) and entertaining literature. I know that you may roll your eyes when we ask for reviews, I know this because I used to do it! But in all honesty, it really does motivate us. I have discontinued many stories before because I got hardly any reviews telling me that my story was worthwhile.
PLUS I really do like it when I get reviews telling me what I could improve on or what you think is going to happen next! So PLEASE review!
I MEAN IT!
Thank you so much everyone!
~ Tweedlebugqueen(: