Violet had lived in Stardew Valley for just over a year. The charming town, too small for a school, had stolen her city-girl heart-besides the fertile land on her farm, the place was brimming with friendly faces.

She found herself in Sebastian's room one night, arms crossed on the table in front of her. Sebastian was goth, 19 years old, and lived with his mother, half-sister, and step-dad. He was currently the only family member in the house, though Abigail and Sam sat on either side of Violet at the table. Sebastian was sitting at his computer, headphones on, typing rapidly. He had invited them over, but "This piece is taking longer than expected," so they respected his work and talked quietly among themselves.

"Are rainy days easier for you?" Sam asked. He took a hit from Sebastian's glass pipe and passed it and the lighter to Violet.

"Yes," Violet said, grinning. She'd been asked that by most of the residents of Stardew Valley by now. "I fucking love it, I can head to town early, I can check out the mines-"

"Yessss," Abigail hissed at Violet's elbow. "I want your life. You're, like, happy, right?"

"Yeah, man."

"Yeah, that, I want that. And I'd be a good farmer. And your wingman in the goddamn mines. You'd teach me, right?"

"To fight? Sure. You'll need to beef up some."

Abigail raised her arm to examine her biceps. "I could do that. Hurry up."

"Sorry." Violet took her hit off the pipe and passed it. She tried, and failed, to blow a smoke ring.

Abigail took a hit and passed it behind Violet to Sam. "For reals, though, I'm about ready to move out, get a job, but I don't know what I want to do."

"You just said," said Sam, coughing.

"Yeah, you did," said Violet, thoughtfully. "You've said things like that before, Abby. And you're not the only one, and I've thought about it, and I think, honestly, that it'd be nice to have some help on the farm. I've got a lot of land that I can't keep clear by myself, but if I had some help, the farm could really expand."

Abigail's eyes were wide. "You mean-"

"I don't have a lot of money right now, but I own my house, I grow my own food. If you moved in, we could expand the farm, you'd be welcome to all the crops you want and we'd split any profits."

"Oh, my god!" Abigail said, waving her hands in front of her face. "We have to do this, are you serious?"

"Yeah, but hey, you're not the only person I'm going to ask," Violet said quickly.

"Ah, thanks, Violet," said Sam, passing the pipe, grinning widely. "I appreciate the thought, but I'm more electric than acoustic-"

"Ha ha," Violet said, rolling her eyes.. "No, I'm only inviting women."

"Ooh," Abigail drawled. "Like who?"

"Penny," Violet said immediately. "Leah. And Maru. They've all said something about wanting to live the farmer way. What do you think?"

Abigail shrugged. "I don't really know Penny. Leah's cool."

"Maru won't want to," Sebastian said suddenly. He was holding his headphones and looking at them from his chair. Violet took a hit. "She talks big, but I don't think she'd like being away from her gadgets enough to be a farmer."

"She can be the judge of that," Violet said.

Sebastian rolled his eyes.

"Hey man, are you done?" Sam snapped. "They're making an all-women commune so I'm bored over here."

That was all they said about it that night.

A few blocks south of Sebastian's room, Penny changed a light bulb in her trailer. The stupid thing had been out for over a week but she'd had to save up-she didn't make much from Vincent and Jasmine's parents for teaching them, and she was lucky to have a dollar after bills and food.

She hated her trailer. Sometimes she worried it was misplaced hatred, that maybe she actually hated her mother but was suppressing it by hating the trailer. She didn't know.

Either way, she wanted to get out.

She held onto the lamp as she stepped down off the couch-she'd gotten onto the couch to reach the light bulb-but there was a loud knock on the door and she jumped, knocking the tall lamp over. She tried to grabbed it before the bulb hit the floor, but she misjudged and smacked it into the wall.

She heard the glass break, and took a deep breath.

"Come in," she called. She picked the lamp up and tried to turn it on. Nothing happened. "Shoot."

"You okay? I heard a crash." Her visitor was her neighbor, Alex-he'd been visiting a lot recently, and she was slowly getting over her first impression of him as a mindless jock. She motioned at the lamp.

"I just broke my new light bulb."

"Oh, damn!" Alex closed the door behind him. "That sucks. I'm sorry."

"No, it's-fine." The light in the kitchen was on, and because the trailer was so small, the lamp wasn't really needed, though it did leave the corner of the living room a little dark.

"I saw your mom at the Saloon," he said. "Thought you might like some company."

"So you were at the Saloon?"

He grimaced. "Yeah. I had one beer. That was all, I promise."

She had never been a fan of drinking, thanks to growing up with her mother's drinking problem, but she could hardly expect anyone else to live their lives according to her opinions, so she shrugged it off.

"Looked like my mom would be there a while, huh?"

"I'm sorry," he said again. "I know it's a-I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"No, it's fine." She went to the fridge, passing him at the door. The fridge didn't have many alcoholic options, but there was some beer and a few bottles of cranberry wine the farmer Violet had given to Penny's mother.

Penny didn't know much about alcohol, but she thought the wine sounded easier to drink. She pulled a bottle out.

"Whoa, Penny," Alex said, stepping forward. "What are you doing?"

"I hate it here," she said simply. "And I want to drink wine." She unscrewed the top and poured wine into a large plastic cup. She also grabbed a beer and passed it to Alex. "Drink with me?"

He looked a little hesitant, but raised the beer to tap it to her glass. The wine was sweet and very strong-maybe it was placebo, but her head felt a little light after her first long sip. She coughed.

They sat next to each other on the couch and turned on the TV. They found an old movie they liked and turned it into a drinking game. Every time the main character messed up another character's name, drink. Every time the love interest mentioned chocolate, drink. It didn't take long before she was definitely tipsy.

"Have you ever been drunk before?" Alex asked and his words slurred only a little.

"No. No, I've never-wanted to," she said and her words slurred only a little more. She took a deep breath and sat up straight. It was an interesting feeling, and it wasn't bad. She felt less in control of her thoughts. They spiraled towards her mother. "But I just-I work so hard to keep up with things around here"-she gestured around the trailer-"and my mom doesn't appreciate any of it, and she's-always drunk or-whatever, I just want, I want to leave."

"Where would you go?" Alex asked.

Penny licked her lips. "I want...a family. You know? I want...to be a wife. I want kids. Do you want kids?"

Alex nodded.

"I want a home and a family, away from-this. You know?"

He nodded again. She kissed him.

Alex wasn't really her type, but she hadn't pinned down what her type was and she was tired of waiting. Alex was her way out.

He sank into her kiss and pulled her closer, one hand sliding under the back of her shirt. Being tipsy helped, she decided. Some of the ways he touched her felt really good. He kissed between her thighs and his tongue was gentle but his scruff didn't feel so good when it rubbed against sensitive skin. She didn't orgasm, but he gave up after a few minutes of stretching her with his fingers. She was on her back on the couch while they had sex, and it didn't take very long before Alex shuddered to a stop.

It hadn't been bad. She didn't see what all the fuss was about, though.

Alex sat up and pulled his pants back on. His shirt had never come off.

She felt...gross, and a little sore. Her crotch was a lot wetter than usual, and when she realized his semen was leaking back out, she felt sick. She sat up and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her head onto his chest. She smoothed her skirt out over her knees-it had also not come off, though her panties had been discarded somewhere. She'd find them before her mother came home.

It wasn't as impromptu as it sounds. The idea came to her weeks ago, shortly after Alex started hanging around more. They got to be friends, and she liked him. He liked her in a different way.

And the thought occurred to her-if she were to get pregnant, he'd definitely marry her, and they'd have to find a place together. She'd been mulling the idea around in her head, and hadn't completely decided she wanted to go through with it. Until she went through with it, that is.

He stayed another hour but left when she went to bed.