Thawing Hearts Over Lunch
Gill sat impatiently at a table, with one hand running through his platinum-blonde hair, and the other tapping on the counter without a rhythm to follow. Eyebrows slanted above his sense of sight, boredom had consumed him while waiting for the bubbly waitress to come up to him with a nice, fresh, leafy salad.
What was Chase taking so long? How long does it take one to chop up a few vegetables, stir fry them, and place the finished product on a plate? Apparently, for Chase, thirty minutes. There weren't even that many customers at the inn- a small fraction of the island was inside doing God knows what-, so why the hell was Chase taking so long?
Gill let out an annoyed sigh, clearly irritated at the chef for not bringing his order as quickly as one would expect from him. Chase knew better than to upset Gill on a monotonous day like this- it usually ends up being disaster for the cook-, and Chase knew that fact very well. Unlike Luke, at the very least.
The mayor's son shuddered upon the mention of the bandanna-wearing carpenter. Luke was the only person in Gill's known existence to not abide by his rules. The carpenter would not bat an eyelash upon treading dangerous ground, instead he would dance on top of it, bring Michael Jackson back to life, and throw a party with rock music playing in the background. Gill would not tolerate Luke's presence, no, not at all, but the blue-haired carpenter wouldn't care a bit.
So yes, unlike Luke who would not listen to anything the grouchy young adult says, Chase was as obedient as a husky, only with a lot more resentment and pessimism and glaring at the commander. Needless to say, Gill's conclusion has been verified several times in the past, and continuously goes on without delay in many more years to come.
As Gill carried on amusing himself with his thoughts, the tinkling of a bell can be heard as a new customer enters the inn.
Angela Willows panted short breaths with each step she took, but carried on with a tired smile on her face and a hunger so big that bears would get jealous. The sound of the heels on her boots making contact with the wooden floor of the inn blossomed with rhythm, and that was enough for Gill to turn his head around slightly as to see who was coming.
As soon as he saw the exhausted face of Angela, he only wordlessly acknowledged her presence when she sat next to him, the smallest hint of reds made themselves visible on Gill's slightly pale cheeks.
"Good Afternoon to you Gill," Angela greeted brightly, with the blonde nodding his head, building up pride and confidence top acknowledge her bodily.
"Good Afternoon to you as well, Angela," Gill greeted in return, which was a bit odd for the people in the same room to see, because Gill hardly ever greets politely (unless, of course, he was being forced by his father to show proper manners and etiquette), friendly even less. Though that was only because he was annoyed almost all the time, and it was understandable, but to hear him properly greet one of the sources of his annoyances, was an unbelievable but nonetheless noble concept.
Was source of annoyances mentioned already?
Truly, Gill hated a lot of things- Luke, guinea pigs, Luke, whipped cream, Luke, electricity bills, Luke, and the list goes on. But none so common as his recently discovered feelings for the brunette farmer sitting right next to him.
Gill also hated confusion, because next to that, he hated being thrown off guard while still shooting back the lemons towards this thing called life. In other words, he doesn't like to be confused. And since this newfound feeling that we nowadays call love involves qualms (and a lot of them, I might add), he hated it just as much as confusion itself. He hated it even more because of the fact that of all the sources it could come from, it had to be Angela. This was a terribly confusing topic to discuss, because with the fact that Gill hated the feeling so much remaining in the air along with so many more facts, another fact stayed in Gill's mind stated that no matter what the circumstance, Gill could not hate Angela herself.
Why? He didn't know, and he doubts that he ever will. The only thing that Gill could make out of his situation was that the feeling was annoying him to his breaking point.
Sighing once again with indigence, Gill averted his attention back to the real world, hoping Angela didn't notice his irritated sigh.
Unfortunately, his sigh DIDN'T go by unnoticed by his seatmate, and much to his discomfort, Angela prodded him about the matter.
"What's wrong Gill? Is something bothering you?" the farmer asked in a soft voice. Almost forcibly, Gill shook his head while looking at her with a more calm expression than before.
"Nothing is wrong," He replied. "Thank you for worrying," It took a moment before Gill realizes what he had just said to the brunette, and to blush a few shades redder.
Angela gave a light laugh, and her mind drifted off to another world once more.
Gill wasn't at all sure what made him look, but when he attempted to, he found the most beautiful thing he's seen in a while.
Angela's face had a faraway look to it, and who knows what kind of whimsical and mysterious thoughts are going through her head right now. The dim light of the bar reflected against her peach skin, making her look rustic and- in Gill's eyes- wonderful. 'Like a spectacular work of art,' Gill thought, and he just wanted to know, why?
Why, oh why, did she have to be so beautiful?
It was such an unexpected thing to ever cross the mind of anybody who knew him well, that a person like Gill could fall so deep into the never-ending, blissful abyss of adoration?
The spell was broken when, finally, Chase entered the room after a long absence in the kitchen. Gill was no longer aggravated for Chase's lack of punctuality, however. In fact, his arrival made him feel like Chase came to ruin a perfectly good moment between the two. That was not true, but it was, in some ways.
"Sorry it took me so long Gill, Maya burned the oven while I was cooking and I needed to start over," The peach-haired cook apologized to him as he wiped a few drops of sweat from his eyebrows. He nodded acknowledge ably in Angela's direction, who smiled kindly in return.
"It's quite alright," Gill replied rather dismissively. Chase tilted his head in confusion.
"Are you okay Gill? You seem a bit out of character today," Chase asked the blonde. He shook his head.
"I'm fine, really," Gill pressed on further.
Chase was high on doubts about Gill's behavior, but chose to let it slide. He turned to Angela, who had apparently been waiting patiently for Chase.
"You know, you could have just gone in the back," Chase said to her. Angela only smiled broader. Gill could only raise an eyebrow at this.
"I liked it here, and here's your package Chase," Gill watched as Angela handed Chase a small, brown parcel he hadn't noticed before. Chase nodded in thanks to Angela, and disappeared into the kitchen once more.
Angela turned to Gill, and grinned a little. "See you around Gill, I've got errands to run."
And she was gone.
For a fleeting second, Gill felt empty and drained when Angela ran straight out the doors of the inn. She was gone. Sighing dejectedly, he carried on with his long awaited salad.
A smile lit his features for a moment, when he remembers her parting words before leaving the bar. No matter, he can always see her again soon.
Taking a bite out of his salad, Gill began to think about ways on how he can get himself to talk about his adoration for the farmer. Chuckling a bit, he shakes his head, and allowed himself to get lost into the depths of his own mind.
THE END
Author's Note: WOO! Another story done! You know, I actually wasn't supposed to write this, but, hey, I just realized something- I finish one-shots when I don't even plan on writing them. It's that one annoying habit of mine, most of the time it leaves me wondering whether or not my writing skills and productivity patterns even work right.
Anyways, I know this fic needs improvement (I'll try to work on that by the way), so, um, yeah.
Say what you think about this story in the reviews, and I think I can handle flamers for the time being.
Also I do not own Harvest Moon.