Three pm came along faster than I'd anticipated—which was saying a lot since I'd been expecting time to fly when I wanted only for it to stay still. It always has a way of doing that. After finishing up the chores I had left to do on the animals, I headed inside and got myself a light snack of yogurt. This morning's encounter had left me without a big appetite but I didn't want to go without eating today because that'd just arouse suspicion in my mom and that was the last thing that I wanted to do.

I grabbed the small container of yogurt and quickly set it down at the table, sitting down in one of the wooden chairs and fishing out a spoon from the nearby drawer. I rubbed circles into my palm to try and heat it up again, I'd never been one for coldness.

"Cheryl tells me you have a date."

I nearly jumped out of my skin, but I'm used to my mom sneaking up on me like that. I'm a bit easily startled some days.

I shook my head and tore off the top of the container. "She's overreacting," I said quickly, though something inside told me otherwise—that perhaps I was the one overreacting in some way. "That new farm girl, Lillian, she just moved in and wants some pointers on taking care of the animals. It isn't anything serious, you know? And it most certainly isn't a date."

"Mm-hmm," my mom responded, her usual indicator that she knew better than to press the issue further. We'd had a few conversations about me in regards to dating and all of them had gone poorly.

I poked at the surface of the pink yogurt, frowning at it as I mentally beat myself up. Why did I always have to worry people? My mom had told me last time that the only reason I didn't have a partner as because I shut myself off from people. I didn't feel like I did but… I felt tears prickling at the edges of my eyes and I quickly wiped them away.

Hadn't Cam said the same thing before he left?

I took a large spoonful of the strawberry-flavored yogurt and stuffed it in my mouth, pushing the bad memory from my mind. He'd made it clear how he thought of me.

"I'm gonna head out after I finish doing dishes," I mumbled to both myself and mom as I finished off the rest of my snack.

My mom leaned over and picked up my spoon, putting it in our sink along with the other dishes from this morning. "No problem, I'll just finish them up. I'll bet Lillian is waiting for you already so you might as well hurry along and go see her."

"Thanks…" I said, standing up and pushing in my chairs. I stared down at the floor for a moment—all that I would allow myself to procrastinate, and then turned around and headed for the door. "I'll be back in about an hour and a half."

My mom nodded once, a confirmation that she had heard me and nothing more.

I picked up my blue lightweight jacket and swung it over my shoulder. It might be cold later with Bluebell's spring air usually being about sixty degrees Fahrenheit and I didn't want to be stuck at some stranger's house without my jacket in case she liked to keep it cold or something.

I walked down the road to where I knew the previously-vacant house was and kept my eyes trained firmly on the ground. I knew that no one would be out at this time since it was just after lunch rush and most everyone had returned to working but I still didn't want to run into anyone and cause trouble. It bothered me that I kept thinking this way but… How did you change something like your own thought process?

Finally I arrived in front of her house. It was small, only one story and, from the looks of it outside, only had one room as well. It was a standard farm house and reminded me of my own back in Bluebell town. It looked as though she didn't want to paint it, either, but that could have been because she just moved in and didn't have time for anything other than taking care of her animals.

I heard some muttered curses coming from the barn and I headed over in that direction, sticking my hands into my jacket pockets and keeping my head low so that my blonde fringe hung over my eyes.

"Ash?" Lillian called out as I entered the barn soon after. "Is that you? Oh thank goddess… I could really use a hand over here."

I blinked up at her. She really could use my help, it seemed. She was nearly backed up against the wall of the barn by the baby cow staring angrily at her as she held the milker in her left hand. I could have facepalmed.

"I can see your problem already," I said, exasperated. "She's not anywhere near full-grown yet! You can't milk a calf, you know." I knew I sounded a bit irritated as I walked towards her and kneeled down next to the angry cow, but really… Wasn't this sort of thing common knowledge?

Lillian flushed, her eyes growing wide. "R-Really? Oh jeeze, I'm even worse at this than I thought."

I looked up at her, suddenly internally panicking as tears welled up in her eyes. How the heck was I supposed to deal with a crying girl? I couldn't even deal with myself when I was crying!

"It's okay," I said quickly, looking back down at the cow and frowning. "I mean every beginner makes mistakes after all and I don't think she'll blame you for long for making them."

"Yeah… It's still pretty embarrassing though, don't you think?" Lillian said. "I don't even know why I'm here sometimes. I may have been better off in Konohana, you know?"

I sighed, standing up as the calf walked off, placated. It looked as though I'd have to help her out with her problems. She really didn't know what she was in for asking me for advice on how to live her life. Still, I needed to do the best I could.

[a/n okay so chap two is done woooooo! It isn't going to be a long story, like just two more chapters I think. Sorry for crappy ending too, I just wanted to finish it up soon and get onto my next writing thing. Ash is a total cutie btwwwww]