Seasons of Jack
Chapter 2 - Dream Girl(s)

AN : So it's been a while, eh? Anyway, here's the second chapter to my story! I hope you like it (though it is kind of lengthy) and I'd really appreciate any comments or reviews. I mean, shoot I love hearing you guys, eh?
Right, so same disclaimer as the first chapter, yadda yadda yadda, and enjoy!


Jack's footsteps could be heard on the smooth cobblestone path of Mineral Town. He slowly walked around, looking at every house he passed by. It was late at night and everyone's house seemed to be dark and empty. He had no idea what he was doing out at this time of night, but he knew where he was going. His feet seemed to have lead him to the Inn. To Ann.

"BAWK BAWK BAWK BAWK"

Jack's eyes shot open as he stared into the face of one of his chickens.

"A dream?"

"BAWK BAWK BAWK BAWK BAKAAWWKK!" It continued to cluck away, jumping ontop of Jack and leaping back onto the floor. Jack quickly tumbled out of bed, his covers tangled around his body, and landed with a loud and painful thud onto the floor.

"What the-" He started to ask before a sharp pain whacked him on the forehead. He then moaned his way up on his feet while squinting. He was definitely having a hang over. He seemed to have forgotten that his chicken was just running around his tiny house, causing such a commotion. He carefully tried to adjust to the brightness in the house, opening one eyelid, then the other.

He stared at himself in the mirror, his slightly pink eyes blinking uneasily back at him. Yep, hungover all right.

Jack rubbed his head as he stared at his chicken, who happens to be named Henna.

"How did you manage to get in here?" He asked as Henne clucked her way out of the house. Jack washed his face and looked back into the mirror, trying not to shake his head too much. He glanced over at the clock. His heart seemed to have stopped.

"ELEVEN O'CLOCK!" He screamed.

He had overslept.

Quickly jumping around his room, putting some clothes on, he cursed himself for drinking too much and staying up too late. He could barely even remember the night before other than having to carry Rick home and giving him a kiss on the cheek. And that obviously didn't help Jack's situation at all.

While buttoning up his jeans, he rushed outside to his farm to get his work done, and seeing that he had wasted his morning, he had a lot of work to do.

Jack stepped out onto his farm and looked up, surprised to see what was in store for him. Insted of the chaos he had imagined up for himself, there were three little Harvest Sprites, whistling and running around his crops. Amongst them were his five chickens, each pecking at the warm soft ground of his farm. His dog was fast asleep under his apple tree. The insane daydream of his farm on fire and his animals running loose wasn't even close to the calm summer day which was playing out in front of him.

With his jaw hanging open and his hand still stuck on his pant button, two soft hands clasped around his eyes.

"Guess who!" The voice asked.

"My gaurdian angel?" Jack answered, half knowing who it was. The hands let go and the young girl swung around in front of him.

"Exactly!" Ann said with a grin. "Good morning, Sleepyhead. Or should I say, good afternoon?"

"What's going on here?" Jack asked still completely amazed at how organized his farm was looking. The three sprites, were whistling and watering his already sprouting plants. One sprite was chasing after the chickens trying to get them back in their fenced area. Near the shipping bin, his daily foraging was already done and neatly placed, waiting for Zack to come by to pick it up.

"I came by earlier this morning and saw how knocked out you are. I asked these guys for some help to get some of your morning chores done." Ann smiled up at Jack, placing her hands at her hips. She was wearing her regular overalls today but her hair was tied up and she wore a bandana. Her usual outfit for when she had a crazy cleaning day at the Inn.

"I dont' know what to say." Jack said with a slight laugh as he crossed his arms.

"You can say thank you."

Jack smiled and reached around her for a hug. "Thank you." He said, slightly picking her up. Her body was light enough for Jack to pick up and swing around. Ann laughed and threatened for Jack to put her down or else she'll send the Sprites home and he'd hav to do the rest of it himself. In complete surrender he set her down and kissed her on the forehead. A bold move for him. With that, Ann couldn't help but blush and stutter a bit before stating she still had to finish feeding his livestock in the barn. Jack agreed to let her go to work so that Jack can tend to his horse, Emrios.

"I dreamt about you last night." Jack looked up at Ann with a smile. The two of them had decided to eat lunch under the slightly budding apple tree. Quiet swishing of the water in the fish pond was heard, along with the soft rustle of the leaves from the tree. Ann was resting her back against the tree and her legs crossed in front of her. She had let her hair down and was tying it into it's normal braid. Jack was lying down on the grass with his head resting on her lap.

"Oh did you?" She asked with a smile, her dazzling blue eyes looking down at him. Jack nodded. "So does that make me your dream girl?"

Before Jack could answer a voice came singing from the entrance of the farm. Propping himself up onto his elbows, Jack squinted toward the gate trying to make out who it was. Then laughter was heard and Ann couldn't help but sit up to find out who it was as well.

"Look at you two! Making out under the tree! Should we leave you two alone?" That voice could only belong to one girl.

"Oh shut up, Karen." Ann laughed as she got up to her feet. Jack followed and fixed his hat on his head.

"We knew you'd be here, but we didn't know what would be going on." The second voice said, whom belonged to another young girl named Popuri. She had brilliant Pink hair and seductive red eyes. She was gorgeous, probably the most prettiest girl in Mineral Town. Dumb as a brick, though.

"Mhmm." Karen winked, her green eyes laughing mockingly at Jack.

"What do you two want?" Jack asked playfully.

"Yeah, can't you see we're busy?" Ann joked, throwing an arm around Jack's waist. Jack welcomed her hold with an arm around her shoulders.

Karen smirked and crossed her arms, examining the two before stating her business. "Your father wouldn't let Popuri and I eat at the Inn without calling you over first. He wants you for something."

"Yeah, he told us you'd be here, but he didn't know you were going to be here all day." Popuri said in a sing-song-tattle-tale voice.

A worried expression flashed accross Ann's face as she looked over to Jack, apologizing. Apparently she wasn't planning to stay all day, and time just seemed to have flew by. Jack thanked her again with a hug and re-assured her that he wasn't dissapointed at all and was more than happy to spend the day with her. Popuri went to walk Ann back to the Inn, leaving Karen and Jack alone on the farm.

As Jack watched the two girls walk off, Popuri giggling nonstop, he sort of had a dazed look as Ann shot one last look toward him before turning the corner. Jack was lost in some sort of daydream.

"Hey, loverboy." Karen snapped him out of it, waving her hand in front of his face. Jack shook his head before looking over at Karen, who seemed to have a sly grin on her face.

"Oh, stop it." Jack said, embarassed. He continued with his chores, which consisted of bringing his horse back into the stable and bidding the Sprites goodbye. Everything that needed to be done that day was already done, thanks to Ann.

"Did you kiss her yet?" Karen asked, her hands shoved into her vest pockets. Though nosy she may be, Jack couldn't think of anyone else to talk to about his amazing day.

"No.You and Miss Ditzy came by to ruin everything." Jack took his horse, Emrios, and walked toward his stable.

The stable was small, and slightly warm due to the Summer heat. Jack opened a few windows to let the cool night air in while Karen explained what Ann's father, Doug, asked her and Popuri to do in the first place. While filling up his horse's water trough, Jack half-listened and half daydreamed.

"So, Doug mentioned that Ann came over to give you breakfast this morning and she hadn't come back since. You can figure out what Doug was thinking then." She laughed while petting Emrios before her laughter died down. She caught a glimpse of Jack not paying attention and overfilling the water trough. "Wow. You've really got it in for her. Haven't you?" She said, letting Emrios chew away at his oats bag.

"Hm? Oh. Yeah, I don't know, Karen. I've even been having dreams about her!" Jack said, slumping down onto the edge of the trough. "It's like, I can't stop thinking about her, you know?"

"No, I don't know." Karen said, sitting next to him.

"You haven't felt like that with Rick?"

Karen let out a laugh before answering. "Jack, it's Rick we're talking about." Jack didn't answer, he didn't see a reason for it to be any different. "I'm not like you. I don't like 'floating on cloud nine' if you know what I mean." She continued.

"Karen, I don't think you're even capable of floating. You'd probably trample all over cloud nine." Jack let out a laugh, which forced Karen to laugh along with him. The laughter died down suddenly when Karen realized that Jack was right. There wasn't a romantic bone in her body. Jack noticed this and nudged her. "Hey, that's not really a bad thing. I'm pretty sure you'd find a guy who'd hate for you to be completely mushy, and kissy, and rosey, and perfect."

"Yeah, Jack, thanks!" Karen scoffed sarcastically before letting out another laugh.

"Right, so let's go get a drink. Whaddya' say?" Jack said fixing his cap once again.

Karen thought for a moment before getting up. "Yeah sure." As she got to her feet she placed her hand on Jack's shoulder and pushed him backward into the water trough, causing him to yelp and squeal from the cold of the water. Laughter, snorting, and a few curse words later, Jack and Karen made their way to the Inn.

After every few steps, Jack had to stop and ring his jeans from the water soaked into it. Karen had to stop every few steps to laugh and point at him, and reffer to a urinating joke.

"Karen, could you cut that out?" Jack said after the sixteenth joke, which even got Stu laughing along.

"Fine, fine." Karen said, holding up her hands as if she surrendered. Though letting out a snort every once in a while. She honestly didn't expect the poor guy to get that wet.

As the two approached the Inn, there seemed to be a buzz of laughter heard from a far. Not the usual drunk older men laughter, but familiar voices. Karen and Jack exchanged looks before rushing over to the door and bursting open.

A warm scene welcomed the two. The Inn was glowing a soft orange from all the lights and the fireplace in the corner. A table in the center of the Inn filled with all of Mineral Town's young people all gathered together in some sort of celebration. Popuri was there finishing a shot which Gray had challeneged her to drink. Mary was giggling quietly with her hand gently clasped around Gray's hand. Gray and Mary were an item even before Jack came to Mineral Town. Though Mary is as shy as a rosebud in spring, she was incredibly intelligent and such a sweetheart. Gray on the otherhand was mysterious and reserved, and could only be drawn out with Mary by his side. Elli was the only one their age who wasn't there, but everyone knew that Elli wouldn't be considered their age at all. She was very mature for her age. Constantly taking care of her sick grandmother and little brother, it's understandable why she spends most of her time working and at home. (Or with the doctor. Coughcough.) Popuri had downed another shot which sent Rick, her highly over protective brother, fuming and flailing his arms about how careless she was being. That anger quickly subdued when he caught a glimpse of Karen walking into the room.

Karen sighed, walking up behind him to give him a right smack behind the neck, telling him to not overreact so much. Gray finished applauding Popuri for her tremendous effort. Ann was nowhere to be seen. Before Jack could utter a word, a hard slap was thrown onto his back with a familiar salty scent. Jack turned around and smiled at his old friend, Kai.

"Heya, stranger." Kai said with a wink. Jack threw an arm around him.

"Hey, Man! I've been meaning to see you at the beach!" Jack laughed, forgetting Ann momentarily. Kai was a welcomed face in the village, though he only came once a year. He comes for the summer claiming that he hates the cold weather. Kai is known as a charmer, a ladies man, or as Rick would call it: trouble. His good looks and suave ways is always mentioned from one village to the next. Why Jack and Kai get along is beyond anyone. Jack is normally such a shy guy when it comes to girls, it took Karen a good week of constant beating to get him to finally talk to Ann. "LOOK AT WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED IN!" Jack yelled to everyone before approaching the table.

Everyone turned around and all yelled a greeting toward the two best friends, except for Mary who just shyly waved and barely uttered a hello. Kai saluted playfully before offering to challenge Karen in a drinking game. Kai seemed to be the only one who had the guts to challenge her and loose to her without getting drunk, which obviously earns respect from Karen.

Karen slammed down her fifth shot before glancing up at Kai who was still downing his fifth. "I win." she said with a tipsy smile, her green eyes sparkling at him. Kai wiped off his mouth with his sleeve then let out a hiss before turning to Jack, who was in charge of pouring the shots.

"How bout you, buddy? You want to have a go at it?" Kai asked, throwing an arm around his shoulder.

"No, it looks like he's had a lot to drink already." Karen blurted out, pointing at Jack's pants, which were still wet. Jack had forgotten all about it and everyone didn't seem to notice until Karen pointed it out. Everyone howled with laughter. Even Mary let out her beautiful laugh without covering her mouth. Jack shamelessly nodded and stood up, showing off his wet buttocks.

"Let's see a dance!" Popuri yelled out, standing up and cheering. Everyone else started to chime in as well, and Kai even cleared the table for him. Jack was already tipsy enough, so he decided to get a leg up onto the table and jokingly danced to the music that the gang was horribly singing for him. Karen started to pick up a bottle of wine to pour onto him before she realized something was wrong. Jack had stopped dancing.

His gaze was diverted to top of the Inn's steps on the second floor. Ann was standing there talking to another guy. A guy that Jack has never seen before. The gang still hadn't noticed, but Karen did so she tugged on Jack's leg motioning him to get down from the table. But he just stood still.

Ann and the mystery guy walked down the steps, laughing and giggling. Jack couldn't help but feel completely jealous. There was an unusal pain that shot inside his chest. He was angry, he was sad, he was dissapointed, all the common symptoms of jealousy. Who was this guy? That question rang within each breath he took.

This new guy had on a tattered brown leather jacket, and he had a 'traveler's feel to him. His dark brown hair was spiked and somewhat messy. Whoever this guy was, Jack was just not liking him. As Ann and the guy walked toward the group, Jack remained still ontop of the table. The group had finally realized what was going on and they also grew silent.

"I can't explain it, I just love to clean." Ann said to the guy, laughing at herself before turning to see Jack. "Oh my God!" She let out a loud laugh. "Jack? What on earth are you ---" Before she could finish, Jack was already off of the table and had stormed outside. The group remained quiet, and an awkward silence had filled the entire Inn. (Except for Doug who had been humming away quietly to himself as he cleaned his bar.)

It only took a moment for Ann to realize what had just happened, despite Jack dancing on the table. "Cliff, could you excuse me for a moment?" She said to the new guy. And with that, Ann rushed outside of the Inn. Cliff looked around at the other guys and noticed Kai staring hard at Cliff, then Popuri challenged Cliff to a few shots.

"What's the matter, Jack?" Ann asked sternly as she spotted him pacing in front of the Inn.

"Nothing! Everything is PERFECTLY fine." Jack said with a sarcastic laugh. "Why? Honey? Is something wrong?"

"You're damn right something's wrong." Ann said placing her hands on her hips. "Now what's your problem?

"Pfft. Nothing." He said, waving his hands around, obviously a little drunk. "I just saw the girl of my dreams chatting away with some guy I don't even know, laughing and chatting."

"And I saw you dancing ontop of a table with pee running down your pants!"

"IT WASN'T ---" Jack began to defend himself before he collapsed onto the floor.

"Jack!" Ann rushed over to him and helped him sit up. "Oh my God, Jack." She sighed heavily. Jack took a moment to regain conciousness before deciding to speak again. He could feel the alcohol rushing to his head already, he had already lost control of his legs.

"Ann.. that guy..." was all he managed to say before feeling his lunch, his two beers and six shots come up to his throat. Ann already knew what this was about, and she couldn't help but feel slight satisfaction in his jealous. She smiled slightly before looking over at Jack.

"What about him? Why would he bother you so much?" Ann asked, fishing for an answer she just wanted to hear. While the two of them sat together on the floor, Jack just stared blankly at her, while Ann held his hands. He didn't really want to admit he was jealous, he wanted to be a man. Though drunk as it may seem, Jack knew what Ann was trying to do. But looking into her soft blue eyes, he couldn't help but tell her all.

"I don't know. It's just." Jack took a deep breath and looked away for a second, as if trying to find the right words. "You... I like you. A lot." Ann smiled and bit her bottom lip, then Jack continued. "And, seeing you talking to some other guy like that.. drives me crazy." When Jack looked up at her, she already had a smile on her face. That's when he knew that she felt exactly the same way. The next move just seemed to seal the deal.

Ann leaned over and kissed him. Gently pressing her lips against his. Jack, though loaded with alcohol, returned the kiss with his hand reaching up to her cheek.

The moment their kiss broke, a loud thud was heard at the Inn doors.

"Well, well, well." Karen grinned, crossing her arms. "Look at what we have here."

Ann quickly straightened up with a slight blush in her cheeks. Jack was still sitting there, one eye open staring at the door and his lips still puckered out. Moments later the others started to come out and caught sight of the action. Teasings and tauntings occured and a blushing Ann yelled at everyone to go home.

Gray and Mary had started off to walk home while Popuri tried to wake Rick up off of the floor. Cliff was standing nearby and offered to help carry Rick home, which Popuri flirtatiously accepted the offer. Kai appeared behind Karen and took one look at Jack still with hearts in his eyes sitting indian style on the floor. Karen and Kai exchanged looks and both agreed to walk to guy home. Ann rushed back inside the house to her upset father, wondering why were they out of their liquor so fast. A last kiss from Ann and Kai and Karen each took Jack's arms to help him home.

Jack's footsteps could be heard on the smooth cobblestone path of Mineral Town. He slowly walked around, looking at every house he passed by. It was late at night and everyone's house seemed to be dark and empty. He had no idea what he was doing out at this time of night, but he knew where he was going. His feet seemed to have lead him to the Inn. To Ann.

As Jack reached for the door of the Inn it, they burst open so suddenly and with a loud thud.

"Well, well, well." Karen grinned, crossing her arms. "Look at what we have here."