Raye's Magical Melody
Chapter 2
Alex's Question
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Here's chapter two. I hope you read it and I hope you like it. And if you feel like it then let me know what you think about the story so far. So here's chapter two.
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"Mmm," Raye said as she took a bite of the cheesecake Katie had sat down in front of her. "This is better than usual. Did you do something different to it today, Carl?"
The young man smiled from behind the counter. "Nothing different. I guess it's just been a while since you've been here," he said.
She shrugged and took another bite. "Sorry about that," she told him. "I've just been so busy these days. I have a lot to do, you know. But I'll try to come in more."
Carl laughed. "You have been working hard. Did you do some training to prepare for the Beach Festival? You blew the competition away!"
Raye laughed, too. "No, I didn't try to prepare for it at all. But I did like the look on Jamie's face when he lost to me. Especially since he likes to rub it in my face whenever he beats me!"
Katie sat in the chair across from her and Carl had come out from behind the counter. "You know, nobody was ever able to beat him before you came to town," he told her. "But now you're always giving him a run for his money. If you aren't careful, I think he might fall in love with you."
Raye almost choked on the piece of cake she was starting the swallow. Katie patted her on the back and handed her something to drink. "Are you trying to kill her, Carl?" Katie asked, only half joking.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "Raye, are you okay? I'd be so sad if you got hurt because of me."
"I'm okay," Raye told him. "I doubt he'd fall in love with me of all people. He's my rival after all. Besides that, I don't think I'm much of a catch."
Carl shot her a look that clearly said he thought she must be crazy. "Raye, don't you know that all the guys around here are crazy about you? Even the girls, though not in the same way, I'm sure. But you shouldn't think that way, you're a great catch!"
Raye blushed and looked away. It was true that she had very strong feelings for Alex. But it was also true that Carl could make her heart beat erratically, too. He was always encouraging her and making her feel good. And the cakes he baked and tea he made could always make her feel replenished after a long day of work. But she was sure that he was nothing more to her than a really good friend.
Carl felt like slapping himself on the head. He hadn't meant to say so much. But he was lucky that he hadn't said more. If he'd said more, then he would have told her that he was crazy about her, too. Did she have any idea? He doubted she did.
She was smart, but she wasn't always the most perceptive person. Besides that, he saw the way she looked at Alex from time to time. He had nothing against the good doctor, and these days he found himself being drawn to Ellen, actually. But even if him and Raye couldn't be together, he still wanted to support her as her friend.
"Thanks Carl," Raye said as she finished off her cheesecake, a look of pure bliss surfacing on her face. It made him feel good to know that the cake he baked made her feel the way it did.
"Next time you should try some of the cake that I make," Katie ventured. "I work really hard on it, but for some reason Carl never tries it."
Carl's face went pale as all of the color left it and Raye had to resist the urge to laugh. She'd never tried Katie's cake before, but Carl had once and only once. And he'd told her about it after that. Raye didn't think she'd ever try it after the story that Carl had told her.
"Maybe I will," Raye had said. "Though I'm just so addicted to Carl's cake that I'm not sure I'd be able to do it."
Katie laughed as she stood up. "So far the only person other than Carl who has tried my cake is Joe. But he looked like he might be sick after he ate it. But I don't know why."
Raye didn't really want to leave. She always felt so comfortable when she came to this place. But it was getting late and she had to get to sleep early. She had a lot of work to do if she planned on going to the Star Festival in a couple of days.
"Well guys, I have to go now," Raye said as she stood up. "I'll see if I can come back tomorrow, too."
"Okay. Take care," Katie said as she cleared off the table.
"Bye Raye," Carl said with a strange look on his face.
She didn't take the time to ponder his expression as she hurried out of the door. The Star Festival was actually an event for couples. She hadn't even gone last year. But this year, she wanted to go, even if it meant going alone. This was only her second year in Flower Bud Village, but she'd never felt more at home anywhere. It hadn't taken her long to get on her feet, though, and she'd made some great friends.
After leaving Cafe Calloway, she'd headed over to the Spring Farm to buy some more seeds. She was heading over toward the nearby bridge when she saw Eve standing there, staring out over the water.
"Hey Eve," she said as she smiled brightly at her friend, probably her best friend.
"Raye!" she said cheerfully as she redirected her attention. "How are you?"
"Good, good," she said. "You look a little sad."
Even shook her head. "I do?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?"
"I wanted to go to the Star Festival, but I can't. I have to do some work that night."
Raye leaned against the bridge and gave Eve her full attention. "But I thought that Moonlight cafe was closed on holidays. Why would you be working?"
Eve shook her head yet again. "Oh, you're right. It is closed. But Uncle and I have a few things to take care of to insure that the cafe keeps running smoothly. It's simple, really, but I won't be done in time to take part in the festival."
"I'm sorry," Raye said. "I'd be sad if I had to miss it, too."
Eve seemed to brighten up suddenly. "Speaking of the festival, are you going with anybody this year?"
Raye blushed and looked away. This only served to perk Eve up even more. "No," she replied. "I was planning on going alone like you were. But if somebody asked me, then I might go with them."
Eve nodded, as if what Raye had said made sense to her. She sighed and looked at her reflection in the water. But she suddenly cheered up again. "So who would you like to ask you to go with them?" Eve asked.
It was Raye's turn to sigh. That was easy to answer, wasn't it? The second she heard that question, the dark eyes of a gentle doctor flashed through her mind. But she shook her head to dispel her thoughts.
"Any friend of mine would be fine. I always have fun when I'm around them, so I'm not going to pick and choose."
"You're not fooling me," Eve said with a knowing grin. "But I'll take your answer anyway. Well, I guess you were on your way home, weren't you?"
Raye nodded. "Yeah, I was. I had some of the best cheesecake ever and then I went to buy some seeds. But it's getting late and I have a lot of work to do if I want to be able to attend the Star Festival. So I think I have to go."
"Okay," Eve said. "I'll see you soon. Stop by Moonlight cafe soon if you can. But you think about my question some more. You know, the one about who you would like to ask you."
"I will," Raye said. "Hey Eve, I think that I can see Dan out in the orchard over there. You'd better go say hi before he runs off somewhere."
It didn't surprise her to see Eve run off with a quick wave in the direction of Paradise Orchard. Raye sighed. Eve was so pretty. Raye wished that she could be a little more like her sometimes. Any guy could easily fall for her. But she remembered Carl's encouraging words and smiled and she continued on her way home.
The next day she worked pretty hard. Her corn and tomatoes were ready to be harvested at the same time. So that meant that she had to do a whole lot of shipping and a whole lot of watering. And on top of that, she had the rest of her crops to tend to and she even had to take care of her animals. By the time she finished shipping off the last tomato, she was exhausted. But she pulled the brush out of her sack and went over to say hello to her animals.
They all seemed happy today, as usual, and she made quick work of brushing all of them. After that she milked her cows. She was surprised to see that they all gave her special milk today. She must have been doing something right since they seemed to be doing so well. So she took the milk over to the corner of the barn and put them in their respective machines, shipping off the cheese and butter and left one of them as milk and shipped that off, too.
She wiped the sweat off her forehead and said bye to the animals before she headed over to the check on her chickens. They all gave her special eggs. This was turning out to be a strange, but good day for her. She even hummed herself a little tune as she walked down the road, even if she was very tired. She was wobbling a little as she walked toward her house, feeling as if she would faint. She wasn't too surprised when everything started to go black and she began to fall over.
And that was when she felt somebody catch her. But she knew before she even opened her eyes who it was. This warmth, the comfort, there was only one person who gave her that feeling. She opened her eyes and looked up at Alex. He had a disapproving yet concerned look on his face as he helped her over to the clinic. She sat down on the bed and waited for him to retrieve whatever kind of medicine it was he was going to give her.
He returned with a glass of something and sat it down before he reached up and felt her head. She felt hot from overexerting herself. "You've been working too hard again," he commented suddenly.
"I'm sorry," she told him. "I just have a lot to do today so that I don't have too much to do tomorrow."
"Oh. The Star Festival is tomorrow. You really want to go, don't you?"
She nodded. "Yes, you know I do. So I don't want to have a lot of work to do because I don't want to be tired when I get to the festival."
"Drink that," he said as he handed her the glass. "It'll restore some of your strength and wake you up a bit."
She took the glass and did as he told her, not surprised that he was right and that she felt much better by the time she drained the glass.
"So do you feel better now?" he asked her.
She nodded. "Yes, you always make me feel better," she told him. "Thank you Doctor."
"You're welcome. Just don't work too hard, okay? I worry about you when I see you like that. So try to take better care of yourself."
"I know, I know. I'll try not to work myself too hard. I'll see you later Alex."
With a jaunty wave, she left the clinic. He was always sad to see her go. He couldn't help the unhappy expression that surfaced on his face.
"You know," Martha said as she came out of one of the rooms. "You should ask her to go with you to the Star Festival!"
Alex blushed. "W-What are you talking about?" he said, flabbergasted.
"She loves festivals and you love her. Come on Doctor. Have some fun for once and take a chance. I'm older than you and I get out more."
He sighed. Martha was always acting like that when it came to him and Raye. But she didn't have to put that idea in his head. He had already been thinking about asking Raye to go to the festival with him for a while now. He was just trying to gather up the courage to do it.
He didn't want to ask her and then for her to turn him down or to say she was going with someone else. But she really wanted to go this year. He'd seen her when she decided not to go last year. Raye had looked so lonely. And he also had to admit that he wanted to be the one to make that loneliness go away this time, if she'd let him.
Raye yawned as she woke up and stretched. She'd left the clinic and gone home to get herself a good night's sleep. Feeling refreshed, she was happy that she didn't have too much work to do today. She supposed that working herself to death had been worth it. And seeing Alex also definitely made it worth it.
Turning on the television, she watched Mayor Theodore talk about how the Star Festival was that night and then she changed the channel to see Nami talk about how the weather would be today. It would be another nice day. She was very excited for some reason. She had a feeling that she was going to have a great time.
Edward her puppy and Gutchan her pig scrambled at her feet. Going over to her kitchen, she pulled something out for them to eat and played with them a little while before she grabbed her rucksack and made sure she had what she needed in it. She sat it down on the nearby table, though, when she heard a knock at her door.
She walked over to the door and opened it. But she didn't expect to see who was standing there. "Alex, good morning. What brings you over?" she asked cheerfully.
"Morning," the doctor said rather bashfully. She loved it whenever she saw him like that. "I. . .um. . .I actually came over here to ask you something. Do you. . .have time?"
For some reason, she suddenly felt very nervous. Her heart began to beat faster and faster. Why was he here right now? Could it be that he wanted to ask her to the Star Festival? No, it couldn't be. She dismissed that idea right away. Though she really wished that it would happen. "Of course I have time for you Alex. So what did you want to ask me?"
"You see. . .Raye, I was wondering if you'd like to go to the Star Festival with me."
She stood there, speechless. She stared at him, trying to make sense of what he'd just said. He must have taken her silence the wrong way because he seemed to get a little flustered. But she finally put everything together in her head. Alex was standing in front of her house and he'd just asked her to go to the Star Festival with him. It really just happened?
"Raye?"
His voice broke through her thoughts and she nodded happily. "Yes! I'll definitely go with you," she told him. "I'll go."
He smiled at her, relief evident on his face. "Great! I'll meet you in the town square later, okay?"
"That sounds good," she told him. "I'll see you later."
Alex hurried away back to his clinic and she shut the door and fell back against it. Alex just asked her to go to the Star Festival with him. She pinched herself. Yep, it wasn't a dream. Suddenly, she felt completely energized. She grabbed her rucksack off the table and ran out of her house, determined to get all of her work done early so that she could take her time to get ready for the festival. It was a date, wasn't it? A date with Alex. . .
Alex shot Martha a disapproving look. The elderly woman had spied on him, hadn't she? And she'd made it known the second he'd stepped into the clinic.
"So you and Raye are going on a date, are you?" Martha said excitedly. "She's a wonderful young woman. She'll make a great wife for you. Congratulations Doctor. Now you go out and have a great time tonight, okay? And don't come back too early or else I'll think that your date didn't go too well. You should think about dressing up for the occasion. It'll help you make a good impression. You should start getting ready right now. I'll go get Gina and we'll help you. You're very disorganized anyway, you're going to need some help. . ."
"Martha!" Alex said as he put his hand over her mouth and removed it when she fell silent. "I realize that you're trying to help, but I think I'll be okay on my own. I'll be okay, really."
She smiled at him and nodded. "Okay, I think you'll be alright. You just be sure to have a good time, okay? You deserve it."
"Okay, I will," he assured her.
She seemed satisfied with his answer since she left him alone. . .for the time being. People may have thought that Martha was a quiet little lady, but she was a completely different person when she was around him.
He glanced out of his window and saw Raye finishing up working in the field next to her house. He smiled. It was still so early in the day. But he was sure that in no time at all, he'd be meeting her in the square. And that thought was enough to get him through the rest of the day.
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