Author's Note: Chapter 2! Thank you for reading :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon.. I own nothing :\
Gray was not happy. Ever since the traveler moved into the Inn, his relationship with Ann had been getting harder.
He didn't have his own room at the Inn anymore since he had to share it with the new traveler. There was no Ann laying next to him as he slept each night. It was harder to sneak around and his room was no longer a safe place for them to be.
"Ann, can we please just tell people?" Gray was now asking for the thousandth time.
"No, Gray. I don't want Dad to know." Ann was in the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner one night while Gray watched her work.
"Are you ashamed of me or something?" She stopped washing the dishes and turned toward him with a look of disbelief on her face.
"How could you accuse me of that?" She stared at him with shock on her face. "Is that really what you think Gray?" Gray just turned his gaze away from her, arms crossing over his chest.
"Gray?" Ann said again a little more loudly. "You know that isn't true."
"Do I?" He said more roughly then intended.
"Gray, I love you. I just, if Dad finds out he-"
"Yeah I know, I know." Gray said cutting her off. "I've heard your stupid excuses a million times." He slammed his fist down on the counter making Ann jump. "I'm frustrated Ann. I don't like this. I'm not happy. We either tell people or I'm not doing this anymore."
She was silent as she continued to stare down into the sink. This was the second time Gray had brought up this ultimatum, and it frightened her. The truth of the matter was that there was more of a reason why she still didn't want people to know. It wasn't just her Dad and Gray was right about that. The problem was that she didn't understand what the reason was, or why she felt that way. Something was missing.
Something was always missing.
She felt stupid when she started to cry.
"I don't like how you and Cliff look at each other." Gray said quietly. Ann just shook her head dropping a dish into the water.
"You don't know what you're talking about Gray."
"I'm not an idiot Ann." He looked back over at her, feeling his stomach drop as he watched her cry. If he wasn't so angry, he might have went over and hugged her.
"Well, maybe I don't like how you spend a lot of time at the library with Mary." As soon as the words left her lips Ann regretted them, she would never forget the look on Gray's face.
"What?" He said coldly. "Are you saying you look at my roommate like that because I read at the library when the librarian is present?"
"N-no.." She said as she crossed her arms over herself and looked down.
"Then what are you trying to say Ann?" When she didn't say anything Gray hit the counter again, knocking off a dish and letting it shatter on the floor. "This is stupid. I'll be in my room."
"Gray, wait.." She said as he started to leave. "Please, I.. can we talk about this?"
He looked back at her and pulled his hat down over his eyes again. "Maybe if you were okay with people knowing about us, you could have come up to my room and talked to me about it."
He slammed the kitchen door on the way out.
They hadn't spoken for two weeks when Ann finally caught Gray coming out of the blacksmith's one day.
"We need to talk." She said quickly before he had a chance to say something. "We could go behind the Inn like we used to?" She looked up at him, frightened he would reject her. He stared down at her before he finally pulled his hat down over his eyes and agreed.
Ann was nervous.
Behind the Inn Gray sat down on an old barrel and stared expectantly at her, "Well?"
Right. "I've been thinking a lot Gray. Maybe you're right. People should know about us." She was looking at the ground when she spoke, she missed his worried expression at her words. "That's what would make you happy, right?" When she looked up he had his face in his hands.
"Gray? What's the matter?" He just shook his head, and Ann's stomach did a flip.
"I did something really stupid Ann." He was talking quietly but Ann could hear his words as clear as day. "After a few days of not talking to you... I kind of figured that meant we broke up that one night. You avoided me." He looked up at her, and immediately regretted it. She was so still.
"What did you do Gray?" She asked quietly. She felt like she already knew.
Gray stood up off the barrel and took a few steps towards her, he held out a hand to her. Ann took a step back. "Gray, what did you do?"
"It happened yesterday.." He took his hand back and crossed his arms over his chest. "I was in the library.."
"Did you kiss Mary?" Ann said abruptly, looking at him straight in the eyes. He couldn't hold the eye contact, he turned his head to the side.
"Yes.."
Gray didn't expect her to walk right up to him and slap him across the face. "Now we are officially broken up Gray." She blindly walked away while Gray stayed behind the Inn. He felt frozen to the spot.
The silence around him never seemed so loud before.
Mary was different.
A few seasons after Gray and Ann's break up, Gray was beginning to get closer and closer to Mary. He sometimes felt like he was competing with Ann in the relationship game. He felt like the closer he got with Mary, he couldn't help but notice how much closer Ann and Cliff seemed to get.
Was Ann doing it deliberately?
Cliff was a quiet guy for the most part, and he never dared to bring up the subject of Ann to him. He didn't want Ann to find out and think that he was jealous or something.
He wouldn't admit that to himself, and would leave town before Ann ever found out.
Gray did like Mary though, a lot. They fit perfect together, maybe connected on a different level then he and Ann ever did. They seemed to be able to just look at each other and know what the other was thinking. It was good, if felt like everything was in order when he was around her.
He loved to walk into the library and smell the faint perfume she always wore. He loved catching her by surprise when she was putting books away and stealing a kiss. He loved that everyone knew that she was his girlfriend.
"I met the new guy who took over the farm today." Mary said one day as Gray was skimming through a book about upgrading sickles.
"Oh yeah, Jack right? I met him today too."
"He checked out all my books on farming." Mary said giggling. "He said he was going to read them all by next week." Gray looked up at her smiling.
"He didn't seem to know a lot about farming when I met him. He was asking me if I knew what seeds were in season right now." Mary giggled again.
"He seems nice though, I'm glad someone finally took over the farm."
Her statement brought Gray's memory back to the first time he saw the farm with Ann. That was the first day he had kissed her.
Gray missed her.
"Hey, I'm gonna go." Mary looked up at him confused.
"I don't close for another hour though." She said a little quietly.
"Yeah, I just thought I'd go see if Jack could use some help." It was a little lie. Mary raised one thin eyebrow.
"You? Going out of your way to help?" Gray pulled his hat down over his eyes.
"Hey, I can be a nice guy if I want." Mary just stared back at him with an 'what are you up to' stare.
"Come by the Inn later and I'll buy you dinner?" Gray said quickly. At that Mary laughed, a smile tugging at her lips.
"Alright, see you later." Gray kissed her before he left.
Gray was disappointed when he got to the Inn and didn't see Ann busy cleaning up around the bar. She wasn't in the kitchen. She wasn't in her room. She wasn't cleaning up the empty rooms.
Where was she?
Gray shrugged as he opened the door to his room, thinking it was a stupid idea to try to make peace with her anyway.
He was shocked at what he saw.
Cliff and Ann were kissing on Cliff's bed. They didn't even hear him come in.
It was Cliff who noticed his presence first, and when Ann saw him she jumped off Cliff as if she'd been burned.
"Gray?" She screeched, her voice higher then normal. "What are you doing home so early."
He just stared at her, and then glanced over to Cliff. "Gray?" She said again more loudly and sure of herself.
"Uhm." He said looking between them again. He felt stupider and stupider as the seconds ticked by. "I was.. I wanted to.." Ann and Cliff were just staring at him as if he grew horns on the top of his head.
"I've gotta go.." Gray said slowly, walking back out the door and closing it behind him. He didn't know what to do, and was surprised when he found that he had walked to Jack's farm.
At least he hadn't lied to Mary now, right?
It wasn't until the end of the year that Gray got a real chance to talk to Ann.
It was the 30th of winter, close to midnight. Gray and Mary had wanted to watch the sunrise on the first day of the new year with the rest of the villagers on the summit of Mother's Hill. He wasn't really surprised to see Ann there, the only thing that he found odd was that Cliff was no where to be seen.
He had gotten used to seeing her hanging off his arm everywhere. It was frustrating.
"I feel so bad for Ann." Mary whispered in his ear, "Cliff is leaving town tomorrow."
That was certainly news to him. "Is he coming back?" Gray asked quietly.
"Uhm, no.. I don't think he is." Gray stared over at Ann, he watched her sit at the edge. It always had made him nervous when she did that.
"Mary? Do you mind if I go talk to her for a quick minute?" He looked over at Mary and she just smiled, almost as if she understood the history of which he never spoke of.
"Sure, I wanted to tell Elli something anyway." She kissed his cheek before walking off to find Elli in the crowd of villagers. Gray continued to stare at Ann.
He took a deep breath.
When he stood behind her Ann spoke up. "Hi Gray.." She said without turning to look at him.
"You need some company?" He said quietly, staring at her long red braid. He watched it swing back and forth as she shook her head.
"Ann.. I'm sorry. About, how we ended. I never felt right about it." She looked back at him only enough to show him the profile of her face.
"I know you are Gray.. I see how you look at me. Mary's watching, you know."
"Mary knows I love her Ann." Ann just smiled a sad smile and turned back around. Gray watched as her shoulders began to shake.
His stomach twisted. He didn't mean to make her cry.
"Why is Cliff leaving?" Gray asked quietly. With that Ann Stood up and turned around.
"He can't afford living at the Inn anymore... Duke offered him a job... he says that something is missing here though." She took a step toward him and Gray immediately opened his arms inviting her in. She cried as he hugged her, her familiar smell reminding him of so many memories.
"Even though we aren't together anymore," Gray said quietly into her ear. "You know I'll always be there if you need a friend. I'll beat up Cliff if you want. He's an idiot leaving you." She cried harder into him as she tried to laugh at the same time.
"Thanks Gray." She whispered. She let go of him and wiped her eyes. "I've missed talking with you." She said to the floor.
"I've missed it too Ann." She gave him a small smile.
"Friends?" She said.
Gray pulled his hat down over his eyes as he nodded. "Thanks Gray, I feel a little better... you better get back to Mary though. I'm going to head back to the Inn."
"Be careful Ann." He said.
"I can handle myself." She waved to Mary as she made her way back down the hill, and Mary walked back over to Gray intertwining her hand into his.
"Thank you for understanding Mary." She just smiled.