Disclaimer: We don't own Harvest Moon, but we both have several of the games

Ok, chapter 2 is up! Enjoy!

Note: 'Words like this, that are italicized and with apostrophe's on the ends, are thoughts'

"Words like this, not italicized and with quotation marks on the ends, are speech."

Words in bold are emphasized.


Tim walked out of Rock's bedroom. 'That good-for-nothing boy. His mom and I run this inn and provide for him, and he goes around daydreaming about girls all the time. He better get up and go help those new folks like I told him to.' Tim was lost in his thoughts and didn't notice the girls coming down the stairs. It was only as they stepped out the door that he realized Nami was awake. 'It's not even 8 o'clock yet! Is there something wrong? It doesn't look like there is anything wrong. I'd better ask though. I've never seen Nami up at this time.' The door had slammed shut as these thoughts came to him, so he ran the short distance to the door and opened it. "Nami!"

Nami whirled around at the sound of her name. 'Oh, it's just Tim. I wonder what he wants.' "Oh hey Tim. What do you need?" 'Please save me from having to meet the neighbors' she silently pleaded. Social skills were not her strong point, and she couldn't seem to catch Celia's excitement about meeting new people, no matter who they are.

"Is something wrong?" Tim looked genuinely concerned.

"Um… no, why do you ask?"

Celia joined in the conversation. "He wants to know why you're even alive at this time in the morning, duh!"

Nami stuck her tongue out at her friend, and then turned to answer Tim. "Well Celia seems to get overly hyper when someone of the opposite sex moves to Forget-Me-Not, and she decided that I have to share her excitement. I'll find a way to get her back though!" Nami gave a small smile then turned away to continue the walk to the old farm. "See ya later!" She yelled back towards the inn.

'That girl. She's changed so much in the past 8 months. Well at least around Celia, Ruby, and I. She still has a hard time opening up to others though. Where is Rock? I've got to tell him to get over to River Crossing and see what kind of competition he has. That ought to get him out of bed.' Tim went over to his son's door and opened it, only to find that Rock hadn't budged at all from before. "Rock, get out of bed! It seems that the girls of Forget-Me-Not have a few more choices now!"

xXx

Nami glanced at Celia, who was walking slightly ahead of her. An overwhelming sense of panic began to rise in her stomach. 'I really don't want to meet these people, no matter who they are. I have to get away. But how?' Get her talking said a small voice in her head. 'Yes, that's it. But what to talk about? I've got it!' "So, Celia, you already met these guys, right?"

"Um..." Celia gave an embarrassed look at her friend. 'Should I tell her?' "I don't think that "met" is the right word. I mean, I know that there are two of them, brothers. I guess I don't really know if they're twins. Marlin only said that they were the Rivers brothers, and when I asked how old, he said 23. I guess I just assumed that they were twins since he only gave one age. They might not even be twins, or if they are, they might not be identical." A pebble rolled in front of her. 'Nami must've kicked it. How much more should I tell?' "I've only seen one, and I know he's hot. He has these gorgeous brown eyes. If the other brother has only half his looks we'll be in luck. Of course if we're really lucky they'll be identical twins!"

Nami had listened for only a few seconds, and then kicked a pebble up the road a bit to show she was still there. Celia could talk forever, but if you didn't stick around before she really got going then she noticed right away. Nami walked backwards a few steps, and then ran over to the grass to silence her steps. 'If I can just make it to Turtle Swamp, I'll be safe... good thing she's a little ditzy.'

"I never knew that a guy could look so hot in just jeans and a t-shirt. And his name. Shane. So citified yet so wild. I call Shane! Unless his brother's hotter, of course!" Celia giggled. 'Man, Nami is being awfully quiet. Oh well, that's just how she is, especially when it comes to this kind of stuff. I need to encourage her though! What to say...' "Well we'll have to see their personalities too though. I mean, I know that looks aren't all that counts. With my luck you'll get the hotter guy!" she teased to her friend.

xXx

"Shane, get in here with those dishes! I want to get them all put away!" Chrissy yelled out the door to her brother, pushing her honey-blonde bangs out of her eyes for the umpteenth time. 'Honestly, what's taking him so long? The box isn't that heavy!' Lost in her thoughts, she jumped back when a large shadow stepped in front of her. She jumped back, and then looked up to see her brother. "Oh there you are," she murmured.

"Yeah, and can you please get out of the way. I can't hold these boxes forever." Shane grunted and stepped through the door as his sister moved out of the way. "Jordan, come help me take these upstairs. I won't be able to balance them by myself." He looked over at his sister. "I think the dishes are on the top. Get 'em off here will ya?" He asked, bending down slightly so she could reach.

She found the box marked 'Dishes --- Kitchen' and grabbed it off the top. It was heavier than she expected. "Why'd you bring in so many at a time?"

"Because the more boxes I bring, the less trips I take. The less trips I take, the more time I have to go find that cute girl." Shane grinned at his sister, daring her to comment on his reasoning. She hesitated, about to say something, but then just rolled her eyes.

"Huh what? A cute girl? Where?" Jordan asked as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "Just put those boxes on the floor there, we'll take them up later. Either that or we can procrastinate and Chrissy will do it for us, right?" He winked at his sister, who had an annoyed look on her face.

"Sure I will. I mean, honestly, I just have all the time in the world, right? No matter that I have to go back to the city tonight. And all you two can think about is girls. That's a surprise." Chrissy started arranging the kitchen, turning around to hide the tears in her eyes. 'I can't believe they are actually moving.'

"Uh, yeah, let's go finish getting the boxes from the moving truck and I'll tell you about that girl." Shane put the boxes down and headed out the door, waiting for his brother to follow. As they walked towards the truck, he began to describe the brunette. "Man, she was hot. She had this gorgeous brown hair and her eyes man, her eyes were to die for. She was wearing a long skirt and a normal shirt, but it looked good on her. Not all weird and frumpy looking like the girls in the city." Shane turned to his brother, only to notice that Jordan was staring off towards the town. "Whatcha looking at?"

"Um, I think I found your brunette" Jordan said with a smile on his lips. He pointed down the hill to a brown-haired girl walking on the path below. "That her?"

xXx

"Nami!" 'Crap, he noticed me!' Nami thought. As she ran towards Turtle Swamp, she saw Cody sitting at the edge of the pond. He was just sitting there thinking, it looked like. Nami had decided to go to the beach instead to try to avoid him. But now that he noticed her... 'Well, I could just pretend I didn't hear him. Yeah, that's what I'll do. The sooner I can get out of Celia's sight the better.'

...how long they'll be here." Celia stopped talking when she heard a distant voice calling her friend. It sounded like Cody. 'He likes Nami so much, why does she act so rude to him?' She didn't notice the two pairs of brown eyes watching her from up the hill.

Celia turned around to tell Nami to at least be nice to Cody. It was only then she noticed her friend wasn't there. She glanced down the hill, the direction that the voice had come from, just in time to see a red head of hair disappearing toward the beach. 'I can't believer her! Why does she always run away from stuff like this? I should've know she'd try something.' Celia leapt into a sprint, determined to bring her friend back, but her long skirt kept tearing at her legs. 'Uggh, I like wearing skirts, but they're a little inconvenient at a time like this.' She pulled her skirt up past her knees, willing to do whatever possible to get Nami back up here quickly. Her legs were finally free, and nobody saw her anyway. Most people in town were either off to work already, or wouldn't be out at this time in the morning. 'Except Cody' a nagging thought came to her. 'Oh well, he'll just have to deal. I need to find Nami.'

xXx

Unbeknownst to Celia, "her" hot guy had watched this scene from afar. Jordan was doubled over in laughter, partly because of the girl's behavior, and partly because of the shocked expression his twin wore. "Stop that" Shane growled at him. "Come on, we have more boxes to unpack. Chris can't do it all herself." He stalked off, but his mind wasn't on the move. No, it was definitely still occupied with the girl, but now different thoughts came to him. 'When she didn't speak this morning, I just thought she was shy. But I just saw her talking --- to herself. And then she spun around with that... that confused/surprised look on her face, and then ran off down the hill. And when she lifted up her skirt we could practically see her underwear! It might've been... sexy in a different situation, but that was just embarrassing. Hold up...! I don't even know the girl.' He grabbed a few boxes from truck and started back to the house as his thoughts continued. 'Just my luck. My parents force me to move out to some farm in the boonies, and I find hotter girls there than in the city. Now I find out that the girls here are loony. Mom and Dad probably knew that, and sent us here for torture.' He walked in the door with a scowl on his sweat-laden face.

Chrissy spun around to see who had come in the door. It was just Shane. 'Wait, what's he mad about? I thought he was all excited about that girl…' "What's wrong with you?" 'Maybe Jor stole the girl from him... hehe.' She struggled to keep the smile off her face and waited for an answer.

'She's been crying' he realized, seeing remnants of tears on her cheeks. His face slightly softened until he heard her question. "I'm taking these boxes upstairs," he said harshly. 'What's she smiling about anyway?'

"Lunch will be ready soon!" She called, hoping to get his mind off of whatever was bothering him. "What kind of sandwich do you want?"

xXx

As Celia neared the beach, she could see a few specks of red through the trees. She paused for a minute near Turtle Swamp to catch her breath and rinse her sweat-laden face off in the cool water. She looked up when she heard her name called, recognizing the same deep voice that had called out to her friend only minutes earlier. "Hey Cody, what's up?" 'Please hurry up, I need to go find Nami!'

"Well, I saw Nami running past here only a few minutes ago. It looked like she was running from something." Cody paused, lost in thought for a second. 'And she didn't answer me. I know she heard me. There's no way she couldn't have.' The large man shook off his thoughts and continued speaking. "Was she running from you? Did you do something to hurt her?" He asked accusingly.

"NO! I would never hurt Nami! Well, I did make her get up early this morning, but that isn't why she's running." Celia shook her head as she spoke. 'That isn't why she's running at all.' "I woke her up early because I wanted her to meet the new people in town. They're gonna live at the ranch. Somewhere on the way to meet them she decided she didn't want to."

"Oh" was all Cody said, though his thoughts sped around, not giving him any peace. 'New people? Who are they? Guys? Girls? Old people? Why doesn't Nami want to meet them?'

When she saw Cody's far-away look, Celia grabbed the chance to get away. "Well, um, I've really got to get going Cody. I've got to find Nami and meet those people soon so I can start work for the day. I forgot to ask for a day off, so I don't imagine that I have one." A polite smile crossed her lips before she headed towards the beach. 'I don't think he heard a word I just said. Honestly, all you have to do is get that guy thinking about… whatever he was thinking about and he just ignores the world.'

Celia reached the beach, heading west, the direction Nami had gone. She saw the redhead about 50 feet away, sitting on a rock with her back facing the town. The first thought that struck her would have been amusing in a different situation, but at the moment it was slightly depressing. 'She reminds me of a little kid; how they think that if they can't see anybody, than nobody can see them. Why is she trying so hard to hide from the world?' She started towards the girl on the rocks, accidentally stepping on a small twig. A surprisingly loud snap rang through the crisp morning air.

She knew who it was before she turned around. Cody had given her away, and now Celia had come to find her. Slowly she turned to meet a pair of gray-brown eyes filled with concern. "Fine, I'll come," Nami said, in a voice barely over a whisper. She made her way down the rocks to her friend. "Come on. Lets go meet the Rivers." A small sigh escaped her lips, the only outward sign that she didn't really want to go. Celia's face filled with confusion momentarily, then she composed herself and they began to walk up towards the ranch, this time silently.

xXx

Three young people, obviously related to one another, sat around a small table that had come with the rest of their things. The silence was deafening. One brother sat glaring at his twin barely tasting the giant sub that was his lunch. The victim of the cold stares was looking at his plate, seemingly interested in his own sandwich, but it wasn't out of guilt, embarrassment, or shame. No, he was only trying to hide his laughter. How could he help but enjoy the predicament his brother was in? The third figure at the table was a young girl, the youngest of the three. Lunch was prepared, a grilled ham and cheese for her brothers and a toasted tomato, pickle, and mustard for herself. 'How can they stand to eat lunchmeat? It's so… gross.' A slight shudder ran through her shoulders. It was only then she noticed the twin's demeanors. 'What's going on? Why is there a tension between them? They shouldn't start out like this their first day.'

"What is wrong with you guys?" The slender girl's words cut through the icy air, but it didn't seem that her brothers had heard. Her head dropped down, and they continued to eat in silence for a few minutes, until the food was almost gone. All three jumped when a soft, tentative knock sounded at the door. A glance at the twins told Chrissy that she would have to be the one to answer the door. She rose and dumped her empty plate into the sink in one fluid motion. Another knock sounded as she walked towards the door. 'Who could it be? They're really impatient!' She opened it quickly, only to find a shy brunette and a bored looking red head. Behind her, Jordan could no longer contain his laughter. 'Since when are girls funny to him?'

She glanced back at Shane to see his reaction, noting that his expression had gotten darker. 'And since when does he hate girls? Oh wait, I wonder if one of these is the girl he was talking about earlier? I better introduce myself.' Seeing the brunette's stare and the red head's amusement, she realized that her thoughts must have taken her away longer than she thought

"Oh… hey… sorry about that, I just got lost in my thoughts for a second. I'm Chrissy." She extended her hand, but only the brunette shook it. In the other girl all she met was a stoic pair of ice blue eyes.

"No problem, I know what that's like." The brunette gave her a sympathetic smile and continued. "My name's Celia…" She glanced over at her friend, but the other girl made no move to speak. "…And that's Nami. We can't stay long, it took us longer than expected to get here, and I really need to get to work." Celia could see that the occupants of the house had been eating lunch, even though it was just past 11 o'clock. 'If only Nami would've walked faster. Vesta is going to kill me, and I'll probably have to work this weekend to make up for today's lost time.'

"Well surely you can come in for a few minutes and have a cup of tea or something! I can' make a sandwich for you if you like." Chrissy ushered the girls inside. "Shane, Jordan, pull up some more chairs." 'Uggh! I'll have to do it myself! What is wrong with them?" Her brothers were just sitting there, staring at the visitors. She'd never guess the reason for their speechlessness.

xXx

Shane's thoughts while the previous section took place: 'Why does Jordan find this so amusing? You'd find it amusing too, if the situation were reversed. What? Where'd that come from? Shut up conscience! But honestly, why is Jordan so immature? He shouldn't be laughing at me! He thinks that he can hide the fact that he's laughing by looking away. I know him better than that.'

He heard Chrissy say something, and then she looked kinda peeved, but Shane mostly ignored her. 'What does she have to be mad about?' She didn't even make the sandwich right. Unless she switched Jordan's and mine. She probably did it on purpose too.'

A knock on the door made him jump, but he made no move to answer it. 'Let Chrissy do it, or better yet, Jor. Maybe that would get his mind off of my misery. I swear, if he doesn't stop before we go back outside…' He glanced over as his sister pulled the door open. 'Who's the hottie in the green? Wait a minute…. NOOOOO! Could this day get any worse? And to think, I'm gonna have to live in this town, with these people, and with my idiotic brother… I won't be able to escape! What if this town is like that movie The Stepford Wives? Ok, that's going a little far….'

Shane turned his attention back towards the door, only to find that the cute brunette had a name, Celia. 'Wait a minute, she's talking! And to a person, not herself! Yet another side of the mystery girl… I want to get to know her… wait, she's crazy, remember? She might NOT be crazy, what if she was just singing or something? Oh… I'm so confused…'

Jordan's thoughts while the previous section took place: 'This is hilarious! Would you find it hilarious if you were in Shane's position? Who said that? Stupid conscience. He's so mad, but why at me? I didn't do anything. He always could pick out the best girls for us in the city, but it looks like his luck has changed… she was good-looking, I'll give him that… but that's all I can give him, haha!

Chrissy was asking what was wrong, or something. 'Oh well, nothing is wrong with me. Maybe she's talking to Shane. Though, this sandwich tastes wrong.' Jordan opened his sub to find out why. 'Mayonnaise! Chrissy knows I hate mayo! Why the heck did she put it on my sandwich? Oh well, there's only a few more bites left… but still… mayonnaise… well, look on the bright side… I don't like crazy girls!'

Jordan nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden noise. 'Oh, it's just the door. Well I'm not getting it. Maybe Chrissy will answer and I'll be able to throw the rest of this mayo sub away without her seeing.' His next thought made his laughter even harder to control. 'Shane should answer… maybe he'll find another crazy girl!!!' His sister had reached the door by this time, and started to pull it open. Two girls stood in the doorway, the brunette from earlier, and… 'Haha!!! It's not another crazy girl, but the same one! Maybe she's stalking him!'

Another glance at the door brought his attention to the other girl, or more accurately, a pair of ice blue eyes, but that was all. He didn't get a smile, nod, or wave from the red head. 'Oh please, don't let her be crazy too!' He tore his gaze away and listened to his sister's conversation with the girl in green. 'Nami. I think that's what she said her friend's name is. Wait a second! What's the brunette doing being normal? She's supposed to be crazy! I'm supposed to be laughing at Shane for liking the crazy girl… but she seems normal now… but what about Nami?'

xXx

Celia and Nami walked into the mid-sized room, looking to see if they could find a chair, but there were none to be seen amongst the unpacked boxes. And the two city boys made no move to offer theirs.

"Oh gosh! I forgot that the rest of the chairs are still hidden somewhere in this mess…" The slim girl ended with almost a whisper. Suddenly she whirled around to the twins. "Get up and give the ladies your chairs! And then get some of those extra crates for yourself! And don't make me tell you again! I've got to start the tea."

Slowly, identical bodies rose from their chairs, shaking off their stupor at the exact same moment.

"Here you go," Shane murmured to the brunette, gazing at her shocked expression.

"Oh, thank you." The girl took the chair and sat down, plastering a smile to her face, but saying nothing more. Her silence left Shane with his thoughts once again.

'Is she shocked because of Chrissy acting like that? Or that a guy would give up a chair for her?' A glance at the other girl told him that it must be because of Chrissy. A hint of amusement danced in the distance behind her cold blue eyes.

"Uh… here… take my chair," said the other boy moments later. "I'm Jordan, by the way." Nami's gaze flickered back and forth between boy and chair, before she slowly reached out to grab it. She didn't have to catch Celia's gaze to know that there were brown eyes glaring at her, daring her not to respond.

"Thanks"

Jordan nodded at the girl. "No problem. You're Nami, right?" He looked around for a crate to sit on, and placed it not too far, but not too close to the red head.
"Yeah," was her reply, the bored look never leaving her face. Shane watched his brother, interested in how Jordan would respond. 'Ha! Jordan likes this girl, I can tell, but she doesn't seem to want anything to do with him! That is definitely a first! I'll have to rib him about it later.'

Chrissy turned from the stove at that moment, a full steaming mug of tea in each hand. "Here, I hope orange tea is fine. I couldn't find the other boxes in this disaster area." The blonde turned to get tea for her identical brothers, and finally served her own.

Celia watched as the slender girl pulled up her own chair next to Shane. She could feel a strong jealousy washing over her, but somehow managed to keep the smile on her face. 'She's much to young for him! Why couldn't she like the other brother? They're identical!' Her thoughts were interrupted when the green-eyed girl began to speak. She had apparently missed part of the conversation, but no one seemed to notice.

"…How I'm going to get all of this unpacked before I have to head back to the city. I wish I could stay longer, but this is the last day of winter break and no way is dad going to let me miss the first day back to school." The disappointed look on Chrissy's face made Celia's heart reach out to the younger girl.

"Oh, I know it must be hard to leave your boyfriend so far away, but why don't you take the rest of the day off and go visit around town..." Loud laughter interrupted her "comforting speech." 'Why is… Jordan? I think that's his name. Why's he laughing? And what's with Chrissy and Shane? They look confused, and horrified.' She glanced over at Nami to see the red head's reaction to all of this, but her friend's face held no expression. "Um," she started nervously, "I hate to sound cliché, but was it something I said?"

"Well…" Chrissy started.

Shane interrupted her, "She is not my girlfriend! She's my sister!" His words came out unintentionally loud, bringing after it an awkward silence in the room. 'Didn't Chris mention that earlier? Did Celia not hear her? Someone needs to say something, this is really weird.'

"I've got to get going." Surprisingly, Nami was the first to speak. She glanced down at the drink she'd barely touched before adding, "thanks for the tea." She stood up and passed the chair back to Jordan. Blue eyes locked with brown for a brief moment. "Thanks again," she whispered before heading out the door, ignoring Celia's eyes pleading her to stay.

Celia sighed as she watched the door shut behind her best friend. 'I guess I'd better go to. I've embarrassed myself, and Vesta is going to kill me for being gone for so long.' "You know, I'd better go too. I have to get to work. What time do you leave Chrissy?"

"My dad is coming at around 9:00, I think he said. He couldn't come help with the move because of work, but he still wants to see the boys off, I guess. It's only about 2 hours back to the city," rushed the blonde, finally taking a breath when she finished.

"Okay then. Sorry about the… misunderstanding. But do try to take a walk around town and meet some people. There are a lot of interesting characters living in the Valley. Don't worry so much about unpacking. I'd be willing--- I mean, lots of people here would be willing to help out when they have spare time." A masculine voice made her jump (because she'd been paying attention to Chrissy.)

"We just might take you up on that." Shane saw that he had startled the girl, but she finally brought her gaze to meet his own. 'Those eyes. I love those eyes.'

"O… o… okay." The brunette girl stammered. The sound of a clock chiming noon cracked through the tension in the air, startling everyone in the room. 'Since when am I so jumpy? Noon? Crap, Vesta really will kill me now, I missed all of my morning chores.' "I really do need to go." She rose quickly and opened the door. "Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything!" she said as she ran out the door.

Chrissy looked at her two brothers. They were in no better shape than before the visitors. 'Oh well, I can't stay forever and time isn't going to wait for them to grow up.' She put the now empty chair up to the table, then addressed her brothers. "All right you guys. Snap out of it. They are just girls, nothing you haven't seen before. We need to find the other three chairs and whatever else to finish setting up. Is everything off the moving truck?" At the twin's nods, she continued, but in a slightly more relaxed tone. "Okay then. Let's get this place into some semblance of order, then we'll take a break and go meet the town. Move it!"


Well, I hope you liked it! No cliff hangers or anything, which I seriously considered, but the story begged to be written this way. Some things can't be helped, I guess. Please R&R and let us know what you think of it!

-Lauren-

-drchix-