Author's Notes: And another update! Yay, more consistency! I'm hoping this story will be just as, if not more, successful than my other stories so far. I've worked really hard for this chapter, and proof read it a few times. If there mistakes, my sincerest apologies. Anyway, I hope this chapter is one to really make you smile. I intentionally tried to create a fluffy atmosphere for a number or reasons.
Sitting up in bed, I rubbed my eyes, pulling my legs to sit cross-legged in the middle of my bed. Looking around the room, everything was quiet. This wasn't too big a surprise to me, but I couldn't help but feel unsettled. After taking a moment to let the blood rush out of my head, to the point that I could sit upright without toppling slightly, I dragged myself out of bed and slowly made my way to the chest of drawers, pulling open each of the drawers enough to see some of the contents in each of them. As I scanned the different colours of clothes in each drawer, I realised that I wasn't shivering. I looked out the window above my bed and I could see blue blending with white. I smiled. Spring had arrived.
Still smiling, I pulled out a lilac t-shirt and a darker purple cardigan and tossed them onto the bed. Closing the drawer with a thud, I grabbed a pair of dark navy skinny jeans and rushed to change into them. I had showered before going to bed, despite the extreme exhaustion from the walk home and the late hour that we got back to the valley. Pulling my boots on, I eyed the rucksack sat by the trunk.
'Today I'll finally be making a start on my new life,' I thought with an eager smile.
I grabbed the rucksack and pulled one of the straps over my shoulder. Opening the trunk with a groan, I pulled the two bags of turnip seeds out from the bottom and held them by the strings that tied them closed in a knot.
As I was about to leave the house, the phone rang, and with a smile still plastered on my face, I could predict who would be calling so early.
"Happy New Year!" a chorus of four voices, mostly male, said in unison.
"Happy New Year," I answered, holding back giggles. My family was too predictable.
"Did you sleep well?" Tyler's sleepy voice asked. In the background I could hear arguing voices and shouting.
"Yea, considering what little sleep I had," I answered. In all honesty, I had only really napped for just less than three hours.
"Don't push yourself too hard, okay? I guess you'll be starting work now though," Tyler said, using his 'big brother' tone that I just rolled my eyes to.
"I won't, I won't," I said laughing.
After some time, I had managed to speak to everyone in the family who gave their own new year's wishes and lecture not to do anything reckless. I was beginning to believe they didn't trust me.
Putting the phone down, I left the house, locking the door with the house key that had been left on the nightstand and put it safely in my trouser pocket. Walking around the side of the house, it was strange just how quickly the seasons seemed to change here. Less than six hours earlier, the ground was hard, and snow lay in heaps. But looking around my feet and across the expansive field, the ground had begun to soften, and although some snow remained, large spots of brown soil and shrivelled grass were peeping out from underneath the melting blanket that had covered it.
After deciding on a spot midway into the field where the snow had melted, I took the hoe out of the rucksack and began preparing the soil. I felt relieved that the air still had a slight chill, since I couldn't feel myself sweating as much as I thought I would.
When the soil had been sown over, I took the bags of seeds out of the rucksack, pulling the string so the knot became loose. Kneeling in the ground, I poured the seeds into the treated soil until both bags were empty. Taking the green watering can, I filled it up at the watering hole. Like an excited child, I poured the water over the seeds and the soil with a grin.
With work now finished, I walked round the front of the house, and left my tools by the trunk and took half an hour to clean myself up in the bathroom. After relocking the house, I left the farm. The entire valley seemed to have changed so much. Although the trees lacked leaves, the ground had begun to show some sort of sign that ground laid beneath the slushy snow that couldn't fight the warmer air. I could finally see the wooden surface of the bridge, and the banks of the river were more visible than before.
While thinking about what to do first, I was distracted as Lumina's voice stole my attention from the back of the inn. She was stood with Rock, who I assumed had upset her again. She had her back to me, with her shoulders tense. Rock quickly noticed me watching, and didn't bother to disguise a grin. Lumina turned her attention to me, sending Rock away before I could hear what they had fought about this time.
"Happy New Year, Hollie," Lumina said with a half-hearted smile.
"Happy New Year," I said with a more enthusiastic smile. "Should I ask?"
"Ah, I caught Rock flirting with a girl who's staying with her family at the inn. I guess she's on a New Year's break here since I don't recognise her. He really has some nerve. He convinced me last night before the festival started that he was going to stop flirting with girls and prove that I could trust him," Lumina sighed, rubbing her head. "I just don't understand why I bother sometimes."
"Then why do you?" I asked, trying to smile as reassuringly as possible. I couldn't personally understand why Lumina liked him. Rock to me, was some sort of flirt who clearly can't keep his attention fixed on one person for any length of time before moving on the next. Lumina stared at me for a moment with a look of disbelief. After a second, she breathed out softly with a small smile.
"When we were kids, we used to get along. Even though he teased me all the time about liking him, he always had his attention on me. I could tell him stories and we'd search for the Harvest Goddess together, and he would never look for others to spend time with when he was with me," Lumina said, her smile increasing more and more as she spoke. But her expression quickly fell. "But as we grew up and became adolescents, he quickly became interested in talking to other girls. I accepted that, and I started talking to other people, but he looks at every girl with interest. It's painful to watch." Her expression remained one of hurt, until she looked at me. "I'm so sorry, putting my problems on you like that."
"No, it's fine," I said with a smile. "You're clearly more than just attracted to him."
"Ah yea. I am," Lumina said, blushing deeply as she giggled. Her expression turned more serious but she continued to smile at me. "Thank you. I know we've only known each for a little while, but I've never had someone I could really say those kinds of things out loud to."
I smiled more widely, and the happiness that warmed my chest radiated on my cheeks. I had been the secret keeper among my friends at school, purely because I lacked any interest in gossip that my friends knew I wouldn't share anything. Even though I was a useless liar, they knew I could think of ways to protect their secrets without ever making it really obvious if I knew anything.
"Would you like to come back to the villa for a while? A friend of mine comes over every Monday, and she seems like someone you'd get along really well with," Lumina said smiling.
"Sure." I grinned as I followed Lumina back to the villa.
When we arrived at the villa, Sebastian greeted us and took Lumina's cardigan, and then leaving for the kitchen to prepare tea and snacks. As we waited, a petite raven-haired girl wearing a modest blue dress with white sleeves with a long skirt peered through the double doors of the large villa before smiling shyly at Lumina and walking timidly over to the sofa and coffee table where we were sat.
"Happy New Year," Lumina said to the girl with a wide smile. "Hollie, this is Mary, she runs the library in Mineral Town. Mary, this is Hollie, she moved here a couple of days ago and lives on the old farm."
"It's nice to meet you," I said with a smile.
"I-it's nice to meet you," Mary replied, her arms clutched close to her body, occasionally she would adjust the glasses as they slid down her nose when she looked at her feet. She then took a seat next to Lumina as Sebastian came in with a tray of teacups and biscuits.
"Good morning and happy new year, Miss," Sebastian said, setting out teacups in front of us each. Sebastian had clearly expected Mary to be arriving.
"Good morning, Sebastian," Mary replied with a sweet smile. Something about her seemed almost doll-like. I couldn't decide if it was her clothes or the pale skin complexion. She just had an air of delicacy about her that made me just want to be careful about how I spoke to her.
Sebastian poured us tea before excusing himself like before. We drank the tea and ate the different types of sweet biscuits. Lumina explained to me that her friendship with Mary went quite a way back and that they became friends during their pre teen years and she occasionally visits the library on days that Romana visits Mineral Town to see a friend of hers.
"It's always such a lovely surprise when Lumina visits me at the library," Mary began, smiling between nibbling the end of a biscuit. "Not many people come to the library apart from one young man who comes by occasionally after work."
"Really? I'm surprised. I find reading so relaxing," I said. I sipped the last dribble that was at the bottom of the cup and put it on its plate. "And who is it that visits you?"
"Is it Gray? He seems to visit you a lot more recently," Lumina cut in giggling, causing Mary to blush violently at his name. I smiled thoughtfully. I felt like a real teenager for just a moment, but it seemed like I finally had something I could bear in mind to use against that guy in future.
"Y-yes. And I don't think there's anything romantic about it," Mary stuttered, a look of disappointment in her eyes took away the healthy sparkle that had been there before. "We don't talk to each other much, if at all."
"You never know," I began. "It's always possible that even if he does visit to read, he's also happier being in your company."
"Ah, that's true," Lumina said, her face lighting up. "Besides, you could always make chances to talk by just greeting him and holding eye contact a bit more. He could be as nervous as you are. Oh yea, Hollie have you met Gray yet?"
"Yep," I said in a deep monotonous tone. All I could think about was Gray and Ann teasing me yesterday afternoon. "He seems like a nice guy, if you can get him to stop being too hard on himself."
"That sounds like him," Mary murmured, her mouth slightly pressed against the rim of her teacup. "He often reads books about ores and minerals, and occasionally he looks through the books about regaining self-confidence."
"So Hollie, met anyone who's caught your eye yet?" Lumina asked, after watching Mary's thoughtful expression for half a minute. We both knew she wasn't going to snap out of it for a little while. But it certainly snapped me out of my comfort zone. My surprised expression was enough to give her the answer. "Oh who is he? Is from the valley or Mineral Town?"
"I-I wouldn't say I'm definitely in love with him," I quickly said, taking a breath. "But I guess, I'm a little bit interested in getting to know a guy from Mineral Town I met a few evenings ago."
"Hehe, really? Who is it?" Lumina said, leaning closer to me as her curiosity grew.
"Is it Cliff?" Mary asked in a mumble, shocking us both. I could feel the surface of my cheeks burn bright red at the sound of his name. Her own expression quickly turned to one of shock. "Ah! I'm sorry, that was bold of me. I only guessed since Gray came by yesterday and the one day he did talk to me, he mentioned how his friend Cliff had met someone new and seemed to be a lot happier because of it. I don't know why, but it seemed maybe it was him that you meant."
The shock remained on my face for a few moments before I could remember how to relax. When my self-control returned I just smiled at her and nodded as the heat that was already on my face increased. The words took a moment to settle but certain words kept repeating themselves. 'Seemed a lot happier.' A strong pulse in my chest made me wish that it were true. I felt desperate for it to be true.
"Hollie, I'm sure you do make him happy," Lumina said, smiling thoughtfully at me. How on Earth could she tell I was thinking about that? "I certainly feel happier being around you, so I see no reason why he wouldn't be happier too."
Surprised, I let Lumina's kind words sink in. I couldn't hold back smiling, my hands trembling. "Lumina you're spoiling me," I finally said. I wanted to believe her words were true: that I could truly make someone happy, but something, and I couldn't figure out what, made me doubt myself.
Smiling kindly, Lumina changed the subject, telling Mary about how I had finished college despite being younger than most students. I didn't consider it entirely amazing that I had my education sorted out, but Mary just watched me as Lumina spoke with a curious smile, making her own generous comments. I had sacrificed all of my free time to study, and at a price, my social life had slipped away slowly. It made me feel guilty hearing people praise me for being so successful, when my friends had to pay the price of being rejected of my company. But at the same time, I always felt that was for the best, since I was never really part of the conversation much anyway.
After a while, Lumina invited us to watch her play piano for a few hours. Mary and I watched her in amazement. It clearly wasn't the first time Mary had heard her play, but she had a wondrous expression on her face that would have fooled you otherwise. For me, I was speechless. Lumina was clearly a talented musician. Her hands were able to glide over the ivory keys with ease, as if without much of thought, and the sound produced echoed around the large foyer magnificently. Lumina played a number of different pieces, varying from soft ballad pieces to playful pieces. There were times when I was convinced I didn't blink for twenty minutes at a time, because blinking would be wasting watching her play.
At around one o'clock she stopped playing. Lumina explained to me that there was another new years festival at the beach going on most of the day so people could exchange new years greetings and eat rice cakes. So with the assistance of Sebastian making sure Lumina was dressed appropriately to go outside, we got ourselves ready and made our way down to the beach. Unfortunately for my slightly nervous ego, Lumina teased me that I should make sure to talk to Cliff. I've begun to regret sharing that with her now.
At the beach, Mary froze as soon as –as Lumina and I immediately figured out- she had seen the blacksmith we had been talking to earlier. Unfortunately for my own self-composure, Mary wasn't the only one who froze when looking in the direction of the two white benches on the right hand side of us.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave you two to it. There's someone here I need to talk to," Lumina said winking as she left.
'Lumina… you're so sly,' the little voice in my head cried.
Taking a deep breath I stood myself in front of Mary who looked like she about to shrivel up at any chance she could get.
"Mary, why don't we go talk to them? If you can start a conversation with Gray, you can make it clearer to him that you want to get to know him better," I said, gesturing slightly in their direction.
"Hollie… please don't make it too obvious we're talking about them," Mary squeaked grabbing my hand as I pointed in their direction. "I-I want to talk to him, but I don't know what I would say."
"It'll be fine, once you greet each other, I'll do my best to set up a chance for you to talk about something you're both interested in," I said, smiling as reassuringly as possible, but my mind was just as nervous and shaky as I knew she was feeling. "And don't worry, I'll make sure to stay with you so you won't be on your own."
"Y-you will?" Mary asked staring at me with desperation on her face. I smiled back at her and her expression eased a little.
After figuring out just where Gray had disappeared to, which was on the other side of the beach near where some beach mats and umbrellas had been left up in the sand near the ocean, we finally took our chance to approach him. Mary, clung to my arm with an unexpectedly iron grip as we walked up to him.
"Happy New Year, Gray," I said smiling widely as I tried to fight back a cringe as Mary's grip tightened the closer we were to him.
"Uh, Happy New Year," Gray shyly answered as his eyes caught sight of the timid girl who was trying to hide behind me. I could see his face start to change to different shades of pink. I smiled wider. I definitely had ammunition now. "W-what are you grinning at?"
"Nothing important," I said, trying to avoid grinning too mischievously at him. I turned myself to Mary trying to casually encourage her to come out from hiding. "I was just thinking that it was nice, Lumina and I were talking with Mary earlier about who I had met so far, so it was nice to meet people who have similar interests as me. Gray I never realised you liked reading."
"Umm, yea it relaxes me," Gray mumbled, slightly burying his face beneath the cap of his hat.
"H-Hollie said a similar thing earlier," Mary shyly murmured. I nodded and smiled in agreement. "Hollie, feel free to come by the library if you're ever in town. I would love to see what kind of books you like reading. Gray too… we occasionally get sent more books to replace the old ones…"
"Yea. That would be cool," Gray mumbled, rubbing his neck nervously. I smiled at Mary as she looked at me expectantly. As I did so, her grip on my arm loosened slightly and she stood a little further from me.
"A-actually, I'm supposed to be getting a small shipment on Wednesday… for a collection of mystery novels," Mary quietly added.
"That would be great," I said smiling eagerly. "Mystery novels are amazing to read. I love the enigma codes and plot devices. It always leaves me guessing, even if I think I have them figured out."
Mary smiled at me as I spoke, and from the corner of my eye I knew I wasn't the only one who was appreciating her smile.
"Mary, Hollie, there you are, sorry about leaving you a minute ago," Lumina's voice called from behind us. She joined us standing on my right side. "Afternoon Gray."
Gray nodded at her shyly, though her attention was fixed on Mary and myself. Mary shyly smiled at her friend as Lumina tried to convince me that she wanted to talk to Mary in private. Breathing out in relief, Gray lifted his head as I rubbed the sore spot on my left arm where Mary had held me tightly.
"Now what were you really grinning about," Gray questioned with a more menacing look on his face. His face was still pink.
"Nothing that important," I said, smiling sweetly before changing to a more mischievous one. "I just think it's sweet. You clearly think well of Mary, right? It's good to have friends."
"Be quiet," he pouted, grinning at me. "Anyway, I know you're desperate to talk to Cliff. Judging by the way you were looking at him yesterday."
"B-be quiet," I stuttered, blushing thoroughly. I could barely keep my composure as my shoulders became tense and hands clenched tightly.
"Anyway, I'd love to stop and chat, but my old man wants me to exchange a few words with certain people while I'm here. I'll see you around," Gray said smirking as he left me to walk to the other end of the beach.
Taking a moment to regain myself, I scanned the beach for people to talk to. I still haven't met many people, and of the numerous groups of people dotted around the sandy beach area, only one or two were recognisable to me. Though one face I didn't want to see, was pulling some moves on a girl, leaning up against a vacant vendor counter. I sighed and shook my head.
'Lumina wasn't going to be happy to see that,' I thought.
Not far in the distance, one face stood out more than anyone else's. Spacing out in the distance faced slightly away from me, I could make out Cliff's figure behind a small crowd of adults. My sub-conscious had acted ahead of the rest of my head as I walked up to him, around the back of the counter where Rock was flirting with a girl –who I had chosen to ignore for a number of reasons- and approached Cliff as I focused on keeping my nerves calm. Stood at his left side, he still hadn't noticed me. Grinning, I watched his expression. I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about. Whatever it was, he seemed content.
After a minute he suddenly noticed me and jumped about half a foot when he saw me. Unsure of how to respond, I watched him as my hands unconsciously clasped my sleeves in front of my mouth.
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you," I quickly said.
"It's fine…" Cliff stuttered, straightening himself up. Standing next to him in clear daylight, I could see just how much taller he was compared to me. "I didn't mean to ignore you just then."
"I know," I replied with a smile, removing my sleeved hands from in front of my mouth. "Happy New Year by the way."
"Happy New Year," Cliff said with a slightly nervous smile. I couldn't fight back smiling even wider. "D-did you make any resolutions for the New Year?"
"Ah… I didn't really think about it," I mumbled. "But I guess if I were to make any goals, I would want to overcome my insecurities when talking to people. But being realistic, I think I would start by aiming to smile more."
"Smile more?" he asked with an equally curious expression.
"Y-yea. Many people I spent time around often said that I didn't smile much. They also said that they find people who smile more are people they feel more comfortable with," I explained, blushing a little.
"Hollie, you seem to smile plenty. Other people seem happy around you," Cliff said in a soft, calming tone. I watched his expression for a moment. He began to duck his head a little as his face began to heat up. "I-I know I'm happy around you."
I could feel my breath being sucked out of me as the words sunk in. All attempts at not looking like an idiot vanished as all my body heat centred itself on my face. My hands began to tremble and the only thing I could think of to disguise the erratic motion was to cling my hands onto my torso and hope it would absorb the motion so I didn't look ridiculous. After some effort I took a deep breath and pulled myself together.
"T-thank you," I mumbled through my quivering lips. I felt grateful that Cliff was hiding his face a little or I probably would have fled. I didn't want to scare him away. Not now I knew he would talk to me at all. Not now I knew for certain he wasn't someone dangerous or manipulative.
Cliff turned his face to look at me, his eyes only just visible under the strands of brown hair that covered his face. I smiled reassuringly at him and he responded with a small grin.
"W-what kind of resolution would you make?" I asked.
"I guess, the one thing I would really want is to overcome my shyness," Cliff answered with a nervous smile, lifting his head so he could see more clearly. "B-but, I guess I would start with being more comfortable around the people I can talk to."
"I bet you can achieve that easily," I said with a grin. Cliff stared at me with a look of surprise. "I bet, if we both we work hard, we can achieve our goals."
Cliff's surprised expression was quickly replaced by a smile again.
"Yea, let's work hard together," Cliff said with a confident smile.
This time, I was the one with a surprised expression.