I am purposely making time fly like crazy. I don't like spending minor details on each and every season. The story would take WAY too long to get my point across.
Harvest Moon (c) Natsume
Chapter 4
It was the end of autumn before long. Seasons really flew on this damn island. My stock of animals had increased to eight hens, three cows, a horse and a dog. Bessie was expecting another calf, so I would soon have four cows. I had taken a liking to riding my horse, whom I named Bullet, without any tack at all. It made it seem more natural and he loved it. My dog, Bandit, enjoyed running along beside me as I rode Bullet. His tongue would be dangling out of his mouth and he'd keep up to his best ability, though it's hard to keep up with a galloping horse, especially when he's ten times your size.
"C'mon, Bandit," I said, calling to the little dog as I jumped on Bullet's back. "Let's go to the barn."
Bandit jumped to his feet and was running off the ranch to get a head start. I laughed and urged Bullet towards the hill. He whinnied and trotted down the hill. Bandit was nowhere in sight when I got to the barn. I shrugged and rode Bullet into the small fenced in enclosure with another gelding. The pair nickered to each other as I slid off of Bullet. I closed the gate and went inside.
"Bandit!" I called as I entered.
He barked in response, so I knew he was safe. I found Vaughn by a calf and completely ignored him. He was still bitter about me having Mark helping me out. He could just simmer in his bitter juices for all I cared. He had also begun hanging out with his little stalker, which was creepy. Julia had said he was trying to make me jealous, but boy it wasn't working.
I got inside the main shop and bent down to scoop up Bandit. I rubbed his head as I walked over to Julia. "Hey Jules."
She scowled at me. "What, not gonna hang out with your boyfriend?"
I winced. She had been bitter with me since I snapped at Vaughn in summer. I had apologized to the butthead, but Julia never fully forgave me.
"Jules, I don't even like him like that. He's just a huge help. He deals with the crops and I manage the animals. Why do you think I've got so many now?"
She rolled her eyes and turned back to whatever she was doing. I sighed deeply and sat down at the table.
"Julia, why are you still angry at me?"
She turned back and sighed, looking at me almost motherly. She hugged me around the neck and sighed again.
"I'm not angry with you, Chelsea. Elliot's just acting strange again."
I laughed. The nerd had finally proposed to her, but they weren't getting married until winter. The usual tradition was a week after the proposal, hence why she thought he was acting weird.
"He loves you, Jules. He's probably nervous like crazy and is too worried to confront you. Guys like him are just afraid of what you'll think of them, that's all."
"Can you do your detective work for me? Find out what's got him so worried, please?" she begged.
I sighed with a smile on my face. "I dunno. I stopped that detective stuff a long time ago…"
"Yeah, and look what happened to Vaughn. He's flirting with his stalker and being even more bitter than usual."
I rolled my eyes and stood up, causing Bandit to jump from my lap. "Vaughn isn't on my priority list anymore, Julia. I gave up on him back in the summer…I'll help you, but just this once."
She squealed and threw her arms around me again. "Oh thank you, Chelsea!"
I laughed and left the barn with Bandit. We headed to Taro's house and found Elliot inside all alone.
"Hey El," I said as we walked in.
Bandit ran over to him and begged for attention. Elliot smiled nervously and patted Bandit on the head. I sat down at the table next to him.
"Jules is worried about you," I said, not bothering to beat around the bush.
He tensed up slightly and sighed. "She wants to get married sooner, doesn't she…"
"I dunno, I didn't ask. More or less, she just thinks that something is on your mind cuz you pushed the date so far back. She asked me to investigate."
He smiled and laughed a little. "Yeah, she told me stories about your little detective work."
I smiled slightly, but it faded when he sighed. "Grandpa keeps telling me that we're rushing this whole marriage thing…He says we should wait 'til we're older."
I snorted. "By the time he thinks you two are ready to get married, you'll have the same number of wrinkles as he does."
He laughed again. "Yeah, I guess…"
"But..?"
"But what if he's right? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Julia." He broke into a deep blush. "She's my whole world. But maybe we are rushing this and we should wait..."
It was a little too mushy for me, but I held my lunch down and thought for a minute. "Well, if you want, I can explain the situation to her so that her reaction doesn't worry you more, though I don't think she'll flip out. I can't guarantee anything, but I can't at least set her straight."
He smiled and put his hand on my arm. "You're a really good friend to her, you know?"
"Yeah, I know...But hey, she was one of my first friends, so I gotta help her."
He smiled again and patted Bandit one last time. "Thanks a bunch, Chels."
I waved to him as Bandit and I left for the barn. We got inside and I saw Vaughn talking to Julia. I ignored him and sat down, waiting politely for their conversation to end.
"What, not gonna butt in like you used to?" Vaughn asked me bitterly.
"You deserved it then. But I do know how to be civil," I explained.
He rolled his eyes. "We can talk again later, Jules. I don't need an extra set of ears around." He glared at me and left.
I watched him leave and rolled my eyes. "So I talked to El. He says that Taro thinks that you two are rushing the whole marriage ordeal, that's all. Taro's been sort of pressuring him to hold off the wedding 'til you two are older."
Julia sighed. "Well, I guess that makes sense..."
"He says that you're his whole world and that he loves you, so don't worry about him chickening out. I don't think that boy can survive without you. Natalie hasn't been picking on him so much since he got the balls to propose."
Julia giggled and blushed. "He really said I was his whole world."
I smiled and shook my head. Typical Julia; only caring about something her fiancé said. "Yes, Jules; he really said that."
She squealed slightly and sighed lovingly. "That boy drives me crazy..."
I patted my leg and Bandit jumped into my lap. He licked my hand as I patted him.
"Oh, Vaughn was talking about you before you walked in," she said.
I rolled my eyes. "You heard what he said. 'I don't need an extra set of ears listening in'. You might as well forget about telling me anything that has to do with that man. He doesn't say nice things about me anyways."
She leaned across the table with a wide smirk on her face. "Oh? Then him saying that you running off to other guys isn't a nice thing? He has been bitter ever since summer because you asked Mark to help and not him."
I rolled my eyes and stood up, Bandit grumbling in the process. "Yeah, I'll believe that when he gets the balls to tell me himself or when Bandit starts speaking in fluent English."
Upon hearing his name, Bandit barked loudly. I held my hands out to him and he jumped into my arms. "Yeah, I didn't think it was true."
I turned to go into the back room and stopped dead in my tracks. Standing there, with an unreadable look on his face, was Vaughn. I looked right into his eyes to see if I could read those at all, but he tipped his head down. I blushed slightly and stepped around him.
"Meet me at the diner tonight at six, don't be late," he muttered as I walked past him.
I pretended like I didn't hear him as I walked into the back room. As I got to Bullet, I put Bandit down and noticed that I was shaking. My heart was pounding as I mounted Bullet, turning him towards the ranch.
I was nervous about dinner with Vaughn? As if. He was probably just gonna yell at me about something stupid. I felt my nerves melt away and smirked as I got to the ranch.
I made my way down to the diner at five thirty. I had decided to walk, and slowly for that matter, just to irritate Vaughn. If he really wanted me there, he wouldn't mind me being a little late. Hey, it's better than not showing up at all.
Ok, so I was a little early. It was ten of six when I got there and I was actually surprised to see Vaughn sitting in the back of the diner with his head tilted down. I saw a waitress walk over to take his order or flirt with him, or both, but he tilted his head up and glared fiercely at her. She ran to the kitchen on the brink of tears. I almost laughed aloud as I crossed the busy diner to the booth he was in. I slid in across from him and grabbed a menu.
"So what was so important that we had to meet at the diner at its busiest time?" I asked, scanning the menu I had memorized like the back of my hand.
"You're making a huge mistake with that Mark kid," he grumbled.
I rolled my eyes. "Please. He's a good worker and doesn't mind that he's on crop duty."
"You won't let him near the animals at all?" he asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.
I put the menu down and raised an eyebrow at him. "Like I said, he's a good worker. But I don't trust the kid as far as I can throw him. And seeing as I probably can't even pick him up, my trust is slim to none. If anyone is gonna mess up with the animals, it's gonna be me."
That earned a half-smile and then a slight glare. I laughed at his face and then smiled at the waiter who had appeared.
"Can I have just simple buckwheat noodles and a glass of milk?" I asked politely.
He smiled down at me and scribbled down my order. "Certainly. And you sir?"
"Porridge and milk," Vaughn said bitterly.
The waiter glanced at me and I rolled my eyes. He nodded and walked away. I then turned back to Vaughn and leaned on my elbow.
"Ya know, people might like you a little more if you weren't so rude and if you smiled a bit."
He scoffed and crossed his arms. "You're not the first person to tell me that. I'm not gonna change who I am just to make other people happy. And what's the big deal about smiling?"
"It makes you look happy even if you hate the world," I said with a shrug.
He rolled his eyes. "What a waste of time, smiling."
"I wouldn't mind seeing you smile. And none of that half-smiling crap. Though it's cute, it's not smiling."
He tilted his hat down over his face, so I assumed he was turning red. He then tilted his head up and was smirking.
"How's this?"
I raised my eyebrow at him. "Why are you smirking?"
He sighed and tilted his head down again. When he tilted it back up, he had the cute half-smile on his face. "How 'bout this?"
I then realized he was trying to smile. "Ok, I need to buy you a mirror, cuz you've obviously never smiled before." I leaned over the table and took my index fingers and pulled the corners of his mouth far apart. "Now that-"
I never got to finish my sentence. I burst out into uncontrolled laughter at the goofy face I made him give me. Several people looked over at me, so I quieted down a little. When I got control of myself, I saw Vaughn glaring at me.
"You just humiliated me," he growled.
"Actually, I humiliated myself. Nobody saw the goofy face I made you make. Only I did, so stop worrying. If you were ever to seriously smile like that though, people would laugh their asses off."
He glared at me darker as I snickered to myself. Our drinks came and I chugged half of mine before the waiter had even left. He offered to refill it, but I just laughed and waved him away. Vaughn circled the top of his glass with his middle finger.
"So this whole private meeting was about Mark?" I asked.
He looked up at me. "Yeah, pretty much."
"That's hard to believe. You've told me what you thought of him before and I remember hitting you rather hard and getting kicked out of the shop."
He half-smiled again and chuckled. "Yeah, you hit me pretty hard."
"Yeah, and I said some really nasty things to you," I said looking down at the table. "I can be such an annoyance sometimes."
He chuckled again. "You can, but I deserved what you said."
I looked up at him surprised. His face suddenly showed concern, surprising me more and I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I touched my cheek and looked at the tear as if I'd never seen tears before.
"What's with you?" he asked, voice full of concern despite what he said.
"I have no idea," I said breathlessly. Suddenly, I was hit with a wave of emotions and tears sprung from my eyes. I quickly shielded my face.
I felt someone slide in next to me and a strong arm wrap around my waist. "What's wrong, Chels?" Vaughn whispered, very close to my ear.
I felt my face burn up and I shook my head. "I honestly have no idea. My tearducts must be going haywire or something," I said, surprised that my voice wasn't shaky or cracked.
He rubbed my side gently and I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling. It was strange to be sitting with Vaughn so close, holding me and me enjoying it. Wait a second....My eyes snapped open again.
Why was Vaughn holding me? Furthermore, why was I enjoying it?
I quickly wiped my eyes and sat up straight. I glanced over at him. "I'm good, thanks."
He tilted his head down and went back to his side of the table. He didn't tilt his head back up at all and I was consumed in my thoughts. That is, until I had the nerve to voice them.
"You called me Chels. I've never heard you call me that."
His head shot up, face pink and eyes wide. His jaw slacked slightly. I put my chin down on my folded arms.
"You were also holding me, though I thought you were pissed at me for hiring Mark."
I looked up at him with a blank (or so I hoped) look on my face. His face reddened a little bit more, his jaw tightened and he tilted his head down.
"I called you Chels, just cuz I was too lazy to say Chelsea. You don't like it, too bad. And I'm not pissed at you anymore cuz you don't let him handle the animals."
I smirked. "You obviously heard Julia telling me what you two were talking about. Otherwise you wouldn't have asked me here. So why don't you tell me the real reason we're eating dinner, hm?"
His head shot up again and he half-glared at me, though it wasn't nearly as intimidating with the blush that had formed.
"What are you talking about?" he growled, still trying to intimidate me.
I chuckled slightly. "Unlike you, Sherlock Holmes, I am an Ace Detective."
"Then why don't you tell yourself why we're here, Ace Detective," he said, leaning across the table with a smirk plastered on his face.
I smirked wider. He wanted to play that game? Well, this was gonna be an interesting dinner indeed.
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