Author's note: Sorry it took a little longer to update than usual. My cousins came to visit for a while, giving me little to no time to update. The other thing keeping me was a common disliking to almost everybody out there. One compound word, two syllables, eight letters, homework. I was trying to decide whether to name this chapter A Little Too Not Over You by David Archuleta or Thinking of You by Katy Perry. I decided I might use Thinking of You for a later chapter, and A Little Too Not Over You had a little more of the same ideas in it so... (sorry pEaCe-LoVe-hArRyPoTtEr [Did I spell it right this time?]. I know I told you Thinking of You, but I changed my mind again). Chase's POV

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Harvest Moon or any of the songs used.

I twisted my friendship bracelet awkwardly as I walked home. The kind of color-washed knots were still there after all these years. I never took it off. It was a part of me the same way the girl who had made it for me was. I couldn't bear the idea of ever separating from neither it nor her.

I slowed down on the path between the two houses I visited most frequently- Angela's and my own. If I knew anything, it was that I would be dead the moment I was within spitting distance of Maya, my wife. And because I wasn't too fond of the idea of dying, much less being murdered by someone I love, I tried to slow down the pace a tiny bit more. Maybe Maya would still be at work…oh, for the love of oranges. That means I had to work today, too. Darn it! Why had I let Maya talk me into having our wedding on a Friday? You were never supposed to work the day after your wedding, at least not for people whose work places were closed on Sundays as ours was. Now Jake and Colleen would surely fire me.

The path before me came to a halt and curved in the direction of the oh so familiar little house. I sighed while walking through the door, secretly hoping that Maya wasn't home. When I heard no noise at my entry, I relaxed a bit, but I still had a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Maybe making her chocolate fondue would help the situation. After all, that was what I had given her while we were dating. Not too hard to make, just some cocoa, bread, and milk cooked in a pot. She loved the heck out of the stuff. Then again, what did I make that she didn't love the heck out of?

I mindlessly searched the fridge for the three ingredients. Only moments later, I threw them in the pot, stirring at the mixture every few minutes. Worrying seemed to melt at a direct proportion to the cocoa. Cooking was my place. The only place I felt I belonged. And when Angela was here, well all the more so. But I wasn't cooking for Angela. Or even with her. I was cooking for the sole reason of Maya. And because I didn't want to die.

It was quickly done, the cocoa melted to a deep chocolate brown. The same color as Angela's eyes. I quickly shook the thought from my head. Maya. I had to keep reminding myself the same thing over and over again: This is for Maya! But I couldn't stop the memory from flooding into my brain.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The chocolate eyes seemed to burn a hole in me, or at least made me self-conscious if nothing else. "Well? Are you going to answer me?" the owner of those eyes asked me.

"Oh, sorry. I was zoning out. What did you say?" I asked her. I suddenly became aware of the stain on my worn-out jeans. I should've washed them.

"I know who you're thinking about," she said matter-of-factly. I panicked. How could she know that I liked her? Was I that bad at being discreet?

"Oh yeah?" I asked, raising what I hoped looked like a cynical eyebrow.

"It's Sandra Smith, isn't it?" she asked, getting a little too excited. And who exactly was that? At least she wasn't suspicious of my crush on her. But then again… it would be a great relief to get that out of the way.

"Who is that?"

"She's that blonde girl who sits beside me in science. I just thought, well, you always seem to stare at her.." she rambled. She looked cute going nowhere besides in verbal circles.

"No, I'm pretty sure I've never heard of her, Angela. Are you sure you know what you're talking about?"

"Well, actually… I'm not too sure about anything anymore. Maybe I was just being stupid."

"Yeah, that sounds in character for you," I laughed.

She punched my arm playfully while adding a, "Hey!" to the conversation.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I was pulled back to reality with a sharp pain on the side of my thumb. "Ow!" I yelped, dropping the fondue, which was the cause of the burn, onto the ground. I refrained from cussing out loud. Well there just went my afternoon, my chance of not dying, and not to mention my finger. I checked the clock on the wall; it was only 6:00. I still had time to make some more fondue, right? I mean Maya would be working at the bar until midnight anyways, so I probably had enough time. Probably.

I sighed and ran the cool running water over my finger. After the sting went away, I grabbed a towel to clean up the mess. The fondue, luckily, didn't stain the floor after I was done cleaning it. The feeling of déjà vu strangely filled me as I pulled out the ingredients again. The chocolate brown plunged me into a memory once again.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I turned around to see them holding hands. It sickened me. Of course I knew why, but I wasn't expecting to feel that bad. What made him better than me? Why couldn't I be the one holding Angela's hands, staring into her deep, brown eyes? Why did she have to be staring into his emerald green eyes and not my violet ones? Why did everything always turn out bad for me?

"So…," I said, glancing around awkwardly. One look at the scene and a passer-by could know I was not welcome in this situation. I was the third wheel between Angela and Tyler.

"Yo, dude!" the green-eyed boy said. His brown hair was messy, yet neat at the same time. Why couldn't my hair work like that? Why did I always need bobby pins in order to make it look even somewhat presentable? "Do you mind?" he asked. Of course I minded. I was on my own while two lovebirds- one of them being my best friend and also my crush- held hands right in front of me. How I could just let her go out with him… I'll never understand what restrained me from beating him up.

"Oh… I'll just be going then," I said while getting up from the bench, clenching my teeth. The park was full of happiness: little kids swinging and sliding, teenagers laughing their heads off, adults being the happiest adults could get. All of that going on around me while I was feeling the most jealous I had ever felt in my life.

"Wait, Chase!" Angela called. "You don't have to go. Tyler's just being… Tyler," she said while the boy looked away. How stupid. I bet he took that as a compliment.

"No, it's okay. I wouldn't want to ruin your 'fun'," I said. A grimace adorned my face as I said this, knowing that I very well didn't want to leave those two alone together.

"Chase, come back!" she yelled. But I was already gone.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I poured the fondue into a bowl, more careful this time not to drop it or burn myself. Finding myself more accident-prone than usual, I carefully placed it on the table, then sat down in a chair at the table. I wiped a bead of sweat from my forehead, smearing the wetness on my apron.

~*~*~*~*~*~

"Chase, you're sweating," Angela said. I realized it was true. I wiped the bead of sweat from my forehead, smearing the wetness on my pants.

"Generally, unfit guys do sweat during PE," I said. Of course, she could've jogged all the way around without me even reaching the half way mark, but lucky for me, Angela was a good friend and managed to not run too far ahead of me.

"You're not unfit, just not as fast as me," she said, slowing down even more.

"I don't think I ever will be. You don't have to wait for me, you know. You can go hang out with those girls over there," I said pointing in a random direction. There were a bunch of people playing basketball. And yes, girls were included.

"But those girls aren't my friends," she said, glancing for a second in that direction. "You're my friend."

"I know that, but you must have other friends. You're better off hanging out with somebody else for once in a while," I begged. I couldn't be her only friend.

It was about a few months before Angela and Tyler had began going out. If I had known that then, I wouldn't have been suggesting that she hang out with other people.

"No, you're my best friend. And I promise I won't cross the finish line with you too far behind," she said. Oh that was reassuring. My mind meant it sarcastically, but an odd sense of security flowed through my veins at that very moment. "But if you want me to speed up, I can. No promising I won't wait for you, though!" And her pace sped up a bit. "Not too far behind!" she reminded me. "A promise is a promise!" and she crossed the finish line.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I couldn't believe I still remembered all that. It was a common day, nothing special about it. Yet I still remembered all the details perfectly. Weren't memories supposed to be forgotten after a while? Why was Angela so unforgettable? What was wrong with my brain? What was wrong with my heart?

Suddenly the door slammed open to admit Maya entrance. I cringed away from the sound. "Chase!" she screamed. "Why weren't you at work today?!"

Her icy blue eyes chilled me. They were so different compared to Angela's warm and inviting eyes. It was like they would let you do whatever you wanted, but trusted you not to go berserk and take advantage of her. Maya's, however, told you pinpoint directions on what to do and trusted noone. Everything about the two girls was different. For example: Angela wore the most comfortable clothes she could find, not caring at all what she looked like. Maya, on the other hand, only wore her puffy, pink/blue dress to be pleasing to the eye.

"What are you doing back so early?" I questioned her right back. One look at the clock and it was only 8:00.

"I asked my mom and dad if I could get off early. They knew what it was like to be young and newly married, so they gave me the rest of the night off and even excused you for not coming at all today," she responded. "But don't expect to be paid for the day."

"Don't worry, I wasn't expecting to," I said, looking into the chocolate mixture on the table. She seemed to follow my gaze.

"What's that?" she asked me.

"I made some fondue for you…" I said, getting up from the table and passing the substance to her. The sheepish smile on my face faded when she just put it back on the table.

"Chase, I don't care about fondue right now," she said. The gleam in her eyes was what threw me off guard. I took it to be anger, but actually it was something much different.

"I was just answering your question. Both of them. Why I wasn't at work and what that was," I said.

"I don't even care why you weren't at work. You promised me a wedding night and since I've waited so long, I want one heck of one," she said, taking my hand and leading me toward the bedroom.

I pried my hand free and said, "Um… I'm not sure I'm up for it." It was meant to be said nonchalantly, but I'm pretty sure some of my nervousness leaked into the sentence.

"Oh come on, Chase. Don't you love me?" she asked.

"Of course. I'm head over heels for you." She grabbed my hand again and pulled me into the bedroom. The door shut.

While in the bed with Maya, all I could think about was how I had lied. Lied to the three people I cared about most at the moment: Angela, Maya, and myself. Both Angela and I when I had told her I had the largest crush on her. I was lying and I didn't even know it. Because while my feelings toward Angela did change after we moved here, they were still basically they same. Just stronger after being two months without her.

I had lied to Maya when I told her that I was head over heels for her. That may not be a lie, but it wasn't fully the truth. Because if I was head over heels for Maya, then I was heels over head for Angela. My relationship with Maya made sense. Everybody expected that I would marry her when I moved here. I mean we worked at the same place, had the same interests, and the same dreams. It would make sense that we would end up together. But while the relationship between the both of us has remained steady, the relationship between both Angela and I was aimless and out of control. At the moment I was hanging upside-down. How could I have not seen it before? Had I seriously thought I had moved on?

The only thing that Angela and I both shared was the past. Was that really enough to keep a strong relationship? It must have been enough for me because obviously I was in the bed with Maya, my mind on Angela the whole time.

Author's Note: Which leads us to the next song in Chase's POV: Heels Over Head by Boys Like Girls. You're welcome to guess what happens next in the story by listening to that song. I don't think it'll be too long until the next chapter comes out, considering spring break and all. Also I'm pretty stoked to see how my next idea turns out.

Sorry to all you guys that reviewed and said that Maya should explode. I know this probably isn't what you had in mind, but I don't like having bad guys in my story. Just different. I believe that almost everything someone does has a justafiable. Notice the underlined word almost.

Attention! Anybody who wouldn't want to know what happens next, don't read the rest of this paragraph (probably nobody, but just in case). Thanks to Blissful Skyes for the winning idea. I'm going to use that for the next chapter :D. Not exactly like that, but I think she'll end up calling him sometime that night lol. I might also include Strawberry Bijou's idea of Angela going to talk to Luna about her gossiping.

As always, review. You're more than welcome to tell me some more ideas. :) . If you want to you can criticize or talk nonsense (you know who you are) again, that's perfectly fine with me. I forced a few people to criticize... hehe. In the next few chapters, I'm going to be try to fix that problem. Maybe. I had a song already picked out for the next chapter, but that might just change...