Second love event - Third love event
Second/Dark blue love event: "It's not that I don't like that. It's just when you're this close, uh, my heart rate starts goin' up." And "I wasn't kidding when I said you make my heart beat." *clutches heart*
In which Holly and Wayne hide behind a sign to scare Hector because Noel wants to and then Wayne starts being a smooth …gentleman.
Holly breathed out white air as her boots crunched under the snow. Her eyes darted over the watch on Wayne's wrist and she tilted her head trying to read the time.
Had two hours already passed? She tried not to let herself get too frustrated but she didn't expect this to be taking so much time. She still had farm work to do, out of all the days they could pick to clean the town statue, it had to be the day Holly was as busy as a bee. She had to go to Tsuyukusa to buy some seeds to replace her already ripe winter radishes and if she wanted her soil to dry at a reasonable hour then she had to rush back to the farm as soon as possible. She had already fainted for exhaustion the day before which caused her to sleep in this morning. Ford was giving her the stink eye as she spoke! She felt tired already at the prospect of skipping lunch to finish her work. She had hoped to get to bed earlier today.
Before her thoughts could go darker, she quickly shook her head. No, she had volunteered to help; it was a bit unfair of her to complain now. Even if it was taking longer than she thought, it wasn't like she could walk away without feeling guilty. Right, the sooner she helped the sooner she could get back to the farm. With that in mind, she started marching towards Megan to ask for more work, she didn't need a break! But she could feel the density of Ford's gaze on her back and she obediently went back to her spot. The doctor seemed to be pleased by that. She still had the resolve to get back to work, though so she bounced on the balls of her feet, restless.
She heard a quiet chuckle near her and her feet slowly slowed down until she was standing still as she turned towards the direction of the sound. She blinked at Wayne who was looking at her with a close-lipped smile.
"Sorry, didn' mean to laugh." He said with the typical Westown accent that she grew accustomed to. "You're so full of sunshine as always, Holly." His eyes grew soft and Holly's cheeks started feeling hot under that gaze. Though, she thought it was mostly embarrassment and guilt more than anything as she didn't do anything worth praising; if anything her thoughts were rather selfish.
"Ah, oh, uh…" She stammered which didn't help her embarrassed state at all. She'd been rather nervous around Wayne lately. He was such a sweet and charismatic guy, always knowing what to say. He had a way with words and if she didn't know any better she would have thought that he was, well, flirting.
He tipped his cowboy hat down slightly "'m sorry, didn't mean to make you feel uneasy."
"You didn't!" the words came out of her mouth before she could properly react "It's that… well, I'm running late for my errands so it's less about me being, um, sunshiny and more me being impatient, I guess."
"Oh," he mutters, something about the way his eyebrows rose up for that split second seemed to ask her 'Sunshiny?' as if her choice of words had slightly entertained him "If you're in a rush I can cover for ya."
Holly smiled. Wayne was really such a sweet guy "It's okay. I volunteered, I'm not going to quit halfway!" she beamed, pumping her fists. Wayne smiled "I just wish Ford wouldn't give me the stink eye for not taking a break."
Wayne chuckled at that "Oh, I know. I've been asked to look after ya to make sure you didn' work yourself to exhaustion." He winked at her, just like how he did it that day when he had reassured her he was joking when he had clumsily remarked that her being that close to him made his heart rate go up. The two of them were hiding behind a sign and Wayne looked so genuinely shy back then, completely lacking all of his normal charms that Holly had believed his words. She had felt just a tad disappointed when he had winked and returned to his usual self, then…
I wasn't lying when I said you make my heart beat.
Holly quickly looked away. Her face flushed as she remembered the words he said to her that day. "Oh, okay." She said firmly, letting their conversation die there. Suddenly, she felt really self-conscious about the fact that the person standing next to her was Wayne. Her whole body went rigid, her heartbeat picking up slightly. She didn't dare to move too much in fear of doing something embarrassing and though she wasn't looking directly at him, her eyes were staring at his direction without her controlling them. She could see his outline in her peripheral vision and couldn't help the occasional smiles that appeared on her face as she saw him doing the same thing. She hoped she wasn't just imagining it. Maybe being near him alone was enough to make her feel giddy. Or maybe her smiles were due to both reasons. Now, she wished time passed even more slowly, maybe she wouldn't mind staying like this for a while longer.
Wait, no! No, Holly, snap out of it. Farm work, farm work, farm work, your dream, dream, dream!
She quickly shook her head, her body felt static at the movement and the thought that Wayne was watching made her heart speed up but she couldn't care about that! She had more important things to focus on, like her farm work!
His words rang in her head again but she did her best to shut them off, after all, Wayne was like this with everybody. She wasn't sure why she thought that but there was a part of her that told her that he was just giving her hope and dragging her along with no end in sight.
"Holly?"
"Uh? I-I mean, yes?" Her voice was strangely strained, and somehow trembling. Her heart seemed to be beating in her throat.
Megan was smiling at her, not having noticed anything, "Could you help us pick up these materials?" She gestured at the bronze a little ways away. Holly nodded fervently, anything to get away from this situation.
"T-those look mighty heavy." Was the tremor in Wayne's voice just her imagination? He took a pause saying his next sentence; she heard the slight sound of breath being let out "I'll help, too."
Wayne, I'm trying to get away from you Holly thought desperately, with a plastered smile on her face. Stop being so nice!
Holly rushed to the materials and brought them to Hector doing her best to avoid Wayne in the process. She felt so self-conscious every time she passed by him and heat would always go up to her ears whenever she felt his eyes on her.
She did her best to tell herself that Wayne wasn't looking at her, why would he? She wasn't anything special and he was like this with everybody.
With everybody.
Holly glanced at him to find that he really wasn't looking at her and her heart dropped a bit at that realization. She started remembering her conversation with Erica and the ugly truth behind the girl's words. It would have been indeed easier if he wasn't so kind. Then Holly wouldn't have started liking him in the first place.
She stopped as soon as that thought hit her.
"Need help?" Holly jumped and screamed at the sound, leaving Wayne stunned with a wide-eyed expression, the farmer's heartbeat was beating fast and she wasn't sure for exactly which reason that was. She stared at Wayne and he stared at her, time seemed to be stopping. She saw him swallow and then "Are… are ya alright?"
Holly nodded, movements stiff "Y-yeah." She shook her head and whatever spell she was in got broken with that gesture "I don't. Need help, that is, but thank you." The blonde was getting used to the fact that today her voice was just shaky.
"Right," Wayne nodded, Holly hated the way her mind was praying tricks on her. No way was Wayne blushing "Ya can always count on me if you do."
She bit her inner cheek in an attempt to not smile too much "Yeah, thank you," it wasn't quite working.
They looked away from each other but neither was moving. Slowly, Holly redirected her gaze to him. He still wasn't looking at her, she wondered if he would feel her staring just like she thought she did. She wondered what he was thinking, wondered if he really meant all he was saying or if he was just being a huge flirt.
Holly wondered when she started liking him. She had had crushes before but they never lasted long since she had never acted upon them, she would just let time do its trick and when it was over there would be very little to miss as there was nothing to begin with.
But this time, it was different. Holly knew Wayne, had talked to him nearly every day since she had moved here, had lunches with him, he knew about her secret and she knew his. She hadn't started liking him because of a quality he possessed or some gesture he had done, she started to like him after knowing him, after spending time with him and most importantly he was her friend. One she didn't want to lose.
Even so, she had no idea where to go from here.
"Are you two staring at each other again?" Noel's voice rang, waking them both from their daydreams. When did Wayne start looking at her?
They both immediately looked down at the small girl who was looking up to them, she had the same annoyed expression as that time, her cheeks were puffed and her eyes were narrowed slightly. Holly nearly couldn't contain her 'awww' at the sight.
The farmer heard Wayne chuckling and her eyes darted to him "Sorry, I'll get back to work," he winked at Noel and Holly felt just a twinge of annoyance. Did he have to wink at everybody? But then he looked at her again, his eyes soft and full of affection and every drop of negativity completely went away "Shall we, sweetheart?" Holly stared, but he looked as calm and composed as ever. In her trance he took the bronze she had been carrying this whole time, their fingers brushed slightly, he smiled at her "I'll see ya ahead." He said and lingered on his spot for just a second more.
…Sweetheart?
"Holly…" Noel said. Holly had nearly forgotten the little girl was still there "Your face is red again. Are you really okay?"
Holly stared at Wayne, at his back, at his ears which were still tinted pink and then looked back to Noel, "Yeah," she murmured, then sighed "Yeah." She giggled, giddiness filling her entire body "I'm okay. Better than ever." She told her with a bright smile, Noel looked surprised. Holly hummed to herself as she rushed back to work.
Maybe staying here a little longer wasn't that bad.
AN: CAPJHMPAgirl: Aaaah, thank you for your review! I was hesitant, too, especially when his fangirls appeared and one of them proposed to him, I thought it was going to be the same story again but he won me over with his dark blue love event and I was pleasantly surprised when his fangirls turned out to be rather nice.
Lucy Kay: Aw, thank you for taking the time to correct my grammar in every chapter! It's always nice when you say something about yourself~ it makes me feel like I'm getting to know you, haha!
A huge thank you to everyone reading~ Good night~
