Quick Info~

It's been quite awhile since I posted! So many things have been happening in my life. I moved to a different city, started my sophomore year at a new college, and am generally just trying to figure out what the hell adult life is supposed to be. Thankfully, the muses came back to me and I was able to finish this chapter! I hope you guys are still excited to check this out. I know I'm excited to post it! Since I spend so much time wooing the bachelors, often times the ladies of the game go unnoticed. If any of the bachelorettes seem slightly OOC, I apologize in advance! Anyway, hope you enjoy this cute and quirky chapter! Thank you to everyone who has been reading/reviewing/favoriting/following, even through this two month break. P.S. 10 points if you spot the cameo from another Harvest Moon game. ;)


"If you don't open this door right now I'm going to kick it down!"

Elise's voice bellowed through the walls with the power and intensity of an earthquake. Annie groaned and pulled her pillow over her head, stuffing the fabric hard against her ears. Even though she was used to waking up the second the sun rose, this morning was different.

She spent the better half of the night asking Elise for advice and the rest of it worrying about the advice she received. By the time sleep eventually dragged her under, she could already hear the first few birds chirping outside her window.

"Elise isn't joking!" a higher-pitched voice musically said.

Agate was there. And from the muffled chattering Annie heard, she wasn't the only one. Did Elise really recruit all of the girls to help her?

Annie swung her legs over the side of the bed and inched her toes into a pair of fluffy pink slippers that Elise gave her for her birthday last winter. She hardly wore them on a daily basis, but she knew that Elise would instantly notice if she wasn't.

"Give me a second," Annie yelled, trying to sound chipper as she ran to the sink to splash cool water on her face.

"You don't have to look like some sort of goddess," Elise said, pounding on the door. "That defeats the purpose of us being here."

Annie rolled her eyes, opened the door, and was met with Oak Tree Town's gaggle of young adult women. Each held various products for making Annie less "girl-next-door" and a lot more, well, mysteriously sexy.

Iris was holding a makeup bag, stained with foundation and sparkly eye shadow, but still extravagantly designed. Lillie was holding some sort of plastic contraption with hair curlers large enough to resemble spools of thread lined in rows inside. Angela held a shoebox with some fancy, foreign designer name on the side. Elise had a dress wrapped in plastic from the same designer as the shoes—"Sonata Tailoring." Even Licorice was there to provide a tiny bottle of nail polish that Elise must have told her to grab from her bathroom cabinet.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Elise grabbed Annie's arm and dragged her towards the bathroom.

There was hardly room for Annie to comfortably move in the bathroom when she was by herself, but adding all of the extra girls made the space almost unbearably tight. The curlers were plugged in, makeup was flying in and out of Iris' bag, Annie's feet were stuffed in her heels, and both of her hands were held by Licorice and Agate as they swiftly painted her nails.

"I know it seems too early to get ready, but Mistel and I thought that an early afternoon show followed by dinner afterwards would best suit our customers. After all, no one likes rush hour traffic, especially in the city," Iris said, smearing some sort of cream on Annie's cheeks.

"Alright ladies, we've got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it. Raeger needs to realize that Annie is the most beautiful woman in all of Oak Tree Town—besides myself, of course—and the only way to achieve that is if we snuff the farm girl out of her like it never existed!" Elise said, balling her hand into a fist and slamming it against her other palm.

"Don't you think that this is all a bit much?" Annie asked, squirming as she sat on top of the bathroom counter. "What happened to inner beauty?"

Elise smiled. "You already have more than enough of that."

Annie sighed. "So then shouldn't the outside not matter so much?"

"Let me tell you a thing or two about stories like this," Iris started.

Annie winced as Lillie shoved curlers into her hair. Her hair was far too long and thick for the amount of curlers she brought.

"From what I've heard, Raeger is obviously into you and you're obviously into him. That was just the rising action. If you want to write a successful love story, there has to be a climax. Just picture it, Annie. You walk into the room where Raeger is already proudly serving his finest dishes to important city folk. He looks up, sees you, and stops talking mid-sentence. Then, when he calls you over to introduce you as the provider of the ingredients for his fine dishes, he says, 'this is my girlfriend, Annie. At least, I hope she'll be my girlfriend someday.'"

Iris' eyes were closed as she relayed the tale, doing her best to imitate Raeger's smooth tenor. The rest of the girls exchanged a combination of looks ranging from dreamy to disgusted.

Annie felt her stomach flip-flop. "You're honestly such a fantastic writer, Iris. But I'm just not sure I've got what it takes to be the heroine of that story."

"Fake it 'til you make it," Elise said, like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Annie remained silent for the rest of the process. The girls refused to let her look in a mirror until their work was done. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of nearly burning her scalp on curlers and having an itch on her nose that recently nail-polished fingers couldn't scratch, her ensemble was complete.

"Ready?" Angela asked, holding out her hand for Annie to grab.

Annie nodded and stood before turning around to look in the mirror. Her hair, which was normally tied up, was now resting in light curls on her back. Her eyelashes were full and dark, complimenting the smoky eye shadow dusted with silver sparkles. Her cheeks, though normally pink, glowed with a rosy, golden blush.

Since the event was more formal, her dress was rather form fitting, complete with long sleeves and lace. Her heels added a solid four inches to her measly 5'2 stature. It was almost like looking at a complete stranger for the first time. When she used to live in the city as a teenager, her appearance was something that she was supposed to take pride in. Now, she barely recognized the face staring back at her in the mirror, even though all of the reflection's actions mimicked her own.

"Wow," she said, almost inaudibly.

"What do you think?" Agate asked, grabbing Annie's arm and squeezing it excitably.

She turned around and faced the group, eagerly awaiting her response. "Thank you," she said. "This was really sweet of you guys."

"Anything was an improvement from that frumpy farm dress," Elise said, but Annie knew that she was secretly proud of her hard work.

"I didn't realize it was so late!" Iris said suddenly, glancing at the clock in Annie's bedroom. "Annie, you have to help Raeger prep for the dishes and I have to get dressed."

Annie felt her stomach leap into her throat as her palms immediately began to sweat. Iris ushered her out of the house and rushed down the path towards the Antique Shop. Annie followed clumsily, feeling like she was learning how to walk for the first time again.

When they finally got to the shop, she felt painful blisters already beginning to form around her ankles and toes. Iris wistfully disappeared into her bedroom and left Annie alone in the middle of the presentation room.

Pedestals varying in size lined the walls, each object on top resting underneath thick, gray sheets. Annie could just picture Mistel meticulously arranging all of the pedestals and choosing which antiques would fit best in each spot.

"Iris told me that it would be alright to start setting up now since the guests—"

Annie heard Raeger's voice in the entryway and she practically froze. A tidal wave of doubt washed over her, drenching her in insecurities about her appearance.

"Annie?" Raeger asked.

She turned around and smiled at him sheepishly, avoiding the shooting pain making it's way through her foot as the first blister popped.

"Iris told me that I was supposed to help you set up," she said.

Raeger nodded. "I wouldn't want to prepare your vegetables wrong since you'll be under just as much criticism as me. That's why you look so different, right?"

"Oh, this?" Annie rubbed the lacy fabric on her dress in between her fingers nervously. "No, I basically became a canvas for all of the girls in town to experiment with their cosmetology skills."

Raeger laughed. "Well to their credit, I think you look absolutely beautiful. Although, it's kind of impossible to look more beautiful than you do naturally."

"Smooth," Annie mumbled, although she felt her cheeks burn.

They unpacked his cooking station in flirtatious silence. Each stealing glances and quickly averting their gaze once the other noticed. It was a strange feeling for Annie, and one that she regularly avoided because of it. But she couldn't help it with Raeger. It was like he came with feelings that radiated into her.

When they finished setting up the station, Raeger looked proudly at their work. It was a cute little table, complete with a stovetop in the middle and cabinets underneath to store ingredients and cooking utensils.

"Are you nervous about meeting all of these supposedly pretensions people Iris and Mistel invited?" Annie asked.

"Not really. City people tend to like me. I think it's because they think I'm one of them. I always wonder what they would say if I told them that I've lived in Oak Tree Town longer than I lived in the city," Raeger mused, slicing one of Annie's cucumbers on a cutting board.

"Well I wish I had your confidence because I lived in the city longer than you and I'm terrified." Annie shook her head, dropping her gaze to the floor and her perfectly polished toes.

"Once they taste the crops you grew and the food I turned them into, it's not going to matter where you're from. Trust me," Raeger said.

And she did. Without doubts or further questioning. She wanted to believe everything that he said the instant that he said it. It took her awhile to realize that they had been slowly leaning towards each other, her head tilting upward to meet his tall stature. The familiar smell of spearmint and cinnamon brushed against her cheeks when he exhaled. Her eyelashes, heavy from the mascara, began to flutter shut.

"Alright everybody, let's get to work! The first guests should be arriving shortly!"

Mistel's booming voice and clapping hands snapped her out of her trance. Blushing furiously, Annie jumped back. Raeger only laughed and returned to his cooking. If Annie survived this night, she'd be equipped to handle anything.