Finally, chapter ten is up! I don't know when the last time I updated was, but it seems kind of like it was a while ago. Thanks for all the reviews, everyone! They are much appreciated. Oh, and I don't own the song "Why Don't You Kiss Her" by Jesse McCartney. Happy reading!
Chapter Ten
I woke up from my nap a few hours later. I looked at my digital clock that was glowing brightly in the room. Yeah, my dad bought me a digital clock complete with alarm. Hopefully this one will last longer than the other ones. Anyway, I glanced at the clock and saw that it read 1:18 a.m. Okay, so it was more than just a few hours that I was sleeping. I guess I fell asleep around what, after dinner sometime … maybe 7-ish? So I'd been asleep for around six hours and then for no reason I just woke up. But I wasn't tired at all. The beach was calling my name, and I was going to answer.
Since I fell asleep wearing my clothes, I didn't need to change. All I did was sneak out of the Inn, making sure I closed the door gently on my way out. I walked out into the warm Summer air, surprised at how different the world was at night. This town was usually quiet anyway, even during the day, but at night it was quiet almost to a magical extent; as if the world was put on pause.
I made my way through the Town Square, the lampposts shining their lights brightly, and walked off the stone stairs to take my first step on the beach that night. At night the sand was cool since the sun was not there to warm it, and I took off my shoes and socks to feel the texture of the beach against my bare feet. I decided I liked the beach better during the day, when the sand was hot with the sun and the waves felt cool and refreshing against one's skin. But the beach was also peaceful during the night, and soothing in a way that could not be beaten by the mountain air or freshness of the goddess spring.
Walking slowly so as not to wake up Zack the shipper, I walked out onto the end of the pier and sat down, dangling my feet off the edge, the waves just barely missing my toes. You know what would make this evening - er, early morning - perfect? I asked myself. I didn't need to answer my own question because of course I knew the response I was looking for. Cliff.
"Why don't I tell him?" I questioned myself aloud. I made a face as I realized my question was uncannily similar to a Jesse McCartney song. Why don't you kiss her? Why don't you tell her? I started singing the song in my head. Great, now it was stuck in my head and probably wouldn't go away for a long time. That was the last thing I needed; one of those silly love songs stuck in my head. And yet, when you're in love, those songs you once labeled 'silly' start to make a lot more sense then they used to.
I stared out at the moon and then slowly moved my eyes from the sky, to the horizon, and eventually to the ocean. I saw the moon again, except this time it was reflected on the water. It looked pretty like that, the waves and movements of the ocean toying with its reflection, almost as if it was playing a sort of game with it the way it bounced around.
Standing up, I started to yawn, as I realized that even though I was only out here for twenty minutes tops, I was suddenly very tired. Gathering up my shoes and my socks, I started heading back to the Inn where the rest of the night awaited me; and I looked forward to a peaceful sleep.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep… I awoke to the sound of my new digital alarm clock. This one wasn't nearly as annoying as that old one that rang loudly every single morning. I drowsily lifted my head off the pillow and reached over to turn off the alarm. With a simple push of the button it stopped. I sat up in wonder. It was that simple? All I had to do was push the button? I think I liked this new alarm clock. Very much.
I was far too excited about my new alarm clock, and the fact that Jill was arriving today, to stay in bed. I got dressed (yes, I did put my pajamas on after coming home from my nightly excursion) and washed my face, brushed my teeth and pulled a comb through my hair. Then I put my hair back in its usual braid, of course. I had decided it was hopeless to try and wear my hair down in order to impress Cliff. Nothing was happening between us these days.
I walked out of my room and into the kitchen in the back of the Inn to have some breakfast. My dad wasn't there for some reason as he normally was when he was cooking up eggs and bacon for Cliff, so I started making Cliff's breakfast for him. Absentmindedly I threw a couple eggs in the frying pan and started watching them sizzle to perfection, moving them around every once in a while with a spatula.
After they were done cooking, I threw the eggs onto a plate and put some bacon on the side. Then I filled up a glass with orange juice and took them out to Cliff. He was sitting in his usual spot at his usual table. He seemed a little surprised to see me.
"Good morning," he mumbled. I said likewise and put the plate down in front of him. "Thanks … where's your dad?" He asked, barely even looking me in the eye.
"Dunno," I answered, blaming my attitude on my usual sour morning moods. I refused to take into consideration that I had actually woken up on the right side of bed this morning and that really I was in a bad mood because Cliff was there and I was mad at him for being mad at me.
Before turning away to go back into the kitchen and eat my own breakfast, I decided to tell him about my friend Jill. "A friend of mine is coming to town today." I said, trying to use the least amount of words possible. "You wanna meet her?"
"I guess," he shrugged.
"Okay I'm going to visit her at the empty farm lot in an hour. Wait for me by the door," I said, motioning toward the double doors at the front of the Inn. He merely nodded in response and I went into the kitchen, fuming.
"Can't even say ten words to me in the morning," I muttered. "Some perfect guy he turned out to be." I continued garbling to myself for the next couple minutes. It was when I was about halfway done my breakfast when my dad walked into the kitchen.
"Morning, Ann." he said.
"Morning," I answered, my mouth stuffed with eggs. After swallowing that bite, I said, "Where have you been?"
"I was helping Jack and Jill unpack their things at the old farm." he answered, starting to cook breakfast up for himself.
"How'd you know she was coming over?"
"She called yesterday, Ann. I did talk to her on the phone." he said as if the answer should have been obvious.
"But she said you gave her cooking tips."
He hesitated, then nodded. "Well, yes, that too."
"I'm taking Cliff over to meet Jill later today. Maybe he'll actually befriend Jack; then he'd at least have someone to talk to." I said rather mockingly.
"That's wonderful!" my dad said. I was surprised he didn't scold me for being kind of mean to Cliff. "When are you two going to head over?"
"In an hour, I guess. I was going to go up to the Harvest Goddess Pond first."
"Okay," my dad said. He continued cooking his breakfast and I finished mine up. I placed the plate in the sink and started heading out the door. The warm air greeted me when I took the first step outside, and I was reminded of my little trip to the beach last night. The magic of that was over though. Now I was in real life, specifically my life; the one where I was hated by Cliff and known for wearing my hair back in a braid.
By the time I reached the goddess spring, Popuri was already there. I was kind of surprised that she already wasn't off with Kai somewhere on some enchanted, fairytale-like, romantic moonlit dinner … er, sunlight breakfast.
"Hi Ann!" she said immediately once she saw me approaching. "I haven't seen you around in a while. I've been visiting Kai's Seaside Lodge a lot. You should come, and bring Cliff with you. Where is he by the way? I haven't seen him around lately either. Are the two of you having fun during this warm season of Summer?" she concluded her monologue with a clap of her hands and a too-big-for-her-face smile.
"Actually, Cliff avoids me nowadays." I responded calmly, refusing to look Popuri in the eye as I stared down at my own reflection instead.
She gasped before talking again. "Why, Ann? What happened? What did you do to him?"
"After he found out that I 'loathed' to serve him, he started hanging out all by himself. He barely speaks to me anymore."
Another gasp. "How did he find that out?"
"You told him!" I said, not seeing how it was in any way possible that she either forgot that within the course of two weeks or was so dense that anything that occurred over three days ago was out of her capacity to remember.
"Oh, Ann," she said, looking genuinely regretful. "I am so sorry. I - I realize that you're right. It was all my fault. It was completely and entirely my fault that this happened." She sighed. "I don't know what came over me that day at the pond, but sometimes when I start talking I just can't stop until I have nothing else to say. Either that or I just speak without thinking of what the consequences might be, and then something like this happens, and -"
"Popuri!" I said. "Enough! I mean, thank you. Thanks for apologizing. But you don't need to take so long to do it."
She smiled. "Well, come on," she said, giving me one of those fake punches on the arm. "We've got to get you two back together again."
"Back together?" I scoffed. "We were never together in the first place."
"You sure looked like it when you were splashing each other in the pond."
"You mean, splashing that fish…" I said, my face reddening.
She giggled. "Ann, I didn't buy that for a second!"
I couldn't help but do a solemn smile. "I underestimated you." I said, not particularly enthusiastically because I was embarrassed to admit it.
"So does that mean you'll let me help you get him back?" she said, looking hopeful as ever.
"Uh, no." I said. "I'd rather you not meddle in this any more."
"You're not mad at me, are you?" she said, her big eyes getting a puppy dog look that actually kind of creeped me out.
"No, I'm not mad. I just don't like having people help me. I can do this on my own, okay?"
"Okay," Popuri said, looking a little downtrodden but nonetheless hopeful that everything would work out for me. For a second I was touched that she actually cared this much about me and I was tempted to thank her again. But then I got back to my senses.
"Well I need to go," Popuri said cheerfully. "I'll see you around, Ann!" she waved goodbye and disappeared from view as she walked off.
I decided to stay up at the goddess pond for a little bit longer. After all, I didn't need to go and get Cliff for another half an hour. It only took fifteen minutes to walk back to the Inn, so I technically had fifteen more minutes to myself. I took the time to reflect; both looking at myself in the pond and thinking back to last night on the beach. I also decided that I would try to be nice to Cliff today, and try to at least look like I was having fun. Today was a day of charades, I thought, and I was going to win.
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Okay, confession time! I've always liked Cliff a lot, but I was never fond of the pairing AnnxCliff until I actually started writing this fic. I don't even know why I decided to write it if I didn't like the pairing, but over the chapters, I've come to like it a lot! I'm glad that I was able to make a couple other people like it too, according to reviews, as well as myself. I guess it ended up being more successful than I thought.