A/N: Hi, sorry it's taken me so long to upload. Happy belated Christmas, and happy New Year.

I've been pretty sick lately, and it completely depleted my drive to write. Hopefully (although this one is pretty short) this can tide you over until the end of January (when I can upload next).

Chapter 10: Efflorescence

"You seem more tense today, brother of mine." Aceline commented, arms folded across her chest. "What's on your mind?"

"Nothing, nothing." He shook his head distractedly, running his fingers through his hair. "It's just... the mayor is really naive. She trusts easily... maybe too easily."

"And so she does." She agreed. She watched him through the mirror as he made some last-minute adjustments to the collar of his shirt. He folded it down again, turning to see it at an angle.

"I paid off our loan again," she said, "and Nook said he'd have the next upgrade done by tomorrow morning."

"Cool, that's, good." He began to unbutton the shirt, seemingly frustrated with it.

Aceline turned as he shrugged it off, tossing it in the closet, into a hamper. He pulled a clean white tee out and put it on, patting his hair back into place.

"It's only January, barely halfway through January." She sighed. "Nobody else has done this to you, not even that one woman."

"Yeah, well she was thirty and engaged to this rich guy," Todd snapped back. "Obviously there was some kinda disconnect between us."

She said nothing for a few minutes.

"But you said you truly felt something with her..." She thought to herself with a frown. "Is this not the same situation?"

Meanwhile, at Catelin's house, the mayor sat on the couch in her living room, staring blankly at the TV screen.

"I was hoping for a good year, but..." she thought to herself with a deep exhale through her nose. "... what if I'm wrong?"

"I mean, Todd. He's so smooth. Nobody can be that smooth while being honest with their feelings."

Her eyebrows furrowed into a frown. "As much as I want to believe he's kind to me because he wants to be my friend, I can't help but think that he's hiding something."

She blinked, reaching for the remote. She shut the television off, rubbing her eye with her other hand.

"Maybe I'm being too paranoid," she sighed to herself. "Maybe I'm overthinking this a little bit... I don't think I'd be that gullible again this time."

She thought of the years past with an almost fond smile as she headed upstairs. When she'd arrived in town, she'd been young, maybe too young to fully understand everything. She'd made friends quickly, sure, but what she'd really been searching for was a companion.

"Guess I failed in that respect," she thought solemnly, glancing at an envelope tacked to the corkboard above her bed. "Could it be that I still held onto that silly dream?"

"I'm... still not sure how I feel about him." She collapsed onto her bed, gazing into Joey's frozen smiling face behind the glass frame. She groaned, covering her face with her hands. "Joey, what should I do...? I'm not well-versed in romance. The only guy I ever liked moved away before I could tell him!"

She remembered a conversation she'd had with Aceline earlier. Early in the morning, she'd been going around town when she ran into the noirette.

"I seem to remember that I promised you I'd tell you about Todd's negative reaction to touching." She said, hand on one hip.

"Oh, yeah, I remember that." The blonde scratched the back of her neck. "Is this something I should know, or is this a secret...?

"Very much not a secret, very much needed to know." She nodded. "All our life, Todd's been somewhat of a... well, I shouldn't get into that now. In short terms, he's had a lot of bad experiences with people touching him. He used to get punched a lot by the other kids at school, and when Dad hugged him, it usually meant he was about to get into trouble." Aceline sighed heavily. "Mom wasn't exactly the best, either. She hardly ever hugged him. When she did touch him, it was a pat on the head or on the back."

"That's some heavy stuff," Catelin gaped in shock. "And that made him hate it?"

"He carries a few... resentments, per se. He's never really liked Mom, and he hates Dad."

"Yeah..." Catelin frowned, guilt tugging at her heart. "So when I hugged him..."

"I don't really know what he was thinking, but it dredged up some bad memories." Aceline finished, patting her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, though. He doesn't hate you for it. If anything, he's probably guilty that he didn't tell you sooner."

"He hates to be touched..." she murmured, rolling onto her stomach and resting her chin on her crossed arms. "But... but he let me shake his hand when he hung out, even if he looked uncomfortable."

She looked at the picture again. "I bet Cody would've known what to do."

"How can I get him to be comfortable with physical contact again?" She questioned, closing her eyes. "Surely he's noticed that I... do I like him? Or is this like with him?"

She conjured up thoughts of him. When his face, broken into peals of laughter, crossed her mind's eye, she smiled, warm feelings filling her heart.

"I do like him," she decided. "Maybe... maybe he can like me too. Maybe I can get him to like contact again."

With that, she rolled over and sat up. She cast one last glance at a letter on the corkboard above her bed before standing up and heading for her closet.

A/N: So yeah, bridge chapter. I hope you liked it. Please tell me what you thought about it. See you later!