Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or anything associated with it.

"Oh, Claire."

That was all Mary had been able to say. She walked around the library with her friend, gently touching the books that had given her comfort, and yet she had nothing of comfort to give to the blonde beside her. No books could offer the kind of comfort Claire yearned for, something to erase the embarrassment that showed in her cheeks.

"Oh, Claire." The beads of her new necklace tinkled together, and that seemed to snap Claire out of her trance once again.

"I know, I know. I'm so stupid! So, so stupid…but I just…I couldn't do that to you, Mary. I felt awful the entire time…like I was doing something so awful…" she trailed off there, shaking her head. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to see him the way I want to. All I can see is you and your happiness…I mean, don't blame yourself. It's just…I want you to be happy, Mary."

The librarian gently smoothed her friend's shirt down, and a billow of dust from the stables, barn and coop raised up, coating the coats beside them, making the girls laugh. "Claire…you know how Ellen's other grandson has been coming by weekly? The older one?"

Claire hesitated and then nodded. "Brandon? Yeah, sure. I've met him a couple of times when I went over there to visit her." How many times had she bumped into that guy while dropping in to visit Ellen? Blue eyes, black hair, she knew him almost as well as she knew one of the townspeople.

"Well…" Mary's cheeks reddened. "The other day he stopped by the library, and asked if I liked just reading or if I liked writing too. I told him that I liked writing and…he asked if he could see something I wrote. And now…well…I got a letter from him two days ago, and he's coming in about an hour. He wants to see what the festival is all about," she chuckled. "And well…it's sort of a date."

Claire gaped. "What? Seriously? Why didn't you tell me? Do you like him? Do you think he's cute? Do you think you two will get married?!"

Her friend laughed at Claire's back-to-normal strangeness, letting her glasses slide, for once, a little down the bridge of her nose. "I didn't want to tell you until you got things sorted out with Gray, because I wanted you to have someone too. I wasn't sure if you were going to ask anyone to the festival…and well, yes…I do like him. And I do…" she blushed more than ever, "think he's rather cute…marriage is a long ways off, though!"

They laughed again, and then Claire smiled a little. "So you're…over Gray? Already?"

"Like I said…" Mary sighed, looking embarrassed. "I didn't like him as much as I thought I did. He was just…here…and most guys don't come into the library…Claire, go talk to him! I want you to be happy."

Claire smiled. "Okay, okay…I'll go try and find him…okay?"

Mary shoved her out the door, giggling. "You better!" she warned, waving Claire off as fast as she could.

The blonde grumbled down the street. She checked the Inn first, since it was there, but the doors were locked of course. Festival day. She checked the Blacksmith's, but was hit with the same problem.

And then she was hit with another realization.

She just wasn't going to find him. Everything was locked up, he couldn't go to the library anymore, he was probably off hiding somewhere, and she just wasn't going to find him.

"I guess…I'm going to be spending the Starry Night Festival…alone…anyways…" she mumbled to herself, heading to her house. Hadn't she planned a quiet night at home before? Well, it looked like that was what she was going to get.

When it got to six o' clock, she couldn't stand being in her house any longer. She couldn't go vent to Popuri, who was going to be on the phone with Kai all night, or Ann, who was going to be with Cliff, or Mary, who was apparently on the verge of having a boyfriend. Everyone paired up but me. Back to how it should be.

The beach was too cold though, so she headed to the mountains with extra jackets on. Might as well go to the summit like she had been thinking about…she hadn't ever gone there before, anyways. Might as well go there alone and look at the sky, or something like that, she shrugged to herself.

When she first got to the mountain path, she found herself checking for the white flower. "Of course not," she sighed. "That would just be too easy, right?"

"What would be too easy?" a voice asked as Claire reached the summit, breathing hard from the climb.

Gray held his hand out to her, a halfhearted smile on his lips as he looked down at her.

Claire gasped again, somehow managing to hold her hand out to him, let him pull her up the last step. "I…I…you're…here. You're here."

He smiled a little more than before, holding onto her hand still. "Well…I can't go to the library. I hate the beach. I mean, I almost drowned when I was a little kid, so…I don't want to go anywhere else in town, and it wouldn't matter if I did because everything's locked up. I come to the mountains a lot- through the long way, don't worry- and…I don't know. I just hang out up here a lot."

The rancher continued to stare. "I…I can't believe it. I went looking for you, and you were here. Right past my farm. And I thought…" she laughed a little at herself, her fingers finally curling around his hand. "I thought that I just wouldn't find you."

"You were looking for me?" Gray asked, tilting his head to the side.

For a moment, Claire blushed, and then she laughed. "Of course I was! After I ran off yesterday, I had to find you, I had to apologize for being so crazy, I had to get some answers…I mean, I was just so shocked, I…"

Gray rolled his eyes, snickering a little. "Come on Claire. Why do you think I got so mad at you all the time. You were always flirting with other guys…or I guess just being nice, really. But I was so sure…with the cookies thing. Oh man, I can't believe you didn't realize it. I helped you clean up the lemonade, I didn't kill you when you threw a book at me…"

"You argued with me constantly, though…" Claire said softly. "I thought that you hated me."

Gray smirked, but then it softened as he squeezed her hand with surprising gentleness. "I don't get along with people, Claire. I mean, you know that. It was hard just to fight with you. I would try to say something, and I would just get so frustrated…"

"It's okay," she stopped him, grinning. "I just…I can't believe it."

"You still haven't told me if you feel the same way or not!"

Claire rolled her eyes this time, grinning still. "Gray…I mean…really. Come on. You have to know."

"But I wanna hear you say it," he retorted, smirking again.

She heaved a heavy sigh. "Of course I like you, Gray…I went through all that stuff just to make sure you didn't think I liked other people. I did all kinds of crap to talk to you. I…I acted like a total idiot whenever you were even just a little nice. I bought this broach- I mean, I've grown to love it, but still. I had been saving up all that money for a house extension and I spent it all on my watering can getting better so I could stay and talk to you, I gave you my best piece of material, and I baked all those cookies, which cost even more money just because I didn't want you to be upset."

A smile slowly spread across Gray's face. "You…you seriously did all of that?"

Claire dropped his hand, throwing her arms into the air with exasperation. "Yes! Of course! I even told you I was spending all that time thinking about you and your stupid hat, what did you expect?"

He rolled his eyes at her comment, but grinned at her, pulling it off to reveal the head of red hair Claire had known about all along, leaning closer to her. She closed the distance, sighing and leaning her forehead against his.

"I'm flattered," he teased her, slowly tilting his face until he kissed her, one hand moving up to her neck and the other winding itself into her hair. Claire broke away, laughing as she put her hands in the hair she had never truly seen before, kissing him again after he rolled his eyes for, of course, the millionth time, a smirk on his lips.

"You know, since you're already here…" he said when he pulled away, setting his hands on her waist instead. "And since you were looking for me and all…do you want to just stay up here and spend the Starry Night Festival with me?"

He couldn't hide the nervous edge to his voice, and Claire smiled at that, throwing her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. "Why do you think I went looking for you, Uma?" she demanded, leaning close to him and then grinning when they were inches apart, holding eye contact.

"You're such a tease," he laughed a real laugh, kissing her once again. "Don't call me Uma, farmgirl."

"Don't call me farmgirl, horsey."

He shoved her to the side as the sky darkened more and more, the stars barely beginning to twinkle in the sky.

"Don't get violent, Uma," Claire mocked him, smirking and waiting to see what he had to say to that.

"Says the one who threw a book at me."

"One time!"

Author's Note: :DDD I feel terrible, I made you guys sift through fourteen chapters until you get a scene where they both admit their feelings to each other without the other running off haha. I had to throw in some arguments of course, it's Gray and Claire. :P But I've got one more chapter left, the epilogue, so that will be coming up shortly. :) I hope you all enjoyed this! Thanks for reading, reviewing, etc etc etc etc. (=