The next morning I woke up feeling groggy, confused, and strangely drained. It was like I was a battery that had lost its charge and gotten so low that the device had stopped functioning. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and stared up at my ceiling. There was something I was forgetting. It was something important. And I knew, just knew that whatever it was, it was something that I'd probably be better off not remembering at the moment. But of course, the more awake I became the more that the peace of obliviousness wore off. The moment I remembered, I shot up straight in my bed.

"Oh no! Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!"

I buried my face in my hands as all of the pieces fell into place. The night before I had been at Keiko's bachelorette party. The night had started off innocent enough. We'd chatted. We'd scarfed down food. We'd had a little wine. I'd gone out to deliver Keiko's gift to Makoto when I ran into Akito.

'Akito. No, no, no, no, no!'

I'd gone back to his place with him while he went to pick up whatever it was he'd come out to get aside from delivering Makoto's gift to Keiko. I'd downed a glass of water and then. . .then. . .

"I didn't! I. . .Oh man, I did!" I threw myself back against my bed and pulled the covers over my head. I'd. . .I'd kissed Akito! I'd actually crawled across a table just to get to him. I'd crawled across a table! Who did that?! Me, apparently, but really, who did that?!

I could remember making my way across the table as I wondered about the softness of Akito's lips. I could remember the way they'd felt under the brush of my thumb. I could still see the confusion in Akito's eyes as he asked me what I was doing. And I definitely remembered my answer.

I turned over and pressed my face against my pillow as I let out a mortified scream. Once my dramatic moment was over I stayed that way for a few minutes not caring if I was depriving my body of air. When I couldn't take that anymore, I turned back over and stared at the ceiling once more. Yes, I certainly remembered my answer.

'This.'

And then I'd kissed him. I'd kissed Akito. I had. . .kissed Akito. Akito. I pressed my fingers against my lips and let out a little groan. I could still feel it, how his lips had felt against mine. I could feel how soft his hair was under my fingers. I could remember what it was like with his arms around me and being pulled close. That kiss had been wonderful. Wait, no, it had been magical. Yes, that's a corny thing to say but I will remind you once again that I'm a fan of corny, cliche, and even cheesy. But. . .wow. That had been, hands down, the best kiss of my life. It was the one I had been waiting for since that day I'd fallen on the ice and had thought I would never get. This kiss, though, this wonderful and magical kiss hadn't been handed to me, no. I'd taken it. I'd crawled across a table and stolen it like a thief in the night!

He'd reciprocated that kiss, yes. I had certainly felt something on the other end. It's not like he just sat there motionless while my lips moved against his stationary ones. That was probably just a. . .like a. . .reflex reaction or something. He kissed me on reflex, almost like he couldn't help himself and his lips had a mind of their own. His arms must have had a mind of their own, too, when he wrapped them around me. That was it. Reflex. He hadn't asked for it, I'd swooped in like the early bird going after the worm and snatched it.

And now I would have to move away because I was pretty sure I could never, ever face Akito again. I could. . .move back to the city. That's right! Marissa would be thrilled for me to move back. Then, maybe in ten years once the motification died down just a little, I could move back home and pretend I had amnesia and didn't remember a thing that had happened. Yeah! I hit my head while in the city and got amnesia and that one specific event was blacked out totally and completely. And. . .

'I'm being ridiculous,' I thought as I rubbed my hands down my face. 'Ugh!'

I was. I was being ridiculous. I couldn't move away and I couldn't pretend that nothing ever happened. That kiss had happened and sooner or later I was going to have to face Akito. And I just then realized that it would be sooner rather than later considering it was the day of Keiko and Makoto's wedding. Our paths would undoubtedly cross and I wasn't ready for that!

"Wait. . ." I mumbled as I slowly sat back up and my eyebrows drew together from my level of concentration. There was something I was forgetting. It was something about Keiko. . .

I thought back to the previous night after the kiss. I hadn't wanted to go back to Keiko's. If I did then my friends would know something was wrong. They would be all over me like white on rice wanting to know what had happened and Colby wouldn't rest until she got the whole story out of me. Even Willow, who had been asleep, would conveniently wake up and hound me about it and at the moment I hadn't felt prepared to deal with all that. I. . .I just couldn't. So after running out on Akito, without my jacket and scarf, I'd ran toward the tunnel and didn't stop until I was all the way back home. I ended up taking what had to be the most miserable bath in the history of baths and then promptly went to bed and. . .

I'd left Konohana without handing over the gift Keiko had sent for Makoto! I'd left without getting the gift Makoto had sent with Akito for Keiko!

"Oh man, I'm like. . .the worst friend ever!" I hissed at myself as I pushed the covers back and threw my legs over the bed. Now not only would I have to face Akito, but I'd have to face Keiko and Makoto knowing that I'd totally botched their gift exchange.

I quickly made my bed up, got dressed for the day, and left my bedroom. I was in desperate need for a cup of coffee and if I didn't get one within the next five minutes then I would just continue on with a dramatic inner monologue because the world sure wouldn't come to an end because of it. When I entered the kitchen I saw my mom finishing up the dishes from breakfast. My dad was probably out taking care of last minute flower arrangements for the wedding and Oliver was most likely helping him. I went over to the coffee pot and saw that there was still some coffee in there and it was hot because she hadn't turned it off yet.

'Score,' I thought as I grabbed a cup and went about fixing myself a cup of coffee.

Mom heard me, glanced over, and just about jumped out of her skin.

"Violet Clara Drayton! You just about scared the life out of me!" She had a soapy hand pressed against her chest.

"I'm sorry mom," I said with a sigh as I took my cup and sat down at the table. "I didn't mean to scare you. I just really needed some coffee."

"Uh-oh. I know that tone," she said as she took the plug out to drain the sink and then rinsed her hands off. She dried them on a hand towel before sitting down, too, and grabbing the cup of coffee she was currently drinking. "What are you even doing here, sweetie? I thought you were supposed to be spending the night at Keiko's. If I had known you were home I would have called you for breakfast, although it really isn't like you to sleep in so late that you miss it in the first place. You're not sick again, are you?"

I looked down at the watch I hadn't taken off the previous night before climbing into bed and saw that it was seven o'clock. It wasn't late in the day or anything, but it was definitely past the normal time that I tended to wake up. "No, not physically," I told her, sounding infinitely weary.

She stared at me over the top of the cup she was currently drinking from. When she sat the cup down she said "Something's clearly going on, Violet, so why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

I drained half my cup before I sat it aside and looked down at the table. "I can't, mom. I'm just. . .ugh. I just don't even know what I'm going to do."

I fell silent for a little while and when she finally got tired of that she picked up her cup and sat down in the chair right next to mine. "Violet, sweetheart. I know you're a grown woman. You've been out in the world and you've lived life and dealt with problems without your parents having to hold your hand. Maybe I need to hold your hand sometimes, though. Maybe as your mother I have a need to hear out your problems even if you don't always need me there to listen. There were so many times when I wished my mother was there to listen so I always want to be there to do it for you and your brother."

Of course I knew she was there to listen. She always had been and she always would be. She was the best listener. She'd sat there patiently and let me tell her the whole sordid tale about my breakup with Jackson after I had that massive sloppy feast. My eyes finally stopped being glued to the table. I looked up at her and winced. "And I'm happy I have you to listen to me, mom. That's one of the best parts of being back home. It's just. . .I'm so ashamed!"

She raised an eyebrow as she said "Surely it can't be that bad, Vi."

I met her eyes, so similar to my own, and felt myself blurting it out. "I kissed Akito!"

Mom sat there silent for a full minute staring at me. Finally, she blinked once. She blinked twice. And then she turned her head slightly to the right as she said "Well, it's about time."

My mouth fell open a little as I sat there looking at my mom in confusion. Did she seriously just say that? "Wait. . .what? I don't think I heard you right, mom. Could you repeat that?"

"It's about time!" she repeated with an amused smile. "I was starting to think that you would never take my covert advice! I also considered that maybe you were having trouble reading between the lines and didn't know what I was urging you to do, but apparently you did. So what did Akito say when you told him that you've always been in love with him? Oh, I can't believe this day has finally come at last!"

"H-H-How did you know about my feelings for Akito?!" I tried not to screech as I jumped out of my seat and started pacing around.

Her face scrunched up a little bit as she thought about that. "Hmm. Let's see. . .Probably when you were around thirteen, perhaps? You started looking at him the same way your father looks at tom yum goong on his birthday."

"Mom!" I gasped, not sure how to take her basically saying that I'd always looked at him like he was something delicious to eat.

"When you got together with Jackson, I was surprised. I wanted to support you, though, if being with him was what you wanted. And seeing as Akito was with Courtney at the time I figured eventually things would work themselves out. And it seems they did. You never told me, how did he take it when you told him?"

I slumped back down in my chair and drained the rest of my coffee, feeling like I needed that burst of caffeine to draw on some additional strength from. "I-I didn't," I admitted quietly.

"But I thought you said. . ."

"I kissed him, yes. But I didn't admit my feelings for him, mom. That's why I'm ashamed. I. . .I just up and kissed him. He just broke up with Courtney and here I am preying upon him like a black widow or something! And sure, I was tipsy at the time but that's no excuse. There is no excuse."

"Violet," she said patiently. "You're not a black widow and you didn't prey upon him. When you kissed him, did he push you away?"

"No," I mumbled.

"Did he kiss you back?" mom hedged.

"Yes, but you kissed Kana back that time he kissed you, right? Even though you weren't in love with him?"

"I should have known I was going to regret telling you that story," she told me with an exasperated sigh. "I also ultimately broke the kiss and sent him away."

"Well, Akito is too much of a gentleman to have embarrassed me like that," I insisted.

"Oh Violet," she said softly with a shake of her head. "You didn't prey upon him, okay? The two of you need to have a talk about what happened."

"Oh no. No, no, no. That's a conversation that can never, ever happen."

"He lives in Konohana, Violet. You live in Bluebell. What are you going to do, avoid him for the rest of your life?"

Something suddenly came to me then. It was a memory of a conversation I'd had with Akito soon after we returned home. I'd been on my way to the tunnel on Spring Harmony when I'd heard his voice calling my name.

"Violet!"

I instantly recognized the voice and I felt conflicted. Akito.

'Maybe he doesn't see me yet and is just calling out my name and I can just hurry through the tunnel. . .But I do want to see him, you know, it's just. . . Then again, it's probably for the best if I. . .' I thought as I hesitated in front of the tunnel.

"Are you going to turn around or am I going to have to stare at your back all day?" he asked with some amusement in his voice.

Well he'd obviously spotted me. It would be rude to leave him hanging. I turned around and there he was, standing in the middle of the road with his hands in his pockets. The end of his ponytail was trailing over his shoulder and onto his chest, the light catching those auburn strands and glinting off them. As I walked up to him I noticed that he smelled like laundry detergent, just as he always had. You know, the kind that makes you want to hold a shirt up to your nose and sniff. . .

"Sorry," I told him as I stood there trying not to be awkward. It was incredibly frustrating. I never use to be awkward around Akito. Well, perhaps I was a little awkward during the time immediately following when I realized how I felt about him. . .I got over that, though, that awkwardness. It had always been so easy being friends with him and now things felt so weird. And it was me, I knew it was me. It's just. . . "What's up?"

"Did I do something, Vi?" he asked, cutting right to the chase and catching me off guard.

"Wait, what?"

"If I didn't know any better, Violet, then I'd think you've been avoiding me," he told me then, peering down at me as if he could see right through me. "Like the plague," he added. I should have known he could sense the awkwardness. I was actually surprised it took him this long to call me out on it.

I've never pretended that I don't occasionally tell lies so I hit him with "I haven't been avoiding you. I've just been busy readjusting and helping my mom. I've been taking on a lot of requests, too." Most of that was the truth, you know.

"So I haven't done anything?" he tried to clarify, bringing us back to his original question.

'No,' I thought as I bit at my bottom lip. 'You did nothing aside from innocently turning back up in my life and reigniting a whirlwind of unresolved emotions. It's not like you could help that.' And just like that, I felt bad. Akito had been my friend since we were in diapers and I'd hurt him by making myself as scarce as possible. It wasn't his fault that I was having a hard time working through my feelings. He didn't deserve that. I made the decision right then and there to do better, for Akito.

"Of course not, Ki. Look, I'm sorry you got the impression I was avoiding you. If it'll make you feel any better, I'll make a conscious effort to stalk you from now on. I'm serious. From now on, I'll be hiding behind trees and buildings watching you and then I'll jump out and harass you when the time is right. I'll stare at you through windows and I'll fog up the glass and draw pictures to get your attention. You'll never have peace ever again."

He stood there for a total of four seconds before bursting out in laughter. "Ah, I've missed this," he told me as he tried to contain his amusement. He failed. "Nobody makes me laugh like you do, you know that?"

I reached out and cautiously placed my hand on his shoulder. Lightning didn't strike me where I stood. The world didn't stop spinning. And just like that, I felt most of the awkwardness melt away. Akito was Akito, just as he always had been. And I was Violet. He was my friend. And friends didn't act the way I had been.

"I'm glad to hear it. I'll be sure to tell you a joke while I'm hiding behind your curtains."

I frowned as the memory faded. That's right. I had made things completely awkward between us just by the way I was acting. And I had been avoiding him, which had hurt Akito's feelings and prompted him to confront me. Hadn't I decided that I wouldn't do that again after that conversation, that I wouldn't go back to avoiding Akito again? And yet. . .how could I face him with the way I was feeling at the moment?

I propped my forehead in my hands and tugged at my hair while I stared down at the table. I needed a little time to come to terms with what was going on, right? Couldn't I take at least a day? Couldn't I just. . .focus on Keiko and Makoto's big day and then think about talking to Akito tomorrow? It was their day, after all. I could somehow find the strength to face Akito and. . .I don't know, pretend that nothing happened for the sake of getting through the day and then the next day the chips could start to fall wherever they were going to. Even if there was a whirpool of emotions inside of me threatening to suck me down to the darkest depths of the ocean. . .

'When did I become such an emotional drama queen?' I questioned myself as I sat there thinking this all through. I'd become so deep in thought that I'd almost forgotten my mom was even in the room, much less sitting at the table with me.

"Violet, listen, it's going to be fine. It's all going to work out," she assured me, snapping my attention back to her.

"How can you be so sure of that?" I asked her, desperately wishing that I could be as certain as she was.

"I just have one more question for you," she began. "Whenever you see Akito, what do you feel? I mean. . .what does your heart do?"

I frowned as I thought about her question. What did my heart do? It. . . "Whenever I see Akito, my heart always does this. . .this. . .boom-clap thing. It's always only ever happened around him," I confessed, feeling a little silly to be saying it out loud.

She smiled at me knowingly before she said "Let me tell you another one of my stories. It's about the day I met Cam. I was living in Konohana back then and I was visiting Bluebell for the first time. The town was beautiful, let me tell you! You know it's beautiful, of course, but imagine what it looks like through the eyes of a person who has never seen it before. I instantly fell in love with it. When I made it to the town square, though, I looked over and saw the flower shop. And there was a man standing there behind that table. It was kind of a surreal moment, Violet. There he was and he was being. . .bathed in sunlight. It was like the heavens opened up and singled him out for me to see at that exact moment. It's like the Harvest Goddess sent that sun beam and said 'Here he is.' And when I saw him my heart went. . .boom-clap."

"Boom-clap?!" I asked, having a hard time believing my ears.

"Boom-clap. And what do you know? It turns out he was the one. So you see, that's why I know it's all going to work out for you, Violet. Because it all worked out for me. There were times when it seemed like it wouldn't, but it did." She raised a finger and poked it against my chest, right where my heart was. "It's good to think, but sometimes your brain makes things more complicated than necessary and gets in the way. Sometimes all you really need to do is listen to your heart. It's been telling you something, Vi. All you need to do is trust in its message."

I was just getting ready to reply to that when I heard knocking on the front door.

"I'll get it, mom," I told her as I stood up. She took my hand in hers and patted it. I squeezed hers in response before I went to see who was at the door.

"There you are!" Colby said as she strolled into the house as quickly as she could so I could close the door against the cold air drifting inside. "Are you feeling better?"

"W-What?" Was I feeling better? What was she talking about?

She took off her gloves and put her hands on either side of my face before turning my head to one side and then the other. "You look like you feel fine. That's a relief. Akito came over to the seed shop and he told us."

Panic suddenly flooded through me. What, exactly did Akito tell them?! I mean, they were my closest friends and I would most likely tell them about what happened in the near future, but that didn't mean that I wanted them to know at the moment!

"What did he tell you, exactly?" I asked her, trying not to sound as flustered as I was feeling.

She narrowed her eyes a little, probably because she knew something was off about me and didn't know what it was. "He told us that he ran into you on your way to give that gift to Makoto. He said that you weren't feeling good so after you handed Makoto's gift over to him, he escorted you home. And yes, he said 'escorted,' because Akito couldn't just say he walked you home."

"Oh. Yeah. I wasn't feeling too great last night. That wine went to my head," I told her. The queen of half-truths and not-quite lies was at it again. "So Keiko's gift made it to Makoto safe and sound? And Makoto's gift got to her?"

"Yep. Akito made sure of it," she confirmed.

I immediately felt relieved. I'd been feeling terrible about going home and not getting the gift exchange taken care of properly. Of course, though, Akito had smoothed that over and made sure that all was as it should be. Of course. And he'd even covered for me with my friends to explain why I hadn't returned to the seed shop. I'd made a complete fool of myself and he'd gone out of his way to look out for me. That was just so. . .so. . .Akito.

"I'm relieved," I told her truthfully. "I was worried that they wouldn't get their gifts because of me." Colby grabbed one of my coats and handed it to me. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Can I at least brush my teeth first?"

"You have two minutes," she said as she looked down at her watch. "Starting now."

When my two minutes were up and I was back in the living room with minty fresh breath, she handed me my coat again. I put it on and buttoned it up before going into my room to locate my new scarf that Nori had made me. That was when I remembered that I'd left it behind when I'd left Akito the previous night. I put on a different scarf and then looked for my gloves. That was when I recalled putting them into the pocket of the coat that I. . .left behind with Akito. With an inward groan, I hunted down a different pair. I then went looking for the pair of ear muffs I'd been wearing occasionally since not long after Marissa's departure. Of course, that was when I remembered that they'd been on that table when I'd climbed on top of it and was my face turning red?! I hoped it wasn't turning red because a random red face out of nowhere would be enough to make Colby want to know what was up.

I put on a hat and tugged my hair over my ears. "Alright," I'm ready," I told Colby as I shut my bedroom door behind us. "We're heading out, mom!" I called out right before I saw her standing in the doorway of the kitchen. "Oh, there you are."

"Good morning," Colby told my mom pleasantly.

"Good morning, honey," she told Colby, smiling at her sweetly. "Tell your parents I said hi and I'll see them later, alright?"

"We're going over to see about Keiko now, mom," I informed her after Colby agreed to do as she asked.

I felt bad about leaving her to do the farm work all by herself. Okay, I despised the thought of it, especially since her back was bothering her again. I wanted to be by her side, splitting the work. Even when I was sick in bed I hadn't wanted to leave her to do it by herself! She'd insisted on doing it all herself the day before, though, telling me that my duty was to be at the bride's beck and call and that she would be fine. And considering that I was in the bridal party and it was Keiko's day, I couldn't formulate a good enough argument to change her mind.

"Go on ahead with Colby," she said with a little wave. "Everything here will be just fine."

With a disapproving sigh, I said "Alright. See you later."

"Oh, and Colby? Make sure Violet gets something to eat, alright?"

"You can count on me," she said, giving my mom a serious nod. "Besides, the hungrier she is, the more clumsy she gets," she teased.

"I resent that statement," I informed her on our way out the door.