Impressed

Violet felt a sharp pain in her neck. The discomfort urged her to find a more suitable position for proper sleep, but as she tried to move, the farmer struggled against something pinning her in place. Her blue orbs fluttered open, and Violet blinked away the haziness as she regained consciousness, attempting to recall why she was still in her living room so early in the morning. The last thing she remembered was watching low-budget horror movies and cuddling on the couch with Sebastian.

Only one unexpected jump scare had caused Violet to instinctually grab Sebastian's hand. He had teased her at first, but when she tried to pull her head away, he shook his head and pulled her closer. "I like this…" he admitted bashfully, caressing the back of her hand with his thumb. Both she and Sebastian had a great time mocking the poorly written plots with holes like Swiss cheese, the amateur acting, and all the other small pleasures of watching bad movies with another person.

Violet remembered smiling at him and sitting close to one another as they mocked some idiot for entering a darkened basement alone. At some point, Violet grabbed a pillow and tossed it onto Sebastian before resting her head on his lap. We were both exhausted… Violet reasoned, adjusting the very same decorative pillow under her head to find a more comfortable position and relieve the tension of her aching neck muscles.

The agrarian then realized that Sebastian's arm was draped over her protectively and that her head still lay in his lap. She glanced upward to see his face obscured by bangs of soft, sable hair. They must have both been so worn out that they fell asleep before the movie was even over. The television had already turned off after so long with inactivity. Violet pawed at her jean pocket to retrieve her phone.

2:59 AM. The exhausted woman stifled a groan, but slowly managed to squirm out from under Sebastian's arms without waking him. The pastel-haired cultivator planned on retreating to her own bed for the next few hours in the hopes of fixing the crick in her neck, so the least she could do was make her boyfriend comfortable on the couch.

Violet retrieved an extra blanket and plush pillow from her bedroom closet and gently leaned Sebastian into a reclined position before she tucked him in and went to bed herself. If not for the ache in her neck, the wavy-haired woman might have stayed to cuddle, but the overextended muscle in her neck made her grumpy and she did not want to start out her new relationship taking her pain and frustration out on Sebastian. They could always try again another night...

As Maru walked down the mountain path early that morning, she recited her list of obligations for the day. "Let's see, Evelyn has an appointment today, so I'll be able to cancel our normal dinner plans relatively easily," the young woman thought aloud. "It's Penny's birthday, so I'm sure the Mullners will understand."

The auburn-haired scientist smiled to herself. She discovered a particularly fine emerald specimen in the mines and planned on gifting it to her best friend. Penny loved emeralds and her best friend came to mind when Maru found the viridescent beryllium. It matched the color of her eyes down to the hue and saturation. Therefore, it was the perfect gift for Penny's birthday.

When the local nurse finally made it to town, Alex waved at her in greeting from the front lawn of the house. "Hey, Maru!" he called to her before trotting over to fall into step beside her. "Long time, no see," the spiky-haired man teased, as if they had not seen each other at the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies.

His dark eyes darted away from her as she attempted to initiate direct eye contact. Maru wondered what was on his mind. But before she forgot, the bespectacled woman decided it was best to let Alex know about her change of plans personally. "I'm afraid I won't make it to dinner tonight," the town medical professional informed her regular host. "I know we usually eat together with your grandparents, but it's Penny's birthday today."

"Oh, yeah?" Alex awkwardly let out a half-hearted laugh, though Maru was not sure why. She watched him carefully for clues. He scratched the back of his head and his mouth twitched with unspoken words. "Uh… in that case, do you mind if I bring you some lunch today?" Alex asked in a low voice, as if he did not want to chance anyone else hearing his plans. "I'd… uh - It'd be a letdown to miss out on Granny's lobster bisque. It's good stuff."

Truth be told, Maru had packed herself a well-balanced sandwich so it would be easy to eat while performing other duties, but after some quick analysis, the scientist discerned she could make time in her day elsewhere. "Sure, Alex," she replied with appreciation at the kind gesture. "It'll go great with my sandwich."

The athlete's dark eyes lit up as she gave him a desirable response. Perhaps Alex was disappointed that she canceled so last-minute? Maru supposed that it was rude of her not to notify the Mullners at least a day in advance, but so much had changed recently, the nurse hoped that they would forgive her. Alex's body language did appear much more open now that she had agreed to eat with him later. The brunet grinned at her. "Well, I gotta go tell Granny about dinner. She's already started prepping, believe it or not."

Maru bobbed her head in agreement. "Thanks for passing the message along," she stated appreciatively. "I'll see you for lunch."

Alex beamed. "Sure thing, Glasses." He winked at her before veering off back toward his house while Maru paused to slot the key into the front door of the clinic. "See you for lunch!"

Haley's fingers deftly folded the last of the voter registration forms for all the villagers in Pelican Town. As Shane's campaign manager, it was in Haley's best interest to print out registration forms for all the eligible voters, fill in their names and addresses, and drop off the forms in their mailbox. From her experience, people were far more willing to do something if it required minimum effort on their part. All the townspeople had to do was complete a few boxes themselves. The blonde even stapled a flyer announcing Shane's candidacy for Mayor to each form with a note that voters could either personally drop off their form at the museum/library in Gunther's care or someone would come by to collect them tomorrow.

Picking up her stack of papers and tapping the bottom edges against the tabletop to align the forms, Haley congratulated herself for a job well done. Glancing at the clock on the wall, Haley recognized that Shane should arrive any moment to help deliver the forms. Thus, officially throwing his hat into the ring for Mayor of Pelican Town. She unfolded a map of the village, on which she had marked how many eligible voters lived in each home. Unsurprisingly, the densest concentration of voters lived around Town Square. Then of course there were the outer reaches, like Fairy Rose Farm and Willy's shop on the beach.

What caught Haley's attention most was that the Mountain Road area had more people than she originally thought. Sure, there was that dorky girl Maru that Alex was becoming besties with and her family. That was already four people, but then there was that weird old man who lived in the tent and the two "adventurers" who lived in their man-cave clubhouse. She squinted at the registration forms. "Gil and Marlon?" the blue-clad woman read in disgust. "What kinds of names are those?" Haley suddenly felt thankful that her parents gave her a cute name.

A knock came at the front door and her sister burst from her room to answer it. Ugh, Emily was even more annoyingly bubbly now that she and Shane were dating. It was bad enough to accidentally 'macking lips on the sofa the other night, but the way they stared at each other instantly made her roll her cerulean eyes. "Good morning, Shane!" Emily chirped, greeting her boyfriend, and taking his hand to escort him inside. "You look particularly dapper today."

Shane appeared embarrassed to be caught in anything other than that ratty old Joja Mart jacket and ZuZu City Tunnelers' jersey. Haley could not understand why trying to look his best was a bad thing. For once, the pudgy man looked decent. The mayoral candidate wore fresh pants that had been recently laundered and a wrinkle-free shirt in a sky blue that Emily insisted was the "aspirational" color of his aura. Whatever that meant. The shirt even had buttons going all the way down. Haley noticed the only reason the shirt lay so askew across his chest was because the buttons were mismatched, but Emily was already fussing over it. Haley sighed. Her sister was such a mother hen. At least now her older sibling had someone else to direct her energies toward.

It was clear that Shane was not used to the kinds of physical affection that Emily so often demonstrated. But it was equally noticeable that he seemed to enjoy the casual contact - a hug here, holding hands there, a little peck on the cheek. It was a little jarring to see Shane grinning, Haley observed. Not that he seemed to be transformed into someone as obnoxiously sunny as Sam, but the blonde had almost doubted that the former drunk knew how.

Either way, enough staring like some desperate nerd. Haley rose to her feet and divided the stack into three separate piles for each of them. "Shane, since you're the one running, it's best you focus your efforts on the center of town," his campaign manager instructed, handing Shane his paperwork. "That means you'll have to face Lewis." Shane frowned, but nodded in understanding as he accepted the forms.

"Emily," the woman addressed her older sister, "You get the Mountain Road area and I'll take all the other people on the outskirts of town." Yes, it meant that Emily had to do a bit of walking to get up the mountain, but overall, it would take less time for her to deliver more forms and she needed to finish relatively early to get to work. Unlike Shane and Haley, Emily had an actual job right now. The blonde acknowledged quietly that it was not entirely selfless, however. Haley just really did not want to talk to that hippie who lived in the tent and the possibly-platonic-life- partners-but-maybe-totally-gay old men playing adventurers in the mountains. Her older sister never batted an eye in the presence of strange people, so Haley opted to let Emily handle them.

The sapphire-haired woman gave her boyfriend a quick kiss for luck and headed out the door to tackle her assignment. Shane hesitated slightly but noticed Haley's piercing blue eyes focused on him. "Is there… something on my face?" he questioned cautiously.

Haley rolled her cerulean orbs. "Only a bit of lipstick," she countered with a smirk. She was not being serious, his face was fine, but Shane and Emily were so annoying in their cutsie togetherness lately that the blonde could not help but want to poke fun a little.

Shane reacted as the campaign manager expected and instantly went to wipe his face, but Haley tapped his shoulder gently as she passed. "I was kidding, chicken man. C'mon, let's go and make your campaign official."

Penny knew her birthday was not something particularly special to her mother, but it still stung when Pam did not even acknowledge it. The woman lounged on the couch of her trailer, watching television and grunted a reply when her daughter announced she would be leaving to teach the children at the local library for the day.

Her heart felt heavy with the accumulated weight of daily disappointments but knowing that she would have dinner with Maru later made things a little easier to bear. Penny smiled weakly as she entered the library and Gunther tipped his hat to her. "Morning, Miss!" he greeted the brunette schoolteacher.

"Good morning, Gunther." The young woman beamed and waved from the door before heading toward her usual table to prepare today's lesson. It was not long before Jas arrived. The little girl hopped up into her seat, carefully opening her purple pencil pouch and arranging her supplies in an orderly fashion.

"Happy birthday, Miss Penny!" the child shouted in a singsong voice, revealing a small, squished box from her backpack. Normally, Penny would have gently reprimanded Jas for her speaking so loudly in the library, but today the brunette was touched by the gesture.

The brunette accepted the gift and opened it. It was a brownie with a little "happy birthday" candle sinking into the gooey, underbaked center. The dessert was undoubtedly over-decorated with frosting and sprinkles, matching a child's tastes, but Penny still beamed at her brightest pupil. "Oh, thank you, Jas," the woman responded, admiring the decorative box that Jas had also made by hand. The container harbored a thick layer of glitter and sequins, though some of the glue had not quite dried in places. Penny knew she was going to find sparkles on herself for the next week or so, but she did not mind. "It's lovely."

When Vincent burst into the library, his eyes widened with shock as his stare fell on the prize from Jas. "You brought Miss Penny a birthday present, too?!" The strawberry blond boy sprinted up to the table, barely stopping in time to avoid colliding with Penny's chair. He quickly held out his hands toward her, a piece of paper held taut between them. "Roses are red, violets are blue. Miss Penny is the greatest, most beautifullest teacher in the whole world, I love you!" He flipped over the page to show her the crayon portrait he drew of her. Vincent had taken some artistic liberties with her appearance, but it was recognizable.

"That was beautiful, Vincent," the teacher praised, ignoring the grammatical errors in his poem. "You've been practicing reading aloud and projecting your voice, haven't you?"

Vincent's chest puffed out with pride and he flashed a toothy grin. "Yes, ma'am!" He then officially presented Penny his gift and took his seat across from Jas. The brunette then noticed the oversized bowtie decorating his neckline and his slicked back hair. She wondered if Vincent had borrowed from his father or brother and had to restrain herself from giggling at the sight. Penny could tell that the boy was trying especially hard to be good today and did not want to undermine his attempts to be serious, even if she did find all this behavior adorable.

Soon she began the lesson and for once both children gave her their full attention. At least for a little while. Vincent really was giving it his all, but once Elliott entered the library all hope for order was lost. "I already gave Miss Penny my present. I beat you, villain!" the little boy declared, pointing a finger at the author.

Elliott flushed slightly and did his best to hide the lower half of his face behind his book. "Yes, you have beaten me, Mister Vincent," the long-locked poet agreed. Penny had a feeling from the way the well-dressed man's honey-hued eyes twinkled, Elliott was hiding his amusement to preserve Vincent's pride. He was the perfect gentleman that way.

This time, Penny was sure to remind Vincent to use his indoor voice. The child grumbled inaudible complaints under his breath but resumed his work. Every once and a while, Vincent would shoot a look at Elliott, but the man was too immersed in his novel to notice. When she was sure the children were intently concentrating on their worksheet, Penny's emerald eyes stole a glance toward Elliott as well. This time, however, their gazes met. His lips stretched back in a friendly manner and he pointedly placed a folded note into his book and replaced it on the shelf before disappearing down the aisle.

Curiously, Penny excused herself from the table. Vincent was about to protest until he noticed that his love rival was nowhere to be seen, so he leaned back over his assignment and scratched his head as his mouth silently read the words on the page.

The schoolteacher snatched the book Elliott had left for her and retrieved the note he left for her.

I also have a present for you, Miss Penelope. However, I do not wish to disrupt your lesson. Would you care to meet with me outside when you have a spare moment?

- Elliott

P.S. Please take your time. I understand you are busy with the children and I have a book to entertain myself in the meantime.

Penny pondered for a moment and rotated her head back toward the table on which the children were diligently working. Even Vincent seemed thoroughly engrossed. Making a quick dash for it, the schoolteacher rounded the corner to hide in an aisle among the library's collection. When her students did not seem to notice, she made her way toward Gunther's front desk, using the enormous walls of books to conceal her movement. When she reached the librarian, he tipped his hat toward the door knowingly. "I'll make sure the rascals don't cause too much trouble," he assured her quietly, the twang in his voice drawing out his vowels. "Now run along and get back here soon."

The brunette bobbed her head appreciatively and silently exited the building out into the chilly autumn air. Penny located Elliott under the log awning that extended from the deep green structure, leaning against one of the solid timber pillars as his eyes darted back and forth along the page on his novel. Elliott noticed her the moment she approached him, so he tucked the book away in an inner pocket of his burgundy jacket. "I did not expect you so soon," he admitted with a small upward curve of his lips. "It seems you were able to escape your jealous suitor."

Penny covered her mouth to stifle her giggle. Poor Vincent, she did not mean to make fun of the little boy and his attempts to woo her in his childlike manner. "I got a poem and a portrait," the brunette explained. In the spirit of the mood, she followed up with a little joke herself. "And what does his rival suitor have to offer on my birthday?"

Elliott eyebrows rose, as if he had forgotten all about it. "Ah, yes! Of course…" From his soft leather bag, he produced a charmingly wrapped rectangular parcel. "I am afraid I did have an ulterior motive, Miss Penelope," the author asserted. "I originally intended to give you a thank-you gift for all your efforts assisting me with the novel, but once I discovered your birthday was so near, I found myself altering my plan."

He handed the brightly colored package to her, and Penny accepted it graciously. Her emerald eyes turned upward toward his honey-hued orbs and he urged her to open the present. Gingerly tugging at the bow to loosen its hold on the prize. The fabric fell away to reveal a stack of pristinely pressed poppy flowers, each arranged in a beautiful scene of watercolor. "I did enlist my dear friend Leah to guide me regarding the art of the brush," he confessed sheepishly. "And they are simple scenes, but… I hope they are to your taste."

Penny could feel heartfelt tears welling up in her eyes. "H-How did you know poppies are my favorite?" she asked, choking up as she spoke.

Elliott looked slightly alarmed at the reaction and anxiously offered her his handkerchief. "I confess it was a lucky coincidence, Miss Penelope," the poet replied with a nervous chuckle. "Sunflowers are not easily convinced to lay flat, after all." The silky haired man was still concerned by the wave of emotion and worried that he had somehow offended his editor. "Miss Penelope, I do apologize for making you weep."

Penny shook her head and clutched the artwork close to her chest so her tears would not ruin them. "I'm so touched. Your thoughtfulness has brought me to tears of joy, Elliott."

The man's face instantly betrayed his relief. "Oh, goodness. I am glad you like them, but they are not nearly so lovely to deserve such a reaction," Elliott reasoned, unsure if he should offer any additional comfort.

His editor laughed. "This explains why you were going to Fairy Rose Farm so much, doesn't it?" Penny mused verbally. "You grew these flowers from seeds, just for me…"

Elliott's chiseled cheeks went pink when he realized he had been caught. So perhaps he put in a great deal more effort into this gift than he let on. "Ah, I believed I had been more… discreet."

This time it was Penny's face that blushed. "I suppose I might have become too curious and… followed you one day," the schoolteacher said guiltily. "I apologize for disrespecting your privacy, I just assumed that… maybe you were meeting Violet…" The brunette grimaced slightly before finishing her sentence, "romantically. I suppose I got a little jealous..."

As her words washed over Elliott, he straightened his posture and loosened his tie, clearing his throat. "Goodness, no. I am glad that the misunderstanding was rectified. Miss Violet and I are dear friends and she leant me the use of a small plot of land on which I could grow these poppies for you."

What Penny did not admit was that she had seen Elliott in a state of undress as he tended to the flower garden that day. But she did not want to further embarrass herself or her companion, even if her mind wandered back to the image of the sweat glistening on his bare chest in the summer heat. She shook her head as if it were an etch-a-sketch to clear her mind of inappropriate notions.

"Thank you for such a heartfelt gift. It means so much to me that you took all that time and effort to make these for me," Penny told the author before her. She was already feeling guilty that she had not considered what to get Elliott for his birthday. If the woman recalled correctly, it was later this week.

"It was my pleasure, Miss Penelope," he promised her quietly, with such a tender expression on his face that Penny could feel her heart melting with each beat in her chest. "Now, I imagine the children have noticed by now that the lovely woman who instructs their learning has gone missing." He gestured toward the plum-colored door and just beyond it was a small window from which he spied a small face pressed against the glass. "We're about to be discovered, it seems," Elliott chortled softly. "I would hate to get you into any trouble, Miss Penelope."

Penny regarded Elliott once more before they made their good-byes. "Thank you again, Elliott. I will cherish these," she informed the striking poet before she went back inside to face Vincent and Jas' barrage of questions regarding her brief disappearance.

Sebastian was late for his first day of college. The freelancer had not intended to be late, in fact, he had set an alarm to rise earlier than normal. But when Violet untangled herself from him sometime in the hours before sunrise, he awoke and adjusted that alarm to account for the travel time back home to retrieve his books. After all, Sebastian's leg had fallen asleep from Violet's head resting on it for several hours and he was not about to hobble home in the dark. The problem was that he had accidentally set the alarm for 6:00 PM, rather than AM and Violet did not realize he needed to be up as early as she. The motorcyclist cursed himself for not using military time on his phone time like Sam.

As he sped toward campus on his motorcycle, Sebastian kicked the stand a bit too hard in his efforts to prop up his vehicle. "FUCK!" he howled in agony as he hopped along the sidewalk toward his first class. It had started twenty minutes ago, there was no way he could talk himself out of that. He just hoped the professor was not a hard ass.

Sebastian located the room and entered from the door closest to the back of the room. The computer lab had rows and rows of machines, but all the ones in the back half of the room were already taken. Just my luck, he complained in annoyance as the professor acknowledged his presence. She glanced down at her attendance sheet. "You must be Sebastian," she greeted him, pointing to an empty seat in the front row and motioning for him to sit. "Why don't you join us?"

The raven-haired man hunched slightly, trying to keep his face out of view of the other students. He heard low chatter behind him from the other students, but he could not make out their words. Ugh, this was his worst nightmare. He hated drawing attention to himself. Sebastian just wanted to lie low.

The redheaded professor brought the attention back to the front of the room and pointed to the shared screen projected onto the front wall. "Now that we've gone over some basics, log into your assignment portal and complete the first exercise," she shot a look at Sebastian. "I'll be walking around for anyone who might need assistance."

It took a while for Sebastian to figure out how to get where he needed, but thanks to a helpful classmate, he got there and reviewed the code. Could it really be this easy? he thought. I know this is a 101 class, but this is… level zero shit. And look at this code, there are redundancies everywhere. It's shitty code to begin with. The freelancer began to type furiously and within five minutes he had completely replaced the original code with something far more streamlined before he hit "submit."

A chime rang out from the professor's computer and her brows furrowed. "Sebastian, please meet me outside," the woman announced. The commuter froze at the order, unsure of what caused her tone of voice to sound so dangerous. When chatter began to erupt from the other students, she silenced them. "The rest of you, continue to work on this assignment until I return," she instructed. "I expect you all to behave yourself for a few moments."

Her green eyes rested on Sebastian again. "Come along," she barked, gesturing for him to collect his things before she bent down over her desk to scribble something on a sheet of paper and went out the door nearest her.

Sebastian dreaded what would come next. Was she so pissed he re-wrote the code? Maybe she was one of those teachers that insisted that a particular method be used, even if it was the most boring and unimaginative manner to achieve the goal. Despite the woman's warning, he could hear a few of his classmates chuckling as he left the room.

The ginger waited for the door to close before she began speaking. "So what? You enrolled in this class to get an easy 'A?'" she accused Sebastian. "Do you think this is funny to waste everyone's time when you clearly know well beyond the basics?"

He stumbled to answer her, shifting uncomfortably on his feet, "N-no, I just did late enrollment a few days ago," Sebastian explained hastily. "I don't have any college credits, so my advisor said I should start at square one."

The professor scoffed in disbelief, but her tone softened considerably when addressing him. "You got old 'Cocky, didn't you, kid?"

Sebastian was slightly disturbed the rude shortening of his advisor's name was so well-used throughout the faculty. "Was it that obvious?"

His teacher mumbled to herself and pressed a form against the wall so she could write on it legibly. "The old coot does most of his advisees a huge disservice and the rest of us have to clean up his mess," she growled in annoyance as she scrawled furiously onto the sheet of paper before handing it to him. "Here, take this to the main office in the next building over. Talk to Janet, she'll get you set up with some proper placement testing," his professor advised. "I don't expect to see you in any of my classes ever again, so good luck." With that, his professor disappeared back into the classroom, leaving a dumbfounded Sebastian alone in the empty hallway.

Violet passed the old graveyard on her way toward the beach when she spied Robin and Mayor Lewis erecting a bulletin board in front of the mayoral mansion. Really, it was the carpenter doing all the work and the mustached man "supervising," but Violet knew that was typical behavior from Lewis.

"Ah, hello there, Violet. You showed up at the perfect time," the mustached man hailed the farmer. When the pastel-haired woman shot him a questioning look, Lewis waved for her to come closer and stepped aside to show off Robin's work. "It's our new 'Special Orders' board," he proclaimed proudly. "You see… with Fairy Rose Farm back in business, the local economy has really been picking up."

It's almost like I provide fresh, affordable, local produce to our little town, Violet opined sarcastically. But the Mayor failed to notice that the newest member of the community did not mirror his enthusiasm and continued. "As a result, some of the local townsfolk have been asking me for a way to source local ingredients for their businesses or personal projects."

Violet perked up at that. She did need more money, at least to get things started with the coops and barns for Shane to tend. "So, Robin and I came up with the idea for a new 'Special Orders' board, where people can post bigger jobs than would make sense for the old billboard outside Pierre's."

"Yeah…" Robin chimed in to clarify, "for example, I plan on requesting some hardwood for a bed I want to make." She nudged Violet with a wink and the young woman wondered if Sebastian had told his mother that they were officially dating now. It's not like they made an announcement, but small-town news had a way of getting around. "I won't put you on the spot, but if you want to help me out you can just accept the job from this board."

Lewis nodded as Robin finished with, "Who knows, maybe if the bed turns out well, I'll start selling them in my shop!" Violet paled. Oh, Robin knows… Violet grasped with a nonverbal groan. She's marketing sturdy, hardwood beds to her son's new girlfriend. The farmer was mortified, but she did her best not to let the woman's teasing get to her and let Lewis in on the news.

Her blue orbs focused on the Special Orders board. Truthfully, Violet had not completed many requests from the board outside Pierre's, but these extra tasks would be a good way to make some extra cash, especially when she got enough gold for more quality sprinklers. Not to mention Violet would owe Bex's primo Arturo a hefty sum for the big order she planned for her Feast of the Winter Star gifts next season. "I-I look forward to helping..." she swore to the carpenter and the Mayor.