Aftermath

By the end, Alex was almost glad that Gramps insisted he go to the total thrashing of Mayor Lewis. George said it was part of his "mimic duty," whatever that meant. Even his sweet Granny accused Mayor Lewis of building a gold statue of himself. Alex had to admit that the idea of having one was cool. It was lame to make one of yourself, though. You had to be famous enough that someone else wanted to make one for you for it to really be impressive. Otherwise, you were just some wannabe tool.

It was not everyday you got to witness someone tank so spectacularly. The old geezer ran away faster than the jock thought possible for a guy his age.

While there were a few people who missed the event, Alex noticed Maru's absence the most. The brunet wondered if that meant she was still working on things at the clinic or maybe she went home to work on her cool robots? He decided to stop by the clinic to find out.

Opening the teal door of the local hospital, Alex found Maru standing at the counter, reading an intimidating stack of papers. Her hair covered part of her face as she was bent over the material. Maru's lips were moving silently, like she was mouthing the words, even if Alex could not hear it. The jock watched her as she scribbled something into her notebook, her eyes still glued to the page. Alex admired her focus. It was something they shared, even if his goals were more physical than academic.

Alex knocked on the door frame as he entered the clinic before saying hi.

Maru's attention tore away from the pile of paperwork and she quickly detected his presence. "Oh, hi, Alex!" the nurse greeted her friend. "Did you come for an energy tonic or muscle remedy?"

The brunet's face twisted in disgust. "No way! Protein is the way to go for that kinda stuff." Alex was against pills that were not intended for treating wounds or diseases, even if they were considered relatively harmless. It was a lazy way to get results - especially in terms of steroids - and it pissed him off when people tried to get the gain without the pain.

She pushed her glasses back up her nose. "So, I guess you're not here to shop then, huh?" Maru asked with a smile. Her glasses always made her eyes seem a little bigger, in a cute way.

Alex leaned onto the booth but glanced away. "You missed Mayor Lewis being mobbed by the whole town," he informed her with a satisfied grin. "You shoulda seen it."

Maru's eyes widened. "Wait, the villagers actually chased after him?" she demanded to know, leaning closer to him.

Alex then became acutely aware of the lack of distance between them. Maru smelled nice. If not for his tan, his blush might have been more obvious, but he thought he played it cool. "Nah, no one actually ran after him," Alex told her. "But I'm pretty sure he's been caught red-handed in some shady spending."

Truth be told, Alex was not entirely sure how taxes were supposed to work, but he knew that Lewis had done something wrong with the money from the other townsfolk's reactions. He was not an idiot. No innocent man ran away from answering simple questions.

"That's concerning," Maru agreed with a nod. "I hope everyone can get to the bottom of what happened." She went quiet for a moment before adding, "Do you think he'll go to jail?"

The athlete shook his head with a scowl. "I doubt it," he stated confidently. "Most of the time the people who deserve to go to jail, don't." Alex thought of his father and the times the police came by and did nothing to help him or his mother.

Alex did not want Maru knowing about that part of his life. He worried it would make him look bad. Or worse, she would pity him and treat him differently because of it. Alex supposed it was easier to talk about these things with Zach because was a guy. Not to mention they had a similar history in its own fucked up way. He did not want that kind of stuff poisoning his relationship with Maru. "People don't like to make a fuss…" he finally testified.

Maru thought about this for a moment. "You may be right," she acknowledged with a sigh. "Well, hopefully if Mayor Lewis was really stealing from everyone, they'll get their money back eventually." She picked up her stack of papers and tapped them against the top of her work surface to align them neatly. "But it sounds like he may have lost this election before it even really started," she thought aloud. "I wonder if this all would have been discovered if someone challenged him earlier?"

Shrugging, Alex replied, "It's not like anyone else wanted to be mayor…" His dark eyes then rested on the uneaten sandwich on the computer desk behind Maru. "Did you forget to eat lunch?" he inquired with concern. "It's not good for you to skip meals, you know."

Maru's eyebrows rose in surprise and her stomach growled, as if Alex's words had given it permission to finally make its case for sustenance. She laughed nervously. "It seems I have," she admitted. "I was so busy it completely slipped my mind!" Maru took a large bite out of the sandwich to assure her visitor. "See? I'll take care of it. No need to worry!"

But her persuasive tone did not stop Alex from doing just that.

Shane had not expected Mayor Lewis to flee the scene of their mayoral debate, but after all the accusations that came to light from the villagers, he could understand why. This was the first public event in which the townsfolk could question Lewis about anything they wanted - and it turns out they had quite a few.

Haley mentioned a few of their neighbors expressed concern about the town's budget when she went to distribute and collect the voter registration forms. So, Shane was prepared in a way Mayor Lewis was not. Then again, if you were stealing from the town - which Lewis' reaction seemed to confirm - a smart person would have had an excuse prepared. Shane could only assume that the old coot was either clueless or overly confident. Either way, even a greenhorn could tell that the local chicken farmer was now the presumed winner of next week's election. Assuming Mayor Lewis did not conduct majorly convincing public relations repairs in the coming days.

An odd sensation permeated the pit of Shane's stomach, making him uneasy. Was he even ready to be mayor? Now that it was within his reach, the tricenarian began to seriously question himself. Could he really do the job well? Scanning the crowd, most of whom had yet to disperse, Shane's eyes found Emily. The sapphire-haired woman smiled and waved to call him over.

"You did so well!" Emily praised Shane, throwing her arms around him. "I knew you could do it!"

Shane balked at the compliment. "I think it's more that Lewis blew it. We hardly had any questions before thing fell -"

Emily cut her boyfriend off, wagging a disapproving finger at him. "None of that, mister!" she scolded Shane. "You answered all the questions honestly."

Haley made her own objection to Shane's statement. "Lewis proved himself untrustworthy of the faith the villagers put in him over the years. You, on the other hand, were awkward but genuine." The blonde crossed her arms over his chest. "Sometimes a win is just not fucking up as badly as the other guy."

"If you say so…"

Beaming, Emily asserted herself. "I do!" she rejoined confidently, gripping his hand in hers gently. "I need to get to work now, but feel free to swing by." Her lustrous brown eyes winked at her romantic partner. "I'll make you something special!"

Shane sniffed in amusement. "We'll see…" he reacted noncommittally. Emily leaned in toward him and planted a kiss on his cheek. "See you later!" the blue-haired woman hollered, following Gus into The Stardrop Saloon to start her shift. A saw portion of the town followed them inside, deciding to start their Friday revelries a bit early since they were already there anyway.

The man in the suit spotted farmer Violet and the usual game room crowd heading toward Fairy Rose Farm. I guess no pool tonight, Shane thought.

He turned to Haley, who shook her head. "No drinks for me tonight. I'll save it for your victory party next week," she informed him confidently. "I need to get out of this suit jacket," Haley complained. "I can hardly move my arms." Her cerulean orbs flickered toward Shane. "You should get changed, too. Keep the suit nice until after Tuesday." With that, she headed home, walking briskly yet cautiously over the cobblestones.

It was then Shane saw Alex exiting the clinic. The guy seemed distracted, like his mind was not focused on where he was going. The mayoral candidate heaved a sigh. Before the night at the cliffs, he would not have bothered to ask, but Lynn and Emily both kept telling him that his road to recovery required personal effort and active engagement with others. Maybe Alex would just blow him off and Shane could spend a calm evening at the bar, zoning out in the general direction of the potted plant in the corner.

"You okay?" Shane called to Alex, but the jock did not seem to hear him. Instead, the spiky-haired brunet headed past the local bar and to the dog pen just beyond. Dusty greeted his person with a wag of his tail and a high-pitched whine.

Shane approached him as casually as possible - since that was not really something one could do in a suit. "Hey, Alex. How's it going?" he inquired to his gridball training partner.

This time, the younger man noticed Shane. "Oh, hey, man," Alex responded. "Not much, just about to take Dusty out for a walk, get some exercise. You know?"

The mayoral candidate nodded. "Hey, ugh… I'm not really dressed for a walk, but you're welcome to come by my place later and hang out if you want," Shane offered. "We could watch some college gridball."

"For real?!" Alex shouted in excitement and Dusty reacted with a bark of his own. "Gramps never lets me have the TV - even to watch The Big Game. That would be sweet!" His eyes glanced at his faithful dog. "We could just do a quick walk and then Dusty can run around the farm with Bruno while we watch." Alex furrowed his brows. "It's NuNu U versus WuWu U tonight, right?"

"You know it."

"Sweet, see ya then!" Alex exclaimed from over his shoulder as he jogged toward the beach to walk Dusty. The old dog kept pace as best he could with his aged joints, but his tongue lolled out of his toothy mouth in sheer canine bliss.

Shane, still surprised that Alex took him up on his offer at all, grinned. "Don't be late for kickoff!" As he walked westward, a thought struck him. Shit, now I have to clean my house! The dark-haired man hurried home. Shane did not even notice that awful feeling in the pit in his stomach had dissolved.

"That was fucking wild, fam," Sam hooted as the band all stepped into Violet's house for rehearsal that afternoon. They had decided to forego their usual night at The Stardrop Saloon and instead work on their music for the concert next week.

Abigail was reeling from the debate - though really it was more of a public shaming by the end. "Did you see the look on Lewis' face when he ducked outta there?" she exclaimed with a nervous laugh. "I thought he was going to hurl!"

"I'm kinda mad I missed it," Sebastian lamented half-heartedly. He had been working on his class assignments, figuring the debate would not be worth his time to hear Mayor Lewis ramble on about himself. "If he couldn't even answer simple questions when it came down to money, he's definitely hiding something."

"I didn't even get to ask him about why the farmhouse isn't the way my grandparents left it," Violet complained, setting her bag beside the front door and petting Bruno as he galumphed over to greet his human and her visitors. "Zach must have been able to blackmail him into upgrading the farmhouse for a reason."

"You think he was stealing from a vacant building to make ends meet?" Abigail conjectured. "I mean, if you're doing some shady business, taking from an unoccupied house is probably the safest bet if you don't want the rest of the town to notice." She sat on the couch next to Sam, making sure to leave the spot on the other sofa next to Sebastian free for Violet. "I'm pretty sure I was the only one snooping around here before you showed up."

Violet shrugged. "It makes sense, but if Mayor Lewis has been stealing from the town and can't even tell everyone where all the money has been going…" she sneered. "I think he's royally fucked for the election next week."

"No kidding!" Sam concurred, opening a bag of chips, and shoving a handful into his hungry mouth. He spoke as he chewed. "May as well start calling Shane 'Mr. Mayor.'"

Abigail cackled. "You know he's going to hate that. It sounds so… formal," she said with a disgusted sneer at the idea.

Sam's lips pulled back into a mischievous grin. "All the more reason to call him that!" He popped another potato chip into his mouth and crunched down on it. "It's fun to rile him up a bit sometimes."

"It's hard to tell if you two are friends," Sebastian indicated with a smirk, with a few knobs on his synth.

The blond seemed offended. "You always save your best shit for your friends, fam," Sam replied smoothly. "If they still stick around after you bug the hell outta them - that's how you know it's meant to be."

"So that's why we're best friends," Sebastian muttered sarcastically. He laughed under his breath, "You wore me down." He lowered his head, satisfied with his instrument before he turned his gaze upward toward the rest of the band. "Are you all ready or what?" he demanded. "We're going to have to get a lot of practice in today. I have more homework to do tomorrow so I don't have a lot of free time."

"Laaaaame," Abigail retorted, but she rose from the couch and went to sit at her drum set anyway.

"Don't you take online classes, Abigail?" Violet asked curiously, still seated on the sofa as everyone else took their places at their instruments.

The amethyst-haired woman lifted her shoulders. "Yeah, but it's not like they're hard or anything. It's mostly just gen ed stuff until I figure out what I want to major in," she explained, testing her drumsticks lightly so she did not completely cut off any chance for conversation. "And only one or two at a time."

"Aren't you going a little overboard taking so many classes at once?" Sam questioned his best friend as he pulled the strap of his guitar over his head and rested it on his shoulder. "You're already considered a fourth-year in a five-year program, right? What's the rush?"

Sebastian exhaled noisily. "If I'm driving to the city anyway, I may as well stay there in ZuZu all day and knock out as many classes as possible," he shared, not bothering to mask his annoyance in the presence of his friends. "Otherwise, I'm just going to have to keep driving back and forth."

"Why not just live in ZuZu like you've always wanted?" Abigail wanted to know. "I'll bet they have cheap student housing."

The hoodie-wearer frowned. "I…" Sebastian's dark eyes fluttered toward Violet quickly and their gazes met for a moment before he broke the spell. "I'm less sure about moving lately," he confessed. Both the introverts in the room blushed. The more established couple exchanged wide, toothy grins.

"In that case," Sam wrapped his arm around Sebastian, "We're gonna have a killer graduation party when the time comes, fam."

"Hell, no…" Sebastian countered firmly, shirking out of Sam's one-armed embrace. A party in his honor sounded torturous.

The blond backed off and stood on the opposite end of the room, testing his guitar with a few chords. "You're right," he conceded without argument. "I'm sure you and Violet would prefer a party for two." He winked at the farmer, who still sat on the couch. Her face became a deeper red, but Violet did not object to the idea.

Abigail turned to face the shorter woman. "So… it's only a week till our concert," the drummer reminded the farmer. "Have you made a decision about being our lead singer yet?" The grocer's daughter tapped her drumstick against her thigh impatiently. "We kinda need to know…"

"Ugh!" Violet's expression contorted with indecision before she slapped her hands over her face and made a screech not unlike a velociraptor. She stamped her feet on the floor. "Fine!" Violet yelled through a groan. The pastel-haired woman uncovered her face and shot Sam a warning glare. "Just no love ballads. Only rock songs."

"You got it, V," Sam agreed with a thumbs up. Then blond tossed Violet a mic he happened to have in his back pocket. Sebastian gave a small, encouraging smile to Violet, which did not go unobserved by the rest of the band. "Let's get started then!"

"So let me get this straight…" Leah sighed, propping her head up while resting her elbow on the table, and pointing her salad fork directly at Elliott. "You planted, watered, and harvested an entire field of flowers before hand-pressing them. After which, you came to me to paint artsy watercolor scenes for them, wrapped them in a square of silk, and presented the finished product to Penny for her birthday."

The ginger paused for dramatic effect as she took a long draught of her pomegranate wine. Leah wiped her mouth and continued. "And in response, Penny made you one of your favorite foods from scratch, delivered it to you in person, and yet you're sitting here trying to convince me there isn't anything going on between you two?"

The poet wilted slightly at the accusation. He left out the detail that the dish was only saved by the fact that mushrooms could be easily found and extracted from the soup, but otherwise his dearest friend was correct in her summation of events. "She was simply responding in kind to my birthday gift to her," Elliott claimed, his nose vaguely upturned so that he could glance down at the artist's judgmental stare.

Leah took a spiteful bite of her greens and swallowed. "So, what? You're both going to keep being so extra and elaborate with your gifts that at some point one of you will have to propose just to end it all?"

Elliott flushed a little, but it may have been from his own bottle of wine Leah gifted him for his birthday. "Miss Penelope and I have a strictly platonic relationship!" the silky-haired author insisted. "I am positive that if I developed romantic affections for her - I would be the first to know!"

"I doubt it, Eli," Leah refuted confidently. "You can see it everywhere except for yourself." Leaning back in her chair, the woman indicated the most recent example. "You told me literally a week ago that you saw Violet and Sebastian together and you knew something happened just from their body language."

"They stood closer than one would normally in polite company," Elliott quietly recalled the exact detail. His honey-hued eyes glanced down at his near-empty wine glass and swirled the remaining liquid in the bowl.

Leah gesticulated toward her best friend, landing her feet heavily back onto the floor. "Exactly! And literally two days later, they started dating!" The red head flattened the hairs fraying out of her braid before resting her arms on the table and leaning forward. "I know you really loved Cassandra, but you don't have to stay a single, hopeless romantic for the rest of your life."

"It is not my intention to remain a bachelor for life," Elliott replied curtly. "But it takes time to heal the wounded heart and mine was torn asunder." He drank his wine and Leah refilled the glass for him. "I made my peace with Cassandra's decision, however," the tipsy man assured his companion. "If her romantic attachments to me were only tied to my wealth and status within the Montmorency family," Elliott declared seriously, resting a hand on the tabletop to steady himself. "Then all the better that I was granted the opportunity to instead join hands with a lady who will desire my companionship and unwavering affection."

"Cheers to that!" Leah proposed, holding her wine glass aloft. Elliott bobbed his arm into the air, nearly spilling his fruity alcohol, but successfully brought it to his lips without losing a drop.

Leah noticed Pam's eyes on them and urged Elliott to keep his voice down. The Stardrop Saloon was still lively on Friday evenings, but without the game room crowd and their competitive pool games the overall noise level had lessened. That made it easier for others to overhear their conversation. "Look, I know you don't think so, but Penny has it bad for you," the grey-eyed woman whispered to her friend. "I've even heard her mom complain about it to Gus!"

Elliott's expression betrayed his offense at the idea. "While I am not entirely convinced Miss Penelope's feelings are romantic in nature, I cannot fathom any reason for which a parent should be appalled by my suit for their daughter." He sulked and scanned the room to make sure Pam was not watching them directly. "But for the sake of your argument, what was Miss Pamela's chief complaint?"

The sculptor smirked knowingly before breaking the news. "She thought you're a spoiled rich boy playing poor poet until you get bored and move back home." Pam had not used those exact words, but Leah felt the need to clean it up to protect Elliott's feelings. Additionally, he would have been appalled to learn that Pam had implied he might be the type to seduce a woman and skip out of town. It made the young woman wonder if that was because of Elliott's appearance or Pam's own relationship history. But that was none of her business.

Either way, the abridged version still had its effects. Elliott's face darkened. "It seems there are many people - even outside my own family, who doubt my capability as an author," the man asserted gloomily. He upturned the stem of his wineglass and downed his wine in an undignified manner. "I will prove them all wrong!" the tawny-haired man professed.

"Of course, you will," Leah verbalized her support. "But for now, Eli, let's get you home…" The artist lowered her shoulder to get under her friend's and slowly helped him to his feet. "I would hate for your birthday to end in avoidable tragedy," she teased the poet.

"That is most kind of you," Elliott thanked Leah as the two walked deliberately toward the door. After taking their time on the stairs outside the saloon, the rest of the way back to Elliott seaside shack was relatively uneventful. Tipsy as he was, Elliott was nowhere near as drunk as he had been the evening of the Egg Festival.

"Get some sleep!" Leah ordered her best friend before leaving Elliott to put himself to bed.

Elliott changed into his nightclothes and collapsed into bed, but sleep would not claim him. Instead, he stared blankly at the thick support beams of the ceiling overhead. The poet's mind reviewed his interactions with Miss Penelope for the past several days.

The former socialite thought of all the little nonverbal cues displayed by the charming schoolteacher that might suggest romantic interest. The fidgeting in his presence, the nervous laughter, the lovely way her face would blossom rosy red. Then came the lynchpin: I just assumed that… maybe you were meeting Violet… romantically. I suppose I got a little jealous… Elliott's heart began to race as he remembered the brunette's words. For what reason would Miss Penelope be jealous?

"Have I truly been so blind?" he asked the air, covering his face in embarrassment. And yet, Elliott could not help but smile.

"You did great tonight, V!" Sam praised the farmer. "We're going to kill it next week."

Violet sensed her own dread regarding the idea of singing in front of strangers. However, the wavy-haired woman felt a reassuring pressure enveloping her as Sebastian hugged her from behind and rested his head on her shoulder, willing the other two away with his gaze.

Abigail and Sam took the hint and bid the others good night. But once on the porch of the farmhouse, the drummer whipped back around and poked her head inside. "Hey, are you two down for monster slaying in the mines tomorrow?" the amethyst-haired woman propositioned the couple.

"I have homework," Sebastian disclosed flatly, shutting the door softly - but very pointedly - in Abigail's face.

"So, Sunday then?"

"That sounds like fun!" Violet answered from inside the house as Sebastian slowly pushed her toward the couch. She could use some more iron anyway.

"See you crazy kids Sunday, then!" Sam shouted from the dark exterior of the house. The duo's merriment echoed audibly as they headed east back toward town.

Sebastian grabbed a pillow and carefully toppled his girlfriend so they both landed on the plush cushions of the sofa. Spooning Violet, he rested his chin on her head. "I'm people-tired right now…" he breathed grumpily. "This week has been… a lot."

Violet squeezed Sebastian's arms, which were wrapped around her waist, to comfort him. "It's okay," she countered in a soothing tone. "I get it. I'm exhausted, too."

For a while, they both closed their eyes and enjoyed the sound of one another's breathing and the warmth of physical contact. Violet was unsure of how much time had passed before she broke the silence. "So, you met someone who knew your parents…?" the farmer inquired. Since Sam and Abigail had walked home with Violet after the mayoral debate, they had not had the chance to talk alone until now.

The woman could feel Sebastian's body deflate as he exhaled. "Yeah…" he confirmed. "She told me the story was that mom cheated on my dad and they divorced because he couldn't forgive her for it."

Violet rolled out of Sebastian's embrace and knelt on the floor, resting her face on the couch beside his. "Do you believe that?" she inquired, holding Sebastian's hand.

His bangs masked his face from view, but Violet could hear the unpleasant mixture of emotions in Sebastian's voice. "I don't know!" he confessed, "But it would make some sense why mom hasn't told me about dad, right?" He tapped his free hand, balled into a fist, to his forehead. "Mom admitted she lied to my dad about things. Maybe that was it?"

"So, what does this mean for you?" Violet wondered aloud, "Do you still want to keep looking for him?"

Sebastian exhaled sharply. "I dunno," he groaned in frustration. "I don't know if I should confront mom about it, wait for her to tell me her side of the story like she promised, or not give a damn about what Darla said and just keep searching for my father anyway!"

Violet stroked his head tenderly, brushing his hair away from his face to better see him. "What do you want to do, 'Bastian?"

If not for the build-up of competing emotions, Sebastian might have been touched at the endearing shortening of his name. "I… think I want to meet him," the programmer acknowledged. "At the very least he might have some answers about my magic." He closed his eyes and sighed. "But then again, I'm not sure I want to know the guy who refused to even accept I was his kid even after mom sent the paternity tests."

Violet frowned and rose to her feet before she propped up Sebastian's head as she sat in its place and lowered his head onto her lap. "I'm here for you, whatever you decide…"

Sebastian nodded numbly as he let Violet's fingers massage his scalp. It made his head tingle in a good way and eventually calmed him down. "Thanks for listening."

"You always listen to me, too. Even my incoherent, drunk rambling," she offered with a grin. "What are friends - uh," her face tinged pink as she corrected herself. "Girlfriends for?"

He chuckled. "I didn't realize I was your girlfriend." Sebastian's face was suddenly smacked with a pillow.

"You know what I meant!" Violet grumbled, slapping his face with the pillow one last time for emphasis. He caught the pillow as she pulled it away and retaliated. "Hey!" Violet giggled, throwing up her arms to defend herself. She snatched another decorative pillow nearby and swung at Sebastian.

They both stood, engaging in a full-blown pillow fight. Violet could not think of the last time she had done something so childish, but they both burst into laughter as they dodged and flailed their plush weapons at one another. It was an intense, but short-lived war since one of pillows began to tear at the seams from the strain. A few white downy feathers exploded into the air, nestling into their hair and fluttering to the floor.

Violet reached up to groom Sebastian's soft hair, but before she could finish, he pulled her into a hug and kissed her gently. "Thanks," he stated earnestly. "I think I needed that."

His girlfriend beamed at him. "Anytime!" Her lips pulled back shyly. "But… I think I'd like another one of those," Violet informed Sebastian. She tugged at the neck opening of his hoodie and brought his lips back onto hers.

She could feel his smile through their kisses as they lowered themselves back onto the couch, their lips still locked together. Violet's heart fluttered in a way she never experienced before. This was so different than when she had been with Kyle – it was like night and day. She pushed aside that nagging voice that questioned the lifespan of such a relationship and focused solely on the soft touch of his lips and the radiating warmth of his skin touching hers. Everything else melted away. With Sebastian, Violet was truly happy.