Ahaha, update time! This one's pretty long (compared to the other chapters), but I like it this length. You could say it's kind of filler-ish, but I don't think so. Next chapter is going to be especially different, so stay tuned! I have finals tomorrow through Thursday, then I'm free! I'm also trying to finish this fic by the beginning of July, but that's not going to happen because I'm not even halfway through my plot. But, anyways, I hope you will enjoy this (dialogue-filled!) chapter and please, don't forget to leave a little review-I miss you guys! xP
Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.
"Ugh, mud takes forever to wash out of hair," Chelsea muttered to Julia as she walked into the animal shop early the next morning. Julia rose a slender eyebrow at the farmer and pushed off the counter to greet her friend.
"Did something happen?" She asked, pushing a stray strand of her blonde hair out of her face. Chelsea grimaced, leaning back on the countertop. She glanced around briefly and turned back to Julia.
"Where's Mirabelle?"
"Hm? Oh, she's getting ready to visit the city. She's taking your letter out there, too, so don't worry about that," Julia explained, then quickly continued, "But what happened? What were you saying before about mud?"
Chelsea sighed, setting her hand on her bandana in an uncomfortable manner. "I just slipped yesterday in the forest. I got covered in mud."
"Oh, Chelsea," Julia sighed, shaking her head in mock defeat, "you're such a little klutz."
"Hey!" Chelsea put her hands on her hips, half-heartedly frowning at the blonde, "You know it's not my fault—It just happens, I swear!"
"Sure, Chelsea."
"I'm serious!"
"Yep, you are."
"Julia! You're s—"
The girls stopped their bickering abruptly as the door swung open, revealing a thoroughly pissed off cowboy storming inside. Julia and Chelsea stared at him as he walked inside, the wind slamming the door behind him. He scowled at the two of them.
"Y'all are annoyin' the hell outta me," he mumbled, glaring at them—especially at the farmer, whom he had no intention of ever seeing again after straddling her in ankle-deep mud—and making his way over to get some more fodder, added, "Can't you just shut up?"
Julia folded her hands across her chest and looked away from him in contempt, opting not to make a comment. Chelsea, on the other hand, was rather angry. She set her hands on her hips and glared back at him mercilessly.
"Why should we? It's not like you own this place. Heck, Mirabelle does own this place and I don't hear her complaining," she pursed her lips, studying the man in front of her briefly before finishing. "Just buck up, cowboy."
Vaughn could practically feel steam coming out of his ears. His left eye twitched slightly as he took a slow, carefully planned step towards the equally-fuming farm girl. He glared down at her from his place approximately a half-foot taller than her. She looked up at him defiantly. He could see that fire in her eyes—that fire that said she meant business, the one that clearly stated how irritatingly obstinate this girl was about to prove herself to be. He frowned down at her, his anger slowly fading.
Looking at her straight in the eye, he whispered, "Only pick fights you're sure you can win."
She swallowed a frustrated scream as the cowboy grabbed his fodder and sauntered out the door, not leaving an extra second's time for her to retort.
Julia sat at the counter, watching with an amused smile.
Ooo
"So… what's with your cowboy? I thought you guys were getting along." Julia smirked at Chelsea later on in the afternoon over lunch in the kitchen of the shop. Chelsea rolled her eyes and sighed.
"I don't think you could ever consider us to be 'getting along.' More like, 'he's not acknowledging my existence and that's better than him glaring at me every time he sees me,'" Chelsea peeled her bandana off her head and studied it sadly as she continued, "And even that's becoming a stretch."
Julia smiled and set her hand on Chelsea's shoulder sympathetically. "Hey, chin up. You know he's not the nicest person—heck, he's downright mean. Why don't you go try to be Denny's friend or something? Or what about that one new girl—Lanna, I think her name is—seemed pretty nice."
Sighing, Chelsea gently shrugged Julia's hand off. "I don't know—I really thought that I could be his friend… I mean, he just seems so sad and lonely—and—and I don't think that sounds like a nice life—so I wanted to get to know him, or… or… Ugh, I don't know!" She cried, throwing her hands up in defeat. Julia pursed her lips in thought.
"You know… maybe he doesn't want anyone to get to know him."
"Then that just makes it more of a challenge."
Ooo
Vaughn scattered the last of the chicken feed around the floor of the coop behind the animal shop and sat down on a crate, surveying the area. He watched as the chicks hopped around, fighting for some of the crumbs in the dirt. He remembered back to the previous day, before he'd gone out to the forest—he remembered when Chelsea had hurried into the animal shop, obviously worried about something. She'd looked horrible. And then she'd greeted him quickly, like they were already friends and she couldn't forget to say "hey" to him.
He stood up then, realizing he was still thinking about that damn farmer. He really needed to get control over his mind again. He hadn't thought this much about someone in years. It was… confusing, to say the least. And what was he supposed to make of those damned dreams? This girl was taking over his mind—driving him insane.
She was taking over his world slowly but surely, and there wasn't a single thing he could do about it.
Ooo
Mirabelle got off her ferry in the city and scanned the area for a post office—she knew she needed to take care of Chelsea's letter first thing or she'd forget about it, and judging by the Chelsea's behavior regarding it before, she knew it was incredibly important that the letter be delivered as soon as possible.
She found a mailbox and shoved her way through the crowded sidewalk, wheeling her suitcase behind her. She dropped the white envelope addressed to Mineral Town into the public mailbox and made sure it was safely inside before heading down to her hotel.
Ooo
Dear Mom and Dad,
Okay, let me start off by saying something kind of important: I'm alive, and I'm so sorry. I really meant to write to you as soon as I got to Flowerbud Village, but… Well, that didn't really work out the way I was hoping it would.
You see, my ferry from to the city from Mineral Town left really early in the morning, and everything was going great until I got to the city. It's crazy out there! I know that you guys both lived there before I was even born, so I don't need to describe it that much. I will say that I almost got flattened by this huge truck, but then this guy pulled me out of the way. He was pretty nice, but I never saw him. Oh! I also almost fell off the boat on the way to the city, but some other guy saved me that time. Wouldn't it be funny if it was the same person? Well, anyways, I got on my boat to go to Flowerbud after that and then there was this huge storm. It was so scary—I thought that I was going to die! But then I guess I fell off the ship or something and was knocked unconscious because I only remember waking up on a beach in the morning.
There was this other family from on the boat who also ended up on the island with me. There's an old retired farmer named Taro (do you guys know him?) and his daughter, Felicia. Then she has two kids who are about my age: Natalie and Elliot. They're all really nice and helped me out. They decided to move onto the island, so when we found an abandoned farm, I volunteered to take it over. I've been living in the old farmhouse—which is actually pretty nice, if you get past the lack of most household items—and working the land, just like you do, Mom! It's a lot harder than I was expecting, but if I keep working at it, maybe it'll get better. Does it get easier, Ma? I hope so. Well, now I'm saving up for a barn and a cow. I'm a little lonely on the farm right now, so if I can get some animals I'll probably be better.
I also have a best friend over here. Her name is Julia and she's the sweetest girl you'll ever meet. Her mom is also incredibly nice—her name is Mirabelle, and she runs the new animal shop on the island. After Taro's family and I moved in, Felicia contacted the city and now there's ships coming in and out of the island. We're getting more residents every day, it seems. There's a really nice fisherman named Denny who moved in, and he kind of reminds me of Uncle Kai. Then there's a retired pop star named Lanna who's obsessed with fishing and singing. Her and Denny would make a great couple, if you asked me. There's a bunch of others that I won't name. Well, I'll name one more—his name is Vaughn, and he's… mean. But I like him. I think that he's really nice if he'd just open up and talk to people. I mean, he does talk sometimes, but it's really only to tell people to be quiet or that they're annoying. He only comes in every Wednesday and Thursday because he's an animal dealer and he travels a lot, so I don't see him often, but I'm sure we'll be friends someday.
Well, I've been writing for a long time and my hand is cramping up. Julia's whining about me using up all the ink in the pen I'm borrowing from her (I don't even have my own paper! How sad is that?), so I'll wrap this up. I'm not sure when I can come visit because money's pretty tight right now, but I'll come as soon as I can! Just don't worry because I'm alright, and I'll start another savings fund to come and visit you all. Tell everyone I miss them, okay? I love you guys more than anything in the world,
XOXOXO
Chelsea
I hope you didn't get bored with Chelsea's crazy-long letter there. I couldn't decide whether or not to put it in this chapter or the next one. I opted for this one, obviously. Now, I have a question for y'all:
How do you think Chelsea should befriend Vaughn?
Give me your idea in a review and you may see it in an upcoming chapter of AH-with credit to you, of course! xP Thanks for reading guys, and here's to a shorter wait for updates in the future. x3