Ugh. Sickness. Blarg. A very choppy update for you all. See bottom A/N for info regarding the double-update.

Enjoy if you can :P

CHAPTER STATS

Word Count (excluding A/N): 1616

Date Updated: 2-6-11

Current Review Count: 180

Cold feet. That's the first thing that Chelsea recognized as she felt herself being tugged back into consciousness. The second thing she realized was that those feet weren't hers.

Her eyebrows furrowed together as her mind was filled with sleepy confusion. Since when had there been two extra, freezing feet in her bed? And when had her bed gotten so hard? Was she… sitting up? At least her pillow was still comfortable…

Her eyelids slowly fluttered open as she took in a deep, tired breath. She immediately shut them, though, when they burned form exposure to light and air. She groaned quietly, pulling her blanket closer to her body and snuggling herself up closer to her large pillow. Once she was finally comfortable again, she yawned and readied herself for a few more hours of sleep—she felt absolutely exhausted. In the back of her mind, she congratulated herself on remembering to bring such a big, comfortable pillow from home…

Wait. She didn't have any pillows from home, and the one that was in the farmhouse certainly wasn't this comfortable. What on earth was—?

"Chelsea! Chelsea, are you there?"

Chelsea's eyes shot open as her pillow suddenly moved, startled by the muffled call from outside. She froze, suddenly aware of a quickening heartbeat beneath her ear. The faint smell of hay and rain made its presence known to her and she could feel the air stop circulating around the room. Her "pillow" was now completely still—just like she was. She could feel her face slowly burning up as she remembered the situation.

Vaughn had been stuck in her house overnight due to the blizzard. They must have fallen asleep… and she'd mistaken him for her pillow at some point.

She blushed harder as she realized how really comfortable and warm and nice it felt.

"Chelsea? Chels, can you hear us?" This was a different voice than before—it was distinctly feminine, not the same boyish call from before. The sound of scuffling outside her front door and jiggling of the doorknob surprised her—hadn't her front door been blocked by snow?

The doorknob jiggled again. Then the front door swung wide open, making both Chelsea and her… pillow jump up, slapped out of their embarrassed daze. Chelsea tugged on the hem of her sleep-shirt self-consciously, focusing her gaze downward to block her cherry-red face from everyone else's view.

"Oh my goddess," Julia sighed, relief visibly relaxing her as she came inside, "You're okay."

Mirabelle appeared next, along with Elliot, Natalie, and Taro. The plump woman smiled and rushed over to Chelsea, smiling. "Oh, you made it back—and Vaughn is here, too," she turned towards him, frowning slightly, "You had us worried sick, young man. Rushing out into the storm like that without even listening to us first. You could have been killed—both of you!"

"Sorry, Mirabelle," Chelsea muttered, looking up shyly. At least no one had made any comments about—

"Are y-you feeling alright, Chelsea?" Elliot asked quietly, hanging back as far from Vaughn as he politely could. "Your face is awfully red."

Chelsea's face immediately flamed up hotter, and Natalie smirked form her spot near the door. "Aw, Chelsea's blushing. Did we interrupt anything?"

"N-no," Chelsea frowned, irritated as Julia giggled behind her. She sighed, deciding not to make any further comments. She knew that she couldn't talk her way out of Natalie's teasing.

"Chelsea," Taro rasped from the doorway, "There's some good news—the storm didn't leave nearly as much of an impact on your field as I thought it would. You shouldn't need t'clear it much for your spring crops."

"Spring?" Chelsea repeated, half confused and half relieved—she was glad that the subject had changed. "Is it really almost spring?"

"Well, it's the seventeenth—but with Starry Night and the New Year's festivals coming up, it seems like a lot less than two weeks. Trust me, Missy."

"Oh," she said, the idea of spring coming brightening her mood significantly. Spring meant warmth, food, and crops. "That's great!"

"Well, we'll let you be," Taro said, turning towards the door. He beckoned to Elliot and Natalie to follow, and, with one final skeptical glance Vaughn's way, left.

Mirabelle smiled. "Chelsea, Honey, how about you join us for lunch today? It's the least you could do after scaring us like that."

"Uh…" Chelsea trailed off. Food sounded really good right then. But how awkward would it be to eat with them if Vaughn was there, too? She could already tell from the look on Julia's face that she was ready for teasing. And she also knew that as much as she hated to be teased, Vaughn hated it more.

"C'mon, Chels," Julia smiled, "We'll have peanut butter and honey sandwiches."

"Okay," Chelsea agreed, cursing her friend for knowing her favorite food. Mirabelle beamed, then turned to Vaughn.

"Vaughn, you'll join us, too, won't you?"

"Can't," he grunted, and Chelsea noticed he'd pulled his boots and coat back on, "Got t'catch the ferry."

"Oh," Mirabelle frowned, "that's right—it's Friday."

He nodded and headed for the door. Chelsea could almost see the waves of discomfort rolling off his body. He opened the door, hesitated for half a second, then continued out. Chelsea sighed softly to herself. That cowboy really was a tough one.

Ooo

Vaughn opened the door to Mirabelle's guest room and set his small suitcase on the bed. He pulled clean clothing from it and began to change, trying to slow down his mind. His face still felt warm, even after the short trek to Mirabelle's from the ranch. After pulling on a dry vest and setting his hat back on his head where it belonged, he sat down on the bed, sighing deeply. Why had he gone and told her all those things? He hadn't even known her for more than two seasons. Sure, she seemed like she cared about it. And yeah, she'd understood him alright. But how did he know that she wouldn't go blabber it all over the island? He hadn't told her it was a secret—but, then again, it was pretty strongly implied that he didn't want many people to know. He'd figured that she knew that. He figured that he could trust her.

Why was he suddenly such an idiot?

Just then, he heard the front door open and three female voices that he recognized—Mirabelle, Julia, and Chelsea. Damn it. He'd been hoping to be at the beach before they got back.

"Alright, girls. I'll start the food." Mirabelle's voice said, followed by heavy footsteps into the kitchen area. Julia and Chelsea seemed to stay back in the shop area. He cursed under his breath—if there was someone that Chelsea would tell his little story to, it would be her best friend, Julia. And Julia would tell everyone else.

Slipping on his boots and grabbing his bag, Vaughn stepped quietly into the hallway, hoping to hear the two girls in the shop a little better. He stopped just around the corner, out of their line of sight but close enough to hear them clearly. If he tilted his head, he could see Chelsea leaning against the counter in an attempt to be nonchalant with Julia smirking her way.

"So?" Julia asked, her smirk growing.

"Hm?" Chelsea frowned.

"So, what happened last night?" Julia urged. Vaughn cringed, realizing how many things someone could assume happened with him getting stuck at Chelsea's place overnight. He hoped that Riley wouldn't get wind of this.

"What do you mean?" Chelsea asked, feigning ignorance. Vaughn rolled his eyes. She was horrible at playing innocent.

"You know what I mean," Julia raised her eyebrow, "You. Vaughn. Your house. Snowstorm. Stuck overnight."

"Oh," Chelsea said, crossing her arms uncomfortably, "That."

"Yeah, that," Julia's smirk was back, "So, you have any juicy details, or will I have to find the pictures?"

"You are the most perverted person I've ever met," Chelsea frowned. "Nothing happened."

"I don't believe you."

"You should."

"But I don't."

Chelsea fell silent. Vaughn could hear alarms going off in his head—she was going to tell Julia. He knew it—she couldn't be trusted. It was a mistake to tell her anything. She was a mistake.

"Fine," Chelsea sighed, "I'll tell you."

"Yes!" Julia squealed. Vaughn twitched, getting ready to burst into the room screaming. Chelsea smiled slyly.

"He told me…" She paused, smirking at Julia's antsy impatience.

"Yeah?" Julia prompted.

"He told me that I'm the most beautiful girl in the world and that he loves me and he asked me to marry him."

What the hell?

"...Really?" Julia asked, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"No," Chelsea snorted, laughter bubbling up, "Like he would say anything like that, Julia."

"Then what did he say?"

"Nothing," Chelsea shrugged. Vaughn's stomach dropped in relief. She wasn't saying anything after all. He could trust her…

"I still don't buy it," Julia said, "But whatever."

Vaughn decided that eavesdropping any longer would be unnecessary—and the boat to the city was leaving soon—so he took this as his cue to leave his hiding spot. He pulled his hat down as he walked into the room, but he could still feel both girls' eyes on him. The air grew suddenly tense—he knew that they were both hoping that he hadn't heard their little conversation from moments before. As he opened the door and stepped outside, a familiar voice stopped him.

"See you next week, Vaughn?"

He turned around and tipped his hat to the farmer. "Next week."

The door closed behind him. As he stepped through the snow, he could just hear Julia shriek, "He actually answers you?"

Warharhar.

Okay, so, I promised you all a double-update this week because I didn't update last week. It's Sunday afternoon right now, and I haven't started any of my weekend homework, and I'm getting sick... So, pretty much, I may not be able to update again today. But I might be able to. Probably not. If I can't this week, then there will be at least one double-update in the month of February.

Also, I suddenly realized last weekend when I was on that island that Vaughn and Chelsea haven't done squat in the romantic-department and we're already at chapter 26. I'm even getting antsy for this. Seriously. I just wanted to let you guys know that it'll be damn worth the wait. Not... not, like, M-rated worth it. But worth it. Seriously.

Of course, I can't say how soon or how far off that'll be. But we're getting closer. xP

How was this update? Review and let me know, please!