Okay, late update. And it's sort of short. My bad, but seriously, things are getting intense in the life department. This chapter was written completely in my English and Religion classes while I was supposed to be working on an essay/project. Enjoy!

CHAPTER STATS

Word Count (excluding A/N): 1104

Date Updated: 4-14-11

Current Review Count: 275

"So, Chelsea, how was last night?"

"Huh?" Chelsea tensed, jerking her head to face Julia. They were sitting side-by-side in Mirabelle's kitchen. "What about last night?"

"I was just wondering how Starry Night went for you," Julia said, raising a suspicious eyebrow. "Why so defensive?"

"I'm not defensive," Chelsea said, turning slightly away from the blonde, "Starry Night was fine. How was Taro's?"

"It was great!" She beamed, placing her chin in her hands. Chelsea failed to mask the hurt that she knew spread all over her face. Julia noticed and blinked. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Chelsea sighed, fidgeting with the bottom hem of Vaughn's coat, "It's just… you told me I could eat over here. And then you made plans with Taro and Elliot and them… without even letting me know you couldn't eat with me."

"Oh, shoot, Chels," Julia said, bringing a hand up to her mouth in realization, "I didn't even…"

"It's fine," Chelsea said, forcing a smile. She hoped it looked real. "I know how much you were hoping Elliot would ask you."

"Yeah, but still," Julia sighed, "I can't believe I did that to you. Alone on Starry Night—I'm the worst friend ever, Chelsea…"

"No, no," Chelsea said, shaking her head. "I was fine. I ended up eating with—"

"Huh?" Julia interrupted, confused. "You ate with someone else? Who?"

Chelsea swallowed, feeling nervous. Julia wouldn't believe her if she said that her and Vaughn's celebration was just as friends, nothing more. "Uh, I—"

"Was it Vaughn?" Julia gushed, her face stretched in a wide smile. Chelsea couldn't say anything to confirm or deny it before Julia continued. "Oh my goddess, it was, huh? Oh, I knew you two liked each other! See, Chelsea? It worked out fine—I ate with Elliot and you ate with Vaughn!"

"Hold on, Julia," Chelsea cut in, her face flushing at Julia's conclusions. "We didn't eat anything—and it was just as friends—besides, it's not like he'd even consider…"

"Consider you romantically?" Julia smirked, teasing Chelsea like they were in grade school again. Chelsea frowned at the blonde.

"Exactly."

"Well, I think he does," Julia leaned back, her arms crossing underneath her large chest, "he just doesn't know it."

"You're insane." Chelsea rolled her eyes, but deep down, she could fee her stomach flutter anxiously. That last night… It was so weird. That almost-kiss—if that's even what it was; she couldn't remember it very well—was one of the things she never expected to happen. But it did, and she was almost disappointed that Vaughn had stopped it right then, at the last second. Her disappointment, however, was easily overshadowed by her relief at his actions—imagine if they'd actually kissed. They hardly knew each other, and he was just starting to open up to her. If something like that had happened, she knew that he would close her off, probably out of embarrassment. Even if the idea of a kiss from Vaughn was surprisingly exciting for her, she didn't want to risk losing his friendship for it.

"Yoo-hoo, earth to Chelsea," Julia's hand waved in front of Chelsea's face, "you there?"

"Huh?" Chelsea blinked, losing her train of thought. Julia raised her eyebrows.

"I was just asking if anything interesting happened last night."

"Oh," Chelsea paused. Time to lie. "Well, not really."

"Yeah, right," Julia rolled her eyes, "You and Vaughn were alone on your farm in the dark for at least an hour. Something interesting must have happened. Did he say anything?"

"Not really," Chelsea shrugged, putting on her poker face. "We just kind of watched the stars from my field and then he left."

"That's so boring," Julia slumped, frowning in disappointment. "I was hoping your night would've been better than mine."

"Oh? What happened at Taro's?" Chelsea asked, knowingly taking Julia's bait. She was just eager to change the topic off of her and Vaughn.

"Nothing." Julia sighed in exasperation, slumping even more. Chelsea smiled sympathetically.

"Well, next year will be even better."

Secretly, she hoped the same would be true for her.

Ooo

"Yo, Vaughn, why so quiet?"

The cowboy switched his gaze from the greasy tabletop of the fast food joint to his friend's face. Riley was shoving several French fries into his mouth, watching Vaughn with a skeptical brow raised. Vaughn returned this look with a rising of his own eyebrow.

"Seriously?"

Riley laughed, swallowing. "I mean, you're more quiet than usual. If that's even possible. And you aren't glaring at anything. Are you… in a good mood, or something?"

"Good mood?" Vaughn repeated, turning the idea over in his head. He never really remembered being in a definite good mood. Sure, he'd been in okay moods, and sometimes he was almost a little content, but a good mood? That was totally uncharacteristic of him and he knew it. But still, he had to acknowledge that the world seemed oddly better today. It was almost nice to be in the sun, and he kind of felt like it would take way too much effort to scowl.

"Yeah," Riley nodded, picking up another fry. "What happened on the island this week? Seriously, did she kiss you or something?"

At the mention of that word, Vaughn's face was immediately tinted tomato red. Riley noticed and dropped the fry.

"Oh my Goddess. Vaughn," he gaped, leaning across the table slightly. His voice lowered. "Did you seriously kiss her?"

"No!" Vaughn growled, still embarrassed. Riley leaned back in his seat.

"But you did spend Starry Night with her, right?"

Vaughn decided it wasn't worth it to lie, since Riley would know the answer anyway from the bright red color on his face. "Yeah. But not… but only as…"

"Friends?" Riley supplied, raising both his eyebrows. Vaughn frowned lightly, thinking that it was just plain weird to think of Chelsea as a friend. But he supposed that that was what she was—it just seemed a little bit wrong. Like there was a different, better word to use. She wasn't exactly his friend. She was something similar, but not that.

"Yeah… As friends."

"Vaughn," Riley sighed, shaking his head. "For being smart, you really are stupid."

Vaughn rolled his eyes, deciding to let that comment slide. His brain was too busy remembering Starry Night to waste the extra energy forming a response, anyway.

"Y'know," Vaughn said, breaking the silence that had fallen over the table, "that island isn't really that bad."

"Really?" Riley asked, genuinely surprised. Vaughn wasn't usually like this. "Seriously, dude. What happened?"

"I almost kissed her, Riley. And she didn't try to stop me."

Wooo. Follow-up to last chapter, and next chapter should pick up where this on leaves off. Spring is almost upon our lovely farmer and grouchy, sexy cowboy! And we all know what happens in spring.

So, quick little message from me regarding the immediate future's updates: I'm having gum surgery on Monday, so I'll be kind of out of commission in general for at least half of next week. Plus, it's softball season, and that means lots of games and practices. And I work as a tutor, so lots of kids are suddenly trying to study for finals. Considering I'm up to my neck in end-of-the-year projects, this doesn't bode well for my writing schedule. And Script Frenzy is failing - I am trying to adapt this fic to a screenplay xD

This all seems bad, but there's always a silver lining. I have spring break starting a week from today! That's a whole ten days to myself, and I will definitely assign at least one whole day to writing this fic. That could mean one chapter, it could mean three, or it could mean ten - I don't know. But I probably won't update this weekend because of the craziness I just explained in the previous paragraph. I'll make it all up to y'all come April 22 - May 1.

Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D