Herpaderp I'm late. By like a month.

BUT IT'S SUMMER NOW :D

Epic-long A/N with important stuffs at the bottom! Now, read :D

CHAPTER STATS

Word Count (excluding A/N): 1593

Date Updated: 6-10-11

Current Review Count: 352

There seemed to be a nail stuck in the middle of Chelsea's forehead. No, scratch that—there were several nails. Several nails being pounded right into her skull. She slowly pulled her eyelids up, squinting at the light that burned her eyes. She rolled back in her bed, but the blankets were all tangled around her legs causing her to fall onto the hard floor.

Chelsea felt gross. Her hair was all over the place and she was still in her clothes from yesterday. Yesterday… what had happened yesterday?

She shot up. Her hands immediately flew to her throbbing head and she crumpled forward slightly, groaning at the horrible aching. Her throat was painfully dry and the room seemed to be tilting as she opened her squinted eyes. The first thing to catch her attention was a glass of water on her nightstand with a bottle of ibuprofen next to it. She saw a note on torn notebook paper and picked it up carefully, reading the black ink-letters scrawled out in a foreign hand.

Take two pills and finish off the glass of water.

Happy spring.

—Vaughn

She felt her mouth twitch up in a smile. He was definitely nicer than he let on. In fact, this was downright sweet of him.

She reread the note, her smile suddenly fading at the last line before his signature.

"Crap," she scowled, "It's spring."

She had not planned on starting off the busiest day of the year in the middle of the morning and with a nasty hangover. She assumed that was what she was experiencing as she wobbled across her house, her head light and her throat dry. Her stomach was churning and she was almost nauseous, but not quite. She sighed as she dropped two of the pills Vaughn had left her in her mouth. She washed them down with the room-temperature water. Normally she hated water when it wasn't chilled, but this lukewarm glass was like an oasis for her parched throat. She walked over to the sink and poured herself another.

As she finished it off, she glanced out the window at the sun shining from its midmorning position in the sky down to her weed-cluttered, decrepit field. This was going to be a long day.

Ooo

Vaughn sat awkwardly at one of the stools along the counter in Mirabelle's shop, keeping a stone-cold gaze on the wooden countertop. Julia stood tense behind the counter. Neither of them moved. Neither of them spoke. The quiet was getting to even Vaughn, and he normally swore by silence.

It was just then that Mirabelle opened the door, sending a deafening chime throughout the room. She glanced between the two young people, then picked up a large pail of milk from outside and brought it in.

"Well, aren't you two talkative today?" She teased, setting down the jug and turning to face them, her hands on her hips. "Liven up a little—it's the first day of spring, my goodness."

"Can do, Ma." Julia smiled, but Vaughn could tell she was forcing it. Mirabelle shook her head and turned her attention to the cowboy.

"Well, I saw you at the festival last night. Chelsea sure seemed to be enjoying herself," She said, her eyes lighting up mischievously. Vaughn wasn't planning on replying.

"I'll say," Julia snickered. Vaughn shifted his mild glare in her direction. She didn't seem to be teasing in the good-natured way Mirabelle was. He felt his mouth twitch and he stood up from the stool.

"Oh," Mirabelle said, surprised at Vaughn's sudden attempt to leave, "Are you leaving?"

"Unless there is some more work to do, ma'am," he replied, his hat covering his eyes. Mirabelle shook her head.

"No, you finished it all yesterday. And I told you, you can just call me Mirabelle."

"All right. Thank'ya, ma'am."

He touched the brim of his hat towards the stout woman and, ignoring Julia completely, left the shop.

Ooo

Chelsea eased herself down onto the dirt beneath a stray tree on her property, basking in the cool shade. A season of sub-zero temperatures could really make the spring feel a lot hotter than it used to. She took a deep breath, bringing her gaze up to the cloudless sky. Her head was still a little light and she had adjusted to walking on the ever-tilting ground, but she was making good progress on her field so far. She surveyed her work—most of the weeds were gone, a pile of branches and a pile of stones were on the far side of the field, and she had tilled some plots for crops.

The golden cast on the farm was telling her that it was late afternoon—she had to hurry to Chen's to get her seeds before he closed.

With a little sigh, Chelsea pushed herself up and started down the pathway and into town. She passed Taro's house, where the old man was ordering Natalie and Elliot around while they lugged crates inside and out. The Inn was bustling with tourists from the previous nights' festival, which Chelsea could only vaguely remember—and only the beginning, at that.

She glanced over at Mirabelle's shop as she passed it and almost simultaneously felt her face shift into a grimace. She still had no idea what she was going to do about Julia…

Letting out a small breath, Chelsea opened the door to Chen's shop and stepped in. Chen looked up at her from behind the counter, his mouth twisting slightly into a friendly smirk.

"Feeling alright today, Chelsea?" He asked as she approached the seeds at the counter. She felt her face flush, hoping that she hadn't done anything too crazy at the festival. She'd never gotten that drunk before—actually, she'd never had more than a sip of wine at Auntie Karen's house back in Mineral Town—so she wasn't sure how she handled it.

"Yeah," she smiled, gnawing nervously on her lower lip. "Can I buy some seeds please?"

"Sure," Chen smiled, "What would you like?"

Chelsea told him what she wanted and he bent down to a cupboard to retrieve them. She glanced around. "Hey, where's Charlie?"

"Oh, he's at the beach with Eliza," Chen said, straightening up and setting the bags of seeds on the counter. "That'll be 3500G."

Chelsea counted out all of her money on the counter, but she was a hundred short. She blushed and recounted the coins quickly as the door opened behind her. How could she have miscounted her savings? She'd made sure that she'd have exactly enough for the turnips and potato seeds, and she'd find some herbs to eat until the first harvest came in. She finished recounting and was still a hundred short. Humiliation stung worse than a whole hive of bees.

"Um," she started, her voice quiet, "I'm a hundred short—I'm sorry—I'll have to not get some of the potato seeds."

"Here," a familiar voice grunted from behind her, followed by a short clang of a coin dropping on the counter. She jolted in surprise and turned around quickly, her face suddenly inches from a certain cowboy's. They both stepped back at the same time, their faces an identical pink. Chen chuckled from behind the counter and scooped up the coins.

"Thank you. Have a nice day!"

Chelsea snatched the bags of seeds form the countertop and dropped them in her rucksack as she headed out the door. Vaughn followed her unspoken instructions to leave with her. The sun was almost beginning to set and the world was orange as they stepped onto the pathway outside the shop. Chelsea turned to face him, gripping her forehead and wincing. He spoke before she could.

"How's th'hangover?" He asked, half-concerned and half-amused. She grimaced.

"Blegh," she said, shaking her head slowly. "I'm paying you back for that hundred gold in there."

"I figured y'would," he shrugged one shoulder.

"Look, about last night," she began, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, "I… uh, thanks. For the water and pills and… stuff."

"Did y'drink it all?" He asked, careful that his face showed none of the amusement he felt.

She nodded, "And then some."

"Good," he said, nodding once in approval. "A hangover's nothin' more'n dehydration."

"Really?" Chelsea asked. That would sure explain her dry throat and dizziness.

Vaughn nodded again. "Water'n bed rest'll fix any post-drinkin' headache."

"You seem to speak from experience," Chelsea remarked, desperate to get the drinking label off of her forehead for at least one moment. Vaughn frowned slightly. Sure, he had experience—not personally, but he sure had his share of hangovers to treat growing up.

"Yeah, well," he sighed, "I got this friend in th'city. He likes to get wasted."

Vaughn could physically see the lights flicker in Chelsea's eyes. "A friend in the city? Who?"

He just shrugged. "His name's Riley."

"Riley," Chelsea repeated, one eyebrow raised. "Is he nice?"

"Nice 'nough, I reckon."

"You should bring him here sometime," Chelsea smiled, starting to walk up the path towards her ranch, "I'd love to meet him!"

Vaughn started walking, too, saying, "I don't think so."

Chelsea pouted. "Why not?"

"He'd hit on'ya 'til you say 'yes' just to make'im shut up."

"Is there a problem with that?"

Vaughn's heart sped up for a moment as he looked up at her to see if she was serious. The playful smirk on her lips told him that, no, she wasn't serious in the slightest—and he was damn relieved, even if he didn't know why.

Wooooo. It's 3:31am and I forced myself to stay up to write this. I've been on summer vacation for a whole week now and finally finished this update. I had like a paragraph written since May and JUST picked it back up. It's a shame it's kind of filler. And... boring. Vaughn and Chelsea seem to be getting a lot more comfortable with each other now, hm? He's actually talking! ...And that accent is a pain in the butt to try to keep up...

YEAH

So, who's going to ANIME EXPO 2011 this year? I AM :D You should too. It's fun. Srsly. If you are, tell me in a review/PM and we'll meet up somewhere at the con!

Next update will be sooner. I've been doing nothing but surfing youtube and being on facebook for the last five days, so... I really could be writing. I'll be out of town from 6/14 - 6/16, so no updates or writing then... But I should do more before that. Should.

Wanna know a secret?

I'm going to see if I can finish this fic by the time school starts again in late August. But that will seriously mean like a chapter (or more) a day... This monster-fic is going to probably reach, at this rate, a hundred chapters. Give or take. I mean, it's been three seasons in the story and it took thirty-six chapters. And Vaughn and Chelsea are just becoming legit friends. Gahhhhhhhhhhhhh curse you slow paceeeee /shot

Well, I'm probably delusional, so I'll go to sleep now. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reviewing! I think the error from before is probably fixed by now, so expect review replies! :D