Wow, that took too long.

IMPORTANT NEWS GUYS: I'm going to be holding a contest! Details in the bottom A/N, more details at the top of my profile! :D

Okay, go read now xP

CHAPTER STATS

Word Count (excluding A/N): 1855

Date Updated: 7-30-11

Current Review Count: 383

"Alright, Daisy," Chelsea said, pushing the doors to the barn wide open, "I finally got you some grass planted!"

The small cow lifted its head up and let out a long, low moo. Chelsea grinned and led her outside and onto the meager patch of just-long-enough grass. It had grown surprisingly quickly since she'd planted it the morning before. As Daisy sauntered about in the warm sunshine, Chelsea noticed for the first time how big the calf had gotten. In fact, she was no longer a calf—she'd have to be milked soon, Chelsea'd bet.

Chelsea tilted her head at the animal that had become her best friend—since the fight with Julia, at least. Chelsea sighed as she thought of the fight. It was so stupid… She wasn't even really that hurt about Julia skipping out on their plans for Starry Night. She understood that Julia had been eagerly anticipating Elliot's invitation to have dinner together. She would have felt guilty if she'd eaten with Julia instead of letting her eat with the guy she was infatuated with. If only Chelsea had been able to keep her emotions more in-check. The only reason there was even a fight was because she was going through a hard time with her homesickness. But Vaughn was there for her, so why should she be mad at Julia? Julia'd just forgotten about the plans. It was an honest mistake.

Sighing, Chelsea kicked at the freshly-tilled dirt. She'd have to face Julia at some point. She needed to apologize. It wasn't like they could just keep going on like this, their relationship suddenly trashed and their lives filled with this stupid high-school-esque drama. She definitely needed to do something…

"Uh… Chelsea?"

Chelsea jumped, caught off-guard by the distinctly feminine, familiar voice. She turned around and looked down slightly, guilt filling her at the sight of her blonde ex-friend. "Hey, Julia."

"Hey," Julia sighed, stepping around the grass, "I see you've got Daisy out in the pasture. Is she ready to be milked yet?"

"I was just noticing that, actually," Chelsea smiled, a little nervous, "I was going to go see if I had enough for a milker from your mom."

"Actually, I was just looking over files at the shop and found something that made me wonder… when's your birthday?"

"My… birthday?" Chelsea repeated, confused. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, I was doing something and it made me realize that we've almost known each other for three seasons and I never found out when your birthday is," Julia blushed slightly, obviously nervous and embarrassed and humbled in front of Chelsea.

"Oh…" Chelsea nodded, still a bit wary at this random conversation. Was this really going to be the first thing they'd spoken about in almost three weeks? "It's Winter seventh."

"What?" She asked, the surprise in her voice shocking Chelsea. "You mean it's already passed and you didn't tell me?"

"Oh, uh," Chelsea stuttered. To tell the truth, she'd actually just realized this as well. "I guess so."

"Wha—why?" Julia asked, clearly hurt. Chelsea frowned slightly, unhappy at her unintentionally offending the blonde.

"I didn't mean to, really!" Chelsea said, her hands up defensively, "I forgot it, too!"

"How can you forget your own birthday?" She replied, her tone not angry at all, which actually surprised Chelsea a bit.

"I-I guess… I guess there was just so much going on in the Winter, and I had so much to worry about, and I've forgotten my birthday a lot in the past and everything… I just, uh, forgot."

"Ugh, Goddess, Chelsea," Julia sighed, bringing her palm up to her forehead in annoyance, "now I feel even worse than I did before. Thanks."

"…You felt bad, too?" Chelsea asked, relieved that she wasn't the only one feeling remorse at the fight.

Julia nodded. "Of course I did. I forgot our plans for Starry Night. And if that wasn't bad enough, you were really missing home and you didn't have anyone else to celebrate with…"

"It's fine, Julia," Chelsea smiled, "Really. I should be the one apologizing. Honestly, I shouldn't have exploded on you like that. I knew how much you'd been hoping Elliot would ask you to eat with him, and I would have insisted that you do it anyways, I was just—"

"Oh, come on," Julia interrupted, smiling slightly, "Stop it. We'll just say we're both wrong, okay? Call it even."

"Okay," Chelsea smiled. It was like a heavy burden was just lifted off her shoulders. She could stand up straight again.

"Besides," Julia continued, sighing, "I'm over Elliot, anyways."

"Really?" Chelsea asked, surprised—but at the same time, she wasn't really that surprised. It was just infatuation. Infatuation always burns itself off after a while.

"Yeah," Julia nodded, "He's just not as great as I thought… He needs to be more forward. Get some courage. I was practically telling him to ask me out again and he just couldn't do it. I need to find a guy who's not afraid of me, you know?"

"Yeah," Chelsea nodded. "I know."

"So what have you been up to? It's been just about forever."

"I… I don't know. Not much, I guess. I'm glad it's finally spring," Chelsea smiled, sighing softly as she lifted her head up to feel the sunshine drench her cheeks in warmth, "I missed the sun."

"I know what you mean," Julia laughed.

"Oh, hey," Chelsea said, looking back at Julia, "Before I forget to ask—what were you doing that reminded you to ask when my birthday was?"

"I was just flipping through some of our files. I came across the one about Vaughn's employment and it says that tomorrow is his birthday, so I thought that I'd come and see when yours was."

"What?" Chelsea asked, shocked, "Vaughn's birthday is tomorrow?"

Julia shrugged. "That's what he wrote in his personal information, at least."

"Why wouldn't he tell me?" Chelsea said quietly, mainly to herself. Hadn't they become friends?

Julia snorted. "Maybe it's the same reason you didn't tell me when yours was. Did you at least tell him?"

"No…" Chelsea shook her head, thinking. "No, I didn't. Wow. I've been really out of it, I guess."

"How has everything been with our favorite cowboy, anyway? He hasn't warmed up much to me, that's for sure." Julia joked, leaning back on a nearby rock.

Chelsea smiled slightly. "Sorry. He's definitely not the most sociable guy on the island… but he does have his moments."

"Oh?" Julia asked, smirking at the soft, unintentional grin on Chelsea's face. "Like when?"

"Huh?" Chelsea asked, wiping the smile off her face. Julia's suggestive tone immediately brought Chelsea back to a certain moment on Starry Night, with her and a certain cowboy sitting with a certain closeness and she remembered a very, very certain sensation of warm, minty breath in her face… Chelsea could feel her face flushing, remembering his gaze. She surprised herself at the regret she felt at the memory—why did she feel so unhappy? It was as if she wanted him to kiss her… She blinked, pursing her lips and feeling her face heat up even more.

That was exactly what she wanted.

But what did that mean? Sure, Vaughn was really nice and helpful and strong and… attractive… and sometimes he was even sweet—sometimes—but he was just a friend. A really nice, really attractive friend. That gave her butterflies when she thought about him. Sometimes.

"Uh, Chelsea?" Julia asked, one eyebrow raised. "Hello? Earth to Chelsea. You there?"

"Oh, uh, sorry, Julia," Chelsea coughed, her mind snapping back into reality. "…What were we talking about?"

"Vaughn," Julia replied. "Times when 'he has his moments', so be more specific. By the color of your cheeks, it seems like you remembered one of them. Care to share?"

Chelsea hesitated, rubbing her forehead. Why not? It wasn't like it was a secret… maybe Julia would help her make sense of it all. "It was just Starry Night."

"Starry Night? You told me nothing happened on Starry Night." Julia said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "You lied to me."

Chelsea shrugged. "Well, I didn't really lie… nothing actually happened."

"Something had to have happened for you to blush that hard just by thinking about it," Julia smirked once again, "So, are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to guess?"

"I've already told you this much, haven't I?" Chelsea said, sighing. "Well, anyway, he came over and we were just going to sit in the field and watch the stars for a little while."

"But you didn't?"

"No, no, we did," Chelsea said, trying to remember everything prior to the awkward conclusion of the night. "We were just having a conversation—"

"You and Vaughn actually have conversations?" Julia interrupted, "Or are you just using the word loosely?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, are you the only one doing the talking?"

"No, Vaughn talks too. Hence the whole 'we were having a conversation' thing."

"Wow," Julia breathed, "He really is different around you."

"Do you want to know what happened or not?" Chelsea frowned. Sighing, she added to herself, "Jeez, if you get this worked up over him talking, I'm not sure I should tell you what happens next…"

"Sorry, sorry. Go on."

"Okay, so," Chelsea paused, gathering her thoughts, "we were talking, then he compliments me on taking good care of Daisy—"

"He complimented you?"

"Julia!"

"Sorry—keep going,"

"Okay, so we were talking and he said I did a good job with Daisy, and then he looked over at me and it got… it got all tense and stuff. It was weird, but… kind of nice? I don't know. I was surprised he was actually looking me straight in the eyes for so long. And then we were suddenly really, really close, and I could feel his breath on my face, and—and our faces were so close that I swear there wasn't enough space to even put your hand in between us, and—and—and—"

"He kissed you?" Julia burst out, her eyes wider than Chelsea had ever seen them.

"No—" Chelsea started, trying to calm down. Her heart was going too fast and her face seemed like it had an eternal flush that afternoon. "No. He pulled away at the last second and walked me back to my door. Then he left really fast. I don't blame him. It was kind of awkward…"

"Are you kidding me?" Julia frowned, seriously disappointed. "He pulled away, just like that?"

"Yeah," Chelsea nodded, rubbing her neck in embarrassment. "But that's not the worst part, Julia."

"Hm?" The blonde tilted her head, curious. "What else happened?"

"Well, nothing, but… I—I don't know, I just—" Chelsea stuttered, her face heating up all over again. Why couldn't she find the right words for this? What was she even trying to say?

Julia blinked at her flustered friend in realization. "Oh my goddess, Chelsea."

"Wh—what?" Chelsea asked, glancing around nervously. She felt so vulnerable.

"You love him, don't you?"

Julia's back, and with the hard-hitting questions we'd all love to know the answers to!

Alright, here's a little bit of info about this contest I'm holding...

It will be a fanart competition.

To enter, you must: Draw a fanart of any scene of American Honey (if you don't know what that is, it's the fic you're currently reading lol), upload it to your choice of image hosting site (photobucket, imageshack, deviantart, etc), send me a link to it in a PM by Saturday, August 20th at 11:59PM PST, and that's it!

Now, you may be wondering what the prize is for this contest. There will be a first prize winner and a second prize winner. First place wins a signed copy of a legitimate book-form copy of American Honey with a special, totally-exclusive unofficial alternate ending AND a signed legitimate book-form copy of Cowboys and Blacksmiths, my derpy compilation of fanfics. Second prize is a signed copy of American Honey in legitimate book-form, including the alternate ending.

If you're too young and/or your parents don't want you to give me your address to ship you the prize if you win (lol don't worry, I promise I'm not a random creeper), you can still enter and I'll write a oneshot on your request!

To see much more detailed information, go to the top of my profile! Thank you, guys, for being so awesome and supportive of me throughout this last year and a half that I've been writing this fic. You all rock so much.

Next update will be soon!