Continued from last chapter!

CHAPTER STATS

Word Count (excluding A/N): 1407

Date Updated: 10-10-11

Current Review Count: 470

A thick silence filled the air of the meadow before roars of laughter sprang from the crowd. The last thing Vaughn could see before the crowd shifted and blocked his view was Chelsea's humiliated face flushing bright red as Julia and Lanna snickered at her.

Vaughn felt his face pull into a frown. They shouldn't be teasing her like that—especially not when the whole island and then some were already laughing at her. She looked completely humiliated up there, and while Vaughn thought that there was no reason to feel that way—it was just a stupid festival, after all—they still shouldn't be making her feel worse about it. Knowing her, she was probably on the verge of tears.

Vaughn saw a flash of blue in the corner of his eye, heading towards the entrance of the meadow. He sighed, frustrated. That was probably Chelsea. He followed her out of the meadow, no one in the crowd even noticing he was leaving.

Ooo

Chelsea slowed her pace down to a slow walk as she got out of the meadow. She watched her bare feet on the stone pathway. She'd kicked off her shoes before the performance without telling Alisa. If she'd tried to do that dance in those monstrous heels they'd given her… she cringed at the thought. It was bad enough that she'd managed to screw up—and right at the end, too—she didn't need those heels making it worse.

She kicked at a pebble on the path, wiping at her eyes. She was doing a good job of not breaking down. The urge to cry had surprisingly passed as soon as she'd gotten out of the public's eye. She glanced at her hand as she brought it away from her eye. It was a smudgy, black mess. Chelsea groaned. Her mascara—she'd forgotten about it. And now her right eye was probably very similar to that of a raccoon's.

That was just perfect. She ruined the festival, humiliated herself in front of everyone, and now her makeup was screwed up. There was a reason she never bothered with the stuff.

She looked up at the clear sky, trying to cheer herself up. The sun was shining. It was warm. She inhaled slowly, drinking in the season. And then she heard footsteps behind her.

"Hey," a familiar voice said.

She didn't want to turn around for a few reasons. Firstly, Vaughn had been avoiding her yesterday and she figured it was because of her letter. Secondly, he'd just come from the meadow and that meant she'd seen her horrible, klutzy dance. Thirdly, she just knew that her makeup was all messed up and her hair was probably going every which way and vain as it may have been, she didn't want that cowboy to see her when she felt so horribly unattractive. Feebly, she tried to wipe off the smudged makeup around her eye.

Ooo

Vaughn frowned at her back. Why wasn't she turning around? Was she mad at him for avoiding her? That would make sense. He cursed himself for not just manning up and facing her yesterday. She still wasn't turning around. Oh, Goddess—why did he follow her? He didn't even think about it. This was a bad idea. His heart was beating faster and it made him uncomfortable. Was he sweating? Why was he so damn nervous?

Her back still facing him, she brought her hand up to wipe at her eyes. He grimaced. She was crying. Damn it. Damn, damn, damn it. Sure, he'd dealt with her tears before, but before he wasn't so irrationally nervous. He froze as she turned around.

She gave him an uneasy smile, her shoulders scrunched up and her head tilted awkwardly, "So… uh, did you like the festival?"

He watched her for a second, taking in her messy hair—the flowers and curls were falling out, replaced by bits of grass—and her generally disheveled appearance. Her dress was lop-sided and grass stained at her knees. When he saw her one raccoon-eye, he couldn't help it—he snorted.

"You look ridiculous," he laughed, shaking his head at her.

She flushed, feeling uncomfortable. "Gee, thanks."

"Sorry," Vaughn mumbled, composing himself. The nerves were back. Since when did he get this nervous around her? "You did a good job."

Chelsea snorted this time. "Yeah, right. All I did was make a fool of myself in front of everyone on the island."

"So?" Vaughn replied, raising his eyebrows. "Ain't that what you usually do? I mean, don't you think they were expecting that?"

Chelsea frowned, stunned. She didn't want to feel offended, because he was probably right, but still—why would he say that?

Vaughn saw the hurt expression on the farmer's face and panicked on the inside. Damn him and his inability to talk to people. "Sorry—that, uh, that came out wrong,"

"No, no, you're right," Chelsea said, swallowing hard. She glanced behind her, determined to leave before he realized she was upset… even though it was probably too late. "Well, I need to go—Daisy still needs to be fed."

As she turned around, Vaughn racked his brains for something to say. He had no idea why, Goddess help him, but he really didn't want her to leave upset at him. He said the first articulate thing that came to his head. "Wait! You, uh, said you had a present for me…"

Chelsea froze. So he did get the letter. She turned around, seeing him awkwardly standing there in the middle of the path. She swore he looked like he was kicking himself for saying that. It was kind of cute. She felt her face heat up.

"Yeah, I do," she said, walking back towards him. She smiled slightly. "It's at my house—you can come help with Daisy, if you want."

Vaughn nodded, pulling at his Stetson. They continued up the path, both trying to contain the butterflies in their stomachs.

Ooo

Chelsea walked into the barn, changed back into her usual shorts-shirt-boots-bandana ensemble. She held Vaughn's unwrapped gift behind her back. Vaughn was absentmindedly brushing Daisy, evidently lost in his own thoughts. Chelsea spoke, startling him out of his reverie.

"Well, are you ready for your present?" She asked, smiling.

Vaughn blushed, nodding weakly and making sure his hat covered his face. He really wished he had just held his tongue and let her walk away earlier. He hated surprises. Plus, it seemed that Riley's dirty mind had gotten to him while Chelsea was off changing.

"Here you go," Chelsea said, holding a bottle of milk out to Vaughn.

Vaughn took it, once again unsure if he was feeling relief or disappointment. He nodded to her, "Thanks."

"It's Daisy's," Chelsea smiled. "She's finally giving milk, and I thought that you should be the first to try it—if that's okay."

Vaughn looked at the bottle, then at the brown cow beside him, then up at Chelsea. She'd been working for this since back in fall. She'd done everything she could to raise Daisy well—including stupidly venturing out into a blizzard to buy fodder. This bottle of milk was the first result of all that hard work—and she was giving it to him.

He took a sip. Chelsea watched him expectantly, clearly waiting for his verdict.

"Well? How is it?" Chelsea asked, wringing her hands nervously.

Vaughn nodded. "It's good. Thanks."

Chelsea beamed at him. Her face look like it was glowing. Had he made her do that? He felt a flush crawl up his neck. His gaze fell on her mouth and he suddenly remembered Riley's obnoxious comments from their last conversation.

"Tell me—did you want to kiss her?"

Vaughn swallowed. He did want to kiss her—back then and right now. Did that really mean what Riley said it meant? Vaughn pursed his lips. Why was he suddenly so nervous around her? Why did he get embarrassed whenever Riley asked about her?

He tried to think about it rationally.

He failed.

There was absolutely nothing rational about this. He never lost his cool like this. There was no explanation. Maybe Riley was right. Maybe he was in love with her.

Oh, Goddess.

He and Chelsea's eyes met. His face flushed harder, his heart beat so fast and loud that he couldn't hear a thing, and his stomach was doing flips.

He was in love with Chelsea.

AAGHGHAHAHAGHAFLKD:JSDDSJ FINALLY.

It only took him forty chapters and a prologue to figure it out. I wonder if things will get easier or harder now that they've both had their eyes opened?

UPDATE INFORMATION: November is National Novel Writing Month, as some of you know, and I've been a participant the last two years. Last year, November fell in the middle of my horrible five-month-hiatus from fanfiction, so it didn't really disrupt anything. This year, unfortunately, it will - I don't believe I'll be able to update this story at all during the month of November unless I get chapters written beforehand and update them incrementally. I'll try to update before November starts, but I'm not sure how that will work out. Just know that, even if the next update is in December, it'll still be there!

Thanks for bearing with me, guys. I hope I do not disappoint.

So... how about Vaughn realizing his love for Chelsea?