Woop. Time to release this bad boy. I hope you like it as much as you can...

CHAPTER STATS

Word Count (excluding A/N): 1230

Date Updated: 5-24-13

Current Review Count: 745

Julia furrowed her eyebrows. "You were leaving?"

"I was confused and I panicked. My crops had just all failed, you and your mom had left for the city, Vaughn and I were fighting, and then I—I found Daisy—I didn't know what else to do, so I ran. My passage switched boats at the city, but when I got there in the middle of the night, they said the Mineral Town passage was postponed until morning. I didn't have any money left over, but it was still a few hours until sunrise and it was dark and cold and raining." Chelsea stopped there, recollecting her thoughts, so many emotions threatening to just spill out. Everything was a jumble in her head.

"What did you do?" Julia prompted gently.

"I just waited for a little while. And then there was this man—and he started to follow me, and I ran away from him but he still caught up—and he hit me," she paused, looking up at Julia with troubled, dry eyes. "Julia, he was going to hurt me—really hurt me."

Julia swallowed, shaking her head. She put her arms around Chelsea's shoulders. She didn't know what to say, so she just let Chelsea continue on her own.

"I tried to fight him, and I don't really remember what happened exactly, but the next thing I knew, Vaughn was there," she smiled slightly. "He punched the guy hard in the jaw, and then the man ran away." She let out a laugh at the memory. "He saved me, Julia."

Julia shook her head in disbelief, unable to stop the smile from breaking across her face. "I can't believe it. Vaughn really makes himself seem so awful, but he's really a good guy. I definitely misjudged him."

"A lot of people do," Chelsea laughed, returning her friend's hug. "But now I'm afraid I'm going to lose him."

"I don't see why those things would make him not like you," Julia said, releasing the farmer and raising her eyebrows. "If anything, I think it shows how much he really does care."

"Well, it was mainly after that, when we went back to his apartment and I was a pathetic, empty mess of tears and self-pity."

"Oh," Julia nodded. "Well, I think you were justified in feeling that way, and I'm sure Vaughn understands."

"I hope so," Chelsea shook her head. "But I feel like he's avoiding me."

"Go find him," Julia said matter-of-factly, shrugging. "Don't let him avoid you."

"And what do I do when I find him?" Chelsea said, frowning. What was there to do?

"I don't know, kiss him?" Julia said, entirely serious.

"You're kidding," Chelsea said, laughing humorlessly. "And what if he doesn't want me to?"

"Trust me, he does," Julia smirked. "Just go find him and plant one on him."

"I feel like there's a better way to go about it," Chelsea muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Fine, don't kiss him," Julia sighed. "But you could just ask him if he likes you. Just be really up front about it. I think you two are having communication problems or something and it's a real shame because you two should be together by now."

"That's an understatement," Chelsea smiled. "But you're right—I should just go talk to him."

"That's my girl," Julia teased, smirking. "Go get him! It's already three and his boat leaves at sundown."

Chelsea nodded and hurried down the path towards town.

Julia watched her go, shaking her head. "It's about damn time those two got together. If their lives were a book, I swear they'd be over fifty chapters into it by now."

Ooo

"Ugh, where is he?" Chelsea muttered to herself, walking onto the sand of the beach. She'd checked Mirabelle's, the forest, the Diner, and Vaughn was nowhere to be found. Now she was on the beach and the sun was slowly sinking down the horizon, painting the sky in oranges and reds. She could even make out his boat in the distance.

And yet again, Vaughn was nowhere to be seen.

She sat down on the sand, her chin in her hands. She was so close to giving up. He was clearly avoiding her and she was setting herself up for failure. What was she going to do if their next encounter ruined their friendship—let alone any chance for a relationship—forever?

She sighed and buried her hands in the warm sand. This was so complicated.

Ooo

Vaughn hurried down the path from Chelsea's farm, which was still deserted. Where was she?

He'd made up his mind to just man up and tell her about her parents in Forget-Me-Not. It would be wrong to keep it from her, and he had no real reason to avoid it anyway. Sure, he still didn't know how to deal with the impending-kiss-situation, but he knew they wouldn't be able to go very long without acknowledging it, so he just had to get it out of the way.

The only problem now was that Chelsea was gone. She wasn't on her farm, she wasn't anywhere near the Diner or the Café or the Inn. He'd even checked the forest, but she wasn't there.

He heard the horn of his boat sound out at the beach.

Shit, was it already here?

He ran back to Mirabelle's and grabbed his bag from the guest bedroom, not realizing he'd left his hat on the bed. He hurried down to the beach, glancing around for a red bandana anywhere in town.

"Last call for Flowerbud Village!" The speaker announced.

Vaughn grimaced. Maybe he could call Mirabelle and ask to talk to Chelsea after he got back to the city.

He hurried down the dock, rummaging through his pockets for his ticket.

"Vaughn!"

His ears perked up at the sound of that familiar voice over the waves. He looked up and saw the red bandana moving down the beach towards the dock.

She was here the whole time?

"Ticket, sir," the man at the dock prompted Vaughn.

"Uh," Vaughn hesitated, looking back up at the farmer, who was almost at the dock.

"We're scheduled to leave a minute ago, sir," the man said again, clearly impatient. "If you're riding, we need your ticket."

"One minute," Vaughn said to the man.

"We're behind," the man said, narrowing his eyes. "I'm going to have to ask you to board now or exit the dock."

"Vaughn—wait," Chelsea called from the bottom of the dock. "We need to talk!"

Vaughn looked between the panting farmer and the irritated ticket man. He couldn't miss this passage to Flowerbud—he was already on thin ice with his boss from all his sales report mistakes. But he really didn't want to leave Chelsea…

"That's it," The ticket man began to walk back on to the ship. "We're leaving."

Vaughn scowled and, giving Chelsea what he hoped was a very apologetic look, he boarded the ship. As the boat started away from the dock, he saw Chelsea slow as she reached the edge.

"Vaughn?" She yelled, her voice barely audible above the waves and the motor of the ship.

"Next week," Vaughn shouted back, but he wasn't sure if she heard him.

She was just close enough that he could make out her expression. He hoped he was seeing it wrong.

She looked so hurt.

Aw, shucks. That sucks. We'll see how this pans out...

On a different note, I graduate tomorrow morning. Today I have an awards ceremony and a baccalaureate mass (Catholic school), and then Sunday I'm having a huge grad party. Then on Tuesday I'm flying out to Alabama for orientation, and I'll be there for six days. Basically, I'm going to have to just find some time this weekend or, more likely, Monday, and write up the next couple chapters because I won't have another opportunity to write for almost two weeks, and I don't want to leave you guys hanging for that long.

If you're bummed about how this chapter ended, just remember: it'll be worth it in the end! I have a plan ;)