I'm not going to make it! I knew I shouldn't have stopped to listen to Carter's ramblings!
After Claire finished maintaining her crops for the day, she'd gone throughout the valley foraging for wild fruit and plants to ship out. Her crops helped bring in a hearty amount of income once they were ripe, but there was still a period in between where she need to wait for the produce to grow, and she'd been saving up to purchase a toolbox she'd been eying on the TV Shopping channel the past few days.
Unfortunately, the final area she'd chosen to forage was by the mines and she'd become a victim to Carter's long-winded lectures about what each ancient relic found in the mines signified about "our ancestors". The farmer did find the stories interesting at first, but she soon realized giving Carter an inch meant he'd take a mile. Most of the valley residents knew to avoid anything related to history when it came to the archeologist unless they wanted to lose a couple of hours of their day. Claire hadn't realized how late it had gotten and she wished she had excused herself earlier. She would've been too timid to do so anyway, as Carter seemed so eager to have someone other than Flora listen to his stories.
Why?! Why did I let him talk my ear off! She inwardly scolded herself for being such a pushover as she sped down the cobblestone path, her rucksack slamming noisily against her back with every step.
She came to a halt, shifting her weight to not fall forward as she met with Mayor Thomas at the bridge that leads to the main area.
"Wait, wait! Mayor Thomas!" She huffed, signaling him to stop as she slipped her rucksack off her shoulder, bringing it forward to fish out her items. "I have some things... I want to ship..."
"No-can-do Claire!" The mayor grinned unapologetically, making his way around Claire and continuing towards Mineral Town. There were many things the mayor would much rather be doing, and the hour he took every day to travel to and from the valley was beginning taking a toll on him.
"No, no! Please!" She hopped in front of him with pleading eyes. The mayor staggered back slightly, becoming increasingly annoyed with the valley farmer's persistence. "It's just a couple of items! I need the money by tomorrow, mayor! I can't wait until the day after that!"
He took in a deep breath, relenting to Claire's plea as he dropped his shoulders. "Oh... alright. Fine. What is it that you need to ship?"
The blonde perked up, reaching into her rucksack and gathering her items before her heart dropped and her blood ran cold upon realization. Wait, there's more stuff at the ranch.
"Well..." Claire flashed a crooked smile at the mayor, dropping the items back into her rucksack and clutching at it nervously. "I actually have more stuff at home... If you could wait though, I can run over and get it! It'll be quick, I –!"
"No no no, forget it." His brows furrowed, and he waved his hand dismissively. It was enough that he was willing to accept her shipments besides her irresponsibility, but now she was pushing it. "I'm sorry but you know the rules, Claire. Five-thirty sharp! No later than that!" He sidestepped her once more and quickened his stride towards Mother's Hill.
"Please mayor, please!" She matched his pace, her words rushing out in a panic. "There's this toolbox I desperately need and tomorrow the last day to order it! My back is going to give out from having to carry my tools all the time, and Takakura says I can't leave them out, or else they'll be ruined by the elements! And I mean, I could just leave them inside, but I tried that once and my ax left a giant gash in my wooden floor when Chestnut knocked it over! Not only did it ruin my floors, but that's so dangerous! For Chestnut! What if he –"
"Enough! Goddess, that's enough!" Thomas would have no more of Claire's whining. She was panning out to be more than just accident-prone. "If you really need the money, head on over to the Mineral Town beach. On the pier, you'll see a home that belongs to Zack, the man who oversees all the shipments. Bring everything to him and you'll have your money by tomorrow when I come back to the valley. But no later than seven o'clock, Claire! It's rude to bother folks so late in the –"
"Ok! Seven o'clock! Gotcha!" The blonde had started down towards her ranch midway into Thomas' speech. She waved emphatically at the mayor, a wide grin stretched across her face. "Thanks, mayor! You're the best!"
The mayor dropped his shoulders, releasing an exasperated sigh. It was a blessing that Claire had landed in the valley and Samuel over in Mineral Town. Hot-headed men were plentiful over in the village, and nothing Thomas wasn't already accustomed to. Claire, however... Let's just say it's good that things turned out the way they did.
Claire had less trouble steering Mocha the second time around, as she'd been practicing around the ranch during evenings. Mocha's galloping had slowed to gentle crunching against the spring grass once she entered Samuel's ranch.
Ahead of her stood a sea of green crops, speckled with ripe cucumbers. In between the stalks, she could see a familiar blue cap bobbing up and down, presumably harvesting the produce that was ready for shipping.
Claire gripped at Mocha's reigns, steering her towards Samuel's stable. She'd decided halfway into Mineral Town she was still too inexperienced to ride Mocha through town. This meant she'd have much less time to deliver her shipments, and the warm-toned sky proved it was already nearing seven o'clock.
The blue cap ceased it's bobbing as Claire grew closer the stable, before running through the row of crops to meet with Claire. "Claire? What are you doing out here?" His eyes wandered to the crate that was fastened onto the horse.
The blonde continued towards the stables. "I'm gonna drop Mocha off at the stable if that's alright with you." It was more of a notice rather than a question of permission; She knew her cousin wouldn't turn her down anyway. "I missed Thomas' shipment pick-up by a couple minutes and he told me to hand deliver it to a man named Zack."
Samuel followed her into the stable. The valley farmer hopped off her horse but caught her foot in the stirrup and stumbled back. Samuel quickly placed his hands on her back to keep her from falling backward. "Hey! Be careful, Claire, you could break your ankle like that!"
"Sorry." Claire gave a nervous laugh, and her face burned with embarrassment as she freed her foot. She'd silently hoped that she could sneak into Samuel's stable without him noticing, for fear of having to explain herself. She'd already felt like a failure for being irresponsible and missing her shipment window, and Samuel scolding her for improperly dismounting only added to her shame. Claire swallowed the lump in her throat as she began unfastening the knots and loops around the crate, pulling it towards her once she'd undone her fastenings.
Samuel reached over, placing his hands on the crate. "Here, I'll help you carry it."
"No!" Claire shouted, a little too loudly, as Samuel quickly retreated his hands, staring down at his cousin in bewilderment. She let out another nervous laugh as her cheeks flushed. "Sorry! Didn't mean to shout... Listen, I'm just a little stressed out." She pulled the crate off of Mocha and nearly grunted from the weight that now bore into her arms. She hoped the strain wouldn't come out in her voice. "Don't worry about me. How else will I learn if I don't do it myself? 'sides, it looks like you have your hands full with your harvest and I really don't want to bother you." She smiled warmly at him, but her brows were scrunched upwards.
He studied her face for a moment before softening his expression. "Right. Gotta learn to do it yourself!" He gave her a friendly pat on the back before starting towards the door. It was his philosophy, after all, to not accept handouts and learn to do things yourself. Sometimes he forgot his own mantra when it came to dealing with soft spots like family members or even close friends.
The blonde followed him out, readjusting her grip on the crate. It wasn't heavy at first, but carrying it all the way to the Mineral Town beach might prove to be challenging. She felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. If she didn't have the strength to carry a crate on her own, how good of a farmer could she possibly be?
"Don't beat yourself up about, alright?" Samuel's voice and his gentle squeeze on her shoulder pulled her out of her thoughts. Before she could respond, he dropped his hands and made his way back towards the fields.
Claire began towards the ranch's exit, looking over her shoulder and watching Samuel's blue cap grow smaller and smaller. Could he still read her just as well as he used to? They were practically siblings after all. Claire's mother was very close to Samuel's mother, her aunt, and the two had lived in the same apartment complex until the age of nine. Even then, her mother could only bear to part as far as a few streets down, so that she was always within driving distance of her sister. Without any siblings of her own, Samuel served to fill that role. A smile curled on her lips and she couldn't help but drop her head and chuckle at the memory of them fighting for a week over something she couldn't remember. The farmer often times had to walk home to Samuel's to be cared for while her parents worked. The two walked home from school in silence, with Samuel a foot farther ahead to have Claire out of her sight, and the two would sit on opposite sides of the living room, watching television quietly. Eventually, the argument ended with Samuel throwing a paper airplane note into her hair, asking if she wanted to be his friend again, and Claire scribbling back a yes before sending it back at his head.
The farmer's arms grew tired halfway down the path, and she tossed the crate upwards, attempting to readjust her grip. The crate slipped from her left hand and fell sideways, popping open and spilling wild fruits, produce and other foraged items onto the brick walkway.
"Ugh! Seriously!?" She grumbled to herself. She sighed exasperatedly as she dropped to the floor and began tossing the contents back into the crate. A pair of brown loafers walked into her field of vision and her eyes wandered upwards to meet with the owners.
"Cliff?"
The brunet shrunk at being addressed, his eyes flickering from Claire to the ground. "O-Oh, hey Claire." He lowered himself hesitantly, keeping his eyes hidden behind the hair that fell onto his face as began picking up the fallen produce and placing it back into the crate.
She reached for the final turnip that had rolled farther off, but Cliff had already picked it up. Once he'd made the realization he'd beat her to it, he reddened and placed the turnip into Claire's outstretched hand. The farmer couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle, curling her fingers around the turnip. "Thanks."
"...W-What's the crate for?" Claire's eye wandered up towards him again as he stood up and their eyes locked. Cliff looked away quickly. "Sorry... I'm being nosy, aren't I?"
"Of course not." Her usual boisterous voice came out much gentler. "I'm here to deliver these to Zack." She'd decided to keep the details to herself. Not that Cliff seemed like much of a gossip anyway. "I just... didn't realize how heavy some things get when you've carried them for a while."
"Yeah... I know what you mean."
Claire looked beyond Cliff on the walkway. There wasn't anyone else around, and the brunet didn't seem to be in any hurry. "You don't happen to be busy right now, do you?"
"I was just headed back home." He fidgeted in place. "From the church."
Church, huh? The farmer watched him as Carter's request replayed in her mind. This could be a good opportunity to get to know Cliff and it wouldn't hurt to introduce him to the other town folk as well. Claire tapped the top of the crate. "Do you think you could help me carry these over to Zack's?"
"Oh... I'm not sure... about..." The simple idea of interacting with others made his heart drop to his stomach. He avoided her eyes and fumbled with the leather braces on his wrist, hoping this would calm the nerves that were threatening to surface. "I-I mean, I can help you carry it over but..."
Claire could sense his uneasiness and almost felt guilty for asking him in the first place. She allowed the few seconds of silence between them before she opened her mouth to speak.
"I haven't really met Zack yet..." He finally said.
The blonde's gaping mouth morphed into a smile. "Hey, that makes two of us. You don't have to worry about it. I'll do the talking for both of us. I've been told I'm pretty good at that."
The tenseness in his shoulders relaxed and he couldn't help but give a chuckle at this confession.
Claire heaved the crate up. "Here, it's gonna be a little complicated to carry one crate together but..." He stood in front of her as placed his hands underneath the crate. "Do you think you can walk like that?"
He gave a simple nod.
The two began making their way towards the beach with Cliff walking backwards at steady pace. His eyes seemed glued to the lid of the crate, mouth tight-lipped, and it quickly became apparent that the brunet was not going to attempt to make conversation.
That guy's been here for months and all he's done is sit at the church and mope. Samuel's words ran in her head. Was there something eating away at Cliff that was keeping him from connecting with Samuel and all the other villagers? Her conversations with Carter and her cousin's fed her too little information on Cliff as person, where he'd come from and what he'd gone through to lead to feel this way. Was she reading too much into the situation? Is it just a simple cause of social anxiety?
"What's it like living at the inn? Seems pretty lively." The words rushed out of the farmer's mouth a little too unnatural for her liking. Perhaps in attempt to ward off any further negative thoughts.
He didn't seem to pick up on it, lucky for her. "I guess you could say it is pretty lively... I share a room with Gray and Ann is always in our room whenever she gets the chance." A small smile began to creep onto his face at the mention of his housemates.
The farmer perked up at this information. "That sounds like fun. Guess you're never alone then?"
"Yeah... guess not." The small smile that formed on his lips had now faded. The reality was that Cliff was almost always alone. Most days he sat alone in the church, occasionally speaking to Carter. The priest had learned quickly to interact with the vagabond whenever the aura was enormously gloomy, but often times allowed him to sit alone with his thoughts. "It's... it's not always fun living with other people though. Gray can be messy sometimes... He and Ann are always arguing about how dirty he leaves the bathroom."
"Gray... he's the blacksmith right?" Cliff nodded in response. The farmer hadn't interacted much with him outside of the one time she'd called to inquire about upgrading her tools. After realizing she had neither the materials for a reasonable cost or the funds for him to provide his own, she opted to wait until she'd gathered enough ore. "So I'm guessing Ann's the one who cleans up around the Inn?"
"Well... I always keep my spaces clean. I try to help out every now and then but Ann likes things done a certain way, so she usually does it on her own." He gave a passive shrug.
Claire could imagine the waitress shooing Cliff out from behind the kitchen for offering to clean his plate and the sentiment caused her to giggle. "I can see that. Well, despite that, it still sounds like fun living with other people. There's always something going on."
The farmer's giggle prompted Cliff to look up from the crate. "I guess that's true. Living with Gray and Ann feels a lot like living with siblings."
Claire's smile faltered. "I see..."
Cliff caught onto the slight shift in her mood and quickly looked down towards the lid of the crate again. A cold sweat ran throughout his body at the thought of him souring the conversation already. "S-sorry, did I say something wrong?" His voice was meek.
Claire's eyes widened as she vehemently shook her head. "Oh no! Not at all!" Her insistence of his lack of wrongdoing caused him to look up at her, albeit with a hint of bewilderment. "It's just... I always wanted to grow up with a sibling. Everyone always tells you it's the best because your parents give you undivided attention and you never have to share anything but... you also don't have anyone to do things with or tell things to, y'know?"
The brunet shuffled the crate, readjusting his grip. "Yeah... I can see how that can get pretty lonely."
Claire's eyes burned into him as she thought about his wording. Her intense gaze caused him to once again break the small moment of eye contact and his face reddened. "Do you have siblings, Cliff?"
His heart dropped at the question and he gripped the grate tighter, his throat tightening. "Yeah."
His curt response alluded to Claire that she'd hit a nerve and she pressed her lips tightly. Her question seemed innocent enough, so why would that trigger such a reaction?
A cool wind blew past her and her feet began to dig into the ground, bringing her out of her thoughts. The sun was setting behind them yet the pink and orange hues of the sunset bled into the dusty blue above the water. The Mineral Town beach was much different than the beach in Forget-Me-Not, where the sun set on the west and colors were much more bright and vibrant. Her eyes wandered from the smaller white shack to the bare wooden shack right before the pier.
"Do you think this is it?"
Cliff turned his head toward the shack in question, his eyes searched the building for an identifying marker that would prove this was Zack's shop. Cliff seldom found himself on this part of town and if he was being honest, he still hadn't a clue who Zack was. Before the words "I think so" could stumble out of his mouth, the farmer spoke.
"Yeah, pretty sure it's the unpainted one." She tossed the crate lightly in her hands, her brows furrowing as she attempted to ease the strain on her hands. "Let's hurry, my hands are getting kind of tired."
Cliff wrapped his arms around the side of the crate, lifting it up and out of the farmer's hands. "I can take it from here... if that's ok."
"Oh! A lot stronger than you led on to be, huh Cliff?" The brunet reddened at the sentiment and Claire smiled at this reaction. She'd worried she'd soured the mood by hitting a soft spot but seeing a reaction, albeit a flustered one, calmed her nerves.
Claire pulled the door open to the shack, allowing Cliff to enter first and place the crate on the counter before making her way inside herself. At the counter stood a dark muscular man with a flat top haircut. The farmer took a quick glance around the aged shack and noticed there wasn't anyone else in the shack aside from him. "Hello! We're sorry to intrude. You must be Zack, right?"
zacks all like "Yep, that's me!" As the pair approached the counter, Zack focused his gaze on Claire. His brows scrunched upwards as he began wracking his mind for any familiarity of the blonde who stood in front of him. "Hmm... I don't think I've seen you around before. You just moved?"
"Yeah! I'm the new farmer who moved into Forget-Me-Not valley, actually. I'm sorry to be a bother but Thomas told me I could drop these off with you..." Claire's cheerful demeanor quickly diminished and she shrunk before adding. "I missed my five o'clock shipment."
"Ah... I see." Zack dragged the crate closer to his side. "We're pretty punctual when it comes to picking up shipments. I'll give you a pass this time, so don't worry about it." His eyes fell onto the quiet brunet who'd carried the crate in and hadn't bothered to speak a word since he walked into the shack. Zack had seen a few times around town, usually with his head down making beelines to and from the church.
Cliff began to notice Zack's gaze burning into him and realized he'd been rude by not introducing himself as soon as he stepped into the shack. It'd be rude if he pretended like he didn't know why Zack was staring at him, but wouldn't it be weird to introduce himself this late into the conversation? The vagabond looked over at his companion, his eyes occasionally darting at the man before him as he tried to figure out what to say without making things strange.
Claire caught the nervous glances Cliff kept throwing her way and stepped closer to him, looking up at Zack. "By the way, This is Cliff! He helped me bring my shipments over."
"Ah yes, Cliff! I've heard about you. It's nice to finally meet you!" Zack eagerly extended a hand toward Cliff, beaming a smile in his direction. Slightly bewildered, the brunet closed his hand around his and gave a firm shake. His expression seemed hardened when he'd been glaring at him a moment ago. Was he not angry?
"Real nice of you to help your friend out and bring these over for her." He released his grip from Cliff's hand.
Friend? Cliff's face burned at the sentiment. There's no way Claire considered a nuisance like himself a friend. She appreciated that he'd helped her carry the crate over, sure, but it was becoming increasingly obvious how much he needed her as a social crutch. "Oh, w-well –"
"Of course! Cliff's a real gentleman isn't he!" She hadn't meant to interrupt, but she couldn't help but boast about Cliff. After all, Carter did assign her with the responsibility of bringing Cliff out of his shell and she couldn't do that without sweet-talking him to the rest of the town folk.
The farmer glanced up at her companion, ready to ask him what he was going to say before she interrupted. Before she could, however, it became apparent that he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. His shoulder were tensed, same as the day she'd first met him, and his eyes were hyper-focused on the countertop. She could tell he was trying to steady his breathing by the way his chest rose and fell.
"... Thanks again for taking these shipments, Zack!" Her eyes slowly peeled off of Cliff as she spoke to the shack owner. "I think we've taken up enough of your time though, we'll get going! It's a long ride back for me, anyway."
"No problem kid! Feel free to come back whenever you like." He nodded in Cliff's direction. "Hope to see you around soon!"
"Y-Yeah... I'll be sure to say hi.." Cliff swallowed hard. That was the right thing to say, right?
The smaller girl's gentle touch on his back brought him out of his potential ruminations and caused his face to burn. She smiled up at him, her head signaling towards the door. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the two made their way out of the shack.
Author's Notes: ? I genuinely cannot believe it took me two years to finish this chapter. Either way, I think I'm pleased with the way this chapter came out. I tried to capture some of the social anxiety intrusive thoughts since I didn't just want to keep writing the same uncomfortable body language over and over. I hope that translates well LOL. Anyway, please R+R!