Chapter Five:

Lover's Quarrel

If you still think I'm a good person, you won't think so after I tell you this story.

Lanna absolutely adored Denny, and there was a part of me that didn't want to break them up. But I believed that it needed to be done. I just didn't want to break my friend's heart.

On my way to Lanna's house that day, I came across a wondering cowboy in East Town.

"Hi Vaughn," I greeted him first. He seemed distracted, "What're you doing?"

He turned around surprised to see me, "None of your business," he said.

I paused as I thought of a response when Denny approached the scene.

"Huh? What's wrong? A lover's quarrel?" he teased.

"What?! No!" was my immediate response.

"I just lost something. Chelsea was just wondering what was up," Vaughn said, tipping his hat to hide his face, "But I can take care of it by myself."

"What did you say?" Denny asked. At first I thought Denny was just being touchy, but I realized that he couldn't hear Vaughn. Either I was close enough to hear him clearly or I was just used to his mumbling.

"Just forget it."

"…Okay. Let's just file that under 'my bad,'" Denny said before walking off.

"Why are you still here?" Vaughn asked.

I pointed towards my heart, asking silently if he was talking to me. He nodded. I thought for a moment before answering; I needed a distraction anyways, to keep me away from tearing Lanna's heart out from her ribcage.

"I don't understand you sometimes, Vaughn, but I'll help you find it," I finally said.

He didn't seem to be expecting that response, "…fine. I'm looking for the box all my supplies are in. Why don't you look over there?" he said pointing towards Regis' fence. I nodded and got to work.

I looked all over the place for that tool box, and I found it too. It was in the grass behind a particularly large rock. I turned around to see Vaughn with his back turned to me. I picked up the red box and approached him. He must have not heard me because he didn't turn around until I tapped his shoulder. He jumped and turned around immediately.

"What is it?" he asked, trying to compose himself.

I giggled and held out his tool box, "Ta da!"

Vaughn stared at it, then gave me that slight smile of his, "Thanks, Chelsea. I'm glad you found it."

"Hey, it's not a problem if I get to see that smile of yours," I said grinning.

Vaughn got all wide-eyed and blushed. He held his hat rim over his face so I couldn't see it well. "Why do even talk to me?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Well, you know people don't talk to me, not more than they have to anyway. Do you know why that is…not that I care or anything."

I laughed, "You could try smiling more."

Vaughn smiled for me again, "Like that?"

"Bigger."

"Forget it then. I don't need to smile for my job."

"But…I want to see you smile."

He blushed again, but this time he didn't hide his face. I was surprised to see how adorable he looked without his defenses. I wanted nothing more than to hug him.

Vaughn mumbled something under his breath and quickly changed the subject from his smile to what the hell I was doing. "Where you headed?"

"I was going to Lanna's, want to come?" I asked, I wanted his company, I always felt better with him tagging along, save for one fatal flaw. Besides, I wanted to make him smile (three times in one day would be a record for me).

"What for?"

"I'm going to tell her Denny's cheating with her," I blurted. That flaw, I couldn't keep anything from that man.

"What?"

I sighed and thought that I might as well tell him the whole story, "I, uh, want to break Denny and Lanna up."

"Why?"

"Because I want to marry Denny."

"Why's that?"

"I just want to get married."

And the truth comes out.

Vaughn sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "You might as well marry me."

"Are you offering?" I asked, more jokingly than anything, but my heart raced thinking otherwise.

Vaughn didn't answer right away. "That…that isn't the point, Chelsea."

"What is it then?"

"What I meant was, if you aren't marrying for love there's no reason to be picky."

"I don't know what to say to that."

"Then don't say anything."

At that point, we were at Lanna's front door. I took his advice and knocked on her door without a word. She opened with her usual cheery attitude.

"Chelsea! Oh, and Vaughn too! Come on in you guys," she said, stepping aside so we could come inside. To be honest, I was surprised Vaughn followed.

"What can I do for you guys?" she asked as she led us to her dining table so we could sit down.

"I wanted to talk to you about something…something with Denny," I said. I wanted to get it down with as soon as possible.

"He was just here too."

"Right…it's just that…"

At that point, Lanna broke down in tears, I don't know why; she must have been holding them in for a while, "I don't know what to do anymore! Oh, Chelsea he's been acting so weird lately, I think he might be cheating!"

"What." Vaughn and I were both struck with disbelief.

"I mean, he keeps saying he doesn't even know where we stand and…and that maybe there's something wrong with him…oh what am I going to do!" she cried.

Vaughn and I looked to each other. We weren't expecting this. The best we, well, at least I could do was not to say anything.

She eventually let us go. Lanna had cried and vented to us for a good hour before she thanked us for listening.

Vaughn was walking me home when he asked me what just happened.

"I'm not sure…I think Mark just got under Denny's skin finally…" I was mostly thinking out loud at that point.

"Mark's a part of this, too?" he asked.

Before I could answer Vaughn just shook his head, "No, I'm not bothered by that. What I don't get is why you didn't say anything to her."

"I just did what you told me! 'Then don't say anything.'" I quoted.

"That wasn't what I was talking about!"

"Look, it doesn't matter. I accomplished what I set out to do."

"You mean destroy a perfectly good relationship so you could get with a guy you don't even love?"

"Why do you even care, Vaughn? I will do what I want and I won't even let you get in the way of that."

Vaughn stopped in his tracks and stared at me as if he didn't know me. And the way I was acting, I'm still not sure I knew myself back then.

"I didn't realize you were so desperate," he said.

That hurt. That really hurt. I couldn't think of any reply, so I only stared at him and he stared right back. He turned around and left without word after a while, and left me to wallow in self pity.

I see how cliché it is now, but that night, I didn't realize it. But it started raining as I watched Vaughn walk away. And I wished that I knew how to hold my tongue around him.

Author's Note: Guess what? I got to the best case scenario! Yup, an update late tonight. So, if you didn't notice, a large chunk of this chapter is based off the blue heart event and first purple heart event with Vaughn in IoH, even if I meshed them together I tried to stick to the original dialogue. I hate to say this, but if you're reading, please leave a review, they help me so much with corrections and raising my self-esteem! Oh, and the critique is good too. Anyways, I hop you enjoyed chapter five.

Disclaimer: Harvest Moon and all characters belong to Natsume