Another normal day, as summer gave into fall's embrace- Jas was in class with Penny, Ooma lazily peered from her perch on a fence post, and Shane and Laura were in the hoop house, picking the last of the tomatoes as the plants were already giving way to the beckoning of autumn.
Their work was a quiet one, moving quickly enough, buckets filled, placed into a wheelbarrow with that metallic clang, on and on. Laura focused intently on her work. The evening before had been almost too much stimulation already to take too many glances at the man working just across the bustle of vines. A social introvert, she'd heard herself being called, she had no problem with people but just never found much of a need or reason to be out and about. The one boyfriend she had had grew tired and impatient with her resistance to furthered intimacy and eventually left her in pursuit of more voracious women. Probably searching for an opposite of her bordering on prude-ish ways. It had been a sting but nothing she couldn't get through. Plus, by the time he had left she was already starting to prepare for her trek out into Pelican Town. Where a new man with a much stronger hold on her heart was waiting.
Her face flushed. Well, not waiting... existing I guess. and her eyes peaked up quickly to Shane. Years of knowing each other and she still didn't know too much about him. Her brief foray into his life before Pelican town had been a tragic tale to hear, it was clearly wrought with no less than a few grave trials. Her own, was much more narrow. It was only now that her horizons had begun to expand really, and new adventures were unfolding every step she took, and her hands reached and grabbed for that feeling, of feeling adequate and on the edge, surveying quickly the challenges ahead and then bursting forward towards them. But before all this- she was just Laura. Two parents, only child, suburban life. Childhood was normal for her- happy. Summers were spent in Pelican town, and she went to a fairly good school and had normal grades. Suddenly, it was all she wanted to talk to him. See how long he'd been here in town, she was 25 and she was unsure how old he was... quite possibly...
"Shane... how long have you lived here in the valley?" she asked, her small smile coming over her again, and she only made eye contact briefly, and honestly, was expecting him to give an irritated response. To her surprise he said,
"Well... Jas is almost 8 now so, about 7 years." surprising Laura. She'd been in town exactly a year before her job at JojaMart sucked away her life, eventually leading to her permanently staying here. But she didn't remember seeing him on her 18th summer there...
"Oh, you've been here for a while then... You know, you and I may have crossed paths, a summer 7 years ago."
"I doubt it." he said, a bit of hostility edged at his voice but he sighed, circled his shoulders and went on while picking tomatoes. "You may have seen how drunk I always was when you first got here... Well... Obviously since you dragged me off that cliff edge and stuff..." She blushed at this, "But it was much worse when I first showed up. I just... Couldn't handle it. I was weak. And I didn't work so I just holed up in my room at Marnie's and drank everything away. I mean life had been rough my whole life. For me and my sister." he was speaking so much more than usual, Laura noted, but kept her lips tightly sealed so as not to scare off his words
"But she took it all in stride. She was always the one to keep us going. After all those foster families, and when things went really bad, all those shelters." his eyes glazed a bit as he thought of this. "But then she met Mike. I don't know what it was. I've gone crazy thinking... But I can never pin it down." He sighed deeply, continuing to move and pick. "He was shitty. Always cheating on her, calling her names, but then begging her to stay when she tried to leave. Manipulative fucking asshole. We'd had plans to leave for Marnie's. But as they kept falling through I told her I was leaving. Moving across Zuzu city, I can remember Mike's shit eating fucking grin." His hand sunk too deeply into an over ripe tomato, but he shook off the remnants and kept moving and talking. "She got pregnant soon after, still wouldn't leave him and so we lost touch. Last time I heard from her was when she was in labor and that they couldn't find Mike... I raced there as fast as I could..." Laura couldn't tell if it was tears or sweat that streaked his face, but guessed it to be both, her brow furrowed deeply. "She was dead when I got there. And Mike never showed." He had begun to visibly shake "I let her die. I failed her. I was supposed to be there for her but I fucking wasn't." he had reached to grab a tomato but when a pull still had it clinging to the vine he left his hand there shaking.
Laura reached out, unsure of the proper thing to do, and cupped her hand underneath his. There were so many things she desperately wanted to say and do. To come crashing through the vines, grab him and embrace him in a burst of red and green, to comfort him and tell him how he was a good father to Jas, and much better than Mike ever could've been. But she didn't. She wasn't sure where her boundaries were, and her slight timidity held her back.
"I'm sorry." was all she said, and he only nodded, once again looking at her while she looked back at him. Eventually he pulled his hand away, and her chest fell, feeling entirely unsure of herself and her actions but also worried for him. It had happened so long ago, but she was sure the entire situation still affected him greatly. There was no going back now though, she knew the moment was gone to be a comfort, and his tenseness returned. Soon enough the tomatoes were harvested, and they split off again to finish their work alone.
I did not say all that. Why would I tell her ALL of that? You fucking weirdo. Shane berated himself and had continued to the rest of that day. After picking up Jas, she had immediately begun to beg for a Friday movie, which, given that he wasn't in the mood to talk or stew in his room he was even more eager to agree than usual.
It was mainly Jas who did the talking when they got home, Laura already almost finished with dinner and so they sat fairly quietly eating. After, Shane cleaned up, and Laura moved to the living room giggling with Jas as they went through some of the VHS tapes she had brought on the move from when she lived at Marnies. Eventually they picked out a movie, The Smallest Sea Turtle, which Shane had seen about 12 times but was his God daughter's favorite movie so he kept seeing it.
Soon enough, they settled down to watch, and his heart clenched hard as Jas insisted that he and Laura sit close together with Jas on the other side of him because "they were a family now". He was unsure and paranoid that she could tell that his breathing was weird. Sitting so close to her made him ultra aware of it, and somehow it was almost as though he forgot how to do such a basic act. Still, he trudged onwards with what felt like ragged breath, and they watched their movie in more or less peace.
"Miss Laura! This is my favorite part!" Jas borderline shouted. Shane felt her start a bit, and turned to see her lids heavy, but with that crinkle of a small smile, that little gap in her teeth somehow a bit endearing all of a sudden.
"Wow! You know, this might end up being my favorite part too." the exhaustion edged her voice, but the enthusiasm to entertain Jas rang above any of it, which earned an excited beaming expression from the child and they carried on watching. And Laura's eyelids carried on sinking lower and lower.
A soft touch on his shoulder, and long dark hair suddenly swept across his chest, and he tensed, realizing that Laura had, eventually, fallen asleep. He started, dumbfounded, as she sighed in what he thought might be contentment. Inside, alarm bells were going off left and right, and next to him, a type of alarm almost sounded, as Jas whipped her head to look at Laura and exclaim another fact, but as she saw what was happening, she bolted upright off the couch, bewilderment and then joy coming across her features. Young as she was, she was extremely perceptive and he ground his teeth together a bit as she put one finger over her lips, and ran off to her room, leaving him alone with what was sure to be an awkward encounter.
But as the movie went on, and he became more relaxed with what he realized was a heavy sleeper, Shane began to enjoy the feeling of her laying against him, tension releasing from him muscle by muscle. It wasn't long before he was looking at her, taking in her features in a way he rarely ever permitted himself to do... not only to Laura but to anyone. A man of few interactions, this was by far the most intimate he'd been with someone in years since arriving to Pelican town, he'd had his few charades out into Zuzu City, typically finding his way into a bed through many beers but it was self love usually for him, with a quick following of self hatred. This, though, was sweet, he had to admit. Her quiet breathing, little sighs, and the weight of her against him, it was something he could become accustomed to.. and as his mind wandered a bit further it recoiled.
What was he even thinking? He wasn't entirely sure, was he entertaining the idea of a relationship? Of something less significant? Friendship? There were a lot of complications rushing through his mind, it all seemed... just too far out of reach. Yeah, Laura stared at him a lot, but he imagined with her time frequently being only with chickens and cows- of course she'd be staring at any non-plant, non-animal around. He was sure she thought he didn't notice but he wasn't stupid.
She roused a bit, digging her face closer into his shoulder, her breath now hot against his upper pectoral, and he felt an involuntary shudder in his groin. This couldn't keep going, he had to get her into bed, but even that thought had his body reacting in ways he desperately wished it wouldn't. Laura was his boss and roommate, and there was a professional relationship to uphold, and even then, how would he ever know if she was even interested? He'd definitely describe her as a social introvert, and doubted it would ever be information she'd pass up willingly. If it was even a way she felt. A feeling she might have, that he wasn't even sure what the name of was. His genitals had their obvious reactions to the situation. His mind, though, was far from made up, and confusion still reigned as a chaotic windstorm within him.
Eventually, the need to put her to bed and get to sleep himself won over, and very slowly he edged his shoulder from underneath her head, replacing it with his arm under her back, and his chest supporting under her cheek, and with as quick and smoothly an action as he could, his arm swept up under her legs, and he lifted Laura up, gripping her bridal style and as carefully as possible. She felt delicate in his arms, but his movement against her muscle, as he walked her to her room, didn't give way to soft and feminine skin but hard and muscled, not what he was expecting but he wasn't sure why. A woman known to traverse through abandoned mines? Mingle with the adventurer's guild? Carry out on her own farm alone for such a long time? Of course her body would harden to the elements that battered at it. That deep seeded jealousy poked it's head out, but in a way that almost made him chuckle. Only recently had he developed more muscle and tone- but Laura had probably become this way very soon after arrival, and continued to only become stronger and stronger.
Thankfully, her room was unlocked, and he breathed a sigh of relief, he'd been worried about some idiotic blunder, like knocking her head against the door jam or dropping her in his fumble for the handle. Just a soft push at the door with his foot and he was inside what was surprisingly a sparse room. Thread bare rug, metal bed frame with a twin bed, blue comforter, single dresser, and a nightstand with a little red alarm clock that looked as though it had been with her since childhood, just in the chipped paint and obvious impeding corrosion. Shane looked down again at the woman still asleep in her arms, and eventually pushed the comforted over with his elbow, and laid her down into the bed's embrace, pulling the covers around her and before he could stop himself, he reached out a hand and swept her hair from her face gently. Sucking in his breathe he cursed himself, but was relieved when she didn't even stir. Why would she though? With all the rest of the movement she hadn't woken up either... but he could swear he saw a slight upwards tick of the corners of her mouth. But it could be his mind playing tricks. Either ways, it was nice to see and he looked at her for only a couple moments longer before backing out of her room and heading to his own, feelings still confusing, but knowing his heart felt warm.
Notes: Thank you for your continued readership! Feedback spurs me forward! The next chapter will be a bit different in tone and feeling, so hopefully I can make the transition comfortably.
I'll hopefully update a little more regularly, and for a week in June I'll have more time to work on this too, finished this up while making a cheesecake that failed spectacularly! If you wanted continued cuteness I suggest looking at the Kitchen Vignettes put up by PBS, so cute! Hope ya'll are doing well!