Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or its characters. This story was only written for entertainment purposes.

Save Me From Myself

Chapter Twelve

Abigail blushed and ran her fingers over her lips. He had almost kissed her. She could still feel his breath on her lips and it sent a chill down the spine. Almost, inches apart, she had even felt a light brush. Her fingers stopped dancing across her lips – Did that count as a kiss?

What constituted a kiss anyways? Was it full weight from each party or did a simple brush count just as equally?

She pulled her hand away and shook her head. What was she doing? Debating with herself over an accidental brush of flesh. He had pulled away like the brief contact had burned him. The thought of him disliking their touch produced a painful grip around her heart. What if he – She gripped her head and shot Fax a sad smile.

Dropping to her knees, she rubbed the beige dogs head and sighed. "Do you think he could ever see me as more than a friend?"

Fax gave his master a confused look and rubbed its head against her palm. He barked, pulling away from the contact, and licked at her hand.

The smile slid off of her face and she stared sadly at the canine. "... I don't think so either."

Even that declaration didn't seem to help her forget what almost was. Her hand returned to her lips and she briefly wondered, how would it feel? To have his lips against hers? Would he had kissed her timidly or was he more of a passionate kisser? She blushed and a shy smile spread across her face.

Her eyes closed and she could see his face in her mind. They snapped open and she ran a shaky hand through her hair, removing the band holding it up. She was acting like a lovestruck school girl, why? It wasn't like he would ever return the feelings, would he?

Her gaze fell and she sighed, bitterly coming to the realization that – no – he would never, ever, see her as anything more that just a friend. She gave a cold laugh, shaking her head in disbelief. "Don't be stupid, Abigail. He probably – " She felt the throat constrict and an unexpected sob escaped her lips " – He probably don't even like me bothering him every day."

She wiped away the tears and groaned in frustration, silently wondering why it hurt so much to think that and wishing it would just go away.

Fax barked at his masters distress.

Abigail stared at the ball of beige and sniffled. "What's wrong with me? I've never felt so horrible in my entire life. Am I coming down with something?" Fax whimpered. She ran her hand through her hair again and nodded. "I must. I must be sick or something."

-

Jamie paced back and forth. He had almost kissed her. A simple lean of his head and he would have had his lips against hers. But he had pulled away, too suddenly, and had unintentionally teased himself with a brush of flesh.

What had he been thinking? He had never planned on leaning it and confusing himself. She was only a tolerable acquaintance and she was probably angry at him now. But the way she had looked at him, with those big brown glossed eyes, and the flush on her skin. His body had moved on its own.

He had been so closer that he could still remember the flowery scent surrounding her. It was intoxicating and much more pleasant that the assaulting smell of hours spent working on his farm. He had also been close enough to see the shock and disappointment in her face when he had pulled away.

He expected many emotions to have played on her face, but disappointment was not one of them.

The sight of that emotion filled him with – with pride? It spread a sense of unexplainable happiness throughout his entire body. It meant that she had wanted a kiss, right? Why else would she had looked so let down?

A bark brought him back to reality. His pet gazed up at him with a confused appearance.

He threw off the large hat from his person and glared at the air. "What the hell am I thinking." Pulling off his top layer of clothing, he stalked towards his bed and threw the discarded garment onto it. "To think I would waste my precious time on something so – so –"

Another back.

"Exactly." He nodded at his pet. "So ludicrous."

He wasn't about to let an accidental loss of his sanity distract him from more pressing matters. One of those matters being the upcoming sheep festival. He wasn't going to bother with whether or not she would be upset with him – even though the fear of that was slowly creeping into his head. He wasn't going to ponder over why he had almost kissed his former rival – even though he wanted nothing more than to know why.

If they crossed paths again – which he was sure they would see each other in the morning to come – he would act as if nothing had happened. He hoped she would follow suit, but a little part of his chest ached at the thought of dismissing what almost was between them.

Why did it feel like a large weight of uneasiness had taken refuge at the pit of his stomach? Why did it feel like there was a sharp pain in his chest when he thought about whether or not she would refuse to see him again.

Jamie froze and stared at the ground as it suddenly hit him.

He was –

Was he –

He shook his head and ran a free hand through his hair. "I must be sick..."

R&R.

A/N: So sorry for disappearing like that! I've been working on another story none stop the last couple of weeks.

Playlist: "Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down.