I sighed happily and gazed up at the amazingly clear blue sky above me. This was perfect. Tilting my head, I caught sight of Gill in my peripheral vision sitting next to me. I smiled at him, feeling that now-familiar warm fuzz inside whenever I was around my boyfriend.

Boyfriend... It was still really strange referring to Gill as that. I mean, we never really talked about it, but we were "together". Ever since the incident in Ganache Mine, where he came looking for me when I went missing, and stayed with me until help came. During that time, I ended up kissing him. The memory was blurry now, so I don't really even remember quite how it happened. I just know that I kissed him, Gill didn't seem to mind, and then we knew we had feelings for each other. Voila! Oh, and the fact that he had asked me to "go steady" with him after the whole ordeal probably had something to do with it too.

"Why are you smiling like a dope?" he asked irritably, but I knew he didn't mean any harm by the rude comment. I giggled in reply. He shook his head. "And now you're laughing like one too."

I turned my full purple gaze to him. "But isn't that why we're friends?"

He sighed, but the corners of his mouth curved upwards. "I suppose it is. How about you eat something?"

I glanced down at the wonderful selection of delectables Gill had made especially for this picnic. It was Sunday, the eighth of Spring, so we both had the day off. Elli, for reasons unbeknownst to me and Gill, had arranged it for us. Which was kind of sad, if you think about it, someone having to plan our dates for us. Technically, it was our first date, even though we'd been together since the middle of Winter. Which was also sad. But I guessed we just weren't the type of couple who went on dates all the time. We worked together, so we saw each other six out of seven days of the week.

I picked up a piece of strawberry shortcake, my favorite dessert.

Gill shook his head again. "You're going to eat dessert first?"

"Why not?" I took a large bite. "Mm, this is really yummy! Thank you, Gilly."

By now he had grown accustomed to me calling him by his disliked nickname. So much so, that if I didn't call him "Gilly", he took a second to recognize I was talking to him.

"Ah, yeah, you're welcome. I made it myself..." Gill sounded unusually self-conscious.

I blinked, then grinned in delight. "You did? Thank you even more!" I leaned over and hugged him tight. "It's better than mine."

"No it's not," he said automatically.

I just laughed.

Gill seemed to relax slightly when I let him go. He wasn't used to being hugged, that's for sure. But he'd probably soon get used to it, with me as his girlfriend. "Oh, I need to ask you..."

I looked at him curiously. "What is it?"

"What type of flower do you like best?"

"Well, that's a hard one. I like a lot of flowers. Why do you ask?"

"The Flower Festival's happening in a few days."

"What? Really? How come I don't know about these festivals until right before they happen?" I demanded crossly.

"Maybe you should get a calendar," Gill replied with a tiny humorous smile.

"Whatever." I tried to act annoyed, but a small grin found its way to my mouth anyways. "I guess if I had to choose, I like cosmoses and pinkcat flowers best." I could practically read Gill's thoughts through his face; Of course you do. They're pink. I stuck my tongue out at him. Then I raised an eyebrow. "Still, why'd you ask? Are you planning on getting me some flowers?"

His face immediately brightened. "Uh-"

"Ohh, that's so sweet!" I squealed, hugging him again.

He closed his eyes and huffed a sigh. "So much for a surprise," he muttered.

I laughed. "That's OK."

The rest of our picnic was spent contentedly chatting (well, more of me just babbling) and eating. I was getting quite excited for the Flower Festival, though...

The night before the festival I made sure to let Colleen know she should wake me up if I wasn't awake before eight. But it turned out not to be a problem, since it was on a weekday and I was used to waking up early.

I gulped down breakfast and hurried over to Gill's house so I could wait for him. I practically tackled him as he came outside, making him nearly jump out of his skin. Laughing, I dragged him to Waffle Square, where people were finishing setting up their stands for the festival.

"I remember the Flower Festival in Flower Bud Village. I wonder if this one will be any different," I mused.

Gill shrugged. "Probably."

I took to assisting people who's stands were lagging behind the others. Gill just tagged along, lending a hand when necessary. Soon the festival started. Mayor Hamilton gave a short intro and then the fun began.

At one point I was so busy admiring a certain arrangement of flora that I didn't notice Gill slip away from my side. Right as I started to look around bewilderedly he appeared next to me again, holding a relatively small bouquet of cosmoses, pinkcats, begonias, and lavender.

I swear I felt tears spring to my eyes. "Thank you!" I gasped. "They're so pretty..." I took the flowers and smelled them lovingly.

"It's no problem," Gill said, though he sounded slightly embarrassed. I hugged him. Out of the corner of my vision I saw a few people eyeing us with raised eyebrows, but I didn't tell Gill.

I went around in turn to all the stands, buying at least one item from each. Beside me, Gill looked exasperated as I bought my fourth item, a purple herb. "You're going to run out of money. What do you need herbs for, anyway?"

"Don't worry, I've only brought a limited amount for spending," I said defensively. "And I dunno. I can use them for cooking, maybe? They smell good too..."

He let the subject drop with a shake of his head.

Somewhere along the way, I subtly slipped my hand in Gill's. He seemed to tense up when he felt it, but he got used to it. Happiness rose inside me, even more so than usual.

"Yo, Gill, are we going to do the bug catching game?" a gruff voice came from behind us. We turned around to see Craig from Souffle Farm.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Of course." Gill looked at me. "Want to, Starri?"

"Uh... Bug catching?" I looked at him kind of blankly. "Like with a net?"

"You've never been bug catching before?" Gill sounded surprised. "Not even as a little kid?"

I shook my head solemnly. "Never have."

"All right then. I'll teach you. Come on." This time Gill voluntarily took my hand and led me down the steps and back into town.

Behind me, Craig called out, "Anyone who wants to play the bug catching game follow us!"

We stopped in the Caramel River District. Directly after us came Craig and Kathy and a few other people. Kathy was holding a bunch of nets. She gave two to Gill and me a wink.

"Here." Gill handed me one of the nets. "It's easy and really fun."

Gill having fun, huh? I marveled in my head. I'd never seen him so eager to play a game. There was still so more to him that I didn't know yet...

"Just watch us the first time, okay?" he prompted. I nodded, focused now.

Gill was pretty good, which, I will admit, I was mildly surprised about. But I didn't say anything. He won the first round, then I was admitted into the second. It seemed pretty straightforward; swipe your net at the nearest bug and hope you catch it.

Apparently I was bug-catching-challenged. I didn't catch a single bug during the whole thing. I was so bad, in fact, that Gill was trying to hold back laughter as I wildly swung my net around. You know it's bad when Gill's starting to laugh at you.

At the end of the round I was somewhat despondent. "I'm horrible at this!" I exclaimed. "Maybe you'd be better off playing without me."

"Don't be silly," Gill said after he was done taking deep breaths to get rid of his urge to laugh. "Practice makes perfect. You've never done this before. Try again."

"All right," I agreed dubiously.

The next round it became clear that I was not going to get any better by just waving my net around randomly. I almost hit Kathy in the head twice. Still, I didn't catch a single insect. By the end of the game I was laughing at myself.

Gill coughed a little. "Okay, you are pretty bad," he muttered, trying to resist a smile with his hand over his mouth.

That was it. I burst out laughing. "Have you ever seen someone worse than me?" I sputtered.

He shook his head and allowed his smile to break through. "I don't think so."

A ways away, Craig raised his voice. "It's getting to be near the end of the festival. Let's wrap it up for today!"

Gill and I looked at each other again. "Well, sorry I was no good at the game," I said.

"Don't be sorry. How about next Sunday I'll teach you how to aim with your net?" he suggested.

I smiled. "I'd like that. Thanks, Gilly." I hugged him. "See you tomorrow at work." With that he headed down the path back into Waffle Town. I waited for Kathy so we could walk to the Sundae Inn together.

"Sorry for almost hitting you with my net," I said sheepishly.

Kathy laughed. "That's OK! It was pretty funny, actually."

I grinned a little, scuffling my feet against the path. "Gilly and I are going to get together next Sunday so he can tell me how to swing right."

"Oh, that's so cute! You two are absolutely adorable together!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands together. I blushed.

"But really," she continued as we passed through the arch that marked Waffle Town. "You're a great influence on him. Gill's a lot happier now. I... Wait, no. Everyone really hopes that you guys will work out."

I gave a small smile. "Thanks," I said quietly. "I do too."

Nothing out of the ordinary happened the next day at work, but then, on Thursday, I accidentally slept in for some reason. Trying not to panic, I skipped breakfast and made it to the Town Hall twenty minutes late.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry I'm late!" I burst in through the door. Gill and Elli were caught by surprise; it looked like they had been talking to each other in earnest when I had come in. They stared at me in the way that I had imagined Elli and I had looked when Gill walked in on us talking about his birthday surprise way back in Winter.

Elli was the first to snap out of it. "Hi, Starri. We didn't even notice you were late."

"Well, that works, then..." I laughed hesitantly. I wondered what this was all about. If I didn't know any better, Gill looked like he was embarrassed.

But the day proceeded on as normal. Soon I had almost forgotten about the event that morning.

Then on Friday, I noticed Gill was somewhat quick to finish his chores with me upstairs in the library. Usually he'd hang around until I was done and we'd head downstairs together. I must say I was getting suspicious. And feeling a little abandoned. I could hear his and Mayor Hamilton and Elli's muffled voices from where I was stuck sorting books. Finally I couldn't help it and snuck over to the top of the staircase to try and listen in on them. I felt so sneaky, but I needed to know what was so important as to leave me out!

I couldn't make out most of what they were saying since they had taken the precaution to move to the other side of the room, but Elli and Hamilton sounded pretty excited, and Gill sounded... nervous? I couldn't be sure, because I couldn't say I'd ever seen him anxious very much.

After a minute or two I had to give up eavesdropping, partly because I started getting bored and partly because my efforts were turning up fruitless anyways. I also needed to get a move on with those books...

I meant to ask why Gill had left me up in the library in such a hurry, but it slipped my mind when I went back downstairs and before I knew it it was closing time.

When I went to bed, I started to get worried that the same thing would happen the next day with Gill leaving me to talk with Elli and Hamilton, but it turned out I didn't need to get worked up over it. Saturday seemed to turn back to being a completely average day, the only point of interest being talking about Gill helping me learn how to use a bug-catching net properly. But I couldn't help and notice that faint color came to Gill's cheeks every time I mentioned it. I began to wonder if maybe his conversations with Elli and Mayor Hamilton had something to do with Sunday. I couldn't really see why they would be, though.

So Sunday came, and at eleven o'clock I was at Gill's house waiting for him just as I was on the morning of the Flower Festival. I faintly detected that he seemed a tiny bit skittish, but I didn't pay much attention to that. I was too busy having fun.

"I think part of your problem is that your not looking at what you're trying to get," Gill said. "You need to focus on a single target."

I nodded, grinning in embarrassment. "Yeah, I just kinda see bugs and then swing."

He nodded too, then instructed me to watch him. Again, I was somewhat baffled by how seriously he took bug-catching. It never struck me as something he'd be into. But, I'd been wrong before.

"Okay, now you try," Gill encouraged after he was done snatching up a grasshopper and letting it go again.

Biting my lip, I gripped my net and set my sights on at pretty white butterfly resting on a daisy. Slowly I crept up on it, feeling slightly ridiculous but trying not to mind since only Gill was watching. When I was less than a foot away, I swiped my net across the daisy. Holding it up to the sun, my mouth opened in delight as I saw the butterfly inside.

"Gilly! I did it!" I cheered in triumph.

Smiling, he came over to see my catch. "Good job," he praised me, and it made me feel so happy I just had to hug him. Then we carefully set to letting it go without hurting it.

We spent a while longer catching bugs and having a good time. It was around four when I started getting a little tired.

"Let's take a break," Gill suggested.

"Oh, okay," I agreed somewhat hastily, wondering if he could tell I was getting worn out. I hoped not.

He gestured for me to sit down on the small bench that was near the entrance to the Caramel River District. I obeyed, eyeing him curiously. He waited a moment before revealing two pieces of strawberry shortcake. "I made some more since last time," he said sheepishly.

I laughed in delight. "You're so sweet!" Gill gave a hesitant smile and sat down next to me, handing me a piece of the rich cake. I was quiet as I munched on my piece, and he didn't attempt to make any conversation. My mind started wandering back to the curiosity of Gill liking this game that I would have assumed he viewed as "childish" like so many other fun things. Then again, he said I was childish, but still...

"Why do you like bug-catching so much?" I finally couldn't help but ask.

Gill tilted his head questioningly. "Why wouldn't I?"

"It just doesn't... seem like something you'd like," I admitted.

He gave a half-smile, seemingly now understanding my mild confusion. "Well, I used to play it a lot when I was little... I guess I just never got tired of it."

"Who'd you play it with?"

"By myself, mostly..." He'd meant to end the conversation there, but I still looked at him expectantly. He hadn't answered my question. He gave me a slightly annoyed look, then continued. "My mom taught me how."

I blinked. "So you remember something about her!"

"Yeah... She was a schoolteacher. She loved kids' enthusiasm and enjoyed teaching them. She was a great person." There was a hint of longing in his voice.

I frowned sadly. "I'm sorry... I wish I could have met her." That must be one of the reasons why he'd be the teacher if there was school! I realized, but decided against saying it aloud. Sighing, I rested my head on his shoulder, wanting to comfort him but not knowing how.

"It's been such a long time, I'm all right now," he said, probably guessing my thoughts. I was somewhat surprised that he didn't get defensive and say something insensitive instead, which I know he would have done before we knew each other very well. "I have other people to fill in the gaps."

I could feel those intense blue eyes on me. I lifted my head slightly so I could glance at him with upturned eyebrows. He smiled, just enough so I got that fluttering feeling associated with having a crush.

But... Now that I thought about it, I got the feeling that this was starting to turn into something even more. Though maybe it already had...? I wasn't sure. Oh, now I was just confusing myself!

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Gill's hand hover by his pocket for a moment, and he swallowed in a nervous gesture, but then he decided against doing whatever he had been thinking about, and instead changed the subject. "Starri, when did you start... you know... to think of me as more than a friend?" he said, cheeks reddening.

I smiled, also embarrassed but not ashamed. "Well, let me remember... I think, at Thanksgiving. That's when I admitted it to myself, anyways," I added, laughing a bit.

"Oh."

I wasn't sure if the tone he was using was good or bad. I hoped I hadn't offended him or something! "Wh-When did you start thinking of me that way?" I asked in return, trying to keep the conversation going.

Now he was very noticeably blushing. It was pretty cute, actually. I resisted the urge to giggle. "Um, before you did, actually... About a week after my birthday. After you and Elli did the party thing for me."

"Wow, really?" I said before I could stop myself, caught by surprise. My cheeks were likely pink too. I clapped my hand over my mouth, but when Gill and I exchanged glances we started laughing. Yes, both of us. I felt a rush of happiness that I had gotten to the point where Gill could laugh openly in front of me. It was nice to hear him do so, since he always seemed so stiff and serious all the time. It was also a good tension breaker. Things had been starting to get awkward.

After the chuckling died down, which didn't take long, Gill took up the talk again. "Yeah. That's why, if you noticed..." He faltered, seeming to become embarrassed again. "When I heard about you and Chase, and then you and Luke..."

I blinked. "Oh, that's right. Yes, I did kind of notice that you seemed... interested, when you found out about that." I had meant to use "jealous" instead of "interested", but that sounded rude.

"No, I was jealous. I admit it," he immediately corrected me as if reading my thoughts.

I was surprised yet again to hear him opening up so freely.

"To tell you the truth, it was kind of painful to hear about that... Even now, really, I just want you all to myself. But that's really selfish of me. You didn't even know I, uh, 'liked' you."

I had to smother some laughter. "To tell you the truth, I was kind of freaking out when Luke and I went to the Sundae Inn, 'cause I thought you might've been there!" I couldn't believe I was really telling him that, but it felt better to say it aloud. Also, it only seemed fair. Gill was admitting so much to me.

He gave a smile, but I couldn't tell what emotion it held. Then he took a deep breath, seemed to steel himself, and reached down to his pocket, his hand staying there. I tilted my head curiously at him.

"So, the reason I started this conversation..." His voice kind of caught in his throat. "I need to ask... um... Ah, great, I have no idea how I'm going to do this..." Gill's cheeks were very pink. Almost his whole face was. I wondered what could've made him so embarrassed, but I knew it must've been big, because I found my heart starting to speed up. He took one more deep breath, then determinedly got out what he meant to say.

"Starri, I love you. Will you accept this?"

Out from his pocket, he pulled a blue feather. I gasped in shock, clapped my hands over my mouth, and felt tears spring to my eyes and heat rush to my face. Gill was asking me to marry him? He was asking me to marry him!

But I didn't have to think a second about my answer. After wiping a happy tear from my face, I grinned. "Of course I will. I love you too, Gilly." I leaned forward and gave him a kiss.

When I took the feather from him with trembling hands, I noticed his hands were slightly shaky as well. I beamed at him, my smile mixed with sheer joy, amusement, and astonishment. Gill looked equally happy, but overall plain relieved.

We didn't need to say anything else for the rest of our outing. He walked me home and gave me another kiss before night. It took all I had not to blurt out that we were going to get married to everyone at the Inn, since Gill and I had some unspoken mutual agreement to tell his father and Elli first.

We successfully kept our new engagement a secret until the next morning, at work. Gill had asked his dad to come early, so we could break the news to both the employees at the Town Hall at the same time. Neither of them seemed very surprised, though... Then Gill explained to me why he had been ditching me in the library the past few days. He had been talking to them about proposing!

Still, Elli and Mayor Hamilton were both ecstatic. Gill had trouble trying to calm everyone, including me, down so we could get down to business of arranging the date and so forth. All that boring stuff.

Finally, we had everything organized. The date would be Summer first. I teased Gill, "Do you really not like Summer much anymore?" He only rolled his eyes in reply.

"Man, the preparations before the ceremony are hectic, aren't they?" he asked me at one point. I just grinned, as I had been ever since we told Elli and Hamilton that we were fiancés now.

He narrowed his eyebrows at me. "Stop grinning. Get a hold of yourself."

I gave him a disappointed frown. "But why should I? I'm so happy!"

His expression then told me he didn't like to see me frown. I grinned again, then gave a small hop and hugged him. "I just love you so much!"

Gill had to smile at that, and he gave a small hug back before returning to his old no-nonsense self.

Most of the work day wasn't spent working, but making sure we had everything accounted for in our plans for the wedding even though it was to take place in about two weeks. We had plenty of time.

Part way through discussing what my wedding gown would be with Elli, a realization hit me. "Oh my gosh, I need to tell my parents," I stated out of the blue, wide-eyed.

Elli's eyes widened too. "You do! What will they think?"

"I'm sure they'll be happy..." I said, partly reassuring myself. "I've told them all about Gilly in my letters." Plus, my parents were loving people at heart. They would bless Gill and me. Most likely.

"What? I heard my name." Gill came over, his expression inquiring.

"I need to tell my parents," I repeated.

"Oh. Right," he said after a moment. I think he didn't want to admit he had forgotten I even had parents. That was all right, though. They didn't live here. Sometimes I even almost forgot I had parents too.

"Maybe... could I call them? Right now?" I had the urge to let them know right then. Especially when I still had my mind on it. It wouldn't be pretty if I forgot to tell my parents I was getting married.

"Of course you can!" Elli immediately said.

Drawing in an anxious breath, I picked up the phone and dialed my parents. It was the first time I had called them on the phone since I had gotten to Waffle Island, partly because my room at the Sundae Inn had no telephone for me to use. It would be good to hear their voices again.

My mother screamed (in excitement, not horror; don't worry) when I told her. I winced and cast a glance over at Gill to see him staring at me with upturned eyebrows. He must've heard that. I tried not to laugh.

"James!" Mom yelled into the background. She was answered by a mumble that I couldn't make out. I smiled as I imagined my father probably reading a newspaper and not really paying attention to her. "James, listen to me! Our daughter's getting married!"

That got an audible reply out of him. "What?"

I couldn't help it. A hysterical giggle escaped me.

"Who is it? Who's going to be our son-in-law?" Mom continued without giving me a chance to speak. "Oh, I know! It's... that one boy, who you always talk about in your letters, with the funny name... Gill!"

My face a little red, I nodded even though she couldn't see me. "Yes, it's Gill." Covering the receiver for a moment, I told Gill in a harsh whisper, "My mom thinks your name is funny!"

His face turned colored too. "Thanks," he grumbled.

I grinned and went back to talking with my mother. "The wedding's going to be on Summer first. I'd... we'd both like it if you and Dad came."

"What are you, crazy? What kind of mother would I be if I missed my only child's wedding?" She sounded offended. "Of course we'll come. Whether we were invited or not, in fact."

I laughed some more as I heard my dad in the background, closer now, asking if he could talk to me. Even though he was trying to be "civilized", I could hear a jittery and impatient undertone to his voice.

"Well, your father's begging to talk to you," Mom said begrudgingly. "I'm being forced to give up the phone."

"Nobody's forcing you, Melissa," I heard my dad's exasperated voice before he was actually talking to me.

I told him the details and other stuff going on besides my engagement, then Dad made a request that honestly made me a little nervous.

"May I speak to Gill?"

My eyes widened and I looked over at my fiancé, who returned my look with a puzzled expression. "What?" he mouthed.

I covered the receiver again. "My dad wants to talk to you."

"O-Oh. Okay..." Gill suddenly looked nervous too.

"Yeah, sure Dad, here he is." I handed the phone to Gill. He swallowed before he lifted it to his ear.

I skittered over to Elli, where we started chittering excitedly. I didn't really hear what Gill was exchanging with my father, but from his expressions it seemed nothing bad was taking place. Whatever "bad" was supposed to mean.

Within five minutes Gill was handing the telephone back to me, his eyes revealing that he was slightly relieved. "Well, your dad seems nice," he offered. I rolled my eyes and grinned at him before answering my mother's voice on the other end now. I began to say my goodbyes to my parents. They promised they'd be at Waffle Island by the end of the week. Sooner than I had expected, but I didn't mind. It would give them a chance to meet and get to know Gill. And Mayor Hamilton, for that matter, who was going to be my father-in-law... Whoa.

After the whole exchange with my parents was done and over with, all that was left to do for the day was devise the invitations. Gill and I sat down at one of the desks and set to work, Elli and Hamilton popping over to suggest an idea or two once in a while. It really wasn't that big of a deal, the invites; just say what day and time the wedding was. I think they just wanted an excuse to talk to us again.

Work ended quickly that day. Gill walked me to the Inn.

"You know, we should really think of getting a house for ourselves," I realized. Holy cow. Gill and I would not only be married, but living together! Jeez, so much would be so strange, in so little time, too...

He blinked, just noticing this factor too. "You're right."

I tilted my head. "Well, we can worry about that later. Right now, let's enjoy knowing that we're going to be together forever." With a grin, I kissed him and said goodnight, then he was heading back to his house.

Inside, I saw Maya, staring at me. She had seen that kiss.

No point in keeping a secret any longer, whether Gill liked it or not. I didn't think he'd mind, anyways. I told Maya to call down everyone in the building so I could tell them the news.

Everyone was delighted. I went to bed that night with a smile on my face. The future was looking bright.