Separate
-x-
By this time, Mirabelle and Julia had returned from their Mother-Daughter Trip, though it was just a week. They had really enjoyed and thanked Vaughn, Chelsea, and Elliot for their job well done with the animals and decided to handle things there.
They were also quite happy that their dear family member and farmer friend were getting along so well. But perhaps they missed all the glaring and bickering?
-x-
Chelsea still didn't fully understand what Vaughn had meant how they were alike. Or at least, she knew that some things were alike (like the love for getting money and never spending it), but somehow the way he said it just made it sound different from how she viewed it. And oddly, though she wasn't too fond of the dealer (considered as a friend of course), she wanted to know more. But it was kind of disturbing to her also. What about the guy makes her want to know anyway?
He's an arrogant, mean, stoic, boring workaholic who only thinks and keeps to himself and barely utters a word from his barely unused mouth.
"Really?" Vaughn replied.
"Hunh?" Chelsea looked up at him across the table, completely forgetting he was there. Then she quickly slapped her hand to her mouth. "Aw, crap, did I say that out loud?"
"Loud and clear, mushroom head." Vaughn answered. "Talking as if I'm not even here."
Chelsea dropped her spoon on her now empty plate and slunk down in her seat. "Tch, I forgot to mention a sharp mouth too."
Though Mirabelle and Julia were back and the Inn was now empty, the two women insisted that Vaughn continued to stay with Chelsea. Of course, Chelsea couldn't refuse, and she was already used to him being around. Vaughn, he didn't seem to agree or oppose, as if he was neutral to it all (then again, he wasn't even included in the discussion of where he is to stay). So he still continued to stay, as now it was breakfast for the both of them. Vaughn reading his previous book, Chelsea finishing up her plate.
"Say, Vaughn."
"Hmm?"
"How long is your vacation anyway?" Chelsea meant to ask him this before, but it didn't seem like it was right since it sounded rude to her.
Vaughn shrugged, looking up from his book. "I'm not sure actually; Probably two weeks and a half?"
"Starting from the day you came here?"
He nodded, looking down at his book again.
"Hmm… that seems pretty long." She chuckled. "it must be eating you alive, mister."
"Uh-huh."
Seeing that he wasn't going to be saying anymore, Chelsea decided to start cleaning up. As she was reaching for his cup, she asked if he was done; he nodded for her to take it. She went to her kitchen and placed the dishes into the sink, turning on the water and reaching for the sponge.
Once she finished, Vaughn asked, "Are you done with all you chores?"
Chelsea paused and turned around, leaning her back against the sink. "I believe so. The animals are fed and cared for, the crops already watered, and thanks to you the field's already clear… I don't think there's anything left.."
He stood up from his seat and pushed in his chair. "Are you doing anything today?"
"I don't really have anything planned. Why do you ask?" Chelsea raised a brow.
"Just wondering."
Chelsea took the towel hanging on a hook near the sink and asked, while drying her hands. "What about you? Do you have anything planned?"
"Nothing to do except waste time." He answered.
Chelsea thought for a moment, stroking her chin thoughtfully. "I haven't seen Denny for a few days now. How about we go fishing today and visit him?"
Vaughn said nothing, but it was obvious he didn't really care what they were going to do.
-x-
"Here." Chelsea said, stoutly putting a fishing pole in Vaughn's hands. "And take off that hat. Use this one so that one doesn't get wet." She ordered, shoving a fishing hat into his chest.
"What are you? My mother?" Vaughn retorted, taking off his hat and replacing it with the tan fishing hat. "Since when were you so bossy?"
"Tch. You're asking too many questions." Chelsea smiled, picking up her own fishing pole and the bucket to put the fish in. "Let's go, Vaughn. There's fish out there to catch." She began trudging out of her property, sure that the man behind was to follow.
"I don't think I should go, farmer." Vaughn stated.
Chelsea turned around, brows furrowing. "Seriously? At the last moment you tell me this, Vaughn. It's too late now to change your mind… That is, unless you are scared of my awesome skills of fishing and can't compete."
"You're being too defiant, mushroom top." He said, smacking her with the pole.
"Oh, haha. Denny, that's really funny."
Chelsea and Vaughn paused in the middle of the road and looked ahead to find Denny and some long black haired girl coming out of Chen's shop, laughing. The two looked at each other instantly and hid behind the wall of the shop, peeping over the corner at the two others.
"Hah. It's not that funny. I'm just fascinated at wriggling worms is all." Denny chuckled. "Thanks for buying the bait for me, Marissa. I'll have to pay you back."
"No, not at all." Marissa blushed. "It's fine."
Chelsea's eyes narrowed and she instantly looked at Vaughn. "Who's this?"
Vaughn shook his head. "I don't have any idea." He frowned though, thinking that he might have been part of the cause for this sudden event and that it would be brought up sometime soon.
Denny blinked and smiled. "Marissa, you're not busy tomorrow right? How about we meet up in the Meadow?"
The black haired girl smiled, looking surprised. "Oh, yes. Tomorrow, I'll be there. What time?"
Denny titled his head, thinking. "Would four in the afternoon do?"
"Yeah, I'm free by that time."
Denny smiled. "Then it's a date." Both Chelsea and Vaughn repeated the word 'date' and gawked.
Marissa blushed nodding furiously. "Alright. See you tomorrow, Denny." She smiled and turned around, making Vaughn and Chelsea jump for cover behind the wall to where they wouldn't be seen. The two saw that she lived in the Original Inn as she walked in and greeted Sean with a warm smile of happiness.
"Vaughn…" Chelsea muttered.
"Mmm?"
"Did you have anything to do with this?"
'Ah.' Vaughn frowned in his thoughts. He was right that he would be accused. But decided to frankly lie. "Noooo…"
Chelsea smacked him. "Don't white lie to me! I know you have an idea about this. After all, you were the only with Denny before he disappeared from my house. Why didn't you tell me?"
"You never asked?"
She growled.
"Hunh? Big Brothers?" Charlie's voice was utterly confused.
Both looked up to find the little boy staring at them from the window above.
"What are you doing in the box?"
Chelsea blurted out. "We're playing hide and seek with Big brother Denny and his friend. So we decided to hide in this box." Vaughn gave her a questioning look. She replied with a shrug.
"Ah, Hide and Seek? I wanna play." Charlie smiled, but slunk his shoulders. "But daddy want's me to stay inside and help him. Can I play later?"
"Yeah! Anyway, the game is already over. I think Big Bro Denny forgot." Chelsea smiled.
The little boy nodded. "He just left a few minutes ago."
"Thanks for telling us, Charles." Vaughn finally spoke, He quickly stood up out of the box and pulled his companion to her feet. "We'll be going now."
"Alrightie! Bye!" Charlie waved, shutting the window.
Chelsea frowned. "I don't see why you don't like kids." He gave her a frown, but she ignored it. "Anyway, lets go after Denny." She began to stride her way towards the beach, but was quickly stopped at a sudden grab on her arm. "Vaughn?"
His eyes were narrowed and he hissed. "Do you really think we could just jolly on over there and say, 'Hey, Denny. Who's that girlfriend of yours?' that easily?"
"Yes." No hesitation.
He let go and face palmed himself. "Of course (you would do that)."
"Well, do you have a better plan?" She asked him with no hope.
His face was blank.
"So it seems neither of us have any better ideas… Hmm…" Chelsea frowned, placing her hands on her hips. "What can we do? …UUuUuuuuUUUUuuu uuUuuuummmmmMmm mMmMMm…." She continued making more sounds completely from thoughts, ignoring the fact that Vaughn was ready to throw her back inside the box. Suddenly, her eyes lit up. "You and Denny get along really great. How about you go meet up with him first?"
He frowned. "Have you been as blind as a bat?"
"What?" She questioned. "You two get along, in a very strange and oddly twisted way, but yes, you two get along well. So it should be only normal that buds visit one another."
Vaughn sighed. "Whatever."
-x-
Vaughn found himself standing right in front of Denny's shack. He glowered, shifting his eyes to the corner of the house to find Chelsea peering over to him, quickly giving him a grin and a thumbs up. He knew his involved-ness had gotten way too far.
Vaughn knocked on the door.
The door opened.
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The dealer stared at the fisherman, who had a shocked and traumatized look on his face. "What?"
Denny breathed in. "Sorry,whathappenedtha tnightstillshoc ksme, BUT HOW ARE YOU DOING TODAY, BUD?" His smile was blinding.
"You look way too cheery for your own good." Vaughn rolled his eyes. "I wonder why…?"
"Oh, do come in; I'll be happy to tell you…" Denny had already walked up behind Vaughn and began pushing him inside his home. Vaughn turned around after being pushed in, and found Denny still with his hands on the door, his face shadowed. And instantly, chocolate eyes glared at him.
"I FEEL LIKE A HORRIBLE PERSON! AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Really, he would have said that loud and clear with a defiant pointing finger, but instead he smiled grimly, murmuring, "You know I really hate you."
"I have no comment about that." Vaughn, rolling his eyes to the ceiling, knew clearly by how things were going to go by the looks of it already, would take WAY too long to get to the point. He couldn't believe he decided upon doing what he believed that blunt little farmer would do, and yes, he did it. "Who was that girl you were talking with? Your girlfriend?" As much as possible, Vaughn wanted to slap himself. He had done exactly what he expected out of that farmer. And he realized a certain unfortunate fact: she was rubbing off on him.
Denny blanched, moving off the door. " You saw us?"
"Clearly." He chose to leave the farmer out of the conversation a bit. "I was walking by and saw you and that black-haired girl talking in front of Chen's store. Is she that girl you were talking about the other day?"
"Heh, nothing seems to pass by you." Denny lifted his hands in defeat. "Yes, yes. She's the girl I met during the Fishing Club's celebration. Her name is Marissa."
"She's warmed up to you, since from what you told me."
"Yeah, she's really nice."
"So is she your girlfriend?"
There was a pause in the flow of the conversation, and it felt like a long one at that point.
"…No, but she would be a nice girlfriend."
Vaughn's expression was impassive as ever, but he didn't say anything.
Denny smiled sheepishly. "I know it may sound stupid for me to ask since that night, but… How's Braden?"
"He's doing fine since it's only been two days. Never failing to get any more stupider than he already is."
"Haha. Is that so?" Denny chuckled. "I… should probably apologize to him for… suddenly disappearing on him like that."
Vaughn raised a brow, crossing his arms. "Is that really a good idea?"
The fisherman raised his head and smirked. "You do know you are kind of mean, Vaughn."
"It's not my first time hearing that." Vaughn brushed it off, since it truly wasn't the first time.
"I also get the feeling you just wanna hog Braden all to your self." Denny added with a pout.
"And that's just you and a thing called jealousy."
-x-
By the time Vaughn finally came out of the house, Chelsea was preoccupied by a certain Wildman who decided to venture out of his normal surroundings.
"Braden, I think I'm lost." Shea panicked. "Look, that. Large sea, like the one at home. What is all this white ground? Why am I sinking?" He kicked at the sand furiously.
"Ah, Shea. This is the beach and what you're stepping on is sand. At home you have the sea as your backyard, but you don't have a beach… or at least from what I know." Chelsea explained, trying to calm the man down. "It's okay, it won't swallow you up."
"I don't like this sand." Shea tested the new word. "How do I go -" The Wildman suddenly stopped mid-sentence, finding the tall cowboy looking at him, queer face and all.
Chelsea blinked. "Oh, hey, Vaughn."
Vaughn stared at Shea, then looked at Chelsea. "I'm not even going to ask, but I'll say that you really do make the strangest of friends." He had to admit that he had never seen this Shea before in the island (and vice versa), but the apparel was so strange. "I think I'm gonna go now… take a nap."
"Braden, who is this man?" Shea asked.
"Another friend of mine, called Vaughn."
"Vaughn is strong too?"
"I don't really know." Chelsea answered. "If he could lift up a fat sheep then yeah."
Shea looked grim. "Vaughn is scary man. Same aura as Wada."
Chelsea choked and began coughing, which quickly turned into breaking chains of laughter. "W-Wada? How does Vaughn remind you of him?"
Shea shook his head and brought up his hands. "I don't know, but both are serious looking."
Vaughn sighed, removing the borrowed hat and running a hand through his hair. "Alright. Where does this guy belong? He obviously doesn't live in town, considering his speech."
Chelsea smiled. "Nothing gets past you huh?"
"Not the first time I heard it, so yeah." Vaughn turned to Shea. "… You live in the Jungle right?" He observed the guy before him. He had a great build of body, Vaughn even had to admit that it may be better than him when it came down to muscle tones, but he was short, taller than the farmer, but short.
Shea nodded simply. "Need to return to bring food to Wada."
Chelsea frowned. "Well, we better get you there then. Let's go!"
-x-
They had brought Shea to the bridge leading to the Jungle. Shea insisted that they go with him, but they declined as they had some business to discuss elsewhere. Their discussion was held in the Café.
"So," Chelsea pretended she pulled out a notepad from her pocket and a pen tucked behind her ear. "Tell me everything that happened."
"Ah -"
"Wait, what's that girl's name?"
Vaughn opened his mouth again.
Just to be interrupted by, "Is she really his girlfriend?"
"What did Denny say?"
Vaughn frowned. "If you really want to know anything, would you please stop interrupting me?" He then looked at her, placing his elbows on the table. "Why are you so enthusiastic anyway?" Perhaps she was jealous… but the likely of that happening seemed to be at odds.
Chelsea's eyes glittered. "I just wanna know! I want to cheer our Denny boy up you know." And he was right.
Vaughn stared, disbelief floating behind his eyes. If only she knew the cause was herself… And that really, it wasn't a problem. The problem started with her anyway, lying about being a guy and whatnot. But Vaughn himself accidentally signed a contract of will, lasting as long as she wanted to be a boy, and he can't say a thing.
"So tell me."
"You sound like a girl." He commented.
"Do not. I'm just happy for my buddy. Men are like that you know. Feel the spirit Vaughn." She tried acting all suave and cool, but that didn't go so very well when she accidentally knocked over the small flower décor on the middle of the table.
"Uh-huh… Anyway, the girl is not his girlfriend…" Then he added after seeing the look of disapproving on her face, "YET."
"Oh, so there's a chance eh?" She began rubbing her hands, her conniving spirit easily seen. "My what a predicament. Eheh."
He reached out his hand to her forehead, and flicked it - hard.
"Gosh, darn it, Vaughn! What is it with you and violent acts against people?"
"Don't get yourself caught up in petty things again. You're enough trouble anyway, farmer."
"Tch, whatever." She smiled. "But yay, I'm happy for Denny. -begin fake sobbing- Can you believe it, Vaughn? Our little boy… growing? Now dating?" She began to add the drama into it by flicking her bangs and making woeful cries. "Seems like we're old coots now, dearest. Let's get ready for our grandchildren and funeral homes."
Vaughn rubbed his hand on his face. "Please don't match me up with your notions and motives. I have nothing to do with you." His eyes trailed up to the window, and a sudden twinge flashed down his spine. His eyes grew wide and he abruptly stood up.
Chelsea, confused by these movements, quickly asked, "Is something wrong?"
Vaughn completely ignored her question and quickly moved away from the table, practically running out of the building. He turned around the corner outside of the Café to find two men, all tall and husky and ever so familiar. He hissed, "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, hey. Will you look at that?" One of the men said, smirking. "Looks like Vaughnie finally came out to play."
"Hanging out in a Café?" Vaughn recognized this person's defiant snort any day. "Seems to be out of character for you, Vaughn." Vaughn absolutely detested this guy; there was never a day at work that this guy failed to make his annoyance rise. His name was Melano, the leader of his group of three.
"Melano, answer me." Vaughn demanded. "What is your business here?" He observed them and wondered where the third of their group was.
"Vaughn?" Chelsea peered around the corner.
Vaughn scowled for a moment, growling, "Braden, leave."
"WAH!" Her voice pitched, making Vaughn turn around to finally find the other missing colleague of the threesome, who had picked up Chelsea and now hoisted her on his shoulder.
"Gah, put me down!" Chelsea commanded.
"Haha, boss. This dude's really light!"
Melano walked over to the one holding Chelsea and grabbed her himself, now holding her on his shoulder, hand on her back. "This was the one you were with, right, Vaughn?" He paused for a moment, to see Vaughn's face change to be quite irritated, and he continued. "This guy seems a lot like a girl…?"
"DO NOT! I'm the manliest Man you will EVER meet in your Lifetime!" Chelsea proclaimed loudly. "And as the manliest man, I demand you put me down!"
Melano slapped her butt. "Ah, shut up." Bad idea.
Chelsea gritted her teeth and forcefully slammed her elbow to the back of his neck. He jumped, letting go of her, allowing her to push him away. She was about to go on a rampage toward them, but Vaughn had already secured her under his tight grasp of his arm around her neck. "AGH! Vaughn, lemme go!"
Melano wiped his mouth and began laughing. "Hah, I never expect something like that from a little runt like you." The other two helped him off the ground, giving powerful glares to the defenders.
Vaughn glared at them as well, with a fuming Chelsea under him. He then pushed Chelsea behind him, instantly asking, "What do you want?"
Melano grinned. "Simple request. Pops said that you were on vacation and we just came by to visit."
"I won't believe that bull." Vaughn spat.
Melano stroked his chin, a smirk smearing his face. "I came by to tell you what my dad has in store for us." He then pointed his finger at Vaughn. "Either you or me. Job or none."
Vaughn straightened his posture, his mind alert. "What?"
"Dad says that both you and I are equally matched. And that only one of us could get the position we both dreamed of having. My pops' place as the Manager." Melano stopped grinning, his tone full of disdain. "And dad just had to choose you, too… I asked him if we could have a match. A match to see who would win the position."
Vaughn didn't say a thing in response.
"The match ends when the vacation is over. You and I have only a week and half left and it needs to be done in my Estate." Melano waved his hand, already leaving with the other two. "I don't really hope to see you there."
Chelsea yelled, her fists balled tightly. "HEY, COME BACK HERE! I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET!"
Melano turned around and pointed at her. "You know, you really are annoying like a girl… Take my advice. - Don't meddle with that guy beside you and his affairs. All he'll bring you is trouble." He waved his hand again, walking away.
Vaughn stopped Chelsea from yelling out again by covering her mouth, but she slapped his hand away. "Vaughn, that guy slapped my butt, for pete's sake! How could I just let him getaway?"
Vaughn glared at her, which silenced her. His voice was seething. "It's been almost a year now. I know you well enough to say this." He leaned in close to her face, until their eyes could see nothing else but the other's eyes. "Don't get involved."
"I won't get involved." She said instantly. "I'll just go beat that guy's butt is all." Too blunt.
He pushed his index finger to her forehead - very hard. "NO, IDIOT."
There was a moment of silence between the two, nothing being shared mentally either. Vaughn felt like eyes were watching him and he turned his eyes to the farmer. Chelsea stared at him, and he noticed that her eyes went soft and suddenly lost its light.
"But what did he mean… that you only bring trouble?"
Vaughn quickly turned away. "There's no need for you to know."
"But… I want to know!" Chelsea insisted. "You said you're like me. I know that I only bring trouble for everyone else, but as much as possible I don't want to do that. And as much as possible, I want to know why we're so alike… I want to help yo-"
"You can't help me." Vaughn interrupted. "There's nothing you can do."
-x-
Ara… mai. Already so far.
- DoJo
