Maverick

The weeks pass slowly. My regular job goes slower than a snail in a hundred meter dash. All the animals are very content though. I must have spent hours just brushing them over and over.

Two days of the week seem to go by much faster compared to the rest of my week. It might be because I avoided Chelsea like the black plague, but everywhere I turned she was there. The island was both an escape and a torture.

Apparently, Chelsea didn't get much nutrition on her farm. One day Julia had found her passed out on her farm. Ever since then, Mirabelle and Julia had taken turns with the pink-haired family feeding her supper everyday. So at least once while I was there, she ate supper with us.

Whenever she was around, I kept my mouth shut and didn't say a word to her. So what if she thought I was being cold? I couldn't afford to have another girl get close to me again. I don't think I could go through that kind of heartbreak again.

I manage to avoid Chelsea for six weeks straight. It's now midway through summer.

This is how I find myself wandering around the meadow on a Wednesday afternoon. The meadow was one of the new places that Chelsea had opened. I was actually impressed with all the hard work she did, but I never told her.

Unlike what most people thought, I actually didn't get hot inside of my clothes. It was very comfortable for me. I got chills really easy, so the over padding of clothes helps keep me warm.

I take a deep breath in. The clear air is refreshing, unlike in the city. The skies here are bluer than blue and the grass is greener than green. Everything is just so much healthier out here than in the city. It's too crowded and gloomy in the city.

I've probably been pacing the whole meadow for over two hours. I couldn't help it. Pacing was how I dealt with stress and I was really stressed out.

For one thing, I was falling behind on my rent for my apartment. The old lady that rents it out to me has a very strict deadline and when I don't meet it, she hassles me nonstop until I pay her.

Second, my boss just gave me a 'break' from work. Oh, sure he'll let me come back. After another six weeks vacation. He says that I work too hard, and need a vacation. He's paying me so it's not so bad. But I don't know what to do. I'm planning on asking Mirabelle if I can stay here for that time and work extra here.

Third is Chelsea. That girl was driving me crazy. It's because of her that I was working extra hard. The harder I work, the easier it is to ignore my thoughts. And she's been on them a lot. So, essentially, she's responsible for all my stress.

I growl at nothing in particular and shove my hands deep in my pocket. When I do, I blink in surprise. My hands roam around in my pocket for my ring, but it's not there.

In disgust, I swear colourfully at myself. Hurriedly, I search the rest of my person just to be sure. I growl again at myself when my search turns up nothing.

I sigh as I begin to search for it. I'm nearly bending over myself as I scan the grass. The silver would be hard to catch sight of in the tall green blades.

As I search, I glance up unconsciously. Then I notice something that only deepens my frown. I stand and try to appear like I wasn't looking for anything, but she's already seen me.

Chelsea walks over to me with a smile on her face. I know there's no running away from the situation this time.

"Hey Vaughn. What are you doing?" She asks me, genuinely curious.

"It's none of your business what I'm doing." I growl at her.

Chelsea actually recoils from me, like I'd hit her. I pull my hat over my eyes to hide the shame I felt. I really didn't want anyone to know about the item I'd lost. It was extremely personal and kind of embarrassing to admit that I carried it around.

Before Chelsea replies, Denny seems to pop out of nowhere. The fisherman has a smile on his face, like always.

"Hey man." He greets me. "What's going on?"

"I lost something." I admit to him. I really didn't want to be rude, people just ticked me off. "Please leave me alone." That was polite, wasn't it?

"Whatever man." Denny tsks. "Why do you have to be like that? We're not out to get you or anything."

He gives me one last look as he turns around and walks away. As he leaves, I catch him mutter something under his breath. "I really don't understand you Vaughn."

Good. I think to myself. It was better that people stayed away from me. Once Denny's gone, I return to my searching; completely ignoring the fact that Chelsea was right there.

"I'll look for it with you." She offers me softly.

I sigh and stand up straight. Then I stare at her. Not menacingly or anything, just gaze at her. In her normal farming outfit, she was covered from head to toe in dirt. She had probably just come from planting some new crops.

Wordlessly, I nod to her. She smiles at me, and her shoulders fall as if as weight was taken off of them by my decision.

Chelsea gets right down on her hands and knees to look for it. I have to admire her. She was really getting involved with something that didn't even involve her or profit her in any way.

"You know, it might help if you tell me what you're looking for." She tells me this without looking up from her search.

I drop down on my hands and knees with her, and begin to search. "It's a silver ring."

Chelsea seemed to freeze right beside me. I glance at her, and she seemed to be frozen with shock. I'm about to ask her if she was alright, when she speaks up. "You're married?"

I nearly laugh out loud. She thought I was married! The idea was so ridiculous. Once upon a time, I thought I would get married eventually, but now I know that's just a fairy tale. But why did she freeze up like that? Better question, why would she care?

"No, I'm not married." I tell her. Was it just me, or did she sigh in relief?

"Why do you have a ring then?" She seems purely curious.

I sigh as my fingers sort through the grass. I don't think it could do any harm, and she wasn't a very judging person. Once I'd seen her side against Julia, who was her best friend, against Natalie when they got in a fight. The girl was all about fairness. Loyalty is yet to be determined.

"You promise not to tell?" I know I sound like a five-year-old but I brush it aside.

"I promise."

I notice that she stops moving as she waits for an answer, but I just turn around and continue looking. "It's my mother's. When she passed away, she gave it to me."

My heart seems to tear itself apart as I remember that day. "She died from an extremely advanced form of cancer. She died just before turning thirty. I was seven."

As soon as the words are out, I just can't seem to stop. "On her deathbed in the hospital, she turned to me and spoke in a clear voice. She took the ring off her finger, and put it in my hand. She said to me 'Vaughn, marrying your father was the best decision I ever made in my life. Please don't hold it against him. I loved him with all my heart and soul. Please, Vaughn. Take my ring. I know you'll find true love someday. Never give up hope.'"

I glance at Chelsea. Instead of the scorn I expect to see, I find sympathy, understanding and jealousy on her face. I turn my back to her as I use the back of my hand to wipe a tear from my eye. Sympathy was better than pity, I guess, but it probably would have been better for her to laugh. But why would she be jealous?

"She died right after telling me that." I whisper, more to myself that to her. The image of my silver haired, blue eyed mother lying dead on a hospital bed was so vivid; I have to shake my head to get rid of it.

Suddenly, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I whip around, as best as possible on the ground, to be staring into her deep blue eyes. Anxiously I swallow, because they reminded me on my mother's eyes.

"I'm sorry." She says simply.

I don't say anything. For one thing, her hand was still on my shoulder and it actually felt really good. And…no, that was it.

For a minute, I wish I could pull my hat down even farther. I don't feel like I can't move though.

"My parents disowned me when I was sixteen. They're obsessed with money and hardly pay me any attention." She pauses and looks me straight in the eyes. "I felt like I was an orphan in an empty house all my life."

Well that explained the jealousy. She was jealous of the love my parents had for me. For a minute, I almost feel bad for her.

"Why did they disown you?" I find myself asking.

She laughs. It's a scary laugh, because it's more depressing than happy. "I got their attention."

"By?"

"I jumped off our house." Chelsea laughs. She must have seen the confusion on my face, though because she continues to explain. "Our house is three stories high."

I swear my mouth was gaping open. "Are you crazy? You could've died!"

She shrugs. "But I didn't. Broke just about every single bone in my body, but I didn't die."

"Why would you do something like that?" I ask her.

"What would you do?" She asks me in turn. "If you're parents treated you like the scum of the earth and never paid attention to you at all. I had to do something to get their attention."

"I'd be glad I had parents that were alive." I whisper softly.

That shuts her up. Her face turns a brilliant red and her hand drops from my shoulder. I almost ask her to put it back, but I restrain myself.

Then she holds out her hand to me. It's closed in a fist. "Hold out your hand." Chelsea tells me.

I do as she asks. She opens her hand and a small silver ring falls into my palm.

My own fist closes around the ring. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She replies.

We sit in silence for a long time. The sun begins to set in the distance, and it's nice to just sit there and watch it with her.

She speaks up. "What happened to your dad?"

I swallow. It's not that the memory was uncomfortable; I just didn't like talking about it. So I tell her so.

Chelsea nods understandingly. "Well, when you want to talk about it; I'm all ears."

She pats my hand and it tingles after. Then she rises. "I have to go feed my chickens. I'll see you tomorrow?"

She phrases it like a question. I nod. It was Wednesday today, so I'd ask Mirabelle about me staying here tomorrow. Chelsea smiles at me and then leaves me alone in the meadow.

Once she's gone I look at the ring. She must have found it in the grass just before she'd asked me if I was married.

Our discussion had brought some funny thoughts to my mind. For one, did I want to get married? If you'd asked me about half an hour ago I would have answered with a resounding no. Now, well I guess the answer was still the same, but I wasn't quite as convinced.

I gaze out into the sunset and think about the girl I'd nearly proposed to; before she broke my heart. Her image was clear in my mind, no matter how much I drank or how hard I tried to forget. She'd been the first girl I'd loved, and we were so in sync. I thought we would last forever. How very wrong I had turned out to be.

With a sigh, I get up and put the ring back in my pocket. As I walk to Mirabelle's I think of how when Chelsea was around, I forgot the other girl entirely. For a second I consider going to help her with her chickens, but then I chide myself. I can't run from my thoughts; no matter how hard I try.

Sorry this chapter is so short. I thought it was good like this. The next chapters should be longer. Oh, and if I don't update for a while: I apologize in advance. I'm leaving on vacation in two days and won't have access to a computer for a while. Please keep sending reviews! I will be sure to post ASAP!