I start school tomorrow so updates will definitely not be frequent from this point on... Not that they had been for a long time anyway, right? Haha. I'm disappointed, since I have a lot planned for this fic, but I have started on chapter three, so hopefully it won't be too long.

I was really surprised to see Rick in the lead in the poll on my profile. Of course, it's only 2 out of 5 votes, but still. After the events at the end of Like Gold, I thought his reputation had been gotten a bit damaged :) I'm secretly a little glad; I started out this series utterly despising him, but now I find a fancy him. A little.

Thanks for your continued support. Reviews are appreciated.

x x x

Chapter 2

I waited until Popuri bumped into the nightstand, loudly jostling the lamp sitting on it, before I said anything.

"I'm awake, Popuri," I said, opening my eyes to see her standing right above me. "So you don't have to keep trying to be quiet."

"Claire! Oh my gosh! I didn't mean to be so loud. I'm really sorry that I woke you up…"

I sat up, the same old sleeping bag I'd used since I'd started coming here as a kid wrapped around my legs. "No, I meant that I've been awake. I was awake when I heard the front door close…"

"Oh," she said, sitting down on the edge of her bed. I looked her over as casually as I could, taking in the clothes from yesterday, the tousled hair that had obviously only seen a few quick strokes of a brush. She looked the same otherwise—and of course she did, because it wasn't like the change she'd gone through was something you could actually see—but nevertheless the barrier between us felt present enough to be something tangible. It was like when you'd looked at the same thing every day until it became a fixture in your mind, and then one day it's turned slightly, or you notice a little detail you'd never seen before, and then it looks so completely different that it might as well be something completely different.

But I didn't want things to be completely different. I didn't want there to be a barrier. I needed her right now. So I pretended there wasn't, because it felt like the right thing to do.

"What time is it?"

"…Around five-thirty, I think."

"Oh. Early, huh?" I cringed. I hoped she didn't think I was mocking her or anything. I was just trying to make conversation. Inside my head, though, I couldn't stop the thoughts. She stayed the whole night but left early. I wonder if he woke up to say goodbye, or she snuck out…

She didn't show any outwards signs of offense. "Yeah, I guess it is."

"I think I need some advice," I said abruptly.

Popuri had gotten up from the bed to go to her dresser, presumably to change clothes, but she stopped when I spoke. She turned back to me with a smile on her face.

"Oh?"

"Yeah…it's about your brother."

She smiled wider but wrinkled her nose. "Oh, no. Not him again. What did he do this time?"

I pulled my sleeping bag up closer to me, so it covered my chest even though I was sitting. "He proposed to me last night."

The smile quickly fell off her face. "He what?"

"Proposed. Like, proposed proposed. He asked me to marry him."

"Holy crap. What did you say?"

"I said…that I'd think about it. He wanted me to. He wants me to wait until the end of the summer to give my answer." It felt even more surreal to be talking about it like this, but at the same time, it was a comfort. It let me be more detached from the whole thing, dissect it with a third party so I could pretend for a few minutes that it wasn't actually my problem, my real, actual, happening-right-this-second, not-going-away-anytime-soon problem.

"And are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Thinking about it."

"Well, of course." I ran my hands through my hair, my fingers snagging on knots in my bed head along the way. "It's all I'm thinking about."

She got quiet then and opened a drawer of her dresser, carefully going through the clothes as she searched for whatever she was looking for. "Well," she said finally. "What would your answer be right now, if you had to give it?"

I drew my knees up to my chest and encircled my arms around them, clasping my hands together. "Honestly? Right now, I want to say no. I want to say more than no. I want to run away screaming."

She laughed, and I smiled in spite of myself. It felt good to smile a little.

"Okay. So I get that. I mean, I think that's a pretty normal response, given the circumstances." She pulled out a pair of shorts, turned them over and then refolded them, putting them back in the drawer.

"Really? Because the more I thought about it, the more I was starting to feel like a bitch. I mean, I know a lot of our relationship has been long distance, but altogether, Rick and I have been together for more than a year. And that's a long time. So I felt terrible for not feeling like that was enough, for wanting to dismiss everything right off the bat."

"You're not a bitch, Claire," Popuri said with a sigh. She had a blouse draped over one arm and a new pair of shorts in her hand. She then got a small, coy smile on her face. "Despite what I may have called you in the past." There was a pause as we both thought about the summer before last, our big fight on the beach. We'd both grown up a lot since then. Popuri then continued, like she'd never stopped. "This would be a huge step in your relationship. Marriage is a big deal, no matter how long you've been together."

"I guess you're right." I straightened my legs back out and started fidgeting with my hair again. Jeez, I felt so tense and jumpy. "Thanks. But…what do you think I should do?"

She went back over to her bed then and sat down again, putting the clothes beside her in a neat pile. "Okay. Here's the thing. First of all, I can't tell you what to do, because ultimately that's going to be your decision."

"I get that, but if you could just give me some input—"

"I know, I know. Second of all, Rick's my brother. And as much as we fight, we are pretty close and I get how his mind works. And I care about him. And for what it's worth, I'm guessing he's been feeling really lonely lately."

I thought about what she said for a moment but shook my head. "I'm sorry, but lonely enough to propose marriage? Is that really what you're saying?"

Popuri shrugged. "Look at it from his perspective. Our mom just moved out. That had been a big deal for him, taking care of her. Ever since our dad left, he's always seen it as his responsibility to make sure she's okay. And now she's got a new husband to do that for her, which means Rick doesn't have that role to fill anymore. Plus she doesn't live here now, and I'm sure he misses her. I know I do. And yeah, it's not like he's living in this house all by himself, but…" She trailed off and looked down at the quilt on her bed, picking at the fraying seams. "I'm not here most of the time."

I knew what she meant by that and I didn't want to go there, so I steered the conversation away from it the best I could. "But what about his friends? Karen? It's not like he doesn't have other people to turn to."

"Yeah, but I think he wants more than friends, Claire. He wants a family." Family. The word sounded so weighty in the context of marriage. "And you've always been like that for us, you know? Part of our family. I think he's reaching out to you for that."

"I don't think I can do it," I said, my voice coming out as a whisper. I suddenly wanted to cry, hearing Popuri explain it like that. It made me inexplicably sad.

She smiled faintly at me and picked her clothes up, standing up once more. "I don't know about that, Claire. Like I said, I can't tell you what to do. But I can tell you that he's not doing this to freak you out, or trap you, or anything like that. He's doing it because he loves you and he wants to marry you so you can be together. It's that simple for him."

I nodded, but I wasn't so sure—and even if it was true, it didn't make me feel any better. "Thanks."

"No problem," she said, stepping over my sleeping bag to go to the door. "I'll see you later, okay? I'm going to go take a shower."

x x x

I expected it to be awkward with Rick after what had happened the night before. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to move past the question that seemed to loom over my every thought and action. But he made it easy on me by acting totally normal, like he didn't even have to force himself to.

I went out to the chicken coops with him to help with the morning chores, and he cracked jokes the way he always had, making me laugh right away. I never completely forgot about his proposal, but for the moment, it didn't color every interaction with him.

We had just finished up, and I was dusting my hands off on my jean shorts, listening to Rick tell me a funny story about the past year's Harvest Festival, when I heard a familiar voice call my name. I turned quickly—stupidly thinking maybe it would be Kai—but, possibly even better, I saw it was Jack.

"Jack!" I grinned at him and waved as he walked onto Chicken Lil's property. I glanced back at Rick questioningly, who smiled and nodded.

"Go ahead, we're done with everything," he told me, and I smiled wider and turned back to Jack.

"Claire, I heard you were back in town," he said, giving me a brief but genuine hug once I'd jogged up to him. "Sorry, I'm all sweaty from the morning chores…"

"No problem," I answered, laughing my delight at seeing him. After all the drama between him and Popuri last year, I was relieved we could emerge from it still friends. I saw him almost as a little brother, despite the fact he was almost a year older. "I am too. I don't think I could tell the difference between your sweat and my own, at this point. Not to make myself sound too irresistible, or anything."

"Oh, please, go on," he said, smirking mischievously, and I slowly becoming aware of something distinctly different about him. It wasn't a tan, because he'd always had that, and his hair still stood from his head in random defiant tufts.

I knocked him on the arm, like the change he'd undergone was something I could brush off. "So how have you been? Sorry I never wrote or anything."

"No big deal, it's not like I ever wrote you either," he said with a rueful grin. "We're both guilty. However, to make amends, I come today with a proposal…"

My stomach flopped at the word, but I knew that of course it wasn't what he meant.

"…To take you out to breakfast at the inn. On me. So we can have a chance to catch up."

"Oh, wow. Sounds fancy."

"Trust me, it's a five star establishment. Only the best for you."

"Gee, thanks." I smiled and shook my head at his teasing. I was starting to get an idea of what had come over him—it seemed like he'd gotten a big boost to his confidence. And I was definitely happy for him.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you?"

"No, I haven't."

"Perfect. Let's go now, then."

x x x

It was fascinating to watch Jack talk. For starters, listening to him meant I didn't have to say as much, which was good since the proposal always seemed to linger on the tip of my tongue, ready to burst from my lips at any inopportune moment. But besides that, I also liked comparing the current Jack to the one I'd known before. He was still the same in a lot of ways—a bit goofy, and clumsy, and good-natured about seemingly everything—but that new self-assurance he had seeped into every mannerism. He sat up straighter, and didn't stumble over his words so much. And apparently, he'd managed to acquire—and then drop—a girlfriend over the past year.

"You dated Mary? And then dumped her?" My mouth hung open. "Jack! Why?"

"I didn't dump her," he corrected me, leaning back in his chair and chewing on his straw. "It was a mutual thing. I told her I wanted to focus on my farm work, she wanted to talk about books all day…"

"Books are good. What's wrong with books?"

"Books are fine, sure. But if I'm with a girl, I want to do more than just read."

"Jack!"

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that," he said with a laugh. "Though that's true also."

I started chewing on my straw too—I liked then, when you discovered you had shared habits with people that others might find a little strange. "But still. I think Mary's good for you. I always pictured you with a nice, quiet girl."

He cocked an eyebrow at me. "I didn't realize you were picturing me with anyone other than Popuri."

I scowled at him. "Yeah, yeah. I know I pushed you two together, and I do feel responsible for what happened, but I guess… I don't know. Maybe a part of me knew that deep down, you guys weren't meant for each other. I just didn't see it at the time."

"So you could've seen me with someone else…?" He'd taken the straw from his mouth and leaned forward, and now he had that playful smile back on his face. It made me redden a bit with no explanation.

"I don't really see what you're getting at, but yes." I felt foolishly defensive. "I could've. Like I said, someone like Mary. It's a shame it didn't work out."

He relaxed back against the chair again and replaced the teeth mark ridden straw. "Well, it's not so bad. I think Karen's been hitting on me."

"Really." I took some relief from this—she and Rick were close, and it had always made me nervous. Well, that and the fact that she was completely gorgeous. I tried not to think of the actual plausibility of his statement.

"Yeah. And besides, Ann's really cute." He looked away from me for a moment, searching for the red haired waitress. He smiled and I turned to follow his gaze, my eyes landing on a blushing Ann. My jaw dropped, for the second time that morning, and I quickly looked back at him. He merely gave me a nonchalant, what's-the-big-deal shrug in response.