Chapter Five: Friends

After about a week, I finally got the hang of using my crutches. It was so easy to move now that I felt like I had an extra pair of legs! I was so proud of myself for this small accomplishment that I decided to take a stroll in the village. As soon as I entered Bluebell, I instantly spotted a pink blob in the distance.

"Lillian!" Oracle cried as she ran towards me with open arms. She glomped me, wetting my shirt with marble-sized tears. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she wailed.

"W-whoa. Calm down," I said, rubbing small circles on her back to soothe her. "What's wrong?" She looked up at me with wide shiny eyes.

"It was my fault, wasn't it? That's why you're hurt! No wonder you haven't visited me in days...I'm a horrible friend!"

"No! That isn't it at all!" I sent her a reassuring smile. "It was my fault that I was hurt. I wasn't paying attention. You know how much of a scatterbrain I can be. And I haven't visited you because I couldn't. How can I visit you with a broken leg and these?" I shifted my weight onto my good leg and raised my crutches. "No matter how good I am at wall-climbing, there's no way I can scale a cliff with a broken leg."

"...Really?" Oracle sniffed and blinked her tears away.

"Really. Anyways, why are you here? You never come to the village." Oracle's face was still red and puffy from crying her eyes out, but I knew she'd be okay when she grinned. She pointed to a strawberry-blonde boy who approached us.

"Lillian, meet Ash. Ash, meet Lillian. I believe you two know each other." Oracle stepped out of our way and left Ash and I to ourselves. As Oracle left, she winked at me. I covered my face with my hands, feeling certain that I was beet red to the very tips of my ears. I think she had the wrong idea about us...

"Hey, Lillian." Ash nervously scratched his head and I knew he was just as uncomfortable as I was, but I didn't know what for. I guessed it probably had something to do with Oracle. "So, have you and Oracle made up?"

"Yeah. We weren't really fighting with each other in the first place, but I appreciate what you did for us. You visited her, didn't you? You told her about what happened to me."

"Huh?" Ash acted surprised, and pretended not knowing what I was talking about. I giggled.

"Well, if that's how you want to play it off, that's fine. But I just wanted you to know, that was really sweet of you." Ash blushed, and I did too. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that, just-"

"In a friendly way, right?" Ash smiled. "I know." I cleared my throat, trying to move on past the topic. "Oh, Lillian. Do you mind if I helped out on your farm? I would've volunteered earlier, but my mom's store was really busy this past week."

"Of course! That is, if you don't mind working with one of my friends."

"Friend...?" On Ash's face, there was the slightest hint of a frown. It was barely noticeable, but I caught it. Was he disappointed? As quickly as it had come, it faded just as quickly, and soon enough, Ash was back to his old self. "That's fine," he replied, cheery as can be.

"You can bring Cam too, if you want." There was a few moments of silence before he replied.

"He's busy with his shop. I don't think he can come." Ash smiled again, but it felt like there was something Ash wasn't telling me. Did something happen between Ash and Cam?

Ooh! Loved this chapter! Wrote it in thirty minutes, so sorry if it's not as good as it could've been. I'm still not sure which bachelor Lillian will end up with, but I've narrowed it down. Not telling you which bachelors I have in mind though~! You can figure that out for yourself. No spoilers! Anyways, I hope you guys liked it. I'm sure you guys are noticing that there's a love triangle forming. Thank you Strikey-chan for your review! Again, I appreciate all of your comments, and although I'm starting to decide which bachelor Lillian's going to end up with, votes, advice, ideas, etc. are appreciated. Thank you, to all of my readers!