Here is Chapter four. It is a lot longer as you can probably tell. Thank you for the reviews, I actually love reading them. Thanks for all the people who read my story You guys are great. Anyway enjoy x Disclaimer – I do not own harvest moon or any of its characters.
Chapter four – Chelsea's P.O.V
It was around 9am when I finally woke. The events from early this morning flooded into my head and I buried myself under the covers embarrassed. Julia and Mirabelle were talking in the sitting room so Vaughn must have gone out or was just being as silent as ever. I sighed. I really did have to get up or Julia wouldn't stop pestering me. I picked up the flashy red shorts first but quickly tossed them aside and grimaced. Those are going to get burnt when I find the time. I picked up the next suitable clothing and it was a grey tank top and yellow shorts which came up to the middle of my thigh. I looked at myself in the mirror with a weird expression. I couldn't exactly say what I thought because I wasn't really sure myself. I just knew I was hungry and it had to do. I flung open the bedroom door and bounded to the sitting room. I opened the door as Julia and Mirabelle looked over at me.
"Morning sleepy" Julia grinned to me and pointed to the kitchen. There was a fry-up waiting for me on the counter. I licked my lips and took the plate to the table. Before sitting down I glanced over at Julia. She was still talking to Mirabelle and didn't seem angry at all. Maybe it was just a wacky dream. I finished my food in no less than five minutes and began to get up to put the plate in the sink. Before I had the chance to get up fully someone came up behind me.
"Allow me" a familiar cool voice breathed. I spun around and nearly dropped the plate when I saw Vaughn looking at me. Where the hell had he come from? I could see a slight smirk on his face as he took the plate off me and put it in the sink. I just stood there with my jaw on the floor. He was fully dressed today in his cowboy get up. He tilted his cowboy hat slightly in my direction before sitting down on the couch. I followed him with my eyes but my jaw refused to leave the ground. I felt Julia look at me with an amusing look and my mouth suddenly snapped shut. I walked over the overstuffed couch opposite Vaughn and curled up on it. I wrapped my arms round my legs then rested my head on it while looking at Julia. She had that same expression on her face. It was a mix of 'OMFG' and 'HAHAHA'. I grimaced. I wanted anything to break the awkward silence. I decided to take a risky glance at Vaughn and he was staring at me. I felt a rush of embarrassment sweep over me as I moved out the better.
Julia had taken me around town for the second time and I could feel blisters forming. I looked over at Julia while grumbling under my breath. We were about to head to a guy called Denny's house then finally I would get to meet her really hot boyfriend. I had already met Gannon and his daughter Eliza, Lanna, Shea and Wada (the man/apes of the island), Chen and Charlie, the inn, café, diner and hotel owners and their families, Alisa and Nathan and Pierre. We started heading down to the beach and a silver haired cowboy caught my eye. He was leaning against a boulder with his arms crossed over his chest on the west side of the beach. He had a smug look on his face. What was his problem? His eyes followed us to Denny's "house" (if it could be called a house) then suddenly fell when he saw us stop in front of the worn down shack. Julia rapped her knuckles on the door a tired looking tanned man answered. His hair was a mess and he stood in bright blue boxers and a super dry t-shirt. I blushed slightly at his appearance. His eyes were burning into me and Julia immediately felt the tension.
"Can we come in then?" she asked snapping Denny out of his daze. He looked over at her and quickly moved aside for us to entre. He smiled sleepily at me and gave me a wink. I blushed a deeper shade of red. I could hear the sand get kicked harshly and I turned around to see Vaughn stalking off in long strides. God he was tall. I walked into an exact opposite of the small shack I saw outside. I gasped. It was really cosy with its fire in the middle of the room and pillows surrounding it for people to sit down. It smelt slightly of fish but it was mostly masked by the scent of lynx. I guessed it was Denny's usual deodorant. He smiled at me as he fastened a purple bandana over his brown, curly locks. I smiled back, not wanting to be rude.
"Hey. I'm Denny, the local fisherman" he said in a soft voice. He reminded me of melted chocolate and marshmallows (don't ask). You know what they say about first impressions and all.
"I'm Chelsea. I'm staying with Julia for a bit" I smiled weakly as my foot started throbbing. He looked at my funny expression then his eyes grew wider.
"Come sit down Chelsea" he smiled, pointing to a red pillow on the floor. I happily sat on it and sighed in relief. Julia took the yellow one next to me as Denny took the purple one on the other side. I closed my eyes for a minute to relax them and stretched out my legs. I heard Julia cough and my left eye opened lazily. She was tapping her fingers on the wooden floor. I looked at Denny who was smiling at me. He had a nice looking body and huge pecks. I let my eyes drink in his muscles sticking through his top and stopped at his chocolate brown eyes which were looking back at me.
"Wanna be bandana buddies?" he asked with a huge grin on his face. I looked at him confused for a minute but then remembered that we both wore the same bandana but just in different colours, I laughed out loud and saw Denny's smile widen. He joined in with my laughing. I wiped my eyes with my jacket sleeve before replying.
"Of course. We will be the best bandana buddies there ever was" I grinned. He punched the air and grinned back. Julia looked at us as if we were high on something but then shook her head while smiling.
"do you want me to leave you guys alone then?" she smiled mockingly while pretending to get up. I punched her arm lightly and crossed my legs. Denny on the other hand had a twinkle in his eye. I guessed he didn't take it as a joke. Julia looked at him with one eyebrow raised.
"Denny. I'm sorry to disappoint you but she's mine for today" I hid a smirk. Denny's face fell ever so slightly but he continued to laugh. His laugh was really charming. It was a mix between a chuckle and a hearty laugh.
"Fine, but tomorrow I'm having her" he laughed again but I just blushed. He was a really nice guy and we spent the next hour with just the three of us chatting. In the end we really did have to visit Elliot and his family before dark. Me and Julia said our goodbyes and left his warm shack onto the cool spring beach. I shivered slightly as I was only wearing a tank stop with a thin jacket and denim shorts. We were about to head out to Elliot's when Denny came running up to us.
"Chelsea" he called after me. I turned round to face him. He was carrying a deep purple jacket in his hands. He finally stopped in front of us and rested his hands on his knees from his short run over.
"I thought you might need this" He panted as he slid his jacket over my shoulders. I slipped my arms into the sleeves but had to roll them up at the ends as it was so long. The rim stopped halfway down my thigh. I blushed slightly. He looked down at the sand and ran his fingers through the back of his hair.
"I was wondering. If you were free tomorrow then maybe we could get something to eat for diner. I mean that's if you're not busy" he blushed slightly while still looking at the ground. I paused for a minute as I took in all he had said. He looked up at me with his chocolate coloured eyes awaiting an answer.
"Yeah if it's alright with you" I said quietly. He immediately started grinning at me.
"Well I guess I'll see you around six?" he asked with a hint of excitement in his voice. I couldn't help but feel happy for him. His boyish looks were really charming. I waved goodbye to Denny and me and Julia made our way to Elliot's house. I took around 10 minutes to get from the beach to Elliot's house and by the time I got there my feet felt like they were going to fall off. Julia knocked on the door to reveal an old man with a cane. He was bald and about a foot a smaller than me. He looked at Julia and smiled then glance at me.
"Hello you must be Chelsea" he said to me. I swallowed hard before replying. It was kind creepy that he already knew my name.
"Yeah that's me. Hi." I said nervously and I felt my face heat up a tad. He nodded thoughtfully and we were met with a long silence. He snapped out of his trance and smiled warmly at me.
"I'm Taro. Please come in and meet my family" he walked in and me & Julia followed. His house was nice and warm so I suddenly felt the unnecessary need for the jacket Denny had given me. I flushed slightly when I saw all his family sat around a wooden table in the kitchen. They all smiled and greeted me with warm hugs.
"And this is Elliot" Julia said from behind me. I turned around on my heels to have a look at this "fit" boyfriend of hers. I couldn't help it. It had to come out. I looked at him and the minute I saw his glasses and pink hair I burst out laughing. It wasn't one of my cute laughs either. It was a full on belly laugh with the occasional snort thrown in. he looked at me and laughed nervously along with me, not getting what was so funny. After I had finally calmed down I wiped away the laughter tears with Denny's jacket sleeve and looked back at Elliot. I blushed.
"Sorry, I'm good now" I smiled weakly while trying to hold in another outburst. Julia glared at me as she took Elliot's hand and led him to the table to join the rest of his family. We all sat down in a tight circle and had a warm chat about my life in the city. I was quiet on the bug details as I wasn't comfortable with sharing everything with complete strangers. I found out that Natalie was kind of cool towards disliked but once I'd had a nice chat to her and Julia we were soon friends. She was Elliot's twin sister. There mum Felicia was really nice and she reminded me of my mum. It made me sad in a way so I kept the talking quick and short with her. She didn't seem to mind as she was busy keeping the twins from bickering. After what must have been an hour of talking and getting to know one another it was getting kind of late so Julia made an excuse for us to leave. We said our goodbyes and I was about to follow Julia out of the door when Taro pulled me aside. I looked at Julia and she gave me an encouraging nod. I told her that I'd meet her back at her house for diner before I followed Taro into what seemed like a study. He closed the door behind us and took the chair in the corner.
"So I heard that you need somewhere to live" he said blankly. I nodded silently while looking down at the ground. I jumped as he began to talk again. A little louder than before.
"Well you're in luck then young Chelsea. We happen to have a vacant house just north of town. It's furnished and won't cost you a penny" my head shot up quickly. I swear I just got whiplash. I couldn't believe what he said; maybe I had dozed off for a minute and dreamt it. I looked at him with an unknown expression on my face.
"Yes that's right. Do you want it?" he asked looking into my eyes. Was he serious? A free house? I opened my mouth to speak but the words were stuck in my throat so I nodded in reply. He smiled slightly but then turned serious again.
"But…." He began. Crap. There always had to be a catch. Well what do you think Chelsea? Did you really think that you'd get a free house without any catches? Great now I was talking to myself.
"….You will have to do a bit of manual work…" he said looking straight at me. I flinched slightly.
"What kind of manual work?" I asked hesitantly. I'd broken my left arm when I was younger so lifting things wasn't one of my strong points.
"Well you'll be our new farmer" he said. No emotion what so ever. I gawped. A farmer? I didn't know the first thing about being a farmer. All I knew was that you grew plants and kept animals. I used to have a pet fish, Rhubarb, and he died within the first week I had him. R.I.P Rhubarb. I just stood there looking at him.
"I don't know anything about farming though" I finally managed to cough out. He shook his as if the solution was simple. "Don't worry 'bout that lassie. I'll get the people of our humble little town to help you. If you accept then I'll give you a rotor of the people who will come to you on which days" He laughed loudly as he finished off his plan. It sounded reasonable enough. How hard could it be to run a farm? Anyway there was a free house in it for me. I looked at him while trying to hold back my excitement.
"Count me in" I grinned. He nodded his head again and got up. He smiled at me and slapped me quite hard on the back. I winced.
"I knew you would. You'll be a great farmer, I can see it" He said while tapping his head with his forefinger. I smiled at him before saying goodbye for the second time and ran over to Julia's. I couldn't wait to tell her.
Hehehe – Who would have though? Chelsea running a farm. Hmmm….. Please tell me what you think of this chapter and stay tuned for the next one x