Never Have I Ever…been unreasonably jealous
As I sit at the judges' table, I nervously fiddle with my hands while all the while avoiding eye contact with the villagers. It's still a few minutes before the alpaca festival starts, but all the same I'm a nervous wreck; any second now Rio will march onto that stage along with her animal and be one of the contestants.
Before, this wouldn't have been so much of a problem. When we were just dating, occasionally I'd feel a bit guilty for not choosing her even if her animal was about tied with someone else's, but at the same time I didn't have to see her disappointed expression for too long.
On top of that, I had no idea how much time she really spent on the animals, so I could judge her that much more fairly compared to now-in particular, with this festival.
I've never seen anyone lavish as much care and love on a single alpaca as my wife.
She only bought Lucy from me a year ago, but even so I know how much she favorites the fluffy white animal; out of all her animals and pets, Lucy is the one she hugs and fawns over.
Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if one day she told me she loves that alpaca more than me!
While I fidget in my seat and hope desperately that everyone else who entered really DOES just have sucky alpacas, Rod approaches my table and gives me a knowing look.
"You know, you could've let someone else be the judge if you were that worried about being partial to your wife," he tells me, earning a glower from me.
With a cough, I dismiss the idea.
"Rod," I tell him, "I'm not going to waver in my judgment just because she's my wife. This is a matter of her alpaca, and not her. As long as I focus on just the animals themselves, it won't matter what my relationship is to Rio."
"Yeah, but even YOU would feel a bit bad if Rio lost," Rod points out, and at that I glare at him even harder before retorting, "Who would feel guilty? I'm just doing what's right, and judging fairly! I'd never feel guilty, not even a little!"
Rod opens his mouth to say more when Dunhill's voice interrupts, ringing over the clamor of the villagers as he announces that the festival is about to start. Giving me one last look, Rod just shakes his head before heading to his seat, while I take a deep breath and do my best to cool my head.
I'm already at home by the time she gets back from the festival grounds.
As Rio walks in, she hesitates at the door and looks at me with solemn eyes before shutting it behind her carefully. For a minute the two of us stare at each, before I nervously stand up from my chair and take a step towards her.
One hand already outstretched, I say, "Rio…"
Her name barely leaves my mouth before a pout I know all too well appears and she looks away from me, avoiding my gaze. With a sigh, I drop my hand before muttering, "Look, the Advanced Class is hard, alright? And I told you when we first started dating that I wasn't going to play favorites with you, no matter what."
"I know," she mutters, but the disappointment on her face is still clear to me. As she walks over to the vase and begins to pick at the flowers there, I follow her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Look, if your alpaca was just a bit better-"
"I'm fine, Neil!" she tells me, the fake cheeriness in her tone so sweet and sickly that it has me wanting to gag. She must be able to tell that I'm obviously irritated with all this though, because in a minute she sighs softly before saying much more seriously, "Really, Neil. I'm okay. I'm just…disappointed, I guess."
"Because I didn't choose you?"
"No, no!" she hurriedly assures me. "I guess…I'm just disappointed in myself, really. I'm sure I could give Lucy even more love. I'm just frustrated in myself because I feel like I really take care of my alpaca and love her, but it wasn't enough yet."
Quietly I blink at her, taking all this information in before she turns to me with a renewed look of determination on her face. Pumping a fist in the air, she tells me, "Don't you worry! I'll work really hard so that at the next animal festival, you'll have no choice but to pick me as the winner!"
"Well, it's good to know you're not upset about this," I say, smiling as I move forward to hug her. Just before I can put my arms around her though, she moves to the side and begins walking back towards the door with a pep in her stride.
"Uh, Rio?" I ask, confused. "Where are you going? It's getting kind of late…I thought you'd want to spend time at home tonight instead of running around the forest..."
As she blinks at me with confusion scrawled across her features, I resist the urge to tell her that what I really want is to just forget about the whole festival today and spend time with ME. Being as busy as we both are, it's rare that we ever have a full afternoon to spend together.
The desire to jump her right now is bad enough, but all the same I try to control myself from grabbing her wrist and pulling her to me. I'd much rather have her come to me without my forcing it…
While I wait for her to answer, she gives me a brilliant smile that catches me off guard before she explains, "I was going to go spend some time with Daisy. You know, that cow you gave me the first day we met?"
"That was Dunhill's present, not mine," I remind her, "And besides, what for? I thought you finished your chores for today?"
Still smiling, she says happily, "I want to get Daisy ready for the cow festival! It's the next one coming up, right?"
My mind goes blank in shock and I just stare as she continues, "I try to love all my animals equally, but since I can only pick one for the contests every year I try to focus on that one in particular and make sure they're ready to compete! Don't worry Neil! I promise I'll make Daisy into the best cow at the festival!"
As the door closes behind her and she leaves me in the house, all I can do is gape after her as I begin to wonder what just happened.
Rod sits across from me at Chez Clement's. It's the seventh time in two weeks that I've come to the restaurant and dragged him along with me.
Sure, I could always have dinner at home, but lately Rio's been so busy taking care of her chosen cow that she hasn't been showing up for dinner. As much as I hate to admit it, I don't cook half as good as she does.
Furthermore, eating alone has become a lot lonelier than I remembered.
While I sulk into my meal, Rod takes a sip out of his cup before putting it down and asking, "So why are you always inviting me out to dinner so much?"
When I give him a look, he grins a bit and says, "Not that I mind, because you're my best friend, but I think even Tina is getting jealous that we've been having dinner together nearly every day for the last few weeks. Is something wrong with Rio?"
I grunt in a non-committal way, earning me a knowing smirk before Rod asks, "Well what's going on? Tell me, tell me!"
"Will you shut up?" Grumpily, I take a bite of my food and focus on Michelle's magic tricks, even though I'm not really seeing any of them.
"But Neeeiiill," Rod whines, "I thought we were friends!"
Giving in, I turn to look at him and sigh, "She's just…well, she's impossible! Every single day, for hours and hours she spends time with that cow and can't even be bothered to say more than a hello to me in the mornings!"
As Rod blinks at my outburst, I continue savagely, "I understand that she's really determined to win the cow festival, but that's not until next month! And why the hell can't she spend that much time with me!?"
Breathing hard, I glare at Rod as he begins to chuckle, then laugh uncontrollably. He keeps laughing for a good five minutes before he finally calms down enough to stutter out between giggles, "You're jealous? Of a cow?"
"I'm not jealous!" I snap, hoping Rod won't notice the blush already spreading across my face. "I just want to see my wife every now and then!"
"You're jealous," Rod tells me, giving me a big grin before shrugging and saying, "It can't be helped, Neil. I'm pretty easy-going but even I would get jealous if Tina was spending a lot of time doing something else and barely had any time for me."
"I'm not jealous," I insist, taking a drink to try and cool my head. Ignoring what I just said, Rod waves a hand before saying, "What's important to remember is that she's doing this so she can win the festival! I mean, it's obvious she wants you to recognize her and be proud of her."
"I'm proud of her all the time...and I don't care if she wins. I know she takes care of her animals and does the best she can."
"That's not the point of what I'm trying to say…maybe she'll think that if she wins you'll tell her she's cute."
Under my breath I mumble, "She's really cute…why would I have to tell her that? Isn't it obvious?"
"NO!?" Rod exclaims, and with a sigh I shake my head irately before asking, "Look, what are you trying to say?" As if he's confirmed my problem, the pet seller exclaims, "Tell her how you feel about her spending all her time with the animals instead of with you. Just be honest."
"Whatever."
As Rod keeps talking, I block him out and start to shovel food down my mouth in the hopes of getting home sooner. If I'm going to do something about this problem, I might as well do it soon.
I find Rio in the East Barn, where she keeps all her cows and yaks. As I search for her bright blond hair, I hear her voice in the back of the barn, and when I push through all the yaks I see her sitting next to Daisy.
The cow is obviously happy, mooing up a storm as Rio coos to it and talks soothingly to the animal while petting it.
If I wasn't so irritated with the fact that this cow is taking away Rio from me, I'd actually say it's kind of cute.
When she realizes that I'm there, Rio looks up at me with big eyes.
"Neil?" she asks, "What are you doing here?"
Already I'm irritated; isn't it obvious? I only come out to her barns when I need to get her or when one of her animals is pregnant.
The annoyed look on my face must be obvious, because slowly she stands up and reaches out to touch my cheek hesitantly. Looking concerned, she asks, "Is everything okay?"
"No. It isn't." I say flatly, and without second thought I grab her wrist firmly and jerk her towards me. As she yelps in surprise, I lean down and pull her over my shoulder before standing up and turning on my heel sharply.
From where she hangs over my shoulder, Rio gasps, "Neil! What are you doing!?"
Ignoring her, I carry her out of the barn and leave the animals behind, heading straight for the house with my wife in tow. When we finally reach the farmhouse, I carry her past the dining room and all the way to the bed where I dump her roughly onto the mattress and stand over her with a menacing look on my face.
"Owww," she complains, "what was that for?"
Still ignoring her protests, I lean down to trap her between my arms and the wall. She blushes up at me, suddenly unsure of what to do as I kiss her for the first time in weeks. As I feel her go limp and stop protesting, I wind one arm around her back and pull her closer, ignoring the fact that she smells like the barn she just came from.
Her chest presses up against mine, so close that I can feel how fast her heart is beating and I smile against her mouth as I realize just how much I've missed this.
When she finally pulls back to gasp for air, I give her no time to resist as I easily slide the overalls from her shoulders, sending them to the ground in my hurry to get to her. Blushing furiously, Rio protests, "Neil, seriously, what is it?"
I stop my assault for a second, before looking at her fiercely and saying, "Do you honestly think I'm going to keep letting you ignore me?"
"I'm not-"
"You are," I interrupt, kissing her again before continuing, "and it's pissing me off that you're spending more time with that cow than you are with me. So stop complaining and just deal with the fact that I'm not letting you out of my sight for the rest of the night or for most of tomorrow either."
"What are you sayin…" her words get cut off as I grab her hips and pull myself closer to her again, practically crushing her against the bed. As she huffs for breath and stares up at me, she manages to gasp out, "You…are you really jealous?"
When I don't answer but blush instead, she grins a little before giggling and putting a hand up to ruffle my hair. Running her fingers through my spikes, she murmurs, "If you wanted to spend time with me that much you should've just said so…"
Turning crimson, I mutter, "Just be quiet. I won't stop, even if you beg me to."
At this she blushes and giggles before tugging at the bottom of my shirt and giving me an inviting grin. With a returning smirk, I lean in once more.
I don't know why, but I feel like Neil would be the really forceful type...like, sweet but forceful all the same XD He's a man with a plan...gets what he wants and thinks about consequences later XD
He was kinda like that in my other story too, now that I think about it, so I guess it's okay for him to be like this here :)
Also, I can totally see him being the kind of person who gets jealous and kind of fumes about it before doing anything. Anyways, thanks all for the reads and reviews :) See you on the next update! Requests are always welcome!