Six in the morning dropped its weight on Claire. Her alarm rang loud, seemly louder than any other time. She rubbed her eyes, trying to help herself wake up, and groaned. The previous night was tiring as it was; New Years Eve was New Years Eve. What she hadn't anticipated was Ann getting herself engaged to her brother. The actual engagement she was incredibly happy about, overjoyed even, but Ann insisting on talking for awhile before she was able to go home had taken a toll on Claire. And boy was she feeling it as she struggled out of bed.
Claire dragged herself to her kitchen to make some coffee, her body craving for its caffeine goodness. As she waited for the coffee to stop brewing, her thoughts started to drift. At first, she figured it was just tiredness knocking at the door, but then she quickly realized her thoughts were leading her with purpose. "That damn blacksmith," she mumbled to herself. And suddenly all last night came rushing into her mind.
The walk back to her farm had been a quiet one. Touch of awkward, but it seemed that was just unavoidable. Gray had tried to make a move, and he would have succeeded if it wasn't for a certain ginger waitress expressing a much common emotion in her situation. Over and over Claire had played that scene in her head, especially when they reached her door. And over and over, as she stood in front of her counter staring at the wooden grains, she played the simple goodbye Gray had given after they hugged.
What had happened? Even her conscience had nothing to say to her, then and now.
Coffee in hand, Claire dragged her feet to the table and threw her body on a chair, the legs scraping on the wooden floor. Still with groggy eyes, she took a sip and looked out her window. The sun glowed in all its glory, but something was missing. She took more sips, hoping the caffeine would help her think straight, hell, even see straight. The singing of birds then graced her ears. She had never heard any sort of bird for awhile, not since Fall. Puzzled, she finished what she could of her coffee then headed towards her door. She opened her door and stepped out, raising a hand over her eyes from the bright sun, squinting. Her dogs sprinted out. The caffeine hadn't worked its magic yet, but neither did the outside.
Her bare feet didn't feel wet. Her bare feet didn't feel cold. Both odd not to feel. She looked down at her feet, grass wedged between her toes, then immediately straight ahead. "What the forking fork?" she said to herself quietly, nearly in a whisper. She blinked, trying to compute the scene.
"Did I miss it?" a voice almost hollered, coming closer.
Her stare continued, but then something within her snapped. "What the actual hell? What the actual freaking hell!? My gosh! This place!"
"Apparently I didn't miss it," the voice said with a laugh, now within normal talking range from the farmer.
Claire glowered at her visitor, trying to get him to combust even though she still possessed not the ability. "Why didn't you say anything when I discovered the sudden change at the beginning of winter? Little heads up would have been, you know, nice."
"And as I said then, you're making the assumption that this isn't normal in Mineral Town," he countered as he leaned on the farmer's mailbox.
"Gray, that argument is not applicable here." Claire adjusted her robe and stared more at her field. Once barren, her field now homed those dreaded weeds. She knew the battle with them would continue, but she didn't expect it would this much so soon. "You could have told me that day," she continued, glancing now at him.
"And miss this?" He motioned at her, holding in a laugh. "Never."
Claire rubbed her eyes, groaning. "I don't have time to argue. I have so much freaking things to do." She turned to retreat into her farmhouse.
"Believe it or not, that's also why I came," Gray said which stopped the farmer at the entrance of her door. He pushed himself off her mailbox and then approached her. "I figured you may want some help."
"May?" Claire raised her eyebrows. "I expect you to. Had I known about this latest crazy, I would have bought spring seeds in preparation. I can only prepare the soil today."
"Point taken. But the more we yap about it, the less time you're going to have for preparing the soil."
"Touché," Claire quietly said. She motioned him to come inside.
Gray shook his head. "It will be best if I take care of your livestock while you get yourself ready for your field."
"Alright," the farmer said with a sigh. "But if you need any help, just call one of the dogs."
"One will probably join me anyways." The blacksmith chuckled. And a dog did join him; in fact, all three followed him around, Akira staying the most alert like a good guard dog would.
The amount of work that had to be done haunted Claire as she quickly threw on her overalls and collared shirt and continued to haunt her while she toiled away at her field. Her caffeine intake did little to donate to her energy and even patience. Especially patience: especially with those never-ending weeds. She muttered and cursed periodically, unintentionally amusing her farmhand for the day. Gray was the only positive of the situation, always helping in whatever way that he could. He took her orders like a soldier doing his duty for the honour of serving.
While she was grateful for his willingness to help, she had a nagging feeling he came by so early to talk about the night before. That was what people who almost kissed did, right? Talk. But was he really going to kiss her that night? Disruptions or no disruptions, if he really had been planning to, surely he would have. Claire pushed the idea away and forced herself to focus extra on her farm work.
The farmer stood straight in her field and leaned against her hoe to survey work done so far. Gray a little ways from her was chopping at a large stump while her dogs primarily watched over her livestock. She took a deep breath and released it, her eyes straying to movement at the entrance of her farm. She dropped her hoe on to the ground and went to greet her visitor. "What can I do for you, Karen? Please don't take this the wrong way, but will this be long? I am very swamped today."
"I can imagine. Must be very hard work," Karen said, noticing the dirt all over Claire's hands and even face.
Claire started tapping her foot while her hands held her overall straps.
"You know there is a dance tonight," Karen continued.
"I'm aware of it."
"Do you know there is a specific dance, though?" Karen tilted her head.
"Andrew briefly told me about it," Claire answered, scratching her forehead with an arm and then letting her arms down to her sides. "But he never showed me it or elaborated. Wedding proposal on the brain, I suspect." The blonde chuckled then quickly added, "I'm sorry, Karen. I shouldn't have said that since-"
"Don't worry about that, Claire. I'm... I'm okay." Karen half-heartedly smiled and then sighed. "Since Andrew hasn't said much, let me show you how it goes so you won't be in trouble if someone asks," she said as her eyes wandered and noted Gray in Claire's field, who was still working on that large stump.
"And by someone you mean Gray. Did Ann put you up to this?"
Karen laughed. "No, not at all. Last year I was supposed to show you the dance for the Harvest Goddess Festival, but I forgot. Bit of a, uh, long night." She chuckled nervously. "I'm not going to forget for this festival."
"Okay, I guess." Claire sighed, shrugging. "Might as well get this over with."
Karen nodded in understanding. She cupped her hands on the sides of her cheeks. "Graaaay!" she hollered, grabbing the blacksmith's attention.
Claire's eyes widened. The two didn't have many interactions throughout the morning, and the farmer had been more than content about it, till now. She tried shushing the woman before her. "Why are you calling him over?" Panic slowly started to rise within her.
"Cause he will be a big help. Trust me." Karen winked.
All forms of thinking Claire stopped, her face growing pale. She looked over her shoulder to see Gray getting closer and closer. His demeanour, like usual, told her nothing from what she could see. She returned her glance back to Karen, panic now growing stronger. She had no idea why she was panicking right at that moment. Why now and not when he arrived at her farm? To the left of her from the corner of her eyes, she saw her three dogs coming to sit as if a movie was about to start. Akira, however, kept a watchful eye on the livestock roaming in the fenced pasture.
Gray approached the two women, briefly glancing at the three dogs. "Karen," he curtly said. "What are you doing here?"
"The festival, Gray. You and I are going to show her the dance, so she knows it for tonight."
Gray raised a brow and directed his attention to the blonde. "You even going, Claire?"
"Probably, if only for the rice cakes." The blonde chuckled to herself which relieved some of her panic, although not as much as she hoped.
"Nobody just goes for the rice cakes," Karen said, eyeing the two. "Alright, Gray, let's do this."
Claire reluctantly watched the steps Gray and Karen displayed; it was a simple enough routine, just like the ones she practised during that brief dancing period in her life. She cautiously glanced at her three dogs when she knew neither of the two would notice. They tilted their heads at their mistress, Zeus even giving a bit of a bark. He ended up being shushed by Akira. The farmer only chuckled to herself.
"Simple enough, isn't it?" Karen suddenly said, grabbing Claire's attention away from her dogs.
Claire cleared her throat and scratched her head briefly. "Indeed. Appreciate it, Karen." She gave her a small smile and hoped that was enough to lightly relay 'please go.'
"Now hold on," Karen said. She planted her hands on her hips. "It's your turn."
"What do you mean?" The blonde-haired farmer blinked; panic started crawling back to her.
"You know what I mean. Show me you understood by doing it with Gray." Karen waived a hand a little towards Gray, who continued with his unreadable posture and face.
Claire wanted to protest but, instead, sighed. The two got into positions, Gray never leaving his eyes off of her and Claire doing much the same. She had no idea why panic was trying to take control. The dance didn't require them to be close to each other for the full duration. Despite the panic, Claire repeated what Karen had showed her with relative ease, her eyes never leaving her dance partner. She still couldn't get a good read off him, but when the twirl came, somehow the motions told her all she needed. A chill ran through her. The practice was done, and she wished it could continue.
"Great! Now you're ready," Karen announced, smiling almost ear to ear. "I can also show you the dance for the Harvest Goddess Festival too."
"No need," Claire replied as she tried within herself to calm down her racing heart. "I already know it."
Karen's smile turned more into puzzlement. "How? Did someone else show you?"
"Yes and no." Claire paused briefly and thought she had better continue to elaborate, "Technically you and the other girls did during the festival. It isn't a hard dance to memorize."
"Oh, okay." Karen nodded somewhat hesitantly. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that. Well, see you both tonight. The festival should be fun." And with that, Karen waved and left the young blacksmith and farmer to their own devices.
Gray immediately stared at Claire, his eyes burrowing, it seemed, into her.
"What?" she said once she felt his eyes staring and scanning her.
"Nothing," he brushed off but continued nevertheless, "I didn't think you were planning on going to the New Year's Festival."
"Free food has a way of convincing me on a lot of things."
"Oh?" He pushed the brim of his hat up to get a better look at her, tilting his head.
"You should try it some time." Claire watched as a surprised look slowly appeared on his face. She smiled to herself, only a small tug to the corner of her lips being visible. "And by 'it' I mean see if you can be convinced of anything with free food. It's not easy to resist." She left the blacksmith to his own musings and returned to her fields.
By the time night fell, Claire's fields looked as well prepared as it was going to get; some rocks and stumps remained, but the majority were gone, thanks to the man that helped her all day. Gray, with the tip of his hat, left for the Inn to freshen himself, telling her that he would meet her in Rose Square. She slowly dragged herself into her farmhouse with one thing on her mind: a very hot shower.
The warmth of the water immediately relieved any soreness in her body. She breathed in the steam and allowed herself to relax. At least physically. Mentally she was all over the place. Gray and Claire never talked much doing the whole day, partly due with how far they worked from each other. That didn't so much bothered Claire. But when they worked together to get her livestock into the barn, the sporadic conversations continued, and that bothered her. She had at least expected the subject of the previous night to come up once. Literally any reference to that night would have been perfect. Then the sudden realization hit her: why didn't she bring it up? There was absolutely no law saying she couldn't. That question rattled in her head for the rest of her shower, her throwing on presentable overalls and collared shirt, and the walk to the square.
When she arrived at Rose Square, she immediately searched for Gray. Ann and Andrew quickly greeted her, which she acknowledged politely, and sparked conversation. She paid attention, of course, but her eyes fleeted around now and then, searching for her target. She had a bone to pick with him, and if he wasn't going to initiate the subject first, then it was left to her.
Time continued to tick, getting later and later. For some reason, there was no Gray. Did he somehow know what she was determined to do? She knew sometimes her body betrayed her, and perhaps it did so yet again. He must have read her body language throughout the day and concluded that she would be hell bent in asking him a question which he knew he wouldn't have words to say. But was that just paranoia on her end? "I've been hanging around too much on the forums," she mumbled to herself.
At least the rice cakes were delicious.
The preparation for dancing soon came, prying the blonde away from her speculative thoughts a bit more. Claire sat on a bench and sighed. She was rapidly getting worried and cursed herself as she continued to spiral in her speculation, doubt of him not coming now trying to surface. She pushed the doubt aside. He had never given her any reason to think he would do the opposite of his word. On the contrary, his actions spoke more than his words ever really did. No, if he had said he would see her in the square, then he most definitely was coming. Claire watched her surroundings more as the setup for the dance, she presumed, was almost done. She sighed yet again, fidgeting with her fingers. It was becoming clearer and clearer to her that she really wanted that official New Year's dance with Gray.
Despite the clarity, thoughts of leaving crossed her mind and increased when she saw her brother and Ann paying a little more attention to her. If they noticed her on the bench, surely others did as well. And more people staring at her was something that absolutely would push her to leave. Sure enough, that familiar feeling came, but she couldn't bring herself to actually get up and leave to escape it. Something convinced her to stay, even though the risk of doing so meant the possibility of somebody in the square approaching her. Claire stared at her hands and their lines, head down in the hopes of ignoring the obvious stares she was certain she was receiving. The more time ticked like a timer on a bomb, the more she had no idea how long she was willing to stay.
"Um, Claire. If you don't mind, do you want to dance with me?"
The voice was familiar, and one she wanted to hear, but the voice didn't possess the same confidence she had heard before. She looked up to the figure in front and then to the hat she had so often seen him wearing, seeing his unsure face from where she was sitting. Claire imagined she probably had a similar look on hers. She cleared her throat and finally spoke up, "Y-Yeah. Okay."
He extended his hand to her, which she took, and helped her stand. Their hands lingered together for a moment until they separated their hands and walked over to the part of the square prepared for dancing. By now, most of the older adults had migrated to the Inn since Doug had carted away the leftover rice cakes, leaving the square mainly populated by the younger people.
"I'm not a good dancer, but..."
"What do you mean you're not a good dancer?" Claire asked her dance partner, surprised at his words. "You quite literally were fine earlier today when Karen came by."
"That was different," Gray said.
"How so?"
"It was just you."
"Karen was there too."
"Okay. Not many people were around," he changed his answer, a slight annoyance in his voice.
"I think you will be fine, Gray."
Gray gave her a look as they continued to wait; the space was cleared, but the set up for the music wasn't, and it seemed technical difficulties were plaguing the equipment. "Sorry for not coming to the square earlier," Gray broke the silence between them.
Claire focused her attention away from observing the equipment being set and to the man beside her.
"Gramps came by to the Inn and decided to give me a lecture about my training, saying that if I have time to dance, I have time to train. Yet he goes out like every night."
"I see."
"I've been trying to work hard, but sometimes..."
"Your grandfather means well," Claire tried to reassure. She lightly grabbed his arm and gave it squeeze, her eyes meeting his more. "Just keep doing what you've been doing, Gray. I'm confident he will notice eventually."
"That makes one of us." His eyes continued its stare on hers then softened.
Before either of them had the chance to continue their conversation, music started playing which signalled that the New Year's dance was ready to begin. Everyone waiting in anticipation sighed collectively and took their places. Luckily no one had paid much attention to Gray and Claire. Claire suspected that her brother and future sister-in-law probably noticed something, but if they did, they never bothered to comment or even tease something to her or Gray. As the music began, so did the dance. And so did the blacksmith's and the farmer's fixation on each other's eyes.
The dance ended much sooner than Claire wanted; a blink and it was done. Those who participated scattered across the square, but Claire paid no attention to them. She waited for Gray's cue, hoping maybe he would say something other than the day's events. Her patience, however, was growing thin, and she remembered the bone she had to pick with him.
Just as she said his name, he said hers, both awkwardly grunting a chuckle.
"Last night?" Claire said first.
"Last night..." Gray repeated. "Claire..." He looked over her, his eyes focusing more on her face, the eyes and lips specifically. He grabbed her hand, and her heart started panicking.
In front of people...? Claire thought as she tried to figure out what was going on in Gray's head. Her subconscious offered little to say.
A sudden explosion of confetti brought the blonde out of her trance, both of their hands retracting. Her friends and others surrounded them and held empty confetti cannons, smiles plastered on everyone's faces. "Happy One Year Anniversary, Claire!" Ann shouted as she waved her arms.
Claire blinked, confused with such a display.
"For being in Mineral Town," the ginger added.
"You know, it hasn't been quite a year yet, eh?" Claire continued to blink. A slight blush reached her cheeks.
"Close enough." Ann waved a hand. She gave Claire a big hug, much to the blonde's startlement, and then quickly released. "Confetti fight!" Ann yelled.
Claire rubbed a hand near her ear, squinting. Out of nowhere, more confetti cannons appeared in everyone's hands, and everyone started popping them open, aiming at one another with laughter and glee. Claire could only imagine just how many of these confetti cannons Ann hid all over the square; there must have been boxes scattered within bushes. And the mess!
Another explosion of confetti landed on her, grabbing her attention to beside her once more.
"Happy One Year! Even though it hasn't reached that mark," Gray said, holding the empty confetti cannon. Where he even grabbed one when he was still standing near her, Claire had no idea.
She smiled at him, holding her hands in front of her, since she really had no clue what else to do, save for enjoying the gleeful chaoticness.
To her surprise, he took a couple paces closer to her then grabbed her arm to hold it near him. "I honestly don't know what I would have done had you not come to Mineral Town," Gray raised his voice so that she could hear him over the giggles and screams erupting in the square.
She glanced down at his hand lightly grasping her arm. "The feeling is mutual, Gray."
Another one up! But another one closer to a chapter I am struggling with X_X
But if I'm consistent, there could be hope in finishing this fanfic by the end of the year! ...but only if I'm consistent.
Again, thank you for reading. I know this site isn't what it once was, so every last one of you who reads this are absolutely amazing!
Till next chappy! Feedback most welcomed!