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FRANCESCA'S POV
I've worked a lot harder these past few days to complete bundles in the community center, growing increasingly curious as to what completing them does. I've done a lot; mainly the only bundles I've been unable to complete are the ones that I need items from winter. The ones I have finished, though, have rewarded me with useful items. I've gotten seeds, a furnace, some rings...
I've nearly finished the pantry, the fish tank, and the boiler room. I'm only a little bit short of gold to complete the vault.
I even got to the bottom of the mines. It was definitely terrifying, considering my accident earlier this year, but I actually ended up getting to the bottom. I found the weirdest thing at the bottom of the mines: a skull key. I don't know exactly where it goes to yet, but I'm determined to find out. It sits in my wallet now.
Otherwise, life has been uneventful.
I've worked on my farm, visited friends, got drunk a couple times, and that's about it. I haven't seen much of Sebastian; apparently he's been really busy with work lately according to Robin.
I know he has to like me, at least a little bit, right? He wouldn't have nearly kissed me that way if he didn't. Gah. I can't tell if I'm fooling myself. I replay it over and over in my mind, convincing myself that he was going to lean in, that he really wanted to hold me the way he did, the way I wanted him to.
I don't even know what to say to him.
Hey! I wanted to kiss you, too! Assuming that's what you wanted, of course, because that's what I wanted. Want, present tense, too!
Bleh.
There's still a good chance he likes Abby anyway.
The rain hammers on the roof, snapping me out of my thoughts. It's been a hell of a month.
At least I don't have to water my crops today.
As I get up to go outside and tend to my animals, I hear footsteps outside and a knock. My heart drops immediately into my stomach, remembering the events of last week. My hands begin to shake and I feel tears well up in my eyes.
"Francesca?"
It's Elliott.
Releasing a shaky breath, I open the door. He stands there, elegant as usual, but with a glisten of dampness to his hair from the rain. He smiles at me.
"Hi," I tell him, offering a shaky smile as well, blinking rapidly to dry my eyes. He looks at me curiously, but clearly pretends he didn't.
"Hello. I brought you something," He says, and then pulls out a small bag. My eyebrows furrowed, I peer inside. There's three large baguettes sitting inside, and I laugh.
"Thank you! But why?" I ask, chuckling at his gift. He smiles cheekily and I notice that he has dimples.
He shrugs and a drop of water hits the porch with a little smack.
"I had them and figured you would like some," Elliott explains, but then he looks to the side for a moment and then back to me. "I also just wanted to check up on you and see how you're doing. I know you prefer not to talk about it but--"
I cut him off by shaking my head. "I'm fine, really. I'm not just saying that either. I am just letting it go and moving on. I appreciate you for coming here, though, that's sweet of you," I say, my lips turning upwards. This seems to satisfy him as he turns to leave.
"Have a good rest of your day, Fran. Let me know if you need anything or just want to talk," He tells me before walking off the porch. I listen to his feet sloshing in the mud as I take a big bite out of one of the baguettes. It's delicious.
I walk back inside for a jacket with a hood and after flipping it over my head, I head over to the barn and coop areas. I've made some substantial gains; I've got ducks now, sheep, and goats. My income has also increased. I wouldn't say I'm rich by any means, but I can definitely live comfortably.
Petting all of my animals, I collect their products and make sure that they've got enough food. I love them. They're so soft and nice.
After I'm done with the animals, I decide to go visit Sam. I haven't seen him in a while and I could really use a good laugh. And, too, to talk about that night with Sebastian. I haven't talked about it to anyone. I've just been thinking about it, driving myself crazy.
My clothes get wet from the rain, but at least the hood on my jacket keeps my hair from being soaked. It's a little uncomfortable, but I ignore it as I walk into Sam's house.
Vincent sits on the floor reading a book and looks up at me, looking bored. I grin at him.
"Hey kiddo, what are you reading?" I ask and he sighs in response.
"I don't know. Miss Penny makes me read a new book every week. At least she lets me pick them... sometimes!" He tells me, frowning at the novel. It's mostly pictures. I nod.
"Good. Read. It's good for your brain, and stuff," I say, poking his forehead. He laughs a little before returning back to his book. Jodi isn't in the kitchen, but through the wall, I hear Sam's guitar.
I knock on his door and the loud music stops. A moment later, I hear the lock click, and the door opens. Sam's face lights up when he sees me.
"Hey!" He says, bringing me into a hug. I hug back, feeling the warmth of his hug against my cold, damp clothes. He pulls away and ushers me inside his room. He shuts it behind him.
I notice he has a keyboard as well, and I smile at it, remembering how I used to play as a kid. I was pretty good at it, too.
"What are you doing here?" Sam asks politely, clearly happy with my visit. I grin at him.
"Just missing my best friend," I respond, knowing it'll get a rise out of him. It does; he claps his hands together.
"STOP. THAT IS SO CUTE!" He squeals and ruffles my hair. There is no way that this himbo isn't at least a little bit... fruity.
I laugh and swat at his hand. I missed him. It's only been a few days, but I really do miss him. I'm so glad I decided to get to know him. I sit down on the floor, my back against his bed, and he sits down across from me.
"Okay, now why are you actually here?" He asks, skeptical. I frown.
"What, I can't just visit you?" I tease. He smiles a little.
I pause, unsure what to say, and then sigh, knowing he'd get it out of me eventually.
"Seriously, what is it?" He asks, his face worried.
I look at my hands to gather courage and then back up to his waiting eyes. "I think that-- I, um," I start, and then sigh again. "I think I like Sebastian."
Sam stares at me. "Oh," He starts, then smiles widely. "Oh! Oh that's good news! God, I thought you had another ex or something."
I guess my face makes some kind of reaction to that, because his eyes widen. "Oh geez! Yikes. I didn't mean it like that. Sorry," He says, quickly, but I can't help but laugh, shaking my head.
"I get it. It's fine."
"So, Sebastian, really?" He flicks his eyebrows and I smack him.
"Yes! Shush!" I scold him, and he laughs, clearly really enthused by this. My cheeks burn with embarrassment. So much for denying my feelings for him. I guess I'm going full force now.
"I'm sure Vincent will tell everyone. Anyway, how long have you liked him?"
I think for a moment. "I don't know. A little bit after I met him, I guess."
Sam's smile doesn't falter, and a realization hits me.
"Sam. What do you know?" I ask, deadpanning. His face completely drops.
"Nothing," He utters, standing up. I stand immediately as well. He still towers over me.
"Sam."
He puts his hands up in the air and backs away. "No, no no. Nope. No." He promptly leaves the room, and I chase after him.
"SAM! Tell me what you know!" I shout, chasing after him. Vincent stares at me from on the floor, his watery eyes appearing very confused.
"Where is he?" I ask, but it comes out as a demand.
At the same time, Vincent points towards the kitchen as Sam shouts "Vincent, don't!" as if him yelling wouldn't lead me in his direction. I sprint toward the kitchen to see him staring at me, completely cornered. Got him.
"Tell me what you know."
He stares at me. "Ask him."
I take a step back. Oh. "No. What? No, just tell me!"
He starts to smile, and I realize that I'm the one who's cornered. He steps forward. "Francesca, I dare you to tell Sebastian that you like him."
I cover my ears. "NO! Don't dare me!"
Sam laughs. "Seriously. Just go tell him. What's the worst that can happen?"
I put my hands down on the table, starting to laugh with him. "Well, rejection, for one!"
"You'll never know if you don't try?" He says, his voice raising upwards, and I know that he's calming down. I sigh.
"Yeah, I know... I just--" He cuts me off by putting a hand on my shoulder.
"Just go up there. I think the rain stopped. Just, you know, spend some time with him. He's been quiet around you, I think, but maybe if you get to know him a little better, you can see that he's fun to be around."
I think about it for a moment. I guess I don't really know him all that well. I know he wants to get out of this little town, I know he smokes, I know that he doesn't like that Maru gets so much attention and that he doesn't think anyone takes his job seriously...
But other than that, I really don't know him. He lived with me for three days, and the only new information I got from that was that he doesn't know how to cook.
Our relationship has been so weird. Sometimes he's nice to me and then he'll just snap. I want to know him and make him laugh and wear his stinky smokey jacket and lay in his stinky smokey bed. I want that. I just don't know if he does too. And I won't know unless I ask.
I look at Sam. He raises his eyebrows hopefully.
"Yeah? You going?"
I breathe out. "Yeah. Ok. I'll text you after."
He claps his hands together. "Yes! Okay! Go!" He starts pushing me to the door and I barely have a chance to say bye to Vincent before I'm left outside of the house on the damp concrete.
*********
My heart pounds in my chest as I slosh towards Sebastian's house. The intention is to talk to him about how I feel, but whether or not I actually will is still up for debate. I hear tinkery sounds as I approach the house, and when I hear coughing, I see him beneath his motorcycle, just like I did on one of the first few days I was here.
"Hey," I say, trying not to startle him. He rolls out from his motorcycle and sits up, offering me a small smile. The smell of damp earth is thick around us, frogs croaking.
"Hey, Frannie, how are you?" He asks, brushing a bit of dirt off of his shoulder. His hair is pushed up slightly on the side, and my stomach jumps at the nickname.
"Good, how are you?" I ask right back. He nods towards the motorcycle.
"Fine, just doing some work before the weather gets colder."
I nod in response, looking around.
"So, did you, uh, want anything?" Sebastian asks, and I look back at him. There's a smudge of oil on his cheek, and it's cute. It is really, really cute.
"Mm, no, not really," I state, awkwardly. He laughs his beautiful melodic laugh. I feel my cheeks warm up.
"Just hanging out, then?"
I nod, and he laughs a little again. The rain starts once more, and I just stand, not sure what to do.
"Oh, hey, come in here, out of the rain," Sebastian says, looking concerned.
I quickly scuttle into the garage, and he chuckles a bit at me.
"Did it rain a lot in the city?" He asks. I shrug.
"Not as much as it does here, it seems. I don't mind, though. I don't have to water my crops when it rains. The animals like it too, I think. Dust likes to run around in the rain, and when he comes in at night, he's all soaked," I explain, smiling a little to myself at the small cat playing in the storms that pass. Noticing a chair near his motorcycle, I sit down in it.
Sebastian sits up completely on his little rolley-thing and slides over towards me, stopping when he's next to me. I notice that the tips of his hair is wet due to the sudden rain. It hammers down on the side of the house and I bask in the scent.
"Huh. I didn't think many cats liked water," He says, staring off into the rain. The sky grows dark.
I shrug, watching him. "I don't know. Dust does, though."
Without looking at me, he smiles a little. "Remember that one time when asked you if you wanted to ever go on a motorcycle ride with me?"
My heart thumps a little. "Yeah, I do."
"Did you ever think about it again, if you wanted to?"
I pause.
"Yeah. I- um, yeah. I think that could be fun," I say, heat rising up my neck.
"Okay. Then we will, one day. Before it gets cold."
I nod. "Okay!"
I think about it for a moment. Holding onto him, the wind...
It does sound kind of terrifying, but if he's there, I think it would actually be okay.
Then, a frog croaks and hops in front of the garage.
Sebastian stands up. "Poppyseed."
I look at him. "What?"
He looks down at me, a smile growing on his face. "Poppyseed, do you remember? When you came into my room that one day with a frog in your pocket? I think-- I think that's it!" He laughs, pointing. I stand up and look at it, and once I see the big dark spot on it that it had the first time, I start laughing too.
"Oh my gosh, it is him! Holy shit!" I laugh so hard that my face hurts and Sebastian laughs as well.
"I never thought we would see him again," Sebastian says, his eyes nearly welling up with tears as he holds his stomach. He puts his arm on me, steadying himself from his laughter. My arm heats up at his touch, and after a minute more of us losing our minds, we stop laughing.
He notices that he had his hand on my arm, clears his throat a little, and moves it. Immediately, I notice the absence of heat.
"That was really funny," I say, swallowing down another laugh. He agrees, and then keeps staring out at the rain, suddenly reserved.
He looks over at me. The dark sky seems to light up his dark eyes. I smile at him a little, to which he returns, and then waves me on as he starts to walk.
"Come on. I want to show you something."
I follow along swiftly as we walk headfirst into the rain. We walk around the house towards the river and the rain just completely drenches our clothes.
"Ah, come on!" He shouts, waving me on, and I pick up my pace. He leads me under a tree right beside the water and it stops the amount of rain hitting us a little.
He grins at me before saying, "Look at this."
He leans down by the water pushes a large leaf out of the way. Underneath it, a million tadpoles swim around.
"WOAH! Look at them all!" I exclaim, overjoyed by the tiny creatures. I lean down towards them.
"Sebastian, how did you find them!?" I ask, looking at him, but I find him already looking at me. Heat creeps up my neck again. He smiles and looks down at them.
"I went out for a smoke yesterday and noticed something moving in the corner of my eye. Figured you'd like them."
Amazed, I look back down at them, my heart fluttering at the way he thought of me. "Thank you for showing me!"
He laughs at my enthusiasm. "You're welcome. I figured you'd be a fan."
I look at them for another moment before a huge crash of thunder sounds and I jump in surprise. He puts a hand on my shoulder to calm me.
"You okay?"
I laugh shakily and run a hand through my hair. "Yeah, sorry, it just surprised me, I'm good."
His mouth turns upwards on one side. "Okay. Good."
I look at his face, his eyes looking directly into mine. His eyes jump down to my mouth and he starts to lean in a little, his hand moving from my shoulder to the underside of my jaw, covering my scar that I got from mining. My heart pounds so heavily in my chest that I know there's no way it's not slowly making itself out of my ribcage. His eyes start to close and heat builds up in my stomach.
Naturally my eyes flutter closed as I lean into his hand, coming closer to him. His warm hand beneath my jaw starts to pull me in, and I accept it.
Thunder crashes, making us spring apart, both landing on the cold, wet grass, rain dumping all over us.
"Oh, geez," I hear him say as mud sloshes as he picks himself off the ground. I can't help but laugh a little, both shocked at the previous events and the way that I'm slowly sinking into the earth. That's fine. This is where I'll stay, now.
My cheeks burn of embarrassment of the way I completely melted into his touch. I've been wanting it for so long, but once he finally put his hand under my jaw and behind my ear, all I could do was just become butter. I hardly even notice the rain, now, still obsessing over what just happened.
"Here," He says, putting a hand towards me to pull me up. This isn't the first time he's literally pulled me up from the mud.
"Thank you," I mumble as he pulls me up, placing a hand on my back to support me. I'm still dazed.
Looking at his face, I realize it is bright red. He lets go of me and scratches the back of his neck.
"So," he starts, and I nod.
"So." My heart still pounds in my chest.
We almost kissed.
He clears his throat. "So yeah. Frogs. There's going to be a lot of frogs soon."
I nod. "Yeah. I think I saw little legs."
I can't help but smile to myself as I think about it, and when I glance over at him, there's a tiny smile etched onto his face as well. I pretend not to see it for his sake.
I clap my hands together and spin around. "Welp. I need to go feed my cat. See you later?" I say before promptly walking directly into the rain.
He makes a confused sound, but then says, "Oh! Okay! Yeah, see you around?"
As soon as I know I'm out of earshot, I make the highest pitched squeal I possibly can, releasing all of my energy that built up in that moment. I'm soaked and covered in mud, but I know one thing is for certain; Sebastian has to like me. At least enough to want to kiss me.
Sebastian's POV
I stand under the tree, still, and light a cigarette. I can't believe I almost kissed her. I should've done it, that night on the bridge, but I didn't want to take advantage of her emotions. I would've done it now, too, if that thunder hadn't come.
I almost kissed her. I really almost kissed her, and that scares me.
I've never felt this way before. I don't even know how to kiss, really. I've kissed before, but it wasn't anyone that I've ever really wanted to. Sam and I met these city kids, once, and we played spin the bottle. It wasn't fun, and it definitely wasn't a good kiss.
I don't know how to be in a relationship. We're not in one, yet, but I don't even know how to do it. Like, it.
Oh god.
I take a long hit of my cigarette. I could feel her scar under my hand. It's nearly completely healed now, turning silvery. I was so close to her; I could feel her warm, quick breath.
I can't believe I almost kissed her.
This woman, who appeared into my life one day and can't seem to stay out of trouble has become the source of my worries.
I should've just kissed her.
I knew I liked her, but I really, really like her. Her laugh, her smile, her care for little animals.
I'm not like her. I can't help but see the dark side of things, but when I see her, I actually think maybe, maybe there's something more for me.
And I think that's what she thinks, too.