Us | A Stardew Valley FanFiction

Chapter 3 - Spring 5

My heart stopped as soon as the words left my mouth.

God, Sadie, what the hell are you doing? You aren't in the city anymore, you don't have the luxury of never seeing people again. You're going to see her every day, and she's gonna tell everyone. Everyone is going to hate you. A few shots and this is how you behave? You—

"I think we are going to get along great," a voice said, snapping me out of my thoughts. It was Alex.

The reassurance allowed me to release the breath I had been holding. Alex towered over me, the smell of bergamot and pine wafting off of his figure and overpowering the stench of the bar; his mere presence rendering me frozen in place. The fabric of his jacket hugged his muscles in all of the right places, carving his body in the way I imagined statues to look. I could see the rise and fall of his chest as he inhaled and exhaled, his breaths slow and confident—a stark contrast to my lungs, which felt as though they were gasping for air.

His eyes examined me, their focus shifting from my face to my body and back again. A small smile creeped onto his features, inviting deep dimples to envelop each cheek. The longer he took me in, the more faint I felt—helpless under the weight of his stare.

"Are you kidding me?" Haley huffed from beside him, causing our eye contact to break.

"Come on, Haley! You can dish it out but not take it?" Alex joked.

"I'm over this already. Everyday, this town gets worse. And you, city girl? Watch your back."

With that, she grabbed Alex's arm and started towards the door; he stole one more glance backwards before disappearing into the evening.

After a few moments of silence, Sam chuckled. "Pick your jaw up off the ground, Sadie. You don't want to get involved in that."

"What?" I said, clearing my throat. "What are you talking about?"

"Haley is, like, in love with Alex."

"Okay?" I said, feeling myself get defensive. I wasn't staring that hard...Was I?

"And before you, well..." his voice trailed off. "...she didn't have much competition."

Me? Competition? For Haley? I almost laughed, but it didn't feel appropriate. With a perfect figure and eyes you could drown in, it was blasphemous to believe she could ever have competition.

Before I could respond, another voice chimed in. "Hey!" it said. "I'd like to think I'm a pretty stiff competitor with Haley, if we're talking about looks." Abigail said, Seb standing silently behind her. He exchanged a knowing glance with Sam; it was only just before the silence became awkward that the three of them burst into laughter.

"I'm Abigail," she said, reaching her hand to shake mine. "And you're awesome."

I stifled a laugh. "Why's that?"

"I don't think anyone has ever stood up to Haley like that." Sebastian said coolly.

His comment poured gasoline onto the embers of my anxiety, igniting it into a raging flame once more. I shouldn't have said that. I'm the new girl here—I don't know the dynamic, and clearly, I guessed it wrong. Haley wasn't just someone that nobody liked, she's someone that nobody liked but nobody dared cross.

Shit.

"Relax," Sam hummed, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry about her...It's about time she got a taste of her own medicine."

Emily approached with four shots in hand, shooting me a wink before offloading them onto us. I swallowed the uncertainty with the tequila, and let it drown in it.