The Anti-Social Social Club [Stardew Valley Sebastian x Female Player (OFC)]

Chapter Two

Lewis stayed true to his word and checked in with me bright and early the next morning at 7 am. The sound of knocking on the front door woke me from my light slumber. I hadn't slept very deeply last night—probably due to my new, foreign but familiar surroundings and the fact that it took four blankets piled on top of me to keep me warm. I had tucked all four blankets up under my chin, and the tip of my nose felt like it was about to grow an icicle on the end of it. I learned the hard way that the insulation I had wondered about the previous day was, in fact, nonexistent.

I flung the blankets off me and stumbled out of bed into the chilly air. I grabbed a blanket off the bed to wrap around myself before shuffling my way to the door. Lewis was still knocking. He probably assumed I was still asleep and the only way to wake me was a continuous, obnoxious knocking.

When I opened the door, there he stood with a big smile on his face partially covered by his oversized, graying mustache. "Good morning!" He said cheerfully, and then looked me up and down, taking in the sorry sight of my disheveled hair, crusty eyes, and the large blanket wrapped around my shivering frame. "Sorry to wake you," He said, "I suppose we rise early in the valley compared to you city folks."

I reached up and rubbed my eye with my knuckle as I yawned and nodded. Before I could get a word out, Lewis continued. "Well, hopefully you have the chance to meet some folks in town today. Everyone is already buzzing about the new farmer. It's not everyday something this exciting happens here and the townsfolk are eager to meet you."

I nodded again and gave Lewis a small smile before he turned away from me and I began to shut the door. Before the door was all the way closed, I heard Lewis's footsteps stop half way down the stairs. "Oh, and Stella?" He turned to look at me and one corner of his lips pulled up into a half smile. "Welcome home."

I stayed silent but nodded slightly in acknowledgment before fully closing the door between us. I turned and looked at my grandfather's nearly empty farmhouse once again as I had done last night. He had his one armchair in front of the fireplace, a table in the kitchen with one chair, and the small single bed in the bedroom. That was all he had needed towards the end of his life but now that I had moved in, I knew I was going to need more than the bare minimum.

The inside of the farmhouse was the least of my worries. It was the outside that I was more concerned about. Sure, I was living in the farmhouse for free because I had bought the property outright from my father but if I was going to procure any help from that woman, Robin, or if I wanted to actually plant any crops, I'd need money and the only way to do that was to get the farm back up and running again like I had always remembered it.

I thought about going back to sleep but by the time Lewis had left, I had already adjusted to being awake and decided to just get my day started. After getting dressed, I headed out to one of the sheds and found grandpa's old farm tools. All of them were rusty and falling apart. Of course they were. I couldn't seem to catch a break. And it brought me back to my continuous wondering of why I decided to move out here in the first place. Maybe I was losing my mind. Maybe I had made a mistake. But my heart was telling me I wasn't, and I hadn't.

I sighed, grabbing the hoe which seemed to be the only tool in the shed that was still remotely intact and headed out to try and clear out the garden beds. It was early spring and seeds would be ready to sow soon. I had some money still left over and planned on using it to buy some seeds to get me started. But after two hours of grueling away at the garden beds, turning over the soil and pulling up weeds, I realized I was going to need to recruit some help asap. There was no way I was going to clear out five large garden beds all on my own by the time the planting window for spring rolled around. I had barely gotten through half of the first one after two long hours.