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

Chapter Ten

The day of the flower dance had finally arrived. I was curious to see what this was all about. I wondered if this had been a tradition since I was a child. I never found myself in Stardew during the spring, so I honestly had no idea.

At around 8:50 that morning, I started making my way down into the forest and towards where Lewis had said there was a clearing that they opened up just for the flower dance promptly at 9 AM. I didn't want to be late so I hurried my way down there and as I approached, I could see barriers set up made out of little colorful flags strung on some white rope and wrapped around some wooden posts.

I followed the colorful flags to a makeshift bridge that hadn't been there before. It stretched over a small canyon in the cliffs that connected the main part of Cindersap Forest to the clearing. It was certainly rickety and scary to cross over, but I made my way across and the first person I saw was Pierre who had set up a small, portable shop just at the entrance. He waved to me and I waved back before moving on and taking in my surroundings. At the edge of the river, there were small baskets of flowers lined up nicely and evenly all the way across. All around the rest of the clearing by the wooden fencing were large barrels of flower arrangements.

I saw Haley at the back of the field wearing a pretty white dress with a crown made of flowers resting atop her blonde hair. At first, she looked like she was pacing back and forth but when I looked closer, I realized she was dancing. I wondered why she was dancing alone. Lewis had said in his letter that you needed a partner to dance at the flower dance. I wanted to go ask her but I was honestly quite afraid of her and her callous attitude.

My eyes continued to scan the crowd, hoping to see a different head of familiar blonde hair or even the vibrant blue of Emily's. When I finally saw that familiar blonde head, I noticed that he was standing with Abigail, and Sebastian was in between them. I wanted to go and say something to Sam, but after my interaction with Abigail yesterday, I was going to do everything I could to avoid her. She had made it clear she had no intention of rekindling our prior friendship even though I told her I didn't intend to abandon her the way she thinks I did. I just wasn't quite ready to share with her the real reason why I never came back.

"Stella!" I heard my name being called and turned in the direction of the sound to see Emily skipping towards me. She was wearing a white dress, too, unlike the usual red one she had on. "I see Lewis invited you. I'm so glad!" She hugged me tightly, and the feeling of the tulle on the shoulder straps of her white dress scratched against the underside of my chin.

"Yeah..." I looked around, now noticing Emily and Haley weren't the only ones wearing white dresses. All the younger girls were wearing identical white dresses, with the exception of myself. "Why is everyone dressed like that?" I asked, motioning to Emily's dress.

Emily looked down at herself. "Oh," She said, looking back up at me. "It's part of the whole 'tradition' thing. If you have a partner for the flower dance, you get this white dress for the girls, and the boys wear this blue suit and once everyone is ready, we start the dance."

"I'm... so confused." I admitted. Like Dorothy, I certainly wasn't in Kansas anymore.

Emily giggled. "Understandable. It's a whole choreographed dance that we do every single year." She explained and now I understood why Haley was dancing earlier. She must've been practicing. "If you manage to find yourself a dance partner, you get to participate. You should see if anyone didn't get asked this year! Maybe Sam?" She nudged my arm and wiggled her eyebrows up and down in a suggestive manner.

I could feel my cheeks grow warm at the sound of his name. I wanted to ask him to dance with me, but I really didn't want to risk having another confrontation with Abigail.