Roses and Sonatas [Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns]

Chapter 30

I awoke the morning after my birthday fiasco with a pounding headache. Distracted by the pain, it was a few minutes before the memory of last night's events came flooding back. Feeling angry all over again, I stormed around my house, getting dressed and making a large cup of tea with which to wash down some aspirin. I didn't feel like eating, so I just grabbed a piece of toast and stepped outside onto my porch to eat it and finish my tea.

To my surprise, when I opened the door, Cam and Mikhail both lay stretched out head to head on my porch, their jackets draped over them for warmth. Startled by the sight but still too irate for words, I stepped right over them and strode off towards my barn, determined to ignore them. My loud footsteps woke them, and a minute later they were groggily calling my name. They chased after me and followed me around as I tended my animals and crops, still stonily ignoring them. When I headed back to the house, they were still following me, pleading with me to hear them out. At my porch steps, I whirled around to face them, snapping angrily, "Didn't you two hear me last night? Get lost! I don't want to see you, I don't want to talk to you, I don't want to have anything to do with either one of you right now! Leave me alone!" Then I stormed into my house and slammed the door so hard the house shook, bolting it firmly behind me. I ignored their pleas as I went to shower and change my clothes.

By the time I left the house again, they had apparently given up. I walked into town, checked the board, and visited some of the villagers. Nearly everyone I spoke with was consumed with curiosity about what had happened the night before, but I only told Kana and Georgia any details. I told everyone else that I didn't want to talk about it, and they politely dropped the subject.

I passed through the tunnel, greeting one or two villagers along the way, and headed straight for the Bluebell message board. I noticed that although it was Saturday, Cam's shop was closed. I just mentally shrugged and went about my rounds. When I stopped in at the café to greet Howard and Laney, Cam stepped hesitantly out from his room. I pulled Laney aside and asked if she had time to talk, ignoring Cam all together. She agreed, and we walked over to Eileen's.

Once there, I tearfully unloaded the whole story to them, explaining that I'd decided that I really did need a break from both of them, which is why I was ignoring Cam. I was ignoring Mikhail just as hard, if not even more so, I assured them, as I was still infuriated by his outrageous behavior. "At least Cam came to my defense," I said, "though I'm angry with both of them."

My two friends shook their heads in dismay, and Eileen said, "Well, hopefully now they'll finally get that they need to just back off a little. I'm glad to see you stand up for yourself, anyway."

Laney nodded agreement, then added, "Only... please don't be too hard on Cam. After all, like you said, he did try to come to your defense. And he's completely crushed. He didn't even go to work today, as I'm sure you saw."

I sighed, and said, "Yeah, I know. They both fell asleep outside my door last night. They were still sleeping on my porch when I went to do my chores this morning, then they followed me around like lost puppies until I finally couldn't take it anymore and told them to scram. I don't want to be mean, but oh my goddess, I need a break from all this! If they don't leave me alone, I think I'll have to pack up and leave for a while. And then I'm not sure what I'd do with my farm while I was gone. It's not easy to hire a farm-sitter on a moment's notice."

I leaned back in my chair with a deep sigh. "I guess I'll have to have another talk with them, try to get them to back off and give me a break for a while. I don't know if it will work," I added, rubbing my forehead tiredly. "I feel like I've talked and talked until I'm blue in the face, but I don't know if anything I'm saying is even getting through. Still," I said as I stood up, "nothing ventured, nothing gained. Right? Anyway, thanks for listening. I haven't told many people about what happened. I... I just get so tired and angry all over again when I think about last night. So other than you two, I've only told Georgia and Kana. I guess I don't mind if you all want to talk about it with the other villagers. It's not that I don't want anyone to know what happened so much as that I just can't bring myself to talk about it over and over. But I wanted my closest friends to know what really happened." Then I looked at Laney with a curious look, "Though maybe you already knew about it from Cam?"