[Harvest Moon: A New Beginning] Rio to the Rescue

Body Heat

Winter passed relatively quietly in Echo Village; Rio had enjoyed watching the children build snowmen in the festival, and laughed until she was breathless when all the town's children decided to attack Neil with snowballs. When Winter Harmony Day approached, she tried to make a dark chocolate treat for her sweets-hating boyfriend, but ended up giving him a mild case of food poisoning. On the bright side, they got snowed in together for about a week after a rather gruesome blizzard hit the town; unfortunately that meant the sheep festival was cancelled, putting Rio in a sour mood. The current day was the 24th of winter, and Rio was making her way to Allen's salon for beautification before the evening's festivities.

As the bell dinged, signaling her entrance, Allen looked up from his magazine and grinned, "There's my girl! Are you ready to be turned into a magical snow princess for the evening?"

She rolled her eyes and sat in her usual chair in the salon, "You get way too much joy out of dolling me up. Besides, I don't even know why you're making a big deal out of this since we're going to be outside in the dark for most of the night. Who cares what I look like?"

Allen huffed and began snipping away at some of her dead-ends, "Neil, for one. Why wouldn't you want to look your best for him?"

"I do, I do, it's just...I guess...never mind Allen." She closed her eyes and focused on the excitement of the night, though she couldn't help but wonder if she would even be spending it with anyone."

"Honey, you can't fool me by dropping the subject. What has you all sour and moody?" Allen grabbed some sweet smelling oils and started rubbing them through the long, blonde strands.

She inhaled the calming scents and decided that it was probably better to get the whole situation off of her chest, "Well, Neil and I got in a fight...and he ended up staying the night at his own place last night and hasn't talked to me since. I dunno, it's just weird for him to stay mad at me this long..."

Allen smirked, he knew exactly why Neil wasn't talking to her today, however he had no idea about the fight, "Well? What did you two argue about?"

Rio sighed and chewed on her lip nervously, "We fought about our plans for Starry Night actually. I wanted to just stay home and cook a nice dinner for the two of us, but he was bound and determined to eat at the diner for some reason. But he hates the Diner! So I kept asking why he wanted to go so badly, and instead of telling me, he just yelled that I was being too stubborn and stormed out. I didn't think it was that big of a deal but...I guess it was."

He grabbed a curling iron that had been heating up on the counter and started working his magic on the strands. After a few moments of silence he sighed, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you were indeed being too stubborn. For one, I think you both should have tried to compromise more. Secondly, maybe he had a good reason for going to the Diner. Perhaps he had a special dinner planned there for you, or some sort of other surprise that he set up beforehand. Did it occur to you that maybe he just wanted to do something nice for you?"

Rio's eyes teared up as she realized the truth of Allen's words, "Goddess I'm an idiot!" She bit her battered lip even more and willed herself not to go running straight to Neil's house to beg for forgiveness. "Allen...what do I do?! I screwed up! Why can't I just keep my big mouth shut?!"

Allen smiled to himself, his little flower was growing up! "Well, I suggest you go meet Neil like he had planned...then if he's there, you can apologize." He looked down at the mass of curls and grinned, "Alright, turn around, it's time to do your face."

"Ugh, that's an awful phrase. Why are you making me up? Won't it be pointless since it'll be dark outside?"

Allen gave her one of his classic 'are you serious' faces and continued dabbing on concealer, "Did we not just discuss that you'll be going to dinner soon? So shush so I can get this done and send you on your way. Goddess, you blab even more than Felicity does."