Summer Flings [Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands]

Chapter 1: The Wait

One hand twirled a strand of strawberry-blonde hair between its index finger and thumb, while the other drummed its fingers on the table. Blue eyes gazed at the iPhone on the desk, its screen scratched and dented from years of use.

The screen went from dark to white in an instant, and the impatient hand picked up the phone and held it to a small ear, hidden under a curtain of not-quite-blonde hair.

"Chelsea speaking," she said, wishing that the person on the other end of the line was her boyfriend, Vaughn – the only person she really wanted to talk to right then.

School had just ended for the both of them, and he'd promised that he would call her to make plans for the next time they met. That was why Chelsea waited so anxiously for his call. Otherwise, what else would she have to do with her time?

"Hey, Chelse."

Just Julia. Chelsea pouted. Hadn't she told Julia not to call her until after she'd talked to Vaughn? More out of irritation than anything else, Chelsea hung up and put the phone back in the place where it had been before.

The phone rang again, and this time, Chelsea took her time to read the name of the contact. Julia again. Scrunching up her nose, Chelsea picked up the phone and answered it, deciding to answer instead of suffering a night of pointless calls.

"What do you want, Julia?" Chelsea asked, leaning back and placing her hand across her stomach. In an effort to calm to herself down, she tried to prop her feet up on the desk in front of her. There were two piles of books, several stacks of papers, and too many flash cards to count spread around the hard, worn surface, but there was just enough space for a dirty pair of Farmer feet.

Julia's tone was acid – or, well, as far as you could call it acid, considering Julia's personality. "Alright, first, hanging up on me was rude."

"Well, I told you not to call until Vaughn did."

"You didn't even hear what I had to say!"

Chelsea sighed and brushes some hair away from her face. "Alright, I'm sorry about that."

"You'd better be." There was some shuffling on the other end of the line. Maybe Julia was laying down in bed. "Anyway, did you hear? Some guy and his family are moving into the apartment complex nearby. I heard some gossip that he's cute, available, and totally your type!"

Chelsea rolled her eyes. "Julia..."

"Oh, just hear me out, will you?" Julia scoffed. "You know how Vaughn is but you won't break up with him anyway. I'm just preparing a few extras just in case he breaks your heart and you need a rebound."

Chelsea frowned – but then, she thought about it. Julia had a point. She sat back and sighed again. "Fine, go on."

Julia let out a little squeal, and then started a tirade about the boy's appearance and how nice he supposedly was.

Whenever Julia heard that there was an attractive male within a couple hundred miles of her, regardless of their attitude, she always seemed to develop a void in her mind, right in the place that was supposed to remind her of Chelsea and Vaughn's relationship. Sure, she'd never really liked him to begin with, and Chelsea had been having a few problems with him being distant lately – hence her desperation for a call – but that didn't give Julia an excuse to start trying to set Chelsea up with attractive guys as soon as she learned of their existence.

Finally, Chelsea had enough, and interrupted Julia right in the middle of the vivid description of the boy's eyes (green with golden flecks in them.) "Julia, how many times do I have to remind you, I have a boyfriend, who I am currently waiting to call me?"

"You mean you haven't broken up with him yet? But you deserve so much better..."

"I'm serious, Julia. Just let me focus on my relationship, okay?"

Julia sighed. "Well, if that's how you feel. I suppose I'll just have to take him as my own boyfriend, then!"

"You have a boyfriend too," Chelsea reminded Julia.

In all honesty, Chelsea would have needed at least five more hands to count how many boyfriends Julia had had and dumped over the past six months alone, all of them having been previously appealed to Chelsea and subsequently turned down. What, exactly, was wrong with picking just one guy and sticking to him, and how could a single teenager go through so many boys in such a short time without feeling a single ounce of guilt?

Julia snorted and made her reply, perhaps answering both questions for Chelsea. "What, him? Pfft, I was gonna dump him anyways. I mean, he always tastes like alcohol and cigarettes when I kiss him."

"Spare me the details," Chelsea replied, rolling her eyes – even though Julia couldn't see her. She knew that her childhood friend, of all people, would know her well enough to sense it. "Anyway, if that's all you have to tell me, I gotta go. I'm still waiting for my own boyfriend to call me."

"Hmph." Perhaps Julia was trying to sound affronted, but she only sounded disappointed. "Alright, call ya later."

Julia was the first to hang up.

With a small pang of regret in her heart, Chelsea put her feet back on the ground where they belonged and lay her phone back on the desk. She picked up a sheet of paper and a mechanical pencil, and began to write down all the possible things to say to Vaughn when he called her.