Isolated (Stardew Valley)

Chapter Six

APPARENTLY PERSONAL SPACE wasn't a problem here in Pelican Town.

No, not when I woke up one morning and found a mass of purple hair by the edge of my bed, whittling a stick to what looked to be a sharp weapon.

"Abigail, what the fuck?"

My hands latched instinctively on to the nearest thing I could find: a rusty hoe that looked to be on the verge of breaking. The sharp tip was pointed at the girl who now got up and smiled sheepishly.

"You really need to lock your doors after hours, June! Oh, I could've been a straggler just waiting to pounce on you."

Shaking my head, I lowered the tool. "What are you doing here? In my home. Watching me sleep."

Abigail got up and walked around the tiny space of my ranch. There wasn't much to look at, save for the little pieces of artwork I hung up on the wall. If she was snooping around while I was sleeping, there wasn't much to see. "I figured you and I should spend more time together since the boys always steal your company. A girls night out, am I right?"

That was true. I haven't hung out with Abigail alone. It was always with Sam or Sebastian. Still, did she really have to sneak into my ranch into the early mornings just to get my attention? Frankly, I was annoyed.

"I'd appreciate if you could've just called me. Or write me a letter or something." I forgot this town was a remote location and rarely ever used telephones for communication. Yes, instead they liked to write letters.

"Letters take too much work! And besides, I wanted it to be a surprise," Abigail said with a smirk. Oh yes, it definitely was a surprise. "Come on, let's go."

Before I knew it, I was ushered out of my house and onto my farmland. The sun was just rising and cast orange light upon us. It annoyed me that I couldn't tend to my crops and animals as I should be doing, but Abigail insisted we needed as much daylight as possible. Where we were going, I didn't know, but soon we were outside Pierre's General Store.

Abigail turned to me. "I just need to grab a few things from my room. Just stay here and at least pretend to look excited about this, got it?" My frown told her my answer and she rushed inside the store.

I didn't know why I couldn't have just gone into her room with her, but whatever. She saw my personal space but apparently I couldn't see hers.

Looking to my left, I saw the shadow of an object being tossed into the air and back down. My legs followed the sight until I was in front of someone whose smile instantly turned into a scowl.

"Oh, it's you."

Alex's green eyes shot daggers at me. He still seemed to carry resentment over our previous encounter, where I yelled at him to piss off. I couldn't blame him. I was such an ass.

But I held my ground and forced myself to face him. No, I didn't want to argue today.

"Look. I was a bitch to you the other day and I shouldn't have acted like that."

Alex laughed scornfully and continued throwing the gridball into the air. "Okay, and?"

"I wanted to–to... apologize." Yoba, apologizing was such a hard thing to do. I was rarely an apologetic or forgiving person back in the city.

"That's a crappy apology, but you know what? I'll think about it. Just for you, little Juno."

What a jerk. Here I was, attempting to be sincere, and he had to ruin that. The silly nickname didn't help either.

I shook my head and glared at Alex, who only smiled smugly back. I marched back to the store where Abigail now stood. She peered in curiosity.

"What was that? Is pretty boy giving you trouble?" A determined look filled her face and suddenly she looked like she was entering combat mode.