Elliott x Reader One Shots - Stardew Valley

7. Ice Skating

  Winter in Pelican Town was positively gorgeous. I had awoken one morning to find that the entire landscape surrounding me had been covered by a thick blanket of fresh snow. The rolling hills which framed my plot of land sparkled, the once naked trees were now coated in white. A chill seeped in through the old single-paned windows and filled the house. 

  I wrapped myself in my bathrobe, tying it in place while rushing downstairs, eager to warm up. Relief came almost instantly as the burning match met the tinder I'd placed inside my wood-burning stove, but the relentless chill still claimed the upper level of the house. It definitely took some getting used to. I silently promised myself that I'd save up throughout the next year, so I could commission Robin to install the best heating system she could manage in such an old house before the first snow. 

I had spent the first two weeks of winter at home finding new ways of keeping myself busy. Gran had passed away long before Grandpa, but many of her belongings remained. Mostly clothes, half-finished crafts, and several old perfume bottles which had aged far beyond the point of smelling nice. I thought it was sweet that Grandpa had kept them, but there really was no point in hanging onto things that were likely to go unused. 

  In my effort to sort through the stack of old boxes at the back of the upstairs linen closet, I'd uncovered a plethora of Gran's old sewing pattern packets. Most of them featured designs that had since fallen well out of fasion, but I did find a couple which intrigued me. I even set aside a few I found suitable to gift to Emily.

Once my home was sufficiently decluttered, I felt very accomplished. There was only one problem, a question that lingered in the back of my mind once all of the housework was done: now what? I considered my options as I worked on my breakfast, settling on a loose plan. Feed the animals, check the mail, head into town to buy some groceries and maybe upgrade a few tools. I checked the clock above the stove; it was surprisingly still fairly early. I returned to my bedroom, humming to myself as I flicked through the clothes in my closet in search of something warm but not too cumbersome. Once I was nicely bundled, I opened my creaking front door and stepped outside.

I paused for a moment, slightly stunned by the crisp winter air stinging in my nose. I drew a deep breath in anyway, coming to enjoy the sensation. The snow crunched pleasantly beneath my feet as I made each careful step down from the front porch and across the field. When I entered the coop, I noticed my ducks and chickens huddling together in the center of the room to keep warm. "Sorry, guys," I said, making a mental note to stop by Marnie's shop for a space heater at some point.

  I was never certain when she'd be in, and I had learned to be a little more patient when I arrived only to find the door locked, but it always aggrivated me a little anyway. Of course, I supposed I could understand, at least on some level. While they might have been under the impression that they had the whole town fooled, it was really quite well known that Marnie and Lewis were caught up in a long-term affair. The real mystery was why they felt the need to try and keep it hidden. It's not like either of them were in other relationships, and it really wasn't anyone else's business anyway. I just wished - albeit for obviously selfish reasons - that they would stop sneaking around, or at the very least, that they would save their sneaking for after business hours. 

As I went about my work, my mind drifted to Elliott. I had begun to see him in his usual spots around town again, but we hadn't really spoken since he spent the night. I assumed he was still working through things, and I didn't want to pry. Part of me worried that I had made him uncomfortable with the whole ordeal. Of course, I had only meant well, but following his abrupt departure I couldn't help but wonder if I had overstepped my bounds. 

I knew I was probably just worrying for nothing, but it didn't make it any easier to stop. I was beginning to care a lot about him, and I just wanted to do whatever I could to help. I hoped above all else that he understood that. I tried to shake off the thoughts as I marched through the snow back to the house to check the mail.