Chapter Text
There were other ways to occupy idle hands. Better ways, some might argue. However, seated front and center at the Stardrop Saloon's bar, the easiest thing for Ivy to do was order another beer. And then another beer. And another one. Anything to distract from the fact that she was sitting up there alone, while seemingly the entire town happily chattered around her. Ivy couldn't shake the feeling that she shouldn't have been there. Surely, the note Ivy had found in her mailbox earlier that week was just left as a formality.
Spring mixer at the Saloon Friday night! Hope to see you there! -Emily
Maybe it was silly, but Ivy was actually excited. Ivy had inherited her grandfather's farm a few months back, and decided that a change of scenery was exactly what she wanted. Although, the town didn't seem to want Ivy back. She found it difficult to settle in, and in two months had only developed vague acquaintanceships with maybe three townspeople. Four, if she could include the kind old man who lived in a tent on the mountainside. Ivy decided she would. But, he wasn't in the saloon tonight, and Ivy was left to contemplate the fullness- or emptiness, she hadn't decided- of her fourth pint of beer.
"Ya know, staring at it won't make it evaporate," a gruff voice came from behind the bar.
"Gus," Ivy began without removing her eyes from the glass, "am I unapproachable?"
The bartender nearly chocked on his own breath. "Well, whydya ask?"
Ivy glanced at the scene behind her. Small pockets of people scattered around the saloon, each completely enveloped in their own conversations. Sebastian laughing loudly over a game of Billiards with his friends, Sam and Abigail. Willy, the fisherman, and Clint, the blacksmith, getting into some heated debate in the corner booth. Robin and Demetrius had been dancing together for the better part of thirty minutes, not releasing each other from their tight embrace no matter what song played.
"No reason," Ivy sighed, unsure if she was able to mask the longing in her eyes. She could barely see straight out of them.
"Look," Gus pointedly slid the beer glass away from Ivy and pushed a glass of water closer. "I know it's not easy comin' in from the outside. This town hasn't seen many newcomers lately." Ivy used the glass of water as an anchor, tethering her to not only the bar top, but the plane of existence, and used laser focus to watch the words come from Gus's mouth. "But give it some time, they'll all come around. Everyone's got a good story to tell, including you. And don't you know it, everyone loves a good story." Gus left Ivy with a warm smile, the kind that filled his eyes with light.
She barely even noticed that the last glass of beer was now completely missing from the bar top. "I don't know if what I've got it worth sharing," Ivy muttered to herself.
Suddenly, Ivy became increasingly aware of how warm it was in the salon. She needed air. After taking a giant swig of water, she left more than enough money to cover her tab and found her feet firm beneath her.
Ivy managed to make it out through the front door without completely embarrassing herself, at least not in any way noticeable to her. She took a deep breath and let the cool spring air fill her lungs. Her farm, and the house she lived in on said farm, was only a short walk away. Ivy knew the walk would do her well, only then cursing her choice in footwear. The heeled boots seemed like a smart idea when a clean image and a good impression were on the forefront of her mind. Ivy barely made it off the front stoop when she heard muffled voices from the side of the saloon. It sounded like two people arguing. The voices grew louder almost instantly, and Ivy didn't have to try very hard to make out what they were saying.
"Are you fucking kidding me right now? Are you actually out of your mind?" Ivy knew the voice, she had heard it before. But she couldn't place it.
"You knew this was coming, alright? I don't know what you're getting so worked up about!" The second voice was clearer in her mind. It was Alex. He lived with his grandparents not too far from the saloon, and was a contender for making the least amount of effort to welcome Ivy to the valley.
"Alex, you have said that you were going pro for, like, ever. How am I supposed to know when that actually means something!?" Which meant that this other voice had to belong to-
"Haley, really?" Alex's voice was no longer angry and shrill. It was flat, almost defeated.
No one spoke for a long moment, and then Ivy heard a sigh. She couldn't tell who it was from.
"Look," Haley's voice was small, almost a whisper, "Let's just go inside. We are already late enough as it is, and I don't want to hear about it from Emily. We can talk about this tomorrow, okay?"
Shit. Ivy was going to have to move, hide, something, to make it look like she wasn't just standing there listening to them. But her brain was fried. She didn't know what the best hiding place would be, so she threw them all out the window. She tucked her head down, pretending she was searching for something in her bag, and carefully toed down the creaky wooden steps, painfully aware of the couple coming in the opposite direction. She avoided eye contact with the two as they breezed by. She was almost too focused on the imaginary contents of her back, completely missing the last step and stumbling to the ground.
"Fuck," Ivy breathed, dusting off her knees.
A pair of hands appeared in front of her, she took them wordlessly without looking at who they belonged to. She was quickly-almost too quickly- brought back on her feet. Those same hands brushed the grass off her shoulders.
"Gotta be more careful than that, farm girl," Alex's mouth curved up into an amused half smile. Was he talking about her falling, or the unintentional eavesdropping? Did he know she was listening?
"I was- usually- it's just-" Ivy couldn't find the words to form a full sentence.
"I hope you have more balance when you're in with the cows. Can't have you getting trampled, now." Ivy could just make out his features glow of the small lamp outside the saloon. It seemed to halo around him, highlighting golden brown hair that he kept cropped on the sides to keep it out of his face. Everything about him radiated warmth. His tan skin was deepened by days in the sun, and his brown eyes were just as inviting.
Ivy was staring now. She knew it.
"Yeah," Ivy coughed, physically shaking any distracting thoughts out of her head. "The cows, right."
She might have muttered something else, but not loud enough for anyone to hear. Alex was inside the saloon before she could turn on her heels and start back towards the farm. Stupid, stupid, stupid, Ivy thought to herself. Now, not only did half the town think she was just an unwanted stranger, the other half was going to know she was a creep who couldn't hold her liquor. Which, she proved to herself when she took a moment to retch into a bush by the bus stop.
The next morning went pretty much as expected. The rooster's crowing had nothing on the intense headache that greeted Ivy when she awoke. Luckily, she wasn't too far gone the night before. Unluckily, that meant she remembered every interaction, and every misstep.
"I am never going to be able to show my face in that saloon every again," Ivy muttered to herself as she made for the barn. The stench hit her especially hard, and she had to hold her breath in order to get any hay into the feeder without vomiting all over the cows. "You wouldn't trample me, right?" Ivy brushed the side of one of her older cows, Moosolini. Ivy didn't have much of a relationship with the animals either, she only inherited them, afterall. "Right?" Ivy narrowed her eyes. The cow just stared blankly in response. "I need to get out of here for a minute," Ivy wiped the seat off her brow.
After gathering a few items from the garden, and scraping the muck off her arms, Ivy set for Pierre's store. Normally, she would prefer to just leave her goods in the bin for the Mayor to pick up at the end of the day. If he was going to make his rounds anyway, it seemed silly for her to trouble herself with the trip. But Ivy needed to breath in some fresh air that was untainted by chicken feed, so she hooked her arm through the basket and made for town.
"Ah, good morning Farmer Ivy!" Pierre's voiced sliced through the store. Ivy immediately wished she had brought sunglasses, or even a hat, something to block the florescent lighting overhead.
"Good morning, Pierre," Ivy gave her best smile and did her best to hide the nausea.
Pierre's store was small, but it had everything Ivy could ever need. It was a grocery store, a seed supply, a second hand furniture store, and a farm stand all in one. Though Ivy missed having twenty cereal options, she could forget about it when the cereal she did have access to was her favorite.
"And what do you have for me today?" Pierre asked, eyeing the basket on Ivy's arm.
"Not much this time," Ivy used every ounce of her strength to hoist the basket onto the counter, "I've got a few heads of cauliflower, some garlic, and a few bunches of green beans."
"Perfect," Pierre pulled the basket closer. "I will price off of this out and get you your money. Why don't you have a gander around the store?"
Ivy gave a small nod and wandered off into the aisles. It was still early, so the store was practically empty. Which meant that when the bell above the door jingled, the sounds carried through the otherwise quiet store. Ivy stayed tucked in the canned food aisle, hoping she could remain hidden from whoever was-
"Alex! Welcome in!" Pierre's voice rang out. Fucking of course it was Alex. Ivy knew there was no were else she could go, so she remained frozen, hoping that Alex would just walk by and say nothing to her. He wouldn't normally say anything in greeting, so why would he now?
"Hey, Pierre," Alex let out a loud yawn and made for the front counter. "I was hoping to pick up my grandma's produce order. She said it would be ready today?"
Perfect, Ivy thought, Just pick up the order and leave, and we don't have to interact. I can go back to my farm and you can go back home and we can go back to never speaking.
"Ah, yes. One moment, please. I just have to finish paying out these items. Ivy?" Pierre called out to the aisles.
"Why can't anything just be easy?" Ivy muttered under her breath. She gathered up every ounce of strength and pushed the nausea way deep down into her stomach. She walked out of the aisle and beelined straight for the front counter, avoiding any eye contact with anyone. Alex stepped to the side and waited. Ivy wished he would wait anywhere else.
"Here you are," Pierre handed Ivy an envelope, "and thank you so much for stopping by this morning."
"No, thank you," Ivy gave a small smile. She was chewing on the inside of her cheek so hard she was beginning to taste blood. Alex still said nothing to her as she grabbed the now-empty basket from the counter and turned out of the store.
Ivy would only let herself breathe once she was home. She would only relax once she could drop her head into a toilet and never come back up. She would only allow herself solace when she was sure that she could scream and no one would hear her. If she wasn't feeling so sick, she would have spent the afternoon in the caverns.
Of course, Ivy would get no release. "Hey, wait up," she was at the bus stop, halfway to the farm, when she heard a voice call out behind her, followed by some light jogging in the dirt. Ivy didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.
Ivy stared up at the sky "Skies, Yoba, what do you have against me?" she muttered.
"What was that?" Alex breathed once he caught up. He had a brown paper bag in hand, which Ivy guessed was the produce he was picking up for his grandmother.
"Nothing," Ivy shook her head, "Alex, right?"
"Yeah," Alex grinned, "And you're the new farmer?"
"Erm, my name is Ivy," she rocked back and forth on the heels of her feet, "but yeah, I own the farm down here now."
"Nice," Alex nodded, looking down in the direction of her farm. "Do you mind if I walk with you or a minute?"
"I-uhm-bu-" Ivy began, quickly trying to remember the state she left things in when she left in the morning. "I-yeah- I mean no, I don't mind," she finally choked out.
"Cool," Alex held out a hand, signaling for Ivy to show the way.
Neither of them spoke for the first few moments. Ivy tried to look anywhere else, and settled on straight forward. I was almost painful, being forced to listen to two people's footsteps on the rough path, and Alex shuffling the paper bag from hand to hand.
"So I was-"
"I'm sorry for-"
They both spoke at once.
"You first," Ivy looked away, trying to hide the red she could feel on her face.
"No, you first, please," she could hear Alex's grin.
"I, erm," how would she word this without implicating herself? What if Alex really didn't notice her eavesdropping? "Thank you for helping me up last night. Kind of embarrassing to know that people saw me like that." She brought a hand up behind her neck, trying to let her cold fingers cool her off.
"Oh, no, we've all been there," Alex brushed it off, "I mean, I haven't. Not publicly, at least." He looked at Ivy sideways, searching for her reaction.
"Well, I mean- I don't usually- you know it was kind of a day," Ivy couldn't search for an excuse that didn't sound totally pathetic.
"Hey, hey," Alex rested a hand on Ivy's shoulder for a moment, before quickly removing it and bringing it behind his head, "I'm just being a dick. No worries, really."
Of course you are, Ivy rolled her eyes and returned her gaze front and center. Her farm was coming up just around the bend. She prayed she could shake Alex once they got to the gate- she would thank him for the company, say something about the chickens needing tending to, excuse herself, and then just curl up into a ball until summer came. Perfect plan.
"I actually wanted to see how you were settling in and if I could do anything to help," Alex's voice cut through again.
"H-help?" Ivy almost snorted the response. "Thanks, Alex, I'll keep that in mind."
"Yeah, because you know, we're just a tight-knit little town down here. And we don't mind helping out when a neighbor needs it, you know?" Something changed in Alex's voice, Ivy could sense it. "And I'm sure that you know, a farm like this and a girl like you, maybe-"
"A girl like me?" Ivy scoffed.
"No, wait, shit I didn't mean that," Alex quickly tried to backstep on his words, "I just meant, like, neighbors are always available to help out, you know?"
Ivy's eyebrows furrowed in slightly. "Right, so I've heard." The front gate came into view, and Ivy began lengthening her strides to put some distance between her and Alex. "Well, I'll keep that in mind," she called out as she unlocked the latch. She watched the alarm in Alex's face as she slipped through.
"Yoba, wait, please," Alex groaned. He caught up to her now, and stopped short when the gate closed. The barrier between them was almost metaphorical, though, as Alex could clear the gate in a single jump. "Okay, so maybe I need your help."
"I'm not sure what I could possibly help you with," Ivy shook her head.
Alex's face washed over with a light pick tint. He averted Ivy's star and picked at a loose splinter on the gate. "It's kind of out there, but you would be doing me a huge favor, you know?"
Ivy did not have time for this. The chill of the morning was starting to wear off and the April sun was beginning to warm Ivy's arms. She had a cold shower waiting for her just inside the house, along with a mop bucket. Though, she probably wouldn't need the bucket anymore, the fresh air did actually do her some good. Ivy rolled her eyes and started to turn away from the gate, and from Alex, "Well, when you finally decide to ask, I'll be-"
"I need you to pretend to be my girlfriend, for a little bit," Alex blurted out.
Ivy stopped short. Maybe she did need the bucket, afterall.