"Lillian."

"No."

"Lillian."

"No."

"Lil-"

"Ug! Laney, shhh, stop! Just stop! You're killin' me here," the farmer huffed with a sigh and a bitter grumble as she slouched in her seat and sloppily crossed her arms over her chest. Nuh uh. She wasn't gonna do it. Not even for Laney.

"To be perfectly honest, that doesn't wound my conscious whatsoever," the waitress grinned over her teacup, taking a moment to blow on the simmering Royal English before continuing, "Just do it."

"I don't wanna."

"You are literally the most infuriating person I have ever met in the entirety of my life. Give me three reasons why you're so against it."

"Alright, fine," the farmer muttered, huffing once more, subsequently letting her bangs flutter in the air for a brief moment. Laney quirked her eyebrow and was on the verge of gesturing for Lillian to continue, when the other woman burst out of her seat, knocking her chair over in the process, "Number one! I don't want to."

"That's not a legitimate reason."

"It totally is. You didn't dictate any rules stating restrictions on my reasoning," she stated, her entire demeanor shifting into a smug casualness that made the blonde roll her eyes; she should have guessed that Lillian would bullshit her way through this conversation.

"Whatever, fine. Reason two?"

"To give in after fighting against it for this long is a terrible show of weakness. And if I am anything in the entire world, it is not weak."

"You aren't weak, and you wouldn't be even if you 'gave in', as you so eloquently put it." Laney couldn't even begin to imagine why Lillian decided that the farming life was the one for her; she would have made a killer lawyer, with the way she argued. Even when she was bullshitting her way through a conversation, as was the case in the current moment in time, her way with words and her overwhelming air of determination and sheer confidence would make any professional second guess themselves. "You just have the stubborn pride of a mule."

"I will not deny that!" The two ladies grinned at one another, and Laney just resorted to shaking her head and stifling a giggle as she took a sip of her tea, waiting for Lillian to pick up her seat and settle herself before giving the deal breaking argument. "But reason number three is the most important one. And it's an actual reason that you would approve of."

"Oh, really now?"

"Yes. Reason number three is…" Taking a moment to patter her hands against the table in a mock drum roll, Lillian let the pause linger long enough to get a frustrated sigh from the poor girl before her, "It looks disgusting."

"I… What?" The look of shock on Laney's face was absolutely priceless. What Lillian would give for the entirety of the village to see this one moment of pure betrayal on the face of the resident sweetheart.

"I'm kidding," she snorted, scooting her chair closer to her best lady friend's, pulling the other blonde close to smooch her temple and nuzzle close, "It's beautiful, you dork. It just looks so… sweet. Look how many layers there are! Like, this single slice of cake could feed all of Konohana, and there would be leftovers... Please don't cry."

"I'm not going to cry," the waitress pouted, her emerald eyes now taking an interest in the hands folded in her own lap.

Shoot. She fricked up. Again. Lillian knew her "humour" was easily one of her largest flaws, and had always been pretty bad at knowing when to draw the line and stop with the teasing. With a dramatic sigh, she reached across Laney and plucked the dainty, intricately-patterned fork that was designated for important events in the café –such as testing a new dish, apparently. And with a one-two-three, a sizeable chunk of the dessert was in her mouth, blossoming and bursting with a dozen different flavours that flowed together and melded into one. "That's… that's actually pretty good."

"Don't lie to me," Laney sighed, pushing her bangs back and rubbed her forehead with her middle and forefinger, "If I wanted someone to do that, I would have asked Cam."

"No, I'm serious! It's actually really good! It's just… wow, that is a lot going on. You know that I don't really eat super sweet things!"

"Just you wait. One day I'll make a dessert that will sweep even you off your feet," she grinned, rolling her eyes. As much as she hated to admit, and as much as she wanted to mope for a few more moments about Lillian's joke, she was right; the farmer had never been a big fan of any of the café's cakes or parfaits. But without her usual taste-tester around…

As if on cue, Lillian took another bite, this one noticeably smaller, and commented, "Why not ask Ash's input on this thing? He's a better judge than I am when it comes to sweet stuff and whatever, and he's a shit liar, so you get the best of both worlds."

One blink. Two blinks. Three. "Wait, does that mean you two made up?" Laney finally managed to get out, her eyes wide in confusion. Why was she always the last to know about the important things?

"Huh? Oh, no, not yet. He hasn't apologized yet, and we all know that I'm not gonna go up to him first."

"But… why not? Like, you told me what happened and all of that fun stuff, but I'm still kind of confused on why it's such a big deal? I don't blame you for being mad, but isn't this… excessive?"

Lillian shrugged, putting the dessert fork down and plucking her mug of coffee off the tiny table. "Not really? I guess I see where you're coming from, but he was being an ass, he was in the wrong, and I have no obligation to go and baby him to make everyone else feel better, you know?"

"Dang, Lil', I knew you could be harsh, but seeing is believing," a new voice chimed from behind the two ladies, and as Lillian leaned back to look above her, the widest possible grin broke out over her features.

"Dirk!"

"The one and only," he laughed, leaning down to her grabbing hands to give the petit woman an awkward hug. Without missing a beat, he nabbed the back of a chair from one of the other café's tables, and dragged it to the corner table that situated the two Bluebell ladies. "Now then, what's all this juicy gossip about?"

"Uh…" As the interaction between this new man and Lillian transpired, Laney had to sit back in bafflement –who even was this? Laney hadn't recalled seeing this fellow around before, which meant that he was either a tourist or a resident of Konohana; given his familiarity with the farmer, however, the waitress was more inclined to believe the latter. Even so, it was odd that the blonde didn't recognize him, considering the two villages did interact on occasion.

Lillian and the apparent "Dirk" were caught up in their own engagement, the farmer making wild gestures and twisting her face into a thousand expressions as she retold the story that Laney could nearly recite herself, at this point. And as such, she took the moment to stay in her quiet, reserved corner, and observe the gentleman over the rim of her teacup. His hair appeared to be neatly cropped, an easy sandy brown, though it was mostly covered by a deep fuchsia cap; a colour that he seemed to don from nearly top to bottom. He was probably only a few inches taller than herself standing up, though he had a lean build and clean lines, with a recently shaven face. But she found her eyes constantly returning to gaze at his own, a brilliant emerald only a few shades softer than her own.

Dang. He was pretty freaking cute.

Not like it mattered. A small smile graced her features as the one who gave her an endless supply of butterflies came to mind; this mail courier was attractive, sure, but she would be forever faithful to the crush that she had nurtured over the years.

"Oh!" Lillian giggled, clapping her hands as she registered Laney's confusion, "Laney, let me introduce you. This is Dirk; he's the new mail courier for Bluebell and Konohana, though he permanently lives over there. Dirk, my dear, this is my one true love in the world, Laney. I know she's super adorable and you're probably having inappropriate boy thoughts, but she is mine, and if you even fantasize about speaking to her, I'll beat you up." As she babbled on, the farmer took the blonde woman into her embrace, encasing her as best as she could in the most over dramatically possessive manner she could muster.

"Lillian, stop!" she whined, her pale complexion slowly colouring to the shade of her own cardigan, "You're embarrassing me."

"Now, now," Dirk snickered, holding his hands up in mock surrender, "There's no need to worry about me whisking her lovely self away. She's beautiful to be sure," he paused, quirking an eyebrow at the woman who brought her hands up to cover her flushed face, "Very much so, in fact. But Lillian, my darling, we both know that you are the only woman who could ever possess my heart and fulfill its longing desire."

At that, Lillian staged a zealous gag, before grinning and holding Laney even closer, "Good luck trying to win me to your side with lines like those. Plus, you're already engaged, you dork –or did your superb memory forget that too?"

With a sigh, Dirk waved his hand in dismissal, though it was easy to note the glow that encased the man once his alleged fiancée was mentioned. "Details, details. Have you two spoken recently, by the way? She's been complaining about wanting to tell you all the juicy gossip from home."

Laney couldn't help but bite her bottom lip and cast her eyes down as she squirmed out of Lillian's grip; it had been some time since she had felt so out of place with her best friend. But these were the moments that made the blonde question if she was as important to Lillian as was the case vice versa.

No, that was stupid.

Of course she was.

Lil' would never lie about something like that.

Though Laney always had to let her mind wander when these people came strutting around, people who obviously had known Lillian for seasons, but people whom had never come up in conversation in the entire time the two ladies had been merely acquainted.

Glancing back up, Laney blinked as she registered that the two were now looking at her, obviously having turned the conversation to include her own input. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Thinking about lover boy again?" The snicker that passed the other two figures at the table made Laney avert her gaze and purse her lips as a blush began to rise once more. Great. She made herself look like a fool.

"Hey now, love is never something to be embarrassed about!" Dirk chimed with a chuckle, reaching out to take Laney's hand in one of his own, and pat it lightly, "He's a lucky guy to have someone as sweet as you, so don't worry about that, alright?"

"I… How can you say that?" the blonde stammered out in defence, "You don't even know me. I could be an awful human being, you know."

"Let's call it intuition."

"Intuition is just a fancy sounding word for stupidity."

"Are you still upset over the cake thing?" Lillian sighed, shaking her head, which just made Laney all the more uncomfortable in her embarrassment. Shoot. She was making herself look not only rude, but a fool as well.

"… I'm sorry," she muttered quietly, darting her eyes to meet Lillian's violet and Dirk's spring green for a brief moment before hugging her cardigan closer to herself.

"It's all in the past," Dirk chimed, waving it off once more –he seemed to be rather good at the whole "carefree" demeanor. Laney nearly envied his ability to take something and drop it a heartbeat later. "But if it proves to be more believable, I know you're sweet because you're one of her friends; anyone who she sticks around with, who can simultaneously deal with her attitude for more than four minutes has to be the equivalent of a Goddess."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!" the farmer pouted, shooting out a leg to give a quick, clean kick directly to his shin beneath the table's disguise.

"Ow! Bloody Goddess, Lil! See what I mean?" Which, of course, only resulted in Dirk receiving a sharp pain to the other leg.

Laney let out a delightful giggle, this time being the one to pull the other woman towards herself. Partially to protect Dirk, and partially to hold down any limbs that could possibly fly out with her next comment. "You should see how she is first thing in the morning. There are times I've considered grabbing a broom for protection from the beast that possesses her."

"Oh, so this is how it's gonna be? You know one another for ten minutes, and I'm already being teamed up against? Great."

"Oh yeah, like you can talk, Queen of Hypocrisy," the brunette laughed, slipping out of his seat, nodding his head towards the cash register and display of sweets.

Taking her cue that she actually had to do her job, Laney followed the man and slipped behind the counter, grinning as she watched Lillian from the corner of her eye stand and begrudgingly follow. "So, you never finished explaining the whole Ash thing to me," she put in, gathering Dirk's order of a ginseng tea and raspberry cheesecake with effortless grace.

"Wait, you two still haven't made up? Lil, you said you had things under control."

"I do have things under control. I'm just fine with the way things are, I'll have you know."

"Liar," Laney and Dirk shot back in synchronization.

"What? I am! I've come to terms with it, you know? If he doesn't want me around anymore, than whatever, I'll deal with it. He's a big boy, and he can make his own decisions."

"You're being stupid," Dirk scoffed, rolling his eyes as he leaned against the counter and nibbled on his cake, "This is fantastic, by the way."

"Of course it is; I made it, after all," Laney grinned, before hardening her expression at Lillian, "You aren't being 'mature' by running away from your problems like this."

"I'm not running. And he's not being mature by not realizing he was in the wrong!"

"Have you seen him recently? Ever since you two snapped at each other, he's always looking forlorn and I always catch him sadly gazing into nothing. Cheryl and Jessica have been worrying about it too. I'm pretty sure he knows."

"Come on, babe," the mail courier sighed, throwing a lazy arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer, "You've been putting on more of a face than usual recently, and we all know it. Ash –that's his name, right? Anyways, the kid has apparently been one of your best friends for what, four years? There's nothing wrong with the fact you're bothered by it."

"I'm feeling exceptionally attacked right now," she muttered, casting violet eyes down to her feet as she crossed her arms, "I'm still not gonna apologize."

"And we're not saying you should," Laney sighed, pouring another batch of freshly brewed French Roast into a ceramic mug for the farmer, "We're saying you should talk to him. At least, that's what I'm saying."

"No, I totally agree. This tiff between you guys is throwing off the dynamic of half the village, and I'm just a mail courier who has been seeing this place a few hours a day for like, two weeks."

"You guys know I love you, right?"

"Of course you do," the two grinned, once more speaking in unison.

"But I'm not gonna go out of my way to do it. And by the way, it's super creepy that you two can do that."

Sighing, the waitress shook her head and frowned. She knew that she wasn't making progress right now, and that today would not be the day that she won this feud. But she'd find a way.

Lillian was her best friend, which meant it was her job to clean up the messes that Lillian didn't know were staining the path before her.

She would find a way.

A/N: This could certainly have been… better. But oh well. That's life. I'm still kind of getting back into the whole "writing" thing, so I hope you guys aren't suffering too much from my rustiness! Anyways! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter to some degree, and I hope to hear your thoughts on what's happening so far! Hopefully my characterization isn't too bland or anything c': Have a great weekend, everyone!