"It'll have to wait until tomorrow, Kerri; I just got home. Later." Closing my cell phone with a snap, I opened my apartment door and stepped inside warily, immensely enjoying the burst of machine-cooled air that greeted me. I had just finished working fifteen hours straight, and as a Very Important Businesswoman, my job never seemed to end- even when I was home. Kicking off my uncomfortable shoes, I dragged myself into the kitchen to make my daily cup of after- work raspberry tea. As I passed my phone, I pressed the 'Message' button and listened for an inevitable work call as I filled the tea kettle with water.

"Hey Alex, it's Annie!"

I paused to listen, leaving the water running in the sink.

"Ah, geez, I really need you to call me as soon as you get home. I have some bad news . . . bye."

I pursed my lips, picked the phone up and turned it on, effectively stopping my messages from playing. My fingers dialed Annie's number through muscle memory, and I glided over to shut the running water off as the phone rang.

"Alex?"

"Hey Annie," I replied as I poured extra water out of the kettle into the sink. There was a relieved sigh from the other end of the phone.

"Oh man Alex, you're going to hate me!"

"Don't tell me you sold the farm," I warned, setting the kettle on the stove. Annie had moved to a small village a year and a half before, taking advantage of a small advertisement in the newspaper. She ended up with a farm.

"No, I didn't sell the farm," she chuckled weakly. "Are you sitting down?"

"I'm making tea," I told her, turning the fire off and pouring some of the hot water into my favorite mug.

"Okay. Well." She cleared her throat. "As my bestest friend ever, I need your help."

"Go on," I was out of raspberry tea. Damn.

"I got into a sort of accident and my leg is shattered in. . . a lot of places. But that's not all. . . " She trailed off, waiting for me to reply.

"Oh gosh, Annie, what else?" I dropped a peppermint tea bag into the water regretfully.

"I, um, kind of figured you'd be able to help me run the farm while I heal a bit . . ."

"I have a job you know. You used to work at the same place as I do now-"

"I know, but I already called your boss," she said, quickly cutting me off. "And you loved the idea of visiting when I brought it up earlier-"

"You called my boss?" I shrieked, literally throwing the tea bag into the sink.

"Alex-"

"I can't farm," I continued, "I have a life! I have a job! How can you expect me-"

"ALEX!" Annie shouted, ending my tirade.

"WHAT," I shouted back half-heartedly, glaring at my innocent tea cup.

"He said it was okay. He said you've been working nonstop since I moved, and it's more than enough. He's going to send a paycheck over here."

"But-"

"The ferry leaves tomorrow morning at ten. I'll meet you at the dock when you get here. Bring enough clothes for . . . awhile, and remember to bring slightly non-fancy stuff. Remember- Flower Bud Village."

"But-!"

Dial tone.

I glared at the phone in annoyed shock, knowing she had won. She always beat me in the end, so there was really no point in fighting back. With a defeated sigh, I replaced the phone in its cradle, grabbed my minty tea, pressed the 'Message' button, and settled down for a long night.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

I yawned and shifted in my wooden bench-seat, tightly clutching my backpack on my lap. The ferry was virtually empty, and it was slightly unsettling to be alone on an old, empty wooden boat. My seat, close to the water, allowed a breeze and the strong smell of salt to invade my senses, and a disgusting humid feeling drew and stayed with me for the rest of the ride. Making sure my two suitcases were still securely planted under my seat, I looked up to see an elderly man smiling at me.

"I'm Captian Lay," he announced, holding a hand out for me to shake. I shook it politely and nodded.

"Alexandra Watson. How much longer will this be?" The captain looked thoughtfully at his wristwatch and then toward the ocean.

"Ten minutes at most. Are you visiting?" He continued without waiting for a reply. "Not too many people come out here to nowhere land."

"I'm . . . moving for an indefinite amount of time," I replied, trying to mentally send him a leave-me-the-hell-alone-please message. Lucky for me, he checked his watch and cleared his throat.

"Nice meeting you, Miss Watson. I hope you enjoy your stay. We'll be docking shortly." He turned and strode importantly down the wooden deck. I waited until he was out of sight before standing and swinging my backpack onto my shoulders. As soon as the boat docked, I walked off, carefully trying to balance the two rolling suitcases behind me and the bag on my back. True to her word, Annie, along with a short-ish man, was waiting uncomfortably at the end of the dock, leaning on a pair of crutches to avoid putting any weight on her bad leg. The short-ish man wore a kind of creepy proud expression.

"Alex!" Annie shouted as I approached. As soon as I was close enough, she launched herself forward and literally fell on me, trusting me to catch her weight.

"Guh," I replied, trying to stand her up from the makeshift hug as the man offered her the dropped crutches. He then offered me a hand.

"I'm Theodore, the mayor! Welcome to our humble village!" I offered a smile and returned my attention to Annie, as the mayor seemed to be suddenly distracted by a bird.

"You," she began sternly, reaching forward to tug one of my long black braids, "are too skinny. I'll fatten you up good." I recaptured my hair and gave my friend a genuine smile, infrequent if not rare in the land of the Alex.

"And you, Annie. You don't seem to have changed a bit." Annie smiled back, her face lighting up behind her brown bangs. Annie always wore her short brown hair in two pigtails to keep them off her neck. She wasn't skinny, but she wasn't quite fat either. Her clothing style had changed dramatically since she had moved to Flower Bud Village; now consisting of comfortable denim rather than dressy business suits.

"Come on, I'll show you the house," Annie told me excitedly, turning and beginning to hobble carefully out of the sand. I followed, still attempting my balancing act. The mayor didn't appear to notice us leaving. When I caught up to Annie, I asked her about it.

"There was a festival last night, and he probably pulled an overnighter," she told me, making a noise in the back of her throat as she pulled herself out of the sand.

"So he's not usually this . . . spacey?"

"Naw."

We passed through some trees and finally made it onto a cobblestone walkway. As we passed a large building and headed toward a bridge, Annie stopped to pull something out of her pocket and hand it to me.

"I drew a map up for you, as well as stuff about the people who live here. I made it color coordinated so that someone as slow as you could read it." The last sentence was said sarcastically, and I stuck my tongue out at my friend before taking the map. True to her word yet again, the map was brightly colored, and small colored asterisks were everywhere, informing me of who lived where and if they were nice or not. I refolded the map and put it in my pocket as we crossed the bridge and stepped up to a large house.

"This," Annie began proudly, "is my house!"

"You've done well for yourself," I told her, only slightly jealous as she opened the door. I followed her inside and immediately dropped my suitcases on the ground as she locked the door behind us. A boy with brown spiky hair and a small ponytail sat on a couch in the corner, watching TV.

"Ray, what are you doing here?" Annie asked, falling onto the couch next to him to peck him on the cheek.

"Waiting for you. I wanted to meet your friend," he looked up at me and smiled.

"This is Alex. We've been friends since middle school. Alex, this is Ray, my boyfriend." I walked over and shook Ray's hand, who smiled brightly at me. When we let go, I turned to survey the house. The floor was tiled and the walls were a light blue color. A large kitchen sat in one corner, and a bed was in the corner across from it. The rest of the room was covered in tools, bookshelves, and chairs.

"I just had the second floor added recently, so I haven't had time to rearrange everything. You'll be staying upstairs. You have the whole floor to yourself," Annie explained as I picked my bags up again.

"Cool," I agreed, walking over to the stairs.

"I'll help," Ray volunteered from the couch and stood up, taking my two rolling suitcases out of my hands before disappearing up the stairs.

"Hey, I didn't know you had a boyfriend," I told Annie accusingly, who giggled at me from the couch. "He seems to be a good catch though," I added thoughtfully.

"He is," Annie affirmed, nodding as Ray walked down the stairs. I went up as soon as he was off the stairs and moved directly toward the bed that sat in a corner. Flopping onto it face down, I let my backpack slide off the bed and land on the floor. I was already tired. Pulling myself up again, I picked up the suitcases that Ray had discarded by the foot of the bed and rolled them over to the dresser-vanity set across from the room. As I began to put clothes haphazardly into the drawers, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. Black bangs were tucked behind my ears, usually down past the bridge of my nose. A light layer of eyeliner brought out the green in my eyes. My black hair went to about mid-back length, currently in double braids. I was wearing my normal ensemble of black, black, black- a black sleeveless shirt and black shorts. The only color I wore was my pair of bright green sandals. I had packed regular shoes in my suitcase for working. Throwing the last of my clothes into the drawers, I pulled out a pair of socks and replaced the sandals with gym shoes for my adventure around the town.

I walked downstairs to find Ray and Annie completely absorbed in the television. I cleared my throat loudly as I headed to the door.

"Oh, wait!" Annie exclaimed, jumping up with the help of her crutches. "I need to warn you about," her eyes narrowed dramatically, "him." I raised my eyebrows.

"Alright."

"He's an egotistical bastard, selfish, and possibly my worst enemy ever," she said.

"Okay, what's his name then?" I asked patiently, almost amused at the expression on her face. Ray hid his face in a pillow to cover his laughs.

"Jamie," Annie said with a snarl. "Watch out for him."

"What does he look like?"

"You'll know when you meet him," she told me confidently. "You'll know."

"Uh, okay. Bye then," I waved with two fingers as I walked outside and closed the door behind me.

I wandered through the stone paths of Flower Bud village, greeting the random people that stopped me as I walked. They were all incredibly polite; some even giving me food as a welcome. Annie's map was still carefully folded in my pocket, as I had decided to make my own judgments about people without reading hers first. As I walked, I noticed a purple-ish house surrounded by the same color fence. Curious, I walked over to the house and into the backyards. Rows of fruits and vegetables grew in one end, and a large green pasture filled with assorted animals stretched across the majority of the other half of the yard. A boy, back to me, sat on a stake that made up a fence around the pasture. He wore a funny hat that was slightly on the side of his head, his hand on a dog that sat faithfully on the ground next to him. As soon as it caught my scent, the dog barked twice, and the boy turned around. Ice blue eyes bore into my green ones, and I approached, feeling shy.

"Uh, hey, I'm Alex. I'll be, uh, living here for awhile. . ." I trailed off unsteadily as he blinked at me calmly. As he seemed content to study me for the moment, I walked closer and sat on a stake a few feet away from him.

"Hi," he finally replied, his hand returning to its spot on the dog's head. I bit my bottom lip.

"Anything to do for fun around here?" The boy remained silent. Just as I was about to declare him rude and leave, he replied.

"It depends on what you consider fun," he replied in his soft voice. "I farm all day, mostly." He raised his eyes and easily met mine again.

"Oh," I said meekly, breaking the eye contact as a cow approached me. I cautiously patted it on the head a few times while the boy watched.

"Your house is purple," I informed him awkwardly as the cow wandered away.

"It is," he deadpanned.

"Why?"

He didn't answer or look at me, so I began to stand. As I turned to say goodbye, he stood as well.

"Would you like to brush a cow?" His face incredibly emotionless, he produced a brush from his rucksack and held it in my general direction, almost bashfully.

"Sure," I grinned, taking the brush from his outstretched hand.

"I'll show you how," he told me softly, waiting until I climbed over the fence before walking over to the cow I had pet earlier.

"They especially like circular motions," he explained, rubbing his hands fondly over the cow's back. I put the brush up to the cow's side and began to move it in a circle clockwise. The cow made a noise I took for happiness and I laughed. I faint glimmer of a smile appeared on the boy's face, but it disappeared just as quickly as I had seen it.

"What are you doing here anyway?" He asked. I raised an eyebrow, having taken it the wrong way.

"Excuse me?"

"In the village," he clarified, picking up a chicken that had strayed close to his feet.

"I'm staying with a friend for awhile." He nodded, setting the chicken down.

"You want some milk?"

"What?" I felt like an idiot every time I opened my mouth around him. It was different. Face blank, he stepped over the fence.

"I'm thirsty. Do you want some milk as well?"

"Oh," my face blushed hotly. "Sure, thanks. I'll just, um, wait here." He started inside, taking no notice of the color on my face. I watched as he entered the house, finally seeing his weird clothes for the first time. Hello, culture shock.

When he returned carrying two glasses of milk, I was sitting in the field, petting a sheep. When I turned around, I saw him giving me the same emotionless look. As I watched, a full blown smile grew from his mouth to his light blue eyes. It would have been creepy, had it not looked so cute.

"You remind me of my sister," he explained as he handed me the glass, the smile slowly disappearing. He resumed his earlier position on the fence, holding his glass loosely.

"Your sister," I began, swirling the milk in the glass. He sighed loudly and looked toward the darkening Fall sky.

"She used to live here. That's why it's purple," he fixed me with his gaze, offering no other explanation. I let the subject drop in favor of trying the milk.

"Wow, this is really good," I said brightly, staring into its milky depths. I saw him grin out of the corner of my eye.

"Thanks. The cow you brushed made it this morning."

"This is probably the best milk I've ever tasted," I informed him as I drained the rest of it and stood up to stretch and pull my shirt down. The boy stood and took my glass as I stretched my arms.

"You can stop by tomorrow if you have time. I'll be here most of the day," he offered hesitantly, shrugging. I smiled and began to hop the fence.

"Maybe I will. I'll see you later. . ." I frowned as I realized I didn't know his name. "I never got your name."

"It's Jamie."

Oh.

Shit.