[Stardew Valley] On the Edge - Shane

17

"Two. Three, four..."

A few days later, Aria inspected her latest harvest of melons, twisting them in her palm and holding them up to the harsh late summer sun to get a closer look. A few days of rain and spending the night at Marnie's ranch did not exactly put Aria's mind at ease when it came to her crops - she had no idea how Abel and Grandad had the patience for gardening. She was almost afraid to look, but... there were no skinless divots in the flesh. No bite marks from crows, Radar, or scrape marks from slugs - just smooth, untouched melon.

Squinting, she set the plump fruit down and fished from her pocket a crumpled card that Pierre gave her when she first moved in. Yep, that's a gold star melon. If only Abel could see her now. He'd never believe that Aria the Flower Killer was yanking up gold star melons without grandpa's help.

"Five! Take that, Abel!" Aria cackled towards the orange sky. She'd long resigned from pretending that her sanity was still intact after staring at melons for twenty minutes.

As much as she silently complained, or needed to soak her aching joints after taxing days on the farm, Aria enjoyed it. She loved the silent dewy mornings before the animals awakened, the fresh air of her farm tucked away in a secluded forest. The quiet songs of the woods also allowed her mind to run wild with thoughts of Shane. They bounded between just general concern for him, hoping Morris wasn't getting on his nerves too badly during his shifts. Hoping he was eating enough during his breaks.

Of course, there also were many instances where she caught herself watering the same crop five times with other memories of Shane, too. It was just too hard to not think about the way the shower water pooled in his long eyelashes the other day. How, at one point, he had her completely pinned against the shower wall, how his fingertips felt like they were on fire, burning into the skin under her breasts as they kissed. 

After her five quality melons were nestled in the wooden receptacle in the old community center, Aria trekked back down to the town square to sell the rest of her harvest at Pierre's. Summer heat in the valley was pretty grueling - she felt herself start to wobble in her place a little bit as she waited outside of Pierre's. It wouldn't hurt to put up some kind of awning, or something. Aria thought as her eyesight became a little fuzzy.

"Whoops! Almost took a tumble there, Miss Avalon."

Aria blinked back fizzling black dots from her sight, flinching at a strong hand clamped on her shoulder. When her vision returned to her fully, she was staring up at a bushy mustache and two wide hazel eyes behind thick framed glasses.

"Good morning, Dr. Harvey." Aria feigned delight to see the doctor, but knew it was only a matter of time before he went off on a lecture about a healthy lifestyle. Harvey held the door to Pierre's open for her, following close behind as she walked towards the register.

"Have you been staying hydrated? This heat's really no joke," He rambled on, "Especially as a farmer, you should at least be having eight glasses of water a day..."

"I thought that was a myth." Abigail mused from nearby, preoccupied with organizing the previous batch of Aria's harvest into the wooden produce bin.

"Ah, myths, shmyths. Look at these!" Pierre cried, holding up one of the perfect melons to marvel at it. "If anything's getting hydrated in this heat, it's these vegetables! Never doubt the power of Pierre's Quality Retaining Soil."

Aria just smirked as she took her gold, partially in awe that Pierre still managed to turn her success into a sales promotion. She didn't have the heart to tell him that it was just likely because it rained two days in a row. She finished up her affairs in Pierre's, stopping briefly to chat with Caroline, who tried her hardest to wrench personal information about her relationship with Shane out of her, and to complain about the shade of Abigail's hair.