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A/N: sry if some of the texts' formatting got messed in some of the chapters up idk what happened

It was 9:15am when I walked onto Marnie's property where the Festival of Ice was being held. I was immediately greeted by Elliot who was standing with Leah as she carved a sculpture of a mermaid into a block of ice. I complimented it and continued on.

I stopped to say hi to a few of the moms of the town. "Hey Alana! How've you been? It's been a while since you stopped by," Robin said.

"I'm doing pretty good, sorry I haven't had time to see you all, I've been so busy with the farm," I said a bit shyly. They were all so sweet but oddly intimidating.

"Ah yes and busy with my son apparently!" Jodi said, making me let out a nervous cough. "I've noticed you've gotten pretty close with him and his little friend group and he's seem to have taken a liking to you, you're almost all he talks about anymore," she chucked calmly as if she were talking about the weather.

Abigail's mom Caroline must have noticed my heated face. "Oh don't embarrass the girl Jodi," she said.

"Oh alright. Sam's over by the pond with his friends if you'd like to see him," she sighed softly.

I quietly thanked her and took my chance to escape the awkward conversation. I saw Abigail working on a snowman with her dad and smiled, deciding to leave her be. I quickly spotted Sam, Sebastian and Audrey right where Jodi said they'd be and headed over.

"What'd my mom want?" Sam asked curiously.

"Oh nothing, just saying hello," I replied, hoping he wouldn't ask further so I wouldn't have to explain what she said.

Audrey hummed in suspicion but didn't add anything on the topic. "So are you competing in the ice fishing contest Alana?"

"I'm not sure. I've only recently started fishing, I doubt I'll win anything against Willy and Elliot."

Sam furrowed his eyebrows at this. "You should at least try, I think you're a great fisherwoman!" he said enthusiastically.

"You haven't even seen me fish Sam," I rolled my eyes at him.

"No but I have and you're not half bad. What's the harm in competing?" Audrey mentioned.

I shrugged. "I guess I'll try, why not." The two smiled at this and seemed satisfied with my answer. "What about you Audrey? I know you know how to fish."

"I mean I can but it's not my favorite thing. Too smelly," she shrugged.

"You're one to talk," Sebastian muttered playfully, earning a whack on the arm from Audrey.

I laughed at this as we heard Lewis start to address everyone. "Alright, everyone. Let's begin this years ice fishing competition!"

We all gathered around a small frozen pond with large holes cut out of the ice to reach the water. The competitors all took our places on the pond and Lewis continued.

"Contestants, your goal is to catch as many fish as you possibly can in twenty minutes using the provided fishing rods. You must catch your fish here, from these holes in the ice. Well, is everyone ready?"

We all nodded and grabbed our fishing poles to get set. "Begin!"

The competitors all cast our rods gently into the small areas of water. It was a pretty slow paced competition. After about two minutes I felt a tug and reeled in a small fish. I didn't really mind the size because the prize was for the most fish, not the best ones.

5 minutes later I caught another and set it in the basket next to me. 5 more minutes and I had another one. It was going pretty well and I could see that Elliot also had three fish in his basket until I started to reel in a fourth and the line suddenly went slack. I'd lost the fish. I was a bit behind but kept hope and a few minutes later I felt another tug, successfully bringing it in this time.

With only a few minutes left I cast my line again and just before the timer rang to tell us the contest was over I managed to reel in one more fish, leaving me with a total of 5. I was pretty proud of myself.

"Wow, that's a lot of fish!" Lewis said, stepping out onto the ice again. He gagged a bit, "...the smell..."

I glance behind me at Audrey and saw the whole group laughing.

"Now for the winner of this year's ice fishing competition..." He paused for dramatic effect. "Willy, with 6 big, slimy fish!"

I sighed at my loss but shook hands and smiled at Willy after he'd received his prize. He thanked me and went to talk to Elliot.

I watched as people began to release the fish we'd caught and heard people walking up behind me.

"You did great Alana! I told you you had a chance, only one off from a tie with Willy!" Sam grinned at me and placed a hand on my arm, instantly making me feel better.

I couldn't help but note how recently he didn't just make me flustered or notice his looks, he made me feel happy and appreciated. I was starting to think my little crush was turning into me really falling for this man, and everything about him.

"Thank you," I said shyly.

I saw Audrey smirk at me again and resisted the urge to laugh, she was so annoying.

"I smell all fishy though, I think I'm going to head home soon," I told the group and they all looked slightly disappointed but didn't show it much as they nodded.

"Hey Sam wasn't there something you wanted to ask Alana?" Sebastian asked him tauntingly.

Sam tensed at his comment and cleared his throat. "Well... yeah but it can wait. Let me walk you home?"

I agreed and waved goodbye to the others as he led me north to my farmhouse.

Once we were a good distance away from the festival I spoke up. "So what did you want to ask me?"

"Oh um, I wanted to tell you that the band got a gig in Zuzu City for this Friday and I was wondering if you'd like to come see it? You don't have to of course but you know..." He turned away slightly, embarrassed for some reason to be asking me this.

Even though I already knew of it, I kept my promise to Audrey and didn't let him know that. "That's amazing of course I'll go!"

He seemed really relieved at my answer and I lightly wrapped my arm around his to hopefully help reassure him more that I was being truthful. I really did want to see them play at an actual show.

"Good, I was worried you'd say no for some reason," he chuckled, turning his head back to face me, a bit red.

"Well I wouldn't miss it for anything."

He smiled down at me. "So we're all going to meet at the bus stop Friday around 4, it's nothing fancy obviously, just a small venue. Most of the people there will probably be from Pelican Town honestly. Or just too fucked up on something to know where they are," he laughed.

I laughed a bit too and gave his arm a slight squeeze as we reached my doorstep. "Thanks for walking me home again Sam."

"Always. And Alana?"

"Yes?" I paused and turned back to him, about to open my door to go inside.

He lightly brushed my hair out of my face and leaned down to place a soft kiss on my head. "Sleep well," he said quietly.

I knew I was blushing like crazy but couldn't seem to pull my eyes away from his. I realized I'd been staring and quickly turned away to go inside. "Goodnight Sam."

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