Title: A Little Something Extra

Author: Lalipop

Rating: T

Genre: Drama/Romance

Fandom: Harvest Moon: (More) Friends of Mineral Town

Disclaimer: Harvest Moon and Natsume do not belong to me.

Summary: I needed my muse back. I needed to feel loved. I wanted both of those things. But I always felt there was something else I needed. A little something extra to spice up my life. But when the opportunity presented itself, I still had to think about it.

Author's Notes: later -.-

Chapter the Second

Fellow Insomniac

I'd been a bit of an insomniac ever since my mom died. Dad had managed to find sleep again, but his was fitful. Gray… he'd just grown cold. I had no idea how my brother slept, only that he hadn't known something had gone wrong because he was in the city at the time, living with our aunt. I didn't know if it haunted him that he hadn't been there for her, but I sure wished it affected his sleep. Mine was alright, when I was able to find some in the first place.

Tonight was like most nights, so I slipped out of bed and crept into the main room of the inn, trying not to disturb Dad. I grabbed a bottle of apple cider and a glass from the wall behind the counter, lit a candle at one of the tables, and cracked open the bottle. Moments later, the bubbles hit my throat. Dad's cider was amazing.

As I drank, slowing down with the second glass, my mind wandered back to what had happened at dinner.

Jack and I had never gotten along very well. Needless to say, I hadn't been very happy when he told my dad that he needed a room for a few weeks because Gotz was rebuilding his house. Popuri was nice enough, so that was okay. Besides, she was pregnant, so I would have been extremely guilty if there hadn't been room. There usually was. I was just glad that Jack had also announced that he and Popuri were leaving the evening of the first day of summer, and wouldn't return until the baby was born and all right in early winter. His sister would be staying here in the meantime to care for his animals and land.

I had expected Jill to come. Giselle was a bitch, nearly a twin to Jack, with a tall and curvy figure, dyed-blonde hair and brown eyes, who had come to the wedding along with his parents. I knew he had another sister, but apparently she traveled a lot and he hadn't been able to get a hold of her in time for the wedding. Jill had hated it here. She hated the simplistic lifestyle, which I knew even though she hadn't said a word.

But it hadn't been Jill that had come with Zack and the ferry. It wasn't Jill who Jack and Popuri had introduced to Dad and me. It was a tiny, shy, blonde-haired girl named Claire. She was friendly though, polite, despite how quiet she was. She had asked a few questions about the living here in Mineral Town, thanked me when I showed her the room, and dressed for bed early. She was much friendlier than Jack was, at least in my opinion, and I found it hard to believe how unlike the two were. Hell, even she and Jill had nothing in common. Maybe she was adopted?

"Uhm… may I join you?"

My head snapped up. Speak of the devil, and she shall appear… I smiled at the girl, who stood in her own nightgown with a candle in hand at the foot of the stairs. "Sure. Come on down."

She padded towards me hesitantly, placed the candle on the table beside mine, and gingerly sat down beside me. I smiled at her again, until she murmured, "Ann, right?" Her eyes peeked up between strands of golden flax.

"Yeah," I agreed, grinning. "And you're Claire." She nodded, but didn't say anything to me. Trying to break the ice, I held up my glass. "You want some apple cider? It's good." Her head bobbed up and down again, but she wasn't looking at me either. I shrugged and went to grab another glass, filling it and handing it to her upon my return.

"Thank you," she whispered, taking a tentative sip of the cider.

"My dad makes the best cider on the island," I assured her. "No one in Forget-Me-Not Valley can get anywhere near this quality, not even Griffin." Pride rang true in my words, but why the hell not?

"Forget-Me-Not Valley?" she asked curiously, looking at me for what felt the first time. She had really pretty blue eyes, and I wondered again how she and Jack could be related. They were nothing alike.

I nodded. "Yeah. It's the valley on the other side of Mother's Hill. Really pretty, but way bigger than here. Maybe we can visit it sometime this summer together."

"That sounds nice," she admitted, still hunching over her cider.

Damn. Shy, much? I could almost understand why Jack had married Popuri. If he had lived with this kind of person for his whole life, he would need a talkative sort of person to wake him up from that.

I put my glass down and tried to look her straight in the eye. "Okay. So. You have two options." She blinked at me, eyes huge, vast as the sky and that exact same color. "One, you open up now." Confusion became alarm. I couldn't stop the mischievous grin. "Or two, I slowly pry you open over the next two seasons." She definitely looked scared. "Think about it for a moment, okay?"

It took her a moment, but then she murmured, "I'm sorry. I've never been one for strangers, but I'll try."

"Why?"

She glanced up, looking confused again. "Pardon?"

I grinned. "Why? Like, why don't you like strangers? Do you know why you're so shy? Did something go wrong when you were a kid?" She blinked at me. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I might be a chatterer, but I'm a good secret-keeper."

"…I… I don't know," she whispered.

"Okay, change of subject, kiddo," I told her, kicking my feet onto the table opposite her. "You and Jack… are you really siblings?"

She looked up at me, eyes wide, and pain streaked across her expression briefly. Man, I guess the family life didn't work out for this chick. After a long moment, she murmured, "Half. We're only half-siblings."

"Cool," I acknowledged, "That might explain why you're nothing alike."

"Is that a good thing?" she asked hesitantly.

"Definitely," I told her, nodding fervently. "No offense or nothing, but your brother and I ain't exactly the best of buddies, y'know? We don't get along very well."

She grinned. Actually grinned. I felt like I should celebrate. "Neither do we."

I tilted my head to the side. "Then why are you helping him out? You know, by watching the farm after he leaves and all."

"He talked me into it…" she shrugged. "I've always wanted to live in a place like this, so I guess it wasn't that hard anyway. I mean, this place looks really… nice. And I don't have to put up with any of the people I know and don't like. Besides, if there's anybody here I don't get along with, it won't matter because I'm leaving come winter."

I had to admit that she was making sense. This was every definition of the word temporary for her, just like Jack was intending to make it permanent for him and Popuri. All the same, I had a nagging feeling that I wanted to be friends with Claire anyway. She was nice, sweet. Hell, a huge part of me wished she'd moved here two years ago instead of Jack. It sounded selfish of me, and even though Popuri was a friend of mine, I didn't understand what she saw in Jack. I felt he was an asshole, but she just… she loved him.

To distract myself from the "bad" thoughts, I began telling Claire about the town. After all, if she was staying here for a while, she might as well know a bit about the people and the way things worked. I even grabbed a napkin for her and drew a map of the town on it, labeling everything before I handed it to her. She studied it for a moment, and gave it back to me.

"What, do you have a photographic memory or something?" I asked, leaving the offending paper on the desk and lifting a disbelieving eyebrow.

She shook her head, chuckling. "Not nearly. I just can't read and follow maps very successfully. I do better with trial and error when I try to find my way around, you know? I mean, I'd have to figure out the scale and exactly which way I was supposed to turn the map before I was able to figure out which way I was supposed to go."

I yawned, covering my hand in embarrassment. "I can't do that. I have to have a map or exact directions."

"Oh," she yawned, too, and we laughed together. "I think it's time for us to head to bed, Ann."

"Not yet," I complained, rubbing at my eyes. "You know, your name is really pretty…"

Claire smiled. "You like 'Claire'?" I nodded, shrugging, and she sighed, wrinkling her nose in disgust. "It's short for Clarimonde. That's why I go by Claire instead – Clarimonde is such a mouthful."

"I wish I had a really long, really pretty name like that," I pouted, "Ann is so… boring."

"Bland," she offered, grinning.

"Yeah, that, too," I laughed. "I wish had a long name. Like Alessandra. Or Isabella. You know, to balance mine out? Or instead of Ann. That would be amazing."

She shook her head seriously. "I wish I had something short, you know? I mean, my name's a mile long. And Jabari doesn't count…"

"At least your name sounds cool. Clarimonde Jabari."

"Jabari means 'fearless' – did you know that?" I shook my head, yawning behind my hand. "And Clarimonde means 'illustrious protector.' Jack always said it's obvious that my mom named me. Dad never wanted me." Realizing what she'd just said, she clamped her mouth shut and played with the neck of her glass.

I took a sip of cider straight from the bottle, not wanting to bother with the glass anymore. "You know what Ann means?" She shook her head. "Damn. Cuz neither do I."

We burst into laughter simultaneously. There was a thumping on the wooden wall, and I lifted a finger to my lips as she covered her mouth.

After a long, awkward moment of silence, she whispered, "What was that?"

"That was my dad," I explained. "Apparently, we were being a bit too loud. He does that whenever he's trying to sleep and it's noisy out here, you know? Cuz everybody who stays here usually knows what it means. Except for you. You had to be educated."

She giggled. "Your dad's the big guy with the orange hair and the mustache, right?" I nodded. "He kinda scares me…"

"Dad's nothing to be scared of, except when he's pissed," I told her, "And he never gets angry with people. Usually. But you'll know when he gets angry, cuz his face turns red. Red as a tomato." I yawned. "Besides, shouldn't you be fearless? You said that's what your last name means."

"I didn't say I was aptly named, Ann," she reprimanded, yawning herself.

"Personally, I think both Popuri and Jack were," I muttered.

She nodded. "Jack was wrong. Popuri does smell a bit weird. And Jack is a jackass, if I ever saw one."

I had to bust up laughing, but I kept my hand in front of my mouth so I wouldn't bug Dad again. Yep, me and Claire would definitely be good friends. We'd have to become pen pals or something when she went back to the city.

"You know," I told her thoughtfully, "I feel sorry for you." She looked confused, opened her mouth, but I stopped her by holding up my hand. "Not cuz the jackass is you brother – well, that too, but mainly because you're rooming with Popuri. That girl snores like a drunk sailor or whatever."

"I completely agree," she admitted, shrugging. "I doubt there's any other place I could sleep, though." I had a brief glimpse of introducing her to the boys and telling them she'd be sleeping in their room. Kai would have a field day over the summer. So not going to happen. "Besides, I'd hate to tell her why I'm changing rooms – I can't lie very well, so any excuse would be out the window. And guilt works too well on me."

I grinned. "I can train you. Trust me, I've got enough experience with the little ones running around."

"Little ones?" she repeated, looking confused again.

"Yeah – May and Stu," I blinked at her. "Didn't I mention them to you earlier?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Well, May is Barley's granddaughter, and Stu is Elli – the nurse's little brother," I explained, sipping more cider calmly. "They're seven, I think, and can be really annoying if you catch them on a bad day. They'll guilt you for anything from cookies on Thanksgiving to extra presents for Christmas."

"That sounds painful."

I winced. She looked worried all of a sudden. "You don't like kids much, do you, Claire?"

She shook her head. "I'm not particularly fond of them, no."

"That sucks for you – Popuri and Jack love the little critters like there's no tomorrow," I grinned at her mischievously. "I don't envy the hell you'll be put through, sorry."

"You're only making me regret this decision, Ann," she admitted softly, "Maybe I should tell Jack I can't handle it…"

"You can't do that!"

Her eyes widen and she seemed to snap to attention. "Why not?"

"Because then the jackass will stay for the year… and we won't get to know each other," I pouted at her, trying to give her puppy dog eyes.

She chuckled mercilessly. "That doesn't work on me, Ann. Besides, you sound like an over-sexed boy who can't wait to get in my pants. I don't appreciate that."

I lifted an eyebrow. "Because you get enough of that?" She looked startled again. "Honey, you're beautiful. The downside to that is that you seem like the romantic type. You know, with I do's and happily ever after marriages. As far as I know, you can't get that in the city. Even in a place like this, that's rare enough."

"A friend of mine told me almost exactly that a few years ago," she admitted softly.

"Smart girl."

She shook her head, smiling. "No, smart boy."

"That contradicts itself," I informed her, rolling my eyes.

"Not in his case," Claire ensured me. "He was my best friend for all of… six years, I think. I was the smartest person I ever knew, regarding people. He was… really good with people. He could have been friends with Bill Gates, but he wanted to be friends with me."

I stared at her for a long moment. "You were really close."

"He was special, amazing," she continued, smiling a bit sadly. "We still write, occasionally. He's really busy, mostly because he's always traveling."

:That's what jack said about you, why you didn't come to the wedding," I reminded her, lifting an eyebrow.

Her expression darkened, turning angry as her eyes seemed to grow almost steely gray. "At least he didn't stretch the truth too far." She sighed. "Sorry, let me explain: I do travel a lot. The thing is, I didn't know there was a wedding until the day Jack asked me to take care of the farm for him."

"The bastard!" I exclaimed. "I knew I didn't like him for a reason. Thanks for clearing that up for me." I paused, remembering the wedding. "What about Jill, and the old man and the lady that's way too young to be his wife?"

She rolled her eyes. "The old man's our dad. The lady 'too young to be his wife' uses plastic surgery and botox or whatever to look younger. She's in her early fifties and married to him. Jill is my half-sister, their child, Jack's full sister, and a lawyer. They don't 'travel' so Jack was okay with inviting them, but not me. Although it was probably better that way."

I lifted an eyebrow. "Care to explain that little comment there?"

"My… family, and I have never really gotten along," she admitted. "Of all of them, I'm closest to Jack. That should tell you a little about family life at home before my eighteenth birthday."

"That sucks. A lot."

She nodded, yawned, and asked softly, "Can we go to bed now? I have a feeling we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

I nodded, too, but in understanding. "Very well," I yawned again, getting up as she did and grabbing the two glasses. She took her candle and headed back toward the stairs, waving. "Sleep well, fellow insomniac."

She giggled as she headed up the stairs.

There's a second chapter for you guys ^^ Remember, reviews are love, so review for me and make me loved xD