A/N: So, two years later, I decided to update this story. The writing style is kind of different, the grammar is odd from lack of practice, the emotions flip flop so much in one chapter, and the characters are a bit cruder than I expected them to turn out. My apologies. If you can think of anyway to fix this monster, any advice is greatly appreciated.

Chapter Two

I woke up with the intense urge to bash my head into whatever wall was nearest to me. A pissed wasp was buzzing around my skull, chastising me for my adventures the night before. My throat was as dry as Kasey's cooking, and my stomach was a one good lurch from emptying itself. The churning made me keep my eyes clamped shut.

Even if I hadn't ever experienced one before, I knew what a hangover was. There was no way I was going to open my eyes and force them to the horror of the sun. Instead, I wrapped myself tighter in my blanket and snuggled against my pillow. A small sigh passed my lips; my bed was oddly comfortable. We might have had some extra cash from the farm, but Kasey and I never spent more than necessary on our furniture- this left us sleeping on glorified bricks.

Another sigh came from me only to be echoed by something- or someone- else.

My eyes shot open as fear pulsed through my veins. In my side vision there was someone, but who they were, I couldn't quite remember. I turned my head to get a better view at the sleeping man; I couldn't really move the rest of my body. As it turned out, the stranger had snaked his arm around my waist in his sleep.

The man looked a bit older than me; however, the way his jaw slacked in his sleep gave him a childish sort of appearance to his physiognomy. His skin was smooth and almost unnaturally even. There were globs of leftover makeup on his already long eyelashes. Just looking at his closed eyes made me picture hues of a burgundy-brown. It was in imagining that oddly addictive color that his man flooded up to the front of my mind.

"Julius," I said in a soft whisper. I hadn't meant to say it out loud. My brain to mouth filter must have been effected by my hangover.

His eyes moved underneath his lids (which unnerved the holy hell out of me) in response to my mumble. Then his arm tightened around my waist, pulling my side flush against his bare chest. The man felt like a personal heater with the amount of warmth radiating off his body. Hell, everything about the whole room screamed "warm." Every damn piece of furniture was some breed of red or a red-violet. From its vases of expensive flowers to the large lounger opposite of the bed; it was what I imagined a room at some high class love hotel would look like.

That thought made me check to corroborate my clothes were still in place. Having sex with a stranger would definitely be the lowest thing I'd done in my life, and I wasn't sure I wanted to hit rock bottom just yet. That could wait until after Kasey moved away, and I starved to death because I couldn't get seeds- Luna would of liked that; it would have proved her right about me.

Well, I was wearing clothes, but they weren't my clothes. The white cotton shirt smelled of roses and very faintly of vanilla. It didn't fit quite right, but it was understandable. Shirts made for men were meant to be filled by shoulders, not breasts. Although I couldn't see them underneath a thin blanket, I felt long sweats on my legs.

Julius groaned softly and attempted to pull me even closer to him.

The added pressure made my back crack; a small yelp escape me. For having such a skinny looking body, I was certainly surprised with how strong he was. Something told me his line of work didn't exactly include a lot of heavy lifting...but what did I know? I was just some reclusive farmer who couldn't handle her alcohol.

"-dirt," he mumbled.

"Dirt?"

His eyes opened with a lazy slowness to them. "As in, you smell like dirt, Darling," he said.

"I'm a farmer. What did you expect?" I tried to sit up, but he held me in place as if I was nothing more than a stuffed animal. "Let go."

He obeyed, if only to an extent. His grip around my waist loosened; however, while I lifted myself, his hands crept down to rest on either side of my hips. Even through the fabric of my—his—pants, heat sunk through, warming my lower body just the slightest. "I kind of like it this way," he said.

I stared down on him.

My confusion must have been apparent, because he said, "Normally, I don't enjoy the woman being on top, but with you, I can see all the advantages of the position. You wouldn't be able to hide your face as you're riding me."

Heat overtook my face. My throat dried as a single word squeaked out of my mouth, "riding?"

"Like a horse."

That was the final straw. My vision swam with frightening images, and buzzing filled my ears. I pulled off of Julius, successfully driving a knee into his stomach. His surprised groan was buried under the clamor of me landing on the floor, bottom first. My head pounded harder, and I hissed a curse. The wood sucked any of the warmth from my body in a second. I hurried to my feet only to be hit with a wave of dizziness. A stumbled step backward was taken before my balance returned.

Julius regained his composure. He lounged on his bed, blanket gathering at his waist, and smirked.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came. No words formed in my mind, leaving my jaw slacked. I squared my shoulders, clamped my mouth shut, and with what little dignity I still contained, fled his house with my proverbial tail between my legs. As the door slammed shut behind me, his laughter followed.

Outside, I vaguely recognized the location. The sun was just poking out over the horizon, spreading pale yellow rays over the land. Before me was a short decline down to the river bed, and there, hidden in shadows, stood a waterwheel. Further up the slight hill was a stone bridge, and beyond that was the forest. A ranch and farm were nearby, and without a doubt, the workers were already awake and moving under the fresh morning light. If they looked out, they would have seen me, and certainly, rumors of a mystery someone sneaking out of Julius's house would spread.

If I had been home where I belonged, I would have woken up only a few minutes earlier. I would have thrown on whatever clothes were lying on my floor, and I would have gone out to take care of my crops. Quick-growing turnips were ready to be harvested, and the strawberries needed to be weeded and fertilized. Roma needed to be brushed. Home. I had to go home.

Wrapping my arms around me, I began the trek home. The walk, accompanied by the salt kissed air, gave my head time to clear. Other than the hangover, a churning stomach, and slightly aching butt from my fall, I was fine. No bruises littered my slightly tanned skin. No bite marks broke through. No pain radiated between my thighs. I was fine. For his flippant attitude and casual remarks, Julius hadn't harmed me. There was nothing to regret. I was fine. Fine. Just fine.

Another blush assaulted my face. I'd made a damn fool of myself. My first trip into town, and I got drunk off my ass and followed some man home. Damn, how stupid could I be? All those people in the bar probably thought they knew what happened; the damn barkeep sure seemed to know what Julius's intentions were. Here I thought Castanet was a nice, peaceful town, but no one seemed to care about one of their own potentially raping an intoxicated woman.

Perhaps Luna had set it all up. A cruel thought, yes, but Julius had known who I was when he approached me. He hadn't actually done anything to me other than cause intense embarrassment. But, if it was Luna's evil mastermind behind the situation, she was working against her goal of making me more outgoing. At this pace, I wasn't leaving the ranch again for another thirty to forty years. I sighed, but my face didn't cool.

It was a good thing I rarely showed my face in the first place.

Kasey met me at the entrance to our ranch. He was dressed and ready for the day, but blue bags hung under his eyes. He pulled me close into a bear hug. "Angela, I am so sorry," he gushed, automatically. "Luna didn't have the right to do that to you. We should have acted more...more like mature adults. I promise I won't let her put you out of our house again. We'll—what are you wearing?" He held me at arms length, eyes scanning up and down.

In the light, my appearance was slightly worse than it had been in the dim lighting of Julius's. There was no way to play off the clothing as mine. The shirt clung much too tight around my breasts, showing the lining and design of my bra underneath. The purple plaid sleep pants were too long and bundled around my feet, and buttoned crotch part had a dick hole. Lovely.

"Who?" Kasey demanded. His skin turned beat red as his mouth gaped open and shut, trying to find words. Of course, he assumed the worse. I would have, too. "Who? I will find them, and I will-"

"I'm fine, Kasey." I was surprised how even my voice came out. It was the same low and dull tone I usually carried. "I crashed at someone's house, and forgot to grab my clothes before I left. There's nothing to worry about." Apathy in vocal form, I sounded indifferent. I never knew myself to be such an actress.

Kasey's face softened a bit, but his forehead remained creased. "Oh." He nodded to himself. "Oh, okay. Um," he said, looking down, "why don't you go inside and get dressed? Chores aren't going to do themselves."

"Right," I agreed, happy that the situation had been diffused quickly. Walking toward our house, I made a solemn vow. Never again. Saying I would never leave the house again was unreasonable (I'd have to leave every few years, at least), but I would never drink again. I would never enter that damn bar again. Finally, and most importantly, I would never see Julius again. It wouldn't be hard; I hadn't seen him until the day before, so returning to how things were wouldn't be difficult. Thank the Goddess I could put everything behind me and move on with life.

I nibbled at my cherry, mindful of the pit deep inside. Juice slipped from its broken skin and trailed down my wrist into my bath water. Steam rose and clung to my face, opening the pores and eliciting a comfortable sweat. A sigh bubbled from my chest as I lowered myself further into the tub. Specks of dirt floated to the surface, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Farmers were dirty. I needed this, the solitude and comfort. Four days had passed since my "adventure," and Kasey still couldn't look at me without adopting a pained face.

Worse, Luna had opted to ignore me completely. Her ignoring wasn't the typical "I just won't talk to you" in which I specialized; it was as though I didn't exist. I became nothing more than an invisible specter, and she suddenly had no shame. The previous day, she marched into the living room, dressing in nothing but a slinky pink thong. Poor Kasey couldn't do anything as she attempted to seduce him with me sitting next to him on the couch. My escape wasn't quick enough, and the image of Luna's naked body stripping my brother was forever seared into my mind. Ugh, the horror.

Time trickled by and stole the warmth from my bath, but still I lingered until the very last moment when a chill threatened to penetrate my bones. I climbed out of the bath and dried off with a rough towel before wrapping my lavender bathrobe around my body. I plucked the cherry pits off the floor and tossed them into the waste basket; I didn't need Kasey complaining about the messes I made.

Just as I opened the bathroom door, Kasey opened the front door. Kasey's eyes widened at the sight of our guest. "Oh, Julius. I wasn't expecting you to stop by."

I froze like a deer in the headlights. Oh, crap, crap, crap, crap.

There he stood in all his questionable glory. The only difference between his appearance now than at the bar was his hair was restrained into a braid and hanging over his right shoulder. "Hello," he greeted, beaming a smile. His focus went past my brother, and he met my eye. He smirked. "Sorry to swing by so late," he said, returning his attention to Kasey.

"It's fine, just a little surprising." Kasey stepped aside and held his hand out, saying, "come inside." While he was offering simple pleasantries, I fled to my bedroom. I pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, straining to hear the conversation in the living room.

"We've been having some nice weather lately. You can barely tell the rainy season's about to hit." Kasey.

"Yes, we've been quite fortunate. I dread the days of climbing the mountain through a torrential downpour." Julius.

"Very true. At least my work is just a jump outside the front door. How's Mira doing?" Kasey, again. Their voices were slightly more muffled. Had they sat down? "Is she-"

"What the hell is he doing here?" Luna burst into the conversation, her voice painfully loud.

"Luna," Kasey cautioned. I imaged he stood with his hands up and eyes down. Trying to appear nonthreatening to Luna seemed counterproductive; she was the only beast in human skin there... except maybe Julius.

"Don't 'Luna' me," she snapped. Goddess, I swore I heard the same exchange between the two every other day, but if they noticed, they did nothing to change their interactions. How anyone would describe their relationship as healthy, I couldn't fathom. "I want to know why this prick is in my house." The sentiment, I understood; however, going as far as calling Julius a "prick" was a little too much, but that might have been just because it was Luna. Anyone else could have said it, and I wouldn't bat an eye.

"Actually," Julius spoke up, "I'm here to see Angela."

Oh, shit, shit, shit, shit.

A second of silence passed. Kasey coughed. "Oh, um, do you have business with her?" His voice cracked at the end. Whether he was surprised or horrified, I couldn't tell. Pleased, he was not. At least I had an answer to whether he was friends with the other or not. No one treated a friend with such guarded politeness, not even Kasey.

"I'm afraid that's between her and me." The next wave of silence lasted much longer than a second. It hung in the air and seeped into my room through cracks in the door, choking me. This wasn't going to end well.

"You," Luna growled, "fucking bastard. You do not come into my home uninvited and tell me it has nothing to do with me. After what you did, how dare you show your mug around me or my family?" Something came crashing down; the sound of glass shattering shocked me into movement. "Get the fuck out, you fucking f-"

My bedroom door swung open with gusto, cutting Luna's words short. Saying my body moved on its own was an understatement. Each cell and fiber constituting my existence rebelled against my will. My throat vibrated, creating noises when air pushed from my lungs. Those noises, pointless to many, were understood by the three people in the living room; their understanding came from the assembly of pitches and sounds combining to stand for something else, something impossible to truly name. The limits of language.

I stood, mouth gaping open. Uncertainty lingered on my tongue. What had I said? I couldn't remember. Panic made time accelerate. We sped into the future on my words. My throat closed. Their eyes burned into mine. Luna was going to kill me; it was written across her forehead in bold red lettering.

Julius stood, cocking his head to the side and grinning. "Of course, Darling. Anything you ask," he cooed. He sauntered past me, into the depths of my bedroom.

Before Kasey or Luna could gather themselves, I slammed the door shut and locked the bolt. I hadn't quite caught up with myself. I was an idiot. Ever since the incident, I was repeating to myself all the shit I wouldn't do anymore, but the moment the opportunity arises, I go and dig myself further into whatever Hell I opened that night. Speaking of which, I had to face Julius eventually. Or, I did as long as he remained in my personal domain. I turned.

Julius sprawled out over my bed, booted feet dangling over the edge. His head lazily lifted. "Your bed's as hard as a rock."

"I know."

"It can't be doing your back any good, Darling. You should get a new one."

"I know," I repeated. A sigh followed. "And stop calling me 'darling.'"

He sat up, swinging one leg over the other. "I can't help it, unless you would prefer 'love' or 'honey?'" Both sounded much, much worse. He switched which leg was over the other, and the motion brought attention to a bag leaning against my bed. It was a medium sized bag and was colored a burning shade of pink. Whatever was inside didn't fill the bag completely, because the opening collapsed in on itself.

I eyed the oddity. I hadn't seen the bag on him when he entered the house, but I wasn't paying too close attention in my rushed escape. "Why are you here, Julius?" I asked, looking back to him.

One perfectly plucked eyebrow shot up. "Straight to the point, I see," he sighed. Now, he leaned back, scooting so his back was reclined against the wall. "I'm here to keep my promise." I expected him to say more, but he simply watched me, remaining quiet. His expression gave away nothing. His face was neutral, almost business-like.

I squirmed under the gaze. "Alright, I'll bite. What promise?"

A Cheshire cat grin played on his lips. Damn it; that smirk became more and more irksome each time he revealed it. "I'm not surprised you have no recollection. Your," he hesitated a moment, "mental state wasn't exactly idle for remembering...or walking." He shrugged as if to say, 'hey, it happens.' "Take a seat, Darling. You're making me uncomfortable."

Me? Making him uncomfortable? What a joke. Unfortunately, my room wasn't meant to house guests. The only seating came from the bed. Willing to sit near him, I was not, but I didn't have much of a choice. I lowered myself next to him, staring at the wall across from me. "Just start from the beginning," I requested.

He cracked his neck and began, "well, it all started four days ago. I had just finished locking up the accessory shop for the night. Normally, I head home and cook up a quick dinner before going to sleep, but that night, for lack of a better excuse, I was feeling too lazy to stand over the stove and heat leftovers." He shrugged again. "So I made my way to town and down to the Brass Bar. Imagine my surprise when I see a certain someone sitting in one of the bar stools.

"Now, I'd only seen this woman in passing. Bright and early when I'm going to work, I'd see her working in the fields outside of town. She never noticed me, and I left her alone. None of my business, and all that." His eyes fluttered shut. He wore different eye makeup tonight, I realized. Tonight he wore a dark forest green eyeliner and an almost gold-yellow eye shadow. An odd combination, but it wasn't necessarily bad looking. Exotic, maybe. "But when I saw her, sitting all by her lonesome, I decided to make a move,"

"I had no ill will against her, but curiosity can be a difficult beast to overcome. Often, the best way to get someone to open up is to add a splash of liquor into the mix, so I bought her a fruity little drink. Lo-and-behold, it worked! I got her to reveal the mystery behind why she and her brother moved to Castanet." Eyes open once more, he stretched. His shoulder popped in its socket. "I, however, didn't take into account her inability to handle her alcohol." He sighed, shaking his head. "Before I knew it, instead of loose lips, I had a completely inebriated farmer on my hands."

I crossed my arms over my chest. "How was I supposed to know I have low tolerance?"

"Darling, don't pout; you'll get wrinkles," Julius admonished with a chuckle. "Now, on with the story. Anyway, I knew the poor girl couldn't take much more, so being the kind human being I am—" I snorted a laugh— "as I was saying, I offered to escort her home. About halfway there, the woman broke into tears."

"No." I felt heat creeping across my neck.

"Unfortunately so. She sobbed and sobbed. At first, she said nothing, but as I comforted her, words started slipping in here and there. Soon, I managed to piece together what she was trying to say: she didn't want to go home. To try to calm her, I promised I wouldn't take her home. For a moment, it worked, and then it happened."

"No."

"She fell to the side of the road and vomited."

"No, no, no," I groaned, clamping my eyes shut. The heat spread across every inch of skin.

"I helped her to her feet, and once more me began the long, puke scented journey to my house. There I helped her out of her clothing, because no self respecting human being would let another pass out in such a state. I even lent her a pair of my own sleepwear. I expected to put her to bed right away and move on with my usual routine." He shook his head with slow and dramatic sweeps. "I couldn't have been more wrong.

"I thought she was sleeping peacefully on the lounger when suddenly she's clinging to me while I'm trying to get dressed. Hell, my makeup wasn't even off before she dragged me to my bed and threw me down. She crawled on top of me, burying her face into my chest." His voice up to this point had been his usual, confident tone, but at this point, it changed. The arrogance evaporated, leaving a softness in its wake. "Then the sobbing returned with a vengeance. This time, however, I managed to make out everything that streamed from her mouth. She told me about how her house feels like a prison with the she-beast being there, but at the same time, she expressed her crippling fear.

"Her brother's leaving her, and soon that house will be completely empty. She'll be one-hundred percent alone, and there's nothing she can do about it. She'll spend the rest of her life inside that house, trapped to a solitary existence with no way out. It scares her. She doesn't want to be alone, but she doesn't know what to do about it."

Thankfully, Julius wasn't looking at me. Being as close as we were, he offered the most privacy possible. Had he looked, he would have seen my eyes watering and threatening to spill over. "Is that so?" I questioned, hearing the trembling in my own voice. "Talk about a pathetic woman." I forced a chuckle. An arm wrapped around my head, and I was pulled into his side.

"It's okay, Darling. There's nothing pathetic about being a human."

Confusion struck me. What the hell was he talking about?

He beamed down at me, and the air of overpowering confidence returned. "My story isn't finished yet, and never will if you keep interrupting, Darling. Picking up where we left off, around two she fell asleep in my arms. I quickly followed suit, but not before I made the woman a promise. I promised I would be there whenever she started to fall into the grips of loneliness; I promised to be the one to stay be her side whether she wanted me to or not."

Surprisingly, a snorted laugh escaped me. "That's quite heroic for someone who doesn't know the other."

Equally surprisingly, Julius copied my chuckle. "Very true. But, do you know the funny thing about strangers?"

"No, what?"

"They're just friends who haven't gotten to know each other yet," he declared.

My laughter grew, and I couldn't stop until a stabbing pain shot through my stomach. "That was the dumbest thing I've heard in awhile." Laughing while on the brink of crying wasn't too smart, because little tears escaped down the apples of my cheeks.

"I'm sure I stole it from some cheesy straight-to-television movie."

"Probably the Hallmark channel." I wiped away stray tears with the back of my hand.

"Goddess, it wasn't that bad," he said with mock horror. He moved without warning. One moment he was supporting me, and the next, I fell into my bed. He scooped up the pink bag from earlier and held it out to me. "Before I forget, I washed you clothes. Nice and fresh, just for you."

I rolled my eyes and followed his lead. "Thanks." I took the bag from him and tossed it over by my dresser. "Oh, I suppose you want your pajamas." Said clothing was buried at the bottom of my dresser. I'd been hoping to forget about them since I rarely went into the bottom drawer, but at least I had kept them instead of tossing them out as I originally wanted. "They were washed, but they might have dirt on them still."

His eyebrows crinkled together, and his mouth form a straight line. "Why?"

"They were washed with my clothes. I'm a farmer, remember? I practically embody dirt."

"We're going to have to work on that," he sighed. He stared at his pajamas as if they were going to bite him.

"What? My job?"

He waved his hand in a dismissive manner. "No. Farm on, Darling, and do your thing. However, just because you 'embody dirt,' it doesn't mean you have to be such a... fashion failure, but we can discuss that next time."

I glanced down at my outfit, sleepwear through they might be, and didn't see too much wrong with it. Sure the shorts were a cut pair of Kasey's old sweatpants, and yeah, the t-shirt was three or four sizes too big, but... But... I couldn't think of a but. For the moment, I let Julius's comment slide.

"Now, my darling, it's late and time to take my leave," Julius announced. He thanked me when I offered to walk him to the door, but more than anything, I wanted to gauge the situation outside. If I was going to be smothered to death in my sleep by the pink-haired beast, I wanted to see it coming. Thankfully, Luna and Kasey had vacated the living room by the time Julius and I exited my room. I saw him to the door and even waved as his glorious form shrunk into the distance.

I sighed, shutting the door behind me.

Kasey's bedroom door was cracked open, and I swore I saw a pair of eyes glaring at me.

Another sigh followed as I wondered what I got myself into.