Farrington Farms: Slice of Life LitRPG Novel, page 11
“Now hold on!” she snapped, hopped off the rock, and plopped down next to him. “You can’t say something like that, then say ‘never mind’. That isn’t fair. Can you remember anything?”
“Not really,” he sighed while fighting to hold back the floodgate of information he was dying to unleash. “I don’t even know how or when I applied for this job. In fact, I’m not even sure Jeric is my name.”
“Woah, hold on now,” she replied and rolled over onto her side. “Are you saying that I’ve been writing ‘I heart Jeric’ in my diary, and that might not even be your real name?”
His eyes widened when she said it, and all he could do was turn to look at her. She was right there. All he had to do was lean over and he could kiss those thick, strong-looking lips. Her façade started to crack though, and she let out a laugh that echoed off the trees.
“I’m sorry,” she squealed and patted his chest. “I didn’t know what to say, so I made a joke.”
“It was good,” he chuckled and turned to stare up at the sky, knowing that his face was turning red.
“Had you going though, didn’t I?”
“You had me stunned. There’s a difference.”
“Aw, come on,” she laughed and took a handful of his shirt. “You were wanting to kiss me just then. It was practically written all over your face. Just admit it.”
“Nope.”
“Yes, you were. You were puckering your lips too. That’s why your face is all red right now.”
“I wasn’t. . .” he groaned and closed his eyes, wishing that he’d never said a word about his lack of memory. His eyes ached from the sun, and he tried to rub the pain away, only to have her grab his hand and pull it down.
“Hey, I’m sorry,” she whispered and squeezed his hand a few times. “I just. . .okay, it was a dumb thing to do. I just didn’t know what to say when you said you didn’t know who you were. That’s huge, and I’m just a dumb farm girl.”
“You’re not dumb,” he sighed and tried to pull his hand back, only to have her tighten her grip.
“Dumb enough that I upset you, instead of trying to be helpful,” she replied, then laid her cheek against his chest and snaked her fingers between his. “You have to be freaking out, I’ll bet. Not knowing who you are, or how you got here. Uhm, if it helps, Mama just sprang the news on us when we got home that night.”
“Yeah, I was meaning to ask you about that. You’re the only one who seems to realize that you can’t leave the farm, but, you and your sisters were on vacation when I got here. How did you get here, exactly?”
She was quiet for a long minute, but she rubbed his fingers while she lay there, likely listening to his heartbeat. For a second, he thought she fell asleep, but she propped herself on her elbow and looked down at him before he could check on her. Her bright blue eyes looked at each of his in turn, then she looked down at his lips for a few long seconds. He wasn’t the smartest when it came to girls, but he could guess what she was thinking.
“I was hoping you knew, actually,” she muttered with a catch in her voice. “I really don’t know. It’s like, I have all of these memories, but all of the day-to-day stuff didn’t start until we met you. It’s weird, I know, but. . .I don’t have much of an answer for you.”
“Sounds like there’s a lot of weird going on around here,” he sighed, but gave her a little smile to cheer her up. For a second, he considered telling her about the strange computer, but she looked like she was dealing with enough problems already. He would tell her when he felt she was ready, but not a minute sooner.
“We should go now,” she sighed and reached up with her free hand to push some of his hair back. “Mama will send somebody after us, and finding us laying here together could cause some problems.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
12
They’d missed lunch by the time they got back, but Mrs. Farrington didn’t seem too upset by it. In fact, she offered to clean and cook the fish for supper, and showed a ton of gratitude for bringing back something other than potatoes and beans. He had work to do, so he excused himself, snatched a few buckets of vegetables, and headed out to the barn.
“Please be a fortune, please be a fortune,” he whispered before he opened the lid. Sadly, there was only $40 in the box, but it wasn’t like he was expecting much more than that. With a sigh, he sat down at the computer, only to realize that there was something else driving his curiosity besides the trading post.
The quest to go fishing with Cassidy was complete, but gaining the fishing skill was the least of his concerns. Not only did he gain five status points with her from the quest, but another five for the time they spent together. As it stood, she was only five points behind her mother now, which made it feel like a weird competition, when he thought about it for too long.
“Stop it,” he sighed as he remember how close those plump lips had been to his, or what her head felt like against his chest. He liked it. In fact, he liked it a lot. He didn’t know if Cassidy was his type of girl, at least not one the old version of himself would go for. However, this new version had taken a liking to the oldest Farrington sister, and part of him thought about abandoning the quest with Joanie in hopes of furthering his relationship with her sister. It still felt wrong though, so he tucked the thought to the side and opened up the trading post. With a heavy heart, he spent $50 on seeds, just to see what tier two would bring.
“Finally,” he sighed as a grayed-out section came into focus. The new tier was broken down into three sections, but none of them held very much. For crops, there were tomatoes, onions, and peaches. There was another section next to it for lumber, shingles, and nails. Finally, there was another section that offered catalogs for clothing, tools, furniture, and appliances. Each of the catalogs was $500, which saw his eyes bulge when he read the price. He knew he needed to complete his oldest remaining quest, so he spent everything he had on the lumber, shingles, and nails, then turned off the computer and checked the box. It was empty, which was a relief, or else his room would get destroyed when a bundle of lumber expanded to its full length.
“Guess I should have known. . .”
He was about to say ‘better’ when a beeping sound from outside stole his attention. For a split second, the beep confused him, right up until he realized that he’d just made an order for heavy goods.
Quickly he raced down the steps, sprinted around the buildings, and tore down the lane. Sure enough, a long delivery truck was backing into the lane. It was a flatbed with four pallets of lumber, another pallet of shingles, and a small stack of boxes he assumed held his nails. There was also an offroad forklift sitting on the end, which was growing closer with each passing second. He realized he was in the way, so he hopped over to the yard and waved, assuming that the driver was looking at him through the side mirror. As he watched, he saw the words ‘Apex Delivery Services’ written in gold on the side of the black truck, which he tucked away to memory. When the end of the flatbed was lined up with the outbuilding, the truck stopped, then the trailer lowered itself to the ground until it was resting on top of its wheels. It was a neat feature, albeit too fancy for his surroundings.
Jeric was still staring at the truck when the door opened to the cab. He turned, expecting to see a tough, truck-driving man get out. Instead, it was a woman, short, with a dark yellow vest, an orange baseball hat, and short, curly blonde hair jutting out from beneath it. She walked right up to him with a clipboard in her hand, chewing away on what he assumed was gum.
“You Jeric?” she asked in a cheerful voice, followed by a bright smile that lit up her face.
“I sure am,” he replied and accepted the clipboard. It was a shipping list for the items he ordered, with a line at the bottom for his signature. He didn’t see a pen though, so he looked up and gave her a confused look.
“Sorry, stud, manners first,” she teased with a wink. “My name is Allison. I’ll be the one bringing all of your big deliveries. You look a little stunned. You didn’t think it’d all come in that storage box, did you?”
The phrase stunned him for a second. This woman knew about the magical storage box in his room. If that were true, then she might know what was going on with the computer, and the strange world he found himself in.
“I might have taken a look in there when I made the order,” he chuckled nervously while he tried to figure out what to say next. “What uh. . .do you. . .can you. . .”
“Let you borrow a pen?” she asked with one of her thick brows raised that didn’t match the color of her hair. She gave him another wink, then reached into her breast pocket to produce a simple ink pen. She continued to chomp away on the gum while she handed it over, then took a few steps back to look around. “Nice little farm you’ve got. Are those apple trees I see over there?”
“They will be,” he sighed and signed his name at the bottom. The signature didn’t feel natural, which almost confirmed that Jeric wasn’t his real name. “I don’t think I can call them saplings yet.”
“Give them time. Everything grows with a bit of patience. Like you, for example.”
“And what do you know about that?” he asked as he squinted at her and looked her over from head to toe one more time.
“Oh, I’m just a delivery driver. Now, kindly step back so I can unload your order. You know where you want it?”
“I’m rebuilding the porch,” he replied and pointed at the house.
“Okay, I’ll set her down under that tree over there. You know, so you can keep it in the shade until you’re ready to complete your quest.”
Quest. The word felt like a slap to the face. He wanted to say something, but the next question caught in his throat, literally. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get out a word. Allison didn’t seem to care, because she was already climbing onto the trailer to unload the forklift.
All he could do was watch as she unloaded his order. Once everything was under the tree, or nearby, she returned the trailer to its full height, then walked over to him.
“Well, stud, looks like we’re all done here,” she sighed and held out her hand. He was almost too scared to shake it, but he sucked it up and returned the gesture. She winced a bit when he squeezed her hand. He wasn’t trying to hurt her. He was testing to see if she was real. As it turned out, she was, or was a good actor. “Mighty strong hand you’ve got there. Well, I’ll be seeing you, Jeric. Don’t be a stranger.”
With that, she gave him a wave, then strolled off toward the truck. He caught himself staring at her back end for a moment, right until he remembered what had happened with his voice, and how she seemed to know more about this strange world than he did. When she stood on the step to the cab, she turned to give him a wink, then slid inside and drove off.
“That was weird,” he muttered.
There wasn’t anything he could do now, other than get started on the porch. After a quick trip to collect his tool kit, he came back and got the project underway. Cassidy was kind enough to find some pry bars, and the two of them set to work, prying off the old boards of the porch floor. They just finished taking down the roof when dinner was announced, offering them a reprieve from their back-breaking work.
The fish was plain, in his opinion. Mrs. Farrington fried them up, but she didn’t bread them, or use any seasoning. It was another reminder of all the things they didn’t have, which made those catalogs seem more important. The family talked about the porch he was building, then Cassidy went on to recall the details of their little fishing trip. By the time they were done, the girls were nearly falling out of their chairs with laughter. He knew his face was red from embarrassment, but hearing them enjoying themselves made it worthwhile.
They got back to work on the porch after dinner. Once the new support posts were driven into the ground, the work came easily. Board after board was nailed into place, with none of them needing cut, or sanded. It felt wrong, but he wasn’t about to complain about less work. Before long, they had the porch done, the roof in place, and they were both up on top, nailing the shingles down.
“So, that delivery woman was pretty,” Cassidy said as he handed her the next bundle of shingles up the ladder.
“I suppose. She was a bit odd though.”
“Odd how? No teeth kind of odd? Crooked eyes kind of odd? Smelled like rotten cabbage kind of odd?”
“No,” he laughed and climbed up the ladder. “I meant the way she talked, not how she looked, or smelled. Why was your mind going in that direction?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she sighed while she laid out a row of shingles to be nailed down. “I just saw this woman with an expensive hairdo, a fine body, and I guess uh. . .eh, never mind.”
“Suit yourself.”
Jeric thought nothing of it until a few minutes later when the simple tap from her hammer turned into thunder. When he looked over, he found her sneering at the nails to the point that her teeth were showing. His eyes narrowed as he thought back, trying to figure out why her mood changed all of a sudden. When he finally got back to her asking about the delivery driver, it hit him harder than the hammer that was likely screaming for mercy.
“You’re jealous.”
“I am not!” she snapped and slammed the hammer, only to clip the side of her thumb. “Son of a biscuit!”
“Let me see it,” he groaned, slid over to her, and reached out to take her hand.
“I got a mama, I don’t need you checking my wounds.”
“Just let me see it,” he sighed and snatched the thumb out of her mouth. It didn’t look too bad, but she was going to have a blister, for certain. He rubbed it a few times with his own thumb, noting that her breathing changed whenever he touched her. He assumed he was pushing too hard, so he eased up, lifted her hand, and gave her throbbing thumb a little kiss.
“Really?”
“Probably not as good as a kiss from Mama,” he laughed and let go of her hand. “Now, why did that woman get you so worked up?”
“Oh, please, I’m not. . .fine, I’m worked up,” she groaned, turned, and laid down on the roof of the newly constructed porch. “She was gorgeous, that’s why. I saw the way she was smiling at you, winking, calling you ‘stud’.”
“She probably calls every guy she sees ‘stud’, or some other pet name, like sweetie, sugar, honey, whatever. Women like that feed off of attention. It’s surface garbage, nothing more.”
“That’s pretty much what Mama said,” she sighed and got up when she started to slide down. “Girls like that are a dime a dozen. I could tell you liked looking at her, but I bet you don’t know what color her eyes were.”
“Green. Her eyes were green, and she has a birthmark above her lip.”
“Well, shoot, guess you won that point,” she groaned, turned, and got back to work on shingling the roof. “I’m sorry if I got all green. It’s just. . .that woman was hot. Way too hot for a little place like this. A bit like the fish Mama cooked. No breading, no seasoning, but, when you ain’t had much meat in some time, it tastes like a five-star meal. I’m guessing that’s why you’re nice to me. Ain’t too many women to choose from.”
“That isn’t true.”
“Yes it is,” she sighed and quickly hammered down the shingle before continuing. “It’s the only reason I can come up with for why you’re so darn nice to me. Well, other than the fact that I’m the only one who helps you with the work around here.”
“That is a plus,” he admitted and quickly hammered down a shingle so he could keep talking as well. “But that isn’t it, and it isn’t the lack of options. Let’s back up and see what was really going on with Allison. She’s fake. Her smile is fake, her charm is fake, and I’m guessing her kindness is fake. There’s nothing fake about you. When you smile, you mean it, and it warms me up inside when you do. Sure, I like it when you help me, but not just because it means less work for me. I enjoy your company. I know you wanted to be the one to get the farm going again, which is why you didn’t like me at first, but, you got over it. That takes heart, or maturity. I’m not smart enough to figure out which.”
“You like my smile, really?”
“That’s the part you focused on?” he chuckled and tossed a nail her way. She snatched it up, gave him a thankful nod, then used it to pound in the next shingle like the nail was just the thing she needed.
“Look, I know I’m a tomboy and all,” she said, then paused long enough to tap in the next shingle, “but I’m still a girl. Just wanna make sure you know that.”
“I noticed, believe me,” he sighed and tapped in three more nails before taking a pause.
“You wouldn’t notice if I was standing next to Allison, I bet. Even if I took my shirt off.”
“Pretty sure I would notice that,” he laughed while he continued to work, choosing to raise his voice over the hammering, rather than stop. It was getting dark, and they were almost done. “Why are you so worried about it?”
