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Abigail took one more look in her room before walking out and closing the door. She had already told herself today would be a good day. Taking in one more breath, she opened the door separating her home from the store. The smile on her face instantly fell as she locked eyes with the one member of Pelican Town that she suddenly couldn’t stand.
“Abigail,” Shane greeted with a frown on his face and a nod with his head.
“Shane,” she replied with disdain.
“Off to practice swordsmanship?” he asked, as if genuinely curious.
“So what?” she responded, already defensive, “Off to drink yourself into a hole?” It was a low blow and she knew it. Even unobservant Sam mentioned how Shane spent less time at The Stardrop than usual.
Shane’s frown somehow grew deeper. He looked mad, hell he was mad.
Abigail took a step back. She knew somewhere in that box dyed head of hers that he wouldn’t do anything, especially in public. More so now that he and Abigail had the same girlfriend.
“I was just grabbing something quick before I head off to work,” he told her, “You know, that place I go to make money, not like you. You’re still are living off your folks, right? I’ve never even seen you help out at the store.”
She knew she deserved that one. She huffed, but stood her ground. “Sorry,” she mumbled.
The surprised look on his face shouldn’t have phased her as much as it did. “Well, I gotta go,” he said, seeming for forget about whatever he was going to grab and he left as quick as he could.
Abigail hated that she felt guilty. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel comfortable with Dorian being poly, it’s just why him of all people? He was a drunk, a deadbeat. He was rude, even to Dorain for the longest time, so she didn’t see what her girlfriend saw in him. She honestly felt bad for Jas and Marnie for having to put up with his crap. And he was Jas’ godfather or something, uncle, whatever. Point was that he was responsible for her if, or when, something happened to Marnie.
Her dad gave her a look when she saw him. He must have heard her spat with Shane. The whole store probably heard with how small it was. At least he looked concerned and not angry. She was sick of his disappointment in everything she did.
“Off to see Dorian?” he asked her before she made it to the front door.
“Maybe,” she said, “I’m going to the forest first. Maybe I’ll see her after.”
“Alright, just be careful. I know you like to do your own thing,” he said before she left.
Her own thing, she let out a sigh. Her parents never really got what their daughter was about, what made her tick. Oh well, she wasn’t all that concerned with that anymore. She was in the beginnings of a new life now, one that held an amazing, talented, and sweet girlfriend…and also Shane, she supposed.
It’s not even that she hated him, per say, she just failed to understand what Dorian saw. Well, not that she’d ever want to see Shane in anyway like that. As long as she didn’t see him as competition, right? A rational part of her brain told her that she should talk to someone about her feelings. That was the rational side, though, the petty side told her to make sure Shane knew that she wasn’t exactly thrilled with the situation. You know what, maybe she should talk to someone, like one of her besties.
She didn’t have to look far to find Sam. He was in front of his house, leaning against that old tree, playing on his phone. “I need to talk to you,” she said, catching him off guard. He clearly didn’t hear her based on how startled he was.
“Uh, sure, what is it?” he asked, reluctantly putting away his phone.
“What is attractive about Shane?”
The bluntness caused his cheeks to redden. “Where did this come from?” he asked.
“Well, he’s also dating Dorian, and you work with him,” she said, “And you obviously still have a crush on Sebby that I swore to keep a secret from him, so what is it about Shane that would make her so interested?”
“Dude, seriously?” Sam sputtered, even more red somehow. “I thought we agreed to not bring this up again, like, ever!”
“But this is an emergency between gays,” she insisted.
“Abs, we’re both bisexual and you know it,” he sighed, “Fine, I guess he can have an air of mystery to him. I hear that some people are into that. He doesn’t talk a lot to others and he pretty much just works and drinks, well, mostly works from what I can tell.”
“What about that is attractive, though?”
“Beats me, why aren’t you asking your girlfriend? You know, the one who is attracted to him?”
“I don’t want her to think I want them to break up,” she pouted.
“You’re a big girl, I believe in you,” Sam said as he checked the time on his phone, “Oh, I gotta go, I promised Vincent we could make sandcastles today after his tutoring.”
“Fine, go hangout with your adorable brother,” she said.
Sam snorted, “Talk to her, Abs, for real.”
She knew he was right, knew that her girlfriend would talk to her. Dorian was quiet sometimes, but she always seemed to know what to do when Abigail needed her. Knowing she would probably see her at the saloon, she allowed herself to do as she normally would, which was play her flute in the woods and practice her swordplay.
Once the sun began to set, with a feeling of accomplishment, Abigail decided that it was a good time to head over to the saloon. Dorian normally showed up and she expected this night to be no different. After all, she was having Robin work on her house so she tended to take her dinners there due to the construction. Not to mention Shane was there every night.
She could see the light spilling out the windows as she approached. The sun had already set by that point, but she didn’t hold much fear of the darkness. She was confident in her abilities if she had to fight. Although, it would likely be a creature of some kind and not a person from the valley.
Opening the door and being greeted by the scent of Gus’ Daily Special, something spicy and stir fried, she could only guess. Of course, it was a dish she would not be eating tonight, but it didn’t matter when there were other options.
“Oh, hey Abby,” Emily waved.
“Hey,” she smiled. Emily was always kind and cheerful. She was a nice girl, but her and Abigail didn’t have all that much in common, so they never really hung out or anything.
She saw that Shane was already there, of course he was. She couldn’t help but roll her eyes and she was a little thankful that Shane was not paying any attention to her.
“Have you seen the special?” Emily asked.
“No, but it smells spicy,” she replied.
“It is,” Emily smirked, looking over to Shane, who suddenly seemed interested in their conversation. “Gus made it as a celebration for Shane,” she then told her.
“Em,” Shane warned.
“What?” Emily asked, “It’s something to be proud of!”
“But she doesn’t care and she doesn’t even need to know,” he argued, sounding more tired than angry.
“Know what?” Now she was curious.
“Well,” Emily began, ignoring Shane’s protests, “As a one month milestone, Gus made Shane’s favorite as a congratulations,” the blue haired girl said, still leaving out way too much relevant information for Abigail to understand.
“One month?”
“Sober,” Shane grumbled.
“Wait, what?”
Shane grumbled again before moving to grab her, pilling her into the private room that was strictly reserved for dates.
“The fuck, get off me,” she sneered.
“I wouldn’t have to even touch you if you would just mind your own business.”
“What? That doesn’t make any sense!”
“I gave up drinking,” Shane then told her.
“Oh,” she almost didn’t believe him, but Emily wouldn’t lie, right?
“It’s not like it’s been easy,” he then added, “But, I’m trying.”
“C-congratulations,” she said, stunned, but meaning it.
“You don’t care, so don’t even bother with the niceties,” Shane huffed, “I’m doing it for me and Jas, but also for Dorian. I don’t care what you think about me, but I do love her. The fact that she cares enough about us to want to have a life with both of us means more to me that just about anything and if you can’t see that then maybe you should talk to her.”
It annoyed her that even he could understand that she needed to communicate better. “I plan on it,” she sighed, “I just have to find her.”
“She’s going to be here, trust me.”
She would be foolish to not believe him. It was his One Month, after all.
“Hey Shane,” she just had to know, “What about Dorian changed your opinion?”
Shane snorted, knowing what she meant. “I guess she just wore me down.”
Abigail frowned, not getting it.
“Every night she came to the saloon because she doesn’t have a proper kitchen in her farmhouse. She always wanted to talk to me and even bought me a drink a few times in the beginning,” he had a far away look on his face, “Joined me by the lake for a late night drink. She didn’t know how much I had, but talking to her under the moon and stars was nice. It wasn’t until Marnie asked for her help that she really saw how gone I was. She stopped buying me drinks after that, not that I could blame her. I was a mess. It only got worse after that.”
Abigail knew where this was going, she heard her dad mention it to her mom one night.
“I was at my lowest, the worst I’d ever been and she stayed by my side, didn’t push me to any direction or tell me what to do. She just listened and I really needed that. Dr. Harvey helped me fond a psychologist that I see once a week, sometimes over the phone if I can’t make it to the city.”
“She said you took her to a hockey game, once,” Abigail said, not really knowing what to say, but feeling like she had to say something.
Shane chuckled. “Yeah, it was the first time I asked someone out in years and I’m glad I did. I care about her so much, Abigail, and I don’t want us to be on bad terms over it.”
Abigail considered that maybe she was the problem between the two of them. After all, she never really got to know Shane, never even tried. Once Dorian came to town, she started to see the new farmer a lot more than some of the others in town, except for Shane, apparently. And now the two of them share a girlfriend. Dorian sat them down and confessed she liked both of them and wasn’t interested in dropping one to date the other. They compromised and Abigail was in favor of it, overall. It clearly made Dorain happy to be with Shane and she seemed to be happy when she was with Abigail, too.
“I guess I haven’t been very supportive of my girlfriend’s boyfriend, have I?” Abigail asked, knowing the answer was a bit fat no.
“It doesn’t have to matter what you think of me,” Shane said, “But it matters to me what Dorian thinks. That includes what she thinks of you.”
“And what do you think about me?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Does it matter?”
“No,” she admitted, “But indulge me.”
“I think you’re a spoiled brat that doesn’t know how good their life actually is because they’re too blinded by the fact that daddy doesn’t like that you’re more than what he wants you to be. Because you’re not the pretty in pink girl next door Pierre thinks girls should be. You’re brave and strong. You stand up to gender norms and you attend sword practice because you want to be more than this town thinks you deserve to be,” he lets out a ragged breath, “And Dorian saw that in you as soon as she got to know you. She admires you so much, talks my ear off about you and then feels sorry for it, but I don’t want to stop her because she is right. You’re more than I thought you were, you’re more than most people in this town think you are.”
Abigail couldn’t seem to catch her breath as Shane continued talking and she was mad because this is what she wanted to hear her entire life from her parents, but this was coming from Shane, the temperamental, antisocial, town drunk. Former town drunk, her brain corrected.
“I admire you a lot, Abigail, even if you piss me off on occasion,” Shane finished. He leaned back against the wall, crossed his arms, and adverted his gaze.
Abigail couldn’t stop herself from hugging him as she felt herself start to cry. “I’m sorry for always being an asshole to you,” she cried, “I didn’t give you a chance when Dorian told me about how she felt about you. I just saw you as what I wanted to see to make myself look better to Dorian.”
“It’s fine,” Shane tried.
“It’s not,” she argued.
He pat her on the back. “It really is because I never gave you a reason to see me anymore than that. I kept telling myself it only matters what Jas, Marnie, and Dorian thought, but now I want to feel proud of how far I’ve come. My therapist told me it might help if I told you what I was working through since we will likely see a lot more of each other.”
Abigail didn’t move away, still hugging him. Maybe talking to Shane about her insecurities could be helpful, too. After all, he opened up to her, so it was only fair. “I didn’t understand why Dorain liked you,” she admitted, unable to bring herself to look at him, so she hid her face away in his chest. “You just always seemed mean, didn’t want anyone to know you and didn’t want to know any of us. When she did talk to me about her time with you, it always seemed like she was talking about a different person, a different Shane, because there was no way that the grumpiest man in Pelican Town could be so nice.”
“She brings out the best in me,” Shane snorted.
“And you bring out a lot in her,” Abigail admitted, “Good, I mean. She smiled when she told me about the chickens. She showed me a picture of you holding one of them. It didn’t feel real, I mean, I’d never seen you smile before. I’ve only seen you talk to Emily outside of your family, but here you were making the girl that I liked smile from a chicken. It made me jealous and I guess I never really got over that,” she told him, “And I let that fester and I became hateful, resentful, that I couldn’t do that for her.”
“Abigail,” he rubbed his hand on her back, soothing her.
“She’s the first girl I ever dated,” she admitted, “And I didn’t think I’d even have the courage to date a girl. I’d always just looked, dated guys because it was easier, didn’t want to make my parents hate me more than they already did, which is stupid, because what else could I do to make things worse? Date a girl? As if that somehow makes my dad’s store struggle even more, but I thought that, and hate that I still kind of do.”
“Sometimes we make ourselves believe the most unbelievable shit,” Shane told her, “Because I really thought that leaping off the cliff would somehow make Marnie and Jas’ life easier. But once I stepped down, it hit me how close I was to traumatizing them forever. There would be no more redo’s, no more chances to make up for a mistake, it would be forever.”
“I think I know Dorian’s type,” Abigail told him.
“Hm?”
“Broken things for her to fix,” she said.
“I don’t think it’s quite that,” he grumbled, but still rubbed his fingers across her spine. It was relaxing and helped ease the tension and anxiety she felt, “More like she is attracted to those who persevere, or at least that’s what she told me.”
“Of course she would say that,” Abigail mumbled, “Probably meant it, too.”
“She’ll be here any minute,” Shane then said, “Probably looking for us, actually.”
“I’ll go so the two of you can celebrate your One Month,” Abigail took a step back.
“Nonsense,” he grabbed her by the hand, leading her back out to the main room of the saloon.
Everyone had the decency to not comment or go after them when they disappeared and returned. Abigail looked around the room, spotting the red hair that lit up like a ruby under the sun’s rays. Dorian had a green bow in her hair and a smile on her face when she saw Abigail and Shane, like her two lovers were the only other ones in the room.
“There you two are,” Dorain greeted with a kiss on the cheek for each of them.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Abigail muttered, feeling at ease now that Dorian was standing in front of her.
“I have something for you two,” she smiled again, looking through the pouch on her hip.
Shane looked over at Abigail like he already knew what was coming, but he looked excited, happy about it.
“Tada!” Dorian lifted up her hands, a silver key in each of them, “The farmhouse is finally good to go.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t try to lure Abigail over to show her,” Shane snickered, taking one of the keys, leaning in to kiss Dorian on the lips this time, “Thank you, my love.”
Dorain blushed, gently pushing against Shane’s shoulder, “Aw shucks, you’re going to embarrass me, you know I would never lure a beautiful woman like Abigail out into the woods and try to convince her to stay with us forever, I’m classy! That’s why I’m asking her here, in the bar where I first realized that there was more about this girl than meets the eye,” Dorian said, looking over to Abigail, silver key still in hand.
Abigail couldn’t find the words, couldn’t bring her muscles to move.
“You’ve stunned her,” Shane pointed out, taking Abigail by the hand and leading her over to the couch she normally occupied every Friday night while the boys played pool.
“Abs, you okay, babe?” Dorian asked, a concerned look in her green eyes as Shane sat Abigail down.
Abigail focused on the freckled face in front of her, one that got a little too much sun today and smelt like the flowers that were growing in her garden.
“I’m going to give you two some room,” Shane told Dorain, moving to leave.
Abigail felt her hand reach out, stopping Shane from going too far, “Don’t,” she said, “I want you here when Dorian explains.”
“Explains what?” Dorian asked with a gentle smile, “That I’ve been working in secret for a month to get enough money to pay for a full house remodel so you and Shane can each have your own rooms, a kitchen to cook meals together, and a few spares just in case we decide to expand to include little rambunctious babies running around?” she asked, “Is that what you were wondering? Because that’s what I was hoping you were wondering,” she placed the key in Abigail’s free hand, “That is, if you’ll have us.”
Abigail looked over to Shane, a small smile on his face, one that she didn’t think he would ever point her way. “I want nothing more than that,” she felt herself grow teary eyed again, pulling both Shane and Dorian in for a hug.
Dorian seemed surprised that Abigail pulled in Shane, but one look from the man told her he would catch her up later. Right now, the three just wanted to enjoy the night, celebrate Shane’s accomplishment with ginger ale and Gus’ Special Daily Special, and then go to their new home, where Dorian made a spot for both of them in her life. Abigail pulled her lover aside, asking if she could talk with her later, but for now, she wanted to just end the night with smiles of joy. Tomorrow she could talk to Dorian about her insecurities, tomorrow she could look into her own therapist, tomorrow she could properly apologize to Shane.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” Dorain told her, “We’re in this together.” The red head squeezed her hand and gave her a reassuring look.
“All of us,” Shane added, his tone serious and his eyes kind.
Abigail could only nod and for that night she felt no longer angry, no longer jealous. She felt happy, like this was right, and she was ready to start this next chapter together.