Chapter Text
Shane traipsed across the kitchen, to put yet another frozen pizza in the microwave. He hadn’t even gone outside today, just stared at the walls and the ceilings and tried to avoid Marnie as much as possible. He had nothing against Marnie, in fact he was incredibly grateful that she’d let him stay here. It was just that Jojomart sucked the life out of him, and when he came home for the weekend all he wanted to do was stare at the ceiling till it was time for food, then eat pizza and drink till he collapsed on his bed and woke up to another awful week. The microwave dinged and as Shane went to pull his pizza out he heard Marnie’s voice behind him.
“I hear there’s a new farmer in town,” she said, trying to start a conversation that Shane already knew he had no interest in.
“Oh,” he replied, his tone flat.
“I hear he’s single, and quite good looking too,” continued Marnie.
Shane rummaged around the utensil draw to find the pizza cutter, then gave up and decided to use the scissors instead. He wondered why Marnie was telling him this; she was already quite involved with the Mayor and, while that was scandalous, he doubted even she was bold enough to have two men on the go at once. But then again, maybe she was. Shane was sure there was a lot more to Marnie than met the eye.
“Maybe you should say hello sometime? The farm’s only up the path you know…” Marnie had a look in her eye that suggested to Shane that he had missed something.
“Sure, I’m sure I’ll see him around,” Shane replied noncommittally, and withdrew to his room with his pizza.
The following morning as Shane trudged to work, he was met by an obnoxiously peppy man wearing dungarees and a straw hat. Shane gritted his teeth and braced himself, this was probably the new farmer, and definitely the kind of person who actively enjoyed conversations with strangers.
“Hi! I just moved here! I’m the new farmer! I live just up the path from your ranch! Marnie’s told me all about you!” the stranger blurted out.
Awful. Just as Shane had expected.
“I don’t know you. Why are you talking to me?” He snapped. Shane just wanted to get to work and dissociate through his shift until he could blank out the world with wonderful, beautiful alcohol.
The farmer looked disheartened but gave Shane a smile.
“I guess I’ll see you around?” he said.
“Probably not,” scowled Shane and continued his walk to work, quickening his step to reduce the likelihood of further interaction.
“I’m Jake by the way!” the farmer shouted after Shane, before turning and heading into the general store.
Two weeks later Shane was standing in his customary corner at the Stardrop Saloon, on his fourth—no, fifth beer. He was hazily staring at the wall and wondering if Gus had started watering down his pints or if his body had built up a tolerance to the sheer volume of alcohol he pumped into it. He was halfway through thinking that it was probably a mixture of the two, when a semi-familiar irritating face popped up next to him.
“Hi! It’s Jake!” Jake announced himself in his awful, upbeat voice. “I don’t know if you remember me?”
“Regrettably I do,” muttered Shane. “Can’t a man drink in peace?”
“I thought you looked like you could use some company,” smiled Jake, unperturbed.
“I’ll do my best to avoid giving off that impression in the future,” said Shane, taking another long drink from his glass. Gus was definitely watering down his beer.
“Well I’ll be, uh, over there if you change your mind?” Jake pointed towards the table Leah was sat at. Shane felt a pang of jealousy. He’d been fond of Leah a while back, they’d even gone on a date. It hadn’t led anywhere, and now that his entire personality consisted of beer and pizza there was even less of a chance of her being interested. Shane downed the rest of his drink and swayed a little.
“I won’t,” he mumbled, but Jake had already left.
Summer finally rolled around. Shane was happy for the extra sunlight but sad that he had to spend the majority of it working under the cold fluorescent lights at Jojo. The fact that he might see more sun if he didn’t spend the remainder of the daylight hours inside the Stardrop Saloon didn’t cross his mind. Kicking up leaves as he walked to work, Shane groaned inwardly as he saw the ever peppy farmer approaching. Shane once again braced himself and tried to think of something to say that would kill the inevitable conversation before it started.
“Here!” blurted Jake, shoving a pepper into Shane’s hands before running off.
Shane blinked. Jake was already halfway across the town square. He regarded the plump pepper in his hands. It was bright red, juicy, and enticing, as if begging Shane to take a bite. Shane stuffed it in his pocket; he could probably cut it up and stick it on his pizza tonight. What had possessed Jake to give him this though? Hadn’t Shane’s winning personality done enough to put him off already?
When Shane arrived home that night after a particularly heavy session at the saloon, he was halfway through picking at his microwaved pizza (still cold in the middle) before he remembered the pepper. He grabbed it out of his uniform pocket and went to the kitchen to chop it up. To his disappointment, Marnie was also there, fixing herself a hot chocolate before bed.
“I hear you’ve made quite the impression on our new farmer,” she mused.
“I have?” Shane asked, confused.
“He was in to buy some chickens the other day and was asking after you,” Marnie grinned.
Shane frowned and started to chop up the pepper. It was looking a little worse for wear having been in his pocket for the duration of an eight-hour shift, but it was still plump and glistened under the kitchen lights when he cut into it.
“Yeah he gave me this pepper today,” Shane murmured.
“Oh really..? Sounds like he might have his eye on you,” said Marnie, a twinkle in her eye.
Shane scowled and scattered the chopped pepper over his pizza before retreating to his room. He paused before taking a bite. Marnie’s words stuck in his mind. Was Jake interested in him? Shane laughed to himself—the farmer would be a fool if he thought that Shane had anything worth offering. But then again, maybe he was a fool. Surely anyone who randomly gave out peppers in the town square was at least a little bit weird.
Shane took a bite of his pizza and hit a juicy chunk of pepper. It sent shivers down his spine as his mouth exploded into fiery ecstasy. The pepper had the perfect amount of give in the skin, followed by the juicy crunch from the flesh, and just the right amount of spice coating his tongue. Shane audibly groaned as he swallowed and quickly took another bite, greedily swallowing it down. His lips burned and his nose streamed and still he couldn’t get enough of the wondrous pepper into his mouth. Upon completion Shane’s empty plate dropped to the ground as he groaned once again and tried to process how a pepper could taste that good. Shane slept soundly that night for the first time in months, his hangover wasn’t even too bad in the morning.
The next time Jake approached Shane at the Stardrop Saloon, he resolved to at least attempt to be a little more friendly.
“Hey, uh, thanks for that pepper the other day…” Shane’s eyes darted between the farmer’s and his pint glass. “It was, uh, real good”
Jake’s eyes lit up. “You thought so?” he chirped, practically beaming.
“Yeah, I, uh, had it on some pizza and it tasted real nice… thank you,” Shane continued.
“I’m so glad; it was my first time growing peppers and I’m so happy it went well,” Jake’s smile almost reached his ears and Shane noticed his lips looked soft in the dim light of the saloon,
“I have something else for you,” Jake winked conspiratorially, sneaking a glance at the bar to make sure Gus’ back was turned.
From his pocket, Jake produced—inexplicably—a single egg. He pressed it into Shane’s hand like it was some secret contraband.
“Thank you?” Shane questioned.
“You’re welcome,” nodded Jake, before speed-walking out of the saloon.
Shane nursed his pint, mulling over the night’s events before deciding to head home earlier than usual to experiment with the egg in the kitchen. As he walked in he was met at the door by a rather sheepish Mayor Lewis.
“And make sure you file those taxes properly!” The Mayor exclaimed, turning quickly to Marnie. “The library isn’t going to fund itself you know.”
Marnie rolled her eyes. “Of course Mayor, although if I do, you may not have any reason to come over any more…” She tilted her head and pouted at him.
At that, Mayor Lewis turned bright red and hurried out the door. Shane raised an eyebrow at Marnie, who chuckled and headed into the kitchen. He followed her, and, realising her knowledge of cooking was infinitely better than his, asked, “So, if I had an egg, how would I go about cooking that?”
“Shane, are you drunk? I mean, more than usual?” questioned Marnie.
“No, I, uh, that farmer guy—he gave me an egg,” Shane said.
“Oh I see! First a pepper and now an egg… very interesting,” cooed Marnie. “It’ll be flowers and a mermaid pendant next.”
Shane’s cheeks flushed. “It will not!” he exclaimed.
Marnie gave him a look, then relented and took out a frying pan.
“You’ve got to get the butter hot,” she said, adding a knob of butter to the pan and moving it around with a spatula, “then you crack the egg in.” She took the egg and with one hand, cracked it on the side of the pan and let its contents hit the butter. The egg-white sizzled and crisped up around the edges. Soon there was a perfectly fried egg, which Marnie deposited on a plate along with a knife and fork.
“Make sure you season with salt and pepper,” Marnie continued, placing both on the counter, “and if you see that farmer again, ask him how he gets his yolks so big and yellow.”
Shane was already drooling slightly from the smell of the egg. “Thanks Marnie, I might start using the kitchen a little more if that’s okay?”
“Of course!” beamed Marnie. “It’s wonderful to see you have an interest in more than pizza and beer, just make sure you clean up after yourself”
“I will do, thanks again,” Shane said as he headed into his room. He sat at his desk and cautiously cut into the egg. The yolk oozed out and spread around the plate, and Shane licked his lips in anticipation. He took a bite, combining the solid white with the creamy yolk and sank back into his chair in bliss. The underside was crisp, the white firm, and the yolk gorgeously rich. Shane couldn’t stop himself from eating the whole thing in two more bites before eagerly licking the plate clean. He couldn’t remember being this enthusiastic about food in a long time. Although, honestly he couldn’t remember being enthusiastic about anything in a long time.
As Shane lay down on his bed ready to sleep, his thoughts revolved around Jake, the peculiar farmer who had, for whatever reason, decided that Shane was worth spending time with. He smiled. “I hope someday I see whatever it is you see in me,” Shane murmured, before turning out the lights.