InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "pretty fly for an orange guy!"

1996
The heat of the afternoon summer bathed Blackmeadow Grange in a golden glow, the fields alive with the hum of insects and the distant clatter of farm work. Millie wiped the sweat from her brow, her gaze drifting toward the barn, where the new farmhand, Johnny, was unloading hay bales with effortless grace. His shirt clung to his back, darkened with sweat, and she felt a tug in her chest that was hard to ignore.

He had been here only a few weeks, and already she had heard the whispers. That Johnny had been told he could curry favors by flirting with the boss's daughter. Millie had scoffed at it when she first heard, but now… she wasn't so sure. The way he smiled at her, all sweet and polite, made it difficult to keep her guard up. It wasn't like he had come on too strong or made any inappropriate moves, but there was an undercurrent of attraction in their conversations, a subtle flirtation that made her stomach flip.

She had gotten a reputation a few years back. Being the owner's daughter meant people watched her more closely, their assumptions about her amplified by her closeness to the farmhands. One summer she had let her guard down, let herself get caught up in the excitement of a fling with a seasonal worker. It had been fun at the time, but the fallout had been harder to shake. Now, every look she gave, every friendly conversation was met with speculation.

Millie sighed, feeling the weight of those judgments pressing down on her again. She didn't want to fall back into that cycle. Didn't want to lose the respect she had slowly been earning from the workers. They had started seeing her as more than just the boss's daughter, as someone who worked just as hard as they did. She couldn't afford to jeopardize that.

But Johnny… he was different. Polite. Handsome. And he had this way of looking at her that made it hard to convince herself to stay away.

She glanced over again, catching him mid-laugh with one of the other workers, his smile easy and genuine. He hadn't even tried to flirt today, but the temptation was there all the same, lingering between them like the heat in the air.

As she turned back to her work, she shook her head, determined to keep her distance. Temptation was hard, but respect - real respect - was harder to come by. And she wasn't ready to give that up. © tessisamess