Yanderes in Cottage Country

Cody stared at the pink tutorial pop-up in shock. How was this…? What was this…? This couldn’t be. He was home. This shit didn’t exist on Earth. There was no fucking way he jumped from one insane game system to another. He was supposed to be home, sitting on the beach, sipping his coffee, and enjoying the tranquility of the lake.

Well, fuck, Knife said, and chuckled. Ain’t this interesting?

“No-no-no-no-no,” Cody muttered.

“You have chosen ‘No’. Please confirm you would like to skip the tutorial,” came a melodic female voice and a big ‘NO’ flashed on the screen.

“No! I mean, yes!” Cody shouted. He had no clue what was going on. He definitely wanted the tutorial.

“You have chosen ‘Yes’,” the system voice said.

Let’s go! Knife said and actually sounded excited.

Fucking Knife… Cody thought, as the pink screen changed into a wall of text.

“Welcome to Cottage Country!” the system voice read. “It’s time to kick back, relax, and enjoy some slow living and sweet romances.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound too bad,” Cody said. “Beats fighting monsters and nearly dying every single day.”

Sounds boring, Knife said. Sounds like very few opportunities for stabbing. For sinking into the flesh of the living and being coated in warm, sensuous blood, dripping down my length and—

“The town of Cornerstone has eight main Residents and many non-permanent or less important residents,” the system continued, and Cody was thankful Knife shut up to listen, so Cody didn’t have to hear Knife monologue about how much he liked stabbing things. It was a bit on the nose, to be honest, and he’d already heard it a million times before. “Make sure to meet all eight of them,” the game’s narrator continued. “To make your friendship grow, say hello and discover their Friendship Quests. Completing Friendship Quests will help you achieve Friendship Levels with each Resident.”

“Great…” Cody said. “So, this is what? A life sim? And I have to make friends?”

“Some Residents may even be Romanceable,” the narrator continued. “Once you achieve Friendship Level One you will know if the Resident is Romanceable. To check your progress, you can open your [Resident Menu]. You must achieve all five Friendship Levels before you can unlock Romance.”

A menu appeared with a list of people. They had headshots, their first and last name, and a series of five empty circles next to their name. Some looked familiar, but at least half he didn’t know. Presumably, those circles would be filled in as Cody made progress with their Friendship. He’d played a few life sims before, so he understood the gist of it. He even played a few with Morgan, back in the day. Sometimes it was nice to unwind with a bit of the three Fs: foraging, fishing, and farming. But something told him this life sim wasn’t going to be the farming variety, seeing as he inherited a cottage from a dead relative, not the prerequisite farm.

The tutorial walked him through where to find his [Town Map], which he could also use to locate Residents. His [Stamina Bar] was at the top left. It was currently a full green bar. If he glanced away and stopped thinking about it, the bar would disappear, but if he wanted to check on it, all he needed to do was think about it again and look up to the left corner and it’d be there. It was the exact same as it had been in the last game he’d been stuck in.

The short introductory tutorial ended and Cody was left to…wander, he guessed. Go meet the NPCs. Or in this case, they weren’t really NPCs, were they? They were real people, living their lives.

He brought up the [Resident Menu], just by thinking about it, and scrolled through. Most of the people who he didn’t recognize were various business owners. When Cody came to visit his Grandpa Sam, he usually just stayed at the cottage and rarely came into town. He did remember burly Resident Bob Gilbert, the owner of Bob’s Bait and Tackle, because it was one of the few places Cody did visit with Grandpa Sam. But he couldn’t recall the older-looking waitress named Doris Smith who worked at Frank’s Diner, or the middle-aged man named William Brooks, who ran a bakery called Corner Pieces. There was also a young blonde woman who was listed as Marigold Parker, owner of Cornerstone Critters, and a brunette woman, Lexi Rayes, who was apparently the librarian at the Cornerstone Public Library.

He was disappointed Morgan’s older and equally ginger brother, Doug Callahan, had made the shortlist. There was also a little girl who looked a bit Asian, wearing her black hair in pigtails. Her name was Gracie Callahan, but Cody had no clue who she was. The last name suggested she could be Doug’s kid. She looked young enough that she wouldn’t have been around the first time Cody left Cornerstone.

Just under the little girl’s headshot he found Morgan’s smiling face. He really hated eighteen-year-old Cody for breaking her heart, all those years ago. Every single time he found himself sleeping on the ground, looking up at the foreign constellations of Velasarin, his mind would wander back to lying on the beach with Morgan, holding hands, and looking up at the vastness of the Milky Way. The night sky looked amazing out in cottage country, away from all the light pollution of the city. Nearly every night he spent on the beach with Morgan, looking up into the sky, they would see at least one shooting star.

He couldn’t scroll past her picture. All his time in Velasarin, he never had a photo of her, just his memories. But she really was just as beautiful as he remembered.

Get a fucking room, Knife grumbled. Actually, go get the fucking girl you’ve been jerking off to for the past decade, take her into that room, and then fuck her brains out.

Yeah, well, it’s not going to be that easy, is it? Cody shot back at Knife. You said it yourself; she doesn’t seem very into me. She’s still pissed about what happened between us.

Then do something about it. You’re finally home and you’re just going to sit on a beach and feel sorry for yourself? Knife said.

Cody ran his hands over his face with a sigh. There was just some stubble. It was weird not having a full beard, like he used to in Velsarin. A lot of things felt weird now. Because he was home. He was still trying to wrap his brain around that. To him, he had lived a decade in that game world. A decade full of hardship and pain. He’d made friends and lost friends. Nearly died a few times. He’d won loot and celebrated, and he also experienced the bitter taste of defeat.

He was technically thirty-eight now. He had lived a life that matched those years, but he was back in his twenty-eight-year-old body. For Morgan, it had been only one decade since he ditched her and broke her heart, and only four months since his grandfather’s funeral where she politely ignored him. But for Cody, it had been two decades. So much had changed for him, so many life experiences, and he was convinced his biggest mistake was leaving Morgan. And now that he finally could make amends, he felt himself stalling.

He could hop in his car and head into town. That’s what this new game wanted him to do, right? He could meet and greet some of the people on his list, and that included Morgan. Judging by the uniform she had been wearing, she clearly worked at the grocery store that her family owned. He could begin to mend things. Or at the very least, he could test the waters and see if she was interested in mending things.

Assuming she hasn’t already met someone and is married and has a couple kids by now, Knife said.

“Fuck,” Cody said. In all his fantasies, she was on her own. He didn’t like thinking of the very real alternative that she found someone else and wasn’t even single. But she had been alone at the funeral, so hopefully that meant she was available. Plus, she was still going by her maiden name. Not all women changed their names once they got married, but those two pieces of information gave him hope.

Only one way to find out, Knife said.

Cody silently agreed.

* * *

The town of Cornerstone was pretty much the same as Cody remembered. Main Street was about five blocks long, with a few business-filled side streets that eventually gave way to quiet, quaint neighborhoods. There was a row of little shops on the main stretch, the small grocery store being the very first one. Cody just kept driving, finding a parking spot on Main Street at the opposite end from the grocery store. He’d make his way down there, but he wasn’t ready to start there. Also, he was starving and needed to hit up the diner first.

Some of the shops were open year-round, such as the grocer, while others popped up as seasonal attractions for summer visitors, cottage owners and renters, and there was a campsite not far from town. The population was actually something like ten thousand, if he remembered correctly.

As he walked down the quiet street, he shook his head in wonder and shoved his hands in his pockets. This was so…weird. He hopped from one game right into another? How was that even possible? But then, he stopped questioning game mechanics years ago. It was just the way of life in Velasarin. Every single person there was connected to the game and had access to game screens, [Stamina], and a [Personal Inventory].

Maybe you’re dead, Knife said. Maybe this is a weird afterlife thing. I guess that means I'm dead, too? Huh.

God, I hope not, Cody said.

A grey and white cat stepped out from under a parked car, looking up at Cody and meowing.

“Hey there,” Cody said, happy for the distraction from his doom and gloom thoughts. He reached down and gave the cute cat a scritch between the ears.

A pink notification box popped up. Cody flinched, standing up abruptly. Luckily, no one else was walking down the street to witness his weird spasm. He looked at the box as the calm, female system voice read off the notification for him:

Cody watched in awe as the green bar he had slightly depleted filled back up. Huh, he thought to himself. There was nothing like that in Velasarin. The only things that refilled his [Stamina] in the previous game were sleeping, eating, or potions. He shrugged and kept on walking, bidding goodbye to the cat.

He walked the last few steps to the diner, but paused before going in. He wasn’t sure why he suddenly felt a nervous twist in his stomach, as if he was about to enter a dungeon. This was a completely different world. But it did feel like this was the first step. He was re-entering civilization with the intent of talking to people on his [Resident Menu]. That made it feel like he was accepting that this was a game. But maybe if he could one hundred percent this life sim, he could be done with this game shit for once and for all. He took one last steadying breath and then headed into Frank’s Diner. The smells of greasy food wafted over him and his mouth started watering.

“Seat yourself,” an older waitress called. She was grabbing plates of food from the kitchen but gave him a warm smile.

Cody returned her smile and then slid into the nearest booth. There was a laminated menu on the table, but he didn’t need to look at it. He wanted a cheeseburger and fries. And another coffee. And a slice of apple fucking pie. Food in Velasarin sucked. It was all stews and chewy game meat and potatoes with a side of potatoes. Granted, fries were also potatoes, but Velasarin didn’t have deep fryers.

The waitress came over, notepad in hand and pen at the ready. She was probably pushing sixty. Her dark brown hair was streaked with grey and worn in a tidy bun.

“Hey fella, I’m Doris,” she said. “What can I get for you today?”

Cody placed his order and as soon as she turned away, he brought up his [Resident Menu]. He glanced around, making sure none of the other diner guests could see the screen. In Velasarin, your screens were private, so he was hoping it would be the same here. Since no one was gawking at the floating, glowing pink rectangle, Cody assumed that meant no one could see it but him.

He scrolled through the list and quickly found Doris. She seemed nice enough, in the older aunt who is a little rough around the edges kind of way. Very stereotypical diner waitress. The tutorial had mentioned gift giving and quests. He would need to figure out what kind of gifts Doris would want or see if she gave him some sort of fetch quest.

Doris returned shortly with his food: burger and fries, apple pie, and a steaming hot coffee. He plucked a greasy, hot fry from the basket and nearly burnt his tongue eating it, but it was worth it. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, with the perfect amount of salt. He dug into his burger, savoring the thick cheddar cheese and thin slices of tomatoes and pickles. And then he was onto the apple pie, which even had a dollop of whipped cream on top. Every single bite was incredible. The whipped cream tasted like Heaven. There weren’t that many sweets in Velasarin and now that he was re-introduced to sugar, he wanted to eat all the sweet stuff in the world. He would have ordered a second round, or at least a second slice of pie, but he reined himself in.

“Someone was hungry!” Doris said with a laugh as she presented him with the bill.

Cody let out a long sigh. “It was great. Best meal I’ve had in years!”

“Well, you can settle the bill at the front when you’re ready,” she told him and gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

He got up and made his way to the cash register at the end of the diner's bar. It was right next to the display case featuring rotating pies and cakes. He paid Doris, and just as he was doing so, remembered he was a millionaire, so he left her a generous tip.

“Ain’t you kind,” Doris said as she noticed the tip.

A pink notification box popped up:

[Congratulations! You have completed your first Friendship Level with Resident Doris Smith! Only four more to go until Full Friendship Achieved!]

Well, that was easy enough, Cody thought, while doing his best to ignore the screen. Doris was still talking to him.

“You have a nice day now,” she said. “And here, take a hard candy for the road.”

She passed him a red candy wrapped in cellophane, which he accepted with a thanks, and instinctively popped it into his [Inventory].

Dude, you can’t do that here, Knife reprimanded.

Shit, you’re right. Luckily, the candy was small enough that Doris didn’t seem to notice it disappeared from his hand. He bid her farewell and headed back outside.

Cody continued his walk down Main Street. The closer he got to the end of Main Street, and the little family-run grocery store, the more nervous he began to feel.

He wanted to properly talk to Morgan, and she was on his list of Residents he had to talk to if he wanted to get this game over with. But he wasn’t entirely sure what he was going to say, especially after spending a decade pining for her, and a decade before that away in the city. He vaguely wondered if he had just spent two whole decades working away at the auto factory, would he have felt the same? Or would he have found another girl and moved on?

You could start with: ‘Sorry, I was an asshole’, Knife suggested. And then follow it up with: ‘Wanna’ bone?’

As usual, you are not helpful, Cody said. The apology was a good idea, but he was already planning on doing that.

Every footstep brought him closer to the grocery store until he was right out front. As much as he would have loved to eat at the diner for every single meal, he knew that wasn’t a good idea and that he should probably buy some groceries.

Once again, he steeled his nerves as if he was about to enter a dungeon, and then opened the door. The air conditioning hit him in the face and the familiar smell of ‘grocery store’ washed over him. He nonchalantly glanced over and saw Morgan was working one of the tills, cashing out an elderly woman. Her brother, Doug, was working the other till and busy cashing out a family with two young kids. It looked like they were prepping for a camping trip: lots of hot dogs, buns, and a couple of s’mores kits.

Cody grabbed a cart and started picking out some food, filling it with exotic fruits he once took for granted: bananas, kiwis, and a couple of mangos. His mouth was already watering.

I mean, you’ve told me what a grocery store is and I’ve been inside your memories but…wow, Knife said, sounding thoroughly impressed. It’s different actually experiencing it. You just walk in and pick out whatever you want? And everything is just readily available in one spot? And what even is that? A monkey’s ball?

It’s a kiwi fruit, Cody explained, and tried to send Knife a mental image of what it would look like once he cut it open. While Knife had access to his memories, if it wasn’t something relevant, it was harder for him to find on his own.

Huh. Cool, Knife said.

They had markets in Velasarin, but they were a jumbled mess of stalls. You had to buy eggs from one vendor and apples from another. Small towns had butchers and bakers, but even then, it meant visiting multiple storefronts, bartering, picking the items that looked the least awful. It truly did not compare to a modern grocery store, even a small one like Callahan’s Food Mart.

Cody pushed his cart through the store, picking up some coffee, milk, sugar, bread, peanut butter, seven different kinds of sugary cereal—all the necessities. He also picked up a few things that were definitely not necessary, but he dearly missed, like individually packaged extra processed chocolate cupcakes.

He kept moseying around the store until Morgan’s till was free, so he could cash out with her instead of Doug. He also wanted it to be while Doug was busy cashing out someone else. As soon as his opportunity arose, he quickly walked over. He parked his cart at her till and started unloading his items onto the checkout’s conveyor belt.

“Hey,” Cody said, trying to sound super nonchalant and not like this was the girl he dreamt about returning to for a decade. “Thanks again, for last night. And this morning.”

He noticed Doug looked over pointedly, but since he was busy cashing out another family, he didn’t intervene.

Morgan diligently scanned the products, but her eyes briefly roamed over Cody. “Feeling better?”

“Much better,” he confirmed. “Do you think maybe we could talk some—”

“No,” Morgan said, and turned her focus to scanning.

His heart fluttered in his chest and then it felt like it dropped to the floor. He pretty much expected this, but it still stung.

“Morgan, I’m sorry,” he said. She paused, her face neutral as she looked up at him. “I was young, and stupid back then, and maybe we could just talk sometime?”

“Seriously?” she asked.

“Yes, I'm serious. I want to talk to you.”

She slowly started scanning his goods again. “Let me get this straight, you’re moving into your grandfather’s place, so why not hit on the girl you dated that one summer and then completely ditched?”

“No, that’s not—”

“I’m not interested in another Cody-summer-fling,” she said. “One was enough, thank you.”

“I’m not interested in a summer fling, either,” Cody said hurriedly. “I am here to stay.”

“You’re here to stay? How? Where are you working?”

“Well…” Cody said. He knew he was going to have to explain this to her sooner or later, and he didn’t want to start off by lying about it. He also knew Morgan wasn’t a gold digger. She was the kind of girl who preferred handpicked wildflowers over expensive store-bought roses. Whether or not he had money wasn’t going to be a factor in getting back together or not.

“Well, what?” Morgan prompted.

“Grandpa Sam had a lot of money,” Cody explained, keeping his voice hushed. “Enough that I can basically live off the interest for the rest of my life.”

“I had no idea,” Morgan said. “That’s so weird…I never would have suspected that Grandpa Sam had money.”

Cody shrugged. “Me neither. So, what do you say? I want to talk to you. I want to make things right.”

She paused scanning his items and he swore he saw a glimmer of hope in her gorgeous blue eyes. It looked like she was actually considering it, but then she let out a long sigh, shaking her head slowly. “I don’t even know how to respond to that. You broke up with me, didn’t talk to me for ten years, and now you’re showing up at my work to…what? You want to apologize for something you already had a decade to apologize for?”

She has a point, Knife so helpfully pointed out. What the fuck is wrong with you?

“Look, I know I messed up,” Cody said. “I messed up by breaking up with you, and I messed up even more by waiting this long to come back to Cornerstone. All I’m asking for right now is that we talk and maybe we can be friends?”

He thought about coming back to Cornerstone while he lived in the city. He really did. But he always figured it would go just about as good as it was going now, so he never bothered. But living life on the edge, having countless near-death experiences, really makes you rethink your past mistakes and life choices. It makes you want to fix them.

“I’ll think about it,” Morgan said quietly. Her eyes flicked to her brother just behind them, no doubt eavesdropping now that he was done cashing out his customers.

Better than another no, Knife said.

Cody agreed with his brainworm and tapped his credit card, paying for his groceries. Morgan helped him pack his stuff in paper bags in silence, and then he left, feeling like he had at least made some progress. It wasn’t like either of them were going anywhere. He’d have time to keep shooting his shot. Also: not once did she mention a boyfriend or a husband. That was excellent news.

He was heading back to his car when he heard a man shout, “Hey!”

Cody turned just as Doug caught up to him. Cody flinched, half expecting Doug to punch him in the face while his arms were full of groceries. That was kind of the Big Brother Code, wasn’t it? You fuck with their little sisters and break their hearts, they punch you in the face? Cody skipped town so quickly after the breakup, Doug never had the chance. Maybe he was going to make up for that now.

“Hey…Doug…Nice seeing you again,” Cody said slowly.

“I know you moved back to town and all, but you’re going to need to get your groceries somewhere else,” Doug said. “Next town over, Milltown, they have a grocery store. You go there from now on.”

“Seriously?” Cody asked.

“You fucked with Morgan,” Doug said, pointing his finger into Cody’s chest. “And now you’re finding out. I will tolerate you living here because Grandpa Sam was a good guy, but you stay out of Callahan’s and you stay the fuck away from my sister.”

Cody backed up so Doug’s finger was no longer poking him in the chest. “Look, we’re all adults now, right? I was a stupid teenager back then. I’m a different person now, trust me.”

“You shop in Milltown,” Doug repeated, and then turned and left.

Stab him, Knife growled. Stab the giant ginger.

No, Cody said, and headed to his car. He was pretty sure killing Doug was not the way to win back Morgan.

Current Inventory Total: 2

Residents Met: 3/8

Friendship Moments: Doris: 1/5

Romance Moments: 0

Relationship Status: Woefully Single