I shivered slightly when the icy wind hit me as I walked out of the front entrance of the school's gymnasium. Even though I'd always been a fan of hot weather, the cold air actually felt refreshing after the stifling air of a hundred teenagers mingling and dancing in a shared space. Since my date to the dance had ditched me anyways, getting away from it all seemed like a good idea. Technically Lucy had only agreed to go with me in order to avoid Loke's constant advances, but I thought she'd at least slow dance with me once or twice. However, as soon as she got in the door, her best friend Levy had latched onto Lucy's arm and they disappeared into the crowd.

It didn't bother me too much since dances weren't really my thing which made it even easier for me to go ahead and hit up a few friends at the small circular tables that edged the dance floor. Surely she'd come back around to me at some point anyways.

I'd joined in on a couple line dances which made me feel like whole thing hadn't been a total waste of a Friday night. At least, that's what I thought until I saw my date again.

The song blaring from the speakers around us was a catchy pop song and my good friend Erza was determined to get me on my feet again. With her iron fingers clamped around my wrist, she dragged me behind her towards the mass of students moving to the beat. It didn't take much to get me moving when everyone else around me was going crazy, so I let definitely let loose. Erza laughed as I did a couple moves that were so silly she'd never attempt them. But, my goofy smile fell from my face when I glanced past her for a moment.

Lucy and Loke were nearly wrapped around each other as their hips grinded to the music. Blonde hair swung over her shoulder, Loke whispered something in her ear that made her smile.

I didn't gawk at them or walk over to ask her what the hell she was doing, I just left. If she was actually into him, why would she even ask me? Was she trying to make him jealous? That didn't even make sense!

I never had a crush on Lucy but I was certainly interested in her up until that part. Recently she'd been spending more time with me than usual and always had an excuse for why I should carry her books or give her a ride home after school. We'd been good friends since freshman year so I figured nearly four years of getting to know her had been leading up to this. It was the winter sports dance of our senior year! Maybe I'd been too eager, it wasn't like we'd gone to prom together.

Taking a seat on the concrete stairs that led up to the gym, I huffed out a sigh and closed my eyes. If I ignored the cold air, it really was a beautiful night. If I forgot about everything going on inside, everything was peaceful.

"Hey."

I jumped up so quickly that one of my feet blindly landed halfway off one of the stairs. My arms shot out in an attempt to steady myself and before I could figure out what was going on, my weight was carrying me forwards and down the stairs. My eyes instantly widened as my heart stopped because the only way that would stop my momentum, was about to be my face.

"Whoa spaz!"

What had to be strong arms caught my torso before I could fall and I gasped at the view of where I'd almost fallen. Twenty rock hard stairs had nearly, literally been my downfall.

"You okay?"

Finally looking over at the person that I wanted to be mad at for scaring me and couldn't be mad at for saving me, I was pretty surprised to see it was Gray. He let go of me when he was sure I was steady and took a seat next to me.

"Gray? What the hell you bastard!"

"It's not my fault you're jumpier than a salamander."

"Is that even a thing?"

"Have you ever seen one jump? It's pretty impressive."

I just gave him a weird look as I plopped back down again. Gray was more of an acquaintance than a friend to me because our friends didn't really hang out together. We'd made small talk before and he seemed like a pretty chill guy, but we'd never had an extended conversation. If he was going to be a smartass then I really didn't want him out here anyways.

"So, what are you doing out here? Didn't you come with Lucy?"

Rolling my eyes because I knew someone would ask eventually, I crossed my arms in annoyance.

"Yeah until she ditched me."

"What? That's not cool."

"Right? And guess who's she with now?"

Stretching his arms out behind him and leaning back against them, Gray casually answered, "Who? Her friends or something?"

"Nah she's with the guy she was avoiding when she said she'd go with me."

"Ouch, that's harsh. Sorry dude, girls are crazy."

From the look on his face, he must have had his share of problems with the ladies.

"Tell me about it," I sighed as I kicked my legs out in front of me. Although he'd almost killed me, hanging with Gray really wasn't so bad.

"Wait," I wondered aloud, "Didn't you have a date?"

He groaned as he sat up and rested his arms on his thighs. I realized for the first time we could see each other's breath in the frigid air.

"Unfortunately, I told Juvia that I'd be her date if she left me alone for the rest of the year." I could feel the anxiety pouring off of him.

"Juvia? Oh I thought you two were dating." The blue haired girl was constantly hanging off Gray's arm and following him everywhere so it seemed like they were close enough to be in a relationship.

"Fuck no," he breathed. "I've told her no a million times but she won't leave me alone."

"Wow, she doesn't seem like that kind of girl."

"Right?" He smirked as he repeated me from earlier. I laughed as I held out a hand and we fist bumped.

We sat without speaking for a while as we stared out at the dark night, until the door opened behind us.

"There you are! Grayyyy-saaaaamaaaaa!"

"Shit," Gray cursed as he turned to me. He looked like he was trying to decide whether or not to bolt. However, something must have dawned on him because I watched as his eyes suddenly lit up with determination.

"Don't punch me," he whispered and maybe it was just the adrenaline, but it felt like I was falling down the stairs again when he leaned over and pressed his lips against mine.

Of course I tried to pull out of it by turning my face away, yet he cupped my cheek before I could escape!

Gray's lips were cold as they rested on mine and I glared at his closed eyelids hoping he could feel the intensity of it anyways. He cupped my cheek to keep me from turning my head as he slowly began to actually kiss me.

Instinctually I tried to push him away so my arm smashed against his chest. But, I guess I didn't use enough force because he didn't budge. Should've went for the punch…

His other hand folded around my fingers and held my hand solidly against him.

"Gray-sama?" came a nervous girl's voice from somewhere behind us.

I felt Gray flinch and watched as his eyes fluttered open. He looked pretty damn desperate for me to go along with the kiss. Was this really going to accomplish anything?

Deciding that it wasn't going to kill me and that I might as well help a guy out, I went ahead and shut my eyes.

I didn't have a lot of experience with this sort of thing considering I'd only had one previous girlfriend, but when I parted my lips to kiss back, Gray reacted strongly.

The hand on my cheek slid to the back of my neck as he hungrily moved his mouth against mine. He was so aggressive that it was hard for me to match his lips.

Kissing this guy was like all encompassing combat! His attacks were too fast for me to think, I just had to react. When his tongue flicked against my closed lips he was testing my defense.

Chilly fingers twisted into the hair at the base of my neck as he forced his way into my mouth.

I couldn't even hope to be on the offense.

Gray's hand that was still holding mine against his chest dropped down and slid my palm over his solid abdomen hidden beneath his dress shirt. No straight guy would enjoy something like that, right? To hell with that, I've always known I was bi.

When he let go of my hand to grab onto my waist, I gripped his shoulders with both hands and stopped caring that I was getting way too into whatever this was.

Someone was crying and the doors to the dance slammed shut, but it was hard for me to care when my tongue was sucked into Gray's mouth.

Even though I didn't want it to end, a few minutes later he pulled back and I couldn't help but stare at his swollen lips.

It was hard for me to make sense of my scattered thoughts, however, I decided kissing Gray felt…refreshing.

Things with Lucy had seemed like they were slowly building up to something great when in reality, what I thought was the beginning of a new relationship was really just me falling over the edge.

I didn't want to get too carried away because we both had come with other people after all and we'd only kissed to avoid his crazy date.

But, maybe he could catch me.

Gray sounded a little breathless when he finally spoke.

"Thanks man, wasn't sure there was any other way to get her to leave me alone."

"Well if that doesn't work I don't know what will."

He smiled and dropped his gaze.

"I owe you one."

"Oh, you can make it up to me."

Gray smirked as he pulled me closer to him.

"How's that?"

My arms wrapped around his neck as I decided I was ready for a full-fledged counter-attack.

"Kiss me again."

L7L7L7L7