"C'mon Gray," Claire says, motioning towards the tall, auburn haired boy. "Hurry up!"
Gray cocks an eyebrow, not picking up the pace. "Claire, do you have some kind of appointment with the grass? We're not gonna be late." Claire just smiles, does a cartwheel down the hill, tumbling down quickly. All Gray can think of is when Claire made him watch Tangled, and Rapunzel got out of her tower and went berserk. Claire is Rapunzel.
Or a Goddess, Gray thinks. Either way.
"Somersault down!" Claire shoots him a white grin, and front-flips.
"No, no that's fine. I'll walk," Gray replies as loud as he can, so Claire can hear him over her giggling.
She sticks out her tongue at him. "You're boring."
"Then maybe you should have came here with someone else." Like Trent, the asshole.
When he's finally caught up to her, she punches his arm playfully and smiles. "I'm just messin' with ya Gray. It's more fun coming here with you."
He rolls his eyes. "Riiiiight, because I'm the best kind of company." He plucks at least a hundred blades of grass out of her hair, but leaves the flowers that have nestled beautifully in her blonde locks.
"You are. If I come here with anyone else, they always say I act childish."
"You do act childish."
"Not as much as Popuri."
"A-huh," Gray pretends to agree, and Claire grabs a handfull of leaves that rest in the meadow, dropping them onto his head.
"And what was the point of that?" Gray says, a laugh reaching it's way up his throat.
"It's fun ticking you off," Claire laughs. Gray chuckles, flicks her nose, and she pretends to fall dramatically onto the blanket of Summer grass.
"Look!" she suddenly cries, and points her finger to a bed of dandelions. "Wishing flowers!"
"What?"
"Wishing flowers, see?" Claire begins to run to the field, flopping down on it. Thousand of seeds jump off the flower, and float into the sky.
"What the hell's a wishing flower?" Gray asks, squinting his light blue eyes.
"Okay, you officially didn't have a childhood," Claire says seriously, then breaks her face into a grin. "You make a wish, then blow these out."
"Claire, don't be stupid. You can't wish for something to come true," Gray says, but Claire's not listening. She's gathering the dandelions together, carefully trying to preserve all the seeds. It looks like a wedding bouquet.
She clutches the stems tightly in her hand, then catches Gray's look. "I got 4. More of a chance your wish will come true." She grins, then closes her eyes.
"Claire, how do you know your wish will come true?"
She gives him a funny look, like she can't believe he just asked that. "Because if you blow all of them out at once, your wish has to come true." Her voice is so sincere, that Gray almost believes her. Almost.
"My mother told me that," Claire explains, and all is quiet. Gray sighs and hopes he hasn't hurt her feelings. He has to make sure.
"Claire?"
Claire pokes one eye open. "Shhh, hang on. I'm thinking of a wish." She concentrates for at least a minute, then finally smiles. "I wish that this moment can last forever. That I can be here, with Gray, in this amazing meadow, in Mineral Town, forever." She takes a deep breath, then blows them all out at once, and they soar into the sky in one direction. The wind carries them away. Half skid over the pond. The other half move towards the thicket of trees. Claire looks at them like they're they're the most beautiful things she's ever seen, and lets out a sigh.
"Told you," she says triumphantly, and Gray shakes his head.
"How can a moment last forever? It's impossible."
Claire tilts her head and thinks for a moment, then rests her head on Gray's broad shoulder. "At least it can last for a little while." she whispers, and Gray hopes she doesn't see the red creeping onto his face.
Claire smacks her hands together suddenly, and snatches a dandelion, placing it gently in Gray's hand. "Your turn."
"I have nothing to wish for," Gray mutters, and he doesn't know why he's so angry.
Claire makes a face, like she's just swallowed a whole package of Sour Patch Kids. "Come on Gray, everyone has something they want to wish for."
Gray looks at her, and raises the flower to his face. "You're right, there is something I want to wish for." Without even thinking, he blows on the flower, and says, "I wish I could kiss the most beautiful girl right now," and gets every seed off in one shot. He checks for Claire's reaction, which is confused, and holds her face with his rough, callused hands, bringing it closer to him, kissing her, hard. Her lips are soft and warm, and everything feels right. She doesn't struggle, she doesn't move. She stands perfectly still, and slowly, after what feels like a billion years, she kisses him back.
It's amazing. It's incredible. It's perfect. It's-
It doesn't really happen, and Gray feels like he wants to cry. He looks at the dandelion for a long time, disdainfully, then murmurs, "I wish I could say whatever I want, and not be afraid," then blows out the flower, seeds flying everywhere.
Claire smiles. "Just do what I do, 'speak your mind'" she jokes. And Gray wants to. He wants to be like Claire, or Kai, or even Trent. But he can't because he's just Gray.
Claire looks at her watch, and gasps. "Crap, it's getting late. We'd better get going," she decides. "I'll get you home on time so Saibara doesn't flip out." She winks but Gray doesn't say anything back. He's lost in thought.
Tomorrow, he thinks. Tomorrow I'll tell her I love her. Tomorrow I'll kiss her, and she'll kiss me back. She'll leave Trent and be with me. Tomorrow we'll be together. Tomorrow will be the day Claire knows the truth. Tomorrow-
But he knows tomorrow won't come.