Luke's POV
I was happy to see Lance. I never knew him personally, but I knew that he was a good friend of Natsa. He seemed like a nice guy, the kind of excepting, heart-felt guy. At least that's what he seemed like. The first few days back from the guild, Natsa, Happy, Graya, and Erzo all sat with Lance. I was okay with that. I could understand that after being separated for so long, quite a big catch up was needed. A break from quests was needed too. I'm okay with that. That's the kind of person I am. I will give them as much space as they need, and they will come back when they've fully adjusted to having Lance back.
Today was chilly. It was late November, and the winter winds were just starting to kick in. I wrapped my scarf around my neck a little tighter, and buttoned my coat one button higher. I couldn't risk walking on the side of the canal like I always did, for fear of being blown right into the icy water. Plue was already cold to being with, so I decided not to call him out to walk to the guild with me. An un-usually lonely walk to the guild awaited me. On a usual morning, I would have woken up to Natsa arguing with Happy about whether or not fish was a good breakfast food. She would have jumped out of my window, and, to my anger, let all the cold wind inside by opening the window and jumping onto the street.
"Use the door for pete's sake!"
"There's no point! The window's faster!"
"That's no excuse!"
I would have gone down onto the street (using the door of coarse) and she would have waited for me, and we would walk to the guild together. But that hadn't happened for the past three weeks. Three weeks since we've gotten back from Edolas. Three weeks since Lance came back. Three weeks I've over bought at the grocery, three weeks I've gone to my window to make sure it's closed, three weeks of getting dressed in the bathroom before walking into my bedroom. Three weeks of missing her.
The guild was the same as always. Marco-Jean was wiping down the bar, Evergreen was whacking Elfman with her fan, Macao was teaching Romeo some magic tricks... The only thing missing was Natsa and Gray fighting. But I think I was the only person who noticed. Natsa and Graya were sitting with Lance -along with Erzo and Happy- laughing about something that I couldn't hear. I sat down at an empty table next to where they were sitting. They didn't notice me of coarse. I silently listened to there conversations, putting in my two-cents in my head. I made a promise to myself. I wouldn't interrupt Natsa and the group's happiness. I caught Lance once looking at me in the corner of his eye, but he quickly looked away. After about 45 minutes, I was about to got to the bar to get a drink. I pushed my chair back slightly to get up, but was stopped when Lance spoke.
"Oh hi Luke! When did you get here?" I scooted my chair back in.
"Yah Luke! Did you just get here?" I heard Erzo say. I was about to say I had been there for a while, but stopped myself.
"Um, I got here like 5 minutes ago!" I lied.
"That's good, I would have thought that we were ignoring you if you had been there longer!" Lance said. I blinked. Did I catch a little bit of sarcasm there? I turned away from them and got up.
"I'm going to get a drink." I said.
The bar stool gave a small whoosh as I sat down. Marco-Jean didn't come up to me to get my order. After a minute or two (a long wait for someone like Marco-Jean), I looked down the bar to see him talking with Lance at his table. Can't blame him. He hasn't seen his brother in years! I got up from the bar and made my way to my table.
"Are you okay, Luke? You look pale!" I stopped in my tracks. Lance looked at me with a face too animated to be be of real worry.
"I'm fine!" I said. I put on a fake smile.
"Maybe you should go home." Lance said. I looked at him. Did he really just say that?
"I'm really fine!" I said. What's going on?
"No, I really think that you need to go home now." Lance said. I was taken aback. Was this middle school? I was going to say something, but Natsa's face looked up at me.
"Yah Luke, if Lance says you should go home 'cause you're not feeling well, you should." I took a step back. Then another.
"O-okay then, I guess I'll be on my way." I saw a small look of triumph in Lance's eyes. Maybe it's better to go home. To get away from them. They don't notice I'm gone anyway. As soon as I was out of sight from the guild, I sprinted the rest of the way home. I set one step into my apartment, and the tears started falling. Didn't I promise I wouldn't ruin their happiness? I thought. It did nothing to prevent the tears from falling. I took my clothes off and changed into my sweatpants. I crawled into my bed, and cried myself to sleep. Why does he hate me so much? And why do I miss her so much?
The next day, I didn't go to the guild. If Lance could make that much damage to my friendship in 3 weeks, what about a month? Two months? My friendship with Natsa, Erzo, and Graya was over. I spent all day watching TV and staring tearfully out my window, waiting to see Natsa jump through it. She didn't.
I eventually made my way to the shower, and changed into flannel pants. I preferred to sleep without a shirt, and I could now, since Natsa wouldn't sneak into my bed at night. I guess Lance was right. I did need to go home.
If anyone in the guild noticed I had been gone for a day, they didn't show it. The only thing that struck me out of the ordinary was Natsa at the quest board.
"Hey Natsa!" I said. She looked at me sideways but kept reading the quests.
"Hey."
"Soo..." I was about to ask her if we were going to finally go on a quest when she violently jumped up and ran over to Lance.
"Hey Lance, I found one! 20,000 jewel!" I looked over at them. Lance saw me watching and put his hand around Natsa's waist, making her blush.
"W-what-"
"The sounds perfect, Natsa. We'll head out shortly. We just need to make sure Erzo and Graya can get all packed up." Lance let go of Natsa and winked at me, walking towards the back dorms, probably to get packed up.
"So Natsa, about the quest-"
"Oh yah. You don't need to come. We mostly just needed you to have a 5th person in the group, but now that Lance is back, you don't need to come anymore. I know how much you hate the hiking and stuff." My heart crumpled like a paper bag.
"I still have rent..." But Natsa was already gone.
So I was only a replacement after all, huh? I thought. My face was stained with tears. After all this talk about not abandoning your teammates, you go ahead and throw-out me, a replacement. I thought again about the way Lance held Natsa. It made me mad. He held her as if she was property, like he owned her. I hated that kind of attitude. I even hate when used with my keys, they aren't my property, they're my friends. If I was the one holding Natsa, she wasn't my property, she would be my heart and soul. Wait, am I in love with her?! I sat up and laughed. I guess it was too late now. Natsa never thought of me like that, so I have no right to do so either. But I couldn't stay like this. I couldn't stay and pretend I liked it when he held her. So I got out a pen and paper, and wrote.
Dear Natsa,
Since you realized this letter is from me, and not from Lance, you might be complied to throw this letter away. Please do not. I would much rather it if you sat down and read my letter carefully. I want you to dissect each and every word to see if it matches up with anything you have ever heard before. I know you're wondering when the real letter begins, and the thought to throw out this letter occurs again, but please resist the urge, and read my letter a bit longer. Here goes:
They once was a boy who was what he thought was very good friends with a girl. They did everything together. As the boy got to know her better, he began to fall in love with her. Right when he was about to tell her, an evil wizard came and disguised himself as the girls friend, but the boy could tell he was getting in between their friendship, and was ruining it piece by piece. The girl did not notice what was going on, but when she finally did
I think that you can make up the end of this story.
Luke
I licked the top of the envelope and sealed the letter. I put on some clothes and stepped out of my building and onto the cobble-stoned street.
"Why do you always have so much luggage?"
"Because I need it. DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM?!"
"Nope! No no of coarse not..."
I froze. That conversation could only be between two people. And those two people were with two other people, plus a cat. The last person I need to see right now... I thought. I fumbled the key in the lock, wasting precious seconds. I finally got it open, but not before Lance spotted me.
"Hey Luke! What a wonderful day isn't it? It's a good thing I'm going on a quest, I wouldn't want to waste this sunshine!" I clenched my teeth and slowly turned around.
"Yes, it is a wonderful day. If only the wind wasn't so sharp and cruel." I replied. Lance glared at me.
"Let's go! I'm all fired up!" A pink-head of hair bobbed up in-between us.
"I agree. You don't want Erzo's strawberry cake to get soggy now do you?" I said coldly. Natsa looked at me angrily.
"Luke, we need to talk." Natsa lead me half a block away from the rest of the group.
"Why are you being all angry and mean all of a sudden?" Natsa said. She looked so cute when she's angry.
"All of a sudden? ALL OF A SUDDEN?" I said. I shook my head and chuckled.
"Here's a letter from me to you. I was going to send it today, but since I saw you here, might as well give it to you now." I handed her the letter and she looked at it skeptically.
"I think it will explain my 'All of a sudden'." I said. I turned on my heels and walked into my building and up into my apartment. I looked out of my window, and saw Natsa looking up through it, fire coming out of her mouth. I closed the curtains and sat down with a book on my couch. First attention I've had from her in weeks, and it's about me being mean... Oh, the Irony.