I awake to a light snore. I roll over, startled. Gajeel was sprawled across my floor, asleep and snoring. I look at my body, fully clothed including my shoes. Good, my drunken self didn't do anything. I remember a drinking game and that's it for last night. I'm irritated. Maybe its the hangover, but I have a feeling it has to do with my stupidity. I was flirtatious and vulgar last night, which made me likable. Maybe I wasn't as unlikable as I thought. I always thought that being a vulgar perv made people not like me, but I guess not. I think it's the fact that other than the mindless flirting I didn't give a shit about them. Honestly, flirting came more naturally than regular conversation. I'd rather have people see me naked than the real me.
"Why are you staring?" Gajeel asks, breaking me away from my thoughts.
"Trying to get better look is all," I smirk. "I'm also wondering if I ask nicely will you leave or am I going to have to kick you out?"
"I'll leave. I don't want to fight you, unless we're wrestling, naked."
"I know no other ways."
He smiles devilishly. "Later, Newbie."
Once he's gone I close my door and lock it. I think that's the first time a guy has slept in my room, fully clothed, and on the floor. I walk into the bathroom and take a quick shower. I was due to leave in two hours for a job. I put on a black and white tribal patterned zip-up crop top with leather shorts. I slip on black boots that folded over to reveal a plaid lining. I look in my mirror and do a simple silver eye with a slight wing. I then put on a red lip stain that matched my leather jacket. I run my fingers through my hair and then tousle the waves aggressively. I like when my hair looks messy, it adds a certain edge to my look. I walk down the stairs and straight to the bar.
"Breakfast, please," I say, ignoring Mira's surprise.
"Any preference?" She asks.
I shake my head and slouch on the counter. Luckily my hang over wasn't too bad. I couldn't say the same about the others that still lay unconscious at my feet. They would feel the pain when they awoke.
"Adeline, I want you to take someone with you on your job today," Makarov says.
"What?" I say, outraged. "It's a one day job. I'll be in and out. I don't need one of these idiots destroying everything."
"There's been some... changes to the job. It'll take you three days. You should be back before the Magnolia Festival. Would you like me to choose for you?"
"Sure," I groan.
Makarov looks at the floor and eyes the sleeping bastards carefully. "Gray. Now I suggest you pack a bag with dresses for day and night. You're going to have to act like a couple. Infiltrate the event find what you need and leave, no fighting if you can help it."
My mouth hangs open. "You're expecting me to act like some goody goody and be nice with someone?"
"Exactly. Polite, courteous, grateful, loving, et cetera. This is why I picked Gray. He'll manage to keep you in line. Only Natsu truly gets to him. Now hurry up, I'll take care of Gray."
I run up to my room, completely void of any feeling other than anger. How dare he interfere with my job. He could have assigned the couple job to someone else. Bisca and Alzack for example. I take off my clothes and search through my "fancy drawers." I put on a denim dress and go to the bathroom and change my make up to a more natural feel. I brush my hair and curl it in a pony tail, letting my bangs frame my face. I put on tan wedges and then proceed to gently pack the next two days outfits and the three formal dresses for the nights. I then pack a separate bag for my shoes and proceed to walk downstairs. I need to get into character, so I force myself to smile.
"That's not the same girl from last night," Lucy remarks.
"Good morning!" I say cheerily. I look at Makarov for reassurance.
"You can tone it down a bit. It's a little scary seeing you smile," He remarks.
My face falls and I cross my arms. "I really hate you."
"There she is!" Natsu cheers.
"It'll be a good experience for you. Just think of it that way, you're improving your skill set," Makarov says.
I roll my eyes. "Where's the Popsicle? We're going to be late."
"I'm right here. Let's go," He says. He didn't seem thrilled either. We walk in silence until we get to the train station.
"You've been staring at me since we left the guild. Why?" I ask.
"You look... different. There's no leather. Every time I've seen the Girl With No Guild she's always got leather, and even yesterday and this morning. Seeing you in a dress is... odd," He explains.
I stare at him. "And?"
He's taken aback. "I was just saying. I guess the point was the change is good. You look good. Not that the leather doesn't look good too, but you clean up nice."
"I like you better when your clothes are off," I respond. I then brush past him and find us a compartment on the train. I sit down and wait for him to join me. He sits across from me and looks perplexed.
"Now what?" I ask, irritated by the look he's giving me.
"You've got a good act going for you. Hiding behind your vulgarity and flirting to avoid attachment, it's smart. I don't know why and I won't push it. I just think it's interesting," He says.
"It's not an act. I'm a perv and I like using people for my needs, I couldn't care less about them after I'm done," I say.
"How many times have you told yourself that? The guild will change you, it changes everyone," He says.
"Like I said-"
"Impossible. Yeah, yeah. What should I call you while we're on our job?"
"Demi," I respond quickly. Too quickly.
"Any significance?" He asks.
"It's just my middle name," I state. And my alias for undercover jobs.
"Anything you want to call me? I figure it will be easier for you to remember the name if you come up with it."
"Merek. No significance." I lie.
"Alright. What's our story as a couple?"
"You tell me. I'm not good at the romance aspect."
"Okay. Well we met at a party held by your father and hit it off. I always liked you more than you liked me. You played hard to get, but it didn't deter me and you eventually agreed to a date. From there you realized that you were a shallow princess and realized that I wasn't terrible and agreed to a second date. You opened up your heart and the rest is history."
"Shallow? Princess?" I hiss.
"It's hard to paint you as likable, so I thought making it seemed like you were a hard ass would be convincing," He shrugs with a small smile.
"So you like a chase then?" I ask.
"What?"
"The story. You were persistent. Is that true in real life?"
"You're flirting won't lure me in, if that's what you mean."
"Never said I wanted to."
"But my clothes?"
"Are better off. I wasn't flirting. It was a fact."
There's silence between us and I see him close his eyes. I do the same, not phased by the silence. I thought about us as a couple and how our story would hold up. I'm sure there wouldn't be too many question about it, as long as I could act all lovey dovey, we'd be fine. I could sell the sexual aspect and he would sell the romance.
"Carnations," I state.
"What?" He asks.
"That's how you won me over. They mean fascination, distinction, and love."
"Good thinking."
"And candles. You asked me out by coming to my balcony and covering my yard with carnations spelling out 'Go out with me?' and there were candles."
"And you said you were no good at romance. Any ideas for the first date?"
"My romance is gone. I used it all up."
He chuckles. "How convenient. You should sleep off the rest of your hangover before we get there. I'm going to do the same. We'll both need our strength for the act."
"You're right." I close my eyes again and let my body relax. The soft rocking of the train lulls me to sleep.
We get off the train around three to see a car waiting for us. I take Gray's hand and smile brightly at him.
"Isn't this great Sweetie? We get to do a photo shoot together!" I squeal.
He smiles back at me. "Now everyone will know you're mine."
"They already know that, silly. These are going all over the apartment," I giggle.
He smirks and pulls me closer to him to plant a kiss on my cheek.
"Glad to see you too are in the spirit of the weekend. Master will be very pleased," the driver smiles as he loads our bags into the trunk.
Gray helps me into the back seat of the car and then sits closely next to me. He puts an arm around my shoulders and rests his lips on my shoulder.
"I knew you wanted me," I whisper.
His lips curve upward. "You're not the only good actor."
I chuckle and lean my head against his as the driver gets into the car. He smiles back at us and the ride is quiet other the occasional sound of lips being pressed against my skin. Thankfully the ride was short and I was able to escape his cold kisses.
"Pascal! I'm so happy to finally be able to be your model!" I exclaim, hugging the pale eccentric photographer.
"The pleasure is all mine. I am terribly sorry for changing my vision on you last minute. It just came to me!" He bows after kissing both my cheeks.
"It was perfect. It gave Merek a chance to finally join me on one of my shoots. He was practically begging me to bring him along," I giggle. I gesture for Gray to step towards us.
He reaches out a hand and shakes Pascal's. "Thank you for the change in vision. Being able to pose beside Demi will be such a great experience. Thank you for having me."
"Again, the pleasure is mine. Now, tell me how you two love birds met!" Pascal says, beckoning us to follow him.
I reach for Gray's hand and he pulls me toward him. I lean against him so slightly and gaze up at him as lovingly as I could muster.
"Daddy was throwing a party, and somehow Merek had gotten in," I smirk at our story.
"I was invited. I wasn't quite high class at the time. Demi was outraged by my appearance," He chuckles.
"But Merek enjoyed the challenge I presented."
"It was love at first sight, although, she wouldn't give me a second glance. So I kept coming after her."
"It was quite annoying."
"That didn't deter me. I was set on changing her mind about me."
"And he did."
"I figured out all of her favorite things and went to her house one evening. I set up candles and carnations all over her yard and then threw rocks at her window. When she came to the balcony I lifted a giant bouquet of carnations up and asked her out."
"I laughed at first, shocked. I had to say yes, he had gone through so much just to ask me on a date."
"A date which wasn't nearly as bad as she hoped it'd be. I managed to get her to agree to a second date," He smiles as if remembering something amazing.
I follow his lead and then let out a small laugh. "Then a third, fourth, fifth. You get the picture. He was able to open up my mind and see past status."
"It was hard to break this vain princess' walls," He laughs.
I pout and push him slightly.
"You two are perfect. I'm going to let you explore the grounds for now. Dinner will be at 6 and then cocktails at 8 when the other couples arrive. I hope you don't mind I will have camera's following you around while you tour, but they wont be visible. I want to get natural film of you two as a couple so I can get an idea of what the shoot will be like," Pascal says.
"Of course not! We will see you at dinner!" I smile. I wander towards the back of the manner, looking around curiously.
"I think I see a garden over there," He points to a hedged arch. He leads me under the arch and sure enough a wonderfully beautiful garden was in front of us.
Without much thought I start to explore, my hand slipping away from his slightly so only our fingers are linked. The path of the labyrinth was made of white marble and there were various marble statues around the twists and turns. I come to a dead end and turn toward Gray only to find him not there. I furrow my brows.
"Merek?" I call out. Had I really lost the ice mage? I back track and still can't find him anywhere. How long had we been separated? I start in a light jog and round one of the statued corners too fast and nearly impale myself on Cupid's arrow. The arrow presses against my chest lightly and when I turn around Gray was standing in front of me smiling sweetly, the arrow now pressing between my shoulder blades.
"Worried, Princess?" He asks.
I pout and nod, ignoring my superstitious thoughts.
"I just thought I'd find you these," Gray pulls a bouquet of brightly colored carnations from behind his back and hands them to me.
"Merek! That's so sweet!" I smile. I wrap my arms around his neck and he pulls my body tight to his own. So tight that I could feel how muscular he really was. The coldness of his skin starts to seep through my thin denim dress. I shudder involuntarily so he pulls us apart and plants a gentle kiss on my forehead.
"We should clean up for dinner, don't you think?" He asks.
"That would be a good idea," I intertwine my empty hand with his and hold it tightly in mine. This couple stuff wasn't as hard as I thought it'd be, mainly because he was so good at it. I almost felt at ease with him, like I could actually like someone.
"You okay?" He asks.
It breaks me from my thoughts. "Just thinking."
"Well don't. You look like you're in pain. I don't like it," He says and then kisses my head gently.
I smile and shake my head lightly, trying to get the thoughts out of my head. They were unwanted. When we get to the entrance of the manor a maid is waiting to escort us to our room. It's on the second floor in the left corridor. She bows and leaves us to enter the room. Against the far wall, in the middle of the room is a king sized bed covered by an elegant red velvet canopy. The windows on both sides show a magnificent view of a gorgeous infinity pool. I could only guess Pascal would utilize it for our photo shoot. I start to rummage through my bag and take out my make up and skimpy red dress.
"I'm going to shower," I say. I draw closer to him and place a hand lightly on his chest. I purr, "Care to join me?"
"I'll pass, but thanks for the offer," He smiles then lightly removes my hand from his chest.
I smirk. "I'll break you one day and you'll beg me to take you."
"Keep dreaming, sweetheart," He calls as I walk into the bathroom.
I strip down in front of the mirror and stare at my naked body. It was perfection minus the jagged scar that ran up the length of my torso. I spin around and ruffle my hair and bite my lip. I was sexy, so why didn't he want me? Why wasn't he drooling like every other guy? I glare at the mirror and turn around quickly. I step into the giant shower and quickly turn on the flood of warm water. For the duration I'm in the shower, my mind is at ease. I'm careful not to stay in too long though, after all I only had an hour to do hair and makeup. I wrap one towel around my body and another on my hair. I start on a black winged eye shadow with black eyeliner. I then take off the towel around my body and slip on the skimpy red dress.
"You are very sexy," I think to myself. "Gray will be all over you by the last day." I blow dry my hair and let the natural curls fall in to place. I decide to add some more curls to it when I hear a knock on the door.
"You almost finished?" Gray asks. I smooth out the plunging drape dress. I put a red lip on and then open the door and brush past him. I bend over and pull out gold and black heels. Then put on a black diamond branched ring and then my usual black diamond dragon cuff. I hand him a dropping pear and topaz necklace.
He softly brushes the hair off my neck and clasps my necklace. His cold fingers linger and goosebumps start to rise on my skin. I can feel his breath get closer on the back almost as if he was leaning in to kiss my neck. I step away and slip on my heels.
"Ready my love?" I ask sweetly.
"Of course. I do like dresses better on you," He points out.
"Is that part of your act?" I ask.
"No. I'm serious. It fits who I really think you are underneath it all," He says.
I roll my eyes. "You're really stuck on the idea I'm good deep down. It's cute."
"I'm not the only one. Lucy, Natsu, and Erza think it too. The only difference is they don't think you're acting like a bad ass, they believe it."
"Considering that's me, I'm glad."
He opens the bedroom door and pats me lightly on the ass in an attempt to hurry me up.
"How long have you been holding that in?" I hiss.
He smirks and wraps an arm around my waist innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'll let it slide, this time."
A maid bows to us at the end of the hallway and then leads us to the dining room. Pascal is chatting with what looks like the chef. He smiles at us and waves the chef away.
"Welcome!" He stands to greet us. He takes one of my hands and I spin willingly. "My, my Demi. You look absolutely marvelous. I can see why Merek is always holding you so close."
I giggle and look back to Gray who is gazing at me with a small smile. I look him up and down and notice that he had dressed up slightly. Black dress pants and a red button up that matched my dress perfectly.
"Shall we eat?" Pascal asks. He gestures for us to take a seat.
Gray pulls out my chair and allows me to sit before pushing me closer to the table. He then takes the seat next to me and takes my hand under the table. "So Pascal, what were you thinking for tomorrow?"
"If you two weren't opposed, I'd love to get some by the pool and of course some at the ball of each couple individually. I can already tell you two will be my focus," Pascal smiles.
"You haven't even met the other couples, Pascal!" I exclaim. Had me and Gray's act already convinced him we were perfect together?
"I know. I just can't believe any other couple will outshine you," Pascal smiles at us.
Gray squeezes my hand. "Wasn't this photo shoot originally just for Demi anyway?"
"Yes, it was. Which would make my decision all the more rational. Now dig in you two! You'll need something in your stomachs to soak up the cocktails tonight!" Pascal exclaims.
The two of us start to eat at his command. The food was delicious. The meat was just tender enough and cooked so perfectly that it sort of melt in my mouth. Everything was so good that I had a hard time restraining myself. I could tell Gray was having the same problem I was. As soon as dinner was finished Pascal excused himself and showed us to the ballroom.
"Feel free to explore. The library is down the hall. We have about half an hour until the cocktail party begins. I'll see you two soon!" He then disappears upstairs.
Gray and I walk hand in hand down the corridor, admiring the art on the walls. We enter the library and I mindlessly scan the books, really looking for any indication of our objective. No orbs here, although there was a beautiful collection of books.
"Your portfolio is here," Gray calls. "Not just yours, there are other models in here. None of them look as good as you."
I walk over to the shelf hes standing at and look over his shoulder. Sure enough he was holding a book of all my undercover shoots.
"This ones my favorite," He says flipping to photo of me in a solid white dress on a terrace lit by the moonlight.
"That was an interesting shoot. They wanted me to be a ghost mourning for her lost love," I say.
"I think I remember you telling me about it." He says as his eyes dart to a camera.
"The director was... unconventional. It didn't let me pose naturally like Pascal does. Pascal is all about capturing the natural poses of life. It doesn't feel like a photo shoot when you're with him."
"So I should be able to keep up with you?"
"Definitely. Just keep loving me and you'll do fine."
"I don't know how I could ever stop," He smirks.
I lean in and press my lips to his. "Keep talking like that and we not make it to cocktails." I pull him closer by pulling on his belt. I stroke his face gently and kiss him again, more passionately this time knowing that there were cameras on us.
Gray plays along and places a hand on my lower back. "Keep doing this and we won't make it to the room."
I giggle and pull him out of the library and back toward the ballroom. When we enter he immediately pulls me closer to him. The room was full of extremely attractive people. Females on one side, males on the other.
I look toward him and kiss him so that everyone could see he was the one I was here with. "I'm yours. Stop being so insecure."
He smiles and kisses my forehead and we go our separate ways. I hug each one of the female models.
"Where have you been, Demi?" Cecil asks.
"Yeah we haven't seen any of your pictures lately!" Candice exclaims.
I sip on my cocktail and smile at them. "I've just been spending time with Merek. What about you girls? Tell me what I've missed."
I sit and tune them out. I only laugh when they do and smile when they look at me. Gray catches my attention from across the room. I can see his glass starting to freeze and his face is stern. He says something to one of the guys that knocks the smiles off of all of the men's faces.
"Demi?" Holly calls.
"Huh?" I ask.
"How'd you two meet?" Kelly asks.
"Oh," I smile as if I'm thinking about the story. "At one of my father's parties. I had no clue how he had gotten in. I didn't give him the time of day at first."
"I can see why," Candice sneers.
"Excuse me?" I say, turning to face her.
"He's just not like us. He doesn't fit and it's clear he isn't of high class," She says, looking over at Gray with disgust.
"Insult him one more time and see where that gets you," I growl. This was great, now both Gray and I were at risk of causing a scene.
"I'm just pointing out the obvious," She continues, oblivious to my anger.
"Candice," Cecil says. She had caught my warning.
"I'm going to call it a night. I don't think I can listen to your superficial shit any longer. See you tomorrow night girls," I hiss. I leave the shocked group of girls and walk over to Gray. I place myself in between him and the boys and give him a sultry smile. I lean into him and whisper in his ear, "We have unfinished business."
The guys around us obviously heard me and let out a couple cheers. I smile innocently at them and start to pull Gray away. He waves briefly and then quickly moves his arm to my hip and leads us out of the ballroom. We speed walk to our room across the manor, me planting kisses on his lips every few steps to make it seem like we were hurrying to bed and not away from impending arguments. When we get to the room I immediately step away from him and cross my arms.
"What did they say to make you freeze your glass?" I nod my head at the cocktail glass still stuck in his hand.
He places the frozen glass on the dresser and rubs his hand. "Nothing."
"Oh really?" I ask.
"They were just being like Natsu. Obnoxious and arrogant. They were vulgar and had no respect."
"How so?"
"They were talking about you in a way Merek wouldn't appreciate so I had to act mad, but the more vulgar they got the angrier I actually got. They completely disregarded the fact Merek is your boyfriend and were talking about what you'd be like in bed and how tight your body was. It was disrespectful to me, you, and their girlfriends."
I smile. "Well thank you for defending my honor."
He manages a smile too. "What made you want to leave so fast?"
"I called one of the girls superficial because she was insulting you for not looking high class," I shrug. "Just part of the girlfriend act."
He smirks and we stare at each other for a moment. We both start to laugh at the predicament. We had both nearly blown cover for honor related reasons. Although, I was only acting in character and he had actually gotten so angry his magic had begun showing.
"I'll let you sleep on the bed," He says after our laughter subsides.
"Why? There's plenty of room for the two of us. You scared I'm going to jump you while you're asleep?" I ask with a laugh.
"I wouldn't put it past you. It's not like you haven't been locking lips with me every chance you get."
"And you're innocent? I've just been acting my part. Besides, if I were to jump you it would be no fun because a partner who isn't actively participating puts a damper on everything. Not like you'd be able to resist once I got started."
He scoffs. "I'm not that easy."
"But I'm that good. Plus, you've started stripping at the mention of sex."
"I'm getting ready for bed. My stripping has nothing to do with you."
"Yet. So you sleep in your boxers? Exciting. I might end up jumping you after all," I laugh.
He rolls his eyes and climbs into the massive bed and lifts the covers over his body. "Goodnight."
I shake my head and walk to the bathroom. I wash my face and then walk back out, stripping on the way. I peek over at the bed and see Gray's eyes slightly open. I smile slightly, maybe secretly he was like every guy and was lusting after me. My guess was he probably had more respect for people in general to do a hookup situation or to objectify a women. I pull on a t-shirt and then crawl onto the opposite side of the bed.
"Fuck! It's cold under here!" I gasp.
"Ice mage," He says bluntly.
"No shit. I bet that's always a surprise for the girl," I smirk.
He ignores my comment. "So is Demi your undercover name? You have a full portfolio for modeling so I figure half your jobs are as Demi and the other half are The Girl With No Guild."
"Spot on actually. I do a lot of modeling because it gets me information. A lot of the people in the industry are involved with illegal activities," I say.
He hums thoughtfully. "Now I get why Gramps kept you a secret. Didn't want to ruin your work."
"Exactly and why I was so reluctant. Well, one of the reasons. Anyway, get some sleep. Tomorrow will be much more taxing."
"You're right. Goodnight, Adeline."
A weird feeling crept into my body at the sound of my name coming from him. It was mildly arousing. "Goodnight, Gray."