"Tch. Here ya go."

Gajeel shoved the ice cream he was holding to Juvia's face.

"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia exclaimed as as she wiped the coffee-flavored ice cream off of her nose.

"Whatever. Just go ahead and eat it."

Juvia stared at Gajeel for some time before speaking. "For me? What's it for?"

"Nothin'. I just had some spare change. 'S all."

She frowned.

"Fine." Gajeel started. "You looked like you needed some cheerin' up. You got that stupid look on your face again. Last time I saw you like that was last week when you saw stripper with Enno."

Juvia frowned. Gajeel really did know her well.

"Thank you, Gajeel-kun." She sat on the bench beside the ice cream truck.

"Well, wanna talk 'bout it?"

She stared at him, surprised by what he just said.

"Y'know what, changed my mind. Let's not talk 'bout it. Go talk to Levy or somethin'. But remember this, Juvia. If that stripper makes you cry again, intentional or not, I'll break his face."

"No need for that, Gajeel-kun." Juvia said softly as she hugged her best friend's arm. "I plan on being just friends with Gray-sama after the dance anyways."

Gajeel raised his brows at the what she said. "Tch." He decided to drop the subject, shock still evident in his face because of what Juvia just told him.


"Remind me again why all the girls are more excited about the dance than the actual graduation?" Natsu said as he scanned the rows of neck ties in front of him.

"It's 'cause they all wanna dance with me." Loke grinned at them.

Jellal looked at Loke pointedly.

"Whoah there, lover boy, your girl's all yours." Loke feigned surrender.

"Where's Gajeel? How come we got dragged into this without him?" Gray asked while he fitted a black coat on.

"He told me he was gonna talk to Juvia 'bout something." Natsu chided in.

"She's been weird lately. You know, reverting to her old speech pattern. She only does that when something's bothering her." Gray's brows furrowed.

Jellal, Loke, and Natsu shot each other a look.

Loke mouthed a 'Wow, he noticed.' to Natsu and Jellal before snapping his head back to what he was doing when Gray glanced at his direction.

Just then, a very disgruntled Gajeel entered the suit shop followed by a grinning Erza. The four other guys snickered when Gajeel posed as if he was going to punch Erza when she looked to the other side.


The weeks passed and their graduation followed shortly after. The fresh graduates of Magnolia High were having the time of their lives as they celebrated their journey through high school with dancing, drinking, and more dancing and drinking.

When the music changed to something slow, Juvia decided to take a break. But before she got out of the dance floor, she felt a hand tug her wrist and she got pulled close by the waist. Her hands landed on the chest of the one who pulled her. She lifted her gaze and her eyes were met by none other than the man of her dreams.

"Gray-sama..." she whispered, her face suddenly heating up with the close proximity.

"Hi." Gray smiled at her. He guided her hands to his shoulders and he put both his hands back to her waist.

Juvia glanced around. "Gray-sama, won't Enno-san get mad at Juvia if she sees us like this?", she said, her voice low.

Gray looked at her. "Enno?" He asked. "Don't worry about her. She's very understanding, she knows we're close friends. We decided to end it anyway."

Juvia snapped her head to his face.

"Well, she's going to Edolas for college. You see, she was accepted to a dance company. Cool, right?" Gray said, smiling, as if recalling a fond memory.

"You're not sad about it?"

"A little. Enno's a great girl after all. But we knew this was better for the two of us. Long distance relationship isn't for me after all." He chuckled. "With the distance and everything, we knew it wouldn't work out. That's why we spent most of the last few weeks together. We'll miss each other but I'm sure she'll find a great guy."

Gray's face became serious. "Now, about you. What's wrong with you these past few weeks?"

"Juvia?" She looked down. "Nothing's wrong with me."

"Oh no, you don't fool me. I've known you for a long time and I'm pretty sure something's bothering you."

She bit her lower lip. She stared at his face for a while. Juvia inched her face closer, letting her eyelids drop to close.

She inched her face forward and let her lips touch his.


Gray snapped himself out of his shock and followed Juvia who ran towards the exit after she kissed him.

He instinctively raised his finger to his lips. 'She kissed me.' He exited the hall and spotted Juvia sitting under a tree, hugging her knees close to her chest with her face propped up on her arms.

He called out to her. "Juvia?" But she didn't move. "Can you tell me what just happened there? And no, don't go telling me that was nothing."

Gray moved closer to her. He held her chin and lifted her face, only to freeze when he saw tears dripping from her eyes. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Don't worry, Gray-sama, *sob* Juvia won't *sob* bother you anymore. *sob* This will be the last time." Juvia said to him.

"What?" Gray looked at her. "What the hell are you talking about? You don't bother me. We're friends!"

"That's what I'm saying!" Juvia looked at Gray straight in the eye, with tears still staining her cheeks. "All I'll ever be for you is a friend! I know I can never be more than that! Every single time I tried to come closer, you always brushed me off! You pretend that you don't know how I feel about you! You pretend in front of our friends!" She was still crying. Juvia chuckled bitterly. "But you can't fool me, Gray-sama. I know that you know. You realized it a long time ago. *sniff* All I wanted from you was a clear-cut answer."

"Juvia-" Gray tried, but she cut him off.

"No. No need to explain anything." She wiped the tears off her face. "I get it now. I was so immersed in my own feelings for you that I became blind to the fact that you're never going to love me back. I was blinded by false hope." She stood up, wiping the tears that still fell. 'Stubborn tears.' Juvia thought.

Gray froze at that. He was well-aware that Juvia had an admiration for him. But he didn't know that it was deep for Juvia to call it love.

Lots of things went through his mind. He wanted to comfort Juvia, he wanted to tell her a lot but he was never good with words. That time was no exception.

Out of all the things he wanted to say to her, he only blurted out one thing which seemed to have broken her heart even more...

"...I'm sorry."


Hi guys! Thanks to all those who gave their reviews for the previous chapters! I love you guys very much! :) By the way, about Enno, I wanted to pair Gray with a dancer (for some reasons haha). Plus, I really like her hair color. :))