A/N: First things first, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to review and follow/favorite this story. It means a lot to me to be able to see what you guys all think. Secondly, I am truly sorry that it has taken me so long to upload. I foolishly started this over winter break and now that school is back in session I still need to collect my bearings before I have time to focus on writing. I pay waaaaay to much money for my education to slack in it so please bear with me as I attempt to juggle everything on my plate. Updating might take a while to stabilize but I'm hoping to get there as soon as I find my niche.
The rapping on the door bothered her more than it should have, that aside, her irritation persisted as she was unable to deafen it. Erza stood up from her spot on her bed to yank her bedroom door open, "What?" she asked shortly. She was unsurprised to see her mother standing there just as impatient as she was but still curious as to what the older woman could possibly need. She usually never bothered her and if she did, it would be via a phone call or text message. In fact, her even coming up the stairs simply meant one of two things: her mom had lost her phone (again), or it was something that couldn't be said through technology.
"You're grandfather just passed away." There was bitterness in that sentence and for some reason Erza felt it was directed at her. She looked taken aback for a moment but quickly let her face melt back into an impassioned stare. By no means was she on good terms with her mother simply because she was never around to form the type of bonds most children had with their parents. However that being said, she wanted to embrace the woman for her loss but something was stopping her.
She didn't even know how to and was saved from that predicament when her mom filled the silence, "Me and Dad are leaving for his funeral, thought I should let you know, there is food in the fridge so you can help yourself to that." Abruptly she turned around and walked back down the stairs disappearing from Erza's sights.
Erza stood there stunned, feeling a weight in her stomach multiply exponentially with each passing thought. Her mother didn't even invite her to the funeral… In her defense, she was never all that close to her granddad, she only really met the man a couple of times and that was when she was quite young so his passing didn't really matter all that much to her. She felt sick thinking that, knowing it was another disappointment to add to the list. She chalked it all up to needing someone to watch the dog even though even she knew that was a weak excuse. Her mom didn't want her there, even if it was just for comfort, but she chose to pretend that explanation never even ran into her thoughts.
She sat down back on her bed, picking up the book she was reading before her mom knocked on her door and let all the worrying thoughts slowly ease away from the forefront of her mind.
Natsu stood in front of a cash register waiting for the clock to finally pick up its pace and reach closing time. He worked at a frozen yogurt shop and it was decidedly unpopular at 10:30 on a Tuesday night. Resting his cheek on his hand he allowed his thoughts to take over, remembering that thought he had the other day in econ. He knew it was a crazy idea but he also knew that Erza, though seemingly straight forward, would often surprise him.
He was by no means shy but relationships weren't really his thing, they never occupied him as much as they did other people, at least, not romantic ones. He knew it didn't even have to be romantic though and that's what was convincing him of this idea, at least, that's what he thought it wasn't. It couldn't have been the way Erza's hair looked when she would run her hand through it, messing it up enough for it to look like it was a style, or the way she would glare at him when he said something deemed ridiculous. He stopped before he got carried away, it wasn't any of those reasons anyways, he would ask her but only because he had to go to prom and she still hadn't been asked.
That resolve in mind, he sighed and looked at the clock, 10:32, it read. "Seriously?! It's only been two minutes!" he squawked in frustration, not caring that the couple enjoying their dessert looked at him strangely for the outburst. He resigned himself to the last half hour of his shift, none too happy about the prospect.
Erza sat in front of the screen she was sharing with Natsu, her eyes flickered to the page resting on her left and she picked it up and pushed in front of his view. "Fill this out." She demanded. Econ was definitely not her strong suit and she hated it because her father always wanted her to follow in his footsteps. She wanted to because the fear of not being able to adapt to a new lifestyle than she was used to was terrifying.
Erza knew her family was well off and she was quite thankful for that fact but now that she's grown up her whole life having the world at her fingertips the shoes she needed to fill seemed exponentially bigger. Which is why her miserable performance in econ posed a problem.
Natsu looked at the paper forced into is face and his eyebrow twitched at the demand but he filled it out anyways. Erza was annoyed that this came so easily to him, he filled in each question as if he was copying it from some place he'd read before.
"Okay, that's the last of it! I'm going to enter in our prices, we're in second place so maybe if the other team does badly we'll win." He told her with confidence. She really hoped they would win, she needed the extra credit the winners got.
It was the last round of the econ project competition and throughout the past couple of classes the banter (and interaction in general) between the students had increased tenfold. Natsu, in Erza's mind, was mostly likely the culprit, however, she may have played a role in spreading the discourse but she was far from admitting that.
The current standing now spoke for the pair as it was a close match between first and second place. The rest of the students seemed to catch the fruitlessness of the situation and stopped actually trying two rounds ago. Natsu refused to give up even when they were in last place for the better half of the tournament and secretly, Erza didn't want to either. It was just some stupid school project but she wanted to win more than anything.
The two waited as the screen changed to show the rankings. At first Erza was confused, her team was in the same place meaning that they got second (which still received extra credit, just less). That, however, wasn't the confusing apart, above them was a team that Natsu had spent most of the class mocking, the one that stayed in last place ever since they moved up.
"I can't believe the team that was the worst throughout the whole game won…" He said despondently. He sulked in his chair as Erza began to pack up their supplies, she was more amused by his sudden depression than she was upset by them not getting first.
"We still get the extra credit," she told him, trying her best to be consoling but she was absolutely terrible at that sort of thing. Natsu shrugged and then pulled his usual bipolar, overactive move and began picking a fight with the person sitting at the table next to them.
In due time Natsu found himself walking side by side with Erza like he usually did every other day but this time, it was a little different. He felt… nervous. It was a strange sensation since never before had he even cared enough about what other people thought to feel worried about how someone would react to his antics. However, as he walked beside her, half listening to the rant she was going on about, his insides cringed at the idea of her rejecting him.
His time with her was nearing its end as the hallway where their paths diverged was fast approaching. "You haven't been asked to prom yet have you?" He blurted out, not sure if he interrupted her because by that time he had stopped listening completely (she would be so mad if she knew that).
He watched as she considered him, "No… I haven't," she said, feinting ignorance but he knew she was sharp enough to see where he was heading. He could not tell what she was thinking, she was so good at keeping a blank face and he found that he could spend forever trying to figure out what was really going on behind all of that. At that moment though, he wished she could have at least given him a hint as to what was going inside that red haired noggin of hers.
"We could go together," he said. It was awkward sounding and he wasn't used to his voice taking on that trait, "I mean, if you wanted to" He quickly amended knowing that it sounded even more rushed as he added that.
Erza's eyes stared straight ahead, her face even more blank than it was before, he braced himself for her rejection, still not all that sure why he even cared so much. Despite all his preparation for disappointment, it never came, "Sure, that's fine with me," her voice was steady and it lacked the nervousness that his contained but he was too pleased with himself to stew on it. He kept on walking forward not knowing that Erza had already tuned the other direction and waved goodbye.
She was almost one hundred percent sure her face was the same shade as her hair. Natsu, in his own awkward way, had actually asked her to prom. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. She didn't know what to think and was more than grateful to part ways with him, muttering a short goodbye, too caught up in her own thoughts to realize that he didn't reply.
This was more than she could have ever asked for and she just wanted to shout it from the rooftops but knew that if she wanted to keep some semblance of control she'd have to at least appear as if she didn't care too much. Erza hated that about herself, she always needed to act more hardhearted in order to not let her emotions dominate her. That being said, she was a having a hard time keeping that philosophy. She wanted to share this news with everyone, however, she kept moving onward on her path to class attempting to control the excitement. She walked steadily albeit, with a small skip in her step.
