WEIRDO BLABBS: I could explain but I won't…
Disclaimer: We do not own Fairy Tail. We are sorry. We will eat now.
Chapter Four:
Although bath time for Lucy at Hacienda Lucky was different from her usual hot-and-cold tub and-dash-or shower, she was starting to get used to the pail and the dipper. In fact, she thought of it as a morning exercise and made sure to spend at least 30 minutes in the bath. Surprisingly enough, The Sadist didn't mind; he would wait patiently for her to go outside the bathroom door when she was already decent and wearing her clothes—
"What in the world?!"
Lucy's hand stopped when she was about to get a fresh set from her side of the hanging cabinet in the bathroom: hers was empty. She opened Gray's side of the cabinet thinking the house help must have put the clothes that they washed there, but they weren't there either.
I don't get it, she thought. For sure they would have washed her clothes by now, it was already her seventh day.
A knock on the door came and she stopped panicking in her underwear. "You still alive in there?" It was The Sadist. "You've passed the thirty-two-minute record."
"Uhm..." Lucy immediately grabbed the nearest towel and peeked through the door, "Have you seen my clothes?"
"They're in the hamper," he said coldly, "as they have been for the past week."
"What?" Lucy exclaimed. She opened the hamper's cover and saw that her used clothes were indeed stuck in a pile there. "Didn't the house help see them?"
"Hm?" A slight amusement was in his voice.
"They must not have seen them because they didn't wash them..."
"You're kidding, right?" A snicker escaped his lips now. Even with his back turned on her, she could see his cheeks spread to accommodate a sadistic smile. "The helpers don't wash our clothes. We wash them by ourselves, your highness."
It took a while for Lucy to process the information. "Me...? Do laundry?"
"Whenever you feel the need to, Princess. But don't count on me doing your laundry for you," he said.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?!" she stomped out, not minding that her blond hair was a wet tangled mess and that the towel was obviously too skimpy to cover her generous bosom and wide hips.
The Sadist turned and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "I didn't feel the need to. I honestly thought you would figure that part our on your own."
The young woman snarled and pushed him out of the way. Lately, Gray had been giving her a harder time in most of the things that happened around the house. "Is this the best you can do, pretty boy? This isn't enough to make me give up..." she grumbled.
"What did you say?" he glanced at her with a smirk and she turned as he called. "So you do find me attractive."
Her eyes grew to twice the normal size. Lucy could swear every inch of her skin burned out of embarrassment as she opened her mouth for a smart retort, only to have nothing come out.
The Sadist turned his back at Lucy. The last thing the girl thought of before he completely disappeared behind the door was regretting not taking a better look at his topless form with only a fluffy blue towel covering the parts that ought to be covered.
"Here, mam. This is where we do the, ano, the, uhm..."
"The laundry?"
"Yes, that... Over here we call it labada."
"Oh, labada," she said with still a difficulty with saying hard 'a'. "Well, thank you Aling Rosa. I think I'll be fine now."
Aling Rosa turned and Lucy was left to herself in the shed behind the house. She has already been staying there a week and she never figured there was something like that in the backyard.
It was a grassy, spacious parcel of land where the mango trees did not grow. There were clotheslines in four rows and a simple shed to her right where basins of different sizes, and a cabinet stood. At the middle of the shed was an old and mossy water pump, the kind that Lucy once saw in movies set in the 17th century.
So, what am I supposed to do now? Lucy hoisted her laundry from the ground and walked tentatively to the shed. She looked around for laundry soap and found a long bar in the cabinet, which she gladly took out, along with a bottle that smelled (hopefully) of fabric conditioner. It was all easy up to the point where she just piled all her laundry in the biggest basin there. The first challenge that emerged was pumping the water; she might not have been very knowledgeable about household chores but she just knew that laundry involved lots of water.
The girl positioned herself behind the pump and grabbed the nose. She started pulling but ended up failing miserably. The rusty joint where the handle and the body were connected gave a loud, high-pitched squeak. It rose no higher that than three inches from its pivot. Lucy grunted.
There was a crackling noise, similar to when one opens a junk food packaging. Lucy turned towards the door and there, in all his glory, was Gray Fullbuster, leaning on the doorpost, holding in his hands something that looked like food. He put his hand in, grabbed a handful, and then stuffed it into his mouth.
"Is that... popcorn?!"
"Yes," he replied with a crunch. "I like it whenever there's an amusing show."
She fumed and pouted. "This is harder than it looks, okay? I've never done my own laundry before."
"Obviously," he said, eyes rolling, "And I see you have yet to use a water pump until now."
"Ugh!" she exclaimed in embarrassment and frustration. "If you don't have anything helpful to say, just shut up, okay?"
"You know, your father asked me to take care of you," he revealed. But Lucy was too frustrated with the pump to give him any joy by replying. "And I really don't think you'll be taken care of very well here. You should really just go home…"
"Or is that you scared of taking a girl to shop?" she retorted, and was successful in taking a few pints of water from the pump. "Yaay!"
Gray chuckled, and chuckled even more when she wasn't very successful in repeating this success. "Let me—"
"No—!" she attempted to elbow his face but he grabbed her arm.
"—Would like to stay here until this evening?"
"Don't you have a job?" she hissed, still not giving up her post. But it wasn't for long that she could resist the man.
"When they need me, they'll call for me," he explained. He gestured for Lucy to sit on the short stool. "Besides, I think I'm much more needed here."
"I can take care of it myself," she pouted.
"The trick to this thing is to give it a light push inside before pulling," he said and gave no mind to her complaints. "Do you know how to use the soap?"
"I—" she thought about complain but thought against it when she saw that he was really trying to help her. "No... I've never this kind of thing before in my life..."
"We don't use powder because it's too wasteful so..." Gray stopped and knelt beside her and rolled up his sleeves, "Just take your laundry and lather it on until you feel is enough." He demonstrated and Lucy suddenly felt embarrassed that he was suddenly being so... helpful. "And then, grab two ends of this cloth and rub them together—what the?"
"Eep!" Lucy squealed when she saw that the water was slowly turning from clear, to cloudy pink, to tainted red. "Are you okay? Are you bleeding?"
"No, it's just—" Gray dug into the wet laundry and the water to find Lucy's vampire red top at the bottom, along with the multi-colored ones. "You really are helpless..."
"Well, I'm sorry!" she said and dragged another basin right next to the first one. "I bet you're really enjoying yourself right now, aren't you?"
"A little bit, yeah," he snickered. "But I have the feeling that I'll be having even more fun later on this week."
"Oh, yeah, sure, I can't wait to go on a shopping trip with you. I hope you have a big, fat, bank account with you and lots and lots in cash." Lucy started to transfer the white ones to the other basin, but then felt her fingers and wrist burn. "Ow... Now, I officially hate doing the laundry..."
Gray smiled.
Gray smiled?!
Lucy blinked and watched. He did!
At that same moment, Gray looked up to her and was taken by surprise at Lucy's piercing stare. He froze before he grimaced and then hurriedly stood up.
"Don't wash the white ones and the colored ones together. If you're not comfortable rubbing them against each other, just knead them in the water. Rinse the clothes three times and then you can soak it in fabric conditioner. It only takes five minutes to soak, but I hope you know that you have to dilute that fabric conditioner in water...
"I'll have to go back to Area One now..."
And as soon as he said this, Gray hurried to the door and disappeared. At any other day, Lucy would be intrigued at this mysterious behavior, but then she was too immersed in her laundry. Every time she rubbed or kneaded and twisted, her fingers would burn in reaction to the soapy water. She looked at her hands and blew on the reddish tips of her fingers.
Wonder where around here she could get a mani-pedi?
Lucy inhaled through gritted teeth that came out as a hissing sound. Then, she blew on her fingers while the phone was stuck between her ear and her shoulder.
"Yeah, and it still feels like it's been soaked in acid or something..." she complained, "I swear, Levy, the next time I do my laundry, I'll be wearing gloves."
A meek laugh was heard at the other end of the phone. "It's not your fault, Lucy, your hands are just very sensitive to soap... So, how're you doing now with the bet with the Sadist?"
"Halfway dead halfway through," she sighed. "But I'm not giving up just yet. I will have that shopping spree; I'm gonna give that Sadist a taste of his own medicine!"
"Slow down, Lucy," laughed Levy, "You're still a week away and you'll need your strength. By the way, why are you using the landline to call? What happened to that tower-side shed?"
"Well, Gray doesn't allow me to leave the villa after dark and right now, it's just... so dark," Lucy sighed and her eyes trailed to the window behind her. She was alone in the hall of the second floor now, and the night was quiet and young. The wind blew past her, cold and comforting.
"What is with him, though? He's supposed to look after you and yet he's giving you such a hard time!" Lucy was sure that Levy was pouting.
"I don't know, Levy. He's hot and cold. He's really evil, in a way, but then there's a part of him that's... gentle."
"Have you talked to your father about it, though? Have you asked him anything at all?"
"No, not yet," she said, "He doesn't appreciate me asking him personal questions. But it's not like I can ask anybody about them; I mean, I don't speak their language at all."
"Maybe you should start learning?" Levy suggested, "Whenever you can open your e-mail, tell me so I can send you an e-book or something."
"Thanks, I appreciate it. But first I'll have to find a place closer to the villa where I can get a proper network connection because otherwise I would have to go to the shed. I mean, I really like that place but it's just so far from here. Not to mention I can't even go there at night."
"Just ask the Sadist, then," suggested Levy.
"Yeah, I'll ask Gray—"
"Ask me what?"
"Was that just—?" Lucy turned before Levy could finish her sentence, "Oh, my, he sounds like a handsome man!"
"Shush, Levy, you already have Gajeel!" Lucy warned and hurried to say goodbye, "Well, I'll call you some other time, okay? Buh-bye, miss you all!"
Gray appeared from the top of the stairs, looking at Lucy through dead eyes. The young woman could not tell whether or not he was mad because his eyes barely expressed any emotion and it was hard to see through his stoic mask.
He pointed a finger at her. "What was that about?"
"Personal call, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have used the farm's phone but I—it's just that I knew you wouldn't let me go to the shed near the tower after dark," she explained.
He sighed. "So you thought you could sneak an international phone call without me knowing about it?"
"Well, if I asked you if there was a place I could call any of my friends other than the shed, would you have answered me?"
"No," he replied, smirking.
"I figured," she retorted and ran a hand from her nose down to straighten the frown that was starting to form. Really, Gray's mood swings were tiring Lucy. And to think that just that morning, he was almost friendly.
Gray pinched his eyebrows, looking intently at Lucy's hands. "What happened to your hands?"
"Allergic reaction to the soap, none of your business," she said, "Good night."
She hurriedly passed him by, but, as if guilt-stricken, Gray stopped her. "I can show you a closer place where you can get network connection."
Lucy eyed him suspiciously. "At what cost?"
Gray gave a small chuckle. "Don't be so suspicious of me. I thought that was what you wanted to ask me?"
"Are you, by any chance, bipolar?"
"Not that I know," he answered, "Now follow me."
Gray led Lucy to his room. It was a humble room, slightly smaller than the one where Lucy was staying in. The decoration was minimal: a desk to the left of the door, above it was a hanging bookshelf filled with different reading materials; the one-person bed was placed in the corner of the room, and a few steps from the foot of the bed was a medium-sized wardrobe. There was a bedside drawer where a lamp was erected, as well as a framed photo of Gray, younger-looking and smiling widely beside a beautiful woman with silvery blue hair.
Girlfriend?
"Don't touch anything," he warned, "And in case you're curious, don't ask."
Gray climbed on to the bed and made his way to the open window beside it. He climbed on to the ledge and held his hand out to Lucy.
"No way," she said, "The roof?"
"It's either the roof or the shed, your highness." She grunted and took the offered hand.
It was like rock climbing, but instead of rocks, Lucy and Gray used the bumps and the gaps in the wooden wall of the house to climb to the roof. It took them a little over a minute to finally step on the roof.
"Check your phone," he said, gesturing, and Lucy did.
"Hah, waddya know? There is a connection here." She looked up at him and said, "Thanks…"
"Don't mention it," he replied. She smiled at him and felt a warm feeling spread in her chest, similar to the feeling she had that morning when he helped her with the laundry. He was almost being friendly; almost, but not quite. "Now let's get off. I'm sure you can find a way to get up here from your room."
See?
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