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It's the first kiss, it's flawless, really something...


Chapter Nine- Like and Love

It's not fun to bump into the sister of your friend's dead ex girlfriend.

I was having quite a peaceful day. Café had been scheduled for evening, Mom was out with her friends and I did not have any work. So having a frappe and listening to my tunes outside in the Square Barista seemed a fairly good way to spend my Saturday morning.

That was until another girl entered Barista and chose to sit exactly opposite the table I was sitting at. Outside in the sun with an orange umbrella protruding from the table to shade me, I hadn't really noticed her at first.

"Lucy…right?"

I stopped scrolling through the playlist and looked up. Yukino Aguria was sitting awkwardly; leaning over the back of the wooden chair.

"Um…hello?" I said.

I couldn't exactly remember, but wasn't she supposed to be back in Clover? The last time I saw her was at the pageant.

She was stylishly dressed in a summery white and sleeveless top complete with black denim shorts. Her bluish-white hair had a pair of dark sunglasses propped up on them. She had the exact same boots I wore on.

"Yeah, I knew I'd recognize you. Rogue's always talking about you," she continued conversationally.

I decided to ignore the brighter meaning of her last words. "Wait, Rogue and you…?"

She looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't think you guys were still…you know, in contact."

Her eyes turned from bright to cold. "You're pretty selfish."

My mouth dropped open. "Excuse me? I hardly know you!"

"You don't want us to be in contact? Why, do you get jealous? May I remind you, you have been spending rather a lot of time with him than I have."

I got the feeling that Yukino had not come here to small-talk with me. She had a motive.

"Is that a problem?" I asked politely.

She sighed. "Look, Lucy. It's obvious that you like him from the amount of time you have been hanging around with him. But you see, I have liked him for longer. And he deserves better…"

"You came here to give me a pep talk on which boys I can or cannot like?"

"No. I just happened to meet you, but now that I did I wanted to get this off my chest." She paused. "Just girl to girl," she leaned forward. "I'd really appreciate it if you kept your paws off of him."

I was taken aback at this sudden warning of hers. "Hey, he can decide for himself, right?" I said, trying to make peace.

She rolled her eyes. "And Sting agrees with me. Stop hogging the boy. He needs some time with his friends."

"I most certainly don't hog him!" I said, starting to get angry. "And if Sting wants to say something, he can just come here and say it himself!"

Yukino looked away from me to give her orders to the waiter. Then she turned back to me.

"Lucy, I'm sure we can be friends. Just…please don't think Rogue will return your feelings. I mean you're you…and well I'm me…"

How did she know anything about my feelings? No wonder Rogue had not been spending 'quality time' with her and she realized I was with him.

"Who says he won't?" I challenged.

Yukino glared at me like a bitchy cheerleader. "'Cause he doesn't have interest in wannabe girls like you."

That did it. Those words actually got under my skin and I bit my lip to keep from saying anything I might regret.

The next second I gathered my purse and iPod, dropped some cash on the table and walked down the steps onto the crowded street.

I began to roam down the street, staring at random shops absentmindedly. That was when someone grabbed my arm, clapped a hand over my mouth and dragged me into a book-shop.

I struggled until the person let go, and pulled his cap off. It was a surprise visit from Rogue's best mate.

"Sting Eucliffe, you let me go right now or I'll—" Sting rolled his eyes and pressed a finger to his lips.

"Shh! I can't get caught or I'm dead."

I sighed exasperatedly. "Look, I get you're famous and stuff. But next time you want to talk, don't come dressed as a hobo."

He put a hand to his heart in perhaps genuine shock. "Me?! I'm a superstar!"

"Sting. Hurry up."

"Fine," he straightened his hair. "Were you just getting chummy with Yukino? 'Cause I kinda need your help with her."

I leaned back against a shelf. "Okay, number one; I am far from getting chummy with that girl. Number two; I know you like her, so just go say it instead of wasting my time."

"But she loves Rogue!"

A small pang ran up my chest. "I have to go, I'm sorry." I pushed past Sting.

"Okay fine, could you at least do one thing for me?" he called after me.

I hesitated, one hand on the door. "Yes?"

He looked relieved. "Tel her to meet me near the lake then. Do!"

I gritted my teeth and nodded stiffly. Then I walked out again to find one of the girls who I was invisibly battling.

It didn't take long. She was still at Barista, writing something in a small book. Perhaps a journal.

"Yukino?" I said, going to her.

She looked up uninterestedly. "What?"

"Um…Sting wants to meet you at the lake tonight. He says it's important."

She looked confused. "Ah…trying to confess again. Stupid boy."

I sat down opposite her. "Wait, you know he likes you?"

Yukino laughed a silvery laugh. "Kind of hard to miss when he's around me. I just tell him I'm still deciding."

Again, irritation boiled in my stomach. I can't believe I ever felt sorry for this girl. "So you're basically toying with his heart. And Rogue's."

"It's none of your business, girl. The three of us go a long way. Our friendship has been there a lot longer than your silly pretense of thinking you love my friend."

I banged my hand on the table. "You don't know anything about me, Yukino. If that's how much you care for your friends, don't you want them to be happy?"

She stood up, apparently done with whatever she had been eating. "'Course I do. It's just that I know who can really make them happy…" she looked at her fingernails. "…and who's going to use them." She looked at me.

My response stuck in my throat. She smiled at me—quite a kind smile in comparison to her words—and stepped onto the street.

"And don't worry Lucy, I'll meet Sting. Can't disappoint him now, can I?"

Only a fraction of me felt happy that at least Sting would get what he wanted. The rest of me had mixed feelings.

Maybe I should just forget about Rogue.

No, my mind protested. You can't seriously buy all the crap that Yukino says Lucy.

Levy sent me a message to help her with some work and glad to have something to distract me, I made my way to her place. As I went I felt eerily sure of one thing.

Lisanna was a hell lot better sister than Yukino.


"Are you alright, Lucy?" Rogue asked in concern.

I crossed my legs and picked at the loose threads in the carpet. "Fine."

My uneaten pizza lay there on my plate. I had no wish to eat it either. Rogue put down his own pizza slice and tilted my face up. This had become a habit with us now; I would never look up at him until he used those wicked fingers.

"Then you're most certainly not fine."

I blinked. "Er…I just said I am, didn't I?"

"Yes, and when girls say they're fine…it means exactly the opposite."

"Someone's being doing some Google searches," I muttered.

Rogue smiled, ruffling my hair like I was his pet kitten again. "Would you stop doing that?" I protested, laughing.

"There's that goofy laugh," Rogue leaned back against his sofa.

I honestly had not felt like going back home after café that night. So instead I made an unexpected visit at Rogue's place. Just like I had hoped he was there.

And his first reaction was he had left socks on the TV and was very sorry for the messy condition of his house.

It's so sweet when he gets all flustered about stupid things and has no expression about stuff that actually matter.

He ordered pizza but now that my favorite pizza was here—pineapple with chicken—I was in no mood to eat it.

"If I asked you something… I started slowly. "Would you be mad?"

"Depends," he replied.

"Right. I hate it when people say that, but right." I fumbled with the hem of my top. "So…has Yukino been coming over lately?"

"Ah…" he looked like he was expecting this. "Well, yes actually. Why do you ask?"

I sighed. "I ask, 'cause you've been talking about me around her and now she thinks we both are in some sort of love-rivalry for you." I frowned.

A few seconds of awkward silence passed until I realized what I had just said to him.

Did I just freaking confess to him again?!

He was simply staring at me when I finally had the courage to look up. Staring as if he was trying to figure something out in me.

To escape that seemingly harmless look, I scrambled up off the carpet. Then I went over to the gigantic sliding doors and made myself comfortable on the wooden terrace.

"Lucy…why are you so impatient?" Rogue came and sat beside me. "I'll speak to her, don't worry about it."

I glared up at him. "And turn it into a big, at mess. I can't compete with Yukino…I mean she was right…look at her."

I focused on the faint sound of cars in the streets below. The mild wind tugged at my hair up on this high floor.

"Lucy," Rogue started hesitantly. I looked at him. "I need to ask you something. And I need a serious answer from you."

"Um…" I shrugged, waiting for him to go on. His eyes were a tad bit confused like he was still trying to work out something. But his face never lost his carefully composed expression.

"Are you really in love with me?" His crimson eyes flashed up to mine.

When I didn't answer, his left hand stretched out to rest it on mine. "Lucy," he said again, this time a bit commanding. "Are you in love with me?"

I bit my lip till it hurt. "…yes," I whispered in a small voice.

Then some part of my brain kicked in and I looked up fiercely. Ready to get this off my chest.

"Yes Rogue, I'm in love with you." I put a finger on his lips when he tried to respond. "And I know what you'll say. That you're not ready, that I'm rushing into things. But," I took a deep breath. "But you don't have to love me back. It's okay. I just need to tell you this. You need to know this."

I took in another breath and looked away from him. I had done it, and now I didn't feel so scared.

Rogue removed his hand away from mine. I noticed the warm, tingly feeling he left behind on my skin.

Then he leaned in closer to me and kissed my lips once. Then in less than a second he pulled away and ran his fingers through his hair. I felt the taste of coffee on my lips.

"It's not like that," he said at last. "It's not like I don't love you. I do. I was just…well confused about a lot of things. But over the months…you're different, in a way. And I've been trying to ignore the feelings but they've getting stronger…and…"

He stopped talking.

Maybe…just maybe he felt…guilty.

My hand instinctively reached out to touch his cheek. There was that pain in his eyes again that made me want to go and hug him just to give some comfort.

"You don't have to feel guilty, Rogue," I said. "If you'll be happy with your decision…then she would've wanted you to move on. It's not forgetting her," I added when he looked a bit unsure. "It's not."

I moved my hand away. He closed his eyes briefly and then smiled at me. "Thanks, Lucy…you helped me more than you know yourself."

I nodded not speaking. Then suddenly, the noise of the front door being opened came to my ears and I looked back, surprised.

"Hey Rogue, you in—"

Yukino froze when she saw the both of sitting on the terrace, looking back at her awkwardly.

She had a second key to Rogue's house?!

"Er…I should…probably go," I said.

"No wait, you can stay Lucy!" Rogue said.

I shook my head, grabbed my things off the coffee table and pushed past Yukino to go out.

"I only looked back at her still-standing form at the door once. "Did you meet him?" I asked.

She looked back at me. "Yes." Her voice had no emotion.

Then I hurried into the elevator and took the ride back home.


"Where were you Lucy?" Mom demanded.

I sighed for the millionth time that day and closed the front door behind me. I hastily checked the clock once to see it almost ten.

"I'm not that late," I said.

She raised an eyebrow at me. "Lucy, honey, I don't care how late you are provided you tell me where you are! I called up the café and Reyna told me you left two hours ago! Do you know worried I was? And you never picked your phone up."

"Oh…" I felt a bit guilty. Sure, I was perfectly and legally to be anywhere I wanted at this time, but even then Mom tended over react at times.

I took out my phone. The silent button had been pressed accidentally, no wonder I didn't hear it.

But I felt something vibrate when I was at the terrace with Rogue...

The phone had been in my front jeans pocket…

I thought it was something else vibrating…

Um…

"Won't happen again," I said quickly, trying not to think about what I just thought. I went over and hugged Layla once. "Chill mom…just from next time, wait for me to call, 'kay?"

"Well young lady, I want you to stay back home tomorrow at any rate. I'm going to be out the whole day and I want you to finish up some cleaning."

Wait…what?!

"I'm not thirteen anymore," I grumbled to her.

But it was no use arguing. I went to my room and lay down on the bed. After about five minutes my mobile began to ring again.

I saw that it was Rogue.

For a minute, I hesitated. Then I flipped the phone behind and let it ring. I didn't want to talk to him.

The next day can be described in one word…

BORING.

It is very boring when you have to spend the day doing house work when it's supposed to be day off. What was I, a housewife?!

Around eight in the evening, when I was looking around to see what I could do, Mira called up.

"Hey, I'm alive!" I declared into the phone.

"Er, I can see that?" Mira laughed from the other end of the line. "So…Levy's been driving me crazy with her complaints of work. I was guessing we could drop by the club once to—"

"I'm in," I said in relief.

Mom said she'd be out the entire day. The rooms were clean, the dishes were washed, groceries bought and everything done. She wouldn't be back to notice and I'm sure wouldn't mind if I was gone for some time.

I reached the club about the same time as Mira. We stole the seats of a guy when he got up to get a drink and Levy ordered a bottle of tequila.

I was surprised. She must really be down with her work or she wouldn't be so eager to get her brain fuzzy for one whole night.

Cana and Aria were there too. I joined them as the shot glasses and pieces of lemon were passed around and then we drained the glasses in unison.

Cana and Levy were animatedly chattering away about something while Mira began to rapid fire at me about Rogue.

Aria definitely had her eye on a blonde guy across the bar when Mira announced; "Who's up for a game?"

"If it involves sex, hell yeah!" Cana cheered. People around the bar sweat-dropped at her.

I rolled my eyes. Already my five shots were starting to make me feel light-headed.

We settled on a childish game. Truth or Dare. But beware when you play that with Mirajane and Cana.

"Go ask whether she wants to have a party upstairs or downstairs, Levy."

"Drain all three shots in three seconds, Luce. One, two—!"

"How many times did you make out with Freed, Mira? And I want the styles."

"Go flirt with the bartender Aria. And pop a few buttons if you want, Cana's ready to see some reactions from him."

We were laughing our asses off by the time one hour had passed. Everyone close to our table had intelligently moved away in fear of us turning out to be the Wicked Witches of the West.

Then Mira—who was surprisingly still in some of her senses—suddenly nudged me. "Isn't that Rogue?"

Surprised, I turned around. Sure enough, Rogue was leaning against the bar counter with Sting. The latter perhaps thought no one would really recognize him in the dim lights of the club.

"Guys," I got up, smirking. "Excuse me please."

I staggered my way to Rogue. I'm sure I looked like a mess after about who-knows-how-many shots, but I was still moderately okay. Not that Rogue knew that.

"…Yeah, and then she just barges—Lucy?" Rogue stopped talking to Sting and looked at me in surprise.

I smiled seductively, one hand resting on the counter. "Geez Rogue…you standing here like this…girls will be all over that hot body."

For the first time ever, he blushed in front of me.

"Are you drunk?" he asked in disbelief at my tone. His fingers brushed my hair away from my forehead and looked into my eyes.

"No idiot," I hiccupped. Then crossing borders, I let my arms snake around Rogue's neck. "Why, are you?" I giggled stupidly.

Sting, who had been frozen from some time, now let his blue eyes flash mischievously. "Drunk Lucy's a sexy Lucy," he murmured to his friend.

Rogue who was now blushing quite hard and trying to pry me off him, looked at Sting a tad angrily. "I'm not taking advantage of her in this state!"

Sting smirked. "So you mean you want to?"

"Boys!" I interrupted. Then I turned to Rogue. "Rogue Cheney," I muttered, trailing a finger down his T-shirt. "Are you hot?"

"Excuse me?!"

I giggled again. "I was asking if you're feeling hot." I faked a look of innocence. "What did you think?"

He sighed. "Lucy, you should really get back home."

I smiled eagerly. "Will you take me?"

Rogue gulped audibly. Oh damn, this was fun. He looked up with sweat running down his forehead—so hot—and gently removed my hands from him.

I pouted. "Rogue…" I whispered, like I was chanting my favorite poem. "Rogue, Rogue. I'm hot."

"She sure is," Sting snickered. Rogue glared at him. "Not helping, Sting!"

"Um, I think I need to get her home." Rogue took my hand and began to lead me away towards the exit.

I wobbled after a few steps. Rogue sighed and then looked at me concernedly.

"Can you walk, Lucy?"

I shook my head, smiling. He saw through me for a second from the look in his eyes, because he was smart. Then grinning slightly, he reached down and lifted me up in his arms in a second.

I held in my gasp at my closeness to him. His hair, his eyes, his lips. The warm coffee breath on my face. "Alright then, let's get you home." He said.

I buried my face in his shoulder as he jogged me back. I didn't care what people were thinking seeing us like this but as for me, I was elated.

We were nearing my home when I realized I couldn't keep up for long. Was I that light that he had no problems running with me in his arms?

"Rogue," I whispered. "I'm hot."

He looked uncomfortable again. "You'll get back home and then you'll feel okay."

I shook my head stubbornly. "I feel hot now."

"Should I put you down?" he asked.

"No!" I shouted, much too loudly. "No," I repeated. "I can't walk. But this dress is just…so…hot…"

"Lucy," Rogue bent his head down, as if trying to maintain some control. "Wait for a few minutes."

Instead of listening to him, I fumbled with my buttons. "Too hot," I muttered. Now I honestly felt a little too light-headed and the only thing I could focus on was the heat between us.

Rogue's face looked calm, but his eyes looked like he was trying to resist something.

"Won't you help me?" I whined. "Get this dress off, 'cause it's hot!"

He let out a heavily exasperated sigh. Then he leaned down and pecked my lips once. "Now stay quiet, we'll reach in a minute."

Damn, this boy knew his game. I stayed mute until we reached the front door. It was locked, but I kicked at the mat and the key under it was revealed.

He opened the door, and carried me in. I smiled, about to say something to Rogue, when he froze.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

Then I looked to my right and saw Layla Heartfilia standing in the living room.

"Oops."


Hey guys :) :) I promise I will write down the names of all the kind people who are supporting this story, but later coz I don't have time now and I just wanted to upload this right away! I know I said I'd make the next chapter better but I'm not very sure so please review and tell me about it!

Love you all, ta! :)