Chapter 9 - The Meeting...
Wendy's room was always clean. Her floor were always clear of dirt, shoe prints, trash, clothes, flower petals and shoes. Her bed was always neatly made and her teddy bears where always lined up in front of her two pillows. Her bathroom was also very polished-the toilet shined and her sink was clear of hair. It never stank, either.
But when she came home one day, she couldn't help but notice one small thing; it wasn't the fact her door was unlock, or that she could hear quiet whispers coming from her kitchen /living room. It was the fact a pair of red shoes, white sandals, a pair of blue sandals with white flowers and then a pair of pink child size sneakers.
"W...what in the world...?" She questioned.
Wendy knew thieves didn't neatly line their girly colorful shows beside a door and decide to have a nice tea party in her kitchen. She knew that they trashed the place up and left as quickly as possible.
"Did I invite people over, Carla?" Wendy asked Carla. Carla stood beside Wendy, also confused. The two walked farther into the house, wondering who in the hell was in their house.
"I don't recall you doing so..." Carla answered. When the two girls entered the kitchen, they sighed out in relief. "Ah," Sighed Carla, "its only you girls." Erza, Juvia, Lucy and lastly Levy sat around Wendy's dining room table. They had drinks in their hands and a plate of dumplings in the middle of the them all.
"Yes, of course." Erza said, sipping her drink silently.
"Why don't you girls sit!" Lucy chirped. Wendy confusingly stared at them, but obeyed the older girl. "Erza and us would like to ask you some questions, Wendy." Wendy nervously looked around her.
Erza looked the most calmest. She always did, so that didn't surprise Wendy.
Lucy looked abnormally too happy . As if she was trying her best not to blurt out black secrets.
Levy looked a bit uneasy, as if she was on edge. Wendy wondered why, since Levy always looked happy and ready to read.
Juvia, though. Wendy knew she must've done something wrong. Because the water mage looked extremely angry. Her blue eyes Pierced Wendy like a bullet to the head.
"I...Is...everything all right?" Wendy asked slowly, slowly sitting down in front of the four beauties. "You guys are worrying me..." Wendy whimpered.
"No don't be worried!" Levy yelped, a bit too loudly for Carla's liking. "Everything is perfectly fine, Carla and Wendy." Levy resurged awkwardly. "Erza...would you like to began?" Levy asked.
"Sure."
Wendy shivered lightly. She didn't know what happened, but a certain cold air of discomfort swept over her. She sat there in confusion as Lucy passed her a cup of hot tea and a dumpling that settled on a tiny pink plate.
"Wendy, we must discuss your relationship with Gray..." Erza started slowly and carefully. She sounded dead serious and Wendy knew not to say anything stupid or smart.
"W...what's wrong with our relationship...?" She carefully asked.
"What's wrong?!" Juvia bursted-which scared Wendy. But she was quickly calmed down by Lucy. "Juvia is sorry." Juvia quickly and sternly apologized-as if she didn't want to say it.
"I-its okay..." Wendy gulped.
"Anyways, us four have noticed you two...have been..." Erza's cheeks began to burn up. She began to finish her sentence, but everything that came out her mouth was gibberish.
"What Erza is trying to say is that you and Gray seem to have a couple relationship. " Levy said, looking at her two other friends for help.
"And we think you two shouldn't have a relationship like that." Lucy jumped in. She stared at Wendy for a bit, who seemed to be having a bit of difficulty trying to put their words into her head.
"We're n-not d-dating at all!" Wendy yelped, face red. She couldn't believe that they noticed how close she and Gray was and finally did something about it! She meant to get close to Gray enough so he could like her back, and she knows he's starting to. But, a meeting with her love rivals/closest friends about her and Gray was not part of the plan.
"Well, explain this to us." Erza said, now back in her normal state. She put a couple of pictures on the table, each one of them had...
"Jellal?" Wendy rose an eyebrow, looking at the pictures. One of them had Jellal walking near an ice cream stand.
"Huh?" Erza looked down at the pictures. She felt her cheeks burn and she quickly gathered those pictures and put them in her jacket pocket. "That was a mistake." She dug through another pocket hidden in her jacket before finally finding what she wanted. "Okay, act as if that never happened and don't speak a word about it." The girls nodded, knowing that if they did they would get good ass beaten. "Yes, Erza." They obeyed.
"Now back down to business." Lucy demanded. The air around them all was heavy. And the light in the room was dim as the air hung loosely, as if they were actually in a serious Poker Player movie.
"Well..." Wendy stared down at the photos that laid lifelessly on the table. "We're just close friends..." Wendy slowly looked up from the photo of Gray handing her a panda bear teddy bear the time they went to the Carnival. An another one that she saw was one that Gray had carried her out of a swamp when they had went on a mission together. A lot of the photos were rather old. .which surprised her because the events that had happened in a lot of the photos happened a while back. "How long have you been following us..?" Wendy looked at Erza, and then Levy to Lucy and Juvia.
The woman looked at each other, each giving each other wary glances before swallowing hard and sharing small whispers.
"Umm..well..." Levy started.
"Juvia must confess that I started to follow you two after the first time you And Gray-Sama went on your first mission." Juvia scratched her temple a bit, smiling a bit. Wendy felt her jaw drop. "And then the three of them came along with me." Juvia added in. Wendy wanted to faint right then and there.
Not only did her closest friends stalk her now, but now she knew that they didn't want her and Gray to be together. Wendy couldn't let her friends get in the way of her plans, though. She had to think of something;even though she cared very much for them.
"You're telling us that you four have been stalking Wendy because you don't trust her alone with Gray?" Carla questioned. The four woman shrugged.
"Kinda." Lucy said, her chocolate brown orbs staring into Carla's. "I mean, we just think Wendy is too young for Gray. In which means Gray needs to stand his distance and be a gentleman." Lucy took a bite of her dumpling.
"I see..."
"But Gray doesn't like me." Wendy jumped in. "There's certainly no reason to stalk us." Wendy grew a bit angry. She couldn't believe her friends didn't trust Gray! Gray was the most trustworthy man she knew! "T...that's very mean!" Wendy yelled out, surprising them all.
"Wendy, calm down." Erza calmly said. "There's no need to be angry." Right when Wendy opened her mouth to say something again, a knock on the door enterupted her.
"I'm coming." Wendy's monotone voice echoed through the room now. She quickly stood up and walked to the door rather angrily. She opened the door and looked at the woman who stood in front of her. "Oh, hello, Evergreen." Wendy lightly smiled. "What can I do for you?" She innocently asked- her child voice coming back.
"Hey," Evergreen smiled down at the younger girl. "Gray's downstairs, he asked me to ask you if you wanted to go on a mission with him." Evergreen shrugged.
Wendy looked back at the females in her room. "Umm..." They smiled at her as if nothing was wrong. Wendy slowly looked back to Evergreen. "Thank you for telling me, Evergreen." Wendy smiled and said goodbye to Evergreen. She closed the door and walked back to the group of woman.
"Your leaving with Gray-Sama?" Juvia questioned. Wendy shyly nodded, playing with the end of her sleeve. "Well,"
"I guess we'll take our leave." Erza finished Juvia's sentence, standing and gathering the pictures. "Be careful, Wendy." Erza smiled and left the house with the the other three woman.
Wendy and Carla awkwardly stood in Wendy's room. Wendy looked down at Carla who quietly sat on the bed. They hadn't talked since the four friends left. "Well...that was rather a weird meeting, hai?" Laughed Carla lightly.
"Yes.." Wendy held her small bag filled of clothes. "Are you coming?" Wendy looked back at Carla when she noticed Carla didn't follow her to the door.
"I shall not. I'm not feeling very well..." Carla laid on the bed. "Now don't worry, child and go, Gray is waiting for you." Carla shued her out of the room. Wendy sighed but left, running down the stairs.
When she finally got downstairs, she saw Gray patiently waiting by the steps. "Oh, Gray!" Wendy jumped on him unexpectedly. This surprised him, making him tumble just a bit. But he was able to wrap his arms around her small frame and hug her back. "Sorry to have kept you waiting." She apologized. Gray put her down.
"No, don't worry 'bout it." Gray smiled down at her. "Anyways, this is the mission." Gray showed her the stamped paper. Wendy held the paper and carefully read it.
It was rather simple. All they needed to do was go to another town and find some bandits. It was nothing too hard. "Rather simple!" Wendy smiled. "Okay, let's start heading out!" Wendy grinned. The two started to walk away.
"What wrong with you, Wendy? Your face is a bit pale..." Gray asked as they waited for the train. Wendy chuckled lightly, remembering what had happened in her small home.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She smiled lightly up at him. "I guess i'm just a bit cold." She lied, not wanting to tell him the truth. Who knows what might happened. He could possibly be offended by it and not treat them the same. Or, he could be paranoid and double check everything before he does something.
After Gray was convinced that she was truely cold, since he didn't think that was the problem, Wendy began to look around for the certain mages she knew very well. «How could I have not noticed before?» She asked herself. She couldn't believe she couldn't smell the sweet vanilla coming off Lucy, or the Beachy smell that swelled off Juvia. Or even the new book smell that came from Levy or the sweet Cheese Cake scent that left Erza. How she could not smell any of those wonderful scents? They must've done something to hide their scents.
But, Wendy wasn't going to let their stalkerish acts get in the way of making Gray fall for her. She had to try to bring him closer even when knowing her four friends where watching her. They wouldn't do anything anyways, right?
"Wendy," Wendy was awoken from her DayDreams when Gray had waved his hand in front of her face. "The train." He gestured with his head towards the train.
"Oh, okay." Wendy nodded. "Sorry..." Wendy apologized, looking down at the floor.
"No need to apologize." Gray snickered, walking into the train with Wendy trailing behind him. He could her the worriedness in her tone everytime she said something. And he was going to figure out why. He couldn't let this slip. He loved and cared for Wendy deeply. He would hate it if she didn't feel comfortable telling him her problems. He loved the fact that he was close to Wendy, and that she trusted him. In which also meant that she shouldn't be afraid to tell him how she's feeling. He hated to admit it, but he'd be her personal journal if he had too.
The two friends sat across from each other, letting the silence take over them. "Oh..where's Carla?" Wondered Gray out loud. Wendy looked to Gray from the window which showed the sun setting.
"She's home." She said rather quietly. "She said she wasn't feeling good..." She looked away from Gray. She wasn't sure why, but she suddenly felt very sick. And it wasn't the train, either. "Gah," she sighed out. "I'm so tired." She frowned. It must've been because of all the surprises that had happened in one day. And it was so shocking and rather scary, too.
"Tired? Ha," Chuckled Gray. "Its only 6. Maybe your just hungry?" He questioned rather then suggested. "I'll order something if you want me to." He smiled.
Wendy smiled at his kindness but shook her head no. "Its okay, I'm not very hungry." She laid her head Down on her folded arms on the table.
"What ever you say, Wendy."
It was a few hours later that the two mages finally got to the destination they needed to be at. The town's train station was very small- but very classy at the same time. Wendy and Gray walked out the quiet train to be faced with loudness and bright colorful lights.
"Must be some party going on in the town."
"Like a celebration?" Wendy asked as they began their way down to the town. Gray nodded, paying mind to what was ahead of him. "But for what?" Wendy asked, skipping beside him. She felt a lot better 'knowing' that her four female friends weren't watching her. She didn't see them in the train. And she didn't see them coming off the train even if they were in the train.
"Not sure." Gray answered. The two mages walked down the path to the town. The trees around them where dark and wind was gentle- but hard enough to make the leaves brush against each other. And the moon was out-no clouds to block the moonlight. "Maybe a Holiday..." He suggested. "But we must look for the mayor, since he had made this Request." Gray said. Wendy nodded, understanding.
"Maybe we could eat first...?" Wendy looked up at Gray with a weak smile, a dark blush creeping among her face due to her stomach growling loudly.
Gray chuckled down at Wendy.
"Of course."
Happy Late Thanksgiving! ^-^ sorry for such a short chapter ;-;
