Pretty Ore

A/N: I bet you all hated me for that last cliffhanger. Hopefully all of your questions will be answered in this long awaited confession chapter. Also, I can finally show you why I had chosen the name Pretty Ore for this story! Before you think I ended the story, it's not done, yet anyway.

Chapter 10 – Two Confessions

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Gray frowned as he sat on his bed in the inn.

He did that a lot, after that one day, frowning that is.

He frowned some more.

If he was going to keep this up, that frown would be imprinted on his forehead forever.

He lowered his eyebrows even more, if that was possible, so that his eyebrows touched his blue, confusing eyes.

"Think about it." She had said.

He didn't even know what she meant.

Think about it?

Well, he'd been trying to for this past week. It just wasn't working. Think about what exactly? She hadn't been very specific, neither did she drop any clues or something. It was just:

"It's something else. Think about it."

Well Gray was absolutely horrible at thinking about something else! What the hell did something else mean anyway!? Couldn't Claire give him an instruction manual about how to think about something that's something else! It just confused him to no end as he kept repeating it over in his head. He couldn't deduct a logical conclusion – he never could when it involved Claire, she liked to avoid things like 'logic' and 'reason'. Instead, she sprouts off things like 'something else' and 'think about it'. At least she managed to make him think about something else every minute of the day.

It just didn't make sense.

Gray frowned again.

The blonde boy then started to think about rocks.

Rocks are very logical, they only have a few characteristics, so no one can ever be confused by a rock. A rock can fall to the ground – logic. A rock has a hard surface – logic. A rock feels very painful when thrown against someone's head – reasoning. Now see, rocks aren't confusing, they have things you can logically follow, and then deduct what's happening.

Claire had no logical flow in every vibe of her body, thus deducting on what was happening with her had no chance of ever succeeding. Instead, Gray was left confused, and his manly brain with his manly logic and reasoning just weren't applicable in this situation. Gray didn't know how to think like that most of the time, and Claire just loved to force him into those situations where he can't do anything but say nonsense most of the time.

Gray was beginning to think that rocks were a more valuable partner for a friendship than any kind of girl.

Gray frowned.

He sighed, and turned around to face Kai, who was getting dressed.

"Kai," he called out. The tanned boy turned around while putting on his shirt and cocked him an eyebrow. "Yo," he replied.

"Why are girls so confusing?" Gray asked with a roll of his eyes.

Kai snickered and shrugged, not really knowing why either. The blonde boy thought that Kai should at least know a lot about the opposite sex, so he figured he might as well ask him stuff. Then again, it's not as if Kai was an expert on Claire's personality, so he wouldn't offer that much advice anyway.

"Girl trouble, Gray? Again?" Kai asked with a sly smile on his face. "Let me guess – Claire?" Gray frowned again, was it that obvious?

The blonde sighed and leaned against the wall while he laid down on his bed. "It's been a week or so since she said that…"

Kai raised his eyebrows. "Said what?" So Gray has been lingering around with this knowledge for about a week, and hadn't told Kai at all? The brunette felt insulted that Gray hadn't shared this information with him right away.

"To think about it," said Gray in a defeated manner. "Think about what?"

"About something else," replied Gray.

"Huh?" Said Kai confused, to which Gray pointed his finger at him and nodded. "Exactly! I don't know what she means either!"

Kai inspected Gray carefully, was he joking with him, or just saying nonsense? "Sorry Gray, I think you're the one who's confusing right now," said Kai honestly with a frown on his face.

"Well ever since you said she might liked me, I asked her if she did –" Gray was cut off by Kai who had suddenly appeared next to his bed, shaking Gray by his shirt.

"WHAT!? You NEVER EVER ask a girl if she likes you! Not like that! Argh!" Kai said furiously, shaking Gray back and forth, and the blonde pushed Kai off of him.

"Well, why the hell not! You said she liked me!"

"Oh man – that doesn't give you the right to just blatantly ask her! Dear goddess Gray, no wonder you've been acting weird these past two weeks. You have probably destroyed that poor girl's confidence now!" Said Kai, feeling very sorry for Claire indeed. Gray's face heated up at the thought of him doing something to hurt Claire.

"That's not my fault!" Defended Gray himself – it wasn't completely his fault! He would have never asked if Kai had never mentioned something about the possibility that Claire might like him. It was all Kai's fault, that damn boy.

Kai slapped his hand in front of his face, all the while shaking his head. "Tell me, did she deny it?"

Gray nodded.

"Did she proceed to ignore you?"

Gray shyly nodded again.

"Did you two talk again?"

He nodded once more.

"Did she try and explain her feelings?"

It was eerie and creepy how accurate Kai was with his predictions. Kai sighed. "No wonder you're so confused and upset about all this. Dear goddess, I think you have got to be the biggest asshole ever."

"Hey!" Yelled Gray indignantly.

"And one of the most ignorant and oblivious one too." Gray growled through his teeth. "No need to insult me Kai, I've got enough on my mind as it is."

The tanned boy sat down on Gray's bed, looking apologetically at him. Gray clearly didn't know what was going on, and he had no idea how to fix what was wrong between Claire and him. It seemed as if Kai knew what was going on, but he wasn't making things any better aside from making Gray feel like shit.

"You know," began Kai. "I think that Claire isn't the confusing one, I think it's just you – she seems to be acting pretty straight forward."

"I'm not the confusing one!" Gray said, not believing what his friend was uttering from his mouth. Claire was the one that decided to always make situations so confusing and embarrassing. It wasn't him, he didn't do anything! It also wasn't like him and Claire were ignoring each other again, she pretended she didn't do anything that night and proceeded to be her old self again around him, which confused the hell out of Gray.

He never brought up the topic of her saying it was 'something else', because he really didn't know what was going on, so instead of trying to solve it, he remained silent and enjoyed the old friendship with Claire again. It's better to ignore that there's a problem and still be with each other, than to try and get to the bottom of this and end up not talking to each other for weeks.

"I think Claire has pretty much sorted everything out. You on the other hand, are confused about everything," said Kai thoughtfully. "It's almost funny how you can deny everything so blissfully .. But then again, it's none of my business."

Gray glared at him, what was he going on about? Claire had everything sorted out, and he's still confused about everything? What?

"Just think about it Gray."

I don't want to think about it! That's why I'm asking you!

"I have to leave now, I need to go to my beach house. Seriously though Gray, you're my friend, and I don't want to see you acting so stupid and ignorant. So think about Claire, will you?" With that, Kai disappeared from the inn.

Rage build up in Gray once he sat there alone, brooding in his thoughts. Kai wanted him to think about it, and Claire wanted him to think about something else. They really weren't helping him, it was confusing as hell. Especially for a guy who had the emotional range of a 3 year old. The blonde sighed deeply and got up to take his hammer and lantern. He figured he might as well knock some sense out of some rocks, maybe they know something ..

Gray left the inn for the mine. When he arrived at the old mine, he looked around to see most rocks being crumbled already. He figured he hadn't been here in a long time, and Claire had been making up for his absence, smashing every rock she could find. The blonde walked deeper into the mine, holding his lantern for light. When was the last time he had been here anyway? Gray tried to remember, and thought it was probably when he was mining with Claire or something.

He frowned.

Claire ..

A crushing sound echoed throughout the cave as Gray landed his hammer on the rock, feeling the vibrations run through his body. Another jolt of vibrations went coursing through his body, and he kept on going, endlessly hammering his trusty tool on the solid surface of a rock. How he had missed destroying things for a while – it was good to be back in the mine. The rock split open, and he saw some silver. He smiled and proceeded to smash the rock to a bloody pulp.

When he took a break from his senseless smashing on rocks, Gray sat on a different rock and thought about what Kai and Claire had said.

First, it had been Claire who had said that instead of having a crush on him, it was something else, and he had to think about it. It really wasn't easy, and secondly, even Kai couldn't help him. Gray sighed and played around with his hammer while he sat there alone in the mine.

Why must everything be so complicated? Especially with Claire. He really couldn't think of anything she meant with 'something else'. Did she hate him? Or did she consider him like her older brother? Or did she want to become friends with benefits? Gray shuddered as he thought about that. He could crack his brain all day long, and still not know what Claire was talking about. The good thing about it was that Claire didn't ignore him. She pretended the conversation never existed in the first place, and continued looking him up and talking to him. Which of course, made Gray even more confused because he didn't know if Claire just wanted to forget about it all, or if she was waiting for an answer from him. Then again, she never really asked a question ..

Kai was the one who said he needed to think about Claire, so Gray, being all hopeless in all things, decided he should think about the blonde haired girl.

He frowned again.

Okay, let's think about Claire.

.. I'm thinking about Claire .. Wondering about Claire … She has long blonde hair .. and I just rhymed that last part. Great.

How was he supposed to know what Kai meant with thinking about Claire!? Angrily, he grabbed his hammer and started smashing it against a big rock.

Claire is a girl.

Smash.

Claire has nice blonde hair.

Smash.

Claire is nice and weird.

Smash.

Claire is my friend.

Crack.

Claire is funny.

Crack.

Claire is fun to be with.

Crumble.

Claire is pretty.

Crumble.

Claire is …

SMASH.

Gray stared at the broken rock he had been smashing. It was all split up into hundreds of little pieces; he had been overdoing it by just a little. There were also traces of this gem-like substance. He looked in the middle of the broken pieces and saw pieces of this blue-like ore; radiating a little bit of light. He rose his blonde eyebrows as he bend down to examine the blue pieces that were scattered about. He touched one of the blue shards, that was eliminating this faint blue colour. Gray had never seen this ore before in his life; he didn't even know what it was.

It was a crystal-like blue ore, that somehow glowed with its own light source, making it look like it was a piece of the moon. Gray scooped it up in his hands, it was glowing a nice light-blue colour. The crystal was see-through, yet he couldn't look through it, because it was shining with a blue light. Gray smiled at it; it was pretty.

It reminded him of Claire, of her eyes.

He picked up the rest of the shards and bagged it in his pocket. Gray kept one of the shards in his hand as he inspected it. The blue really reminded him of Claire's blue eyes. The ore wasn't a sapphire, not when it glowed blue like that. It was special, and it looked quite pretty to his eyes. The blonde smiled slightly, feeling as if he was staring right into Claire's eyes. He felt the need to show this to Claire. The new ore would also be good for forging new stuff that he wanted to do. Maybe a nice necklace for Claire. Yeah, she would like that.

He clasped the shard tightly in his hand, staring at it intensively.

Was it normal to have recognized your friend's eyes in an ore?

..Then proceed to say that it's pretty?

Was it even normal to think a lot about a friend like Claire? Gray put the last shard in his pocket and got up, staring at his lantern.

Gray realized, that even without deliberately thinking of this certain blonde girl, she had this thing for randomly popping up in his mind without him even intending to. She was a lot on his mind, so much that he spent every day and night thinking about her. Kai didn't need to say he had to think about Claire, he already did so – naturally. Why he would think so much about her, he didn't know.

Gray sighed; was this really how much one would think of a friend?

Or was it a little too much? The blonde realized he had never thought of Kai, or Cliff this much in his life. Hell, he barely thought about them at all, not even giving his so called friends the time of day in his mind. That was supposedly normal, to Gray that is.

Then there was Claire.

Claire, the blonde haired farmer girl, who he couldn't stop thinking about.

About all the situations she kept bringing them in, how they would laugh together afterwards. How she would make him feel like hugging her was one of the most natural things in the world – even if he loathed hugging people. She would make him confused about stuff she said, messing up the entire day for Gray because he couldn't stop thinking about it until it was solved; just like he was doing right now.

Was it really a friendship that they have?

Gray swung his hammer over his shoulder and picked up his lantern; walking out of the mine. He breathed in the fresh air as he looked around the Spring; not really knowing where to go now. Gray started walking, and continued thinking.

Do friends make you feel so happy that his mood could instantly be turned around once he saw her smile? That they could arouse you while having innocent fun? That they could make your stomach twist in knots whenever they were ignoring each other? Do friends make you miss them so much, that afterwards, you want to hug them and never lot go? To do everything in your power to make sure that they would never get into that sort of situation again?

The blonde certainly didn't want to do that, or felt like that way around Cliff or Kai. Just thinking about that sort of friendship with Kai and Cliff made him want to gag and choke himself to death. Gray felt things, and did things with Claire that he could never imagine having around his other friends. How come he never saw this before? That Claire was a different kind of friend to him?

Gray frowned and kept on walking. He shook his head and corrected himself.

Claire wasn't his friend anymore ..

The blonde realized that Claire had crossed the border of the friend zone. She had gotten into his comfort zone, whatever that may be.

As he walked, he began thinking. Gray was so happy when Claire asked him to be her friend. Now he doesn't even know what she is to him anymore .. maybe that's what she meant with 'it's something else'. Does she still consider him a friend, or not? Was that what it was all about? Had she realized that this wasn't really how friends acted like? Apparently, Claire realized it sooner than he did.

Gray finally admitted it; Claire wasn't a friend to him anymore. She was .. something … else.

He knew it wasn't a crush or anything. His last crush wasn't anything like this. Gray didn't feel those butterflies around Claire, or felt so shy around her that he couldn't talk. No, he felt rather comfortable around her when she wasn't putting them in awkward situations, and he could talk to her in a normal way. As if he could tell her anything that was on his mind, he felt that comfortable with her. She wasn't a crush, period.

Then what was she to him?

"It wasn't .. a crush that I have on you … It's something else. Think about it."

Gray finally realized that Claire had been trying to tell him the exact same thing he had been pondering about right now. Was he that thick-headed that he couldn't see that Claire had been trying to tell him something? It's not like it helped though, Gray couldn't make up his mind or sort his feelings for Claire. All he knew was that she was a friend, in a way, but not really, and he didn't have a crush on her, yet he felt very .. strongly.. for this blonde haired chick.

Gray walked over the dirt path, that reached Claire's farm. He stood still as he looked at the farm, letting his eyes gaze over Claire's field. She didn't seem to be working on it right now. New crops were growing for the new season, and her field looked pretty cleaned up.

Gray frowned for the umpteenth time that day.

He felt strongly for Claire. In a sense that he didn't want to leave her, or stop talking to her. It made him feel disconnected from the world, and eventually it made him angry to be separated from her. She made him feel happy, and comfortable enough to talk about anything. Gray didn't want to lose that level of comfortableness. He also didn't want to stop being around this fascinating person, he never knew what was going to happen whenever he was around Claire. Even the way she could control his blood flow so easily, he would actually miss that.

Claire could embarrass him, make him happy, make him angry, make him sad, make him interested, make him regretful, make him blush, make him confused and all those other things that she could do to him. That blonde girl could basically make him do or feel anything Gray had noticed. He wondered if he had the same effect on her, to be able to make her feel anything and do everything.

Didn't she confess to that already though?

"You can make me say the silliest things, act in the most silliest ways.."

Could Gray make her feel in the silliest ways too? Did he really have such an influence on her like she said? Could he make her feel all of those things that he felt for her? He thought back on the things she had said when they first started hanging out with each other.

"I think you're great. I thought; hey if he's holding out, I shouldn't give up either." Didn't she say that when they first became friends?

"Then how come you make me feel comfortable enough to talk to you?" How come he never realized this?

"I really like you Gray, I want to be your friend." Had she really wanted to stay friends?

"Are you going to stay in Mineral Town?" She didn't want him to leave her ..

"I missed you too." She did miss him after not being together anymore.

Gray's eyes had widened more and more as he thought back to the things that Claire said to him. It was so fucking obvious now! It's as if Gray had been blindfolded all this time, and had finally taken off the blindfold to see what was really going on.

Claire felt the exact same way about him the way he felt about her. How come he never realized those things? It was clear to him now; Claire had been telling him these things all along, and only just now he admitted he felt this way about Claire, while she had admitted this a long time ago already. Gray smacked himself in the head for being so ignorant about the stuff that Claire had said to him. She did feel all those things that Gray felt too. The idiot just never actually thought about it.

Gray was finally standing in front of Claire's house, his feet had dragged him over here while he had been lost in his thoughts. It was instinct really, thinking about Claire and then having his feet do the walking while he did the thinking. He didn't want to talk to Claire right now though, he had some sorting out to do. Before Gray could turn away, the door swung open and Claire greeted him with a small smile.

"Going somewhere?" She asked when she saw he was about to turn away. The blonde was wearing her blue overalls as always. She looked pretty comfortable in her place, right in front of him.

Gray suddenly felt nervous around Claire. "N-no.." He stammered out. Claire stared at him in silence for a while, until she moved outside of her house and closed the door behind her. Gray put his lantern and hammer down next to him as he tried to think of something to say to Claire, explaining why he was here.

"What are you doing here?" She asked curiously, standing in front of Gray with that familiar smile of her.

If this girl, that was standing in front of him, wasn't his friend anymore.. Then what was she?

"I found something," said Gray, trying to stop his thoughts and tried to concentrate on the actual conversation.

Claire rose her eyebrow. "What is it?"

Gray's heart started beating fast, he felt like he was being observed by Claire this very moment. Was she thinking about that one day still, just like he was? Thinking how to carefully solve this without making it so awkward? Gray reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the blue shards. He showed it to Claire, who squealed at the sight of a glowing blue ore.

"It's pretty! What is it?" She asked, genuinely interested. "Why is it glowing?" She asked while taking the shard out of his hand. Gray said nothing, but inspected the girl with his eyes.

"Where'd you get it?"

Gray lazily traveled his eyes across her body to reach her blue eyes – they looked exactly like the ore he found. His eyes examined the way her eyebrows kept raising higher, and then lower. Her blonde hair had grown longer since the day he had met her. She had pinkish thin lips that were always stretched into that smile of hers. Her nose was tiny, and while he had always known this, but never really thought about it, her nose was also slightly crooked to the left.

"Well?" She asked impatiently as Gray still hadn't answered her. The shard glowed in her hands, but was forgotten by Gray.

Gray wondered briefly; did he think Claire was pretty? Just like how he thought her eyes looked pretty, like the ore?

No.

Claire wasn't pretty.

She was beautiful.

She didn't even deserve to be called beautiful, Claire was just so unique that you couldn't help but be in awe at her. It doesn't matter what she looked like, it was her personality that made Claire shine through her body. She could have looked like a stereotypical fat redneck, and Claire would still be beautiful. Gray had never given much thought about the way Claire looked like, because it had always been the way she acted that he liked so much about her.

"I got it in the mine," he finally whispered, lowering his eyes towards the ground, and once again, hiding his face underneath his cap.

In a swift moment, Claire had taken Gray's cap from his head. She pouted at him while holding his cap. "You shouldn't hide your face, I like to see it," she said and smiled deviously.

Gray felt his hair touch his eyes, it had grown since he last cut it. At the moment, he didn't care she had taken his cap, she could throw it away for all he cared. For now, Gray just wanted to stop time and stand in front of Claire, trying to figure out what she was all about. To try and fill in the blanks. To try and figure out what Claire meant to him.

"What's wrong?" She asked, her voice filling with concern when she noticed the lack of movement and responsiveness from Gray. She placed the blue shard in Gray's hand, and held his hand for a second, staring into his eyes, wondering if he was alright. She was always so worried about him.

Claire was special to him.

In a way not even a friend or a crush could ever be to him.

"Claire?" He asked, staring right back into her eyes. Gray poured his eyes into hers while waiting for her to reply. Slowly he put away the blue shard in his pocket again.

"Yeah?" She said shyly, not being used to Gray staring into her eyes so obviously and intensively.

He paused for a minute, trying to find the right words to say, but he knew he was just going to end up telling Claire everything that was on his mind.

"What did you mean by 'it's something else'?"

A thick silence fell around the two young adults as Claire's eyes had gotten bigger once he had spoken that sentence. Her mouth had fallen open and it started to tremble slightly. Gray noticed he was trembling slightly too, but instead, it was his hole body. What was Claire going to say? It scared Gray like nothing else had ever scared him before, to await this answer that Claire was taking too long to answer. Claire had started to faintly blush, and Gray noticed he had been too. Was it because of his heart beating so fast in anticipation for her answer?

The blonde girl awkwardly shifted on her spot, but kept her eyes on Gray.

"I don't know."

Gray let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, but his nerves were still on the rise as his heart started to pump more blood to his face.

"Care to explain?" He asked nervously.

"Well, ehm, it's just .. it's not that easy to explain," said Claire with a sigh. So instead of trying to explain things, Claire's head shot up to meet Gray's eyes.

"Gray? Am I only a friend to you?" She asked bluntly.

"No." Had Gray said immediately with a steady voice that surprised Claire with his honesty.

"Then, what am I to you?"

That was a damn good question. Gray didn't consider her his friend anymore, because she was too special to him to get the title of being a friend. Nor was she his crush or anything. Not even that, she clearly wasn't a little sister to him either. Claire was .. special, in a way. He didn't want to leave her, he wanted to stay with her and share those weird moments together.

"Something else," replied Gray, knowing he had used the exact same words as Claire's when she tried to explain that she didn't have a crush on him. The blonde girl glared at him with her eyes, not thinking kindly of him stealing her words. She then casted her eyes downward, thinking silently in herself.

"I don't know when I stopped considering you just as a friend.." She whispered. Gray silently agreed. He just realized that Claire wasn't just a friend to him anymore, but he had felt this way for a while already. The blonde boy just never noticed that he stopped considering Claire as his friend.

"I mean, I've had friends before, but I have never felt this way around a friend," Claire admitted softly.

"You're just .. I don't know .. you are a good friend, but it's something way more than that. I just can't really exp-" Gray cut Claire off by putting his finger on her lips. She looked at him, shock filling her eyes. He could feel her lip trembling against the tip of his index finger. Her lips were so soft ..

"Stop explaining," he whispered and stepped closer to her. Emotions were going haywire through his body since the moment Claire started talking. It was a circus down in his mind, he felt every emotion he could ever feel right then and right there, standing in front of Claire. What could this be? The way that he was feeling, what could it be? He removed his finger from her lips and stared at her face from close up. How could this girl possibly bring out all these emotions from him?

"I..I-I…" Stammered Claire, not getting the words out from her mouth in the correct way. She started fanning herself with his cap, that she had held on to all this time, she was obviously getting hot too.

Gray felt relaxed, and at the same time nervous. He felt tensed, but comfortable. He felt anxious, but happy. He felt everything that was just so contradicting of each other that Gray tried to stable himself, trying to not let everything get to him and make him crazy.

"Claire," he muttered from his lips. His heart, it was going way too fast. It was as if his heart knew what was going to come, as if it prepared him for this future event. The blonde boy stepped closer once more and bent down to her face. She looked just as confused as he did. Was she feeling what he was feeling at this exact same moment? Was she feeling like a circus freak too?

His hands reached out to grab Claire around her waist. She dropped his cap on the ground and lifted up her arms to place it around his neck. They both pulled each other closer in a very emotional embrace. Gray closed his eyes as he felt Claire leaning against his chest. She tightly secured her arms around his neck, as he grabbed her warmly around her waist. The emotions were still going crazy in his body, but at the same time he felt very calm and secure. Holding Claire, in his arms, that was where she should be with him. That's the way it should have been all this time. It felt so right and still so confusing at the same time. All that mattered was that Claire was here; she was going to be here, and she willingly wanted to be here .. with him.

They stood there, in silence, just holding each other. Gray's mind had shut down, he couldn't really think anymore, as he was enjoying the moment he was having with Claire. He felt good emotions fill his mind and body, which was a good thing. Both of them just kept standing there; entirely content in the way they were right now.

Until Claire spoke up.

"I think I like you," she said against his chest. She buried herself deeper into his embrace. "A-a crush doesn't even begin to describe .. what I feel … when I'm with you."

"I know," replied Gray seriously, still having his eyes closed as he listened to the beautiful voice of Claire. He removed one arm from her waist as he lifted it up to play with her long blonde hair. She didn't seem to mind. His body, along with hers, had been shaking all this time with these revelations they were both admitting to. Yet, everything felt so calm and natural.

"I want you to stay here," began Gray, resting his chin on her blonde hair. "I don't want you to leave .. me."

He could feel Claire nod against his chest. Her fingers were started to play with his hair too, rubbing her soft fingers softly against his neck and toying around with his blonde hair. Gray swallowed hard, finding it difficult to focus on his words now. Claire continued to rest her head against his chest, seemingly to find it comforting that Gray was twirling her hair around his finger.

"S-Stay with me?" Mumbled Gray softly. Her fingers stopped stroking the back of his neck. He immediately wanted to nudge Claire to continue doing what she was doing before.

She pushed herself from his chest and looked straight up into his eyes. "No," she said bluntly and seriously.

He could feel his heart fall.

"I don't just want to stay with you – I want to be with you."

And it rose up just as fast as it fell.

Gray smiled nervously at her, resting both his hands on her hips. She let her hands rest on his shoulders as they both stared at each other. Was this really happening right now? Today, he went from not knowing what he considered Claire to be to him, to him asking if she wanted to stay with him. Talk about your epiphany. He just couldn't keep it to himself, he had been feeling like this for awhile, but had blissfully ignored it – just like Kai had said. Whatever he considered Claire, he just wanted him to be with her. He didn't want to have her leave him.

Claire's hand traveled from his shoulder to his hand, and started pulling him towards her house. "Let's go inside," she said softly, opening the door and pulling the both of them in there. Gray walked in and closed the door behind him, still being dragged along by Claire's hand. After a while, she let go, and stared at him for a good 5 minutes in silence before she started talking again.

"Do you really like me?" She asked quietly. Gray's heart started beating faster again.

"Yeah.."

"It's all so confusing .. really," said Gray as he scratched his head, not realizing his cap wasn't on his head anymore. Claire nodded in agreement, finding it confusing herself too.

"I don't feel like this is a crush, but I have this .. attraction towards you that makes me never want to leave your side," said Gray, and was surprised he could actually say something like that. He really did feel like that though; he never wanted to leave Claire's side.

Claire let out a little giggle that eased out the strained mood they were both in. "Now what, though?" Asked Gray awkwardly. Yeah he just confessed his weird and confusing feelings and all, but that doesn't mean he knew what to do.

Claire took a step closer to him. "You want to be with me, right?" She asked as she took his hands into her own, pulling him closer.

"Yes," said Gray firmly; he didn't want to leave Claire, ever. She looked away from his eyes and paused for a while, trying to find words that were hard to speak. Claire's eyes looked at him again as she opened her pink lips to speak.

"How does being my boyfriend sound like?" She asked shyly.

Time had stopped completely as Gray inhaled sharply. Gray should have thought about that, because it was so obvious, but Claire still managed to make him feel weak in his knees again because all his blood was up in his face of course. He had to think for a moment; boyfriend?

Did he want to be .. her boyfriend?

He did not want to leave Claire, he wanted to be with her. Stay with her and share life with her in the way that they had been doing. He felt strongly towards her, only recently knowing that he felt she was special to him. Gray realized that his feelings for Claire had been growing ever since he met her, yet he never really noticed, but did those feelings fit in the 'boyfriend' term?

The blonde goy guessed, that boyfriend seemed like a more appropriate title than just 'friend'. He looked at Claire's eyes. To become her boyfriend .. To be in an intimate relationship with Claire .. To be able to physically touch her in ways friends should never do .. To have her with him at his side, to have her never leave him. It was all so new to him. Yesterday he didn't even think of Claire as someone he liked enough to be in a relationship – but right now he felt as if he should jump at that chance. Having Claire to be his, his girlfriend .. for some reason, it made all those emotions resurface and it made Gray crazy. It all felt right, but so new and so confusing.

Did he want Claire to be his girlfriend? Was it a wise decision? Could he be in a relationship with this girl, and make her happy? Yesterday he didn't even think about this all, yet today he was standing here; in front of this blonde girl who was awaiting his answer. Claire was special to him, really special, and somehow, thinking that he could be her boyfriend – it made sense. It made everything fall into place about what he was feeling for her. Not that he could understand his feelings though.

Gray looked at Claire, feeling very confused, but at the same time comfortable and happy.

Did he feel that way around her? Did he feel like he could be her boyfriend?

Gray closed his eyes and inhaled slowly. He opened them again to look into Claire's eyes, those pretty ores ..

"That sounds just fine."