Christmas with My Former Crush
Chapter 10
Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, not Sapphire Jinx.
Lucy groaned, her arms slightly stinging. She blindly groped the bed for her cell. When her petite hands circled around the object, she finally opened her eyes.
"Eleven thirty-three a.m.?" she mumbled to herself half-heartedly. Great. She slept in again.
It wasn't her fault, though. After the fiasco with Lyon last night, the small group, along with Juvia and Gray's brother, went to go on a round trip around the whole of Magnolia, showing Sting and Loke the places each of them liked most. It was already past midnight when they got back to the Heartfillia residence. And, boy, was Lucy tired. It took all of Lucy's energy to try and convince their cousin to stay for the night since it was already late. Much to her and her sister's dismay, Loke refused and said they had to go. Though, he and Sting promised that they'll be back for Christmas eve.
She groggily went down their double-decker, absently wondering if Gray and Keirin were still asleep. She then saw the said young man was still, indeed, sleeping. Lucy heaved out a sigh. Without Sting or Loke, she wouldn't be able to distract herself from Gray. Sure, Keirin was there, but could she avoid him for the rest of the week? Of course, not. And besides, it would also raise suspicion. In the end, she decided to act as if her singing the other night didn't happen at all.
Lucy then checked on the master's bedroom to see if her sister was already awake. She supposed Keirin already is, since the blankets were already folded and the pillows were piled together neatly. Keirin's the only person not lazy enough in the household to clean her bed early in the morning. Layla and Lucy would usually do theirs after eating breakfast and taking a bath.
She went down the stairs, only to be greeted with the sound of a fast ping-pong ball hitting a table repeatedly outside. Lucy wrinkled her nose. She poked around the house to see where her mother and Ur might be. When she reached the kitchen, she saw a note from Layla. It told her that they went out to do some errands and will be back about an hour after lunch. It also said that Layla already made breakfast and lunch to save her from cooking. She just needed to heat the food whenever she liked to eat. Nodding to herself, she pocketed the note before getting a tall glass of cold water and going outside to see her sister.
The car, obviously being used by Layla and Ur, was gone and replaced by Keirin's ping-pong table, half a side up. Her sister had her hair up in pony and was wearing one of the pairs of uniforms she got whenever she played table-tennis to represent their school during tournaments, both sleeves rolled up. The younger of the two had her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she hit the ping-pong ball with all her might continuously. Keirin was all sweaty and panting but she didn't seem to notice. She also didn't even notice her older sister watching her play. But despite Keirin's pants and gasps for breath, her grip on her racket never faltered. Each of her drives getting stronger and faster than the previous one as the ball would hit on the side of the table which was situated vertically. Lucy could see that Keirin was obviously enjoying herself for she had a big grin on her face.
Keirin's eyes then flickered to Lucy's direction. Putting in her strength, she gave the ball one last hit, causing the side of the table that was held up to fall back into place and the ball to get flattened due to the force. Keirin carefully placed her racket on the table.
"Two hundred fifty-six!" she exclaimed as she bounced giddily towards her sister. "A new record!"
Lucy handed her the glass which Keirin happily chugged down, water spilling down her chin and onto her neck, drenching her shirt. "You were counting?" Lucy asked, grinning.
Keirin nodded vigorously, splashing the last of her water on her head. "I've never been so into playing before!" she said. "I did my serves earlier and the spins were so strong that I doubt my opponent would even be able to hit the ball! And I am not exaggerating!" She was grinning so much that her cheeks were starting to hurt, but Keirin barely noticed it. "And my drives were better than ever! Didn't you see?" She was practically jumping now from the excitement she was having. "And like I said earlier, I made two hundred fifty-six drives! It's my longest streak!"
Lucy eyes widened. "Y-You mean you were, like, hitting the ball two fifty six times w-without stopping?" She knew her sister was good. But she never knew her sister was this good.
"Yup!"
"But aren't you still tired from last night?" the older of the duo pointed out worriedly. "You shouldn't be pushing yourself this hard, Kei!"
"Oh, I'm fine, Onee-san!" Keirin retorted, shaking off her sister's disapproving looks. "Don't be such a kill joy about it! And besides, I've still got a lot of energy to play so what's the matter?"
Lucy frowned at her sister's carefree attitude but nodded anyway. Sighing in amusement, she asked, "Did you eat breakfast already? 'Coz if you haven't, I have no choice but to drag you inside."
Keirin laughed. "Shouldn't you be dragging yourself inside?" she said as she placed her large box labeled, Table Tennis Balls =)) on the table. She then put a basket on the other side of the ping-pong table. "I already ate. But what your bed hair is suggesting," she adjusted the net, "you're the one who's not eating yet." Keirin grabbed her racket and a ball. She frowned when she saw that the ball she got wasn't labeled, K. Heartfillia. Instead, it was labeled, G. Pearl. "Stupid Gemi," she mumbled to herself, tossing the ball to side before getting another that was hers. "That's the third one I got from today. Stupid, stupid Gemi, leaving his ping-pong balls here…"
Lucy laughed at her sister. "I'll just be inside, eating," she said as she headed for the door. "Call me whenever you need me."
Gray went hurriedly down the stairs. He couldn't believe he skipped both breakfast and breakfast. It was already one thirty p.m, for goodness sake! When he reached the first floor, the first thing he saw was Lucy sitting on the couch, watching television. She was surfing the channels using the remote on one hand while the other reached for a cookie in the cookie jar that was on her lap. Her head then turned to face him lazily.
"Good afternoon, sleepy beauty," she greeted monotonously. "D'you like a cookie?" She reached out her hand and held out the treat she was holding.
"No, thank you," Gray replied. "I, um, kind'a skipped two meals and–"
"–It's not very obvious, as matter of fact–"
"–I'm already kind'a hungry–"
"–That's why I'm offering you a cookie–"
"–Where's Mom and Layla-san, by the way?"
Lucy giggled at Gray's slightly irritated form. "They went out to do some errands," she then replied courteously. "They should be back any minute now."
"Oh," Gray mumbled. "A-Anyway, like what I was trying to tell you earlier… Could, I, um, y'know, eat?"
"Of course, you can!" Lucy said, standing up as she temporarily shut off the t.v. "It's not as if we'd starve you, wouldn't we?" She went past the brunette and went to the kitchen, still carrying the cookie jar. Gray trailed behind her, hoping that his grumbling stomach would just shut up. Lucy put down the cookie jar and got him his food. "I just heated it a few minutes ago so it's still warm," she told him as she placed a plate and utensils on the dining table along with the rice and viand. She then went to get the cookie jar. "I'm just there at the couch if you need me. Kei's upstairs taking her time in the bath. You could use the bathroom here, downstairs, if you need to."
"Thanks," Gray said sincerely, causing the blonde to blush lightly.
As Lucy went back to surfing the channels, Gray couldn't help but wonder what happened to the girl. Yesterday morning, before Sting and Loke arrived, all that Lucy was doing was ignoring him. Yet now, she's acting like nothing has happened! Was she thinking that he was going to forget her song and her crying the other night? He quickly finished his breakfast-slash-lunch and went to the blonde.
"Hey, Luce?" Said girl hummed back, having stuffed her mouth with cookies. "May I talk to you for a moment?"
Lucy swallowed. "There's more rice in the rice cooker, if you'd want to have another serving," she told him absently, shoving another cookie in her mouth. "Are you sure you don't like cookies? 'Coz I won't give you if you don't. I won't push you so that I'd have these all to myself. Kei has her own cookie jar."
"It's not that," Gray said. "But I'd like to have one, though." Lucy offered him the jar. He took a cookie. "I'd like to talk about what happened the other night, actually." He plopped down beside the girl who visibly stiffened.
"W-What do y-you want to talk about again?" Lucy's voice cracked as she gave a twitching smile.
Gray sighed, crossing his arms and leaning on the couch. "I'd like to know why you cried," he then said finally, "I'd like to know why you showed me your tears," he paused, "I'd like to know why I feel that the last song you sang was for me."
Author's Note: Uwaaaaaaa! My reviews're running low! Is it because you already hate me for not updating quickly? OMG. OMG. OMG. I'm so sorry! Like I said before, I had a really busy month. You can't blame me for it! I'm so, so, so sorry! Also, I'm sorry for making chappie ten short. But please don't worry, chappie eleven's gon'na be a lot longer. So, I'm sorry once again! You'll have to wait for quite a while. But just to spoil you, the next chapter's going to be written from Gray's PoV. Anyway, sorry again! Please don't hate me! (So far this's the shortest chapter I've ever written)
Acknowledgements/ Thank you to:
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