CHAPTER ELEVEN

IT'S NOT A DATE

Evergreen looked around the room in satisfaction. The restaurant had delivered the food right on time and still steaming hot. It was now displayed on a delicate porcelain with a dark green ivy and pink butterfly pattern circling the edges. The table had been set carefully with a delicate lace tablecloth. The lights were dim allowing shadows to flicker around the edges of the room as the candles responded to small unseen wisps of air. A perfect romantic scene.

WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?

Turning, she slapped at the lacrima that controlled the lights, bringing them up to full brightness.

Much better. This was not a date, definitely not. So, romance was out. Of course it was.

The candles should probably be gone too.

Unfortunately, before she could fix that romantic quality from this most certainly not a date dinner...a knock on the door announced it was too late.

With a sigh, she turned away from the table to answer the door, smoothing her hair and checking her makeup in the mirror to ensure nothing had smeared and, what was she doing?

This was not a date!

Smiling at her own foolishness, she opened the door to Gray, in a button down shirt that matched the stormy blue black of his eyes, holding a bouquet of pink roses, a bottle of wine and frowning.

Evergreen did not do anything so undignified as gaping. However, she must have done something similar since he held up the flowers then the wine and flatly stated, "Erza, Lucy," respectively.

Evergreen's sense of humor was took over and she chuckled as she opened the door wider, gesturing for him to come inside. "Now, that sounds like a wonderful story to open the night. How did they get involved in this?"

Gray followed her to her dining room then stood in the doorway, glancing around, the gifts half positioned to be put down.

Taking pity on him, Evergreen took them out of his hands, setting the wine in her fridge to cool and filling a vase with water for the roses. "So, sit down and tell me what happened."

She heard a chair being pulled out behind her as Gray answered. "I ran into Erza, Lucy, Wendy and Carla and they asked me to go have dinner with them. I told them I was headed here and that was a mistake."

Stung, Evergreen turned a glare on him but stopped short. He was leaning back comfortably in the chair, his shirt unbuttoned (What? It was buttoned when he arrived.) tracing the swirls of the lace tablecloth with one finger. A very attractive picture but, still, "Why was it a mistake to come here for dinner?"

He jerked up in his chair, eyes widening, "Hey, no! I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was telling them was a mistake."

Crossing her arms, Evergreen waited for further information. What about her could possibly be a mistake?

"As soon I told them we were having dinner they suddenly wanted to know what kind of flowers I was bringing and how long this had been going on and who had asked who. I tried to tell them this wasn't a date but they had already made up their minds...well, except Carla. She seemed to be on my side but I couldn't really hear her over the others. Anyway, Erza decided I couldn't show up without flowers and I really don't want to argue when she's in that mood." He shivered in apprehension, almost fear. "And once the flowers were decided Lucy insisted I had to bring a bottle of wine too. I tried to get out of that but Erza and Wendy agreed with her. Then, Wendy noticed I'd lost my shirt somewhere...Basically, the only thing that kept them from showing up here to ensure a romantic atmosphere was Carla's assurance that you could be trusted to handle things correctly in your own home. So, if they bug you tomorrow for details...I'm sorry but I did try to tell them this was just dinner not a date."

Evergreen clung to the counter as laughter overtook her, her eyes watering by the end of his explanation. "Oh, my, you certainly have had yourself an afternoon, haven't you?" Carefully wiping the moisture from her cheeks, she took her place across from Gray and gestured to the plates. "Go ahead, you must be hungry after such a challenging adventure." A few more giggles escaped her at the image of dark, cold, tough Gray being dragged around his teammates flashed across her mind.

His frown turned into a rueful grin as he picked up his chopsticks. "I think it would have been easier fighting Rufus again."

Evergreen nodded, "I'm sure Bicks could sympathize. I probably would have done the same thing to him if he told me he was having dinner with a beautiful woman." Not that he had. Evergreen sighed to herself. He was actually a very sweet and caring man but it seemed women just couldn't see past his brash behaviour.

"Is Bickslow ok?"

She looked up to find Gray leaning forward, concerned. Confused, she replied, Of course. Why?"

He leaned back to a more normal posture and shrugged. "You just suddenly frowned, looked sad. I heard your group was on a mission yesterday so…"

"No, he didn't get hurt though he might claim being tortured if you asked him."

"Why?"

"I made him and his babies come shopping with me so they could carry my bags."

Gray joined in her laughter. "I know his pain. Why do girls always do that to guys?"

Evergreen shrugged. "I don't know. It's more fun to shop with company and it's easier to buy more things when you're not having to juggle the bags yourself, I guess."

Gray shook his head. "No wonder shop owners smile so big when they see me walk in a store with Lucy or Wendy."

"Yes, you're a clue of a large sale." She paused and took a sip from her glass, cold clear water. She said too much too easily around him already. She hadn't wanted alcohol to make her tongue more unguarded. "I've been wanting to ask...and you don't have to answer."

He tilted his head staring at her attentively.

"The wings you made me, even Freed called them works of art, and the swords you beat Rufus with, so many and so different. Why don't you do that more often? I mean, most of the items I saw you make during the Grand Magic Games were simple and lacked any art. Why?"

Gray shrugged. "Art and beauty take time. When I'm in a battle, all I'm thinking about is taking down my opponent as fast as I can so I can make sure they don't hurt anyone else and so I can help out my friends. So, I don't care how it looks only that it does what I want, what I need it to do."

"But the swords with Rufus."

"With Rufus, power wasn't cutting it. He had more than I did and anything simple, he could just throw back at me. But, his power doesn't require any creativity. He says it does because he combines the spells but that's tactics, it's not creativity. He wasn't producing anything original and unique. Just copies. Once I figured out power wasn't going to do it, I bet that I had more creativity and imagination than he did."

She nodded. "Which you do. You are an artist. I understand not using that side of you in battle now but I don't understand why you don't use it outside of battle. What you create wouldn't last forever like Reedus' painting but why don't you...I don't know how to phrase it."

"Why don't I sit around in the guild and create sculptures?"

Evergreen nodded. "Even Erza says you don't create beauty very often."

Gray lowered his chopsticks and leaned in, studying her, eyes an intense midnight blue. "How did that come up between you and Erza?"