Pretty Ore

A/N: Hope you liked the previous chapter. The ending is almost near! Just one more chapter to go and the story is finished. Don't worry, it'll be a pretty long chapter, the last one that is. Thanks for everyone who reviewed.

Chapter 11 – Wake Up

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Gray woke up, not to the sound of loud snoring, or because his bed was too uncomfortable. No, he woke up because he didn't hear the loud snoring, and his bed was too comfortable. The blonde opened his eyes slowly, peering through his blonde eyelashes. He was met with a bunch of hay-like hair right in his face. It was everywhere, and it was somehow attached to Claire's scalp. It took a while before the wheels in his brains started turning. Then he realized, that it wasn't just a half-assed dream – Claire was sleeping right next to him.

His heart started thumping like a man-man as he got up in a flash and backed away from Claire; fleeing away into the corner of the wall. The blanket slid off of him, revealing just his shirt.

Why am I laying in Claire's bed!?

The blonde boy's chest rose and fell in a fast manner; the bloke was utterly confused. Right in front of him, was Claire, underneath a blanket, snuggling close to her pillow. Horror plagued Gray's face as his skin started turning pale; why was he laying in bed with her? Did they do something? Did he do something? What happened before he fell asleep? He couldn't remember it at all. Gray quickly flung himself out of Claire's tiny bed and fell to the ground. His head shot up to see if he woke Claire up; but she was still sound asleep. Thank Goddess that his pants and shirt were still on. The blonde picked himself up and looked around for his jacket and other stuff he brought along with him.

There, on the floor, was his jacket, neatly folded along with his cap, lantern and hammer.

Gray quickly picked up his cap and put it on his head while he pulled on his jacket. He grabbed his other stuff and disappeared from the house, leaving Claire to continue sleeping on her own. He didn't know where he was going, nor did he really care. All that was on his mind was Claire anyway; he didn't really have any room for anything else. Gray quickened his pace as he disappeared from her farm.

There was one word echoing in his mind;

Girlfriend.

Gray had accepted to be Claire's boyfriend. Claire was now his girlfriend, and he wasn't so sure if he wanted it to be like this or not. How could he have agreed to something like that on the spot? Was he so sure that he could see Claire in a romantic way? While on that matter – did Gray think he was good enough for Claire? Didn't she deserve someone who had more confidence than him, someone who wasn't so confused about his feelings?

Why did Claire asked him to be her boyfriend?

Why?

It was still morning, early morning. The sky was slowly turning a little pink, and the breeze was chilly. Gray's feet had taken him towards the beach; but the blonde was zoned out and didn't really pay attention to where he was going.

Girlfriend. Boyfriend. Girlfriend. Boyfriend.

Gray squeezed his eyes shut and let out a frustrating roar out of no where. Some birds flew away that were hiding in a tree at the sound of this threatening roar. He opened his blue eyes again and glared at the birds. There was too much on his mind, Gray couldn't keep track of his thoughts going a 100 miles a second. It was just. So. Frustrating.

Suddenly his feet were covered in sand, but the blonde did not take any notice of this. He kept walking towards the sea, while he brooded in his confusing thoughts. He threw his hammer and lantern in the sand, and marched up towards the sea, until his feet were in the water. Gray threw off his cap and kept on going further and his body sunk lower into the ocean. The ice cold water reached to his thighs and Gray had to bite down on his tongue to prevent himself from screeching out his girly yell. The blonde shook his head and continued; until his upper body had completely disappeared into the sea.

Gray closed his eyes and held in his breath before he dove down into the sea with all his clothes on. The water made his blood run cold; but he didn't care. It was cold, really cold, but that's exactly what Gray needed, he needed a wake up call.

In a few seconds, his head resurfaced above water, but he was now further from the shore than before. Gray laid there, floating in the water while he looked up towards the sky, where only a few clouds were settling. The sun was slowly appearing from the end of the world, making the sea have an orange glow. Gray couldn't care less. He sighed and just laid there, not moving, letting his body drift across the small waves.

The blonde himself couldn't believe he had agreed to be a Claire's boyfriend. The little girl had this knack for making him agree to things he hadn't quite thought through.

For one, Gray didn't even know his real feelings for Claire. All he knew was that he never wanted to leave her side, and he liked touching her. How that suddenly translated to boyfriend material, he didn't know. Claire was just .. weird like that sometimes. The young adult didn't consider himself boyfriend material – he was horrible at sorting his own feelings, and as a boyfriend he would utterly fail at knowing what someone else was feeling. How could he be someone's partner, yet not even know what to make of himself?

Gray was Gray, he was not good at knowing how to make someone happy. He wasn't good at sorting his feelings – he didn't even know what exactly he felt for Claire. He just wasn't good and communicating his thoughts, period. He was not boyfriend material, and if Claire thought he was – well, she was just dead wrong.

Sure, he felt strongly towards Claire, and he liked being around her, and 'boyfriend' did kind of describe his feelings towards her; but he could never be in a serious relationship like that. Gray just wasn't good at that stuff, Claire needed someone better than him. Someone who wouldn't make her cry all the time, someone who could actually tell her what he felt, someone who just wasn't such a bad person like he was.

Anyone but him.

And Kai.

And Cliff.

And every other guy on the world – they didn't deserve Claire.

Claire was too good for anyone else, even for him, and it made him angry. Gray knew he wasn't any good for Claire, and was vaguely wondering if she had been playing a joke on him. Yet everything felt so real and so right when they confessed together .. he wasn't sure what to think anymore with all these confusing thoughts going around in his mind. Had there ever been a day when he knew Claire that his mind wasn't filled with confusing thoughts?

"Dude, what the heck are you doing?" Asked a voice from the beach. Gray whirled his head around in the water and saw Kai standing on the beach, holding his keys to the beach house, and having a dumb-founded look on his face.

"Did you need a cold shower?" Snickered Kai as he came closer towards the water. Gray swam back to the beach and got out of water, immediately he got cold and regretted going into the sea so early this morning. He shook his head to clear his face from his wet hair.

Gray coughed as he stared at Kai. "Just needed a wake-up call," he said as a matter of fact. The blonde picked his cap up from the sand and planted it on his head, even though he was completely soaked with water.

Kai raised his eyebrow at gray, but shrugged it off. "So, how did it go yesterday?" He asked while he scratched the back of his head.

Gray shrugged. "Okay, I guess."

"Just 'okay'?"

"She asked me to be her boyfriend.."

Kai's brown eyes shot wide open and stared at Gray with this widest grin on his face he had ever seen.

"That's great news!" Exclaimed Kai happily and patted Gray on the back. Then he stopped and looked seriously at Gray. "You said yes, right? Don't tell me you said no."

"Of course I said yes," snapped Gray back. "I'm just not sure if it was the correct answer."

Kai stared at Gray for a couple of seconds, wondering if Gray had gone mad or something. "What do you mean?" Kai asked carefully, raising both his eyebrows and pouted his lips in a thoughtful manner.

"Do I look like boyfriend material to you?" Asked Gray indignantly.

"Good point," responded Kai. The tanned boy kept his further comments to himself, not wishing to provoke Gray even more than he already was. Gray wasn't exactly angry, or irritated, but he sure as hell wasn't happy or even in a good mood. A confusing Gray is a dangerous Gray, that's what Kai thought.

"Hey, look at it from the bright side; she was the one who asked you, right?" Said Kai and winked at him. Gray merely shrugged his shoulders, not really caring.

"Now why are you swimming in the sea, when you've got a new girlfriend at home that needs to be shagged?"

Kai stuck out his tongue and ran towards his beach house, escaping Gray's evil clutches. He disappeared in his beach house and locked the door. Gray sighed heavily and turned around, grabbing his things and walking towards the inn where he would take a shower and put on some new clothes. He realized he had work today, but he seriously didn't feel like going today – not after the events of yesterday.

Gray took a shower, and rid himself of his wet work clothes. He put on a black shirt and some loose brown pants. The blonde realized he almost never wore something else, but that doesn't really matter when there were more important things to think about. For example; he was now Claire's boyfriend, officially. He didn't feel like a boyfriend, and he didn't even know how a boyfriend would treat his girlfriend. Gray was certain though, that he felt Claire was special to him. In a way that 'boyfriend' made him happy, but on the other hand, it made him sad because he was sure that he wasn't good enough for Claire.

There was a knock on his door, and Gray turned around to raise his eyebrow. Who could it be that wanted in the inn's bedroom? Cliff had a key, Kai had a key – but Claire didn't. Could it be..? His heart started thumping faster again as he made his way over to the door. He grabbed the doorknob and turned it around, to open the door.

Of course it was Claire.

She looked sad and confused, with her big eyes staring at Gray as he stared back at her with big eyes.

"Why'd you leave?" Asked Claire concerned, not even bothering with a proper good morning or something. Gray blinked at her, and said nothing.

"Do you not want to be with me?" She said, this time more seriously, but her voice was muffled by her nerves.

Gray examined the girl standing in front of him.

She was beautiful. She could make him happy and sad at the same time. She was everything that Gray needed to stay happy forever. He wanted to stay with her forever, to have her by his side to share every experience in his life. So that they could laugh together, crack jokes, or cry together and hug each other. Claire meant a lot to him, and he wouldn't dare to ruin her, or to hurt her. If he would continue being her boyfriend, Gray was sure he would end up disappointing Claire, and in the end she'd get hurt, and they would drift apart.

Gray didn't want that. He didn't want to ruin what he already had.

"Was it wrong for me to ask you to be my boyfriend?" Claire whimpered out, trying to fight back her emotional outburst as always. "I'm sorry for asking then.." She whispered and hung her head down to stare at the floor.

"No, no, no!" Said Gray quickly, noticing he had been silent this whole time while Claire tried to get an answer out of him. See, this is exactly what he means with not good enough for Claire. He could make her cry without even lifting up a finger. It just made more sense if he wasn't her boyfriend, then he couldn't hurt her as much.

"I wonder if you even like me at all.." Murmured Claire more to herself than to Gray, but the blonde heard it and straightened up to over tower her small frame. Gray placed his hands on her tiny shoulders and shook her a little. Those words were all lies. Lies!

"I like you Claire, don't ever think I don't," he said seriously and stared in her eyes, wanting to make sure she got it.

"But you don't want to be with me?" She said softly.

Gray closed his eyes and removed his hands from her shoulders. He sighed deeply. "I just don't want to hurt you. I'm not good enough for you."

Claire's eyes lost all of her sadness and was replaced with anger in a second. "And all this time I was thinking that you bailed on me because I did something wrong! I thought you ran away because I wasn't good enough for you. That I was too confusing for you!" She yelled out angrily. Talk about your temper being changed on a whim.

Gray swallowed as he backed away just a little bit. "Sorry," muttered Claire as she calmed herself down.

"Why do you want to be with me?" Asked Gray softly, leaning against his doorpost.

"Because I want to," replied Claire simply. "Why do you want to be with me?"

"Because I want to," fired Gray back. "I just don't think it's such a good idea, because I always manage to get you hurt."

"What if I don't care?" Asked Claire, her eyes watering just by a little, stepping closer to Gray.

Gray raised his left eyebrow at her; she doesn't care if he could hurt her so easily? Physically, he would never even dare to try and hurt her, but emotionally .. everything he did made a big impact on Claire. Awkwardly he stared at Claire, waiting for her to say something else.

"Then that's stupid," he managed to say. "If you don't care that I always manage to hurt you – then you're stupid."

"I don't appreciate being called stupid because of my choices, Gray," she growled at him.

"Well it's true. I can hurt you so easily. I don't want to do that to you. If I stay with you, I'm sure that's probably all that will happen," said Gray seriously.

For the first time, Claire had smacked Gray in the face with the palm of her hand. Gray looked back at her shockingly.

"Don't you dare and think that you can hurt me! It's my choice that I want to be with you, through better and through worse – I don't care what you can do to me. I just want to be with you," Claire spoke fast and harsh.

There was another smack.

This time it came from Gray; he had hit Claire in the face too with the palm of his hand.

"You're not supposed to hit me back!" She wailed and held her cheek with her hand, as if it was burning. Gray just glared at her.

"I can hurt you," said Gray.

"I can hurt you back," snapped Claire and glared at him.

"Not in the way that I can," he replied.

"Do you want to test that out," she said darkly, still holding her cheek with her hand.

For the situation he was in, Gray found himself to be perfectly calm this time. As if he finally knew what he was doing, and why he was doing it. As if he had a purpose that calmed him down enough to convey his message to Claire. He could hurt her, and that's why they shouldn't be together. Period.

"Alright – fine, do whatever you want. If you don't want to be with me, then I will bid you farewell forever, Gray," she said and turned around, her blonde hair swishing along with her body.

Gray's eyes widened and grabbed her wrist, holding her in place. Claire refused to turn her head to look back at him. "What?" She spat out, obviously mad and hurt. Gray had done it again, he hurt Claire again as easily as that.

"Don't go," he said simply, holding her wrist more strongly.

"I'm going because you don't want to hurt me."

She pulled her wrist out of his hand and turned around to look at him. "If you want me to stay, then say so, if you want me to go, then say you want me to go."

Gray stared at her for a long, long time, figuring out what it was that he wanted exactly. He didn't want to leave Claire, but on the other hand, he didn't want to stay with her in fear of hurting her again. There really wasn't a middle choice anymore if Claire decided to disappear from his life forever. He didn't want to lose her, yet he didn't want to hurt her either.

"I want you to stay," Gray said bluntly. "But I don't want to hurt you," he continued.

"If you leave, you'll hurt me more than you could ever hurt me while being with me."

"So stay with me, please," said Claire in a tiny voice, pleading Gray to stay with her. The blonde boy sighed.

"Are you sure you want me as your boyfriend?" He asked seriously. Claire smiled and happily nodded her head. "I'm very sure."

"Then I'm very sure to have you as my girlfriend, I guess."

"You only 'guess'?" Said Claire, feigning hurt in her voice. Gray smiled, for the first time that day. He swiftly grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer to him, shoving Claire in his chest. He leaned down so his lips were right next to her ears. Gray could feel his own heartbeat going faster again, but at the moment he didn't care.

"You're mine," he whispered in her ear, and he swore that he felt Claire tremble slightly. Gray let the blonde girl go as he looked at Claire's face, whom was now blushing furiously. A smile played on Gray's lips, thinking highly of himself because he successfully made Claire blush. She looked pretty cute when she was at a loss of words. His blue eyes traveled down to stop and stare at Claire's pink, tiny lips.

He wondered briefly; had he ever thought about kissing Claire?

The thought alone filled his head with blood, it made him excited and happy, yet terribly shy and nervous. Kissing Claire .. to have his lips capture hers in an intimate lip-lock .. Wasn't that what couples did? Gray wasn't sure, he wasn't even sure if he even wanted to kiss Claire – with all his non-experience in kissing and stuff, he was sure to make a fool of himself if he ever tried.

"Staring at my lips?" Said Claire with a grin. Gray blushed tremendously. "No," he lied quickly, not wanting to discuss this.

Claire stepped closer, and placed her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to bent down to her level. "Ever been kissed, Gray?" She asked in a seductive voice that sent chills across Gray's body. He stared at her face, which was really close to his.

"No," he said very softly. He never had a girlfriend in his life, let alone kissing someone else on the lips.

Claire smiled at him as she leaned her face closer to his, and frankly it scared the hell out of Gray. She blushed, probably as much as he did, as he saw her coming closer and closer, until their noses were touching each other.

"Do you want to kiss me?" She said in a playful voice, and Gray swore that Claire had dictatorship over his blood cells, seeing as it was going all to his head.

"M-maybe," he said, stumbling over this one word.

His body froze as he saw Claire had closed her eyes. She stood on her toes to awkwardly reach his face better and launched herself at him. In a second, her lips had touched his briefly. They were gone as fast as they came. Gray stood there, frozen in his spot, and he couldn't do anything but stare at Claire while blushing his head off, she was blushing rather hard herself. She stared back at him, as if she was waiting for his approval. As if she was waiting for him to say that he wanted more.

He did want more.

He wanted to have that little moment back again, no matter how fearsome and fast it had felt like. Gray cupped the back of Claire's head and pulled her face closer to his, putting his big lips on her tiny ones.

It felt like ..

Like …

Lips on lips.

Forget what movies were always saying that once you kiss someone, you feel this spark. If the burning of his lips meant that he was feeling a 'spark', then sparkly he felt. Her lips were kind of slim, but they were warm nonetheless. Both of them didn't move, they were just pressing their lips against each other. While it was awkward to say the least, it was also exciting. Not to mention the fact that his blood was pumping somewhere else besides his face. Claire pulled back and smiled at him shyly. Gray couldn't help but grin back at her.

How awkward this must be, both of them didn't know what the hell they were doing – but they were doing it, and they were enjoying it. Claire leaned back again, pressing her lips on him more harshly. He noticed she had licked her lips before she started kissing him again, and he rather liked it. Gray sucked her bottom lip, finding it rather nice. He felt Claire's hands grip his neck closer and tighter.

Suddenly, Claire let go, and leaned back. All the warmth that he got from that kiss was gone, and he was desperate to get it back again. He tried to pull her back, but she merely grinned and turned around and walked into his bedroom with a sly smile on her face. She blew him a kiss and walked over to his bed.

Gray followed.