The chalet is bigger than I expected. It has two floors and there're a family and a young couple also quartered, at the first floor.
The owner is an old man that hardly ever shows up. I've been told that he has a bad habit of haunting a grog shop down the street (which is far, since the chalet is pretty deep into the woods). He came to greet me and give me instructions and then left without a word. The other people, on the other hand, are extremely friendly. The family has the parents and their teenage twins, an inseparable pair of a girl and a boy. The look on their faces tells me that none of them ever wanted to be on this holiday with their parents. Whenever I think about that, I remember how I would've given anything for a couple of hours inside a family of my own. The two are obsessed with hard rock and since my room is just above theirs, I can feel my bed vibrate at every word in the lyrics. Their parents are doing their best to have as much time together as possible before the kids go to college. Even though the gap between our ages is only two or three years, I feel much older due to the experience I've had in my life. These two are blind at how precious their time is right now. Well, since I'm here anyway, maybe I'm going to get to meet them better. But I have to be careful. I'm a pretty popular actress after all.
The other two quartered are newlyweds and they're on their honeymoon in 'one of the most beautiful forests in the country'. I have to admit I didn't have time to admire the surroundings. The two are very friendly, even friendlier than the other family, but I also hardly see them around. They're young and in love and they don't have time to spend with strangers. Most of the day is spent hiking and looking for adventures suitable to their taste. They invited me to join them once, but I could read their hope for me not to come. Well, I was grateful for the thought, anyway.
Right now, it's the third day since arriving. I've been trying to stay away from them as much as possible. I want nobody finding out anything. I want nobody involved. I'm sure they can also notice this at me and I might appear as the 'loner' among the group or quarters that surely have to become friends. It's the common thing to do. Well, it's not like I have time, anyway. As much as I'd want to laze around like the twins or as much as I'd like to laugh like the young couple, I need to be constantly sharp and prepared, just like he told me.
Oh, him? Of course I'm worried about him. But whenever I think about him, I punish myself and do fifty abs. And then, whenever his name appears in my head, I punish myself again and do thirty push-ups. Finally, whenever I look at the clock or at the front road wishing and hoping for his dear head to pop out, I take my shoes, go out and do twenty laps of the chalet. I'm not kidding. Last night I couldn't control myself and looked out the window. I had to run in the middle of the night. And as each day passes, I double the abs, push-ups and laps.
My day is completely occupied. This is how much he bothers me.
I think my training is going way too easy. After all, I only have one week. But my wound is not fully healed yet. In the shower I always take a look at the skin that just closed over the little hole that, unbelievably, threatened my life. I try not to push myself too much. And sometimes I find myself caressing it gently and begging it to heal faster. So I began working on my legs with killing exercises that I once used for shaping myself up. They're a lot more useful that I imagined.
And then there come the reflexes. At first I didn't know what to do to improve myself in that domain, but then I got a nice idea that I wasn't sure would work. I started taking apples from the basket in the kitchen and throwing them at the guy twin. His name is Ethan.
"Think fast!" I suddenly scream and he pulls out his headphones scared. He's too slow and the apple falls with noise in his head.
"What the f***?!" he asks me still surprised and angry. I start laughing and bite on my own apple slowly leaving the room. "Stop doing this already, it's not funny! What in the world is your problem?"
"Come on, I'm just playing around with you." I say with my mouth full. "Don't take it so seriously."
After I finish my apple, I go running for one hour in the forest as a first time. It's because I accidentally looked at the road while thinking about him. I really wish I had some headphones like Ethan, so I don't have to listen to my crazy panting every minute, wishing the hour would pass faster. I return soaked and limping, but with a victorious feeling in my chest. I enter the chalet and an apple is suddenly coming flying towards me.
"Think fast!" Ethan yells, but I'm too surprised of my own improvement in my plan and my reflexes prove how unprepared I am. The apple hits my shoulder and it's the first time I actually realize how much this hurts.
"Oww…" I rub it fast. Ethan snickers and puts his headphones back on while saying:
"Oh, really, it hurts?"
I eye him while smiling. Let's just hope he'll continue to throw apples at me for the time being.
Ellen, the twin sister, comes at me with her eyes almost closed and her hair in all directions.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty. It's almost noon, you know?" I smile at her.
"Morning. Ethan, where are mom and dad?"
Ethan's moving his head back and forth while reading a magazine and the bass can be heard from his headphones all over to me. Ellen clicks her tongue, grabs a pillow from an armchair close to her and throws it at her brother.
"Lucy!" he yells pulling out the source of his music. But then he sees his sister glaring at him and understands it's not me that threw the pillow.
"What, you're giving me names now?" Ellen calls out I asked you where mom and dad are."
"Why should I know?" he screams back pissed off. "I don't have to babysit them!"
"You idiot, I just woke up, so you're the one that's supposed to know!"
"When I woke up they weren't here! So give me a break!" he starts yelling even louder, standing up.
"Umm…" I lift a finger shyly to get their attention.
"WHAT?" they yell in unison at me.
"Your parents left early this morning and told me to pass on the message."
They calm down at once and act as if nothing actually happened.
"Oh. Is that so."
"Where did they go?"
"Uh, they said something about a special morning for just the two of them."
Actually they even asked me to take a look at them from time to time to make sure they don't kill each other.
"How gross." Ethan says and puts his headphones back on. I stop him out of the blue.
"Ethan, why don't you go take a walk outside? It's such a beautiful day, after all!"
I don't know why, but it simply hurts me to see him laze in that coach all day long. Probably because his music is always way too loud for my taste.
"What's with you suddenly?" he pouts. "I don't want to. And you can't tell me what to do."
"Please, Lucy. Make him leave." Ellen suddenly insists. "I'm sick of always seeing him around." she then grins at him. "And while you're out, why don't you let me borrow your headphones?"
"You too Ellen." I say. I really feel like I need a quiet moment for my own and her phone conversations are everywhere. Sometimes instead of thinking about serious stuff like surviving, I find myself wondering why Bill broke up with Susan.
"Really, now." He places her hands on her hips. "What is with you?"
"Why don't you guys come with me and I'll show you a really nice view of the forest?"
"Not interested."
"Bo~ring."
"Then let's play something together! It's just the three of us this morning!"
"The 'annoying two' left?" Ellen asks me.
"Stop calling them that. And yes, they left."
"Cool! Maximum volume!" she throws her arms in the air.
"No, no, no! Minimum volume!" I say frowning. "Listen guys, I'm going through a really bad time of my life and right now, and all I'm asking for is a little peace and silence. Is that too much to ask?"
"Are you having love issues?" Ellen asks me with glittering eyes, making me think of Natsu. Dang, now I'll have to do one hundred and fifty abs.
"No, no that's not it." I massage my forehead. "I just need one hour. One hour in which I can relax and think about how much my life sucks right now."
They smile.
"Well I like your way of thinking. I guess we have a lot more in common than we thought." Ethan speaks.
I shoot him a sharp look and an ironic smile.
"Boy, you have no idea what a difficult life looks like." I say as I start walking the stairs up to my room, the only one occupied on the second floor.
They don't say anything and just quietly look at me leave. After I close the door to my room, I let my body fall on the soft bed exactly in a spot where the sun sends warm rays of light. I fall asleep before I can even change my sweaty t-shirt, thinking about how the twins didn't turn on their music, after all.
I wake up when somebody knocks at my door. I look at the clock and realize I've only been sleeping for fifteen minutes. I stand up and fix my hair.
Ellen asks me to come downstairs for a moment.
"So, uh" she starts speaking a little embarrassed looking at her brother "Ethan and I have been seeing you come and go and do a lot of things, but you're always alone, so we thought that maybe, if you want, we could, like, do something together after all."
She pauses and I stare at them surprised.
"So you asked us if we wanted to do something outside together. W-What do you have in mind?"
Wow, don't tell me these two have been thinking about our tiny conversation these fifteen minutes and they regret what they said.
I yawn looking careless, even though I have to admit I'm a little touched.
"Well I don't know. You wanna play CTF?"
I haven't played capture the flag in ages. This is going to be fun.
"Just the three of us?" Ethan frowns.
"You two against me, how about that?" I smile still a little sleepily.
"We need more people." Ellen says.
The front door opens and the young couple appears to be back from a hike.
"Hey guys, what's up?" the wife asks us cheerfully.
"PERFECT TIMING!" all three of us scream in unison happily.
Half an hour later I'm trying to be as quiet as possible when I slowly enter the enemy territory aiming their 'flag' (which is Ethan's black hat). I step on the dry leaves slowly, highly-strung, trying my hardest not be found out by the girls, Ellen and the wife. The wife, named Dana, already dislikes me enough to put her entire soul into this game against me. She's been amazingly friendly and nice until the moment we decided the teams and since I team up with her husband…. Yeah. And Ellen is slowly starting to like this game. The nice colors of autumn surround us everywhere and it's so much fun to sneak around or to pay a load of attention to what might pop out of nowhere! It's freeing me of a lot of stress and it's also a great way to practice my real fighting skills. I warned everybody beforehand that I'm going to be really serious with everything. But they didn't take me as seriously. Because it's so much fun.
Now I look at how Ellen and Dana are talking strategies while I don't think they ever exchanged a word before. Ethan is alone in the forest searching for our flag. Tailor, the husband, protects our flag and we're talking through his and Dana's walkie-talkies (they said they'll take turns to use them). In the end, no matter how you look at it, this game is bringing us together.
I make a louder noise stepping on some branches and I freeze. Ellen and Dana also freeze and lift their heads looking around. I stop breathing. Right now they can't see me, but if they start searching it's bad. I can only see the flag and what's around it through the bushes, so when Dana leaves the base, I start to worry that she'll find and tag me.
If I were in a real situation right now, what would I do? The first step to everything is to analyze my condition. There's a large distance between us, but if I make any sudden move, they could surely see me. All I have on me is the walkie-talkie, but I shut it down because if Tailor calls me, my cover would be blown. The trees here are too tall for me to climb. There aren't too many bushes for me to hide behind. Purpose? Steal the flag without being seen. It's hard when you have to do it alone.
I take a rock and weight it in my hand. I want to play the old trick with the rock on them. I move as fast as I can so they can't see me and throw it. It flies a good one hundred feet and the noise of it landing and rolling down the irregular ground draws the girls' attention.
"There!" Ellen tells Dana pointing at the place they heard the sound.
"No, she's tricking us. Nice try, Lucy! But you can't fool a master of nature with a simple rock trick!" Dana screams. How does she know I'm the one who left to capture the flag?
"But she's already here?!" Ellen asks surprised. "We just started the game, like, ten minutes ago!"
"I guess she's just sharper than we thought." Dana tells Ellen and I smile victoriously.
It's true that they chose the perfect ground for their base, but that's why I found it so easily. When you can read through people, you can also read through their actions.
But on the other hand, they found me out. I sigh softly. I wanted to take the flag without letting them know it's me. Ellen starts walking in a random direction, looking behind all the trees for me. The deeper she goes, the bigger the possibility that she'll spot me. Dana remains closer to the flag, but her eyes roll along the forest, searching for a sign of me. I'm in a really uncomfortable position, squeezing my head for an idea of how to trick them. All I have is the walkie-talkie. If I turn it on, I'm blown. So I can't use it.
… Or can I?
I look at the closest tree. Can I really not climb it? I mean, how different is it from the pillars back at BLS? I became a pro in climbing those! Right now the girls are looking for me in the opposite direction, so this might be the perfect moment to try and climb up. I wrap my arms around it looking for resistance, and then I slowly start to find many beginnings of branches that serve as benches for my feet. I start climbing carefully. Eventually I reach the first big branch and grasp it. I'm high enough not to be seen even if they are under me. Just to be secure, I climb another branch. When I can finally rest, I'm panting and sweating. It seems that the training at the base was, indeed, useful.
Now it's the walkie-talkie's turn. I turn it on and press the button. A sharp beep is head and the girls' heads are shot in my direction.
"This is Lucy. I'm about to capture the flag. I repeat, I'm about to capture the flag. Over." I whisper to Tailor.
And then, I throw the walkie-talkie behind a tree next to mine.
"Lucy, did you do it? Where are you? Over!" Tailor's voice sounds in the entire area.
"There!" Ellen screams happily pointing in this direction. "Behind that tree!"
"I'm being attacked by Ethan! I repeat, Ethan has reached our base! Over!"
As the two girls are running, Dana starts laughing.
"You should shut down your walkie-talkie if you don't want to be discovered, Lucy!"
But when they look behind the tree and see the walkie-talkie alone, they stare around confusedly.
"What…?" Ellen begins with a frown because I'm nowhere and the device couldn't have gotten here on its own.
But I didn't lose any second. Ever since they reached that other tree, I let myself fall on the lower branch and now I'm balancing silently, preparing to jump. When they spot me it's too late. I'm already running towards their flag and no matter how much of a sport-lover Dana is, I'm faster than her. I grab Ethan's hat and run as fast as I can towards my own base. I only need to cross the line making our territory and this game is my victory.
Behind me, Dana is yelling through the walkie-talkie.
"Ethan, are you there?! Lucy got the flag! Come help us!"
Even though the walkie-talkie is at Tailor, since he said Ethan found our base, it's obvious they're together and the twin can hear the message.
I didn't think Ethan would actually get here so fast, but after a while, just when I thought I can make it, he appears out of nowhere and jumps at me.
This is the first time my reflexes actually prove they exist and I jump on the side, dodging him. He grabs my t-shirt in the last moment and I trip and fall. I hit the leaves and branches on my way and even if it hurts, I hurry to rise up. I can't let him tag me! We decided that if we're being tagged, we return to our territory abandoning the flag. I'm highly strung. I see his hand hurry to touch my foot, but I draw it back and I roll my entire body a few feet away. I jump up on my own feet and while I do so, I see the girls also caught up with me. I start running again. I did it. He didn't tag me!
A few more meters and then… I'm on my own territory!
"WOO-HOO!" I yell throwing my arms in the air. Tailor appears grinning and he goes straight to Dana. They hug each other even though she's pissed off that they lost.
"How did you do that?!" Ellen asks me panting once she arrives.
"Do what?" I ask also catching my breath.
"Climb the tree, jump from that height, run so fast! And then you were this close to Ethan and he still couldn't tag you!" she exclaims still shocked. I burst out laughing.
"I have to admit you did a pretty smart thing there. I didn't know you took this game this seriously." Dana says. Ethan doesn't say anything. I can tell he's embarrassed he couldn't catch me.
"Good job, partner!"
"You too!" I high-five with Tailor.
"Now we're changing the teams!" Dana announces impatiently.
"Can we take a little break?" Ellen asks still panting.
"Yeah." Ethan agrees.
"Ooohh, the teenagers aren't used to doing outdoor activities?" Tailor teases them with a grin. Ellen rolls her eyes and Ethan objects coming up with all kinds of excuses.
After a short break, we make the teams again. This time, even though all of us wanted to have girls versus boys, Dana's insistence wins and the couple's teaming up against the twins and I.
We sit down and begin talking our strategy.
"Alright, guys. Let's show those two that the young ones can be smarter and stronger!"
"Aren't you older than them?" Ellen asks me.
I immediately feel offended. Have I aged or something?!
"No! They're 25 or something!"
"And how old are you?"
"I-I'm almost 19! D-Do I look that old?!" I ask worriedly touching my face.
"19?!" Ethan asks shocked.
"It's not that you look old, but more like mature." Ellen says calming me down.
"Then there's only a gap of three years between our ages!"Ethan says still surprised.
"Hurray, Ethan finally learned math." Ellen teases.
After I manage to push the conversation on the right track again, we decide where the base should be and I stay behind to protect the flag. I sit down and close my eyes, listening. I jump at mostly every sound, but soon I get used to it and manage to concentrate just on human noise. Only after half an hour somebody gets close to the base. I can hear them very well. They're trying to be silent, but I can hear every step, every huff, every strain they make in order to take the flag that's behind me. I open my eyes and look around slowly, pretending not to notice anything.
The wind starts blowing and the churn of the trees and leaves echoes everywhere around me. That person's noise is cut for a moment. When the wind stops, I can no longer hear them. My heart starts beating faster and I look around with even more attention. Nothing. They must've stopped moving.
But out of the blue, I hear a weak whimper among the trees. I jump up on my feet alarmed. What's going on? Why did Tailor or Dana whimper just now? All kinds of scenes in which the goat's people appear and kill my new friends one by one are beginning to affect my judgment.
I look around worriedly.
Just as I intend to start searching for the person that's hiding, a hand grabs me covering my mouth.
It happens so fast that the second I realize I'm being attacked, I'm already completely immobilized at a man's chest. I force my muscles to fight the amazing pressure, but my arms are trapped. The man covers my eyes next instead of my mouth and I take a deep breath, filling my lungs with air and regaining a little bit of strength. I try to push myself to fall to the ground, but the man seems to read right through me and keeps his balance so well that I find myself kicking the air. I shake my head violently. I want to bite his hand, but he's holding my forehead too tightly. If only I could see where to kick!
I try to calm down. I've been exercising these three days too much to just let myself lose like this. I let out an enormous yell of frustration and push my elbow in his ribs. I'm much too strong than this person thinks! I lift my knees, bend my back and kick backwards so hard that my running shoes enter right in his strong flesh and he lets out a whimper. He's not giving up, so I repeat the move. I throw my body in the sides and eventually, his arm holding my waist along with my arms loosens up. I force a fall on my hunkers to escape his grip, but I fail and immediately regret I made that move. It squeezed my guts and now he's griping twice as hard. I'm slowly turning red and I feel my head balloon while losing my sight. No, I can't lose! I become so light in his arms that he loosens up again. This time, I do something amazingly painful, but surely worth it. I jab my feet in the hard mud and spin so hard that not even his powerful grip can keep me in place. I knock my head into his still not able to see clearly. My arms are free. I punch him so hard in the face that he loses his balance a short moment. I get advantage of that moment and intend to send my knee in his stomach as I pull him towards me. Everything's happening so fast that I didn't get one good glimpse at him. He reads right through me again and with the side on his palm highly strung, he hits my leg. The problem is, he didn't just hit my leg, he hit a nerve. I instantly lose 'contact' with the entire limb. It falls back down. But it seems that he was a second too late as I kept pulling him towards me. He falls over me, which shocks me and makes me wonder if he did it on purpose.
We fall to the ground. I finally open my eyes for real.
On top of me, there's Natsu grinning like a freak with the cheek I hit a little red.
"Yo!"
I stare at him shocked. My jaw is literally dropped. His face is a few centimeters away from mine, his salmon hair tickling my sweaty forehead. I'm panting while we looks like he just returned from a break.
"You've gotten stronger!"
I'm speechless.
For so many hours, I've been so worried about him not coming. For so many hours, I've been wondering how he's doing. Just now, I was panicking because I thought for sure I'm going to be killed.
And he's grinning at me like an idiot!
I suddenly frown and slap him.
"What in the world was that for?" he asks taken aback.
"Get off of me!" I scream shakily. If I start crying, I don't want it to happen a few centimeters away from his face.
He rolls on his back and I rise up shaking from head to toe. I trip and fall back on the grass. I don't move from there.
"I was going to praise you because you did a very good job, but now something tells me it's not the right moment." he says carelessly, almost cheerfully.
"What do you think?" I pause swallowing my tears. "You know, a simple hello would've been more than perfect of a greeting."
"But I wanted to surprise you!" he laughs.
I'm so pissed off at him, but I can't bring myself to say anything harsh.
"Come on, Lucy. Get up." He comes at me to help me get up, but I push him away.
"I'm fine, thank you." I stand and feel my while body throbbing. My heart is still wild.
He catches my chin and makes me look in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" I look at his beautiful eyes and intend to yell at him because he hurt me as if I was a sack of potatoes, but the moment I see them, my breath is cut and all that comes to my head are those lonely moments in which I was looking at the road, waiting for him to look back at me like this.
"I was so worried about you." my chin starts shaking and my eyes fill with tears.
"I'm sorry I made you worry." He says gently. "You seriously don't want to know what I've gone through."
"Are you alright?"
"You didn't hit me that badly."
I slap his chest playfully and he chuckles at me, making me smile softly.
"You idiot, that's not what I meant."
"Well, I did get hurt, but I'll be alright."
"Where?" I ask worriedly.
"In the same place where you hit me with your elbow." He closes his eyes remembering the pain. "That's why you were able to do that much against me."
Are you kidding me?! I fought with all my might and if it hadn't been for luck, I would've been beaten up by now! And all that I manage to do was thanks to an already existent wound?!
"Well I'm not going to apologize because you hurt me!"
He rubs the back of his head puzzled.
"Yeah, I guess it's not the best way to greet a lady after all…"
"Again, what do you think?"
I push my finger against his chest accusingly.
"Will a hug do?" he suddenly smiles.
"Eh?" I look at him confused.
He doesn't wait for my reply and pulls me to his chest in a warm hug.
He moans with pain or delight, I can't tell.
"I guess I really needed a hug." He whispers with a sad voice. Just what has happened while he was gone? I open my mouth to ask him, but I find out that I can't speak. My heart is beating super fast and even if at the beginning I'm feeling uncomfortable and can't wait for the hug to end, I slowly melt away in his warmth.
"Me too." I admit in a whisper.
"What's happened while I was gone?"
"Nothing much. We've got some really nice neighbors. Actually we were playing capture the flag just now."
"Really?" he suddenly pulls away from the hug and looks me in the eyes while holding my shoulders. "So that creep in the forest was there to capture your flag?"
I widen my eyes. So that's where the whimper came from!
"YOU KNOCKED TAILOR OUT?!"
A moment later I'm running towards the fainted body of the husband ignoring Natsu's apologies in the background.
"Come on, Lucy! I didn't know, alright? I'm sorry!"
I suddenly turn around and point an accusing finger at him.
"Not. A single. Word."
Why does the President has to have such a stupid side to him?
I give Tailor small slaps in order to wake him up.
"Tailor. Tailor. Wake up."
He opens his eyes and then frowns at the powerful light. He moans and slowly takes his hand to his forehead.
"This dude was weak." Natsu says randomly.
"I said I don't want to hear any word from you." I hiss and glare at him.
"What the hell happened?" Tailor mutters.
"An idiot thought you were a pervert. But it's alright, he's going to get swelled head." I smile at him and Natsu freezes.
"Tailor! Oh my gosh, what happened?!" Dana's voice sounds desperate drawing our attention. Beside her are the twins holding the couple's flag. I guess we won thanks to Natsu knocking Tailor out.
They run towards us while Tailor stands still a little dizzily.
"What happened?!" Dana yells worriedly helping her husband.
I look puzzled at her and then angrily at Natsu.
"Take responsibility." I hiss at him.
He looks at Dana and smiles kindly.
"Hello, how do you do. My name is Natsu Dragneel. I'm Lucy's boyfriend. We were supposed to come here together, but I was late due to work. I thought of surprising her, when I say your friend… well, sneaking around. I immediately drew the wrong conclusion and injured him. I'm terribly sorry!" he bows respectfully to emphasize his point.
I look wide-eyed at Natsu. What in the world is he thinking?!
Dana is flushed.
"T-The Natsu Dragneel?"
Natsu gives off his super-star smile. And this is when I suddenly remember that he's a singer in the outside world.
"I'm terribly sorry for the misunderstanding regarding your friend!"
"H-He's my husband!" Dana tries to be rough, but her red cheeks show how nervous she is for being around a star. Is she a fan?
"Tailor, was it?" Natsu asks with fake concern. "Are you alright?"
The husband isn't as impressed as his wife. Instead, he feels like the fool of the group for being knocked out and then his wife showing admiration for the enemy.
So he straightens his back and smiles bravely.
"I'm fine, thank you. It's alright, since it was just a misunderstanding. I also apologize for sneaking around your girlfriend."
I blush so much that I'm afraid they can read through me. I look at the twins and notice they've been exchanging silent looks between me and Natsu. Ellen's also blushing. Don't tell me she has a star-crush on Natsu?
"W-why don't we get inside? Let's call it a draw!" I say with a fake smile.
"But we won." Ethan says proudly, looking from time to time to Natsu.
"Yes, but it wasn't fair, Ethan." I smile at him. He seems to get pissed off because it came out as if I was scolding a child.
"Well, it's been amazingly fun." Ellen says trying to fix the mood.
"Yeah! I'm glad you guys enjoyed yourselves!" I laugh amazingly fake.
Ethan is the first one to leave, with heavy and fast steps. We all follow, but Natsu and I remain behind.
"I'm your girlfriend?! What're you thinking?!" I say between my teeth trying to control my heart.
"Think just how weird it would be for a super-star to go in a short vacation with a girl alone. It's better if we announced if from the beginning."
"Then you should've just remained Henry Guild like in the hospital!"
He looks at me as if I'm a kid that can't understand. He slowly shakes his head.
"This face, Lucy, can be very easily recognized. What excuse could I come up with when they see me?"
His tone pisses me off.
"Well nobody recognized me!"
He keeps a sinful silence, but I know exactly what he's thinking. It makes me slap his arm.
"You piss me off so much sometimes!"
"But you can't stay mad at me for long, can you?" he stops and smiles at me.
He brings my own words as a weapon! He's despicable!
"You know what, I thought you had changed, but you're just the mean old President!"
I start walking faster, leaving him behind.
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
It's true that he pisses me off, but I still love him. I can't do anything about that. I'm secretly happy that I'm 'in a relationship' with Natsu Dragneel in this part of the mission. I secretly want everybody to know this, even if it's only a façade. Right now, when he can't see me, when he thinks I'm burning with fury, I'm actually giggling cheerfully.
We get inside the chalet and the smell of lunch reaches our selfish noses and we realize all at once how much we've been starving. We take off our shoes and walk to the lobby.
The twins' parents seem to be back. They come and greet us truly delighted.
"Now look at this! The entire gang's together! Who would've thought?"
"We played CTF." Tailor laughs. He's nicer than I thought because he seems to have already forgotten the incident.
The mother seems to be so happy to hear that her two kids were actually convinced to go outside the house, that she promises to make us all brownies as dessert. Well I'm honestly glad that Ethan and Ellen had fun. This was the initial purpose, to do something else than listening to music and talking on the phone all day. And it was so much better than I expected! Dana had the least fun of us, since she was at first jealous on me and then her husband was hurt. But you couldn't tell right now, because she's smiling so widely, throwing glimpses at Natsu, trying to gather the courage to speak to him.
We each go to change in our rooms. We're sweaty and muddy, but most of all, tired. Ellen and Ethan talk to each other enthusiastically without stop about the game and I'm glad they're not fighting anymore. Tailor and Dana go to their room silently with pleased expressions on their faces.
Natsu and I don't talk at the beginning. We go up the stairs and I show him his room.
"We get the whole floor to ourselves?" Natsu asks with a playful grin on his face.
"No, just our rooms." I say pretending to still be pissed off at him.
"Which one's your room?"
"One of these five." I pull out my tongue at him. "Why do you want to know?"
He bends over.
"So I'd know where to sneak in at night." He whispers in my ear.
My heart flinches and then stops. It then starts to beat powerfully. I slowly feel how the blood rushes in my cheeks uncontrollably. W-W-W-W-What in the world is he s-s-s-s-saying?! I know it's just a joke, since he's already halfway to the bathroom laughing like a freak. But then why's my heart so dumb that it's taking it seriously?!
I go to my room and take the only change of clothes I have. I then sit and wait for Natsu to be done.
He eventually knocks at my door.
"The shower's free." his voice sounds from the other side.
I get up and exit my room. I catch a glimpse of him before he shuts himself in his own room. He's wearing his towel around his waist and aide from that, he's pretty much naked. With just one look I could see how wide his shoulders and chest are, how thin his waist is and how muscular his whole body is. Many other guys would be envious over his incisive six-packs, or over the fine line of his collarbones. Or maybe over his gallant figure even when he has such a terrible wound in his abdomen. I frown and shiver when I see the deep cut in his flesh again. I got to see it very slightly, but the image is still alive in my memory.
A while later, I'm drying my hair relaxing in the heat of the small machine. It's feels good to be warm and clean. All that I need right now is that lunch downstairs. I'm starving!
A knock is heard at my door. I switch off the hair drier.
"Yes?"
"It's Ethan. Uh, mum said that we can take our lunch in our rooms because she's going to need the kitchen."
"For the brownies." I smile drooling.
"Yeah, so you can go downstairs to get it if you want."
"Thanks, Ethan!"
"S-Sure…. Um, Lucy?"
"Yeah?"
He doesn't say anything for a while.
"Nothing. Just, thanks for today. It was fun."
"It was fun for me, too! So sure!"
He then leaves with a 'bye' and I finish drying my hair. On my way towards my lunch, I knock at Natsu's door and ask him if he's already taken his share.
"Do you want me to bring it up to you?"
"Yes please." He says and I wonder why his voice sounds a little weird.
"And while you're at it, can you bring me some toilet paper? Not some, bring me the whole bundle."
"S-Sure…"I frown.
I return with two bowls of chicken and sweet corn soup and the toilet paper in my mouth. I don't have anything to knock at the door with, so I just bump my head in the wood.
"It's open. Can you enter?"
"Nuh-uh" I moan with the toilet paper almost falling into the soup. I hear him lift himself heavily, with great effort and wonder what's wrong. The latch lowers and he opens the door for me.
Once I'm inside, he shuts it closed and turns at me a pale, pained face. He takes the toilet paper from my mouth and once I'm free to talk, I ask worried:
"What's wrong?!"
"Nothing." He moans. "Leave the bowl over there and leave please." He thrusts his neck towards a little bedside table.
I place his food there and return even more determined not to leave.
"Natsu, what's wrong?" I insist.
He hesitates.
"It's nothing serious, it's just…"
He grimaces and turns so white that I need to help him sit down on the edge of the bed.
"My wound's opened up again." He mutters in pain.
I feel my stomach squeeze. That's why he needed the toilet paper.
"Lay down." I command.
"No, I'm fine. I can take care of myself."
"I told you to lay down!" I order him and shoot him a fierce look. It hurts him too much to have a fight with me, so he does as told. I lift his t-shirt and look at the cut in his abdomen. I grimace and cover my mouth feeling how my stomach's turning upside down. I take a lot of paper and start tapping gently for the blood to be absorbed.
"Why did it open again?" I ask silently.
"It's still pretty fresh." He says. "It's because I took a shower."
That means it must be one day old at most.
"Alright. I'll go downstairs to get some medicine. Don't move, ok?"
"Be careful, we don't want them suspecting anything."
"I know."
I slowly rise from the bed since I don't want to move him too much. I hurry downstairs and luckily there's only the twins' mother, stirring a composition in a bowl.
"Hey Lucy. You're here for seconds already?"
"Oh, no." I giggle trying to hide my worry. "Natsu has motion sickness and he still feels a little sick from the road. I just came to get some medicine."
"Oh, is he alright?"
"He will be." I smile reassuringly.
I go to the little cupboard with the red plus on it and take what I need as fast as I can.
Before I return, I call over at the mother:
"The soup's delicious, by the way!"
I'm sure it is, even if I haven't tasted it yet.
"Why thank you dear."
I shut the door to Natsu's room and lock it just in case. I see that he didn't move just as I told him to, but more blood's come out. I start wiping it again.
"Nice excuse. I wouldn't have thought of that."
I smile shortly.
"Does it hurt badly?"
"It's a little better now."
I apply the abstergent and all the other stuff very carefully. From time to time, he would jump grimacing when I touch the wrong spot. Even now when the situation's this grave, my heart's beating restlessly because of our closeness.
"Are you done yet?" he asks me after I finish applying all of the medicine.
I throw and doubtful look at my work and then I look at him.
"Well, I'm afraid you'll have to stay in that position a while."
He looks at the ceiling frowning.
"My butt's gone numb."
I chuckle.
"I'll wrap the bandage later. Let the air heal it."
He's surprisingly obedient. He remains in the same position, looking at the ceiling. I look at him hesitatingly.
"What happened?"
"How's your wound?"
We spoke in unison and now we look at each other smiling.
"You go first." I say.
"Did your wound heal?" he asks again.
"Almost. But it's not a big of a trouble anymore. I can make effort just fine, so the training should go well."
"I wasn't asking because I want to train you. I asked because I want to know if you're fine." His serious eyes suddenly make my heart run faster. I look at my fingers playing with each other and I blush slowly.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."
"Now you go." He smiles at me.
"Well I was just wondering what happened."
I look at him hoping he'd tell me everything.
"It's not safe here." he covers his eyes with his elbow. "I'll tell you somewhere else."
"I see..." I say a little sad. But it's true that it isn't safe. Somebody could be listening to our conversation right now.
"Just tell me if we're good."
"It depends on what you want to hear." He chuckles sadly "The goat doesn't know much, but there's somebody back stabbing us. That person keeps telling her information about us. Information that I don't think I've even told anybody but you."
He suddenly looks at me.
"You didn't tell anything to anyone, did you?"
"O-Of course not!" I frown while standing up fast. The bed jumps up and down and Natsu grimaces and turns white. "Aah, I'm sorry!" I bend over alarmed not knowing what to do in order to wash the pain away from him.
His muscles strain and the wound starts bleeding again.
"Oh, no! I'm so sorry, Natsu!"
I take a lot of toilet paper and start tapping again. My hands are trembling and I accidentally press too hard where it hurts most. He grimaces even more and the pain is so big that he catches my wrist and blocks my moves.
"Please stop." He whimpers gripping me so hard that my hand turns purple.
"Stop straining! You're bleeding again!" I tell him worriedly.
"But it hurts!" he shouts trying to wash the pain away. He lifts the upper half of his body and the wound starts bleeding for real. I can't hold back anymore and I push him with my free hand back down.
"Stop moving!" I beg him.
With fast moves, I bandage his abdomen. I run back to the kitchen and return with a glass of water. I take a painkilling pill, smash it to dust and mix it with the water hoping it'd still do its job.
"Drink this." I say, helping him rise amazingly slowly. He drinks with difficulty and then I lay him back down. "Now don't move."
I start massaging his abdomen gently at first and then applying little pressure. My cheeks are definitely red by now. All I can think about even though I shouldn't, is how I'm having skin contact with him. Under my skilled palms, I can feel the shape of his amazing muscles. I'm trembling due to the strong emotions and that's probably the reason I'm moving so fast. I try not to think about any of those above, but I simply can't. Natsu's teeth are clinched and I can feel how highly strung he is, trying not to make a sound of move under the pain.
When my hands get tired, I stop and tell him again not to move and to rest. I stand up, this time a lot more carefully, I take my bowl and I leave his room with my heart still beating like crazy. Only after I'm safely in my own room I allow my hand to go to my chest. I feel it booming and I grip my blouse. I let out a long, shaky breath. I don't think I'll be able to face him without remembering all of that for a while.
I raise my head and instantly freeze.
I'm not alone in this room.
In front of me, with the same baggy clothes, the same shaggy hair and the same nerdy look, Eros is smiling at me.
What's Eros doing here? How did he find out where they're hiding?
Don't miss the next chapter to find out!
