WEIRDO BLABBS: That took quite longer than I expected. I had to rewrite this chapter thrice (yes, three different ways this chapter was written) but I ended up with this one which I seemed was best; I didn't put much drama but went immediately to what I wanted to happen *sorry, drama fans*. I hope you guys like it and sorry for the inconvenience.
NOTE2: Most of the songs in this fanfic might be just poems I whipped up. But if I do use real songs, I will make sure to give credit accordingly so please do not sue me!
-CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE-
Where our Gray is assuming things.
Finally, somebody I actually know! Lucy thought as Gray and a few others entered the wide doors of the hall. By now, the place was packed, the orchestra music was playing at an annoyingly-loud volume by the speakers, and there was no one in the crowd of guests below that Lucy was well-acquainted with (except, of course, for her adoptive siblings) so immediately after catching a glimpse of the raven-haired singer, the girl let out a sigh of relief.
She walked closer toward the tinted glass, following Gray and his companions wherever they went, table to table, as Master Makarov greeted old friends and fresh faces.
Guess there's no turning back now, she mused. "I can't believe we'll go through with this thing." It was one thing to have people come and see her mother; it was another thing to have her meet and greet them as well—in a white cocktail with pink laces that made her look like a kindergartener on her way to first mass.
She sighed.
"You okay, kiddo?" Jude's voice came from the doorway where he stood, the door closed shut behind him. Talk about awkward.
"I'm... fine. Just..."
"Just?"
The girl bit her glossed lip, "Nothing."
"You know," Jude said, standing beside her and staring out the glass, too, "I'm very happy that you agreed to have this party." Lucy resisted the urge to clench her fists and instead took a deep breath. "I know this must be hard for you but this is the best for your mother."
"I know," she said bitterly. It was true. And that's why it hurt. She felt guilty for not doing this immediately after discovering that her mother was, in fact, alive.
"This," Jude said after a while, "is the first time we've talked privately since—"
"Ever," she snapped, much to her regret and surprise.
Jude was surprised, too, but let out a chuckle. "Yes... The first time ever..." he said.
A few more awkward silences fell on the floor like breaking glass. Lucy's ears pricked and she wanted to leave but she knew something was up.
"I talked to your mother..."
"About what?"
"I asked her if she wanted to come and live with me after this."
Lucy's head snapped immediately to her father's direction, hoping she'd heard wrong. "Pardon?"
"I asked Layla to go back with me abroad," he explained, "There are better doctors there, and friends who can help bring back her memories."
"But... You can't... She just came here and..." The girl stammered, and groped for words to say. Finally, she heaved a deep breath. How selfish of her to be saying those things! For Pete's sake, she wasn't seven anymore. "And... What did mum say?"
"She's willing..."
"Oh..."
"But what do you think of it?"
"I... I'm fine with it, I guess," she lied, turning away from her father's loving gaze to the sight of her raven-haired senpai looking around the hall. "If you think it's for the best then I guess it is for the best..."
Lucy could feel her father's gaze fixed on her and it made her uncomfortable.
"I'll just leave now—"
"Lucy..."
She turned to her father, "Yes... father?"
"I want you to come with us..." he said, "We both do, your mother and I..."
The blonde could only raise her eyebrows as she stared at her father. If she had heard correctly—and a part of her wished she hadn't—then her father was inviting her to leave Fiore and start over as a family with him.
As inviting as it was, Lucy was speechless and was torn as to what to say. Her gaze travelled back to the last place she saw her senpai. "I... don't know..." she managed to say out loud.
"You don't need to answer me now..." Jude told her, "But will you answer by the end of this evening?"
The girl contemplated.
"I will."
"Well, I don't see why you didn't just answer 'yes' back there..." Gray asked and glanced sideways to his left at Lucy. They were out in the balcony now, leaning on the railing where the cold winter wind blew subtly above the city. Below them, the sound of vehicles was deafened.
Lucy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and hugged herself tighter. "Right now I'm asking myself the same question."
Gray pouted and shrugged at her. Then he turning on his back, said, "Is something holding you back?"
"Well, for starters, going would mean I'd have to leave school and the choir... and that's basically my whole life..." she smiled, not facing Gray. Her voice sounded lonely, almost lost.
"But you've got your family now, right?" he commented, "Isn't that the whole point? A fresh start with your folks?"
"With my mum, yeah," she said, "but with my dad, I'm not so sure..."
"Aw, come on... It can't be that bad, right?"
"He spoke to me and I had to hold my tongue so as not to say anything impolite!"
The singer turned on his side to face her, "Maybe you should just speak your mind before you... you know... start over." Lucy looked up at him, "Better here and now than then and there."
The blonde turned on her back to the railing, too, and Gray followed her. She sighed. Gray was surprisingly right. And she somehow felt that she had to take that advice rather than look for another way out.
"It sounds like you want me to leave."
The boy sheepishly smiled and rolled his eyes. "Just giving you advice..."
"But..." the girl started, and tried not to sound too hopeful, "do you want me to leave?"
"If it were up to me," he started after quite a while, "I'd lock you up and hide you just so you won't get to go anywhere."
"That's evil..." she laughed, blushing. Hopefully Gray didn't notice.
"Just keeping it real."
Lucy breathed in deeply. There was a warm feeling in her stomach that made her feel giddy and, well, warm. Her thoughts were all scrambled now and she knew she was smiling like an idiot.
"What are you smiling at?" Gray asked, laughing slightly.
"Nothing. Just," the girl squeezed out what was left of her courage now, "you must really like me to be doing these things."
"Yeah," Gray replied. "But even if I didn't like you, I'd still be doing the same thing, just so you know."
Lucy was silent before she spoke again, "I can't do it, you know?"
"What?"
"Say what I mean out loud," she replied. "Not to you… Not even to my father…"
"There are times when actions speak louder than words," Gray stood straight and cocked his head toward her direction, "times when actions are more appropriate to speak you mind. If you're not comfortable with speaking, just act it out.
"But there are rare cases—rare times," he continued, "when it's better for people to hear what you really want to say. Because even if you act it out but don't say it out loud, they won't be sure if you're sincere or they're just assuming things.
"Do you get my point?" he asked.
"Yes…" she replied and sighed, "I guess I'll try to get along with my dad…"
"Good…" Gray said, "Because maybe your dad is the kind of guy who likes it better when he hears it…"
Lucy smiled. "What about you?"
Gray shrugged. "I'm good both ways, if you're thinking about confessing any time soon."
The girl gave a sweet chuckle. "I'm not going to confess anytime soon."
"So, have you decided whether or not you're going?"
"Yeah… I guess…" she said and started to walk away. "Thanks, senpai."
The raven-haired leader walked beside her and put his hand on her shoulder to pat it but the girl turned on the balls of her feet, met his torso with her small figure and hugged him, her head resting on his clavicle.
It took Gray so much by surprise that by the time he'd put his arms around her, she'd already said, "I guess you're the other kind of guy who likes actions more than words."
"I am…" he said, smiling, his arms around her, warming her, "but I'm also sort of the guy who wants to hear these things every now and then so I know if people are sincere or I'm just..." he paused to breathe deeply and hug her tighter, "…assuming things…"
In the end, he wasn't able to ask her whether or not she was going. However, he had the biggest hunch that she wasn't. What with the hug and her statements and her smile and the hug! That was basically everything that occupied Gray's mind over dessert.
He grinned goofily the whole time, clutching his torso and trying to find trails of Lucy's perfume around him. He was stared straight through the cake and had he laser vision, it would have been destroyed.
"Gray, what are you smiling at?" asked Natsu in his third mouthful of cake.
"Nothing!" the leader said and tried to hide his smile by pursing his lips. "I just... remembered something..."
Gajeel, unsatisfied, eyed Natsu who just shrugged and got back to his cake. "You must be remembering something pretty good."
Gray shrugged.
"Does it have something to do with Lucy?" Gajeel's tone was teasing. The way he said the blonde's name sounded like mockery to their leader's ears.
"Shut up, Gajeel..."
"I saw you follow after her out of the hall—" Gray coughed and turned beet red as he wheezed for air. He didn't even notice anyone see him leave.
"That was—"
"Sooooooo!" Natsu teased and leaned over to Gray, "Did you guys talk a lot?"
"Shut up, pink..."
"Did she finally drop the 'N-O' bomb?" asked Gajeel.
"Would you guys just keep your dirty noses out of people's business—!"
"Did you guys kiss?"
"What the hell, Natsu?! That's private stuff!"
"So you guys did kiss?!"
"Ehem!" The man on the microphone coughed to interrupt Fairy Tail's unintentionally-loud conversation. All three of them were up: Natsu leaning over to Gray whose one hand was in the Salamander's face and the other was on Gajeel's head, pushing the bassist's face on the table. Across the hall, Master Makarov shrunk in the shadows while Erza and Laxus looked at the three of them with intentions to kill.
Seeing this humiliating feat, Fairy Tail settled down and tried to regain composure. Meanwhile, on the stage, Jude was leaning toward Lucy's ear to whisper something.
"He's very charming, he is..."
"Pardon?"
"He was here this morning, too, wasn't he?" Jude continued, "The guy on the loud motorcycle?"
Lucy's insides froze in shock and anxiety. Who knows what's going on in her father's head? "Yes, he... is very fond of the twins and—"
"Oh, I don't think it's the twins he's fond of." Jude smiled the kind of smile that was filled with amusement and longing. "Is he the reason why you're hesitant to leave?"
"N-No..."
"Oh, come now. I've been a teenager once, too, you know?"
For the first time in what seemed like a lifetime, Lucy smiled because of her father.
"I'm not doubting your teen-hood, dad, but..." Lucy paused to chuckle like a lady, "it's just strange to be talking about this with you."
Jude smiled as he looked at his daughter lovingly. Noticing this, Lucy asked, "What?"
"You called me 'dad' just now."
Realizing this, Lucy looked up at him and smiled, "Yeah… I guess I did."
"Thank you, Lucy," he said. "I will try my best to make it up to you."
"—Master Jude Heartfilia will be making an announcement for everybody before we resign for the night."
The applause broke the father-and-daughter conversation and Jude left Lucy behind with a kiss on her forehead as he stepped up to the podium. Gray gulped and fixed his coat as he leaned over to hear better. He knew it in his insides what this 'announcement' was about.
Jude cleared his throat, "Good evening, everyone. I am very glad that so many have come to welcome my wife—in the most appropriate terms I can find—back from the dead."
The people laughed, so did Layla. "As you all know, we all have thought for a whole decade that we lost Layla forever. Above everyone whose world's seemed to have shattered, my daughter, Lucy's, was most shaken. She grew up without a mother and I, having left for the foreign lands, left her also almost fatherless." Gray gazed at Lucy and saw that she was fighting back tears with a tough smile.
"But today, we all celebrate this great news of my wife's return and I know some of you have noticed how much that incident ten years ago has taken from her. We now ask of everyone here your blessing for me to take both my wife and my child abroad where we can start over and, hopefully, help Layla recover fully."
Applause was heard once more and tears were being shed at the bitter-sweet announcement. Gray's ears rang with the unexpected news: he had honestly expected that Lucy would not leave them.
"In two weeks, my whole family and I will be travelling and I ask all of you to pray for the wellness of this journey." Jude took a wineglass and raised it, "To Layla's health!" The rest of the guests did the same, took their half-filled wineglasses, wished Layla Heartfilia health and drank from it.
Gray, however, seemed almost distraught. He stood up, much to everyone's surprise, eyes not leaving Lucy's gaze. His face was cemented, frozen. Lucy wished he wouldn't do or say anything embarrassing but wished more that he took her decision well.
Seeing that it might be bad to have Gray stay like that, Natsu and Gajeel also stood up and started to clap. Then, one by one, the guests also stood up and imitated their actions.
"Hey, Gray," Natsu whispered, "would you mind explaining what you're doing up?"
"Clap, damn you!" hissed a flustered Gajeel at him.
The leader shook himself from his trance and smiled at Lucy gently. Without even looking at his companions, he said, "Nothing. Just... assuming things…"
WEIRDO BLABBS: Poor Gray… -.-
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