Chapter 10

Juvia

It had been less than twelve hours since Gray dropped me off at home and it was time to find out how lucky we had been. I pushed open the door and took my seat in the conference room, the Monday morning meeting was due to start at any minute. Mira was already in her seat scrolling on her phone, I hadn't told her about this weekend's interruption, but she was about to find out anyway.

Erza strolled in and took the seat at the head of the table. "Alright, big weekend for us, let's dive right in." She shuffled some papers and my throat went dry, "We have a celeb wedding to cover, an interview with Kurogane for their tour, and we have photos of Gray Fullbuster's weekend fling."

Mira dropped her phone and everyone turned to look, 'sorry, butterfingers" she apologized, giving a meek smile.

Erza slid the glossy photos to the center of the table, "I want everyone to look at these and figure out who this woman is, I want to talk to her. With Gray doing the biggest movie deal of this year he is going to be a big focus and I want all the details."

I pulled a photograph closer and swallowed hard bracing myself for what I might see. There was Gray in his hoodie and jeans, arm over me thowing his cap over my hair. You could tell the hair was blue, but my face was hidden. I casually attempted to get the other photos without drawing too much attention to myself, and my pulse raced. I slowly flipped through each one, carefully studying them for any discernable sign that it was me in the pictures, but though some crazy coincidence none of the pictures showed my face. I blew out a breath and pushed the pictures to Mira, locking eyes with her I saw she was just as worried as I was.

"You know," Max leaned his elbows on the table as he spoke, "I know we're calling this a fling, but wasn't the mystery girl from the club a bluenette too? Could it be the same person?"

Sting drummed his fingers on his notebook, "If it's a girlfriend then why hide it? Unless there's a story there. Maybe she's married, or ugly."

Rogue laughed, "Fullbuster doesn't have to mess around with ugly girls, but she might be married, that's not a bad theory."

"You know who is a bluenette about that build?" Sting grinned, "That songwriter that married the front man of Kurogane, what was her name...Levy?"

"Do you think it's her?" Rogue snatched the photos from Mira and held them close to his face, "Is her hair the same? I can't tell how long it is in the picture."

"You two are awfully quiet," Max pointed out, "Mira, you're always with that hockey player Fullbuster is friends with what do you know?"

Mira plastered on a smirk and snapped, "how many times do I have to tell you to call me MiraJane, Mira is only for my friends."

"Fine, MiraJane, he sneered, "what do you know about this girl?"

She shrugged, 'I've been keeping Laxus all to myself so he hasn't been hanging around Gray much lately, I don't know anything about the woman."

"Juvia," Max called my name with a sickly-sweet tone, "what do you think?"

I hoped my face didn't show just how nervous I was inside. I tried to think of something neutral to say, I didn't want to add fuel to the fire in any way. "I think it's a pity someone didn't get a better picture, who the hell took these photos anyway?"

"My cousin," Max answered proudly, "I tipped him off about the trip as soon as I heard the rumor."

Max had known about the trip? But, how? Mira beat me to it, pretending to fawn over Max's information, "Wow, I didn't realize there was a rumor circulating."

"I have the best source," his eyes glinted mischievously, "a certain co-star overheard his plans and let the info leak...but that's all hush hush on our end, no outing the source or we'll lose out on the stories."

It hit me like a ton of bricks. It was Minerva. Gray had called me from the set to invite me for the weekend, she must have overheard the whole thing. Fuck. I needed to tell Gray but I wasn't stepping foot out of this meeting until I knew what we were going to report.

Erza cleared her throat, "So now we need to figure out the angle for this story so we can get to work on the segment. Sting, Rogue, I want you to do your best on this and we will see about getting you on the weeknight shows more often, this could be a big break for you two."

Sting looked pleased, "I say we go with the married story, it would draw in the viewers."

"But there's no proof," I interjected.

"Then why Is he hiding her away?" Rogue smiled wolfishly. "let's see if we can track down where Levy was this weekend, I want to see if we can rule her out."

"Why does it have to be a controversy?" Mira asked, "can't we just say he took a weekend with a mystery woman and leave it at that?"

Erza nodded, "follow the facts, we have no proof of anything other than the pictures. We stick to what we know, he took a secretive trip with a mystery woman and that's it."

I felt a little relief but I was still worried, I wanted to just out the truth so they wouldn't run any negative stories. Sting and Rogue could look for proof of a married woman but I knew they wouldn't find it. I had to calm down, I knew what I was getting into when we started dating and this was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Mira, Juvia, you're free to go, we don't have anything left for you today see you tomorrow," Erza waved her hand dismissively.

I followed Mira to the hallway and she nodded toward her dressing room, once inside she shushed me and turned on some music on her phone. "Okay," her voice was low, "why didn't you tell me about this?"

"I was stressed, I kind of shut down after Gray dropped me off last night."

"You're really fucking lucky they didn't get better pictures, you likely only got away with it because Max sent his cousin because anyone that actually knew what they were doing would have gotten their shot." Mira looked intense, she didn't need me to tell her she was right, she clearly already knew. "You need to call him, but not here, I don't trust anyone especially Max. Get out of here and give him the heads up, I'll talk to Laxus and we'll come up with a plan."

'Mira," I pulled her into a hug, "It's only two more weeks. Once the press tour is over we're not going to hide things anymore, but Minerva has her sights set on drama."

"We've got this," Mira assured me, giving my hands a gentle squeeze. "Now, go, warn your man."

"I need to get my stuff from my dressing room and then consider me gone," I opened the door to leave and noticed my dressing room door was ajar, "Hey Mira, someone's been in my dressing room."

"Are you sure?" she asked following me across the hall.

I pushed the door open and looked around the room, it looked fairly normal but my purse was on the counter instead of on the hook on the back of my door. "I'm sure. My stuff has been moved."

I grabbed my phone from my bag and went to unlock it but there was a warning on the screen You have exceeded your login attempts, try again in 2 minutes. I turned the screen so she could see and her scowl matched mine. Someone had been trying to unlock my phone.

I threw it back in my bag and turned to leave, "I have to make a phone call. I'll call you later." I had work to do. I waited until I got to my car to dial Gray and drummed my fingers on the steering wheel while I listened to the phone ring.

"Hey," his voice was warm and soothing. "I can't really talk right now, I'm about to head in for the interview.'

That's right. He had the press tour. "I'll be quick. Minerva was the one who tipped the press off about our trip. Max was very pleased with himself for sending someone out to take pictures."

"Shit."

"And while I was talking to Mira someone tried to unlock my phone in my dressing room. I don't know who or why, but Max seems to think Mira has information about you because she is with Laxus, and it only takes a short jump to get to me. We've got to get ahead of this, they want to say you're hiding a relationship with a married woman." I hated to tell him, but I had to warn him.

"We can talk about this when I am done here, they're calling me in. I'll call you as soon as I can, just relax, just know none of this bothers me." Just talking to him was reassuring.

"Good luck with your interview."

As soon as I hung up my phone buzzed with a headline from work, Exclusive story: Gray Fullbuster's weekend getaway with his mystery woman

I dropped my phone in my bag and started the car, I just wanted to get home and forget about all this drama. I threw my car in gear and sped out of my spot, I hoped Gray was faring better in his interview.

My mind was jumbled as I somehow made it all the way home without even thinking about it. I guess I was lucky I didn't plow over anyone on my way home, but my auto pilot seemed to be functioning. I snorted back a laugh at my own expense as I pushed open the door to my townhouse. Home sweet home.

It wasn't quite the same without Gray popping by to spend an evening or two, but it had become to risky. He had a few photogs going out of their way to watch his place and he didn't want to lead them to me. He was very considerate, but I was really starting to worry about how much trouble I was causing all in the name of avoiding drama at work. How bad would it really be to let the cat out of the bag now? If it made things easier for Gray it was worth it right? It seemed like no matter what we chose to do someone was getting the short end of the stick. There had to be another way.