Sorry for the late chapter, I had a busy week with the lasts full week of my current job and completely forgot. If I am ever late feel free to message me here or on Twitter, I would love a reminder when I am being so forgetful.
Chapter 11
Gray
The interview went off without a hitch, which I was thankful for because my mind was elsewhere. I couldn't quite pull myself away from the sound of Juvia's voice when she had told me someone had tried to unlock her phone. She sounded scared, and she had every right to be, it was her personal life on the line. But I couldn't help but wonder if being with me was worth all the drama for her. She had made it clear that she didn't like the gossip and one way or another things were going to come out and she would be a target because of me.
I had made it home and called Juvia to assure her everything was fine, but I didn't know if I even believed it at that point. I felt like I was on the verge of ruining her life, she made me happy but was it worth it for her to be with me? I had felt like I was lying to her when I told her it would all be okay.
I looked around my room, it was the same as it had always been but it somehow felt empty without Juvia's overnight bag on the dresser. How was I going to make it two weeks without her here? It had become an easy habit to spend the evenings with her.
I had a video call with a reporter that would go on a livestream and then I was done for the night, and I could not wait for it to be over. Stress hung on every fiber of my being and all I wanted was to steal Juvia away for another weekend.
My laptop chimed alerting me that the video call was starting. I tried m best to smile so I could get this over with.
"Hi Gray," the reporter greeted cheerfully. What was her name again? April? Hell, I couldn't remember.
"Hi, thanks for having me." I decided to leave out her name since I wasn't sure.
"We're super excited to have you, if you check out the chat there are already hundreds of fans joining us and recommending questions. Feel free to pick some to answer, but I will have some for you as well." She seemed nice enough, but I wasn't really feeling the interview.
'Great, I'm ready when you are," I lied.
"First up, I have to ask, what was your favorite part of shooting this final season?"
That was easy, "I got to do my own stunts this season, that was a big change for me."
"Wow, how did that go? Did you get hurt?" she was definitely taking it easy on me.
'Yea, a bit. There are always going to be bumps and bruises when you're doing stunt work." I didn't want to tell her I had damn near broken my arm at one point.
"Fans are asking if you're sad about leaving the show behind."
If they only knew the hell Minerva had put me through during shooting. Instead I answered with something more along the lines of what they expected, "Of course, it's always going to be a little sad to leave something behind but I'm ready to start filming on my first feature film."
"Chat is blowing up right now with one question, who left the lipstick on your nightstand?" the reporter asked with a wink.
I glanced beside me and sure enough Juvia's lipstick sat on her nightstand. Why hadn't I checked my surroundings before starting the video? "That would be..." shit what do I say? "my girlfriend's." FUCK.
The reporter perked up hearing those words, "So the rumors are true, you're officially off the market then?"
I would give anything to be able to ask Juvia what to do in that moment but it was happening with out without her so I needed to be smart. "It seems you've all figured it out,"
"Tell us more about this girlfriend, Gray, we're all ears," of course she was, this was a scoop.
"I'm not going to go into detail about her, she values her privacy and I respect that." I needed to get control of the situation and fast, "Why don't we talk about the show, that's the real reason I'm here."
The reporter gave a fake frown, "oh I understand, why don't you give us a little something about this final season, do you have any spoilers you can share?"
I wasn't supposed to share any details about the final season but desperate times called for desperate measures, "One of your favorite characters does something unforgivable." The show executives were going to kill me.
##
The interview had barely ended when my phone started ringing. I didn't even have to look to see who it was, I knew it was someone from the show, I had just dropped a spoiler to take the heat off myself and they were definitely pissed.
I could avoid the call but they'd find some way to reach me and it was easier to just get it over with,, "Hello?"
"What the hell were you thinking?" It was Evergreen, the show's publicist. "You were supposed to stay on the pre-decided talking points and you failed, horribly."
"I know, it just slipped out," I couldn't really defend what I had done, she wouldn't care.
"Don't bother coming to the next two interviews, I don't want to see your face. Let Minerva handle it and you can sit there and think about how badly you messed up." I felt like a kid getting grounded.
"It won't happen again."
"You're right, it won't. You won't be doing any more solo press appearances for the show, you can't be trusted. I know you're leaving the show but I thought you would at least follow through on your contract." She had a point, I just ignored an important clause in my contract to save my own ass.
"I can do this, let me do the interviews-"
"NO." her voice was firm, she was not playing around. "I will see you Thursday, but until then I want you to keep out of the public eye and not say another word about the show."
"Fine." I wasn't going to win with her, Evergreen was a complete control freak when it came to her job and I had just messed up royally in her eyes.
"Thursday." she reminded me as she hung up. I dropped my phone and cursed under my breath, I was starting to wonder if we would make it to the end of the press tour before everything fell apart.
The security system chimed, someone had opened the gate. I wasn't expecting anyone and it was already getting late, who the hell could that be? I hurried down the stairs and heard the garage door, no one knew the garage code except for Laxus. I threw open the door just in time to see him get out of his SUV, "what are you doing here?"
"Ouch, I thought we were friends," he pretended to look hurt. "I brought you something," he opened the back door and stepped back as Juvia got out.
"Juvia, what are you doing here? Did anyone see you?" There had been reporters taking turns sitting around the gate ever since we had gotten back to town.
"Don't worry, man." Laxus grinned, "I had her lay down in the back with a blanket over her, but no one can see anything through the tint I have on this baby."
Juvia rushed over and hugged me and I hadn't realized how much I needed it until then. I lifted her chin and captured her lips in a kiss that she wasted no time deepening.
Laxus snorted back a laugh, "get a room, you two. I'm going upstairs to play on the big screen."
Juvia sighed as she pulled back from the kiss, 'I saw your interview. I didn't mean to leave my stuff where they would see it."
I ran my hand over my hair, "I should have looked around before starting the video chat, I shouldn't have been in my room in the first place, it was a mistake."
"Are you okay?" her arms wrapped around one of mine.
"I got kicked off the next two interviews, the show publicist is pretty ticked that I dropped a spoiler." I could live with not being at a few interviews but I was worried about Minerva being in charge of things until Thursday, she was clearly trying to sabotage me.
Juvia released my arm and headed toward the door, "let's go inside and enjoy the night. I'll be leaving from Laxus's place to go to work in the morning so I can stay as late as he is willing to."
"I was just going to take a shower and head to bed, but clearly that's not happening now," I joked, I would much rather her be here instead.
"We can still do that," she winked rounding the corner toward the stairs.
"But Laxus-"
"Laxus is an adult, he can handle keeping himself busy while I spend some time with you," she grinned, "besides, he encouraged me on the ride over."