Chapter 14: If Walls Could Talk
(Fighting and a bit guilt tripping later on).
At this point, Lucy was pissed; it took all of her willpower to retain herself from taking her phone, and throwing it out the window. However, Erza was still a major injury: she's still in a critical position and still trying to recover from the paranormal scare. Lucy rested her head in the wheel and groaned, aghast with agitation. Erza, who was still trying to nurse her throbbing headache, looked questionably at the blonde. The one in question only waved it off, her face still pressed against the rough leather of the seat.
Then, both girls turned their attention to the phone, singing out proudly a rendition of 'Snow Fairy' and Lucy's eyes widened. Erza went to grab it but Lucy put a stop to that, and held her back. They let it play for a few more seconds before it shut off completely, only to start up again after another few seconds. Lucy looked to Erza, who nodded, then went for the phone. After her failed attempt to talk -because she immediately got scared after unmuting- decided to resolve the issue through text. Or maybe not.
Lucy opened the phone with dismay, seeing 5 missed calls in the span of 3 minutes. She made a disapproving noise in her throat, before moving into her text messages-which were spammed as well.
5 new notifications:
Cana: hey where are u?
Mirajane: I've heard from Natsu something didn't go right? Is everything ok?
Levy: Why aren't you answering my texts?
Kinabra: Hey, girl, I heard something happened
Gajeel: I heard from Levy something happened? Are you ok?
And, to her surprise, as she scrolled down more, her friends flooded her notification wall. Lucy had her heart swell with warmth as she realized how much her friends truly cared for her, and loved them for that. But at the very end of the chain, sat two messages.
Erza (8:45 am): Het, you almost ready to go? It's understandable if you aren't
Lucy bit her tongue, remembering her naively content state this morning while packing. Oh, how she wishes she could time travel. Underneath, sat another message:
Natsu (9:00 am): Luce?! Hey, Luce, where are you? Did something happen?
The urge to curse him out surged up again, but she craftily repressed it to keep herself calm. She wouldn't dare try.
As if to taunt her, the phone rang again that same jovial tone that seeped of nostalgia. Erza, being the good friend that she is, hid it into her coat and gestures for Lucy to start the car.
The sun had retired for the night when they managed to finally get home-after a couple of breaks and a food stop. Erza was sleeping off her headache quietly in the passenger seat, and Lucy -knowing all that she's been through in the past hours- decided to let her stay in the car for a couple of minutes, with Lucy standing by.
The blonde slumped back into the seat, letting the exhaustion seep through her; she desperately wanted to head inside, and cuddle up to her girlfriend to melt away the stress of the day. After a long scolding, of course, because Juvia would be worried sick for her sake. But knowing that, her pouted lips turned upwards into a small smile.
But this would all come after a huge bowl of ice cream, with loads with whipped cream and chocolate chips-that were definitely not healthy for your body. She deserved it, though. And maybe Erza would join them, and Lucy would make sure to provide an even bigger helping of the cold cream-
"Huh? Where are we?" Lucy whipped her head around to Erza slowly maneuvering herself around the car seat, trying to collect her thoughts. She immediately caught on, though, once she realized this was her friends' house and seeing the blonde beside her. "Am I supposed to stay over your house tonight, Lucy. I wouldn't like to cause you a burden-"
"No, no-it's ok! Please, you're welcome to stay tonight if you don't feel like driving back. Though in your current condition, I wouldn't suggest it," Lucy suggested, gesturing to her house. Erza nodded, relived. "Thank you, Lucy. Should I go to my house and grab my stuff...?" Erza asked. Lucy shook her head, "No, again, it's too late and besides, I wouldn't want you on the road in this current condition. It's fine if you borrow one of our things."
With that, both girls got out of the car, trudging back to the house. Lucy unlocked the door by pressing a few buttons, and opened the door to a pissed off Juvia-her narrowed eyes flicking over Lucy in a judgmental way.
"Lucy Rachelle Heartfilia, where the frick were you?" Juvia spit out, her cold tone making Lucy shiver. "We ran into an accident, Juves! Erza accidentally got hurt!" Lucy responded back, hanging up her coat.
"And why didn't you tell me? I could've tried to help, you can't leave me hanging like that, Luce!"
"Juves, look I'm sorry, ok? It would've been too long of a trip for you out there, though!"
"But I'd rather make sure you and Erza were both ok; at least text me or something like that."
Erza, who was trying to stay out of the argument for peace's sake, looked up from her rose bush to meet the equally rosy face's of her friends: Juvia seemed to be growing more pissed off as they confined, and while Lucy seemed ok now, she may grow tired-which hopefully will not escalate into a loud shouting match, which may or may not aggregate the sensitive neighbors around them.
The scarlet-haired woman made a low grunt noise deep in her throat, alerting both women of her presence. Lucy made a fleeting comment about apologizing to Erza, but she didn't catch it, and moved on -with a louder voice- to ask Juvia if Erza could stay the night. The ocean-haired woman hesitated for a second then nodded, letting them into the house.
The tea lover admired the antique home of the couple, realizing how interesting and intricate the house was-from the stairs; to the cute, antique furniture in the living room. To indicate the modernes of the house, blemishes of anime posters, Polaroid photos, and advanced world maps decorated the walls, along with gorgeous paintings -done by the wonderful Lucy Heartfilia.
She couldn't admire for long though, as Juvia pulled her friend along to their guest bedrooms, along with some magically-appearing clothes. Unlike the rest of the house, it was simply plain with a beach theme-most likely Juvia's doing, as she was obsessed with all things aquatic. The furniture was a beautiful cream color, with little accents of -again- the beach, like a jar full of rainbow sand. Which Erza was pretty sure Juvia made last June for pride month, with her craft club at the local library. Along the ceilings hung delicate fairy lights, for a nice aesthetically pleasing finish.
Erza walked in and collapsed on the bed, pretending not to hear the banter of the couple. Her eyes felt like lead, and struggled with keeping her eyes open. However, she persevered well enough to change and brush her teeth-once ahaha in falling into the bed.
The usual warmth and comfort available in their home was gone, as both ladies stood in an uncomfortable stand-off. The couple felt close to tears as they confronted the same issue, pressing matters into an extreme state with little to no evidence backing their claim. Many times there was a lull of silence when the ladies would catch their breaths, no hope or apology in sight. However, it soon escalated further.
"Lucy, I have a question," Juvia started, recovering after her lull of silence. Lucy looked up from her seat on the coach, gripping the arm chair. She managed to stay strong, though, and take her up on her question.
"What's on your phone? What have you managed to do in these past weeks that you're trying to keep from me?" Juvia asked, her deep sea eyes filled with mystery. Lucy sucked in a breath, and tried to find a half truth that was plausible enough to fool Juvia, but she realized it was a silly thing to do.
"I- Remember that thing that I was out with today with Erza? Well I kind-sorta-not really started a pining game...?" Lucy cringed at the silence that followed as Juvia processed the information. "What...? And why did you keep that from me? It would've been much safer-"
"YOU KEEP SAYING THAT BUT YOU'RE NO DOCTER, JUVIA! I WAS SCARED BUT I MANAGED JUST FINE WITHOUT YOU! I WAS ABLE TO HELP ERZA FINELY. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" Lucy screamed, tears dribbling down her face. She leaned on the armchair for support of her emotions, trying to gather her thoughts from the outbreak. Juvia was appalled, her own tears matching the face of her girlfriend. "No, but, Lucy... I just wanted to be there to make sure you were ok! BUT I GUESS CLEARLY BECAUSE YOU WERE DOING SO FINE, I AM NOT NEEDED. LITERALLY ONLY WANTED TO BE THERE TO GIVE YOU SUPPORT, BE THERE IN CASE YOU NEEDED HELP! G-God, ... that's all... I wanted to.. do."
The air seemed so loud in Lucy's ears, the roaring scream of her girlfriend still echoing in her ear. She knew this was going to happen the day she asked what that notification was for, yet she was a terrible girlfriend for never addressing it; never asking her if she wanted to take part. She hung in her head in shame, wet spots growing beneath her.
"Look, I'm truly... S-Sorry you, you know, were left in the d-ark. But I didn't know if you would-I don't know-" Lucy cut herself off this time, her body overwhelmingly convulsing with tears. At this point, she couldn't handle it and dropped to the ground. Juvia watched as she fell, her instincts screaming at her to help. She followed them, dropping down to the floor.
The summery blonde was soon enveloped by the ocean wrapping her arms around her, pressing the blonde's head to her chest. She didn't mind the wet spots popping down onto her nice shirt, all that mattered was that her girlfriend was safe and secure in the house. Happy and healthy.
Juvia whispered sweet nothings into the Golden locks, and soon the sobs calmed. They sat in that position for a while, never wanting to come out.
