Chapter 3: Stare

Juvia got to her destination first and was happy she wasn't late. Being punctual was an important thing for her considering the fact that she hated people who weren't. That only serving to point out that individuals who did not show up on time didn't take their job seriously, which Juvia did not like, she always worked so hard and did her best, through that learning many important things and even growing up as a person. So of course she felt relived when she got there on time, because even though she has never let anything get in the way and distress her plans (she was a good time manager), this time was different… Gray did something to her and she forgot to check the time more frequently. He was 'interesting' she thought, then giggled to herself.

Not even two minutes passed and Silver Fullbuster showed up. They said hello and then Silver proceeded to take Juvia's hand, kissing it and leading her to the table to finally talk to her about what she needed to do this week. Silver was a gentle man and took care of the way he was treating Juvia considering that she was an important piece in the puzzle he was trying to create. He was also impressed by her beauty, he's never seen her in person, just in the photo on her CV. He was not particularly interested in the way his employees looked, but she was a young woman so of course he thought she was going to be pretty, only not this stunning… After settling at the table he told her to feel free to order anything on the menu, but then he saw the confused look on her face.

"He'll be late. Don't worry about him." He figured out why Juvia would feel that way. He informed her, through his assistant, that at the meeting will be present his son too, the next CEO of the company. But he also knew his son, so he was expecting him to do something to make him lose his mind.

Of course he would be late, it was so predictable of him to pull this move Silver wasn't even surprised. Angry, yes, but surprised, no. he was upset with his son's behavior, I mean how hard would it be to show some manners and be on time for the meeting. He swore Gray liked to harden his own life.

"Oh… well, how late will he be? I think we should wait if he will come soon… I'm not that hungry and I don't think it will be polite of me to eat before him." She said and then proceeded to apologize. Silver was surprised by her reaction, but didn't mind, he understood where it was coming from and besides, it only served to show her good manners.

"Well if it's ok with you, then we can wait a little for him to come. I'm truly sorry about his behavior, I swear I tried everything to make him a little more responsible, but he doesn't listen to me at all."

"You don't have to be sorry about nothing. I'm here." Said Gray in a monotone voice that was part of his façade towards his father, but you could also hear the angry undertone. He had his hands in his pockets and an imposing look that could intimidate everyone who dared look into his eyes.

Juvia was…shocked. I mean, she could deduce now that Gray was Silver's son, and that was a surprise in and of itself, but his arrogant attitude was not the one she has seen when she was with him just a few minutes ago. He was different, he was cocky, arrogant and rude. Not to mention late… but the moment Gray saw her, his demeanor changed. He gave his father on last dreadful look, then his gaze shifted to Juvia, apologizing for his delay and introducing himself like they never saw each other before, which was odd, she thought. Juvia decided to play along though, so she presented herself as well, then he took a seat next to his father and started to look at the menu.

The dinner went peacefully, they ordered their food, ate, and talked business. Silver settled for Gray and Juvia working together this week, to see if their pair is compatible. All the two of them had to do was look through the files and find a way to revive this place. It wasn't that the resort was doing bad, but it was falling into monotony which Silver did not like. He wanted something new that would attract new costumers and fulfill their wishes. Juvia was to watch the money flow and Gray take decisions regarding where the money will go to, the investments and everything like that.

Throughout the whole meeting Juvia looked from time to time at Gray to see how he was doing and notice if he was looking at her. She only caught him once though, and that was almost at the end of the dinner, when she felt hist strong gaze on her and immediately blushed. She peered at him and he smirked in response, then he got up and said it was getting late already so they should go to sleep, as tomorrow will be an exhausting day. He was baffling her. The first time they met he was angry, then he was sweet and now he was… strange, acting like they never talked or saw one another which complicated the situation unnecessarily. She didn't understand him at all right now.

"You are right." Said Silver along with a sigh, as he got up as well and turned to his son, "Gray I think you should accompany miss Juvia to her room. It's not polite of us to let her walk alone, plus I think you two should discuss about giving her a tour of this place when she has some time. I would like her to know what our company can do."

Gray couldn't wait to escape from his father and be alone with the blunette. He didn't want to show Silver that he was interested in Juvia or that they knew each other for it was none of his business, and it would be complicated if his father found out he had a thing for her. Besides that, he was frightened that for the first time ever he was glad to accomplish a "task" Silver gave him, that being taking Juvia for a tour around the resort. He would love to show the gorgeous bleunette the surroundings… even more so his room. Which if he thought about it, was right across from his, a bonus for him.

"You don't have to bother, really. I can go by myself, there is no need-" this time she was the one interrupted by him.

"There is no need for you to worry, you are not bothering anyone. It would be my pleasure to accompany you to your room. Besides… I owe you for being late" he looked at her so persuasively that she could not say no, on top of that she had some questions for him, so she accepted.

"Well if you say that, then please" as she said that she got next to him and turned to say goodnight to Silver.

After they said their goodbyes and were out of Silver's sight she turned around so she could see Gray and told him:

"Soo… we meet yet again. And this time we need to work together" she said as she giggled a little at him.

"Yeah. Told you it was crazy how our schedules linked together."

He was testing the waters, trying to get her to laugh and make sure she is not upset because he pretended not to know her. He wanted to tell her that he didn't want his stupid dad to interfere for the sake of not destroying what little they had, considering that as strange as it sounded he was attracted to her in a weird manner, even though they didn't know each other that well. Gray soon found out that she was acting like before, when they met outside of their rooms. She wasn't upset with him and did not question his behavior, which he was fond of. He didn't want her to find out about the fucked up relationship between him and his father and scare her away, it was too soon to tell her about that… maybe later.

Walking Juvia to her room didn't take that much time to his misfortune and they were getting close to their stop. He watched her in hopes she would say something and miraculously stop the time, but then his eyes traveled again to taking in her forms. Her leg was so fucking log and tempting he almost couldn't hold it in him anymore, and her breasts… good God, her breasts…

Juvia wanted to ask him why he did that, why he acted like they never met before. But after analyzing his behavior towards his father and how tense he was, she decided not to. They were going to work together this week and the one after that she will treat him out to dinner, if their relationship will develop and become good friends he will tell her then if he wants, but right now is not the time nor the place for that.

She looked up at him and saw the way he was looking at her, she saw his onyx pools get filled up with want, and then he looked right in her eyes making her heart beat faster.

"I think we arrived."

"oh! Yes." She suddenly realized they were in front of their rooms, which brought her a sense of relief. She didn't know how to name the sensation she was feeling when he was with her, but it certainly wasn't a good one. He was her boss and even if she felt like if given time, the relationship between them could potentially grow into something more, she couldn't possibly be more then friends with him, if that was even possible. So she got back to her senses and decided to say something as she saw Gray was growing tense by the second.

"Thank you for accompanying me. I hope we will do a great job tomorrow, good night Mister Fullbuster."

"Jeesh. You don't have to call me that, Gray is just fine! And I'm sure we will do an amazing job together."

He then received from her the most beautiful and gentle smile he has ever seen, one that could compete his mother and Ur, the only women he appreciated and loved his entire life. After he got back to earth and realized he was holding her outside of the door he managed to say a "goodnight" and went in his room.

The next day they met in the lobby and decided to first go grab something to eat. They served breakfast at one of the boots because according to Gray they had the best coffee and sandwiches. Juvia was surprised he opted for such food, not to be judgemental or anything but she thought since he made that scene at the restaurant and was the next CEO of a big company he would be more of a picky eater. But that was not the case it seems, he had a great appetite and ate everything it was offered to him. He grinned at her from time to time and asked her if the food was tasty, Juvia actually liked the food but the coffee not so much, she was more of a tea person, but she gave the coffee a try regardless.

"I hope you didn't mind I brought you here. I thought I should show you that this place had more to offer, as far as food goes, than just the restaurant."

"Oh, no! I really did enjoy the sandwich, it was refreshing"

"I'm glad then!" he said that along with a smile on his face. "And the coffee? You liked that too?"

"It was good, but I'm more of a tea person actually"

"Aaa, I see" After a short break in which none of them said anything Gray told Juvia, while looking into his coffee mug, with a some what bashful look on his face and a voice above a mere whisper "I'm glad I'm learning more about you", then he blushed and turned his head sideways so that she wouldn't see him. Juvia didn't hear him well though because of all the noise going on around them, but when she asked him to repeat what he said, he changed the subject and told her they should head to the office to start working as it was a tiring and long process to find out a way to do something to this place.

The day passed fairly quickly. Between reading files, watching the money flow, analyzing some old contracts and Gray's occasional glances at Juvia, the day was productive. Tomorrow Juvia will determine exactly the amount of money there is and what part of that could be offered to reinvest and Gray will finish sorting through the contracts. Then, Thursday and Friday they will work together to come up with a battle plan and ideas for reviving the resort, Saturday was a free day and Sunday was the day Juvia will find out if she'll be hired or not.

It was Thursday evening and everything was going smooth. They had come up with new ideas and found some good contracts they can use to rebuild. Gray wanted to give bigger windows to the hotel, so that people would see better the beautiful sight, make a path through the forest leading to the nearby lake and transform it into a rink. He thought to build a big fire pit that will fire at night, where the clients can go and have fun while cooking some marshmallows and telling stories but where they will also meet new people. A big board next to the slope, for everybody to see, with all kinds of contests from building the craziest snowman to who can eat the most, the winners receiving all kinds of prizes, and finally but most importantly make the coffee and sandwich booth into a restaurant, giving the menu an update with some extra street foods from all around the world. He reasoned that not all the people that come here want to eat fancy food all the time.

"Sometimes, going for a sandwich or a salad is better than eating sexy food all the time" he said and made Juvia laugh.

"Sexy food?" she said through laughter giving Gray, who was a pinch red in the cheeks, a suggestive look.

"Yeah!" he said as he scratched the back of his head, "That's what I call it, because it always looks like it's doing a pictorial for Playboy with how good looking it is"

"You have a weird and sense of humor, but it's funny"

"You think so? I thought all my jokes shortened the lifespan of the people hearing it"

Juvia got closer to him and hit him lightly on the shoulder while smiling, "Don't say that, your jokes aren't that bad".

"Thank you for thinking that way"

They finished the job for the day and were both tired, but Gray didn't want to just go in his room and stay alone for the rest of the evening, given that they finished kind of early than the days before. So he thought about a way to get Juvia to spend some extra time with him, because Tuesday and Wednesday they were so busy they did not have time to spend together and Gray found he didn't like that. He wanted to see more of the bulnette that caught his mind all the time. As they were packing up to go, Gray told her (after staring at her butt for a moment, because it looked so good in that thight skirt that had, yet again, a slit in it. He figured out she either had a thing for them or she liked to cause him physical and psychological pain, anyway she looked beautiful in them) if she had some plans going on for the evening, she put a finger up to her chin and thought for a little, after a while saying that she has no plans indeed. And then her phone ringed maniacally that it almost fell off the table. Juvia excused herself and answered the phone but she didn't even have the chance to say hello because the voice behind the phone yelled hysterically at her right away.

"Juvia! I hope you have a good fucking excuse 'cuz I'm gonna beat yo ass when you come back home!"

Author notes

Hy guys! Firstly I hope you like this chapter, I am trying my best! I wanted to tell you that, for now, I will try to post a chapter every Thursday and also (I'm sorry I didn't told you this in the beginning, but by this time I think you figured it out) I made Gray and Juvia a little OOC, hope you don't mind that much. One more thing, I had to select a second genre for the story and I went with humor… even though I am not that good at that, but as I don't like to lie I will sparkle some jokes (even if some are lame) here and there. Have a good week!