The Concept of Forever

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Author's Note: I said I'd get this out a lot sooner than I actually did. But, really, when have I ever actually updated on anything resembling a schedule? AT LEAST YOU GUYS ARE GETTING UPDATES OKAY. (though this chapter is a little shorter than the others I'm really sorry okay it's still a good chapter I promise)

~x~

Chapter Four: Aftermath of the Storm

Elie shot up at the roll of thunder, her heart racing. It was dark now, but given the ferocity of the storm outside, it could still be the afternoon. She rubbed her eyes, trying to gain an idea of how long she had been crying, and consequently, how long she had been asleep. Her room flashed blue with lightning, halting her train of thought immediately.

Instinctively, the brunette pulled her blanket around her shoulders, curling up. Not too long after her family had arrived on Garage Island, she had gotten lost outside right before a particularly brutal storm struck. Despite their best efforts, everyone who had gone out to look for her – her parents, Sieg, and Haru's parents – was unsuccessful, and so she had been forced to endure one of the worst storms to ever hit the island alone and outside, which left her permanently terrified of thunderstorms.

Normally, Sieg would make her a nice mug of hot cocoa and Niebel would come in and keep her company during the storm, but the men had left for the mainland two days ago. Elie didn't really know all of the details, but for one week every two months, they traveled to the city of Mildian to visit Niebel's mother. Elie couldn't really remember much about how Niebel came to be living with them full-time; he had sort of just appeared on their doorstep when he was about three. Sieg refused to reveal the details, and Elie stopped asking.

After a few minutes of nothing but rain, a buzzing appeared in the room. At first, Elie cringed back under her blankets in preparation for the pursuing thunder. Nothing followed, however, and after a second of confusion, the brunette realized that it was just her second cell phone going off in her nightstand.

Elie pulled it open and grabbed the sleek phone, seeing just a single text on the display. "I was going to ask if perhaps you'd join me for a stroll, but something tells me the rain isn't pleasant for walks?"

The idea of Lucia walking around in the rain made Elie smile, just a little. "I hate storms, so I'd pass even if it was." she sent back, lying back down on her bed. She wasn't used to having cell phone service in the rain; her normal phone lost it as soon as the rain hit. It was nice, having someone to talk to during the storm.

As always, his reply came almost immediately. "Really? I pegged you as the type to go playing in the rain."

"No way!"

For just a second, Elie found herself wishing that it was Haru she was texting and not Lucia. When they were younger, she used to spend some of the more brutal storms at his house, playing board-games and making blanket forts together. Whenever the thunder or lightning really started to pick up, she would cuddle up to him and he'd slowly soothe her to sleep, just like her parents used to do.

The thought of cuddling up to Haru left her feeling more drained than the actual storm. How she felt about him had never been a huge issue for her; they never caused her pain or heartache, at least, not before today.

Haru had been the only guy she had ever had feelings for. There had never been anyone else, nor had there ever been any guy interested in her. The whole island simply assumed that she was going to wind up with Haru, so what was the point trying to change that? Elie never questioned it before. She held on to the hope that maybe, just maybe, he would someday reciprocate her feelings and they could live happily ever after.

But today showed her just how stupid that was. While she had been waiting for him to see her as more than his best friend, he had found some blue-haired-bimbo overseas.

Elie sighed. No, Celia wasn't a bimbo. She was bubbly and, admittedly, adorable in that same younger-sibling sense that Niebel was. She couldn't blame the younger girl for falling for Haru, after all, seeing as she had been in love with him for as long as she could remember. And if her best friend was happy with her, who was she to dislike her?

That did not, however, take away from the ache that followed the idea of having to spend time with the two of them together soon.

For the first time, the brunette wondered if maybe her decision not to speak about how she felt had been the wrong one. She had figured that keeping it a secret would be best; he would never find out if she never said anything, and it would save them all from the awkwardness that would follow if he did not return her feelings. In the end, Elie had simply decided to put their friendship first. Until today, she hadn't regretted it.

She hadn't regretted anything concerning Haru until today. But, maybe this is what happens, she thought, finally picking up her phone and checking Lucia's text. Maybe the first person you fall in love with isn't the person you end up with? After all, I'm sure Sieg loved Niebel's mama and they aren't together.

But where does that leave me? How I've felt about him has been such a huge aspect of my life. Is it even possible for me to move on at this point?

The question resonated throughout her mind as she laid down again, deciding to sleep rather than deal with the storm alone. She'd iron out the details in the morning.

When Elie awoke, it was early morning. Pearly light filtered through her windows, and the storm had dissolved into nothing more than a gentle tapping on her roof. Across her room, her alarm clock flickered at midnight, giving her no way of judging what time it was. Not that she had any intention of leaving her bed today. No, she had decided to take today as a girls' day. Pamper herself with what little beauty supplies she had collected over the years and force herself to forget about Haru and his tight-clothes wearing lady.

First, however, she had to convince herself to get out of bed.

Storms were one thing, but the lazy day that followed were perhaps just as bad. Everyone was inspecting their property and/or boats for damage. Those that had family caught in the storm anxiously awaited their return. By tonight, if there had been any tragedies, the town would have planned a candle-lit service in their honor. For the most part, however, Garage Island knew how to handle itself during a thunderstorm. The people, though simple, were hardy and conditioned to the severity.

Just as Elie had finally managed to leave the warmth of her blankets, she heard someone knocking loudly on the door. Immediately, she froze. Her house was away from everyone else's, hidden by trees and other forest-like scenery. Before her parents had died, they had bought it for Sieg as a starter home. Once they died, however, and he had to take care of Elie, and eventually Niebel, he wasn't able to afford anything more spectacular and so they remained. The only one of her friend's that knew where she lived was Haru, so unless someone was just going door to door, Elie suspected that her day of beauty-therapy might not go the way she planned.

"Coming," she called, shedding her wrinkled clothes from yesterday. She hadn't even bothered to change out of what she had worn to school last night, but rather than throw on a fresh pair of jeans, the brunette decided on her pajama's; long yoga pants and loose tank top.

The knocking did not stop, not until she yanked open the door. "Haru?" she asked, frowning. He was wet from the rain, but it was the sour look on his face that caught her immediate attention. "Uh, you alright?"

"How long have you been talking to Lucia?" he demanded, violet eyes flashing. The brunette blinked, one hand still on the door handle and the other hanging limply at her side. "I thought we agreed he was a tool?!"

Elie opened her mouth to reply, but Haru wasn't finished yet. "God, sometimes it drives me crazy that you know next to nothing about the outside world, Elie!" he said, throwing his hands up into the air in exasperation. "His father is the founder of the most evil company in the world! They do bad stuff to good people! They use evil magic to do even worse things! It's like you don't even care about any of that!"

"I don't!" snapped Elie, her patience dwindling. "Times like these make me glad I don't have access to the mainland, because it means that when a new person moves to town, I don't have some pre-wired bias against them!"

Haru stared at her in shock for a few seconds before closing his eyes and shaking his head. "You don't understand, Elie –"

"No, I understand perfectly," interrupted Elie. "You guys all don't like him and because we've been friends for so long, you think that I'm just naturally going to agree with you. Well, you know what Haru? My whole life doesn't revolve around you!"

At the last word, she slammed the door shut, her whole body trembling with a combination of anger at his words and sorrow at the look on his face before the door shut. They had never argued like that before, and it had certainly never ended on such a bitter note. Sure, like all childhood friends, they had their occasional spat. But it usually ended with one of them apologizing and that was it.

This time, Elie knew that it was different. Lucia had shown her nothing but kindness, and she was not going to tolerate listening to her friends speak badly about him without any sort of justification.

Finally, her body relaxed and she slumped against the door. There was more to it than that, though, she knew. All of her frustration at how oblivious he was to how she felt…all that heartache that came with imagining him and Celia together…

It had been too much, and it exploded out. Guilt washed over her, and she nearly opened the door and went running out to find him and apologize for what she had said.

He's got no right to be such an ass to Lucia.

Sighing, she pushed herself off the door and returned to her bedroom. So many conflicted feelings to deal with. After standing awkwardly in the middle of her bedroom for a second, Elie began to undress again, this time pulling on actual clothes and heading into the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth.

Sitting around and brooding over the whole mess wasn't going to help anything, she knew. And since she didn't have any sort of music player or electronic to dull away her thoughts, Elie was going to do the one thing that she loved more than virtually anything; dance. She had been dancing classes when she was younger, but they couldn't afford them after Niebel moved in, so she mostly just did freestyle. However, she was by far the best dancer on the island – and her former instructor even went so far as to say that she was the best dancer that she had ever seen.

Because their house was so small, Elie rarely danced here. Instead, she normally went to a secluded part of the island where she was safe was anyone finding her. Dancing was her passion, and though her talent was no real secret – there had been talk about her becoming a star when she was younger – she still didn't feel comfortable with people watching her. It felt like an invasion of privacy, to her.

Dressed and freshened up, the brunette slipped out of her house. They didn't bother locking it up; what did they have worth stealing? Besides, Elie was too set on getting to her spot and dancing away her troubles.

She reached her usual spot in just a few minutes and, without any music, began to dance. All at once, her thoughts vanished into nothing except for the way her body was moving. It wasn't any sort of the popular dances that the girls at school did during prom, but it was enough.

When she finally finished her dance, the brunette was sweating and felt incredibly warm. The rain was cold, but light, and it seemed to seep through her clothes just as easily as the sweat had. A smile appeared on her face as she looked up at the sky and welcomed the raindrops on her hot skin.

"You should dance like that more often."

The brunette swiveled around on her heels, heart skipping a beat. This was a private place, somewhere that she found so that she could be alone. "What are you doing here?" she gasped, breathless.

Haru looked down at the ground, leaning against a tree at the edge of where she had been dancing. "I saw you coming up here once and I followed you," he explained with a shrug. "I don't, like, stalk you or anything!" he suddenly cried, his eyes widening. "I just sometimes see you coming up this way and, uh, earlier, I went back to your house to apologize, and you weren't there, so I thought…you know, maybe…"

His voice trailed off as he slowly receded back into himself, hands shoved deep in his pockets. Elie watched him carefully, her eyes tracing the worry lines on his face. "You shouldn't have followed me," she finally said, turning away. "This is my, my sanctuary. I come here when I need to be alone."

"I know," he said softly, sighing. "I just…I just want to apologize. For whatever I did to make you so angry with me. I don't…will you please tell me what I did?" He moved forward as he spoke, eyes locked onto her face with a gaze that she would not return. "Is it just because of what I said about Lucia? I'm not, like, trying to be a jerk about it, I just, you know, don't want to see you get hurt because of him."

Before she knew what she was doing, Elie started laughing. The irony of his words was just too funny to ignore. "You're worried that he's going to hurt me?" she repeated, shaking her head. "Lucia's been nothing but a sweetheart to me."

"Well, yeah, that's sort of what tools do, Elie."

If she was the violent sort of person, Elie knew that she would have slapped him right then and there. However, because she wasn't violent, she merely stood there and glared at him. "He came to my house today," he said, finally getting annoyed. "Asked if you were single, and I told him that you were. Wanna know what he said then?

"'Oh good, the sweet and innocent ones are always the best.' I'm not shitting around here, Elie, that's exactly what he said!" he said, grabbing her arm as she tried to turn away. Elie rolled her eyes, feeling her anger bubbling up inside her.

"What does it matter to you?!" she cried, her voice cracking. "Someone's actually interested in me, and this is how you react? God, you're such an ass!"

"I'm the ass?!"

"Yes!" shrieked Elie, ripping her arm free. "No one else has ever even shown the slightest amount of interest in me! Never! Everyone else has girls or guys falling over for them sideways, but, no! Not me! So why is such an issue that finally – finally – someone actually sees me as more than 'Haru's girlfriend'?!"

The blond blinked, mouth open in response that Elie would not allow him to vocalize. "I'm glad that he's interested in me! And, you know what? If he asks me out, I'll definitely be saying yes!"

"You will?"

"I don't exactly have a reason not to."

Something changed in the air then. Before, it had a had almost seemed like Haru had deflated, popped by her words and her tears. Now, however, there was a spark set in his eyes that Elie had never seen before. "Is that all, then?" he asked softly, his voice low. "You want a reason to say no?"

Elie was about to answer when he closed the distance between them fiercely, grabbing her arms tightly and pressing himself against her body so tightly, the brunette could almost feel his rib cage digging into her own.

And he kissed her until the two fell to the ground under the sheer force.

~x~

Author's Note: That seems like a good place to leave off, yeah?! :D Again, sorry for taking so long, I worked a really long couple of weeks so I was just too tired and whatnot to write. But it's here now, so I hope you all enjoyed! I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can!