Yuletide Lessons
Chapter 9
December 19th
"You couldn't possibly understand my feelings!"
"You're right, I don't understand. I don't understand how you can be so confused over something like this!"
"It's not like I meant for this to happen. I didn't ask for this."
"Whether you asked for it or not you've got it. Now the question is, what will you do about it? Because I won't wait forever."
"What does that mean? Are you giving me an ultimatum?"
"No, I'm giving you a choice and you'd better think long and hard about it or you'll end up alone."
"Don't you walk away from me. We aren't finished."
"There's nothing more I have to say at this point. Figure out what you truly want and if it's me you want, then I'll be around."
The screen faded to black.
"Wow, can we say ironic? The heck am I watching anyways?" Lucy mumbled, as the show went to commercial.
She was still so confused and torn. What the heck should she do about all this? At first it hadn't been a problem, more like a nuisance. But now, now she didn't know. The constant thoughtful and rather romantic gifts she was receiving weighed heavily upon her conscience. She knew she would continue to go in circles until she managed to find somebody to talk to about all this. Lucy sighed and glanced at the clock finding it after five, wondering what Rogue was up to at the moment. He'd said he would be busy today with a few errands that couldn't wait but would be free tomorrow for more Christmas stuff. She couldn't believe how bored and sad she felt without his presence around her.
How much more livelier the room was with Fro's cute little voice bouncing around. How his calm demeanor always seemed to make her relax without her even noticing.
"I wonder what I'll do when Christmas is over and he'll have to go back to his guild?" She mused aloud, feeling a pang of sadness overwhelm her. Over these few weeks she'd come to look forward to his presence around her and she didn't want to go back to how it was before. No, she wouldn't. She had to figure this out. Lucy stood and grabbed her coat, buckled her boots and scrambled out the door intent on getting to the guild. She didn't know who she would find but she needed to get this off her chest or she would explode. Her heart thundered in her ears and she relaxed a bit seeing the huge building ahead of her. Lucy wasted no time flinging open the heavy door and closed it quickly behind her shutting out the cold winds. She dusted the snow off her coat and looked around as a chorus of "Hey there Lucy," "Hi Lucy!" Welcomed her. She waved back with a smile and scanned the few people inside. Her eyes lit on Levy and Erza at the bar and made her way towards them keeping a lookout for the she-devil.
"Hey Levy, Erza." She smiled as she took a seat besides the redhead.
Levy lowered her book and smiled back. "Hey there Lucy! What brings you to the guild?"
"Good evening Lucy. I trust you're well?" Erza inquired as she shoveled another piece of cake into her mouth.
"Um yeah about that." She faltered looking around one more time for that head of white hair before leaning closer to the women.
"Something wrong Lucy?" Levy whispered, looking around too wondering what she was trying to find.
"Someone bothering you Lucy?" Erza demanded softly.
Lucy waved her arms. "No no, nothing like that. But… It's just..." She sighed looking down and fiddled with the zipper on her jacket.
Levy got up and slipped onto the stool next to the blonde setting her hand on her shoulder getting her attention with a comforting smile.
"It's ok Lucy. Whatever you need to talk about we'll listen and try to help. So just take a deep breath and let's hear what's bothering you."
Erza nodded as she turned to give the blonde her full attention.
"Ok see it's like this. There's this guy I really like and I've been spending a lot of time with him recently, but I have no idea if he likes me in the same way."
"Ah, I see. So you wish to know if this young man returns your feelings?" Erza asked.
"Yeah," Lucy nodded. "But that's not all."
"Go on." Levy urged.
"Well for a couple of days now I've gotten some gifts and they aren't just any old gifts either. These are well thought out complete with endearing messages attached and I have no clue who's sending them."
"Oh, you mean like that one you got here yesterday?" Levy asked.
"Yeah." Lucy frowned. "But until these gifts came I thought my feelings were clear and my heart knew who it wanted." She glanced from Levy to Erza. "But now I'm so confused." She whispered.
"What's confusing you Lucy?" Levy asked.
She threw her hands up in frustration. "Everything. I know I like this guy and if the gifts had been ordinary ones instead of thoughtful romantic ones I wouldn't be having this problem."
Levy nodded. "So, you're torn between a guy you like and this mystery person whose showering you with romantic gifts."
Lucy nodded and bit her lip.
"I can see how this would be frustrating indeed." Erza replied, crossing her arms.
"My heart was set on this guy and then this had to happen and it threw everything else into confusion and now I'm so lost."
The girl's looked thoughtful before Levy piped up. "Hey, what about trying to find out who this mystery person is? Maybe if you found out you could figure out if they would be someone you want to be with?"
Lucy leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah I've thought about that too." She frowned and looked down at the bar. "But I can't ask Ro..." She faltered as she almost blurted out his name, only to frown as the two women smiled gently.
"Oh Lucy, it's not as if we don't have any clue as to who it is you like." Levy giggled.
"You mean you guys know?" Lucy whispered, her eyes going wide.
"Well we are your family Lucy so anything that affects you affects us, and we aren't as oblivious as the boys." Erza responded with a laugh.
"Oh," Lucy replied. "Well in that case I don't have to talk in riddles with you two. But back to my point. There's no way I can ask Rogue to help me, I'm not even sure how he feels about this mystery person sending me gifts, or if he even cares."
"What makes you think he doesn't care?" Levy asked.
The blonde shrugged. "I don't know how he feels, that's part of the problem."
The girls fell silent for a moment until another voice piped up.
"I think perhaps you should just relax, let things develop and see how this all turns out."
The girls looked up to see the gently smiling face of Mira leaning on the bar.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked.
The barmaid shrugged slightly. "Don't worry too much about it. When you just let things play out, things have a way of working themselves out. No use working yourself into a mental wreck over this."
Lucy was stunned. Here was Mira not only not going off into one of her relationship fantasies, but she was also being extremely calm and helpful. Did the world turn upside down while she wasn't looking?
"Here Lucy," She pushed a tin towards the blond. "Take this home and brew some up. It's herbal tea that helps relax the body and mind, sounds like you need it." She patted the blonde's hand softly. "Now, go home and get some rest and try not to over think things, ok?"
Lucy nodded slowly with a small smile, slipped the tin in her pocket as she made her way to the door. "I'll talk to you guys later." She turned back and waved at the three women. "Thanks you guys, that helped a lot." Before she went out the door.
"Poor Lucy," Levy murmured still gazing at the door. "I hope she figures it all out."
Mira patted her hand soothingly. "I'm sure everything will turn out just fine."
Lucy felt marginally better as she stamped her feet up the stairs to her apartment only to pause seeing a bag hanging from her door knob.
"Huh, looks like I got another one." She grabbed it, opened her door, shutting it and locking it behind her. "Wonder what's in this one?"
She hung up her coat and slipped off her boots approaching the bag sitting on the kitchen table with a sigh. "Alright, everything will be ok. Don't over think things." She kept muttering to herself as she opened the bag and brought out a delicate looking watch on a chain, making her breath whoosh out.
"It's gorgeous." She whispered, but try as she might she couldn't find a note, so disappointed she studied the watch and noticed a latch on the side.
"Looks like it opens."
She fiddled with it for a few minutes before finally managing to open it and found an engraving on the inside.
"I will always have time for you." She whispered in awe. Lucy traced over the engraving gently with a finger as she got lost within her thoughts again.
"I hope Mira was right, because this is just getting more and more complicated." She groaned.
(¯`¥´¯`·.¸.:¨NIchiki ¨:.¸.·´¯`¥´¯)
