Author's note - Hey everyone, I'm back with another chapter at last! Sorry it's a little later than expected - not that that's anything new - and also not exactly packed with plot development. It's all relevant though. There's some Cliff x Ann fluff and background to Gray's feelings about Mary. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: The Scarlet Sky, Flaming Black Skull, Awesome Rapidash and kelley28.
So Called Friends
By the time he reached the Inn, Gray was soaked through.
As he pushed the door open, Ann looked up from the table she was busily wiping. Her bright blue eyes swept over him searchingly. "Raining, is it?" she asked. There was brief pause before her mouth twitched into smile and she burst out laughing at her own joke.
She wasn't the only one either, although Cliff's nervous chuckle didn't bother Gray all that much. By the seems of it he was trying his best to ask his girlfriend something and laughing along was simply a way of keeping her on side. And as Gray watched his friend lingering warily by Ann's table, he noticed he'd even dragged a comb through his wild hair.
"So I was, er, thinking," Cliff stuttered. "That if you can get off work later - "
Ann whirled around at his words, almost whipping her boyfriend in the face with her braid. "But I can't," she stressed, wringing the cloth with some agitation. "I've got to work. I keep telling you, don't I?"
"Reality check, Ann: the place is empty!" His voice even echoed around the deserted room as if to perfectly illustrate this point.
Ann's reply, however, was yet another hysterical outburst. "Well it won't be later, will it? We'll have all our regulars in then. Karen, Rick, Duke - " Her eyes flew back to Gray for around the fifth time. "Probably your Grandfather, too."
He only grunted, hoping that the bickering would resume and Ann would be distracted. He could just tell she was dying to interrogate him about where he'd been. But unfortunately for Gray, even his so-called friend was staring now, so he didn't get his reprieve.
He went to slip around them and up the stairs, when Ann decided she could hold her curiosity in no longer. "Look, I know it's none of my business - "
"Then why ask," Gray muttered, but only very quietly.
" - It's just that I know you're hardly a bundle of laughs at the best of times, but I've seen more cheer in a cemetery than what's on your face right now!"
Gray said nothing, as he supposed this was partly true, but Cliff went beetroot with embarrassment on his girlfriend's behalf. "Ann," he mumbled, mortified, shooting Gray a quick apologetic look. "That's not very...uh...nice," he finished lamely, while Ann frowned.
"Well I thought I'd better at least ask," she retorted fiercely, now wringing the cloth as though she wished it were Cliff's neck.
He opened his mouth to answer back, but Gray, struck by sudden inspiration, got there first. "It's my hand," he explained, wafting it around while they both blinked at the bandages. "Cut it at work, didn't I? Had to have stitches as well."
As far as Gray was concerned, that would be the end of the matter and he could finally slink off to his room undeterred.
He was wrong. Of course he was. What had he been expecting: good luck for a change?
Instead, he was forced to endure Ann's endless apologies and fussing and questions until at long, long last the first customer of the evening arrived and she bustled off. Thank Goddess for that, Gray thought dashing for the sanctuary of his room.
Cliff was already there, sat at the end of his bed, twirling a strand of dark hair distractedly. Just like Gray, he wasn't a big fan of the busy evenings in the bar, so often hid away instead.
There was silence in the room, while Gray went about fiddling with his bandages. He tried not to mind the slightly uneasy atmosphere.
"Sorry about Ann," Cliff sighed, after a moment. He shook his head a little in exasperation. "You know how she can be a little, well...tactless at times."
Gray attempted a grin, but it came out as more of a grimace despite his best efforts. "A little?" he said, laughing humourlessly.
There was another pause, before Cliff spoke up tentatively. "I - I really like her, y'know."
"Oh! I wasn't trying to be insulting - " Gray explained hurriedly. He flopped down on his own bed and turned to face Cliff, feeling, with some annoyance, his face burning deep scarlet.
But his friend just smiled. "I know," he sighed once again, still with an odd grin fixed on his face. "I was just saying really..." He soon trailed off, sounding dreamy and caught up in his own little 'Ann and Cliff' world.
Gray mimed vomiting in protest of the unbelievably girly attitude Cliff was displaying, but he did it silently and while his friend's back was turned. To be honest, the main source of his irritation was simply the fact that Cliff had wooed his girl successfully, while he hadn't. Even more irritating though, was how Cliff had had stumbled and stuttered his way into his relationship with Ann and somehow - for want of a better phrase - had come up smelling of roses.
Gray, on the other hand, had tried to play it cool with Mary. With hindsight, too cool obviously.
He'd sit in the Library being as quiet and mysterious as possible thinking that she wouldn't be interested in someone who was too forward. Though actually, when he first came to Mineral Town he genuinely wasn't interested in her at all. The Library was his quiet, little bolthole in a an otherwise unfamiliar town; he felt like he belonged there for some reason. The infatuation with Mary had come along much later.
She was so intelligent and composed and beautiful and, honestly, he was just completely in awe of her. Yet despite all that - no matter how much he felt it - not once did she make him feel as though they were on different levels. In fact, deep down, he always felt he had a chance with Mary.
And actually, speaking of roses, he'd given her one once. Just the one (as that was costly enough) with striking blood red petals all in perfect velvety formation around a thorn studded stem. He thought he was being so romantic when he left it on Mary's desk one afternoon in the Library when her back was turned, but those were the pre-Jack days. Only a few weeks after his gift, Jack's interest in the Librarian started to climb and his paltry single rose was soon ousted by a first edition copy of her favourite childhood book shipped specially from the city.
Being the height of politeness and sensitivity, Mary didn't exactly toss Gray's present into the street with the rubbish, but the strange, rosy glow that hung about her after recieving Jack's gift was crushing enough. Suddenly, the Library just wasn't his cosy little hideaway anymore.
Cliff had long since drifted downstairs to keep Ann company, so Gray allowed himself to let out a long sigh. He flopped down onto his bed and, in the dim fading light of the room, had nearly sucumbed to a restless sleep when there was a resounding knock at the door.
"Gray?" Ann's voice ventured from the corridor. "You in there?"
With a faint trace of a sigh, he leapt from the bed and scrambled to the door. "Of course I am," he mumbled as her anxious face came into view. Her eyes were wider than usual as she observed him critically like a concerned parent. Gray just rolled his own eyes. "What is it Ann?"
"I'm sorry about earlier," she answered, avoiding his rather rude question carefully. Stepping past him, Ann entered the room and stared around. It did annoy Gray slightly, but she lived here, her father even owned the place, so he could hardly ask her to leave.
"What?" he repeated gruffly.
"Nothing," Ann insisted, though Gray knew that was a lie. She was now glancing from the ceiling to the walls as if they fascinated her. Meanwhile, Gray was fast growing impatient.
"Look, if there's something you want - "
In a way that was highly unlike her, Ann hesitated. "I, well, um..." Her eyes darted back and forth, as though she was desperately trying to avoid something. All of a sudden though, a relieved smile appeared on her face and she laughed, "Oh, Cliff! Good timing!"
And there, stood in the doorway, was the young traveller. He gave Gray a nervous little grin, smiled shyly at Ann and then, looking even more worried, turned back to the blacksmith who was beginning to look very suspicious indeed.
"What?" he asked yet again, this time hissing in his most menacing tone. All he wanted was some peace and quiet, and maybe to sleep. He doubted it would be much of a deep sleep, granted, but if the only time he'd be plagued by Mary was through his dreams, then he wanted to make the most of them.
"Saibara's in the bar," Cliff explained. "He said something about your hand and why didn't you come back after going to the Clinic...?" He shrugged. "Anyway, I take it from your expression that Ann's informed you of our little plan."
The ground below Gray seemed to have fallen away sharply. A...plan!? Good Goddess, what now?
Cliff's dark eyes suddenly seemed lit with worry. He was watching Gray's expression carefully as he muttered, "Oh. So she hasn't told you then?"
Gray simply shook his head, too numb to speak, but Ann exploded, "No! Of course I haven't, idiot!"
Cliff could only wince at his girlfriend's high-pitched, high-decibel interruption. "Sorry," he muttered. "But maybe - maybe it was a stupid idea anyway..."
For one blissful moment, Gray thought he would be spared whatever horrors they'd dreamed up, but Ann wasn't having any of it. Shaking her head so her fiery braid wiggled, she clasped his wrist and dragged him into a sitting position on the edge of Cliff's bed. "Nonsense! It's my plan, therefore the perfect plan and, well, not really so much of a plan as some - er - advice."
"No offense, but I don't take to advice that well," Gray interjected quickly. He tried to stand up, but Ann clung to him, her thin, pale fingers surprisingly strong.
"Sit."
So Gray sat, glancing as he did so at his so-called friend, who was still leaning against the door frame. Cliff stayed silent, but he did seem to be trying to signal something through his facial expressions. Regret, no doubt, though Gray purposely chose to ignore it. He turned back to Ann.
"So? What is you want to tell me, then?" He stopped to snort with laughter. "Or indeed...suggest?"
Ann couldn't manage to completely hide her embarrassment. Yet despite her flushed skin, her demeanour was as determined as ever. "It's not like that, Gray," she told him quietly and slowly, as though dealing with a young child. "It's just we - that is, Cliff and I - think you've become a bit unhappy since...since, well...you know."
"No I don't know," Gray retorted hurriedly, folding his arms and frowning at the pair. He didn't like where this was going at all.
"Since Mary's wedding, of course," Cliff replied instantly.
And with that, the blacksmith forgot to act as though he was oblivous and exclaimed, "Huh? How d'you know that?"
Ann and Cliff exchanged a very knowing, smug look. "It's obvious," Ann laughed.
"Completely," her boyfriend chipped in, almost straight after. They shared yet another gooey grin and it seemed for a second as though they'd be drawn into happy, dreamy Couple Land, so that Gray would be left alone. No such luck though.
The young waitress patted his arm sympathetically instead. "It's like you're permeanently tuned into all things Mary," she explained. "And naturally, as your friends, we've found it very difficult to ignore."
Cliff nodded in a agreement, while Gray was left speechless. Glancing between the two, he didn't really know what to think. On one hand, he hated the idea of them knowing this much. And yet...? In a kind of grudging way, he liked it. They were his friends after all and they did care. Even if their approach did slightly worry him.
And somewhere along the line, that same thought prompted him to agree to their plan when he heard it.
No matter how much he was likely to regret it in the end.
A/N - So, just what are Ann and Cliff plotting, eh? All will be revealed next chapter, which I'm greatly looking forward to writing. Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!