Chapter Fifteen: Hime
I took a back-alley way to the forest. Sure, it was longer, but I didn't want anyone staring at me when I went down the street looking like I was dressed for a masquerade ball. I was careful not to dirty the dress though, since this had been my Mother's outfit.
I also have to talk to you about something… the words repeated in my head. My first instinct had been to immediately assume he was talking about the Gemini issue. That he had somehow gotten word of it and wanted to talk about it. And normally, your first instinct was right which was why I panicked. So much for being able to choose when I wanted to talk…
Finally, I reached the forest where it was a bit cooler because of the extra shade. I had no idea why Gray had predicted a change in the weather; it seemed warm/hot now. Finally, I reached the lake. I looked around, where is he?
Suddenly Gray emerged from a few trees surrounding the lake. He was a bit wide-eyed as he looked at me. I realised he was still wearing his usual pants and immediately felt stupid, "Y-Yeah, it's a bit inappropriate…"
"No, it looks good on you," said Gray, shaking his head, still looking a bit surprised. I had no idea why. But then he smiled, "I never thought they made stuff like that here."
"No, it was my Mother's," I said, "Father gave it to me this morning."
"Yeah," said Gray, "I heard the girls plotting that." He laughed a bit, "Anyway, ready for your birthday surprise?"
Not really…
"Yeah, sure," I smiled, hoping it didn't look too fake. He didn't seem to notice as he placed his hands near the surface of the lake, "Ice Maho…"
Suddenly the whole lake froze as did the weather near us. Suddenly, I knew why he told me to dress warmly. He had frozen the lake for something and he needed the weather to drop as well so it wouldn't melt too quickly. I suddenly felt cold despite the full sleeved gown I was wearing.
"Wow," I said admiringly, as the surrounding trees covered with snow which suddenly started falling from above. Gray grinned and stood up, "I've been practising that for a few days now."
"It's gorgeous," I said, looking around at the now snow-covered area. It looked like something out of a postcard.
"That's not the surprise," said Gray, getting out a pair of skates, "This is."
I nearly looked scared for a moment. I had never skated before, except one time when I was little and I ended up falling flat on my face so I never skated again. I took the skates off him though and put them on, placing my heels next to a big oak tree. I slowly and carefully slid out on the lake, praying I won't land on my face again in front of Gray. He skated on next to me a short time later, except he didn't even need proper skates, he just made the bottom part out of ice and connected it to his shoes.
"I don't know how to," I ended up saying after a long and awkward silence with me just standing there, too afraid to skate out.
Gray smiled slightly and took my hands in his, "I do. It's like… dancing except it's easier to fall."
"That didn't make me feel any better," I said.
Gray laughed, "Just follow my lead."
He went off and I tried to remember what little I knew about skating. Which turned out to not be much at all.
"Ahhh!" I said in shock when I fell nearly immediately after we started.
But Gray managed to catch me behind my back and prevent me from falling.
"I won't let you fall," he said gently, helping me back up.
"Arigato," I said, blushing madly again. Honestly, I'd have to learn to cope with my facial expressions better…
As we pushed off again, Gray telling me advice from my side, I seemed to be getting better. Before I knew it, I actually began to really enjoy it. I closed my eyes, trusting that Gray would guide me wherever I went. I made little spins and leaps, landing solidly now instead of slipping over. I actually felt much at ease, forgetting all my problems. Until I heard Gray.
"You're doing great!" he called and I suddenly noticed he wasn't by my side anymore.
"EH?" I cried, opening my eyes and looking beside me. There was just air where Gray had been a few seconds ago. Or was it minutes? I couldn't remember anymore. I looked around and stopped skating to see Gray sitting on the snow covering the edge of the lake, "Yo."
"NANI?" I yelled in shock with big eyeballs I imagined, "So all this time, I thought I was going to be fine because you're guiding me and it turns out you weren't? What if I crashed into a tree or went off the lake or something?"
"But you didn't…" said Gray, scratching his head in confusion, "You were actually doing really well for a rookie. So I thought, 'hey, why not let her do her own thing?' and I let you go and you didn't do anything so I thought it was fine."
"Wait…" I said, thinking, "HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SITTING THERE?"
"Hmm… like an hour or something…"
"I'VE BEEN SKATING FOR AN HOUR?" I yelled, "So that means you saw the leaps and the spins and…"
"Yeah," said Gray like it was no big deal, "Although it did look a bit awkward with you doing it in a dress like that, you did it really well."
HOW EMBARRASSING! I thought miserably.
"Yeah… It's also getting pretty dark and that ice is melting so you better get off…" said Gray.
"OK," I said, skating over and hopping off. I took off the skates and handed them back, slipping on my heels again.
"Now," said Gray, "About that thing I wanted to talk to you about…"
Oh, God, I thought, slowly clicking my head around, "Yeah…?"
He sat down under a large tree sprinkled with snow but it had a clean space underneath with no snow. He patted the space next to him for me. I sat down, figuring it'd be better to get it over and done with.
"Well…" began Gray, "I had no idea that…"
I really couldn't take it anymore. I blurted out, "OK, whatever you heard about who loves who is true!" I really couldn't decide if I was relieved or not that Gray was bringing up the Gemini issue.
"Really?" said Gray, looking a bit sad, "I had no idea that you are Natsu were—"
"Wait, what?" I said, widening my eyes.
"You and Natsu," said Gray, "I had no idea that you two were already that serious."
"What?" I cried, "Natsu and I aren't… Oh…" I thought of the ring-sized box, "No, no, Natsu wasn't proposing to me!"
"I never thought he was!" said Gray, "Or, maybe I did, but as soon as Mira told me it was a necklace I went over to Natsu to see if it was true and it was."
"Good," I said, "So what's the big deal?"
"It was still something that hinted you guys were serious," said Gray.
"What?"
"You don't know these necklaces, do you?" asked Gray.
"Natsu said that these were friendship necklaces," I said, touching the pendant.
Gray shook his head, muttering, "Naturally Natsu. Anyway, they're the newest necklaces for boyfriend and girlfriends."
!
"NANI?" I yelled, my head expanding.
Gray nodded, "I walked past the shop the night you were sick when I left. They had a big promotional poster and God, they were expensive. The thing was, you were supposed to wear the initials of your girlfriend or boyfriend and that meant you were serious about each other. But if the necklace pendant started to dull overtime, it means the relationship isn't working anymore because it's magic. And Natsu had both your initials, L and H."
"H was supposed to stand for Happy," I said.
"… And the pendants were both glittering brighter than the sun," said Gray, "So I thought that you and Natsu had a really good relationship and I assumed you two were dating."
"We're not," I said, "We're just good friends."
"That's what Bisca and Alzack said too and look what happened," said Gray.
I suddenly had a light-bulb moment. I could use this to my advantage to find the answer I had wanted to know from the beginning.
"Why would you care if Natsu and I were dating?" I asked discreetly.
Instead of giving me a straight out answer which I could interpret, Gray said instead, "I don't know…"
I nearly pouted. I really wanted to know the answer. If he said he didn't care, I wouldn't have anything to worry about except maybe my broken heart and if he said he liked me, then I would have colossal problems involving Juvia.
"You've been avoiding me," he said suddenly.
"What?" was my first reaction.
"You have," said Gray, "That was another reason why I thought you and Natsu were going out."
"I haven't been…" I said, but even as I said it, I knew I sounded pathetic.
"Why?" said Gray, looking down.
"It's nothing," I said, sounding more convincing this time, "I didn't even realise I was doing it. I'm sorry."
Gray looked a bit suspicious but shrugged it off, getting up, "So what do you want to do now?"
"How about just going back to the guild?" I said, "I just want to relax on my day off."
"OK," said Gray. He helped me up and we went through the back-alley way and through a bit of street back to the guild. Suddenly, Natsu appeared around the corner, looking up, "Eh? Lucy and Gray too?"
"Natsu!" I yelled, immediately onto him, "You never told me these necklaces were for people in a relationship!"
"Huh? Was it?" said Natsu, thinking, "I just went in and they looked good so I bought them. Why? You want a different necklace? I still have some leftover money to buy some new ones."
"Can't you get a refund or swap it or something?" I said.
"No," said Natsu, "The guy said once you buy it, no refunds or swapping."
"Well…" I said, not wanting him to waste his money, "No, it's OK. I'll keep it. Just as long as we aren't in a relationship and people know we aren't, it should be OK."
"OK!" said Natsu, grinning.
Happy came up next to me and mouthed in my ear, they both llllike you!
Would you cut it out! I mouthed.
Suddenly, a small shape suddenly darted towards us from the street, "I knew it was you!"
"What?" said Gray, "Hey, you're…"
"YOU!" I yelled, looking at him, my eyes widening. It was the director from the plays that Erza, Natsu, Gray, Happy and I had been in because his usual stars had quit. I had never wanted to see him again since the last play had resulted in me onstage with no clothes on!
"YOU!" I shouted, about to murder him.
"You're perfect!" yelled the director in delight.
"Nani?" I said.
"You're perfect for the parts in the play I'm doing!" said the director delightedly, "You're even wearing the right clothes!"
"Play?" I cried, "Oh, no, no, no, no, I will sooner die than do another play in which I will end up being publicly humiliated!"
"No, no, I insist you won't!" said the director, "You see the new play I'm doing includes two young princes," he looked at Natsu and Gray, "competing over one beautiful young princess." He looked at me, "The young princess doesn't love either of them but then seeing their pain and sorrow kills herself."
"WHAT KIND OF STORYLINE IS THAT?" I yelled.
"My best one yet," said the director, "Full of drama and love."
"Look, if you want people who can relate to that situation, just talk to Levy, Jet and Droy," said Natsu.
"No, no, you people are perfect!" insisted the director, "Can you please help me in my play?"
"Look, I'm sorry but—" I started.
"Yeah, sure," interrupted Gray.
"Nani?" both Natsu and I looked at him and dragged him off.
"Are you kidding me?" I whispered once we were out of earshot, "This man is insane and you know it."
"We don't even like acting in plays," added Natsu, "The only good thing about last time was I got to be a dragon but in this play, I'm just some guy who wants a girl!"
"Look," said Gray, "You know this guy is stubborn; the sooner we do it, the sooner he'll be off our backs! Besides," he grinned at Natsu, "Since we're competing for Lucy, maybe we'll have a fighting scene."
"I'm in," said Natsu.
"Are you kidding me?" I yelled at Natsu, "That's all you're interested in?"
"Yeah," said Natsu, "And this time, Erza won't be here to break it up!"
"Yeah!" they both cheered while I sulked in the corner.
"Two against one, Lucy," said Gray, grinning.
I groaned and followed them back to the man, "We'll do it."
"Brilliant!" cried the director, "Let's get to it then! Hurry up! No dawdling!"
This is bound to end in disaster, I sulked as I followed along, Happy floating beside me.