*Le sigh* Bonjour everyone! Oh how I've missed writing, I have just been so busy lately! Okay so before I say anything, I wanted to let you guys know that I've started another story. It's a Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood fanfic, so if you like my style of writing and FMA (Fullmetal Alchemist), then by all means stop by and take a peek! Moving onwards; I have changed the updates unfortunately to every Friday. This is because of my busy schedule with swimming, summer ending, and school coming up *cries in corner*…but to make my dearies happy, here's the next chapter! :3

*~O~*

The week flew by and before Lovina knew it, it was already the day before she was supposed to attend the meeting for her father. She was only going to the damn thing to get him off of her ass. Her Papa infuriated her so much; she refused to be his owl after the meeting tomorrow. And if he thought that she was going to show up to this 'meeting' acting proper or with manners, then he had another thing coming. His business made her feel sick. He was a con-artist and thrived off of other people's misery and money. She would show up, get whatever needs to be done, and then she wouldn't come close to another mafia family again.

Groaning, Lovina rested her head on the wooden surface that looked like a paper-volcano had exploded everywhere.

Lovina sat slumped at her desk daydreaming as she desperately tried to get some of her holiday homework done. The stupid math potato bastard gave her class an ass-load of papers and equations to do. Frankly it was pissing her off just by looking at all of the variables and numbers. Dizzy enough to make her fall asleep...which she did, several times. This was actually her fifth attempt at 'beginning' her trig homework.

Yawning, Lovina stretched her arms and swiveled in her chair. It was the first day of Christmas vacation and she was stuck inside cleaning her dorm and doing essays on a Friday. She felt like chucking the papers at Francis would probably put her in a better mood, but then again; he would probably like the pain. That and his little minions would be with him, one of them of course being Antonio.

'So much for a 'holly jolly' break from school.' Lovina mused to herself in pity and disgust. She had to admit though; she was sort of getting a break from something.

Ever since the run-in with Antonio just last week, Lovina had become cranky and miserable. She felt so guilty, so sad that she had forgotten about her only true friend. When she was younger, there was always a little Spanish boy who would come by their villa and play with her every summer. She promised to herself back then to not forget, to remember the fun times they had together laughing and smiling, running around and playing stupid kid games. But as they grew up, the visits dwindled and after a while, Antonio and his family didn't come by anymore.

Antonio himself started to distance from her after what happened in the woods. She felt so stupid for accusing him of taking advantage of her like that. Lovina hadn't thought of it as being rude at the time, she was too caught up in his eyes. His emerald eyes were the only things that told the truth when compared to his body actions.

Lovina could tell that he was hurting whenever he tried to get her attention in earlier months just by looking into his eyes. She would just brush it off and ignore him, afraid to give in to those emerald pools that she could fall deep into for days on end. And that laugh that managed to send waves of uncertainty throughout her core was gone.

Not being able to see him or talk to him dug a hole in her chest, leaving her feeling lonely somehow. It wasn't like they were close friends or anything during the past couple months, but it made her feel like a coward, a wimp. Lovina couldn't rap her mind over the fact that she was indeed falling very hard for Antonio. She couldn't understand that just by looking at someone, and talking to them, could sway your emotions so much.

Though talking with Antonio was what confused her most. It was like drinking a cold glass of lemonade on a hot Italian summer; refreshing and sweet. These strange feelings made her stay up at night, made her look at things differently, see people differently. But the sly smirks and jokes he would throw at her were gone; she was left to wallow in self pity. Alone.

She did try a couple times to go and start a conversation, but he was always surrounded by laughing friends or his fan club. The damn girls in Toronto would probably snipe the first woman to make a pass at him. Not being able to tell him how she felt, how he made her feel, was like torture. But she also knew when she was thinking too well of herself. How could a person like him end up with a person like her? It was as simple as the math homework on her desk; impossible to figure out.

She was kidding herself thinking that Antonio could have feelings for her. Antonio; the one who was known as the womanizer. Antonio; the one she learned to admire and end up falling for. He was the one who was kind and warm towards her even when everyone else was busying themselves with her sister. He was too good for her and she just had to deal with it. He would probably want a girl like her sister anyways. He wouldn't want a depressed, uncertain girl that was self-conscious and nervous.

They always preferred Feli instead of her.

Yawning, Lovina glanced to her clock again that was perched on her side table. She had almost forgotten something important. She glared at the time, it was noon and she had promised Nora that she would meet her in the east courtyard at twelve thirty. She couldn't manage to be late….God if she was late. The small Norwegian would probably stalk her down and mess around with some of that weird voodoo shit.

Lovina made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth, not even bothering to shower; it's not like she had anyone to impress. She cringed slightly at the cold tile under her bare feet as she shut the door.

Lovina was cuddled in her warm winter coat and grumbling complaints as she walked through the east courtyard. Winter mornings were the worst, the air was so chilly and crisp it was almost hard to breathe. The winters in Canada weren't what she had expected; she didn't know it could get this cold. Heck, she was basically walking on ice trying to look for Nora.

Catching a glimpse of a tall spiky haired blonde caught Lovina's attention as she rounded the water fountain in the middle of the courtyard garden. She walked slowly; knowing that it was the Dane bastard that bothered Nora all the time. Plus she didn't want the noise of her boots crunching in the snow to give away her spot as she snuck up closer to scare him. Nora's voice was what stopped her 'creeping'; she sounded sad and nervous compared to her usual monotone mood.

Lovina backed up a little, but made sure to stay close by incase Mathias tried to do anything. Men being men, or in this case; boys being boys, Lovina refused to trust them. She craned her neck in order to listen better.

"Mathias…I'm still not sure if they're ready…." Lovina made out Nora's muffled voice. The two were sitting on a bench resting in front of the frozen water fountain.

"What d'ya mean? They can handle it! Com'on Nor; we've all been together for ages!" and that was definitely Mathias' annoying shout of a voice.

"That's exactly why I'm nervous! We're all so close…I feel like it would ruin everything." Nora fidgeted with her coat sleeve while Mathias took a deep breath and rumpled his hair.

"I think they already have a clue with what's goin' on, so it probably won't be that much of'a shock." he chuckled lightly as Nora stared down at her boots, pale blonde hair falling out of her clip, "Besides, if all else fails; you'll still have me!" Lovina heard a loud smack, which she gathered was from Nora's hand to the back of Mathias' head.

"And it's not like we're the only ones with the secrets ya know," Mathias continued, rubbing his head, "it's so obvious that Tino and Berwald are gettin' some." Nora raised her hand again with a stink eye but then dropped it.

Huffing, Nora spoke up, "I know, but I don't think anyone expected for us to have something, especially Emil-"

"-So what?" Nora looked shocked as she glanced up to Mathias who was smiling down at her, "Who cares what other people think? As long as we're tha' ones who're happy, then that's all that matters."

Nora pouted, "And I'm usually the one to be mature…" Mathias just smiled wider.

Something grabbed his attention as Lovina heard a phone vibrate, Mathias grunted "Lort! Hvad er klokken?"

Nora looked confused, "Its a quarter after twelve..." Mathias grumbled something else in Danish before he stood up.

"Sorry, I'm late for work." He bent down and pecked the top of Nora's head then started to trot away, "Don't worry; we'll tell 'em together at dinner tonight!"

Lovina had had enough of watching the soap opera go down before her eyes, so she got up and started to walk over to Nora on the other side of the fountain. She was freezing her ass off just to watch them get all mooshy with eachother? She should have been late. Making her way over to the bench, she noticed that Nora was blushing.

"Oi, Nora!" Lovina shouted next to the bench. The blonde jumped a mile, she was too busy with watching her boyfriend strut away to notice that Lovina had been standing next to her for a good minute.

"Hva faen!? Hvor kommer du fra?" Nora shouted as she recovered, little white clouds forming from her mouth as she tried to regain her breath.

"Oh no, don't give me any of your Norwegian crap! Spill it!" Lovina stood with her arms crossed in front of the bench.

Nora groaned rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Well I was going to tell you anyway, that's why I wanted you to come."

Lovina's eye twitched; so she had crouched in the fucking snow for nothing?

"Dammit! I was basically lying in the snow trying to hear you guys and all I had to do was walk up?"

Nora glanced up with a not-so-surprised-your-so-stupid look, "You were spying in the snow?" she started to laugh, clutching her sides.

"Hey! The snow is fucking cold for someone who doesn't role around in it all damn day!"

"Sorry," Nora took a shaky breath from laughing, "as you probably gathered; Mathias and I started dating as of last week."

Lovina was kind of hurt that her friend hadn't told her earlier, "Well congrats, you'll have wonderful spiky haired snow babies together," she growled and slumped down onto the slightly wet bench next to Nora. Was she not worth being told? Granted, the two have only known each other since September, but she considered them as close friends.

Nora scowled watching Lovina prop her head between her hands that rested on her knees, "What's got you in a prissy mood?"

Lovina scoffed, "Oh the usual; I'm drowned in homework, I have to go to that meeting tomorrow that I was talking about, my sister's dating Ludwig and to top it all off," she turned to Nora making a face, "the tomato bastard is avoiding me."

"Well I'm busy with homework too, I have to deal with telling my closest friends and family that I'm dating Mathias, Emil won't get off my ass and now I have to deal with you complaining." Nora listed of her what's-pissing-you-off-today list that they went through daily with her usual boring tone. But Lovina saw something slowly register in her eyes after a minute.

"Wait, isn't it a good thing that Antonio is ignoring you?" Nora pointed and stared into Lovina's eyes with blank blue irises.

Lovina flushed a bit, "Well yes and no." she looked down quickly forgetting that she mentioned him in her rant.

Nora's eyes twinkled a bit while she swung her head back with her eyes closed, feeling the snow fall onto her face, "I know what your problem is." Lovina peeked up to Nora who was looking pretty damn smug.

"Oh yeah smart ass? Enlighten me." Nora smirked.

Still with her eyes closed, she began her analogy, "Because of you wanting to be more like your sister, you have grown on the thought that everyone hates you. Because of this, you don't think you're worth anyone's time, especially the tomato bastard's. With this in mind, because of your growing affection towards the stupid Spaniard, you lashed out irrationally and ended up chasing him away." She opened her eyes and peeked over to a flustered Italian.

"What the fuck?! You just used your damn voodoo magic didn't you witch-brain?" Lovina seethed and Nora just smiled.

"I guess that answers my questions," Nora jumped up from the bench and stretched her arms, "Now all you have to do is answer your own."

"Oh? And how do you suppose I do that?"

Nora smirked, "Well first off, stop feeling sorry for yourself," she yawned and then pointed behind Lovina, "your second step starts with a certain someone who is closer than you think."

Eyebrows furrowing, Lovina snorted and turned to look behind her. There, sitting on one of the many benches in the courtyard, sat a familiar bright eyed Spaniard.

*~O~*

Heart nearly pounding out of her chest, Lovina sat there staring at Antonio as he strummed a guitar not even twenty-five yards away. Spinning around to confront Nora and her sly remark, she wasn't surprised when she just found and empty seat. That damn Norwegian, she probably knew Antonio would be here, and that's why she wanted Lovina there at an odd time. Mentally cursing Nora, Lovina took a deep breath and managed to turn back around to see if it wasn't just a mind game.

But low and behold, her brain didn't want to cooperate with her in the freezing Canadian afternoon. Antonio was still sitting there, his guitar resting on his crossed legs, looking all the more like a true Spaniard. She felt her face heat up as she saw his eyes open from being closed; she immediately jumped up and turned in the opposite direction to leave. Typical Lovina; running away when faced with a challenge.

The only problem was that there was nowhere to run to. She guessed Nora had this whole thing planned out because there was only one exit. And it rested right behind the guitar strumming bastard. As Lovina internally freaked out, she realized that Antonio had once again closed his eyes while he began a new song.

Smirking to herself, Lovina figured that if she quietly sneaked past him, he wouldn't notice. She really wasn't in the mood for talking, especially with him. Even though her heart desperately wanted to, she wasn't dressed properly and she looked like hell had smacked her in the face because of all the homework she had been fighting through. She would make sure to thank Ludwig for his father's homework packet of doom they got just before the bell rang to leave.

Ninja skills kicking in, Lovina quietly tiptoed closer to the exit. Her eyes never leaving Antonio as he sat comfortably playing is guitar. God, if anything were to give her away, it would probably end up being her heart that was beating as if it were running a marathon. She was able to make it halfway towards the exit arch that screamed 'just run!' in Lovina's head. She was almost to Antonio's bench without him noticing anything; her confidence was growing with every tiptoe that she took.

Unfortunately for Lovina, luck never did like to side with her. Ever.

"Hola Lina," Lovina heard her old nickname he used to call her ring in her ears as she was just about to pass him by. Freezing up like a rock, she immediately felt her blush return as she welcomed the Spanish accent to toy with the butterflies in her stomach. "What are you doing on a cold day like today?"

Lovina swallowed as she straightened up and turned to face Antonio. His eyes were automatically drawn to hers as she slowly spun around, making her face even hotter than it was. Why was she getting so nervous? She had just talked to him not even a week ago.

"Salve," Lovina greeted him quietly. She didn't dare look into his eyes; she would just fall apart. She would break the wall that she had started to build around herself. Though she wanted him to break that wall deep down; she was scared. And being scared only made her mad at herself for feeling defeat.

"Are you cold?" his guitar was still in his lap as he drummed his fingers on the faded wood.

"No, I'm fine." She responded quickly; she was actually burning, no thanks to him. Why did he have to show up at all the wrong moments? She was just starting to figure out what to do with him and he just busts through without even knowing how much he changes things. Lovina stood there, fidgeting with the hem of her coat, still refusing to look into his eyes.

He smiled, "Why don't you join me?" he patted the empty space on the brown bench next to him. Oh how she missed that smile, it made her feel oddly warm and safe. Not wanting to be rude twice over, she nodded numbly and briskly walked over to the bench. She sat down as far she could away from the smiling Spaniard as he picked at his guitar and chuckled.

"For a minute there I thought you'd say no," he set his instrument down and yawned. Rubbing the back of his neck, he smiled and rested back on the bench faced towards her. "So you have remembered, is that why you've been ignoring me?"

Lovina's breath hitched, she wasn't trying to ignore him; she wanted to talk to him so badly. That's all she wanted to do for the past week, and now here she was with the opportunity, and she was messing it all up. She wondered if he was so dense that he couldn't figure out what she was obviously feeling, or it was Loivna herself sending the wrong signals?

"I-I'm not trying to ignore you…" she talked in almost a whisper. God she hated how he made her feel so uncertain of herself.

"Oh? Then what do you call it?"

Lovina could tell that the conversation they were having had turned serious. This meant that she needed to smack some self confidence into herself in order to talk with him. She took a deep breath and turned her eyes to meet his.

"I was just nervous," she continued to fumble with her hands, "I was a coward and should have told you that I remembered everything. But I…I couldn't find myself to do it." She hated how his cheeky smile and deep eyes made her spill out what she thought whenever she was with him.

His eyes weren't sad to Lovina's surprise. She couldn't tell what he was thinking, but they seemed to burn with something she had never seen in them before. Something that she had never seen pointed towards her.

"Why not?" he was now faced fully towards her and listening carefully. His tanned skin looked so warm compared to the icy snow that was surrounding them. She felt her blush rise to her ears as she tried to find what to say.

"Because you were always with your friends or surrounded by girls…" she tucked a loose strand of chestnut brown hair back behind her ear. "But I did try to talk to you."

He smiled warmly, "But you didn't tell me," He poked her arm leaving a burning sensation tingle in response to his touch, "you know, I think I might have you figured out." Lovina was confused, he had her figured out? What the hell was that supposed to mean? Why did he want her figured out in the first place? Antonio saw her puzzled face and just laughed.

"When we were younger, you always used to smile," he crossed his arms behind his head and rested his head back to close his eyes. "You were always so happy and full of energy. Now me on the other hand, I was quiet and shy." He peeked his eye open to look at Lovina to check if she was still there. She was, blush, pout and all.

Smiling, he continued, "Weird right? Anyways, you would run up to me with the biggest smile on your tiny face and drag me to 'wherever Lina wanted to go that day'" she felt her curl bouncing in embarrassment, why was he reminiscing? "The whole time, we would be singing and laughing or playing games. That's the only time I would have fun; my padre was always busy with business and mother had her dancing career…" his eyes opened and peered down to Lovina.

"That's why when I saw you on the plane, I had the weird feeling that I knew you from somewhere," he brought his hands from around his back to his lap. "So I decided to see if I was right. I would talk to you, and see if there was that spark that we had when we were younger. But it didn't happen, and you didn't smile anymore. So I resorted to calling your name; and you immediately reacted which reinforced what I thought." He finished with a weary chuckle.

"So you had forgotten too?" Lovina piped up, still playing with her gloved hands.

Antonio noticed her fidgeting, "No, I didn't forget," he reached over and broke her hands apart. "You just changed, and I didn't recognize you because you always have a frown on. That and you have quite the vocabulary for such a tiny chica." She made a face and pulled her hands back.

Lovina didn't know what to think, what was she supposed to do now?

Flustered, she began to get up from the bench, "I have to get b-back," dammit she stuttered, how stupid. Antonio smiled and got up as well, his emerald eyes burning with the unknown emotion Lovina couldn't quite pinpoint.

"Si, let me walk you back." He reached down to grab his faded guitar with a little bounce in his step. Lovina couldn't refuse, especially when they were now on fair grounds. It was unlike her, to be understanding and nice.

She wasn't sure, maybe it was just a thought. But she had a feeling like the damn tomato bastard was bringing something out of her that had been long locked away.

*~O~*

Alrighty! I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter with Lovi and Antonio getting their moosh on~ I will be updating next Friday like I said earlier, please don't be mad! I'm just really busy now that I have Varsity swimming and school :( But I will make sure to make the next chapter when Lovi goes to her 'meeting' :3 if you've figured it out high fives to you! *energetically high fives you*. Make sure to check out my new FMA story 'The Next Generation: Book One'. Love you all and thanks for the reviews, you guys are so awesome! Keep 'em coming! Sayonara~

Translations:

Lort! Hvad er klokken? - shit! What time is it? (Danish)

Hva faen!? Hvor kommer du fra? - what the hell!? Where did you come from? (Norwegian)

Salve - hello (Italian)