As promised, here's the most recent update.

Note: I know my chapters are a little short right now, but as time goes on, they'll probably become longer, in fact, they already are. And I know the story is a little slow right now, but it DOES get better.

Lucy looked at him confused, took a deep breath, and tried to respond as steadily as she could.

"Hey Gray, what're you doing here?" she asked, pushing away the upset feeling that she got in her stomach just from looking at him.

He stared at her for a few seconds, as if waiting for her to say or do something, but when she didn't, he replied.

"I came to get you for the job, Erza and Natsu just went to pack but they'll be here any min-"

"OI!" Natsu burst into the room, Erza right behind him, "What's taking you guys so long?"

Oh, the job. She had completely forgotten about the job.

"Oh! I forgot to pack!" Lucy said, and started to run around the room frantically, looking for things to pack, but then stopped. It would probably take her at least half an hour, if not more, and it was her own fault for forgetting. She was just holding them up, so instead, she turned to the others and forced herself to smile.

"You guys can go without me this time."

"What? No way!" Natsu exclaimed.

"We wouldn't leave you behind." Gray added.

"You can just come without packing!" Natsu said enthusiastically, which earned him a whack over the head from Erza, who then turned to smile at Lucy.

"You're our nakama, Lucy. We'll just wait while you pack."

She was touched by all three of them, but Gray's words had made her heart ache more. She stubbornly pushed away the thought that he had already left her behind.

"Right! Then I'll hurry!" she said, trying to be enthusiastic and even grinning, which she found a little difficult. It seemed to work.

They all nodded and decided to sit down, obviously figuring it would be safer for them to be out of her way, since she was currently zooming around at top speed.

Happy took a spot on Natsu's head after her face almost collided with him. Apparently neither ground nor air was safe.

It only took her about fifteen minutes to pack, contrary to what she'd thought before, and when she was done they all got up and headed out of the door. Once Lucy had locked it, the team started down the road.

Natsu chattered on about this and that, he and Gray getting in arguments here and there, only to be stopped by Erza, who was smiling softly to herself most of the time, aside from when she was looking frighteningly at Gray and Natsu.

Lucy was surprised that Juvia wasn't accompanying them, and debated on asking.

Would it make her seem suspicious?

Would it give her away?

Maybe she shouldn't say anything.

They were arguing for about the third time, and she was tuning them out until Natsu said something that caught her attention.

"Even your girlfriend didn't want to go with you on the mission!" Natsu yelled.

Juvia didn't want to go with Gray on the mission? For just a moment a small spark of hope bloomed in her chest, but it was quickly squashed.

"It's not that she didn't want to, she already had something to do. She's coming next time." Gray snarled back.

Lucy stopped walking and frowned. She wasn't sure she would be able to handle it if Juvia joined the team.

"I bet that was just an excuse!"

"At least I have a girlfriend!"

"I can get a girlfriend too!" Natsu yelled, and then looked around. Erza had her fists and teeth clenched, and had a large vein popping out of her head. She opened her mouth to yell at them again just when Natsu ran over to Lucy.

"Lucy! Will you be my girlfriend?!" he asked with a big grin.

Lucy was shocked. She looked at the ground, bangs shielding her eyes, angry that he'd ask her just because she was there. She was not happy.

A part of her, though, almost wanted to say yes. Maybe he could help her get over Gray. But she didn't feel that way towards him, she would just be using him.

Like he just tried to do to you? a little voice mocked in her head.

He doesn't know better, she reasoned, but that didn't make her any less angry.

She wouldn't do that, she wouldn't just use him, and it was only a very small, very hurt part of her that even considered it.

For the most part, she was just flat-out furious.

Very slowly, she looked up at him, a dark aura surrounding her, eyes full of anger. Then, she exploded.

"You don't just ask any girl to be your girlfriend, Natsu! They have to mean something to you! Something more than just being a nakama! It has to be special."

She purposely, and with strong self control, kept her eyes from automatically drifting to Gray.

"More than a nakama? Special? I don't get it." he said, oblivious as ever.

"Of course you don't. Some people in this guild will never get it." She said the last part bitterly, thinking of a certain blue haired water mage.

"Lucy, wh-"

"Just shut up." she told Natsu coldly, clenching her fists, and walking past first him, then Erza, and lastly Gray.

She had to bite her lip when walking past the ice mage to keep from letting go of the tears in her eyes that were threatening to fall.

Behind her, she heard Erza beating up Natsu, and Natsu exclaiming loudly, wanting to know what he did wrong.

Stupid Natsu. He always was immature. Normally, she didn't care, sometimes it could be funny, even endearing.

And sometimes she ended up getting hurt because of it, like right now.

Was that all she was good for?

A last resort?

Could she not be wanted for who she was, but only because she was there?

Or, in this case, only to be used in an argument to prove a point?

Now her pride hurt along with the rest of her. Could this day get any worse?

She thought she'd better not jinx it, it was already bad enough. Bordering on the top five worst days of her lives, right along with the day before.

Gray stared out of the window, thinking.

His thoughts weren't on Juvia, like they had been the night before.

No, this time they were on a certain blonde, celestial mage.

A certain blonde, celestial mage who was sitting right across from him, staring out the window.

Lucy.

Something was different about her.

That morning, she hadn't even yelled at him for entering her apartment without knocking. He didn't get some lecture about "personal space". No, instead she had just asked him what he was doing there.

She had forgotten about the mission, and with Lucy so close to the time it was to pay her rent, that was very out of character for her. Lucy had never once forgotten to pack.

Then, on the walk to the train, she had been quiet almost the entire time. He hadn't seen her smile even once. Not that he had been paying all that much attention, but even so, he was sure she was normally not so stoic.

And worst of all, the way she had yelled at Natsu wasn't like her. Of course, she'd had a right to be angry at the idiot after what he did, but the Lucy he knew had never seemed as hurt or cold as she had right then. Natsu's question shouldn't have upset her so much.

Unless…

Unless she had feelings for Natsu, he thought with a sinking feeling.

If that was the case, it would be even more of a reason for her to get so angry. More of a reason for her to feel hurt, betrayed.

But not one for him to feel so disappointed.

So why was he?

Maybe it was because he knew things wouldn't work out for them. Natsu was too immature to even consider something like a relationship.

Too dense.

So of course it was natural for him to feel disappointed and concerned.

She was his nakama. He just didn't want her hurt, that was all.

But that didn't explain why she hadn't come back to the apartment the night before.

Why, even though Natsu, Erza, and himself all slept over, she never checked in.

Why she hadn't reacted to Gray inviting himself into her apartment.

And why, worst of all, when she had seen his face, a flicker of pain had crossed her own.

Could he have done something to cause that? What could it have been? There wasn't anything that he could imagine that had caused her to look at him like that.

He almost wanted to ask her what was wrong. But Gray rarely asked anyone that.

If she had something she wanted to talk to him about, she would talk to him.

Still, he couldn't stop himself from wondering what it was.

So, I need your help. I'm not completely satisfied with the name of the last chapter, and I'm open for opinions. As for this chapter, I'm also unsure what to call it, so please, if you have an idea, PM me or leave it in a review.

To those of you who were looking forward to a confrontation, I'm sorry, but it's not quite time for that...yet.

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.