Melting Gray [Gratsu]

32

Chapter Thirty-Two

☆ Natsu Dragneel ☆

January

"Gray, come help me carry this box in."

"I'm kind of busy here," Gray's head popped to the side from behind a hefty box he was lugging from the backseat of my car's trunk. "Do it yourself."

"But isn't the doting boyfriend supposed to carry all the heavy things for their bae?" I pointed out, turning my attention back to the box. I could barely even wrap my arms around the outside of it. There was no way I could lift this by myself.

"Wouldn't that make you required to help me lift this then?" Gray struggles with articulating the word as he shook the box a bit to get his point across.

"Fine," I turned away from the trunk and sauntered over to help him. "Let's go."

I grabbed one side and felt half of the impending weight heaving against the palms of my hands. I walked backwards - probably not a good idea, considering how clumsy I found myself to be - and backed towards the front door of my grandmother's house.

Today was the day I was officially moving into Grandine and Wendy's condo. It was a seaside home, a bright blue three-story pressed in tight lines against the neighboring houses (all painted fun beachy colors as well). Upon hearing about my sudden arrival, Grandine had cleared out a bit of the attic and was making that my bedroom. The attic would most likely get chilly in the winter and exuberantly hot in the summer, but I was going to wrap it in a bow and make it work. This was my only way of staying with my friends. With Gray.

That didn't stop me from complaining, though.

"Why does the attic have to be on the third floor?" I whined childishly as I fumbled my way up the steps. You think walking upstairs as a klutz is a challenge? Try ascending them backwards. With the impending doom of letting go of a forty-pound box and allowing it to carry your boyfriend down a flight of stairs.

"You're lucky you get to be here in the first place," Gray rolled his eyes, his words mirroring my thoughts. "Speaking of, where are they? Your grandmother and cousin, that is."

After several cautious steps, we finally made it to the second floor. "Grandine is out buying groceries, and Wendy is at cheerleading practice," I explained casually.

"Cheerleading?" Gray repeated.

"Yes..." I drew out the word slowly, teasing him. "It's that sport where girls do acrobatic gymnastics on the sidelines of football or basketball games."

Gray gives me a flat look over the box as we begin to go up the second flight. "I know what cheerleading is, Natsu, I'm not an idiot," he deadpanned. "I just didn't know she was a cheerleader."

"Co-captain," I added on, feeling proud of my younger cousin. On the other hand, I couldn't do any sport at all. Well, I liked surfing.

Surfing the web, that is.

We reached the attic floor, and Gray and I sat the box down in the corner. Three boxes had already been carried up, and we had one more to go. We rushed down the stairs loudly and brought up the last one, with us cursing like sailors and me nearly losing my footing twice.

When we finally finished, Gray sat down on my bed, which was lugged up by the moving men, and I still had to put the sheets and pillows back on. They were also resting in a pile pathetically in my room, probably not to be thought about until I was ready to sleep. I noticed he was staring at me curiously.

"What is it?" I asked. I instinctively rubbed my nose. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No," He snorted. "It's just..." Gray paused, like he was searching for the right words.