A Song of Stars and Ice (GraLu Fanfic)

Chapter 24

Lucy's POV:

"Why can't I just forget about it and move on?" I muttered under my breath as I saw Gray arrived in the guild.

I was sitting on the bar and having my strawberry shake. It has been two weeks already since I told him about what happened to him. He forgave Juvia but made her promise to never make another love potion for him again. Everything started to turn back to normal except not everything did. I still can't erase my feelings for him no matter how hard I try to ignore it.

I did everything in order to forget about it. I kept myself busy with my jobs. I avoided him. I tried to not come to the guild for a week but as soon as I saw him, all my efforts of forgetting about it went to waste. I just can't unlove him.

He saw me and flashed me a smile. I gave him a small smile and pretended to be busy examining my keys. My heart beat started to quicken when he walked towards me.

Calm down, Lucy. It's just Gray.

Yeah right, as if I can calm down when he's with me. Just the mere thought of him already sends my heart racing.

"Hey Lucy," he greeted.

"Umm...hi," I greeted back but didn't look up at him "Wh-what brings you h-here?"

Why am I stuttering so much? Isn't it enough that I can actually hear the loud sound of my heart pounding in my chest? And I am already sweating from calming myself.

"Uh, I saw you so I just want to say hi," he answered "Am I disturbing you?"

"What?" I asked as I finally looked up at him.

He scratched the back of his head "You were looking at your keys absorbedly. Just tell me if you want me to stop talking,"

"No I was...just...looking at my keys absorbedly," I wanted to smack myself since I just repeated what he just said.

He smiled and cleared his throat "I see. We'll it was nice talking to you again. I haven't seen you in a while and the guild is not the same without one of my friends in it,"

A friend? Yeah, I am his friend after all. Just his friend and nothing more.

"Yeah, I've been busy,"

"Keep up the good work on those missions," he gave me a smile and then he started to walk away from me. He opened the door of the guild and went outside.

I want to shout at him and tell him to come back and talk to me. But I can't. It's so weird because since we started dating, I can tell him anything and not worry about what he would think but now that he's finally returned to normal, I can't even tell him the little things. Can I really endure loving him silently?

Yes, I am one of his friends but why do I feel like I'm the one farthest to him right now?

"You know if you keep doing that I might just seize him away from you again,"

"Juvia, what...what are you talking about?" I asked the water mage who sat down beside me.

She let out a breath "Look Lucy, I considered you my rival ever since I first saw you and I will consider you my rival until the end, but that's it. Juvia will not make herself a hindrance for someone's happiness. So if you like Master Gray, tell him already,"

I was surprised at her "You know I like Gray?"

"More like you love him, actually and yes Juvia knows," she answered "It's so obvious, Lucy. At first I'm hurt but I realized that all I ever wanted was for Master Gray to be happy. And he will only be happy if he's with someone he loves. Even if isn't Juvia, I will still cheer him on if he found someone that he really loves,"

"But Juvia, that girl isn't me. Yes, I do love him but he's my friend. I don't want to lose our friendship. And I am pretty sure that he doesn't feel the same way about me," I said sadly.

"Do you want to be just his friend until the end?" she asked.

I didn't answer her. Can I really be just his friend? Can I endure seeing him with another girl when he's meant to be with me? All this time, I've been with him. We already fought many battles together with our friends. We cried for our losses and rejoiced for our victories. We already know the flaws of one another but we accepted it. I know who he can be and who he will be in the future. I want him to be with me. I love him.

"Tell him now, Lucy. He can be blind sometimes. All he needs is someone who can show him how to see clearly,"

I let out a laugh "I really am an idiot. And I need to make him realize that he is too. I mean, who would perfectly match an idiot than with another idiot too?"

I didn't wait for Juvia's reply as I ran outside of the guild. I need to find Gray. I need to tell him that I like him. I don't care about the consequences after that. If he rejects me, then I'll end up feeling miserable but I have my friends to cheer me up but if I don't tell him, I might end up regretting it for the rest of my life.
-----------

Thank you for the book cover Yuna Fuentespina! Stay awesome.