Love Me Not (Gale) {Fairy Tail FF}

Chapter Sixteen

~Levy~

I glanced periodically at Gajeel after we had joined the others and began eating. He had been acting strange on the way to the guildhall, and I could tell that he was hiding something. I hope everything is alright with him. It doesn't seem like the magic has affected him, but Gajeel might just be good at hiding it.

“—on a job. Levy?” Jet waved his hand in front of my face, frowning. “Are you alright?”

“What? Oh, yeah. Sorry,” I sighed, “what were you saying?”

“Droy and I are leaving for a job now. Will you be okay here?”

“I'll be fine,” I smiled. “You two should go. Maybe in a few days I'll be able to join you on a new one.”

“I hope so!” Droy grinned. “It hasn't been the same with you gone.”

I giggled. “You two have fun!” They told me good-bye before leaving the guildhall. I sighed, wishing I could join them. I knew that everyone would be against it, though, so I tried not to think about it.

“About time you woke up!” Natsu smiled, sitting across from me, next to Lucy. “I'm glad you're alright.”

“Thanks, Natsu,” I giggled.

“So, Levy,” Mira said, suddenly sitting beside me, “tell us about Makoto.”

“Wh-what about him?” I asked, blushing.

“He told us he was your boyfriend!” She smirked, leaning closer, “how long have you two been secretly dating?”

“Makoto and I are not dating. He just told Master Makarov that because he was afraid he wouldn't let him help any other way.” I looked down at my hands, feeling more heat burn my cheeks. “We've only been on one date.”

“So you did go out with him,” Erza said, looking surprised. “I wasn't aware that you were interested in anyone outside of the guild.” I noticed her glance briefly at Gajeel when she said “outside of,” causing my blush to deepen even further.

“Big sis, leave Levy alone,” Lisanna scolded Mirajane, “Levy can go on dates with whoever she wants. If she didn't tell us about it, she obviously didn't want us asking her a bunch of questions. Right, Levy?”

“Yeah,” I nodded, silently thanking her.

“I suppose I'll let you off the hook—for now,” Mira pouted, returning to the bar.

“It was pretty bold of Makoto to make such a claim,” Erza pondered. “He must really like you.”

“I-I guess so,” I shrugged, playing with my food so I didn't have to look at any of them.

“I'm still a little surprised that you went on a date with him,” Lisanna said.

“Especially since she likes Gajeel,” Natsu said, as if it were common knowledge. I dropped my fork onto my plate with a loud clank! and stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed at him.

“Natsu!” Lucy groaned, putting her hand to her forehead in exasperation. “You can't just say those things—especially when you have no idea if it's true or not!”

“Well, she does, doesn't she?” Natsu shrugged, looking at me.

“I—I—I—” I didn't know what to say. There was no way that I could admit something so embarrassing in front of everyone—not while I was sitting right next to Gajeel—but I couldn't exactly deny it, either. After several painful seconds of silence, I finally regained my composure and frowned at Natsu. “Of course not!” I snapped, a little too defensively.