Be My Smile

Chapter 4 - Stunning

Lucy needed 10 minutes to calm down before we did anything. I understand her... We were two hours late, they waited two hours for us and on top of that, Natsu didn't answer her calls till one hour after she called so... Yeah, I think I get her point.
"Lucy, please! I already apologized! We are at the beach let's have fun!" she looked at Natsu and took a deep breath.

"Fine! But I swear: if you ever repeat that you'll never want to leave your apartment again."

"Lucy, calm down, he is right, we aren't here to watch you arguing with him. And besides..." Juvia whispered something in Lucy's ear. I couldn't hear what it was, I was too far away from them.

"O-Ohh... Yeah, you're welcome." Juvia sighed hearing her friend's answer.

We put our things on the floor, me and Natsu took our shirts off and the only thing it took for me and him to start fighting to see which one would win in a race from here to the sea and back was one look.

"Oh come on! You don't really think you can win against me, right?"

"I don't think. I'm sure!" we were inches from each other when we noticed the girls looking at us. Lucy face-palmed and Juvia sweat-dropped. I think they understood fast that we weren't going to shut up because they exchanged a look and then Lucy said

"OK. Let's do this fast. You guys have to run to the sea, swim till you reach that float and come back. The first one to touch one of our hands wins. Natsu you have to touch my hand. Gray you have to touch Juvia's."

I tried to ignore the fact that Juvia was smiling at me and that I would touch her hand so I could focus on the race. Natsu and I looked at each other. And then went to the 'starting line'.

"Good luck, Gray-sama!" Juvia was beside me while Lucy started the countdown. I don't have time to worry about my blushing now.

"I'm all fired up!!" I heard Natsu say.

"3...2...1...Go!" I ran as fast as I could. People around us looked at us like we were complete idiots. Maybe we were but we liked challenging each other so I don't see what's the problem. We reached the sea at the same time, I think. The rest of the race went by really fast. We were both already tired when we got out of the sea, the distance we had to swim was still long. We sprinted to the 'finishing line'. When we looked at the girls they were both in their bikinis but I didn't let that distract me. I finally touched Juvia's hand and lied on the floor panting heavily waiting for them to say something.

"How the hell did you manage to tie?"

"What?"
"What?"

You gotta be kidding me... I sighed. It was meaningless in the end... Then again, most of our fights were... I looked at Natsu. He was pestering Lucy saying there was no way he lost. Idiot. I looked at Juvia and she sat beside me. I sat too. I did my best to ignore the fact that her legs were absolutely perfect, so I wouldn't blush. I know, weird, a guy staring at a girl's legs instead of... Whatever but... Hers were just amazing.

"Gray-sama, Lucy said you and Natsu fight a lot. Is that true?" she wasn't mad or anything of the sort. She just seemed curious.

"Yes. I guess we've always been like that." she giggled. I closed my eyes for a little bit. It's been so long since I did something like this. And I missed it. Oh I did. I should thank Natsu later. He may be a jerk but sometimes he can do pretty nice gestures. I think that's why Lucy hasn't got rid of him yet. I smiled a little at my own 'joke'.

"Why are you smiling?" I opened my eyes. Juvia was closer than before which made me blush and look away.

"I-I was just... Lost in my thoughts. Never mind me."