Melting Gray [Gratsu]

27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

☆ Natsu Dragneel ☆

December

A month had passed since Grandine had (much to my extreme happiness) allowed for me to reside at her house. I had been procrastinating for about thirty days until Lucy was the one who told me to buckle down and get my shit in some boxes.

What a great friend she is.

And because of that lovely comment, I dragged her over to my house one chilly December afternoon to help me pack.

Right after school, we went to an alcohol-selling store to ask for their unused cardboard boxes. After receiving relieved looks that we were not, in fact, buying alcohol, he grabbed ten or so for us and we thanked him before shoving them into my trunk.

Our school bags had been discarded in the foyer, two bags of chips had been snatched from the pantry, and I was flipped belly-up as I groaned. "I don't wanna pack," I whined, drawing out the 'a' in pack.

"Don't be lazy," Lucy threw a chip at my face. I caught it in my mouth and chewed it up happily.

Mmm, barbecue.

I rolled off my bed and collapsed into a sitting position across from her. Lucy had folded up two boxes already and was working on her third. "You should start thinking about what you want in each box," Lucy suggested, tossing me a purple Sharpie.

"Hmm," I tapped the permanent marker to my chin. "Okay, let's start with books in this one. I'll pack most of my clothes but leave some to have for the next couple weeks... So I'll probably need two of the big boxes for those... Uhhhh..." I scoured my room. "Room decor can be another big box."

"Let's start with that, then," Lucy jumped up, holding her completed box. I wrote out the labels on the side in my loopy handwriting before setting them around my bed. I clasped my hands together determinedly and glared at the upcoming task. "And... Go!"

I hit the play button on my speakers next to me. Temporary Bliss by The Cab blasted from the sound system as I swiveled around and began to tackle the endlessly dreary task known as packing. Lucy began to take photo frames, trophies, and souvenir trinkets off my shelves and delicately stacking them in the decor box.

I made my way into my walk-in closet and began to peel out hangers sub-parly sorted in my closet. I took out the uglier clothes and the summery ones, because December was so cold I was shaking like a pair of jelly donuts at a Weight Watchers convention every time I stepped foot outside.

On the bright side, that allowed me to stay snuggled up in my room with hot cocoa and my laptop. Plus, Christmas break was soon, something that I needed for my survival at this point.

I folded the short-sleeved shirts and ugly knit sweaters and set them on the bed. Before I put them in, I put my less-often-worn shoes at the bottom. Then I threw the clothes inside and repeated the process until the bag was full.

I looked up at Lucy, who was currently setting a small soccer trophy from when I was eight. "Got any packing tape?" I asked her. She chucked a roll my way.

"Here," She responded, not looking up. I caught it, nearly cutting my fingers on the razor. I peeled off some tape and struggled to put in a straight line and keeping the box flaps down.

"Why won't it stay on right?" I complained, holding down the flaps with my elbows akwardly and adding another three stripes of tape on top of them. "Ugh, I need a break."

"We've been working for fifteen minutes," Lucy rolled her eyes as I jumped on my bed and picked up a bag of barbecue chips, shoveling two into my mouth. "You're such a lazy pig, you know."