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"Oi, Gray, cheer up! It's not that bad. We're doing it together, remember?"
"As if you'd get any damn work done, Natsu," Gray scoffs at him.
Natsu frowned at him with a look of pure determination written all over his face.
"Come on! I know you hate the beach, but it is our fault, that we trashed the whole school," Natsu reasoned at him.
"Well, we aren't just the ones that trashed it. Where's your girlfriend?"
"She isn't my girlfriend! And plus, she's already working as a barista at a café. She'll do her share. How about Erza, though?
"The dean was fine with it. He said something about her having the highest scores for the finals," he murmured.
"What?! No fucking way, Gray! She just…."
Gray walked away from the campus leaving Natsu to complain as he stood there with an incredulous look stuck on his face. He let out an exhausted sigh unable to fathom that he had to work for the rest of his vacation and the worse part was that he had to work at his least favorite place… the beach.
The beach held memories that he hated. As far as he knew he despised the grainy sand that would be terribly itchy against his feet. The waves that crashed against the shore were annoyingly noisy and unrelaxing. It was blue and every time he looked out at the sea, he saw dark skies, big treacherous waves, strong chilling wind, and boats tumbling back and forth. The beach was like visual hell to Gray; every time he'd see it or hear about it, it would send him a traumatic vision straight to his brain.
Gray hated it and that was all there to it.
He held his head down as he cursed under his breath, all directed towards Natsu; walking past people with who he brushed shoulders quite harshly arrogant. Some gave him dirty looks while others cursed rudely at him but he couldn't care less. It wasn't like he was family with them. Plus, these people had no fucking idea what it felt like to actually be a college student and have a friend like Natsu. He was super fucking done with them. Gray already had his plans for sleeping indoors for the next month ruined.
Gray felt like he was about to explode any minute like a ticking bomb as he tried to calm down. It was always like this. When Natsu would make him boil greatly with anger especially during summer vacation, he would be like this. Spitting out profanities in the street and emitting an aura that people hated. His anger was one thing that people hated about him. There was nothing to ground him after all.
Just when he started calming down, he bumped into a person. Gray figured the person to be girl as he looked up a bit seeing a figure wearing a blue plaid skirt who was starting to bend down to grab her dropped belongings. This immediately made him want to curse. Who actually could be this clumsy?
"Sorry," her silky voice seemed to calm him somehow but he ignored the warm feeling he felt at the bottom of his chest.
"What is wrong with you?! Are you clumsy or something?! I'm already having a bad day here, woman!"
She bowed slightly at him with hands put together and she apologized as if in a hurry," Sorry! Sorry, I really am! I have to go, bye."
She ran past him as her hair flew past his face. Although it may have been just a minute or a millisecond, he smelt the scent of lemon and cherry blossoms. It made him turn his head only to see a clumsy looking figure with wavy blue hair. She ran like leaves brought by the strong wind. He could see the people complain as they were walking in peace just a second before she had ran by them.
When he turned around he saw something shining on the cobble sidewalk. He bent down to pick it up to find out it was a necklace. It had a silver chain with a sapphire tear drop charm. He figured out it was the girl's jewelry, so he kept it. She surely was one hella clumsy girl.
The edges of his lips were brought up creating a smile. He looked up at the sky and wondered what else this merciless world had for him this month. Gray walked back to his apartment with a lighthearted feeling, hands snug in his jacket pockets, all anger whisked away.
He woke up with a messy bedhead and a loud alarm for five in the morning. Gray tried to pat it down but miserably failing. He tried to open his eyes, rubbing it. As he had opened his eyes, he felt groggy and tired. It must have been the amount of work they had to do yesterday afternoon. His muscles ached and he stretched as he stayed on his bed.
Gray sighed deeply as he put his broad muscular arms behind his head, closing his eyes. His eyebrows scrunched up tightly as he was suddenly deep in thought. Gray certainly didn't want to work as a lifeguard at the beach, but he had to. It was the only job available for summer. After all, they all had to work together to earn a large amount of money to pay for their mess.
Destroyed doors and windows were quite a handful apparently.
His mind was unsettled and uneasy from the multiple negative thoughts and memories flowing through his visual mind. It bothered him as much as when baristas put milk and cream into his black coffee by accident, which was always very bothering.
Gray let out a determined yet troubled sigh, getting out of the bed. Getting ready for his job, he took a quick shower, dressed up and waited on his bed for eight o'clock.
As it soon became seven thirty, he grabbed his buzzing phone where he answered a call from Natsu. He noticed the necklace that laid beside it and a smile crept upon his face. He shoved it into his pocket and ran outside to meet Natsu on his motorcycle. He put on his helmet and drove with him straight to their job.
As they zipped through the streets, Gray watched people walk, the cars on the road, and the shops they passed by. He could hear Natsu on the phone and he screamed at him, "You idiot! We're on the road! Do you want to die before we receive our salary?!"
Immediately did Natsu end the call and he quickened their route to the beach.
It was tiring to be a lifeguard. He tried to keep his eyes away from the sea the overlapped with the sand he hated so much. The sun was interesting to watch from the tower though. It was bright yellow clashing with the calm innocence of the blue sky. Clouds were spread out thinly and it made the setting quite soothing and relaxing. He was tired of watching tiny figures walk back and forth from the sea and back to the sand. Also, it was terribly easy to scare off the teens who tried to distract him from his work. He was glad that he could sometimes exchange with Natsu at certain time shifts.
He took out the necklace he had shoved into his pocket. Gray fingered the gemstone charm and he found it mystical and warm. It seemed to emit warmth like it had been held close to heart for the longest of time. It glimmered under the sunlight with a bright and attractive sparkle of blue. He checked the back of the sapphire to see something was engraved onto it.
It was the letter 'J' in cursive.
Gray looked at the sun and smiled. He had found out the first letter to her name.
"Gray, what is that?"
He turned around to see Natsu hovering over his shoulder with a quizzical and curious look. Gray jumped and he panicked, dropping the necklace onto the ground. Natsu picked it up and he inspected it.
"Gray? Where did you get this?"
"On the street. A girl dropped it and I took it," he answered him like it was more of a question rather than a statement.
He tossed it back to him and he caught it, returning it back to his pocket.
"I'm crashing here, okay? My shift is over. This snow-haired guy named Lyon is taking over."
He nodded.
Gray chatted with Natsu, bored out of his mind. He didn't like the job. He went off to thinking and a few minutes later, he received a punch at his gut… and it hurt a lot.
"Gray! There's someone who needs our help. Someone is drowning. I got the girl back but do you know anything to bring her back to life, 'cause I don't…" Natsu explained as he dragged him to the site where the girl was. She was close to the shore of the sea.
Gray could hear the strong waves of sea crashing down giving him shivers.
"Are you alright? I'm sorry for making you do this," Natsu apologized.
Gray took her pulse and he got nothing. He knew he had to do it. The setting of being so close to the sea was making him uneasy. It was messing up his focus and he started to do CPR. Gray couldn't focus and he felt like snapping into two. He suddenly felt helpless. Here he was to save a girl's life with memories removing his main focus. It was scaring him.
"GRAY! Earth to it, Gray!
Natsu's voice snapped him back to reality. He looked at him and sighed. Gray tried once more and her chest finally started to rise and fall. She started coughing up water and her eyes opened.
He saw pools of cerulean blue staring at him as she sat up. Gray found her eyes mesmerizing. They were like the color of the sea. Calm yet sometimes fierce. It was beautiful. Then she spoke up with a voice that once calmed his nerves.
"Thanks."
Gray was in the sand and he could hear the treacherous waves mock his memories but this voice was so familiar. Instead of asking how she was doing, he asked something out of selfishness.
"Did you by chance bump into a man yesterday afternoon? Someone who sounded quite mad?"
She stayed silent for a moment until she said, "Yeah."
Out of impulse, he looked for the necklace that was in his pocket and he showed it to her.
"Is this yours?"
She didn't do anything. She just went ahead and embraced him in the most uncomfortable way possible. It wasn't even normal for a person to meet like this. When she pulled from the embrace, she had tears flowing from her eyes.
"It's mine."
He gave it to her and she asked him, "Hey, want to come with me to this café later after your last shift?"
"Go. It's not every day you find a girl like her. I'll just go visit Luce's home later," he heard Natsu reply. He had totally forgotten that Natsu was there.
They stood up and Gray replied, "Sure."
"I'll meet you by the entrance of the beach in twenty minutes."
"Okay."
After time had passed, he met her there by the entrance wearing a plain pink shirt that hung loosely over her shoulders and denim shorts. Her hair was slightly still wet but it still looked beautiful. She wore her necklace and it shone brightly under the setting sun.
"Why 'J'?" he asked her as they walked to the café.
"My name is Juvia Lockser. Why else?"
"Oh. That's nice. My name is Gray Fullbuster, just in case you're wondering."
She giggled and it made him confused. Juvia then stole a kiss on the cheek quickly when he was in a state of confusion.
"You're so cute."
When she said those words and had kissed him on the cheek, it made him wonder why he hated the beach so much. The beach definitely had its own memories of grief but it also had times when it was like this. He knew that her clumsiness hat brought him to her and the she definitely had him hooked even though she was like this.
Gray realized that this summer vacation won't be so bad after all. Deep down his heart, he knew that he no longer had a reason to hate the sea much anymore. He found Juvia there after all.