The promise made but never kept

Chapter Seventeen

It's our last night spending time in our special trip.

I took out my laptop and looked over available contacts in skype.

I saw my mom online and immediately contacted her.

I miss her!

She immediately answered the call and I plugged in my earphones.

"Hey mom!" I greeted cheerfully.

"Hi Sweetie! I miss you!" she touched the screen lightly.

"I'll be home tomorrow, mom! I certainly missed you too!" I giggled.

Levy-chan and Erza walked in and looked over to see who I was speaking with.

I removed the earphones in a heartbeat for them to say hi to each other.

"Hey Levy-chan and Oh my! Erza-chan is that you?" mom greeted my best friends.

"Hiya! Aunt Layla! It's been a while!" Levy-chan greeted.

"That's right! You haven't been over for a long time now!" mom pouted.

"I'm angry at the two of you!" she huffed and crossed her arms.

Levy-chan and Erza giggled.

"We'll make sure to hang out with you sometime!" Levy-chan and Erza chirped in agreement.

My mom's eyes brightened and showed a cheeky grin at them.

"Oh hey mom, I'm getting another call!" I exclaimed.

'Sure sweetie! See you tomorrow!' she chirped and disconnected.

I looked to see who it was.

Oh no.

I was on the verge of clicking the disconnect button, but someone stopped me, and smiled as she clicked on the green button herself.

I heard a loud gasp from the other line.

"Erza?" the guy whispered in disbelief.

"Hi Jellal...How've you been?" Erza greeted while smiling gently.

I saw both of them on the verge of tears and I plugged the earphones on then handed it to Erza.

"You both have a lot of catching up to do!" I chirped and took Levy-chan with me outside.

"Who was that?" she asked as we walked towards the dining hall.

"That was Erza and I's childhood friend, Jellal." I said simply.

"Is he in Chicago, too?" she asked.

"Yeah." I said bitterly.

I told her the story about Erza and Jellal.

"When we were kids, they'd pretend to be my mom and dad calling me little Lucy. They were inseparable since birth but on one particular circumstance- Jellal was forced to be apart from Erza because his sister was having seizures due to her brain tumor. They left without saying a word to both Erza and I." I started off.

"When we were kids I used to tell her that I hate him for leaving us. She keeps on telling me that we will all meet again someday, and that all she was going to do is wait for him and explain his side of the story." I continued.

"You see, even though Erza and Jellal were only 6 years old, you could practically see the love on their eyes. And around the same year, my dad decided to go to a sudden business opportunity on Chicago. I was five. It broke my heart knowing that I'll be leaving Erza alone here in Japan with the fact that Jellal and I are going to be on the other side of the planet. The only difference between him and I, was that I bid proper farewell to Erza and he didn't." I breathe heavily and continued on.

"Jellal and I met once more in Chicago because of my parents, at first I was furious at him but he eventually opened up and I saw him cry for the first time as he repeats over and over how much he misses Erza. I could see in his eyes the regrets building inside him. His regret of not being able to tell Erza and me that he was leaving." I frowned saddened about the fate of those two.

"Jellal and I became close once again. While I try to get into contact with Erza, he did the complete opposite. He tried to erase everything about her, but he keeps on telling me that she was engraved on his memory like the sun. Even now that his sister is cured of her illness and living happily, he decided not to come back to Japan because he was too scared of facing Erza." I finished.

'How... can he... do this to her?' Levy-chan sniffled.

I hugged her tightly and caressed her back to comfort her then pat her head.

"What's done is done." I smiled at her.

"To think that I found that man gorgeous..." Levy-chan mumbled softly and I chuckled.

"Who's gorgeous?" Natsu asked as he crept from behind me, causing me to flinch.

"No one." Levy-chan and I said in unison.

"Lucy! He wants to talk to you!" Erza called out, when she entered the dining hall, and Natsu's eyebrows crumpled as he turned to look at me.

I ignored it and dashed towards our room and sat on my bed then plugged my earphones on.

"Hey Jellal! What's up?" I smirked.

"Took your sweet little time talking to her, didn't you?" I teased.

He blushed and covered his face and controlled himself before turning seriously to me, but failed in the process.

"Yes? I'm waiting..." I playfully smirked as he was trying his hardest not to smile.

He exhaled a large amount of air before looking sternly at me through the screen.

He eyed me for a moment and crumpled his face in horror.

"What the hell are you wearing?" he eyed questioningly.

"What?" I tilt my head in confusion.

"Since, when was your taste in fashion... became this awful?" he questioned.

"Ever since he left me!" I countered victoriously and proud.

Awkward silence.

"We're going home!" he blurted out of nowhere, taking advantage of the serious atmosphere.

It took two minutes and twenty five seconds for me to process what he just said.

"OH MY GOSH! NO WAY!" I took my earphones out and jumped up and down in happiness as he chuckled on the background.

Suddenly, the door opened then Natsu came in and saw my embarrassing victory jump.

...

"Is this a bad time?" he asked, awkwardly pointing at the door.

I silently sat down, in shame, on the bed and he sat beside me.

He looked carefully at Jellal's face on the screen and Jellal did the same.

"Natsu/ Jellal, is that you?" They questioned each other in unison.

"Yup!" they both answered in unison and laughed at each other.

"How did you know each other?" I asked feeling lost.

"Natsu was my childhood friend apart from you and Erza in Japan. Well, technically it was particularly Zeref that I was closed with." Jellal chuckled.

"When are you planning on coming home, man?" Natsu asked.

"Very soon! Oh guys, I have to leave I have to pick my sister up in school!" Jellal said.

"Oh! And one more thing Lucy, Rogue's coming with us and he'll be staying with Romeo!" He added as he disconnected the phone.

"Rogue's coming here?" I gasped.