Day 75- Blackout

So today I went to the maid cafe I mentioned to you all about. It was nice, there were around eight to ten maids or so and they were cutely greeting and dancing. In simple words, it was like how every maid cafe is here.

The only annoying thing was; I didn't get a job there (and thank the gods because I couldn't have kept a smiley face from dawn to dusk) because someone already gave an interview before I reached there and they accepted her without further ado. I saw her before stomping off from the cafe and to be honest, she really looked pretty. I don't think low of myself but in all seriousness, there are a million girls that are prettier than me and I'm not one bit jealous because someone told me, If you don't be yourself, the world will only see you as another pebble on the road.

And since then, those words have been carved in my mind deep and secretly. Though, I wonder who told it to me...There's a face but I can't recognize it. It's blur and the voice is somewhat faded and cracked like an old gramophone.

I went back home to search for more jobs but all there were left were volunteer works and they don't really pay that well after doing so much of hard work of cleaning the roads and wiping a dozen or so windows.

So, I decided to leave it to fate. If fate wants me to work, then it will give me a job or else I would have to live my life freeloading off my mom, ha ha...No, I better find a job before she kicks me out of the house.

--

I didn't do anything productive today to be honest. Gray once again left to do some work, which he didn't tell me about and I didn't bother to ask.

I spent the entire afternoon and mid-evening watching the drama's and junk-eating in my pajama's when suddenly, at exactly 8 pm, there was a blackout in our area. The entire street had turned dark, the heaters went off and the rooms were getting colder and colder by the second. I tried to call mom but she wouldn't pick up and then I tried to call Gray but incidentally, he wouldn't pick up either.

I wrapped myself in a blanket and sat in the living room in front of the T.V. I waited and waited and then kept looking at the wall clock and then I realized that the time was going so slow like a garden snail...

I spent a few minutes on my phone but then I got the message low battery so I had to keep that aside as well in-case of emergencies.

Everything was so quiet, it was creepy. I could hear the passing of the cars, dogs barking, the wind blowing and the murmurings of the passers-by.

I hoped Gray or mom would come home soon because I seriously started to feel lonely and scared.

Just sitting on the couch with nothing to do made my eyes droopy. I closed them for a while and before I knew it, I was asleep right there and then.

--

"Oi, Erza," My body shook lightly, "Wake up."

I opened my eyes and saw a Gray looking down at me with the torch light illuminating only his face. For a second there I jerked and sat upright because all I could see was a man without a body.

"Damn! You scared me there, Gray!" I clenched my heart and sighed deeply.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay...I'm glad you're home."

"Yeah, it's rare to have a blackout like this, right?"

"Uh-huh." I nodded and shifted a bit for him to sit. He sat down and began rubbing his hands together.

"Mom hasn't come home yet..." I mumbled and grabbed my phone to look at the time but it was switched off. "The battery died."

"Oh, she called me and said she would be home late, probably around midnight," Gray said.

"I see..."

"Aren't you cold?" He asked.

"No, I'm actually pretty warm and fuzzy..."

"You are?"

"Of course, I'm cold!"

"Gee, don't shout."

"Then don't ask such questions."

"My phone's gonna die soon." He said. "Oh! Do we have candles?"

"I think we have in the kitchen," I said.

"Let's go."

"Where?"

"To get the matches and the candles."

"Can't you go by yourself?"

"No."

"Why not."

"Cause it's dark."

"And you're afraid of the dark?"

"Stop asking questions and come with me." I don't know how he found my hand in the dark, but he did and he held it and pulled me up, "Here, hold my phone." and dragged me towards the kitchen with him.

"I didn't know you were that scared of the dark, Gray." I giggled.

"I won't lie. I am." He began opening the cupboards with his free hand. He didn't let go of mine no matter how difficult it was for him to search inside.

"Did you find it yet?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah I did, I actually am passing time admiring the insides of the cupboards."

"Real sarcastic."

"Hey, you were sarcastic too."

"Cause you asked an obvious question."

"Aha! Found it!" He said and pulled out the candle and matches from a drawer under the basin platform.

Eventually, he had to let go of my hand to light the candle.

We placed it in front of the table and tried to unfreeze our hands. Gradually, the warmness raced through my palms but only until the wrist. My cheeks were getting warm too but I was trembling inside the blanket.

Gray did the same thing but he was shivering more than me. Now that there was a little illumination, I noticed what he wore today. An ivory turtleneck sweater with black jeans which were probably blue. Now I know that a sweater can't keep a person as warm as a blanket and I can't just let him freeze to death when I could save his butt.

I opened one side of my blanket and hummed. He looked at me, then at the open space and then back at me, confusedly.

"Hm?"

I nodded.

He raised an eyebrow.

I rolled my eyes.

He sighed.

I was about to close the space between us because the warmth was leaving my body but instantly changed his mind and decided to share the blanket with me.

"Being together will keep our bodies warm," I said.

"Wow, coming that from you, I wish we were a couple now."

"Don't ruin this for me, Gray," I said dryly.

"Okay, okay. Sorry." He chuckled.

We just sat there, warming ourselves by the flaming candle. There was not much to talk but Gray tried to converse because he said not a few minutes ago, that he wasn't feeling sleepy. But I was so whatever he said, I responded him with a 'Hm' or, 'uh-huh'.

"I wonder for how much more longer will there be a blackout."

"Hm."

"You know my friend Lyon I told you about?"

"Uh-huh."

"He's got a girlfriend and he wants to see my girlfriend and compare."

"Hm."

"How much of a jerk can he be, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"I just told him to eff off."

"Hm."

"I know it was rude of me but I just go pissed of by his attitude."

"Uh-huh."

"Are you even listening, Erza?"

"Hm."

"You're sleeping, aren't you?"

"Uh-huh."

And that's actually the last I heard him talking.