Chapter Seventeen – Concerning Bragging, Dreaming, and Worrying

I bit my lip and stared after Ed as he ran down the sidewalk. I’d had no idea I was being… flirty. I had just been treating Ed like I treated anyone else, which was hard enough in itself to do, considering that he was Edward Elric, for crying out loud.

I groaned and threw the basketball towards the hoop. Of course I had to screw up the fact that I was hanging around the Elric brothers. I knew it had been too good to last. His screaming at me had only been the inevitable.

I sat down on the ground, feeling the coldness of the cement press against my legs. I shivered and hugged my cast to my chest in an attempt to keep warm. They really had to start making their hospital uniforms thicker. Though I had to admit, I much preferred the thin clothes to the hospital gowns back in America.

I bit my lip, trying to figure out what to do. Al was at the hospital, so Ed was bound to go back there. And he had told me to leave him alone, so there was no way I could go back to where I knew he would be, even if I was supposed to be in the hospital anyway.

“I don’t know what to do,” I said to no one, feeling my lip tremble like I was about to cry. It felt like the times back in elementary school when my mom had been late to pick me up and I had felt abandoned from it.

I sat there for a while, not doing much of anything besides holding back tears. It felt like I was waiting for something, but even I didn’t know what it was. I bit my lip and let out a shaky sigh. It was like I was back to square one again. Without the Elric brothers to follow, I wasn’t quite sure where I would go. Not to mention that Ed had told me I stuck out in a crowd.

I’m not sure exactly how long I sat there, but it was definitely long enough that I was starting to get cold and tired. All I wanted was to have a nice warm dinner and go lie down in a bed with a couple blankets. Home was sounding even better than it had a week ago. I had never thought that if I had ever been in the FMA world, I would be sitting alone on some street corner doing nothing and wishing I were anywhere else.

I sniffled. Things weren’t going the way they were supposed to at all.

“Hey!”

I jolted at the voice and looked up. Hughes was waving at me as he walked down the street. I smiled weakly and waved back at him. He grinned at me and went into a slight jog to get to me faster.

“You’re Ed’s girlfriend, aren’t you?” he asked as I stood up again. I opened my mouth to protest, but then realized it was stubborn Hughes I was dealing with and decided against it. Instead I just tried my best to nod and smile.

“We… we got in a bit of a fight and he stormed off on me,” I said, figuring there was no way that would count as a lie. Now, the way Hughes might interpret it could lead to problems, but it seemed that Hughes could interpret anything the wrong way.

“Don’t worry about that, I’m sure you two will be back together in no time!” Hughes said cheerfully, putting his arm around my shoulder and giving me a wide grin. “Soon he’ll realize just how much he can’t live without you around and he’ll come crawling back to apologize! And in the meantime, you can stay with us!”

“Uh…” I fidgeted. I didn’t really know where else to go, since anywhere I could think of would be a place where Ed might be, but spending a whole night with Hughes seemed a bit intimidating.

Then again, I had stayed for a couple days with Izumi. Hughes couldn’t be much worse. At least I knew he wouldn’t physically abuse me like Izumi. I smiled up at Hughes and nodded.

“I would really appreciate that. Thanks.”

“Good, it’s all settled!” Hughes said, grabbing my wrist and starting to drag me down the sidewalk. “And while we’re walking, I’ll show you some pictures of my wonderful little joy, my darling, the love of my life!”

I winced and sighed. Right. I had forgotten about that part. But hey, how many pictures could the guy have before he ran out? All I had to do was smile and nod, smile and nod, and eventually he’d run out of steam and stop.

Boy, was I ever wrong there.

I lost track of how many pictures I had seen after the first 20. I could tell from the way he was going that there was no such thing as “running out of steam” with Hughes. Somehow he’d be able to show me pictures until the end of time, though I wasn’t sure where he’d store enough pictures to do so.

“And this is Elysia with her grandmother! And this one is Elysia with her grandfather, isn’t she cute? And here she is in front of the tree, and here she is on Wednesday!”

I blinked. I had no idea that Wednesday was special enough to merit picture taking. I sighed and listened to Hughes keep going full steam ahead. He didn’t seem to have noticed that I had stopped smiling and nodding half an hour ago.

It almost sounded like a strange new sort of Dr. Seuss book, the way he kept going. Elysia on Pop, Elysia with mop! Elysia with mom, Elysia and Tom! Elysia in tree, Elysia loves me! Maybe I could make that into a book someday. It would only have one buyer, but I figured that Hughes would buy enough copies of the book to make me rich.

“Hey, Hughes?” I said, looking up at him. He didn’t even pause in his Elysia-speak. I sighed and rolled my eyes. “You’re just going to keep going until something happens, aren’t you?” I muttered, looking over at the shops he was dragging me past. Central looked like an interesting place to go shopping in, but it wasn’t like I had any sort of time for something frivolous like shopping.

“What if I asked you for dating advice?” I said, looking at Hughes to see of there was any response. Hey, anything was worth a try if it would get him to change topics. I had no idea that pictures of an adorable girl would get so boring.

Hughes didn’t seem to comprehend that I had spoken at all, considering the way he going. I rolled my eyes and bit my lip. My only hope was that we would get to the house soon enough to make him stop.

I felt my thoughts flick back to Ed. I was starting to scare myself. Here I had thought I was obsessed back in my world, meeting him and then being separated from him only seemed to make it worse.

I tried to picture him in my mind, and I grinned when I realized that I knew him well enough that it was easy to conjure up and image and I even could remember what his voice sounded like with the image. His voice was so much different than Vic Mignogna. For starters, I had never thought of Edward Elric as having an accent, but he had a bit of one to his voice. It made him sound more… mature, even if he was acting as immaturely as ever. The longer “ah” sound replacing the A’s, and the general… softness to his accent made it so relaxing to just sit and listen to him talk. I missed listening to Ed talk.

Whoa, hang on, just what exactly was I thinking?

I frowned and shook my head. I knew I had a crush on Ed. Heck, I’d had a crush on him back when he wasn’t supposed to even exist, and then suddenly I had been thrown into his world. But back when he didn’t exist it was okay to have a boyfriend and a crush on Ed at the same time. But now Ed was so real. I couldn’t have a crush on a real guy. I had a boyfriend.

I was jerked out of my thoughts when Hughes suddenly grabbed my wrist and pulled me into a store we had been about to walk past. I grimaced and realized that maybe paying at least slight attention to Hughes would have its few benefits, such as knowing what was going on when something like this happened.

“I’ll be back in just a moment!” Hughes said, practically sing and skipping away. I stared after him for a minute before I sighed and turned to look at the display in front of me. We were in some sort of store that sold Stuffed animals and candy. The store was also a little obsessed with bright colors. It seemed like something straight out of Japan. I chuckled nervously to myself and picked up a large stuffed frog with a top hat.

“I heard this was the only place that carried it,” a familiar voice said. My eyes widened. The thought of running into Roy in some sort of J-pop wannabe store was not a very pleasant thought. Heck, it was a crowded enough store, maybe I could duck and cover behind some stuffed animals until he left. I glanced down at the frog in my hands and then buried my face in it. Maybe he would think I was taking a nap. Standing up.

One could hope.

“A gift for a girlfriend, perhaps?” a cheerful girl’s voice said.

“Er… Yeah, something like that,” Roy said. I could hear footsteps walking past me. I didn’t dare look up. Then the footsteps stopped. I held the frog tighter to my face. Nothing to see here, continue on with your daily lives. There’s no girl burying her face in a frog plushie with a top hat.

“Hang on,” Roy said, and a thick hand settled on my shoulder. “I know you.”

Man, was he good. I wanted to kick him for being so perceptive. A kick would have earned me a few bonus points with Ed anyway, it would have been killing two birds with one stone. Maybe if I kicked Mustang enough, Ed would actually consider me his friend.

I sighed and pulled my face out of the frog plushie. There wasn’t much point left to hiding if he had already spotted me. I winced when Roy’s eyes narrowed at the recognition of my face.

“You.” He reminded me of a growling dog with all the hairs on its back bristling. “What are you doing here?”

“I—”

“Look at this! Don’t you think Elysia will just love it? I can’t wait to see her little face light up!” Hughes yelled it towards me as he marched through the store with a huge teddy bear holding a box of chocolates in its hands. His grin looked like it could blind. No one in the store could miss him.

Roy froze.

He stared at Hughes for a minute, then looked back at me, then back at Hughes again. Hughes seemed too busy smiling to open his eyes enough to see his old best friend standing there.

Roy turned to stare at me, his gaze icy. I winced. The man really was a lot scarier than he had been in the manga or anime. I thought I could see his eye twitch as he stared at me, but I wasn’t sure, so I brushed it off and decided not to try and figure it out.

“You play a sick game,” Roy spat at me. “Burn in hell.”

Before I could say another word, he had turned around and stormed out of the shop, leaving the poor store assistant calling after him if he still wanted to buy the candy he had come for.

Hughes came up to me and put the teddy bear in my good arm, then finally seemed to notice what was going on and frowned at my expression.

“What’s going on? Did I miss something?” he asked, putting a hand on my shoulder and leaning forward. I sighed and shook my head. Sometimes I wished I could be Hughes.

I stared ahead of me. I was standing on a high cliff, looking down at the city below me. The city was burning. I could hear people screaming and running through the streets, and while my heart was breaking at the thought of all those lives going up in smoke, I couldn't force my feet to move.

“It's strangely hypnotizing, isn't it?” a voice from behind me said. I turned around to look at him.

Even though he didn't have blond hair, golden eyes, or even a familiar facial structure, something in my gut screamed that I was looking at Ed. Maybe it was simply the way he held his face, even if the face looked completely different.

“The whole world is going to die,” he whispered, stepping forward and looking at the city below us. He paused for a minute and then put his hand around my shoulders. “Including us.”

“We've killed too many worlds,” I whispered, somehow knowing it was true without understanding what I meant. Ed winced and closed his eyes with a nod. “This needs to end,” I pressed, my voice quavering slightly. Ed sighed heavily and opened his eyes again to stare at me.

“It will end. We'll find ways to fix other worlds without ending them,” he said as he rubbed his fingers in small circles on my shoulder. I frowned and shook his hand off.

“No,” I said, and he frowned. “How many other times have we promised that? How many times have we killed an entire world and let ourselves die with it only to reincarnate and do it again? We can't stop doing this, Edward. This—” I motioned to the burning city, “—is our nature."

“Rebecca…”

“No.” I shook my head and stared into his eyes. "I love you—”

“I love you too.”

I sighed and shook my head. “No, I was going to say that I love you, but we can't choose our love over other people's lives. This time, when we reincarnate, we'll be in different worlds.”

“What?” Ed leaned forward and grabbed my shoulders. “You can't mean that! Don't do that to me! I can't live in a world without you!”

“We have to," I sighed. I leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "If it's so painful to you, erase your memories of… all this when you reincarnate. I'll do the same.”

“But… What if we never find one another again? We won't have the memories, we'll be in different worlds—” I sighed and shook my head with a smile.

“This is true love, Edward. We'll find one another again, don't worry. But we have to learn not to be destroyers of worlds before we meet up again,” I said. He winced and bit his lip.

“But what if we don't?”

“We will.”

“But…”

I cut off his protests by leaning forward and kissing him on the lips. He was still for a moment, then relaxed and wrapped his arms around my waist. I smiled against him before pulling away. He looked at me like a lost puppy.

“I don't want to lose you, Rebecca,” he whispered, running his hands through my hair. “I've had you in my arms for a hundred years since we first fell in love, I don't want to stop now.”

“You won't lose me,” I smiled at him. “I swear, one way or another, someday I will come to your world.” He sighed and bit his lip again. He didn't seem reassured by the thought. I sighed and thought for a minute.

“How about this, Edward?” I said slowly. He looked at me hopefully. I could tell he was desperate for something, anything to keep us together. “You reincarnate first. Then I'll stick around in your world for a year to set up a spell. If you and I haven't found one another after seventeen years of us being apart have passed, then I'll be pulled forcefully from my world into yours.”

“But— Forcefully is so… it could tear you apart!” he said. His eyes flared and his grip on my waist tightened. I grinned up at him.

“Come on, this is me we're talking about, isn't it? I'll be able to handle it.”

“But…” he closed his eyes and shook his head again. “I don't like it. You have no idea what could happen.”

“All the more motivation for me to find you,” I whispered back to him. He sighed and opened his eyes.

“You won't have any memories.”

“A desire this large doesn't need memories.”

Ed was quiet for a minute as he stared at me. All I could hear was the screams of the people in the city below us. After what felt like too long in silence, Ed sighed heavily and hung his head.

“Alright,” he whispered. “Let's do it.”

I woke up with a jolt. I glanced around the room and then sighed in relief when I saw I was in the spare bedroom at the Hughes household.

I had been surprised that Gracia was so accommodating to a girl she didn’t know showing up with the husband she thought was dead, but she had seemed to be in a bit of shock too. She had only looked at him once, and then she had focused on me. I had started explaining to her about being a friend of the Elrics, and then she stopped me and told me where the spare bedroom was.

Once I wasn’t in the same room, I heard her start screaming at Hughes before she broke into tears. I rolled over and looked at the clock. That had been hours ago. I sure hoped they had worked everything out by now.

I sat up and wiped at my brow with my good hand. I was covered in sweat. What a strange dream. And what was even stranger was that every little detail was clear in my mind. Usually my dreams got somewhat fuzzy after I woke up, if I managed to remember them at all.

I sighed and clasped my hands together. I had once told my mother that every dream had a message to convey if you looked, and while my mother had laughed at that theory, I still believed it. So what message was there in this dream?

Well, I missed Ed, for starters. And I also had a desperate crush on him; that was certain. Enough that I was having dreams of him telling me he loved me and was holding me in his arms. But another part of me had to think that we were better off each living in different worlds, because that was the agreement that had been reached by the end of the dream.

“Maybe you had that dream because it really happened,” a voice whispered in my ear. I frowned and shook it off. There had been talk about reincarnation in the dream, and I knew that wasn't true. There was no way that could have ever really happened.

I sighed and climbed out of the bed, fluffing my hair out. It was still short enough that I couldn't pull it into a ponytail, which got really annoying at times, though I did like the short hair. What was even stranger was to think that I had blond hair if I were to look in a mirror, but I liked to try and not think about that as often as I could. It got weird enough is a strand of my own hair fell in front of my eyes. My hair was supposed to be brown, not blond.

I sighed and walked out of the room. I hadn't gotten changed into pajamas before I had fallen asleep, so I didn't have a need to change back into my normal clothes before walking out of the room.

As soon as I was out in the hall, I was greeted by a whirlwind of energy.

“You brought Daddy home again! Mommy said he wasn't ever coming back, but you brought him here! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Elysia wrapped her arms around me tightly and buried her face against my chest. I couldn't help but grin, even with all that was on my mind. I patted her head happily. Little kids were so much fun to hang around.

“You're welcome,” I said. She was making me remember why I had wanted Hughes to be alive again in the first place. Even though I had gotten the cold treatment from Roy for him being alive again, it was worth it to see how happy his daughter was. Putting up with Hughes' pictures was even okay now that I was seeing how adorable Elysia honestly was in comparison to her pictures.

“Come on! Come downstairs!” Elysia said, pulling away from me and grabbing my hand. “Mommy's making cookies to celebrate, and you can play with me and Daddy! We're doing a puzzle together, but Daddy likes throwing the pieces around the room more than helping me finish the puzzle.”

I laughed. No doubt he was doing that because he found Elysia's reactions adorable, or something like that. I stood up and let Elysia lead me down to the living room.

Hughes was curled up on the floor, staring at a puzzle with flowers intently. As soon as he heard Elysia approaching, he jumped to his feet and ran towards us to pick her up. She squealed in his arms.

“Daddy! Your beard tickles! Stooop! Noooo!”

I smiled and clasped my hands behind my back. It really was just like in the anime. They were such a happy family together, it was wonderful to see that hadn't changed one bit. Gracia came out of the kitchen with a bowl and a spoon in her hands. She gave me a weak smile after a moment of watching Hughes and Elysia playing together. She took a breath and then walked up to me.

“I don't know what happened,” she whispered to me. “He says it was some elaborate military hoax, but I don't believe it for a second. He was really dead. I saw him. But whatever happened, I'm sure you had something to do with it, so thank you. It really is him. I've met another man in the city before who tries to convince me he's Hughes—”

I felt my eyes widen. Envy? It sure sounded like him. I had no idea why he would want to get to Gracia.

“—But that man has never felt like Hughes. He... He really feels like the man I married. He can't be anyone else. And whatever happened, I'm sure you had something to do with it, so, thank you,” she said softly. I opened my mouth to try and say something, but I found that I couldn't think of anything to say, not even a denial that I had been involved.

Instead I managed to squeak out a weak, “You're welcome.” Gracia smiled at me and turned to go back into the kitchen.

“I could use a little extra help with the cookies, if you like,” she called out over her shoulder. I grinned and shook my head. I didn't consider myself any sort of pro in the kitchen, I felt like I'd more likely hinder rather than help.

I looked back at Hughes and Elysia. They really were happy to be together again. Hughes was busy giving Elysia a piggyback ride around the room, while she held out her arms as if she were an airplane and squealed in delight. I laughed just watching the two have fun together. I could remember playing similar games with my father when I was a small girl. Then I had gotten too big to ride on his shoulders without hurting him.

Hughes paused for a minute when he caught my eye. I stared back at him in the brief moment, and then he smiled and winked at me before continuing on with his game. I laughed and slumped onto the couch. The only thing that could have made the moment any more perfect would have been the Elric brothers being there to share in the pure joy that was filling the entire room.

The cookies Gracia made were delicious. An hour after we had eaten them, it was turning dark outside and Hughes had put Elysia to bed, despite her protesting. My leg had fallen asleep after her desperate clinging.

I sighed and leaned back on the couch. Thanks to my nap, I wasn't tired. Even though it was only nine o'clock at night and I normally didn't go to bed that early. I wished something would happen, because sitting and listening to Hughes and Gracia talk wasn't all that interesting.

Wait... I smacked my forehead. I really had to be more careful with using the word “wish” in my own thoughts. On second thought, I wished—

There was a knock at the door. Too late. I stood up and went to answer it. Hughes was too busy chatting with his wife, it was easier for me to just answer the door.

I opened the door, and then stared at who was standing there. Though, honestly, I should have not been a bit surprised at who showed up.

“Hey, Rebecca,” Ed mumbled. He looked up at me and gave a weak attempt at a smile before scratching his head and looking down at the ground again. I bit my lip.

“Hey, Ed.”

“So... you're okay then. That's good.”

“What, you thought I wasn't okay? You didn't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself.” I stared at Ed. His eyes flashed and he quickly shook his head.

“No! I… I wasn't worried about you. Er… Al… when you didn't come back, he thought that… Ah, never mind.”

I chuckled and shook my head. Same old Ed as ever. My mind flashed back instantly to the dream I had earlier that day, but then I shook that idea off. Maybe that dream had contained some significance, but since I had already figured out what it meant, I didn't have to worry about it any further.

“What did I tell you?! I knew he would come back to apologize and tell you he can't live without you!”

Ed flinched at Hughes's words and snapped his head up. Somehow Hughes had managed to sneak up behind me in the middle of my conversation with Ed, though it didn't seem that surprising, considering it was Hughes.

“Hey! I didn't come here to tell her that!” Ed snapped back at him. Hughes smiled and shook his head.

“Oh, don't worry, not another word, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone.”

“We're not—! Dammit!” Hughes had already slunk off without paying Ed any more attention. Ed rolled his eyes and unclenched his fists.

“Look, Ray, I…” he closed his eyes and scratched the back of his head. “You didn't have to go running off, you know.”

“You told me not to bother you anymore,” I muttered.

“Yeah, that doesn't mean I meant it!” I snapped my head up to look at Ed. He winced and went back to looking down.

“Your… Your arm is still broken. And Al's really worried that you ran into En— Anyone dangerous, really. He was beginning to think that if you weren't dead, you had been raped.” I nearly snorted. Al the worrywart.

“Uh… Yeah… Ed, about that…”

“What?!” Ed looked up at me with wide eyes. I burst out laughing. His reaction was priceless. When I looked up at Ed again, his eyes were narrowed as he stared at me. I grinned at him, and after a bit of silence, he snorted in a half-chuckle and shook his head.

“Ah, Ray. Just… would you come back to the hospital? Al's worried sick about you.”

I sighed. As much as I didn't like Al worrying, I wished Ed would give a different reason for me to go back instead of just the fact that Al was so worried about me.

“Yeah, well, you can tell Al that I'm at Hughes’s place. That should be enough for him not to worry about me.”

“No, it won't.” Ed shook his head. “This is Al. Even after you're sitting with him, it'll still take a good half hour for his worry to completely die down.”

“Well, then send Al after me,” I said with a roll of his eyes. Ed groaned and stamped his foot. I turned to go inside again, but Ed grabbed my wrist. I turned back around to look at him. His bangs were preventing me from seeing his eyes.

“That won't work either,” he muttered.

“Why not?”

“Because… Ah… Just because.” I sighed and jerked my hand out of Ed's grip. I guessed that he must have let me go, because there's no way that Ed would be that easy to escape from.

“Ed, tell me why that won't work either.”

“Because.” I bit my lip. I was beginning to wonder whether something had happened to Al that would prevent him from coming to get me. But Ed had also said that Al was worried. I frowned. The situation was too confusing.

“Ed, why won't that work?”

“Because… I…” Ed sighed and shook his head.

“Ed, either tell me or just go!”

“Because I was worried about you too!”

I blinked. Ed's frown deepened and he turned his head to look away from me.

“Because… I was worried… about you… I… I was… forget it.”

I tried to take a deep breath. It was getting hard to keep my crazy crush desires under control. It was Edward Elric. Sure, he formed connections with people, but he didn't like girls like that. He was worried about me because we had become friends. And heck, friends with Edward Elric was a lot more than so many other girls got, so I would be happy with what I did have.

“Ray, I... I was scared something had happened to you. I was scared that the last thing I would have said to you was... I just..." Ed sighed and looked up at me. "You must think I'm stupid now, huh?"

I frowned. "For what, caring about people?" Ed bit his lip and did a half-nod. I chuckled and wrapped him in a hug. Ed stiffened under my touch.

"You're not stupid for caring for people, Ed. You're a really amazing guy, and most guys I know won't even admit to ever being scared because they were worried about one of their friends. I think it's really amazing that you would actually admit that to me. And the fact that you can care so deeply for other people is just…” I sighed and shook my head against his shoulder. Having Ed's bangs burshing against my skin was not helping me speak clearly. I pulled away from him and stared him in the eyes. He was looking at me like a deer caught in the headlights. “You're amazing, Ed.”

“Really?”

I laughed and shook my head. “I wouldn't have said so otherwise.”

“I… I just… Ray…” Ed sighed and hung his head so his bangs were covering his face again. “Would you just come back?”

“Uh…” I glanced back at the house behind me and thought back to how Elysia had been clinging to my leg. “I think it'd be better if I stayed the night and left in the morning. Elysia would be upset if I just left while she was asleep, and—”

“Right.” Ed was looking out at the street. “I just wish that...” he stopped and sighed heavily, then shook his head. “Ah, never mind, it's not important.”

“Sure it is.”

Ed blinked and turned back to look at me again, his eyes wide. I bit my lip. I couldn't believe the words that were coming out of my own mouth. Ed considered me for a minute, then chuckled and shook his head.

“Fine. I was just thinking about how I wish I could keep an eye on you through the night so I wouldn't have to spend the whole night tossing and turning because I'm wondering if it's really true that nothing has happened.”

“Ed—”

“Yeah, I know, you'll be in a house with a man in the military and all that, there's nothing to worry about. Not to mention your wishing powers. You'll be fine, I'm sure. I just… I guess I’ll seeya in the morning.” He turned to leave, but this time, I was the one to grab his wrist.

“Ed, maybe Gracia and Hughes would let you stay the night.”

He froze and turned back around to look at me with wide eyes.

“Really? You’d… You’d be okay with that?”

I laughed. “Of course I would. It’s not my house, I’m not the one whose approval you should be worried about.”

“I guess so.”

“Uh…” I tugged on Hughes’s sleeve as he tried to tiptoe past us. “Would it be alright if Ed and Al stayed the night here too?”

“Of course!” Hughes slung his arm around my shoulders. “The more, the merrier! Ed, you did the right thing, apologizing to your girlfriend like that.” Ed groaned and rolled his eyes.

“She’s not my—”

“Oh, young love! I tell you, when Gracia and I were young and first met, she was the cutest thing you could ever lay your eyes on!” Ed and I shared a look of mutual inner eye-rolls together. I chuckled and shook my head. It seemed like there’d never be any chance of changing Hughes.

“Look, I’ve got to go find Al,” Ed said, going back to scratching his head. “We split up in order to try and find you. But then I’ll come right back, alright?”

“Alright.” Hughes was still in the background babbling about his wife. Or maybe his daughter. I wasn’t exactly keeping track of when he would switch from talking about one to the other.

“Ray, I… Thanks.” Ed looked up at me and smiled. I felt like my heart had melted. He then turned around and left. I sighed and leaned against the wall.

“You’ve got a boyfriend,” I muttered to myself.

“Yes, and a fine one at that.” I looked over at Hughes and sighed as my thoughts flicked back to my real boyfriend back home. If only Ed were my boyfriend instead. He didn’t seem like the lemme-eat-your-face type.

I scowled and muttered, “Yeah, if only he was.”

Author’s Note:

-wipe brow- Another one bites the dust! I know, it took me a while to write this, but I stumbled into a bit of what some people would call a writer’s block, but now I’m finally starting to climb out of it, so hopefully I’ll keep up with chapters this time around! Whoo!

So, anyway, I’ve outlined all of the first part of this story, and pretty much did an anime-style sweatdrop when I realized that for the first part of this story, I’d end up doing FORTY chapters. –faints- The longest fanfic I’ve done so far was 25 chapters, and those were a third of the size of these chapters, so that would be… A THOUSAND OF MY OLD CHAPTERS?? You’ve got to be kidding me!!

Ehm… -grins and scratches back of head- Moving on before I have a heart attack. Who here is stoked by the new anime, huh? I love this one so much more than the last anime! It’s so much more believable, lol!

In other news, my mom gave me a new coat that’s perfect for an Ed cosplay. I only bring it up because I’m wearing it right now. And I’m a nerd. But it’s comfy!

Thanks for reading, I love you reviewers soooo much!