Chapter 4

"Why did you want to take me out all of a sudden?" I asked, wanting to get off the subject of my childhood.

     "Just to get out of Resembool," Edward said, yawning while looking into the window of an AutoMail shop we passed. "Face it, it gets boring, all cooped up in a house in the country."

     "I guess you're right." As we were walking, we passed a man and woman with a baby in a stroller. Then, we turned a corner, and we walked past a highschool couple making out (Edward dared me to ask if I could cut in; I punched him really hard in the back of the head).

     We strolled down the street, past some more shops and other buildings, and then saw a dude proposing to his girlfriend. She said yes, of course.

     I felt like drinking.

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"What do you want to do?" Edward asked as we carried on down the street. "We have the whole day ahead of us."

     "I wanna go home," I said, yawning.

     "Lunch it is!" Edward grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the street.

     "I can walk on my own, Fullmetal!" I shouted. I saw some girl look over, and then she ran towards us.

     "Fangirl, two o' clock," I said, getting out of Edward's grasp. She looked familiar to me, somehow. I just couldn't place my finger on it.

     "Edward Elric?" she said hopefully looking at him. "The Fullmetal Alchemist?"

     "Heh, yeah, that's me," he said, a cocky smile spreading across his face. "Of course, I'm not a State Alchemist anymore."

     "Why?!" she asked, completely caught off guard. "You were one of the best! The youngest State Alchemist in history!"

     "Well, uh, my girlfriend, here--" Edward hooked his arm around my waist and pulled me next to him. "--wasn't far behind me. She joined when she was fourteen."

     "Don't pull me into this," I said annoyed, elbowing him in his side.

     "Are you sure she's your girlfriend?" the girl said, narrowing her eyes at me. "If she elbowed you, it doesn't really seem to me that she's your girlfriend."

     "And who're you to assume?!" I shouted without thinking.

     "Temper, child," Edward said with a laugh.

     "Shut your trap," I said back, completely irritated.

     "Well, all that aside," the girl said, waving me away. "my name is Katsura. Here's my number if you ever want to get together sometime, Edward." She took a piece of paper out of her pocket, scribbled down a phone number with a pen she just happened to have handy, stuck it in Edward's hand, and scurried off.

     "Uh, okay," Edward mumbled. He looked down at the number in his hand. I didn't say anything. What annoyed me most was that he shrugged and stuck the number in his pocket.

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I stayed silent as we entered the outdoor restraunt for some lunch. Edward ordered his food right away, while I ordered water.

     We sat there in silence until Edward said, "Okay, what's bugging you? You were fine until Katsura showed up."

     "I can't believe you bothered to remember her name!" I said. "Why didn't you throw away her number?"

     "Because there wasn't a garbage can around," he said.

     "Yeah, sure," I grumbled, staring at my cup of water.

     "Is little Lucy jealous, per chance?" he asked in a stupid voice.

     "No!" I said a little too quickly. "I'm just annoyed. She looked at you like you were something to buy, and she couldn't wait to get her hands on you."

     "To me, it looked like a fan of the Fullmetal Alchemist who just wanted to meet her hero," Edward said, now annoyed as well.

     "Pfft, her hero!" I crossed my arms. "She gave you her number, Ed!"

     "Do you really think I'm going to call her?" he asked, kind of shocked. "You're my girlfriend, Lucy."

     That caught me off guard, considering Edward had never said it aloud until just then. He noticed it, too, and quickly said (his face beat red), "What I mean is, YOU'RE the one I care about, not her, okay? Don't get mad."

     I took a deep breath and said, "Alright, alright. I'm sorry."

     I was still mad on the inside, though.

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After the uncomfortable lunch, I wanted to go home. The look in Edward's eyes told me that this wasn't how he wanted to spend the day, but he let me go.

     "You go on ahead," he said. "there's something I want to get before I go."

     "Okay, see you at home," I said. I walked to the train station, with Katsura on my mind. Why the hell did she even give him her number? Edward even told her I was his girlfriend!

     "Clear your mind," I whispered to myself. "Forget about her, odds are you'll never see her again."

     "Excuse me!" someone shouted behind me. I turned around, anger boiling in my veins, as I recognized the voice. Katsura.

     "Excuse me," she said again, coming up behind me. "You're that girl who was with Edward, right?"

     "Yeah," I said. "and what do you want?" 

     "What's your name?" she asked. "You look familiar."

     "Lucy," I said. "and of course I look familiar, you saw me an hour ago."

     "Lucy Mustang?" she asked. "I went to your school, and I was in your class."

     So THAT'S where I knew her from. Damn school.

     "So?" I said, trying to sound bored. "What does that have to do with anything?"

     "We could be friends!" she said. "You're so lucky to be so close to the Fullmetal Alchemist..." She let out a long sigh. "He's so cute..."

     "He lost the cute when he turned twenty," I grumbled, remembering when he was sixteen and kept his hair braided.

     "Oh, I don't think so," she said. "How did you even meet him, anyway?"

     "I'm done with this conversation," I said. I turned away from her and started walking. I didn't want anymore Katsura in my life.

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The train ride back to Resembool was long and boring. Across the aisle from me was a woman with a baby and a little boy, about 4, who kept looking at me. I glanced at him at one point and smiled, trying to be friendly. He smiled back and turned to his mom.

     "That lady's pretty," he whispered loudly to her. I couldn't help it; I started laughing. He sunk down in his seat, embarrassed, and his mother said, "I'm sorry about that."

     "It's fine," I said. "He's cute."

     After a little while, as the rolling hills of Resembool came into view, I got to thinking of what it would be like to have a little girl or a little boy. They would need constant attention, and lots of love, but they would be fun to have around. I sometimes pictured Edward as a father. He would be a good dad. But I couldn't see myself as being a good mother, or a mother period. It freaked me out.

     I always just assumed I would never be cut out to be a parent. Sometimes, I thought that I should'nt, just to avoid telling my child why he or she didn't have grandparents, or telling them what job mommy used to have. I couldn't keep it a secret forever.

     I blinked, and the train whistled. We pulled into Resembool.

 

Author's Note

It's taken me four tries to get this right....

And Koda, I can see why you don't like this any more. I need to make some changes further on.

Reviews

[Anonymous]

Katsuuuuuuura... Heh heh heh...