Title:Picking the Pieces Up
Summary: AU-ish. When two broken-hearted people meet, what do you think would happen?
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Warnings: Too much punching, OOC-ness, grammar errors and typos.
Everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes, good things fall apart so better things can fall together.
CHAPTER 1: Slaps, Rainfall and Police Station
"What? You're breaking up with me?" the blonde asked, her voice rising with every word she said. She didn't care if everyone inside that restaurant were now looking at them, watching her shout at the man seated on a chair in front of her. "You just got back from your business meeting after leaving for three weeks, Loke! We just saw each other again! And now, you're telling me you're breaking up with me? Bullshit."
Lucy Heartfilia stared at the man in front of her, her hazel eyes narrowing at the sight of him. Damn this man! They hadn't seen each other for Kami knows how long and when they do, he suddenly breaks up with her.
Loke remained silent, his head now hanging low, his eyes were hidden behind his bangs as if to avoid her gaze. He then said, "Lucy, I― Look. Please, listen to me."
"Is there someone else?" she asked him. She held back the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes. No, she wouldn't show any signs of weakness in front of this man. She wouldn't let him see her tears, because he didn't deserve them. He never did in the first place anyway.
The man didn't say anything and just remained silent.
Her friends had told her not to let guys like him to get close to her when he started showing her some signs that he somehow liked her. That he was that type of guy who just plays with women and would leave them crying the second he got bored with them. But she didn't listen, and wholeheartedly agreed to be his girlfriend after a few dates. Now, she badly wished that she had just listened to her friends, instead of being in this situation.
"I like you, yes, but I'm not in love with you…"
Ouch.
"…You're a great person, and I don't want to hurt you."
Damn shit, you don't.
"It's just that, if we continue this relationship, I know for sure that both of us will end up hurting even more and I don't want that. I don't want a relationship where the two of us will just be together for the sake of being in a relationship," he stopped talking for a while, as if trying to figure out the right things to tell her. "I don't want to cheat on you so I'm ending this now, Lucy. I hope you forgive me."
I hope you forgive me. Those words kept ringing inside her head, as if taunting her.
Lucy then let out a loud sigh. "I don't deserve this," she said, before standing up. She got her pouch, walked away before walking back to their table once again. "I forgot something," she said as she smiled sweetly at his direction. She then slapped him with all her might.
It was raining.
The blonde didn't know how long she had been walking in the rain, with an umbrella resting sloppily on her left shoulder. She couldn't even remember long she had been silently crying.
Lucy rubbed her arm to warm herself up a little. She had dressed up for Loke, because somehow she thought, he'd be happy to see her tonight, dressed up like a lady that she was. She never thought that he would break up with her as soon as they finished eating their dinner.
She sobbed and wiped the tears on her eyes. Why do all the men in her life treat her like she was worthless? Like she didn't deserve to be loved? First, her own father, who treated her like she didn't even exist. And now, her first real boyfriend.
Why? Why?
"I hate you, Loke," she whispered, as she took a step.
Another step. "Loke, I hate you! I really hate you―"
A splash of puddle water hit her, wetting her nearly soaked boots, the exposed part of her legs and her skirt in the process. "Ahhhhh!" she screamed, as her eyes narrowed at the car which just moved past her. It suddenly halted a few moments after, stopping a few meters away from her, and a woman hurriedly got out of the car and ran out in the rain. A man then followed suit.
They seemed to be having a serious conversation when the woman suddenly slapped the man, who seemed to be dumbfounded by the slap he just received.
She smirked. Hah! You deserved that, you lying moron! I hate you, Loke. I hate you!
The blonde continued to watch the scene, as the pair got soaked in the middle of the road, with all the rain pouring on the both of them. The man was holding the woman on both her arms now, and the latter seemed to be struggling from the man's grip.
Lucy took a step closer to the two of them. She could barely make out the words coming from the arguing pair.
"―why can't you just see? I don't love you anymore!" the woman said before she could free herself from the man's iron grip. The man, whose face Lucy couldn't see, was about to take hold of the woman's wrist once again when the woman slapped the man's cheek once again before running away from him and hailing a cab.
"Shit," the blonde heard the man curse, as he cupped his hurt cheek. Lucy saw the man approach his car and was about to go inside it when she suddenly felt her own feet moving, approaching the man even before he could shut the door close.
She left the umbrella on the side of the road, completely forgotten as she yanked him on his collar, even though he was a head taller than her, and forced him to face her.
Taken aback, the man frowned and put both his arms on a surrender pose. "What―"
The blonde's hand then connected with the man's cheek as soon as he finished saying a word.
Natsu was slapped again. For the third time that day.
He was about to go inside his car and follow Lisanna, but this mad woman appeared out of nowhere and slapped him! What more? She continued on hitting his chest, over and over while crying and saying something under her breath.
"I hate you, Loke! I really hate you! How could you do this to me? How could you?"
"Woman, listen to me!" he snapped at her, while taking hold of both her wrists to stop her from hitting him. Honestly, he didn't need this right now. He had to follow Lisanna and ask her to forgive him. He had to―
Another punch landed on his chin.
Damn, this woman could hit hard. He didn't even realized that her wrists were unleashed once again, terrorizing his poor, poor body.
"I hate you! Go to hell! Die, Loke, diiiiiiiie!"
"I'm not Loke!" he shouted at the blonde-haired woman, as he gripped both of her arms this time. He could feel his face getting warm because of anger as he stared at the woman's face in front of him.
"I'm not Loke!" the man shouted at her.
Lucy sobbed and forced herself to look at the man, who was painfully gripping her arms now. She saw him looking directly at her, his face reddening with annoyance and anger. He was also good-looking, she noticed, with his wet hair sticking on his forehead and his wet shirt hugging his lean body tightly.
Uh-oh. This was bad. He reminded him so much of… Loke.
She gritted her teeth. How dare this... this good-looking, pink-haired man touch her?!
Realizing this, the blonde let out another punch, directed at the man's nose. But the man quickly dodged it, catching the woman's fist inside his larger ones.
"I told you I'm not Loke!" the man shouted at her once again.
"I know that!"
"Then why do you have to hit me if you already know?"
The woman's tears silently flowed as she spat some curses at him. Hitting his chest once again, with lesser force this time, she shouted, "Men! Why do you always hurt me when all I ever do was love you with all my heart? Huh?"
"Look, woman! I don't even know what you're saying! I don't even know you so get the hell away from me!"
"Noooooo!" she shouted. The rain was falling hard so the two of them had to shout in order to hear each other. Her throat felt hoarse and dry because of shouting too much, but she didn't care. "You deserve this, you moron! You pig! You―"
"Quit it, woman! I told you I don't even know you―"
"Aha! So the two of you are the root causes this traffic," a man, dressed in a police uniform, said over a megaphone while shaking his head in disbelief. He was seated shotgun next to a fellow police officer. "Young people these days," he muttered over the megaphone once again as he continued, "you two should get a room, instead of doing your business there in the middle of the road!"
The megaphone was then yanked from the officer's grip by the other policeman who was seated next to him. "Or better yet, come to the police station and explain yourselves! And quickly! For Kami's sake, I'm hungry!"
Lucy was shivering. She was still inside police station and the man, whose the blonde's anger was directed to, was nowhere to be seen.
It wasn't that she was looking for him, but yeah. She was cold and angry and irritated and hungry and irritated. It didn't help that it was noisy inside that place as drunk men mutter something under their breath as they laughed, and couples bicker at one corner. It annoyed the blonde more when a man, his hairstyle was atrocious and his yellowing teeth glimmered as he showed her a haughty grin. His hands were caught in a pair of handcuffs, though it didn't help to lessen the blonde's increasing irritation.
"Hey, pretty lady," he said as he continued to grin at her, the stench of alcohol was laced on his breath. "Wanna have a good time with me?"
Lucy frowned and scrunched her nose. She then heard a police man say, "Hey, hey, hey! Don't talk to the lady like that."
The man clicked his tongue. "I was just asking, okay?" he answered as he tried to touch Lucy's arm with his cuffed hands.
"Don't you dare touch me!" Lucy shouted at the man who looked surprised. A punch then landed on the man's jaw, followed by another and another. All the man could do was groan in pain, as the policemen around them snickered and grunted.
"Hah, you deserve that, moron," the officer behind the computer said, as he shook his head.
Strong hands wrapped around Lucy's waist after a few moments, startling the blonde, as she was being dragged away from the drunk man who now sporting numerous bruises and bumps on his face. With a final kick, she was thrown (gently, if such thing was possible) on a chair near the entrance of the police station.
"What do you think you're doing?" she shouted at the pink-haired man, who was now standing in front of her with a frown on his face.
Tch, what a handsome bastard, she thought as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"That's enough. You'll get into more trouble if you continue what you have started."
"Hey! He was the one who started saying awful things to me! So basically, he deserved that!"
The frown on his face deepened and his fists closed into tight fists, she noticed, but he kept his cool. He was facing the entrance of the police station, as if he was waiting for someone, when he suddenly turned to face her. The frown was gone, and it was replaced with his emotionless facade.
"Whatever," he finally said. "Just don't get into more trouble. I want to leave this place now."
Lucy let out an un-ladylike grunt. He could leave anytime. They'd already explained everything to the officers and they told them they could leave. She just wanted to stay because the rain hadn't stopped.
"You could just leave, you know."
He turned to face her again, his forehead knotted. Shaking his head, he turned away and faced the entrance once again.
Rubbing her arms to somehow get rid of the coldness that she was feeling, Lucy sighed and closed both her eyes. She wanted so badly to go home, take a bath, sleep on her bed and forget all the bad things that happened to her today. She frowned when she remembered that she still had to pass a new manuscript to her editor, and also best friend, three days from now. But she hadn't even started writing anything...
She then heard a familiar voice as she felt someone shaking her shoulders.
"Gray, what are you doing here?" she asked the newly-arrived man who was now frowning at her.
"You know each other?" the pink-haired man, the knot on his forehead deepened, asked.
"Yeah. I've known her since college. One of Juvia's closest friends. I didn't know you two know each other."
"We don't."
"We just met today."
They said at the same time. Gray looked at the both of them curiously and snickered when Natsu placed a dry coat on the blonde's shoulder.
"Ah, I don't need this―"
"You do. You look cold," the man insisted as he put the coat on her shoulders once again. He then turned to face the raven-head. "I have to go now, popsicle. Take her home."
"I will flame-head. Besides, Juvia will kill me if anything happens to Lucy," he answered and clasped the man on his back as he walked out of that place.
Feeling awkward, Lucy coughed to get the raven-head's attention. "You know him?"
"Who?"
Lucy pointed at the pink-haired man, who was now inside his car and was currently driving away.
"Ah. Natsu." Gray then felt a nudge on his arm. "What?"
"Popsicle? Flame-head? Seriously?"
"Yeah. It's some kind of an inside joke between us."
The blonde nodded in understanding. "How did you know each other by the way?"
"What? Curious about him now?" the raven-head said, as he snickered at the blonde.
Lucy frowned and punched the man on his arm. "What?"
"Nothing, nothing," he laughed as he opened an umbrella for the both of them. "We live in the same subdivision."
The blonde nodded when she remembered that Gray and his wife moved into a new subdivision a few weeks after their wedding.
Ah, Fairy Tail.
She remembered now. It was an unusual name for a subdivision, but it made her curious. (Because apparently, some of her friends, single or married, lived there. Ahhh, how could she forget?)
"So what are you doing here, Gray? How did you know that I was here at the police station?" she asked as she stepped under the umbrella as they walked to the raven-head's car.
"I didn't know you're here. That flame idiot asked me to come and bring a dry coat or jacket or something. I didn't know that coat was for you."
Lucy nodded absent-mindedly. Ugh. Did she just feel her heart beating so wildly against her chest?
This couldn't be. We just met. I just broke up with my ex-boyfriend. Nuh-uh.
Shaking her head slightly, she turned to face Gray and asked him, "So how's Juvia?"
The man beside her instantly beamed as he looked so concentrated on driving as they talked about some things.
They'd reached her apartment quickly as they chatted. The blonde thanked the man for taking her home. She waved at him as she watched his car getting further and further away...
She then went inside her apartment and got herself ready for a warm bath.
The water was warm and it reached just below her shoulders. And somehow, helped on calming her nerves.
Finally, a time to relax.
She deserved this. After all that had happened today, she deserved to be pampered like this.
The blonde sighed as she closed both her eyes. She then felt sleepy and decided to take a short nap there in her bath tub. But then, she remembered what Gray had told her a while ago: I didn't know that coat was for you.
And suddenly, Lucy Heartfilia wasn't sleepy at all.
A/N: Lucy's, uuhhh, personality will be back next chapter -.- HAHA. This is the result of watching WWE with my dad while writing orz ;-;
Thanks to my beta, Andrea. Thanks for the advice! :)
Continue or not? Please review! Thank youuu~