Look around your world, pretty baby
Is it everything you'd hoped it'd be?
The wrong guy, the wrong situation
The right time to roll to me
Roll to me
Lucy Heartfilia figured that on one's wedding day, one should be looking in the mirror at their wedding dress with absolute joy, dreaming ahead to the countless days in the future to be spent with the love of their life represented by the pure white of her perfect dress.
A big indicator that this was probably her doom was the fact that she rather felt like throwing up all over the damned thing.
Her bridesmaids, some distant relations that she didn't even know, chittered around her, putting extra pins in her hair and giggling about how beautiful she looked. She did thank them graciously, but would rather they go away. Only Levy, her best friend and maid of honor, was a comfort, gripping her arm and suggesting forcefully that they leave so that Levy could give the bride a pep talk.
When the girls finally all trickled out in their hideous peach, lacey bridesmaid dresses, Levy slammed the door shut and rushed to Lucy's side.
"You look the unhealthy shade of mold," Levy stated bluntly, pulling a chair over for Lucy to sit. She collapsed into it gratefully with a groan, feeling a tendril of golden hair come free from its clasp.
"I can't believe this is happening," Lucy choked out, elbows on the improvised church vanity and dropping her face into her hands. "After all the years of dreaming of love and romance in those dumb books of mine I… I'm going through with marriage for my dad's business deal."
Levy squeezed her shoulders soothingly. "I can't believe it either," she muttered. "My best friend, the sweetest, prettiest girl… off to some random guy she doesn't love. It's ridiculous. Excuse my French, but your dad is a jackass."
"W-well Dan is nice," Lucy tried weakly to bring herself up. "He seems to like me and… Dad did get me a wedding in London."
"With the most hellish bridesmaid dresses in the galaxy," Levy added helpfully. "And he only let you pick one friend."
It was true; he'd assigned relations to be her maids while her friends Cana, Erza, Mira, Lisanna, and Levy ended up drawing lots for who got to be the maid of honor. Oh, if only they could be in this back room…
So that they could maybe drag her down the aisle with a barf bag.
"Momma wouldn't want this," Lucy whispered, eyes locked on her miserable face in the mirror, painted to perfection, but all the powder on earth couldn't erase the look defeat from her expression.
There was a pause, before Levy breathed out, looked left and right, and then leaned in, whispering, "So run."
Lucy blinked. "What?"
"Run!" hissed Levy, gripping her shoulders ever the more tightly. "Don't screw over your chance for love for your dad's money! He's got plenty! Do what your mother would want, what you want, and get out of here!"
"I-I couldn't-!"
"You were always looking for adventure, weren't you?" Levy reminded her, scuttling away to behind a thick, wooden table. From under the cloth, she pulled out a suitcase. "The girls and I have a backup plan for you. We've packed everything - some clothes, toiletries, keepsakes, a new phone that they can't track you on, and…" Levy frowned down at the black case. "I think Cana slipped some whiskey in it."
"What did you do, break into my house?!"
Her friend waved her off. "It was for your own good. And Cana also made sure to pack that scandalous underwear that we found in your drawer, she said, 'just in case you come across a fun night'-"
"Levy-!"
"Lucy, be happy," Levy pleaded, shoving the trunk at Lucy's feet imploringly. "This is your last chance. We'll be here for you, even if your dad won't."
Lucy's breath caught, swallowing thickly as she stared into Levy's eyes, desperately wide. This was someone who truly loved her. Someone who truly loves her would surely strive to do what was best for her… right? But if her father would never speak to her again, all the people waiting out there, leaving poor Dan waiting...
"Last chance."
And look into your heart, pretty baby
Is it aching with some nameless need?
Is there something wrong and you can't put your finger on it?
Right then, roll to me
As if in a trance, Lucy picked up the nearest pen and paper, and began to scribble something down:
Dear Dad, Dan, and everyone,
I know it's hard to explain, but I can't go through with this. I'm very sorry for all the trouble, but I have to go. Dan, you're a wonderful guy, but just not the one for me. I'm sure you'll find the right girl elsewhere. Dad, I love you, and I hope you'll understand someday. Mom would want me to be happy and chase my dreams, and though it's at the last moment, I've decided it's about time I did.
Thank you all for your support, and I hope to see you again someday,
Lucy
When she had finished, she asked jaw clenched, "Okay. Get me out of this dress and if there's a car-"
There was a knock on the door. "Lucy!" A reedy voice from one of the bridesmaids. "It's time! Right now, or you'll be down the aisle late!"
"She's in the bathroom!" Levy squeaked quickly. "She'll be out in a moment!"
Lucy was practically hyperventilating by now, but her friend looked to be trying to keep her cool for her. "Okay, you'll have to just keep the dress on. Your car isn't here, and I took a taxi. Go find a new taxi, and fast! Don't forget your purse to pay them and have your passport!"
"Where do I go?!" cried Lucy, throwing up her hands.
"Away!" Levy commanded forcefully. "Call me when you can! I'll cover for you!"
"I-I-"
"Go start your own life and get out that window," growled Levy with a ferocity Lucy never knew her to have. "Now."
A sudden, reckless courage welled up within when she saw the determined, brown eyes of her best friend.
"Right," Lucy decided with a deep breath. "Please, help me out the window."
It took another minute to get all of the folds of the dress out the window and into the lawn. During those minutes, more knocking on the door made the stress rate spiral upward. As soon as Lucy's bare feet hit the ground, she thanked Levy, snatched her suitcase handle, and ran like hell was chasing her.
The road was a zooming nightmare of cars and cabs, and Lucy felt like this may be as far as she'd make it before her father found out. Biting her lip, she waved frantically out for a taxi, knuckles white on her case and eyes flicking backwards to the church. Oh please, please, please…
Finally, a shiny little cab rolled up to her assistance, squeaking to a halt at the curb. Praising the heavens, Lucy wasted no time in throwing open the door, chucking in her case, and tumbling into the backseat with skirts flying.
While she panted and pulled the door shut, she heard a pleasant, cheerful, British voice from the driver's seat let out a laugh and, "Well, I though' I'd seen it all, but this is a nice surprise. Where to, miss?"
"Away," Lucy gasped, echoing Levy. "Far away. Fast."
The voice let out a whoop. "Bes' request yet! Ah, I'm fired up now!"
And I don't think I have ever seen
A soul so in despair
So if you want to talk the night through
Guess who will be there?
And when he did as asked, she screeched, not expecting him to do it with such intense vigor. He peeled off the curb, making her feet nearly kick herself in the face before he turned sharply to the right and took off through the congested London traffic. The cabbie wove through cars at a terrifying rate, and she scrambled for a seat belt before he looped around a roundabout on two wheels.
"M-maybe not that fast," she reconsidered, clenching her teeth as her jaw rattled with the speed.
Obediently, he slowed, brakes screeching as he sighed and took it down a notch. "Aww, don't say things ya don't mean then, Miss…?"
"Lucy," she told him, ripping bobby pins from her hair until it fell into a curly mess about her face. "And you are?"
"Natsu Dragneel," he told her lightly, whistling as he waited for a stop sign. His fingers drummed against the wheel. "Happy to make your acquaintance, Miss Luigi."
"It's Lucy!"
She saw the flash of a rather cute grin over the headrest, as an assurance that he was only kidding, as he started lightly humming "Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds".
Lucy stared. He seemed to be her age. Not only was he, now that she got a proper look at him, extraordinarily attractive with his gentle face, big, dark green eyes, and prominent muscle under his cabbie shirt, but his hair was pink. The sunny color of a pink rose.
Natsu didn't seem fazed by her gaping stare-she admitted to herself that he was likely rather used to the looks of astonishment. He only asked, "So, you sound American, eh?"
"Th-that's right. Just came here, um, for a… wedding."
There was a snort as he turned right, foot still pressing rather hard on the gas. "Yours, I assume?"
"Unfortunately," Lucy sighed back.
"Not into the guy?"
"Not in the least."
"Hmm." Natsu frowned. "Why were ya gonna marry the bastard, then? I didn't think one could go gettin' married on accident."
"My dad," she said, leaning heavily against the door. From her toiletry bag in the case beside her, she pulled out face wipes and began to roughly remove all the ridiculously careful and thick makeup. "He wants me to marry a rich guy and have a son to carry on the company."
A bark of laughter. "Blimey, medieval much?"
Lucy couldn't help but laugh as well, surprised at herself. "Yeah I… I guess I was kinda dumb to agree. But it's for the best that I got away."
"Just in time, I see," Natsu mused, glancing back. "Are you not wearing any shoes?"
"They hurt," she muttered, and he let out a snicker.
"So, 'far away', Miss Lucy," continued Natsu. "Do you have money to pay for such a place?"
"Yes, yes I do," she agreed. She'd saved up enough of her own to last her a while. Lucy shoved the face wipe in an empty pocket of the case, easing at the feeling of clear skin. "I need to be where my dad can't find me."
"I will take you to Narnia!" Natsu proclaimed boldly, thrusting up a fist. Lucy nearly screamed as he accidentally swerved into the other lane and back just before a honking beetle can smash into them.
"Where did you learn to drive?!" she asked in horror as he slammed on the breaks at the next stop.
"Taught me'self, mostly," he said proudly, completely forgetting the existence of a blinker before switching two lanes. "Hate transportation. Need to wear these motion sickness patches, see, so no one could get me to until I needed to make a livin'."
"Why are you working as a cabbie when you hate transportation?"
Natsu shrugged, idly propping up a knee to steer with so that he could take a bite of a half-eaten sandwich. "Sounded like a job with more freedom. Jus' savin' up money so that I can travel the world. Your money, accordin' to my plan, should be the last amount I'll need to go. You know, wander around, see it all… it was what I wanted to do with me dad, but since he… well, he passed on, I decided to see it for him, ya know? I only ever been in this stinkin' city, so."
Lucy clasped her hands in her lap, touched, as she calmed herself enough to gaze at him levelly. "That's… that's really sweet."
"I think he'd like it." His tone was controlled, but distant.
Hesitantly, Lucy asked, "So… what places would you like to go?"
That perked him right up, and he began excitedly, "Oh, I figured Rome is a must, and Florence! I'd like much to roam the Alps a bit, or the hills in Austria. Germany I hear has good bratwurst, so I have to get some of that, and Ireland potatoes. They say Madrid is pretty, then I gotta see the Eiffel Tower and off to Greece to see more stuff. Then I should go where you're from; look around America, see that green lady in New York and the Grand Spaniel-"
Lucy giggled. "Canyon?"
"Yes, that, and them trees in California that are high as clouds!" Natsu rambled on, bouncing up and down in his seat, "There's that Disney and Harry Potter world down in Flo-ride, Hawaii with them coconut bras and flowers, right? Then up in the north, those lakes that are the biggest in the world, and that one city that's also a musical and one 'a the top murder capitals in the world, I believe."
"Chicago?" Lucy was baffled. "Murders… why would you want to go there?"
"I hear they have the best pizza," Natsu told her cheerfully, wheel skidding on a sidewalk before righting itself on the road. "Then Japan, probably. Dunno if I wanna risk Russians, but I hear India is interesting, and then perhaps to Egypt, where there are pyramids made by the aliens. Maybe."
His enthusiasm was infectious; in the seriousness of the situation, Lucy found herself smiling widely. "That all sounds amazing, Natsu."
"I know," he said. "That's why I'm doing it, weirdo."
After a laugh, her smile faded. "You're… doing it all alone?"
So don't try to deny it, pretty baby
You've been down so long you can hardly see
When the engine's stalled and it won't stop
raining, it's the
Right time to roll to me
He did smile, but it was strained this time. "W-well yeah… Ma friends are off to universities or have their own families… I wear on their patience after a time, anyway. And besides, I… I got my cat!" At her returned, sad smile, he changed the gears of the conversation. "And you? Where is this far off place you're searchin' for? Got someone to run with where your father won't find ya?"
Lucy opened her mouth, then closed it with a frown. Her father would think to check all of her friends' apartments… "I… no. I'm just… going."
Natsu's eyes were gentle on hers in the rearview mirror, spreading a warmth and calm over her panicked heart like butter. "Sounds like a lonely road ahead, Lucy."
"So does yours."
And I don't think I have ever seen
A soul so in despair
So if you want to talk to the night through
Guess who will be there?
Lucy thought she'd be exhausted by nightfall due to her eventful day, but she'd much rather talk to Natsu than sleep, and no one had ever made her feel more awake.
It was easy, fun, and they just seemed to… click. It was as if she'd known him his whole life. Within only a few hours, they were finishing each other's sentences, laughing harder than she could remember, and pouring out their deepest wishes through the pane of glass between the back and the driver's seat. He even respected her wishes to not look in the mirror when she stripped off her wedding dress and pulled on a pair of jeans and a red T-shirt. Not a perv in it for the boobs, like most guys.
His words made her relax and burn up at the same time, smiles melt, and laughter pang against her chest in the most pleasant way. The seat was uncomfortable, but she paid no mind to it as they sang Beetles' songs together with the radio. Lucy knew it would be absolutely ridiculous to have fallen in love with a pink-haired, maniac, British man you'd been in a car with for just four hours of speaking and never actually fully facing or touching one another.
Lucy supposed it was probably a day for ridiculousness, then, because she knew there was no doubt that she was falling in love with a pink-haired, maniac, British man she'd been in the car with for just four hours of speaking and never actually fully facing or touching him.
A silly little crush, she told herself over and over, because you ran from your wedding and he's hella cute. Nothing more.
The rest of her seemed to laugh in Cana's drawling voice, Oh, you just keep tellin' yourself that, sweetie.
For a time, there was a silence between them. Not an awkward one, but one where you soaked in the joy of simply being together. Then-
"Since you ran away from your weddin' and all," Natsu said suddenly, voice tight, "I'd say you're a pretty crazy girl, eh?"
Lucy raised an eyebrow, amused at his nervous tone. "I can't deny that."
"So… would you be crazy enough to come with me?"
Lucy's eyes widened as they met his in the mirror, the hope in his gaze clouded by the mist that swirled up around them on the dark, country road.
So look around your world, pretty baby
Is it everything you'd hoped it'd be?
The wrong guy, the wrong situation
The right time to roll to me
It was then that Lucy felt something bubble up within her. Not until it came out did she realize it was a laugh. A long, hysterical, possibly insane laugh.
"Wh-what?" Natsu stammered at her response, eyes tinging in anxiety and hurt. "I-I'm sorry… it was a stupid idea and I-I shouldn't have let it out, but I just… you're so lovely and fun and-and somehow weirdly perfect in my eyes so I thought… I'm stupid. Sorry. It's not like I've ever had a girlfriend anyway so I suppose I just don't know-"
"N-no!" she stopped him quickly, waving a hand and wiping her eyes. "No, I'm not laughing at you. I-I'm laughing at me because… yes."
The cab screeched to a halt, headlights twinkling on the gravel road as the night air became still around them.
"What?"
"Yes," she repeated, amazed that the words were coming out of her mouth.
Her mouth. And not her father's.
"Yes," Lucy said again, unbuckling her belt and leaning over to the window between them, setting her elbows against it to look tenderly at his shocked and elated expression. She'd never seen anything more beautiful. "I just laughed because I was happy, Natsu. I'd… I'd absolutely love to come with you."
After a moment in which he only stared, he said hazily, "Please get out of the car."
"Huh?"
Natsu opened his door and climbed out, strolling back to open hers and offer a hand. She took it. It was warm, smooth, but hard. Before Lucy had time to even ask why they were out of the cab, he pulled her flush to him and tilted his head down, kissing her like she'd never been kissed before. Like she was loved, adored, even, and like she was something precious that would never be let go. Lucy sighed into him, clutching the front of his soft shirt with one hand as the other tangled in his rosy hair. His smile slanted across hers when he hummed happily...
"...and that's how I ended up kissing and eloping with a cab driver that I'd just met in the middle of British nowhere on my wedding day," Lucy told Levy over the phone two days later in her motel bed, grinning as she heard Natsu's soft snores on the other mattress.
"Is he cute?" Levy's giggle was muffled in the speaker.
"He's an adorable hot piece of ass."
"See? Better than a wedding with peach puke dresses."
"Did I ever mention that I love you and owe you a gazillion hugs and books when I see you next?"
"Yes, but don't stop mentioning it."
Lucy laughed. "Oh, he's waking up. Gotta go and be ready to go to Paris!"
"Good luck, Lu! Be safe and keep calling us!"
As Lucy hung up, Natsu lept onto her bed, hair tousled and grin contagious as he jumped up and down. "Let's gooo!"
She slid off of the bed. "Ready to roll!"
The right time to roll to me
The right time to roll to me
Heya loves,
This was written for the amazing blazexkeys on tumblr for her birthday. :) Her art and personality is wonderful, and she always manages to brighten my day when I see her around the internets. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING AND I HOPE YOU LIKED IT!
I actually assigned the song to this fic after I came up with the plot, because I thought it would work well. The song is "Roll To Me" by Del Amitri. This is just a little fluffy oneshot, and I hope I at least got a smile outta ya.
Icon picture by the awesome leons-7 on tumblr!
Mizpah,
~LoneStorm