How to Play the Player
It all started one Friday morning in school, the moment Lucy noticed Lisanna was absent for the day.
She had stared at the empty desk next to her one, so lifeless. Usually her white haired friend would already be there, smiling at her arrival and comment with her the date she had the day before with her boyfriend Natsu Dragneel and oh how gentle he was under that popular facade he wore.
To be honest, deep in her heart, Lucy didn't like Natsu.
He was number one in school, such a player and heartbreaking. Such an idiot.
So the moment Lisanna had announced their relationship, Lucy had a bad feeling in her heart. But of course, for her friend's sake, she had put on a smile and congratulated her. Who was she, after all, to judge him? Maybe he would actually be a gentleman.
So Lucy went on cherishing their relationship. She had even been a third wheel sometimes, memories she didn't want to recall.
Frowning, she down at her own desk next to the window, and took out her phone. She only texted Lis to know how she was before putting it back on her bag, at the same time the History teacher entered the classroom, followed right after by Natsu Dragneel.
The class laughed at his goofy imitation of the professor. Lucy only wondered if he knew why Lisanna didn't come school today; she guessed she just asked him after class.
So she did; when the bell rang, she approached him while he still stuffed his book inside his messy, rotten bag. She coughed to gain his attention, and he looked at her with those pearl green eyes that made the rest of the girls go crazy.
"Hey Natsu," she greeted.
"Luigi!" he grinned widely. Looking at him from above, since he was still sitting, presented her a whole new perspective of him and his wild, spiky pink hair. It looked as if he just woke up.
Her right eye twitched, "It's Lucy, actually."
"Oh, of course." he was still smiling. How come he was always smiling? "Do ya need something?"
Lucy could feel countless pair of eyes burning a hole in her head, but she decided to ignore it. "Do you know why Lisanna hasn't come today?"
"Oh." he said. His eyes fixed on some point that was definitely not her, his lips formed a thin line, and he choked out a nervous chuckle that awoke Lucy's distrust. "I'm not sure, exactly."
"You don't know?" Lucy narrowed her eyes. "She is your girlfriend."
"And you are her friend." Natsu said, before sighing in surrender. "Look, I am sorry. I think she'll tell you." And with that, he stood up and left the classroom.
Scowling, Lucy checked her phone again, but the answer hasn't arrived yet. Trying not to dwell much in thought and thanking it had been last class so she could go home, she exited the classroom too, closing the door behind her.
It was then when she saw Mirajane, Lisanna's older sister, laughing in the hallway with one of her many followers. Lucy waved to her, calling her attention, and moments after the white haired beauty was standing in front of her, a sad smile on her pretty face.
"Mira," Lucy greeted, relaxing a bit.
"Ah, Lucy," the Strauss said. "How are you doing?"
"I'm fine, thanks," Lucy smiled for a second before the frown came to her face again. "Where is Lisanna? Is she okay?"
Mira sighed, shaking her head with that sweet, yet sad smile. "You should go check her. Maybe friends' comfort will do her better than mine."
Lucy's eyes widened in worry. "Don't say that, she loves you! Let's go right now!" she said, grabbing Mira's wrist and dragging her along.
It was a luck that their house wasn't that away from school, so it only took them around seven minutes until they were standing in front of the door. Mirajane put the keys on the lock and with a twist of her hand, the door was opened for them to go inside. Lucy instantly walked up to Lis' room, having been here more times than on her own house.
"Lis!" Lucy yelled as soon as she opened the bedroom's door.
And her heart stopped at the sight of her friend, curled up in the bed under the blankets, her face shining with tears, an empty pot of ice-cream in the nightstand. Her white hair was a rat's nest, her sapphire eyes swollen and red. She was a mess.
Lucy threw her bag on the floor and ran to her, hugging her. Lisanna wrapped her by the waist, digging her head in Lucy's chest for comfort.
"Oh darling, what happened?" Lucy asked, already furious with whoever made her friend like this. She had someone in mind, though.
Lisanna cried even harder, "L-Lucy!" she hiccuped, tightening her grip on the blonde.
"Shh. Everything's will be okay. You just wait." Lucy assured her, voice soft, as she patted her best friend in the head. It was breaking her heart to see her like this. "Was it... Natsu?"
The louder sobs she got were enough answer for her. Anger ran through her veins like a flaming cascade as she held Lisanna. How could he dare to break her friend's heart?
Lucy didn't care if he had a reputation of heartbreaker, or that he was the most popular guy on Magnolia Academy. Lucy was going to break his face for this. With her own hands.
Her hands trembled as she drew circles on her friend's back, in a lame attempt to comfort her of the pain.
"Don't cry, he really does not deserves your tears,"
"B-But I love him!" Lisanna assured, with the same meaning she had said it all those times. It made Lucy's heart sting, because there was no way the sweet girl Lisanna was deserved all this pain. She knew exactly what she was going through, since Loke broke up with her two months ago, and before him it was Dan, and then Hibiki…
It was like a constant needle digging into the heart and creating a black hole.
And it was no exaggeration for her to think that it was one hundred more painful for her sensitive friend, who loved the pink haired idiot with all of her.
"I know," she said, restraining her own tears, because it was killing her too, "I just know."
"I don't know why he even left me!" Lisanna cried, her voice gaining furiousness and resentment. "What did I do wrong?"
"You did nothing," Lucy sighed. "You were just too good for him,"
"He really was something." Lisanna cried, her little outburst over, and the sadness dominating her again.
And Lucy truly knew, she had been there to watch it.
"I really want to go punch him right now." Lucy said, letting out loud her thoughts.
The girl in the bed chuckled bitterly, "Go do it."
And it was then, in that precise moment, that the craziest, most insane idea popped into Lucy's mind. And in that moment, it all made sense to her, because that way she could avenge her best friend and destroy the culprit.
"Wait."
Lisanna sniffed and looked up at her, breaking their hug. Her blue, pretty eyes were glassy and swollen, her lips were red and hurt -probably from that habit of hers to bit it when she got mad- and she was rather pale. It only gave more confidence to Lucy's evil plan.
"What's with that weird look, Lu?" Lisanna asked.
"I have a brilliant idea," Lucy grinned, her eyes shining dangerously. "We need to call all the girls here."
"What is it?"
Lucy waved her off with her right hand, where her bird, pink tattoo showed off. "You'll know. I'm calling them."
In one quick motion, she got her phone out and texted her friends in their group.
Reunion in Lisanna's room.
Their answers were fast, and they all agreed. Mirajane quickly entered the room, asking for details, but Lucy did the impossible task to calm down her curiosity until the others arrived. She wasn't in mood to explain it several times.
Mira brought her younger sister a big bowl of chicken soup and more supplies of tissues, sitting at her side and patting her head. Lucy watched it enviously; she always had wanted a sister.
"Isn't Elfman here?" Lucy asked, the realization hitting her.
Mira shook her head, "No. He went to visit his girlfriend Evergreen in Crocus since yesterday. He'd be back Sunday night, I think."
And so they waited, and thirty minutes later, Lucy had never been so happy to have all her friends in the same room. Juvia, Cana, Levy and Erza; all frowned and hugged their broken friend, each of them giving different advice.
"Ya should beat him up," Cana said, probably drunk again.
"Maybe I should try on him some of my martial arts," Erza nodded thoughtfully.
"I think just ignoring him and smiling brightly to demonstrate him how you are better than him is enough." Levy sweated.
"Natsu is so mean! Gray-sama is the ideal boyfriend!" Juvia cried too.
"Wait up!" Lucy said, calling their attention. They now were all sitting in the bed, probably trying to hug or cuddle with Lisanna, Lucy didn't know. But all of their eyes were looking at her, and she smiled.
She leaned against the door, her arms crossed over her chest as she thought how to exactly say what she wanted.
"I have a plan." she started.
"I really like that look," Cana said, grinning and holding out her flask, probably filled with wine or vodka.
Lucy rolled her eyes and continued. "I want to avenge Lisanna by destroying his own player heart."
The room suddenly fell silent, all her friends looking at her like she went mad all of sudden, but slowly a devilish smirk crept into each of their faces, a mischievous glint in their eyes. Lucy already knew she counted with them for this. Except Lisanna, who was frowning worriedly.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"Well," Lucy shrugged. "There are a lot of things that can be done, but I called all of you to decide the best course of action."
"I'm really liking it." Erza said. "What you have in mind?"
Lucy bit her lip. "I was planning on beating him in his own game."
"You mean…"
"Yes." Lucy said. "Only if Lisanna agrees, of course."
They looked expectantly at the white haired girl, but she kept frowning. "I don't know Lucy, it's dangerous. I don't want you to be broken again."
Lucy smiled reassuringly at her, "Don't you worry! I'll be fine!"
"You want to do this?" Levy asked, frowning. "Are you really really sure?"
At this, Lucy rolled her eyes along her smile. "Of course! I couldn't ask any of you, since every one of you have your own guy…" Wiggling her eyebrows at them, she laughed at their blush. Even Lisanna chuckled a bit, though it didn't sound amused in the very least.
"Just… don't fall for him first, okay?" Lisanna warned, too serious.
Lucy dismissed it, "I told you I'll be fine! And there's no way I'll like him with what he did to you, anyways."
"Okay then." Mira said. "I call it Operation: How to Play the Player."
"I like how that sounds," Cana agreed.
"Great." Lucy smiled.
She took out her notebook out of her bag, the cover of her favorite anime looking back at her. She flipped it to the last page, and twirling her pen between her fingers, she lifted her gaze to her friends. "What should we do?"
"Mira-san," Juvia said. "Juvia thinks you know more about this stuff."
Mirajane smiled proud, and putting her tiny finger on her chin, she added, "Maybe… Well,there are two effective ways of playing with a boy heart, indeed…"
"What." Levy asked.
Mira continued as if she didn't hear her. "Playing hard to get,and Make Him Want You."
Lucy wrote it down in two columns so she later could list the pros and cons of each one.
"That's so sick," Cana laughed.
Mira only smiled mischievously, "Well. Dunno which one is going to work better with him, but okay."
"Playing Hard to Get, is basically avoiding him. If he has that nature, he'll notice that you are ignoring him, so he'll go and start to try to charm him with his flirts. All you have to do is walk away, maybe only saying hello, but nothing else. After some time, you'll have to slowly acknowledge him, like, smiling at him from the distance, introducing you to him, but nothing else."
"You have to let him see how you have fun with other guys too, so he'll feel lower than those, and he'll try even harder. Then you start flirting with him. Play it cool. Don't flatter him. Just let him know that you like talking to him. Be fun so he doesn't get tired of you, and then you'll give him more reasons to stay around you. But don't you dare fall for his charms, or else you'll be doomed. After it all, when you have him wrapped around your little finger, you drop him like the bitch you are, I guess. I know you'll do it just fine, Lucy."
"Hey!"
"Make Him Want You, is a little more difficult, maybe. You go there and start a talk with him, maybe invite him somewhere, but you have to play mysterious, you have to leave him wanting more of you, because he'll realize that you are not falling like the others. Don't tell him right away who you are, but let him get curious and do all the questions."
"Be fun, again. Guys like that love laughing with you, but they'll leave at the first tear they see. He'll not be interested on your fears or insecurities. Make him jealous; hang out with others and be friendly and touchy with them, so he'll be angry they have what he doesn't. But don't you dare be jealous of him; it'll only show him that you care, and you're only there because you're going to break his heart, not be a part of it. After all, he'll dump you when he gets what he's looking for."
"Don't get too sticky with him, just maintain your independence. Keep going with your life like he isn't a priority, because he obviously isn't, and don't tell him what you'll do or who'll you be with. Let him suffer in he does that a lot, that will be the time when you'll realize he's done for, and that's the time to beat him at his own game."
They all stared with wide eyes at the white haired beauty, their mouth opened in a shocked gasp.
"How the heck do you know all that?" Lucy said, breaking the silence.
Mira offered them a sweet smile. "I just know."
"Uh- Well," Levy said. "That sounds kind of... umm... heartless?"
Cana rolled her eyes, "But of course! That's the point of it all, anyways."
"Juvia understands," Juvia said. "It's payback for breaking our friend's heart first."
Levy sighed, but a fierce glint sparked on her big eyes. "You're right, I guess. I'll not forgive him for doing this to Lis."
"Perfectly planned," Erza murmured, rubbing her chin with her hand. Her long, soft red hair covered her left eye, but Lucy could tell she was all fired up for this. "I really like those plans..."
"Okay then," Lucy finished writing her list. "Lis, we need your help here. Which one do you think will work better with him?"
Lisanna blinked a couple of times before she focused her gaze in Lucy again. She sighed longingly before tightening her fist and putting on a determined mask, and suddenly she looked ready for crushing the one who crushed her first.
"Maybe Make Him Want You." Lis said. "He'll not going to bother you if you don't like it, so the first one definitely will not work out."
Lucy grinned. "Great then. Where should I invite him?"
Lisanna scoffed, "Somewhere with food, obviously. He'll go gladly."
"Okay." Lucy said. "I guess our first step of Operation How to Play the Player is set."
All of them grinned. "
"Let's teach him what girls can do." Mira said, and they cheered.
After it, Lisanna seemed in a slightly better mood, but it was obvious her pain was still there, if they all ended up eating pizza and having a sleepover at the Strauss' house.
And it was the reason why, next Monday, at the first class they had together, Lucy slammed her hand over Natsu Dragneel's desk, and much to his surprise, she said,
"Let's hang out today."
First part of this four-shot story! I'm having fun writing it, so I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! Thank you for reading, and stay stunned for next part, which is going to be full of Nalu! Yay!
This is my gift for the Sin Squad in Tumblr, that group of friends who welcomed me in their friendship and make me laugh like no one else! Hope you like it, little sinnamon rolls!