*Disclaimer I do not own the rights to the characters in this story. All rights reserved to Hiro Mashima*
Accidents and New Beginings
The accident wasn't her fault. I mean what sane person starts a fight in a coffee house! She had originally come to the coffee house a block from her home in order to get some fresh air, and hopefully some fresh ideas for her creative writing project that was due in a few days. However, it looked like she needed a new outfit and a new writing journal instead. She looked up from her coffee stained clothes to see a man with pink hair bolt away from her table and head right back to the dark haired man that she supposed had pushed him causing this mess.
"Gray what the hell man!" The pink haired man exclaimed as he angrily marched back over to the guy she presumed was Gray.
"Hey it's not my fault your pansy ass couldn't handle a little shove." Gray said with a smirk as he began to unbutton his dark blue shirt. "Besides you're the one who started this flame brain!"
"Oh?" The pink haired one questioned,"and how is that Ice princess? 'Cause from where I'm standing you're the one who pushed me across the coffee house for no reason!"
"You both need to shut up and stop making a scene or I will have to teach you a lesson in manners AGAIN!" A very intimidating woman said coming between the two fighting men. Her hands on her hips as she looked at them with disapproval in her eyes. "Now apologize to each other so I can get back to ordering my coffee in peace!"
The two men backed away from each other faces pointed in opposite directions as they each mumbled half assed "Sorries" to the wind. But that seemed to placate the fierce red-head and she went back to perusing the menu.
Lucy looked away from the group now that the commotion had settled and began to inspect the damage the pink haired man had caused to her and her belongings. Her journal was soaked in coffee and was more than likely ruined. Great, now how am I supposed to remember the writing prompts in time. I guess I could call Levy and see if she could help me out. Lucy thought to herself as she went back to assessing the damage done. Her shirt was stained all the way down the front and there was a decent amount soaking into her shorts as well. Well at least I had decided to go with an iced coffee today instead of my regular Hot Cocoa. She grabbed a handful of napkins from the dispenser on the table and tried to mop up the mess the pink haired guy had made when she noticed another set of hands mopping up spilled coffee.
"Sorry about that, didn't mean to go flying into your table and make a mess." The pink haired guy stated with an apologetic look. "The names Natsu by the way."
"Lucy," she stated simply and went back to cleaning up before taking the soaked napkins from the table and walking them over to the nearest trash can.
"If you want I could buy you another to replace the one I spilled?" Natsu said when she returned to her table.
Lucy looked at him in bewilderment before packing up her things and saying, "Thanks, but I think I'm kinda good on coffee right now. I just want to go home and get out of these clothes." She put her bag on her shoulder and started to head for the door when he called out, "Well then let me buy you dinner, Ya know to makeup for it."
She turned around and saw the man blushing like crazy after blurting out something like that in such a crowded coffee house. Lucy started to blush fiercely herself but walked back to Natsu and held her hand out.
He looked down at her open palm and back up at her a question in his eyes, head tilting a little to the side until she finally sputtered out, "Well give me your phone so I can give you my number. How else are you going to get in touch with me before our date?"
His eyes widened as it sunk in what she was saying and he fumbled around his pockets for his phone before he finally pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over to her. She took it from him and typed in her number before giving it back to him. "There," she said, "text me when you want to go out." She turned away from him and walked back to her apartment mentally screaming at herself for giving the crazy guy at the coffee house her phone number so easily. What was she thinking!
Once home she climbed up the 2 flights of stairs until she got to her floor and walked down the hallway to her apartment she shared with 2 other girls. Cana her best friend from highschool and now into college and Levy, a girl she met in a language course a few semesters back and hit it off with instantly. Cana was sitting on the couch drinking wine when Lucy walked in the door and gave her roommate a long stare before shrugging it off and taking a swig from her wine bottle.
"So what happened to you?" The brunette questioned as Lucy crossed through the living room to her door and threw her things inside. "It's a long story and I really feel like I could use a shower can I just tell you when I get out?" Lucy sighed as she leaned out of her door frame eyes pleading for her roommate to let her have 5 mins to compose herself. "Fine, but I want all the weird details when you're done." Cana simply stated before going back to watching the mindless daytime talk show she had on and taking another swig from her wine bottle. Why the woman couldn't use a glass or wait till after noon to drink was beyond her but ever since she was 16 and had found her father's alcohol stash in the den it has been nearly impossible to find Cana without booze.
Lucy walked into her private bathroom and turned the water on in her shower before stripping out of her sticky coffee stained clothing, bummer it took me forever to pick that outfit out this morning. I really hope it doesn't stain. Once the water was warm enough she slipped in and rinsed off the sticky feeling and smell of coffee till she felt fresh and clean and smelled like vanilla and strawberries again. Once done she shut the water off and stepped out of her shower grabbing a big fluffy white towel and drying off before wrapping it around herself and throwing her hair into a messing bun while heading back into her room.
Something she will always be grateful for is that this apartment she shares with her two best friends each had a separate private bathroom and closets. When the three of them had first started looking for an apartment together they quickly discovered that finding a 3 bed/3 bath apartment in their price range close to campus in Magnolia was next to impossible. When out of the blue Lucy found this hidden gem a block and a half from campus, shopping, and great restaurants and nightlife. It felt like they had hit the motherload and honestly seemed to good to be true! When they did the initial walk through and saw it was a cozy modern rustic styled flat that fit with the feel of Magnolia, felt like home, AND had personal space for all three girls along with tons of entertaining space too, they didn't even have to hesitate when asked if they were interested in the apartment.
One year later and they still loved their place and had no regrets what so ever about moving in together it's been great like one big non-stop sleep over. The girls help Lucy with her writer's blocks and she gives them advice on their essays for class. Levy makes sure they eat every day and they help her remember to eat and sleep when she does marathon research at the library, and Cana knows how to loosen everyone up and have a good time and they keep her from going home with strange people when she is too plastered to remember what happened the next morning. It's a balance and the best roommate situation she could have hoped for in college.
She pulled out her comfiest panties and then put her sleeping boxer shorts on over them finding an oversized black T-Shirt that had the words 'Exercise? I Thought You Said Extra Fries!' with a cartoon image of french fries on the front. Once dressed she walked out to the living room and plopped down on the couch next to Cana who was still nursing on her bottle of wine though had switched channels and was now watching a show called "Bar Rescue" on Spike.
"Sooooo," Her friend drew out the word clearly letting Lucy know she hadn't forgotten about her coming home covered in coffee.
"So I need to buy a new writing journal and I think I have a date," Lucy said as nonchalantly as possible knowing what was about to happen.
"YOU GOT A DATE!" Cana yelled excitedly turning to face Lucy and settling in for the full story and expecting to get all the details.
"Well I said I think I have a date. I'm not too sure if it's actually going to happen or not." Lucy said with a shrug. "This guy ran into my table during a fight he was having with some guy he knew and it caused my iced coffee to spill all over me and my stuff. He originally only asked to buy me another coffee to replace the one he spilled, but I turned him down so I could leave and come home. When I was headed for the door he just blurted out 'well then let me buy you dinner'." Lucy explained clearly torn between laughing at how ridiculous this whole thing sounded and wondering if he really meant it when he asked her out.
"Well what did you say back to him?" Cana questioned her taking another sip from her wine bottle before offering some to Lucy who just shook her head.
"Well I went back to him and asked for his phone so I could give him my number and then left." She simply stated.
"So what you're telling me is that you gave this random dude who spilled your coffee on you and your stuff during a fight your number. And you have no idea if he is actually gunna call or text you to ask you out?" Canna said with amusement clear in her eyes, her smirk slowly getting bigger the longer she thought about it before she finally burst out laughing.
"Well when you put it like that," Lucy said ducking her head down feeling silly over it all. I mean why did she think that this guy would actually want to go out with her. They hardly said two words to each other and he ran into her table during a fight for crying out loud! He was only offering to be nice, yea that must have been it. There is absolutely no reason to think he rea-
Her train of thought came to a halt when she heard her phone chime letting her know she had a new text come in. Glancing over at her purse she eyed Cana before scrambling up from the couch and sprinting for her bag, but she was too slow. Cana got there first and opened up the new message from an unknown number.
"It just says 'Hi'." her friend looked down at her phone screen with disappointment before tossing it over to Lucy. "Bummer, I was hoping he would be more creative with his first text after how ya'll first met and all." She sauntered back over to the couch bottle in hand before falling back into it and watching as the bartender taught the current workers a new mixed drink with a lot of colorful liquors in it.
Lucy stared down at her phone screen and the innocent lone text message that she now had to reply to. Finally, she decided to respond with a simple 'hi' back.
A few moments later her phone chimed again from the same number saying,
This is Natsu by the way...just in case you didn't know.
I kinda figured that it was you but nice to be sure all the same. Whats up? She sent back.
Well I'm still at the coffee shop thinking about how you probably think I'm crazy...but I swear I'm not no matter what that popsicle breath thinks!
Well that's good to know
So do you wanna go grab a bite to eat tonight? I know a great bar downtown that has a killer burger?
She stared at her phone for a second, debating on what to say. Did she really want to go out with a guy who picked a fight in a coffee shop? He didn't really give off the creepy guy vibes, and she tended to be a pretty good judge of character when it comes to sleazy guys. So she responded with, Sure, why not. What time do you want to meet up?
It takes him a full minute longer than his other texts to respond but when he does it's just a simple, 8 pm the bar is called Fairy Tail, it's on Main street downtown.
She looks over to Cana and asks, "Hey do you know anything about a place called Fairy Tail on Main street?"
"Yeah, they have some killer margaritas there. Why wanna go?"
"Actually it looks like I'm going tonight on a date."
Authors Note: Thank you so Much for reading my first story ever! I had a blast writing it and I am already working on the next chapter. I have it planned to update on a regular schedule but for now, it is simply going to be updated when I'm finished editing. I want to say thank you to my wonderful boyfriend for being my beta reader and helping me get this story public ready. Feel free to leave comments I would love to hear what yall have to say about it!