A/N: Hello everybody! It is time for Nalu Week once again! Happy times. Well here we go. I have a little something something figured out that I'll be writing on the go. Hope you enjoy, as always, if you do or don't, please let me know and I'll try to better it. Last year I was WAY too busy but this time the story will be continuous so if something doesn't make sense, I'll have to fix it.

Enjoy! =D

1. Longing

"Hello." "That's 143.75, please." "Thank you, have a nice day." "Hello." "That's 512.90, please." "Thank you, have a good day." "Hello." "Anything else?" "That's 465.90, please." "Thank you, have a nice day." Hello." "That's 400, please, that doesn't happen every day." "Thank you, have a good day." "Hello." "Oh, okay, you just go ahead and grab that." "That's 465.90, please." Didn't I have that one recently too? "Thank you, have a nice day." "Hello." "That's 950.50 please." "Thank you, have a good day." "Hello." "That's 21.80, please." "Levy, can you grab me some more change?"

"Sure, what do you need."

"A bit of everything."

"Sure thing."

"Hello, sorry about that, I'm out of change." "Thank you, have a nice day." "Hello." That's 25.75 … 56.75… 30.99… 238.25… 299.90, oh so close… 350, sharp again… 1350.90, seems like you're having a party huh… there's the gang of kids again… 15.90… 12.90… 10.90… 13.90… 15.90… Ice-cream would be so good right now.

"Hey, Lucy, can you help me a sec." Yes please!

"Sure, what's up, I've got no queue."

"Great. So this customer…"

Wellp. At least it's a break from the cash desk, for like a second. Oh no, there's a queue building again. I don't want to… I explain the solution to Levy's customer's problem quickly, having done so at least seven times in the past. Levy is new so of course she wouldn't know. She's a quick learner though which I appreciate. Especially when it's about common problems like these. There isn't a day when at least one person comes in with every problem. Except maybe three.

"Excuse me, are you just going to stand there and chat?" A woman snaps from behind and I reluctantly trudge back to the cash desk.

"I'm sorry ma'am, there's a lot to learn in the beginning and I'm in charge of teaching her." I say and quickly blip her groceries. She doesn't even listen but glares at the way her things slide down the other end. I glance at it and see that her loaf of bread is stuck and squished at the bottom. Great, now she's gonna yell at me and I'm gonna have to try and not to tell her that it's her own damn fault for putting the bread on the band first. She glared at me, her face turns a shade of pink and she seems to swell. Here it comes.

"Lucy. I'm sorry. I can't get it to work." I turn around. Levy stands there with the phone in her hand, her eyes nearly brimming with tears, the phone clutched to her chest. I hear the loud voice of someone shouting coming from it. I turn to the woman again.

"That's 146.95 please." She looks like she's been holding her breath for the entire time. "Levy, take over real quick, I'll handle it."

We change places and the woman immediately melts as Levy explains to her that it's her first day and she has a lot to learn. She then, with trembling fingers, precede to receive the money and hand the change back. I pick up the phone that Levy has placed close and hold it a bit away from my ear, still hearing the man on the other hand shouting loudly.

"...I will not the treated this way, I demand to speak to someone who's competent and in charge of this establishment..."

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience before, sir. It is my colleague's first day. I will take care of it right away. May I ask you to repeat your inquiry so that I can handle it properly?" There's a short silence and then the man rambles on about his problem in a very grumpy tone of voice. I fix the problem quickly and make a mental note to go through it with Levy later to make sure she understands it properly. This won't be the first time someone will call in with this problem.

I sigh and take a deep breath wishing today was over, desperately trying not to look at the time for the thousandth time. But there I go again and of course, it has only been a few more minutes since I last checked. All in all I still have two hours to go and time could not move slower.

Two years I've worked at this place. I got sick of it the first week in, but I have to pay for a living alongside my studies. I don't really have a family to speak of but at least my tuition is being paid. I'm already not on speaking terms with my father; it's not like I'm about to go to him to complain about having to work. In a way though, it's rewarding to work for my own money, but I wish my job was more fun.

I study Journalism at college so I suppose it's fair to say that I love to write. That might even be a bit of an understatement. Every minute of dead time I have at work, I spend it writing. My pockets are full of receipt paper that I've scribbled on. Not always something cohesive. Sometimes simple for the joy of putting pen to paper and writing something, even if it's nonsense or something I've written a thousand times before.

I was surprised to learn that I'm one of few to continue to college of those in my high school class. I don't know what everyone else does but I can't believe that they've gone far. Well, that's their bad. Although I don't mind it, it's not like I had that much of a choice in going to college. It was either go, or be disowned. I would have gone no matter what but not being disowned is nice. It was basically just me, Levy and Gajeel. I guess Erza could have studied if she wanted to. But for Levy, she had the highest grades of our year, but she went off to pursue her fencing career. Talent like that was not to be wasted, according to her coach. Elfman focused on sports too but I forget what he eventually chose. He was good at practically everything.

Of course there's one person I can never forget. Besides Levy he was my best friend. We practically grew up together even though we only met freshman year. His wild bushy pink hair and his wild grin are things I would never be able to forget. Even after two years of not hearing a word from him. I say we grew up together because it's basically true. I can't say that I've seen anyone grow as much as he did. When I met him he was truly a kid, wanting to paint his white cat blue because it was fun and bring him everywhere. I'm still not entirely sure if the cat appreciated it, although he insisted the cat was fine with it. Although it hissed occasionally, it never scratched him. The last time I saw him though, you wouldn't have been able to tell that it was the same person. Sure, he still kinda looked the same. But the air of him was so different. He was like his cat, Happy, who had accepted its fate to be treated as a toy by a boy.

I just wish I knew what he had to accept.

I wish I knew why he left.

"Lucy!"

"Lucy!"

"Hello!"

I jump and look around. My eyes catch the clock. I've been daydreaming for five minutes. This is not good. I look around again, and as expected, my boss stands in front of me looking stern.

"I'm sorry." I say quickly and look around for what I'm supposed to do although I can't seem to find anything useful.

"Shift changed five minutes ago." Miss Strauss says and crosses her arms over her chest.

I quickly move away from under her scrutiny and hurry to the back of the store where a pile of boxes is already waiting for me to drag into the store and unpack.

I can never decide which part I like less. Having to deal with angry customers or unpacking stuff. Both are repetitive, neither is fun, one has too many paper cuts to count and the other has spit in my face. *Sigh* Both mean avoiding the other though. And every time I find myself wishing I could switch. If only I could forget myself in the work, time would go so much quicker. But of course that would also include being able to stop wishing to be interrupted by a customer asking where to find a specific item. Upside, I can definitely forget myself in my thoughts if nothing interrupts me. (But that doesn't happen too often).

Occasionally I fall back into my day dream. Remembering his wild grin that made me believe he would take the world by storm. Remembering the butterflies I used to have because of him. Remembering how utterly annoying he used to be, just because he could.

Whenever I think back to the people I used to go to school with, I always end up thinking about him. About how I miss him. About how I wish I could only know where he went… And if he's happy.

Well I went there again. In the back of the store I give myself a vigorous shake and do a few jumping jacks. I can't keep thinking about him. Miss Strauss is already on red alert for some reason. I really don't want to give her another reason to flip out.

Bah, it's only twenty minutes before I quit. I'll have to find something useful to do for at least fifteen and it's annoying because I never manage. It'll end up being ten minutes and I can't quit ten minutes early. Well. I have to do something.

I find the boxes that contain the most fun things there is to unpack; shampoo. How depressing when shampoo is the most fun thing to do. I can't wait for the twenty minutes to be over.

I remember then that I can spend a few minutes going through the solution to that problem with Levy. I unpack the packs and as I expected, it takes ten minutes, too early to quit yet. I head to the front of the store and hesitate. My heart skipped a beat and it's like there's something familiar about the person who hurried around the corner. I recognize the smell of them. But I shake my head. It's probably one of those buff nice smelling guys. There are a few who come in here regularly.

I find Levy and explain the solution to her problem again and she tells me where she thinks she got stuck last time so that I can explain it thoroughly. I make her show me as she does it once and there is nothing I can do to correct her.

"Great. Now let's get out of here." I say and start away. Levy follows me to the back of the store where the changing rooms are. We change and chat. Usually I'm too tired to care what my other colleagues have to say, but with Levy I have to at least make an effort. She is my best friend after all.

"How was your first day?" I ask.

"Scary," she says, "But I think I'm getting the hang of it." I smile at her.

"You'll get there. I'm sure."

I hang my work clothes in my locker and wish I could leave them there forever. I'll have to wash them soon though and I'm not a fan of having them in my apartment. It's enough that I have to wear them at work.

It feels like an eternity ago since I wore normal clothes that fit me well and that are actually comfortable and good looking, at the same time. Since it's summer I wear shorts and a simple top. I just hope that it's still warm enough outside for me not to regret this. I put my hair up in a ponytail at the side of my head and have it fall over my shoulder. I don't look myself in the mirror since I'm sure I look as tired as I feel and I don't want it confirmed. I throw the strap of my small bag over my shoulder and wait for Levy to nod that she's ready to head out. We meet a few people who have the evening shift and silently pity them for having to stay at this place. At least I do, I don't know if Levy is quite there yet.

"See you tomorrow!" We call to no one in particular and get a "Yea!" In return from someone whose voice I at least can't make out. Nor do I really care to.

We step out through the personnel entrance and turn left to follow the deserted street to Levy's bike. I have a strange sensation of recognition. Which is strange to feel out here. At the store, I understand it since things can literally repeat themselves. But out here… I've never even walked with Levy on this road that I can remember. She lives in the opposite direction from me. She has no reason to come meet me after work having her bike locked down at the place there the people who work here put their bikes. It makes no sense.

And then i realize who it could be and my jaw tightens and my hands ball into fists.

"I thought I told you not to wait for me after work again, Gray. I don't want to see you anymore." I say in as dangerous a voice as I can manage. Levy turns around and her face drains of color. Her jaw drops as wide as it would go.

"You dated Gray?"

I feel the color of my own face drain. That is not Gray. It is a voice that I am very familiar with. So familiar I can still hear it in my dreams because I have dreamt about him more often than I can even remember.

I turn around, tears brimming in my eyes.

There he stands. Pink hair, wild and spiked in every which way. His wild grin plastered across his face as if he could take the world by storm.

"Natsu!"