The 8 ball rolls over to the hole with a soft thud, making it her fourth consecutive win against her redhead friend. It was actually not a surprise that Erza couldn't play pool, she lacks both focus and patience to even shoot one ball. But it's quite a form of entertainment—seeing her struggle into both maneuvering the stick and telling which ball is which. Lucy sighs in satisfaction but it was short-lived as she continues to ramble on about her new boss. Erza only agreed to play with her pool expert friend because she was upset but unfortunately even her favorite hobby couldn't cheer her up.

"... He's such a pain in the ass! Don't you agree, Erza?" The busty blonde glanced at her friend but unfortunately for her, Erza was not listening—too busy oggling at the blue-haired cutie. Lucy frowned, glancing at her point of interest, wondering whatever the server had to steal the redhead's attention away.

When she finally locked her chocolate eyes at the culprit, the blonde noticed two things: his sleeves were lazily rolled over his elbows and with keen observation—the strict policy of proper uniform didn't go unnoticed, she knew he clearly did it on purpose to impress women like Erza. Also, his tribal tattoo circling around his right eye looked stupid.

But Lucy can't blame her friend though, the redhead has been single for far too long to notice the things that could aggravate her (because she seriously despised tattoos and rule-breaking) she could just imagine the wrath bestowing upon the poor human. Then again, who is she to stop a potential candidate of taming a fierce woman like Erza? The redhead is not even the type of girl to give two fucks and a half about guys until this one.

"Why don't you talk to him?" Lucy adviced with a shrug of her shoulders.

"W-what?" Truth be told, she did not expect her best friend blushing five shades deeper than her royal red hair. It's so totally not like her.

"I mean, you clearly like him" The blonde stated the obvious, even she's not a love expert but the stars in her friend's eyes were clearly visible.

"But-"

"Look, I know you hate pool and I can't stand an opponent who doesn't even have a chance" Whether both statements were true, Erza slightly giggled but she couldn't just leave her friend there and Lucy knows it. The redhead has always been selfless—thinking more about her soul sister rather than herself a little too much, Lucy immediately sealed her understanding of why her friend is still single.

She was holding her back. Not exactly the right words but somewhere along those lines.

"Erza, seriously... I'm not arguing with you to grow a pair and go there" Lucy crossed her arms over her chest.

"I can't and even if I wanted to, you'll be left alone" The tone in her friend's voice suggested that it was the end of their discussion and it's nearly dangerous to argue with her at this point. It'll hurt to try but-

"Jesus Erza, I'm not a kid... I'm a healthy twenty three year old girl living independently across your door, doesn't that suggest something?" Lucy was getting tired of Erza treating her this way anyway, might as well tell her.

"And I don't want you regretting that talking to him did not happen when you're living in a house alone with cats" She added, already flustered from scolding at the redhead like that.

"I'm not gonna be alone, you're gonna be there with me" Erza muttered softly, it was barely audible if it weren't for Lucy's perfectly working ears.

"Now that's scary. We are high-functioning humans who basically want the same thing. Grow up, find someone and have kids... If you turn into a cat lady, you'll just spend forty years of your life fully regretting this very moment right here" Lucy admits it, she's not the best person to make a statement but her point still stands, she can't let Erza be Erza right now, it's a matter of life and shitty life.

The redhead sternly looked at Lucy and by the looks of it, she's not ready to give up just yet. But is it really worth the effort to break the rule once? It's not like Erza's afraid of guys, she actually has a healthy social life but getting used to just them became a solid foundation of their friendship—whether for better or for worse, the redhead made a promise to herself to always be there for Lucy and it just comes across being selfish to leave her friend right here right now to strike a conversation to that guy.

Furthermore, the blonde would not let her live this down if she turned this down right now. With a breathe of defeat, she finally nodded her head. "Alright fine"

Lucy's smile stretched a mile longer, she can't believe she finally persuaded her friend. It has been a while since Erza raised her white flag anyway but nonetheless, she knows that her friend would thank her later.

"But don't hesitate if you want to go home" Erza warned with a vicious growl.

"Of course"

"And if anyone hurts you, tell me immediately"

"I know, mom"

The redhead pivoted her body to face Lucy, motioning her hands to herself. "Now, how do I look?" Well, she's still a girl after all.

Lucy observed her from head to toe, and a moment later she questioned herself why. Erza had always been beautiful, a head turner for her overall look. The long red hair that sometimes made her jealous, her fierce brown eyes that seemed intimidating yet intriguing at the same time—those were enough to get the idea.

"You're fine. You look great"

Erza beamed her a smile, adjusting her blouse. "Go get him, tiger" She smacked her ass once which earned her a dangerous glare but was too late to say anything back as the guy took notice of her.

If only he did not agree, oh how he regrets this decision. Natsu sighed heavily for the nth time today, it's not like he hated going out—in fact, he's a wild party lover. But coming here with his friends was a bad idea. He glared at the small bar in front of him, wondering why on earth did they want to come here of all places. The place looked old and cramped with its worn out mahogany paint and breakeven sidewalk, it looked like a place for bikers to arm wrestle in. The pinkette insisted to go someplace else, thinking of an infinite number of places far better than this one but no, Gray insisted to go there for some unknown reason and even Gajeel agreed with him. What the heck is happening with his friends?

"Are you just gonna stand there and look stupid? Let's go!" Gray and the rest was already ahead of him and he lightly mumbled a string of curses before following behind. He knows they'll regret going here once they step inside, it's not so long after his grimace is replaced by a ghostly smirk.

But once they did, the entire place looked spacious than normal, it's like logic and the rules of physics doesn't apply here. There were a lot of booths, tables and chairs scattered everywhere, a rectangular bar at the center and pool tables elevated at a corner. The jazz music playing in the background made Natsu's head ache—used to the house music flooding a place like this. Then there's the dimly lit entirety of this place, it's like it's accomplishing to be dark and mysterious for emo vampires. Overall, this place sucked. He could just imagine the kinds of people hanging out here are either weirdos with no social life or vampires who likes art. Maybe even both for all he cared.

Before he knows it, his friends already left him. They were at the far end booth with a few people—no, girls beside them, Natsu cursed lightly, how dare them for leaving him like this. They could have at least mentioned to him that they were meeting some people, Gajeel was talking to a short blue-haired girl sitting beside him, Gray was surprisingly drinking with another blue-haired girl and almost everyone of them are too busy right now.

Those bastards.

However, Natsu doesn't have much of a choice. He's already here anyway, so he marched to them grumpily. "I'll go have a drink" He muttered before walking away towards the bar, not even once did they pay attention to him but he did not care, at least they offered great whiskey.

He hovered greatly at the bar section, it was uncomfortable enough that the thing is too small to sit on and now, he sat so close against a middle-aged fallen drunkard with his bald head resting on the counter, his soft snores annoying to the ears. Natsu's only solution is to face the other way and drink.

But that's not all, his bored and dull eyes stopped at a certain and interesting blonde. Oh, how could he have missed this, she's not really hard to not notice at all. The busty blonde was leaning at the edge of the pool table, the curve of her ass deliciously exposed through her pencil skirt—the said girl was too busy to notice the amount of male attention directed towards her, it was unbelievably obvious if you ask him. And the way her eyes points at the 5 ball just added to the sensual image, what a distraction. Natsu, along with the other guys appreciated the way she leaned further before hitting the white ball with the stick.

Well, forget the regret that he was talking about.

When the pinkette realized that staring at her is not enough, he took the whiskey with one gulp before making his way there, being the only one with a pair to actually do something. Natsu could only smirk, the ogling guys are just pathetic.

He leaned on his side, propping his arm on the edge of the table to face the blonde beauty and yet being this close to her did not take away her attention at the ball. "If you're here to hit on me, I swear to god, I will shove this stick right up your ass, you can't even walk" How aloof, his interest just went past the roof.

Well, he's wrong about one thing. At least more than once did they try to make a move on her and yet nothing worked. Natsu had to think fast, his keen eyes watched as one of the balls fell down the whole—her eyes brightly shining in triumph.

"I'm here to challenge you" He did play pool back when it was still popular, maybe this is the right time to use his useless skills.

The chic finally drifts her full attention towards him, she leaned back, firmly standing straight in front of him. Natsu cannot help but admire her beauty, she looked a hundred times more beautiful when she's facing him. He only noticed just now that she actually has chocolate brown eyes and everything was just prominently visible, she's a goddess made to attract men. Heck, even Aphrodite would be jealous of her golden shining locks and porcelain skin. It made him wonder how it would feel like against his palm or his tongue.

Five minutes prior to when Erza had left her, Lucy was having a great time by herself playing pool. She could have enjoyed all the way if it weren't for guys coming up on her right here and there to say something stupid like "Did it hurt falling down from heaven?" but thanks to her strong sarcasm, they were able to leave her alone. It's not like she's a man hater, they were all just plain stupid. If Lucy had known that this is how you pick up girls today, she would have created a time machine and stayed somewhere, where guys wrote you poems and recited verses while you're on top of a balcony. It would have been ten times better than this.

Not long after, another guy decided to approach her. She inwardly screamed, hoping that this would stop soon. The blonde decided to not pay that much attention to him, going with her logic that if you ignore it, it will go away.

But unfortunately for her, the guy is persistent and he's leaning so close beside her, it was kind of suffocating. She deadly glared at the ball, concentrating on her game more than the guy—the blonde beauty can only take enough to bite back.

"If you're here to hit on me, I swear to god, I will shove this stick right up your ass, you can't even walk" She growled dangerously but no matter how she said it, he stayed there like he did not hear a thing.

The ball lands into the hole, Lucy was immediately distracted by her small triumph but the guy decided to say something else.

"I'm here to challenge you" Did she heard him right? He's here to challenge her? Lucy Heartfilia is not to be underestimated with, she took some pride throughout her pool career. She was known as the pool queen during her college years, she championed over local competitions and even up to international competitions. She won half of the titles all over the world and she won a lot more than her fingers and toes could count. Of course, pool is not entirely popular in the country. The blonde loved to win but what she loved more is a good challenge. So, she decided towards it.

Lucy leaned back, drawing her eyes to meet her challenger. An undeniably hot guy with salmon pink hair and sharp onyx eyes, she was ninety nine percent sure that the guy could be a model, if not an actor. In fact, he looked like he was removed from a magazine and placed right here, in front of her. His lips along with the rest of him was unsettingly attractive. And she did not like it, not one bit. But she remained emotionless, no matter how gigantic his mass appeal is, the blonde can't be hypnotized by just looks, she'll give him that.

"Alright" A smug smirk played with her luscious pink lips and he dared to lean close enough to feel her warm breathe against his lips.

She decided against being affected by all this, Lucy handed him her stick before going over to the rack to get her own.

"I'm not going to go easy on you, got it?" She reminded with a glance his way.

"So am I" He grinned, showing his pearly white teeth.

Here goes.

Natsu watches her every move, she strides over to the opposite side, polishing the end of her stick before arranging the colored pool balls into a triangle. If the other guys have known any better, one of them would have had the chance to be this close to her, even at least a pool table closer.

"Who's turn?" She asked, walking up beside him.

The pinkette smirked devilishly, stepping back with a motion of his arm—being the ridiculous gentleman that he is. "Ladies first"

With that being said, she did not hold herself back, matching his twisted smirk with her own, the universe would have wondered if they were soulmates. She took the first shot, incredibly shooting two balls in a hole at once, walking to and fro within the parameter of the entire table.

"So do you have a name?" He asked, now this is where everything unfolds. The chic was across from him, her brown gaze fixated at the game.

"Yes, like most people, I do... Why'd you ask?" Natsu could tell that she was playing hard to get, the goddess had damned lazer eyes that could cut through the thickest layers of glass.

"Nothing, I just wanna know who I'm dealing with" For a fraction of a second, not just a quarter, maybe even less—Natsu saw a flicker of surprise followed by amusement in her eyes.

She polished her stick before going through a stance, pursing her pink lips into a thin line in the process. "Well, the girl whose winning is Lucy"

Of course her name is Lucy, a perfect name for a perfect girl. And somehow, the name Lucy in his mind felt so right. Never in a million years did a girl's name sounded this beautiful, he may be overreacting but it was a moment of transcendental orchestra sent from heaven. She's a fucking angel in heels!

"How can you be so sure that I won't beat you?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I just do. Besides, it's not like you hold champion titles in pool"

Natsu shot her a smug look. "You don't know that. If you must know, I was famous back in college for kicking ass in pool. So basically, I could beat you"

She smirked and that was all it took to give her the slightest of opportunity to place a bullet through his head with the word Loser in it.

The actual challenge slipped Natsu's mind, he continued watching her take her turn after turn. Yes, Lucy was wearing a corporate attire (not fit for a place like this) and somehow, it turns him on. She takes each turn like she's modelling for a magazine cover, leaning forward, sitting over the edge and just plain thinking of the right angle to proceed. But the sight seeing came to an abrupt stop when he noticed two things: The blonde managed to not lose a turn for him and two balls remained on the table. One clear white and one pitch black, which meant that he's about to lose.

Before he could even breathe a single word, Lucy took her last shot at the opposite end of the table. The last ball officially announces her win as it drops into the hole just like his chances. Natsu could only stare in bewilderment as she blows at the end of her stick like scratch, the blonde beauty just pounded his ass without even batting a single eye. How is that even humanely possible? Of course, an average person would at least fail once but unfortunately, not her.

He was still trying to put two in two of how the fuck is this possible, but the more he tried to figure out, the more his brain cramped. This could seriously damage his brain if he continues.

Natsu did not even notice the champion until she whispered in his ear."I told you so, fire dragon" and he could only gape like a fish as one thought never left his mind. How does she know the mascot of Fairy Tail?

Okay! This is my second story and this is a short-chaptered story. If you haven't read "Between Two Neighbors" I suggest you read it, it's still on-going :)

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