Day 2: Devilish
Of Bumps and Smiles
Lucy held her hand to her mouth in an attempt to choke the sob that tried to escape from her.
She should have known better. She should have seen it coming.
After all the sight before her was one she dreaded for a while now.
Her boyfriend of eight months, Erik 'Cobra' Nirvan, was kissing his long-lost-but-recently-found-thanks-to-the-blonde-he-will-no-longer-call-girlfriend Kinana Cubellios.
The little snake was more cunning and manipulative than Lucy gave her credit for, always appearing to be innocent when it came to men, but obviously not that innocent, if the looks of the pair in the entrance of the building were anything to go by.
She met Kinana in her first year of college at English class, but she was still a year older than Lucy who was at her second year of college at the time.
The two became good friends when they were working together for a paper, and when Lucy introduced her boyfriend to her friend, she should have known that it was going to end in tears. Her tears.
Erik she met at a bar. She'd known of him beforehand, but then again, what girl didn't?
Maroon hair, one amethyst eye (the other one shut permanently with a scar that made him even more mouthwatering, if that was even possible), tan skin stretched over toned muscles, and a devilish smile that never failed to drop the panties of all the girls in his presence.
He had a reputation of sleeping with anyone willing, which was why Lucy was so hesitant at first to go out with him.
There was always this fear in her that she wouldn't be enough for him, and that he would leave her as soon as he got into her pants for someone better, more experienced, or more beautiful.
Nevertheless, when she finally did agree to date him she didn't regret it.
Until three months afterwards when she (re)introduced Erik and Kinana, and it was obvious something changed, but the blonde was too stubborn and trusting to admit defeat, and now here she was.
Running from the apartment complex where Erik lived as tears blurred her vision.
She should have known.
Thud! Suddenly Lucy found herself parallel to the ground and on top of something warm, and much too soft to be the concrete of the sidewalk.
"Oh my god, I am so sorry!" the words rushed past her lips and she sat up quickly, resulting in her straddling the man she slammed into.
The man in question groaned and Lucy squeaked.
She leaned down and held his head between her hands, trying (and failing) to determine if the guy had a concussion or not.
Two blue-grey eyes locked onto two large brown ones, and Lucy's breath hitched.
He was gorgeous (of course he was, she couldn't knock down an average looking guy, now could she?) with blonde hair, chiseled features, a lightning shaped scar over his right eye, and soft, pink lips that looked so kissable she found herself blushing and pulled away from his face, letting go of his head.
Laxus groaned again at the lack of the soft hands on his temples. As a former champion in martial arts, he was used to being punched to the ground, and his head used to being hit from all angles; but to say he was surprised to find himself on the cold, hard ground beneath a beautiful blonde woman as soon as he out of 8-Island at the end of his shift was an understatement.
He frowned at the blonde above him as she kept asking how he felt or something of the sort.
"Can you get off of me?" he bit out as she made no indication to move anytime soon.
Her brown orbs widened as she realized their position.
"I'm so, so sorry! I wasn't looking a-and I didn't notice, and-and-and are you okay?!"
She was panicking and had dried tears on her cheeks, he noted, and he wasn't sure, but he thought she might be shivering a bit, even though it wasn't even cold.
"Are you alright?" she asked once more as she finally got off of his lap.
"Are you alright?" he replied, "You look like you're running from a demon or something."
She blushed and Laxus couldn't help but think that she could've been beautiful if it wasn't for the tears' stains on her cheeks and the red nose.
He had to bite his tongue when she breathed out a chuckle and her small hand pushed a few stray blonde tresses from her face. It didn't matter that she was crying, or that her eyes were red and puffy, at that moment Laxus thought she was beautiful anyway.
The pretty blonde woman looked at him, and her previously soft eyes hardened as she assessed him again.
"You might have a concussion," she said eventually.
Laxus ran his fingers gently over the spot where he knew a bump would be forming later on, his own question forgotten.
"Won't be the first one… just means I have to stay awake for a more hours," he glanced at his wrist watch and frowned, "…which means I have to pull an all-nighter I guess." Again, he added in his head.
"Let me keep you company, at least," she hurriedly said. "I possibly gave you concussion, the least I can do is make sure nothing happened to you and stay up with you," she blushed again. "Unless you have a girlfriend or roommate or something, or, uh, you want the crazy blonde that ran into you away from yourself so she won't cause any more physical harm, or you know-"
Laxus bit his lip to keep himself from smiling as the pretty, blushing, blonde woman rambled on and on; she was cute, that's for sure.
He raised a hand in a silencing manner, and the blonde beside him stopped talking. "I don't have anyone that would pull an all-nighter with me to make sure I don't have a concussion."
Blink. "Oh! Well then, I know this really great place not far from here. My friend works there though, so maybe we shouldn't go there…" she bit her lip thoughtfully.
"Or," Laxus snapped her attention back to him, "we could go to the 24/7 diner I know, where no one will bother us," he suggested.
She smiled at him and nodded sheepishly with another blush tainting her cheeks.
It was a forty minutes walk that they used to get some basic information about each other.
His name is Laxus Dreyar; he's 25 years old, on his third year at Crocus University, majoring Physics and Business, he started late because he decided to first pursue a career as a martial arts fighter, but he's going to work with his Gramps once he finishes school.
Her name is Lucy Heartfilia, she's 21 years old, a second year at the same university, and considering she majors English and Astronomy, it's understandable how they never crossed paths before; she had to start a year late because she ran away from home when she was younger and missed a year of high school, and her dream job is to be a novelist ever since she could remember.
On the way to the diner, Lucy's phone buzzed constantly with new messages, and it rang at least seven times, each time she would check the caller's ID and then let the phone ring until the caller gave up; but each time she had a pained look in her eyes that she tried to hide with a strained smile and some half-assed excuse.
Ten minutes after they sat down in a corner booth in the diner, the phone rang again. The way she bit her lip made Laxus suspicious, so he snatched the device from her hand and looked at the screen. There was a picture of her and a maroon haired, pointy-eared guy, and the caller ID said 'Coby'.
Not paying attention to the horrified expression on Lucy's face, Laxus answered the call.
"Lucy! Where are you, you were-" the concerned voice of 'Coby' yelled into the bigger blonde's ear and Laxus pulled the phone from his ear, making a show of grimacing and rubbing his ear, causing the younger blonde to giggle a bit, though she still had a worried look in her eyes.
Laxus brought the phone back to his ear, and didn't even let the guy finish his sentence (or was it a question?) before he talked.
"Listen, Blondie's not interested in talking to you. Don't know why, honestly, I don't care, but it's rude to harass girls, you know?"
There was a loaded silence from the other side of the line before the other guy finally found his voice again.
"Who is this? And why do you have my girlfriend's phone?"
Laxus smirked before he replied. "I'm the guy sitting with your girlfriend over pizza right now. Really, you should stop calling, someone might think you're needy; or pathetic."
"Listen, you asshole, tell me where Lucy is right now!"
"I already told you where she is. Hey, Blondie, wanna talk to him?" she shook her head no and Laxus rolled his eyes at the swearing guy on the phone. "She says no, guess that settles it." And then he hung up.
After a moment of consideration he turned the damned thing off and handed it back to the gaping female in front of him.
"Did I do something I shouldn't have?"
She blinked at him and then shifted her gaze to the phone as if it was the first time she saw one.
"No. That was… thank you."
"Don't mention it. I mean it, though. Don't mention it. Ever."
The aforementioned pizza (that they only ordered once they sat down and were in fact waiting for when Laxus decided to answer Lucy's phone) arrived, and Laxus wasted no time to slide a steaming slice to his plate.
"So, like I said, I was-" his words were cut off by the younger blonde.
"Aren't you going to ask?"
"...Am I supposed to?"
"Well, anyone else would've asked why I won't answer my boyfriend after he called me several times and texted me nonstop for the past 30 minutes or so," she reasoned.
"It's none of my business why you ignore your boyfriend. If you really want to you can tell me, but like I told him, I don't care what happened between the two of you."
She stared at him again, and he finished the slightly less steaming pizza slice he took a minute earlier.
Eventually Lucy realized he was right, he was practically a complete stranger, one that had no reason to ask her about something so personal; so she shrugged and took a slice for herself.
"So what were you about to say?"
Laxus grinned behind his pizza.
LaLuLaLuLaLuLaLuLaLuLaLu
They stayed in the diner until 6 a.m. Both blondes had a good time, and probably would have stayed longer if they didn't have classes two hours later. They walked back to 8-Island where Lucy accidentally tackled Laxus, which was also, shockingly (note the sarcasm), where he left his car.
They were just about to split to their own separate ways, him to his place to get ready for the day, and her to Cobra's complex building – where her own car was parked.
"Can you walk me to my car?" the words tumbled out of her mouth before she really had a chance to think what she was doing. "It's next to my boyfriend's – well, I suppose he won't be any more once I see him, officially, at least – and I really don't want to risk seeing him right now. Alone. Or at all, really."
After the many hours they spent together, Laxus could tell she felt very uncomfortable asking him to escort her back.
"Sure."
Just like in the diner, they didn't have the compelling need to fill the space between them in words, and for a few minutes they walked in companionable silence.
"He's cheating on me."
The statement came out of the blue, but Laxus said nothing, and Lucy had the sudden urge to tell him what happened.
"I was supposed to stay at his place last night, my roommate wanted to have her boyfriend over for the night, and I thought maybe I'll surprise him - he wasn't even supposed to be home."
She sighed and carried on as if she didn't stop at all, "I saw him making out with my friend, actually, maybe his friend - it's complicated - and they were right at the front door, and I just panicked and ran," she chuckled, "Straight into you."
Neither said anything until they reached her car.
"Thanks again."
"I thought we agreed you won't mention it. I have a reputation to uphold you know." He smirked teasingly.
Lucy giggled, "I didn't agree to anything, don't know what you're talking about."
She got into her car and Laxus tapped on her window before she had the chance to drive off.
"Do you want me to punch him for you? Douches like him deserve a good pummeling once every few months."
Lucy giggled again and shook her head no. "I just spent how many hours making sure you won't die of some seizure caused by me? Don't get yourself in jail for a silly blonde that kept you up all night for all the wrong reasons. I'm really sorry about that, by the way."
Laxus chuckled, "You know, maybe we should meet again, so you can make sure I'm really okay, of course."
"Oh, really?"
"Only if you want to," he shrugged. But then his lips curled into a devilish smile, and Lucy's breathe hitched in her throat.
"S-s-sure."
"See you in the diner on Wednesday at 7?"
She nodded numbly, and all she could do was stare as the other blonde winked (winked!), and left her alone in her car.
Five minutes later she was still in that same position in her car, staring ahead and that stupid smile of his was all she could see.
"I am so screwed…"
()()
(O.O)
Word count: 2350
Hey there lovely people who chose to read and follow this story, thank you so much~!
This update was supposed to be in the afternoon today but then I realized I might not be able to do it when I get back so here it is, at 7 a.m.
I just noticed accidentally deleted this chapter when I tried changing a typo (I'm so tired I feel so stupid) so I'm posting it again...
IF REVIEWS ARE LOVE THEN CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS A ROMANTIC GESTURE~! you know what to do ;)
24/2/2016: I'm gonna post an omake for this one soon :D