"What about this one?" Lucy asked, holding up a long blue dress with thick straps. Rhinestones adorned the neck and straps, and she had been searching for twenty minutes to find it. Natsu made a face and shook his head. Lucy looked at it again and scrunched up her nose. 'I guess it does look more like a prom dress than a date dress,' she thought.

She and Natsu had been in Heart for about 2 hours now, and he had been surprisingly good at helping her find whatever she needed. However he kept recommending shorter dresses than what she was used to, and he seemed to really like cleavage too. "You're not the one I'm going out with!" she had told him, scowling at his pick of a strapless black dress that barely covered her thighs.

"What, I'm a leg man. I can't help it!" Natsu shrugged, smirking at her flushed face.

"Well, he might not be. And Mira said that the guy is a professional at one of the biggest companies in the world. So I better find something dressy," she told him, her face still a bit red because of his comment. She didn't care what kind of man he was. She just wanted help, and he told her he would be her friend.

They searched for a while, both mulling over their own racks of clothing.

"Luce? This one might be a good idea," Natsu said, holding up a lavender cocktail number that wasn't too short-but it wasn't too long either. A v-neck and thick straps solidified that it was perfect. She wanted to be classy but also have sex appeal. After all, Lucy kind of had to step it up to impress this guy! In his other hand, he held a pair of black open-toed heels. Thankfully the heels weren't too high. She didn't know how short or tall this guy was, so she had to make a safe bet that he'd be just a bit taller than her.

"Natsu, that's perfect! Let me go try it on!" Lucy excitedly grabbed the items from his hands and thanked him. She rushed into the fitting room and changed, coming out when she was ready.

Her hair flowed in soft waves around her shoulders and her eyes looked brighter. The dress clung to her every curve and fit her like a glove. Natsu stared for a bit, a hard expression on his face.

"You look pretty," Natsu told her. Hopefully she wouldn't look too far into the compliment. Her ego was already big enough...

Natsu did think she was attractive, of course, but he had promised to be a good friend to her and nothing else. And besides, he didn't even know her that well.

Lucy's cheeks burned, but she offered a confident 'thanks!' and skipped over to the mirrors to see herself in them.

"Wow! I knew I looked good, but I didn't know I could look this good!" Lucy giggled, striking a pose. "I have jewelry at home that would be perfect with this. Natsu, you're a lifesaver." The dress fit perfectly and hugged Lucy's curves and concealed the parts she had a distaste for. She slipped on the shoes and walked around in them for a while, testing them out. Natsu viewed her ass as she walked. Her dress hugged it in just the right way that everything looked so streamlined. If only he could reach out and grab it, squeezing them so he could make her squeal. And then they'd leave here, go to Lucy's place, and he'd see what she looked like without it...

Natsu shook the thoughts from his head. This wasn't the time to be thinking about these things. And if he got a boner in front of her things would get awkward real fast. When she stared up at him to get a reaction, he beamed at her.

"Well, that's what I'm here for, Lucy. And if the guy doesn't like you, you know who to call to beat him up." Natsu grinned his signature smile, which made Lucy's heart flutter a bit. His smile was very ruggedly handsome, and his look only added to his attractiveness. 'Calm down, Lu,' she thought to herself, "He's a friend. And he's told you that he'll just be a friend to you throughout this whole day. So just treat him like you would a friend.'

The only problem was that all the friends she had were girls other than Gajeel, Levy's fiancé and Gray, Juvia's boyfriend. She didn't really know them that well; Juvia would go ballistic if any girl even talked to her beloved Gray-sama, and Gajeel was intimidating to everyone but Levy and his cat Pantherlily. Everyone else kept their distance.

Lucy turned to look at Natsu. He didn't seem intimidating like Gajeel or icy like Gray, and that was one of the things she liked about him. He was brutally honest but also kind. She knew that she could trust him with information even with only knowing him for a few hours. And hopefully they could be great friends during their lives.

"Honey," a feminine voice said behind them, "you look so good in that dress. I can tell your boyfriend thinks so too. And ya know, we just knocked down the price by forty percent. Good for the budget and the body, right?" The woman snapped her gum and laughed through her nose. Lucy and Natsu looked at the sales girl, blushing. A plastic name badge read "Stephanie," and the girl had the most irritating voice Lucy had ever had the displeasure of letting through her ears. It was nasal with a fraction of a valley girl accent. She also seemed to care about her appearance a bit too much. The contouring on her face was just a little too perfect, and her hair was arranged just right. Lucy had a slight aversion to the girl when the two had walked into the store, but now that the girl had practically told her that Natsu was her boyfriend, she disliked her even more.

"He's not my boyfriend," Lucy bit out, gritting her teeth and crossing her arms over her chest. Unfortunately for her, the motion made her generous chest pop our more than usual, and Natsu eyed the mounds with dilated eyes.

"Sure, Hun. You just keep telling yourself that," the salesgirl said, snorting and strutting off in her booty shorts. Lucy glared at her. Who said that those shorts were the dress code? Her ass was practically popping out of her shorts. She guessed that's how Stephanie got more male customers to the store to buy clothes for their girlfriends. 'Or possibly just for Stephanie herself', Lucy thought as she saw an average-looking male trying to flirt with the irritating salesgirl. Lucy turned around into the fitting room. She changed back into the dress and sandals she was wearing earlier and grabbed the dress and shoes to buy.

She all but stomped up to the register to buy the items, and Stephanie looked somewhat irked when Lucy pushed the young man whom she was flirting with aside. Stephanie had been coaxing the young man to buy her one of the most expensive dresses in the store for her, and in return, she would go over to his place and do anything he wanted. Natsu had sensitive ears and told Lucy just what the salesgirl was proposing to the man.

Stephanie told Lucy the amount once she rung the items out, and even though it was outrageous, Lucy paid it anyway. She wanted to get out of the store as quickly as possible. Stephanie bagged the items up quickly and told the pair to have a nice day in the most superficial way possible. Lucy scowled at the woman before taking her leave. Natsu held open the door for her and watched her butt again. 'Still great,' he thought, satisfied.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah?" He answered.

"Would you like to go out to eat with me? I know a nice place that's only a few blocks from here." Lucy told him, putting a hand on his arm and smiling.

She looked so cute that he just couldn't resist. And he knew she thought he was attractive too. After all, he was Natsu Dragneel, one of the most successful people at his company. Girls swooned over him all the time. So why was it so hard to resist this girl? It was possible that she had somewhat of an aversion to him that most girls didn't. She didn't bat her eyelashes at him. She sometimes straight up ignored him. That only made him want her more. And to finally spend time with her was something that he couldn't turn down.

"Sounds good to me! Can I get whatever I want?" Natsu asked, eyes gleaming.

"Whatever you want, Natsu," Lucy replied. This guy couldn't possibly eat a lot.

Lucy realized that he COULD eat a lot. The guy had shocked the server when he ordered three two pound hamburgers, a plate of pasta as big as his head, two salads, and three desserts all for himself. And that was just the first course. By the time they had gotten out of the cafe, Lucy had spent more money than she did on the dress and heels for her date. She felt a bit irked, but she knew that he had helped her for two hours and that he deserved to do something he loved for a change, even if that thing was eating.

"What would you like to do, Luce?" Natsu asked.

Lucy let her mind wander. 'Let's see... We could go back to my apartment and play some video games, and then we could playfully start messing around with each other and then somehow he'll end up kissing me and then it might turn into something more physical. I wonder what he would look like if he was just wearing his boxers...'

"Lucy!" Natsu yelled, waving his hand in her face.

"What?" She gasped.

"W-why is there blood coming out of your nose? Are ya imagining your date in a suit or something?" Natsu asked, visibly concerned.

"N-no, Natsu, just thinking about something. Let's go back to my apartment and smash."

Streams of blood came out of Natsu's nose and he fell to the concrete ground outside the cafe, hitting his head and rubbing it with a moan.

'What did I say?' Lucy thought. Then she realized what she was implying. When the stream of blood finally stopped, Natsu stood up and massaged his throbbing head. She smacked him on the chest and yelled, "I MEANT PLAY SUPER SMASH BROTHERS, YOU IDIOT! Ugh, let's just go." Lucy grimaced and grabbed his hand to pull him along.

They took the bus back to her apartment, talking the way there. When they reached her apartment, they started to play Smash Brothers. Lucy chose Kirby as her character and Natsu chose Cloud.

"I'm totally gonna beat you, Lucy!" He said, laughing while he fired an attack at her character. Kirby was hanging on for its life, but Lucy had an advantage: the smash ball was just within reach.

"Bring it on!" she said, giggling as she hit the ball and put him in her killing stew.

"Noooooo!" Natsu cried as his character's percentage went up until it killed him- his last life was gone. The announcer yelled the end of the game and proclaimed Lucy the winner.

Lucy giggled and pushed him over. "Get on my level, bitch!" She yelled, watching him as he groaned in agony. She looked at the time. It was pretty late, and she had to work in the morning.

"Thanks for a great day, Natsu. Let me get your number and we can hang out sometime. I've gotta go to sleep; I have to work in the morning." Lucy told him, pulling him up so he could stand. They exchanged phone numbers and Natsu left, grabbing his jacket and grabbing the next bus. She learned that he had taken the bus that afternoon because his car was in the shop, but it would be finished tomorrow.

After he left, she giggled and got ready for bed. 'Natsu is a fantastic friend,' she thought, pulling her pajamas on. 'I hope can get to know him better.'

As she went to bed she hoped that maybe, just maybe, Natsu would be her not-so-blind date on Tuesday night.