I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, I only own this story.

Chapter 2

"Yeah, okay."

As soon as her words sunk in, Natsu's face broke into a shit-eating grin.

"Seriously?"

The smile on her face disappeared and Lucy rolled her eyes at him, "Sure, we can be friends. And if you can keep the guys around here away from me that would be great."

"Fuck yeah!" He exclaimed a little too-excitedly, then cleared his throat, "Great! So, uh, when is your shift over?"

"Uhh, not for another hour—"

Suddenly Mirajane shouts, "Lucy, show's over! There are customers who need their drinks!"

"Sorry, Natsu. I gotta get back to work."

She smiled at him, Natsu liked it. It wasn't like the fake smile she gave everyone when she greeted them, it was a real one.

"'Kay, Luce. I'll wait for ya."

I knew writing a song would work… Girl's love that kind of sappy shit. But still, Lucy doesn't act like the other girls, she's different… In a good way! Like, she doesn't drool all over me like the others. She made it very clear she isn't interested in me or any of the men she's met. Why is she so angry at men? Yeah, a lot of us act like pigs, but not all guys are like that… I'm not like that. What happened to her that makes her think that we all want to just fuck? Well…considering all the guys here seem to want to fuck her… and it's not that I wouldn't like to do that, I mean look at her, she's hot as hell! But, I can't help but want to get to know her, everything about her… Fuck, this is bad. SHE'S JUST YOUR FRIEND IDIOT! I can't think about that. Lucy clearly isn't interested in that kind of relationship, be happy she agreed to be friends. All you gotta do is be her friend, she clearly needs one. Your job is to keep the guys away from her, she said so herself. Well, kinda. She said it would be 'great' if I could do that for her. And hell, it would be my fucking pleasure.

xXx

As Lucy was walking away with a smile, she heard Natsu call after her.

"'Kay, Luce. I'll wait for ya."

Shivers went down her spine. No one had ever called her that before, she liked it.

Ignore it, Lucy. You've got work to do.

She walked over to Mirajane and took the tray of drinks she had to bring to a table.

Luckily, there was only another hour left in her shift. Honestly, Lucy was exhausted from acting sweet to the customers, so she could get good tips, all she wanted to do was unwind.

She had to admit that having Natsu write and sing a song about her made her feel a little giddy. What girl wouldn't like such a thing? Lucy might not be into him, but the song didn't make her feel like he was into her either. In fact, she took it to mean he wanted to spend time with her and get to know her, he wanted to be friends. God knows she needed one.

She was twenty-three years old, all alone. No family she wanted to spend time with. No real friends she could talk to about her problems. Lucy never stayed anywhere long enough to get to know anyone, she never met anyone she felt like getting to know. She wasn't interested in meaningless relationships that had no depth to them. Her father was already emotionless, she didn't want anyone else like that in her life.

Natsu was different, Lucy could see it when she looked into his eyes.

Looking up, she scanned the bar until she spotted the pink-haired man, still sitting at the counter of the bar, with his eyes on her.

Lucy gulped from the look he gave her but didn't look away right away. Instead she stared back for a moment, trying to read his expression, but couldn't and looked away.

Why's he look so serious? Almost…angry? Is he mad at me? What the hell is he mad at me for? That jerk!

Stomping up to him, Lucy scowled, "What's your problem?! Quit looking at me like that!"

He cocked his eyebrow, "Like what?"

She knitted her eyebrows together and pursed her lips, trying to mimic his expression.

Natsu burst out laughing.

"What're you laughing at me for?! It's not funny! You looked so mad at me! But I didn't do anything!"

He stopped laughing and blinked at her, "I'm sorry Luce, I wasn't really mad at ya."

She huffed, "Well, why did you look so angry?"

Lucy couldn't help but notice how his eyes darted away and his cheeks were tinted pink like his hair.

"Natsu~" she threatened.

Groaning, he looked back up at her and gulped, "I was mad that ya weren't really smilin' before."

"W-what?"

He shrugged as Lucy stood there, shocked.

How could he tell I wasn't really smiling?

Lucy turned away and went back up to the bar where Mirajane had another tray of drinks.

"Hey, Lucy."

"Hey, Mira," she sighed.

The white-haired woman studied Lucy's expression, "Did Natsu say something?"

Lucy rose her eyebrow, "How'd you know?"

Mira smiled at her, "I saw you talking. Natsu is very observant."

"Observant?"

"Well, he's good at reading people. If that makes sense," Mirajane glanced back to Lucy once she finished pouring the final drink. "He's true to himself, has good morals, he's a good guy."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Handing the tray over to Lucy, Mira shrugged, "It just seemed like you needed to hear it."

Lucy gave Mira a kind smile and nodded, then walked to the table the drinks were for.

The men at the table were all quite drunk and loud. When she was walking closer, they started whistling at her, making cat-calls. Like usual, she ignored it but decided to bend forward to place one of the drinks on the table, hoping for a nice tip.

If they are going to act like pigs, that's how I'll treat them. Look at my delicious body you horny fuckers and cough up that cash!

XxX

Natsu wasn't mad at Lucy before, not for faking her smile all the time. He wasn't mad at her for that and never would be, he knew there was a reason for that.

There was probably a reason why she was acting like she was, pressing her breasts together as she leaned across a table, sticking her ass into the air behind her.

Yeah, Natsu wasn't mad before. He was mad now.

What the FUCK Luce?! Are you fuckin' kiddin' me? What are ya doin' that for?!

He hadn't looked at who the guys at the table were, he didn't care. All Natsu cared about was the fact Lucy was acting. He might not know her very well, but he sure as hell knew she wasn't this kind of person.

The Lucy he was watching flirt with the men as she gave them their drinks wasn't the real thing.

Then he saw them start handing her wads of cash.

Money. Huh…she is a server, she must do it for the tips… That's… Kinda smart, I guess… But… I still don't like it.

Lucy walked away from them with a little skip in her step that made Natsu smile.

She went to another table and took some drink orders, the whole time Natsu's eyes were on her. He watched as she used the serving tray to write on a pad of paper, nodding as she listened.

Natsu was observant, he always had been. He liked to watch people, the way they acted around people, the way they expressed their emotions. There were some people that weren't even worth paying attention to, they were so predictable, boring, and disappointing. No real emotions or depth to their life. In all honesty, Natsu could care less about people like that, he was tired of superficial people.

Lucy wasn't like that. She wasn't like, well—anyone. She was unique and Natsu had never met anyone like her.

He'll admit that they have only really had two conversations, now. He knew how stupid he would sound if he ever told anyone this, but he felt drawn to her. There was no doubt in his mind that there was something special about her and it was his job to find out what that was.

But she still is workin'… I'll just keep watchin' her, I guess. Fuck, I couldn't even stop watchin' her if I wanted to. I could do this all fuckin' day.

xXx

Lucy was serving the last tray of drinks before the end of her shift. She was relieved for this day to be over.

It was the table of men she was making some great tips from. There were three of them, one with dark black hair, one with a light green color, and the other with blond hair.

"Here are your drinks," she smiled to them, "Have a nice night, I'm off!"

As she was about to turn around, the blond guy grabbed her wrist, "Wait up, does that mean you're leaving?"

"Uh, well," Lucy stared at him, confused, "I'm just done with my shift, I'm not sure if I'll leave right away—"

"Oh, okay." He sighed in, relief? Then he grinned in a way Lucy could only describe as seductive, "So I'll see you around."

It wasn't a question. He just stated it as if it was obvious. But Lucy ignored it and gave him a curt smile and walked away to clock out and end her shift.

When Lucy walked out of the back room down the same hallway as the bathrooms, she was met with the blond guy from the table she last served, "Hey Lucy. Can I buy you a drink?"

"No thank you," she gave him a small tight smile.

He smirked at her, "Come on, what's your drink?"

Lucy shook her head and resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "Really, I'm fine."

He stood there and stared at her with a confused expression, then extended his hand, "Name's Sting."

She just stared at him, disinterested.

Sting tried to save himself by pulling his hand back and running it through his hair. Honestly, he was hot, and he knew it, that much was obvious to Lucy. But he was also a creep and an asshole, that was also pretty obvious, especially considering he must have followed her back here and now he was blocking her way to leave.

"So, Lucy," there was that same seductive smile, "What do you say, you and I get outta here?"

She raised her eyebrows and deadpanned, "Not gonna happen."

He laughed cockily, "Oh, so you wanna play that game?" Sting took a couple steps closer and Lucy tried to back up but felt her back press against the wall behind her.

Being pinned between Sting and the all was one of the most uncomfortable situations she had ever been in. The only thing Lucy wanted was to get away from this guy. This was the exact kind of situation she did not want to be in.

Lucy only stood frozen, her mouth suddenly feeling dry and gulped in an attempt to bring back some moisture. Sting was so close to her, she could smell the alcohol on his breath. She felt paralyzed and stuck in that spot, shaking.

AN: Hey everyone! Sorry this chapter ends with another cliffhanger. I wasn't sure if I was going to continue this story or not, but I've been thinking about it and decided to write more. I am currently working on chapter 3 and will upload it as soon as it's finished.

Please leave a review and let me know what you think!

xoxoLadyLiberal