Chapter 2: Just Admit it
Lucy and Natsu were now walking down the streets of Magnolia side by side. Lucy was walking very nervous and unconfident like. While Natsu was walking his usual walk, like he didn't have a care in the world.
Lucy could still feel the little butterflies in her stomach. She was feeling very uncomfortable around Natsu because of what happened at the guild this morning. She usually felt fine around Natsu. Great even. Sometimes she even felt safer just being with him. Nothing bad even happened this morning. Erza's words just got to her for some reason. She just wanted to get this day over with as soon as possible.
"So, what do you wanna do first?" Natsu asked Lucy.
"I don't really care Natsu." Lucy said sounding very unenthused.
Natsu picked up on Lucy's lack of interest right away. "Is something wrong Lucy?" He asked
"No Natsu... I just-" but before she could finish Natsu stepped in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders.
"You know if anything is wrong you can tell me right?" Natsu said with a tilt of his head and with a big grin on his face, showing his perfect white teeth.
Lucy just stared at him and blushed slightly but the butterflies didn't get worse. She realized that she had no need to worry herself about what Erza said. She was just teasing her after all. She already knew Natsu as much as she needed to. She knew what he was her best friend and her partner. She had no reason to be uncomfortable around him.
She giggled. "I know. I'm fine. Great actually!" She said.
Natsu grinned. "Alright! Lets have some fun then!" he said
"Yeah!" She replied.
"Maybe today will be a good day." Lucy thought. "After all, I am spending it with Natsu."
The sun has just started to set and Natsu and Lucy were making their way back to the guild after a long day spent together. Lucy was walking by Natsu's side with a big smile on her face. Despite what happened this morning, she had a wonderful day with her best friend and partner. First, they just strolled around town talking, then they went and grabbed lunch at Lucy's favorite cafe, then Lucy dragged Natsu to go shopping, and then they stopped by Lucy's place to drop off the clothes she bought and have some tea. They thought they'd end the day by dropping by the guild to sit down and relax a bit with their friends.
"Hey Natsu..."
"Yeah Luce?" He replied.
"I just wanted to say that I had a great day today. I'm really glad we spent the day together." Lucy said with a smile
Natsu looked at Lucy with a big grin. "I had a great time too Luce! Lets do it again some time!"
Lucy blushed a little but not enough for Natsu to notice. The butterflies started to stir in her stomach again but not so much that she was uncomfortable with it. They were more like little tickles than anything else. She just felt happy.
After walking a bit more they made it back to the guild where they were greeted by Happy, Wendy and Carla who were arriving just before them.
"Happy!" Natsu shouted at his blue feline friend.
"Natsu!" Happy shouted back.
"How did the fishing go?" Natsu asked.
"Catching the fish was fairly easy..." Carla said "Keeping them was the hard part..."
"What do you mean?" Lucy asked
"Happy ate a lot of the fish we were supposed to deliver, so we didn't get paid the full amount." Wendy explained.
"You really are something... you know that Happy? Lucy sighed as she crossed her arms.
"Aye!" Happy simply said. "Those fish weren't even very tasty."
Natsu just laughed. The 5 then proceeded to enter the guild.
Just as Lucy stepped through the door she was hit smack in the face yet again by another snow cone.
"Oi! Natsu! I'm wanna settle what you started earlier!" The voice of a familiar ice mage shouted.
"Then why did you hit me with a snow cone, idiot?!" Lucy shouted at Gray as she wiped the snow cone off her face.
"Hey! You hit Lucy! You're gonna pay, snow prick!" Natsu also shouted at Gray.
"Bring it, loud mouth!"
The two then proceeded to fight as usual.
Lucy sighed and made her way to the bar where Erza and Mirajane were talking, and sat down in the stool next to Erza.
"Hi Lucy!" Mirajane said
"How was your day with Natsu?" Erza asked hoping to tease Lucy some more
"Oh, you spent the day with Natsu?" Mirajane asked excitedly
Lucy knew nothing good would come from this.
"Uh yeah." Lucy replied "And it was good Erza, thanks for asking." Lucy knew that Erza was gonna try and tease her again so she wanted to avoid talking about what her and Natsu did today. Especially in front of Mirajane. But it was already too late, and Erza didn't even have to say anything.
"Did you two go on a date?" Mirajane asked.
And just like that Lucy's face blushed a deep shade of red and little butterflies started to flutter around in her stomach again.
"W-what? No, we just..." Lucy said sounding much more nervous than when her and Erza talked in the morning.
"What did you and Natsu do today?" Mirajane asked wanting to know the details of her 'date' as soon as possible.
"Yes, tell us Lucy." Erza also asked.
"I'm getting there!" Lucy said who was slightly annoyed with their pushyness. "Well w-we just walked around town a bit... then we uh, went to a cafe and had lunch..." Lucy knew what she was telling them totally sounded like her and Natsu went on a date. "then we went shopping and then we went back to my place to-"
But before she could finish she was interrupted by Mirajane "Oooooo! So it was a successful date, huh?"
Lucy's eyes widened and her face blushed an even deeper shade of red.
"N-n-no! It wasn't a date like that! I-I mean it wasn't a date at all! We just went back to my place to drop my things off! That's it!" Lucy tried to explain.
"Oh? It sure sounds like it was a date." Erza teased.
"It wasn't!" Lucy tried to defend herself but it wasn't working
As the blonde mage tried to explain that she wasn't on a date with Natsu, Levy came over to greet her friends at the bar.
"Hey Lu-can!" Levy said
Lucy was a tad startled by her sudden entrance.
"Hey Levy, guess what!" Mirajane said
"Oh no..." Lucy thought.
"What?" Levy asked curiously.
"Lucy and Natsu went on a date today!" she said
"Really Lu-chan? That's great!" Levy said feeling happy for her friend
"IT WASN'T A DATE!" Lucy snapped
Lucy's face was flushed a deep shade of red, from embarrassment and from frustration.
Mirajane explained Lucy's day with Natsu to Levy while Lucy was curled up in her stool trying to hide her face.
"Oh? Well even if you say you weren't on an actual date, you still spent the day with Natsu, so you do love him right?"
"W-what?!" Lucy said as she shot up from her chair. Lucy's heart started beating rapidly.
Lucy and Natsu were best friends, they were partners! Lucy loved Natsu but she didn't love Natsu.
"N-Natsu is my friend. And that's it, end of story. Can we talk about something else now? Levy, how did your job go?" Lucy said desperately trying to change the topic.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he liked you Lucy." Mirajane said.
Lucy couldn't believe what she was hearing now.
"You two would make a cute couple!" Levy said.
"You two are always together. Where ever you are, Natsu isn't far away." Erza added
"Me? And Natsu? Pfffft that's just... pffft!" Lucy said not being able to think of any thing else to say.
Although she was trying to convince her friends and herself that she didn't have deeper feelings for Natsu, the butterflies in her stomach were going mad. And her heart was beating much harder and faster than normal.
Her 3 friends picked up on her nervous behaviour and her embarrassment. She was obviously in denial, they thought.
"Just admit it Lucy! You like Natsu!" Levy tried to convince her.
"No I do not!" Lucy said. She was becoming very frustrated with her friends.
"That's right!" Mirajane said "She loves Natsu!".
"Noo!" Lucy shouted desperately trying to defend her position.
"Lucy you have nothing to be embarrassed about." Erza said "Don't try to suppress your feelings."
"What? That's it, I'm outta here!" Lucy snapped.
The other 3 girls watched as their blonde friend got up from her seat at the bar stormed her way to the exit.
Lucy marched towards the exit. Her face was steaming and her heart was still pounding. But she was stopped by someone grabbing her wrist. She prayed it wasn't who she thought it was, but as luck would have it, it was.
"N-Natsu? W-what is it?" she said trying to hide her face from the dragon slayer.
"Where ya goin' Luce? I thought you wanted to relax here a bit?" Natsu said with his had still grasping her wrist.
"I'm relaxed plenty, I just wanna go home now, kay?" Lucy said, really wanting to leave asap.
"Oh alright. Well I'll see you tomorrow! Maybe there will be some better jobs we can go on!" He said just as she let go of her wrist.
"Yeah, sure. Bye." She said as she made her way to the exit as quick as possible.
Natsu looked a little puzzled. He looked back at the other 3 girls who were watching. They were just giggling.
"Jeez..." Natsu said "What's the deal with women?"
Lucy was now outside and making her way back home. She was beyond uncomfortable right now. He cheeks were warm and very red. The butterflies in her stomach were going insane. Her heart was pounding uncontrollably. He mind was racing with thoughts she couldn't get rid of.
"Me? And Natsu? As if. They have no idea what they were talking about. I mean, he would never like me that way." Lucy couldn't help but argue in her head. Only thinking of reasons why Natsu didn't like her. But not why she didn't like him.
Then she thought about the way Natsu held her hand this morning, and when he put his hands on her shoulders, and the way he grabbed her wrist just then. And how warm and caring his touch felt. She also thought about how she felt the whole day she was with Natsu. And how much she enjoyed just being with him today.
"I couldn't possibly love him... could I?" She thought as she made her way home, where all she wanted to do was relax by herself, and let this day end.
*Okay so I had barely thought of any of this before I had actually written it. This all came to me as I was going. But I think it came out fairly good. Let me know what you think!*
