Chapter III: What's on your Mind?
Its Friday already (a week from Natsu's first home visit), and she felt like a total slug. She was tired because of student council meetings that were long and dragging for the past four days and another reason would be Natsu's after school visits to her home. She was also kind of relieved since Erza told her that she need not attend the meetings if she were tired and she was grateful to her.
She flew off to her own merry world. As she was walking through the shelves of romantic novels, the earth shook, and later on, she was being buried in the books.
"Lu-chan," said Levy. She shook her best friend, who was staring off into space. "Lu-chan, I'm dying."
She snapped out of it. "What?"
"Finally! I have been trying to talk to you for ages... Anyway, let's hang out this Saturday, just us girls and I was asking you if we could do it in your house instead. What do you think?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll ask the chef later if he can make a brilliant heap of food. How many are we?"
"Wait," she brought out a blue notebook and flipped to the back page. "There are five of us: you, of course, me, Erza, Wendy, Cana, and Mirajane-san. I haven't asked Erza-san yet, so could you do me a favour and ask her?"
"No problem. I'm going to see her later anyway." She smiled. "So, tell me, who's the cute guy that you told me last week? You know, when you pulled me along."
"Well, he's not really cute..."She doodled on a notebook, blushing. "...others might not even think he's attractive, but I really like him. He's kind and strong..." She slammed the notebook shut. "...and none of your business. I can't believe that you talked me into telling you something like this!"
"Sorry, sorry."
"No fair. At least tell me something about your new crush." Lucy raised an eyebrow at her. "You obviously haven't had those nightmares for over a week now, so I just thought that you might've had a newfound love."
"He's not my crush. He's just a perverted stalker from the planet of the pigs." Levy giggled. "He seriously eats a lot. I mean a lot! He ate a whole darn plate with a huge pile of cookies within a minute."
"You sure do fall for weird men."
"I'm telling you, I don't like him that way!"
"You don't know that! Remember, Gray had to confess to you five times before you finally got it. Natsu may be a perverted stalker, but what if he really liked you? Loved you even?"
Lucy considered Levy's questions, as if they were true. Her heart began to throb and she clutched her chest. She looked questionably at Levy. "How did you know who he was?"
"Well, one: there's no one I know that can eat a whole plate of cookies that is attractive so I thought, what about that new guy?" She giggled. "Two: I know your type; the fun, attractive pervert type.
Lucy sweat dropped. "You're trying to say that I'm an open book."
Levy nodded. Lucy groaned and she buried her face in her palms. "Chill, girl. You're an open book only to me. Nobody else knows you the way I do. At least nobody I know."
"I need to relax." She sighed.
She was shrieking on the inside. She thought that he would ignore her after the accident but it seemed like that only made him pay special attention to her. As much as she would like for him to notice her, she wanted for her heart to stop jumping and for the oxygen around her to circulate better since she was hyperventilating, but what could she do, because she fell for him.
His eyes momentarily caught her gaze and he smiled gleefully at her. She felt her cheeks go red and she turned around. Noticing this, Romeo frowned and went to her. He tapped her shoulder and Wendy's heart started to jump out of her chest.
"Did I do something to insult you or maybe hurt you?" He asked, worry in his face.
"N-no. Not at all." She stammered.
He sighed and beamed at her. "Glad to hear that."
Her friends went to her almost immediately after he left. They tickled her and she laughed.
"You like each other!"
Wendy blushed. "I don't know..."
"Then ask him, duh."
"I can't."
"And why is that so?"
"I'll just stammer so hard again and trip before I even take a step near him and that would make him... not like me."
"Stammer? I'm sure you'll do. Trip? Not sure. But you'll never know if you don't do it."
"Fine." She took a step and froze in her tracks. She turned sharply and lunged at her friends, who caught her easily. "I can't do it."
"It's okay... Men are supposed to be the ones who make the first move, right?"
"Yeah, I'm not totally sure of that." Her friends altogether made a questioning sound. "The first time we met, he told me: "I'm Romeo" and I answered: "Then I must be Juliet"."
They gaped at her. "You didn't."
"I did."
They laughed and teased her for the entire day, and she felt even more embarrassed when they pushed her to him. She fell in his arms and both Wendy and Romeo blushed. The girls felt like teasing both of them so they brought out a camera and took several pictures of them.
A white-haired man in music room C shook his head, and strummed his guitar once more. He was having trouble creating a line in a song he was making for a certain someone. He groaned, and tried to think of a simple line without describing her as a 'real man'. He knew he would get hit on the head if he placed that there.
"If everything could ever feel this real forever." He wrote on the paper then smacked his forehead. "It feels corny. Nevertheless, doing this feels manly!" He punched the air and continued writing.
After finishing his song, his bladder started jumping around. He exited the room and headed to the restroom then he heard a faint tune of a playing guitar. He noticed that the tune was vaguely familiar and so he crept behind the unlocked door of room E. He peeked in the gap of the door and the wall and saw a pink haired guy singing.
And all I can breathe is your life
And sooner or later it's over
I just don't want to miss you tonight
His eyes widened in realization when he realized who he was.
"Yuusuke... Haru.." he breathed out. He pushed open the door and met a pair of onyx eyes that were filled with panic.
"Hey, Elfman! Nice to see you here." He laughed nervously.
"So, you're really him, huh."
He tilted his head innocently. "What are you talking about?"
"That you're really Winter."
"I'm not a season but if I were, I would be Summer." He sweat dropped and smiled falsely. 'What the heck am I talking about?'
"I knew you for about three years now, I know if you can't lie."
Natsu let out an exasperated sigh. 'Right, he is Lisanna's and Mira's brother. Time in middle school with the Strauss siblings wasn't quite happy-go-lucky when they started stalking me because of god-knows-what. Besides, if Gramps hears that I screwed up again like I did with Gray, I'm toast. I better make a deal or something.'
"Ummm..." He started.
"Yeah." Elfman grunted and looked at Natsu questioningly.
'You have his attention! Talk, you idiot! Damn, his stare is unnerving.'
He cursed under his breath. He turned to Elfman. "Can you promise not to tell anyone about this whole thing? I swear I'll do anything."
"Well," Elfman racked his brain to fill the 'anything' part. He handed the music book with the song. "You can sing this for the incoming festival. Don't worry, I can tell sis to insert Yuusuke Haru in the schedule. I'm sure she'll love the idea."
"I don't know..."
"Do it." He growled and Natsu recalled Elfman's codename before: 'Beast Soul' (and to pair with that was Mira's 'Satan Soul', which no one dares to see).
He sweat dropped. "Yeah, sure. Thanks for saving my ass, I guess?"
"You're welcome. Now go save mine." He laughed and they shook hands, sealing their contract.
Her amethyst eyes fluttered open, and her entire body felt heavy. She fell asleep while she was creating the plans for the festival. She lifted her head groggily and she found herself face-to-face with a blue-haired wonder.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty." He smirked, waving a white folder in her face. "You fell asleep so I took the liberty of fixing the papers that decorated the floor quite nicely awhile ago."
She stirred in her seat and grabbed the folder. She flipped through the pages in the folder, and saw that the arrangement was the same as she would've done herself. She groaned, and banged her head on the table.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked. He neared her face and stared in her eyes.
She blushed and looked away. 'How the hell can he be so cute?'
"It's just... I wanted to be the one to do that. I'm sorry if I bothered you." She whispered, embarrassed. A light chuckle erupted from him.
"It's fine with me." He answered, dragging a chair in front of the desk. He sat. She lifted her head up and beamed at him.
"Thank you, Jellal."
He played with her scarlet locks and gazed in her eyes. "Are you free this Saturday? I know this great Italian place where—"
"—there are Italians?" she finished, giggling. He chuckled.
"Er, not really. It has a great view of the sunset." She blushed. "We'll need to catch up, right, as close childhood friends? It has been quite some time since we talked." She frowned slightly. 'Friend-zoned.'
"I'm sure if I have plans, I can reschedule. I know where this place is, anyway. I pass by it on the way to the mall." She answered. He nodded.
"Tomorrow at 5:30, okay?" He rose from his seat and walked out the door.
"Okay."
He peeked back and winked at her. "It's a date." And he went away.
She slumped back on her seat, buried her flushed face in her folded arms, and stomped, squealing. She peeked at his seat and recalled him playing with her hair. She grinned at herself. 'I guess not completely friend-zoned.'
All of a sudden, an eating blonde and a pink-haired retard entered, having an argument. Erza jumped up from her seat at the timing of the duo. She thought of scolding the two for making such a ruckus in the student council room but their conversation distracted her from doing so.
"'To eat or not to eat' is my motto. Shakespeare said so, too." Natsu pouted. He eyed the blonde's dessert, which was Jell-O with three ice cream scoops; strawberry, mango, and chocolate. "Now can I have at least one or ten spoons of ice cream? It's like I said, to eat or not to eat. I choose eat."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "How about you stop eyeing my food? It's losing it flavour because of you sniffing it like some kind of mammal. And it's supposed to be 'to be or not to be', you dimwit. Another question is when you started reading Shakespeare; it's kind of weird for you, isn't it?" She glared at him. "Fine. I'll let you have a scoop—"Natsu smiled childishly. He clapped like a two year old and opened his mouth, signalling Lucy to feed him. "—if you stop raiding my refrigerator for eternity." Her eyes glinted and she grinned at him maniacally.
He sulked and stuck his tongue out at Lucy. Erza almost—emphasis on the 'almost'—guffawed at the retard's expression because she pinched herself to stop herself from laughing.
"Darn, you're tight." He huffed.
Erza and Lucy blushed. "That sounds wrong."
"I meant strict. What were you thinking?" The two girls felt themselves burst into flames from embarrassment (they thought of a perverted meaning) and he raised an eyebrow at Lucy. "And you call me a pervert."
Lucy punched him, leaving him seeing stars. She smiled at Erza and sat in the chair in front of her desk. "So sorry about the mess." She pointed at Natsu. "Levy told me to tell you that you should come tomorrow to my house so that we could spend some girl time. Wendy, Cana, and Mira-san are coming, too. Are you free tomorrow?"
Erza stiffed. She wasn't sure which of the events to not attend; her first date or her first outing with her real friends. She ran every situation she could think of, and she decided to choose her friends instead, thinking that Jellal would understand her situation. It would be quite a sacrifice on her part, because she told herself she would do anything to go with him even for at least five minutes.
"I can go." She mumbled. Lucy clapped giddily.
"I'm so happy you can go! Are you sure you don't have any other plans tomorrow?" Erza shook her head slowly.
Natsu recovered from the punch and gazed at Erza knowingly. "You should choose what you really want, I know you want to." He exited the room with hands in his pockets.
'I just can't hide anything from that idiot, huh.' "I'll go, I promise."
"Great! So, I was wondering if you can help me plan the desserts tomorrow. Can you give me an idea or—"
"Strawberry shortcakes, mango crepe, blueberry cheesecake, black forest cake, apricot mango cheesecake, lemon cheesecake..." Erza began; her eyes were shining and you can spot a small drop of drool on the corner of her mouth. You can almost hear her giggling inside."...Apple pies, pineapple pies, egg pies. OH! You should serve fruits also, the assorted kind."
"—or ten." Lucy sweat dropped and wrote Erza's ideas—ahem, orders—on her pink notebook.