It Started with a Big Mac

Chapter 4

As I neared the food-stand, I saw something, or rather, someone who made my blood run cold.

It was... him.

I broke out in a cold sweat. My heart beat increased the longer I watched him flirt around with other girls, the longer I watched him obsess over their beauty and fantasize their weddings. He made me sick. At least, that's what I told myself. My brain screamed at me to run, to get away from that idiot. Yet, my legs would not move.

As I watched him comb back his maroon hair, painful memories of "the good old days" re-surfaced. I remembered all those fun times we had when we first started dating. I remembered how sweet he was to me the first few months we were together. Then I remembered how he began to want to change me. I remembered how he started to openly flirt with other women when I was around. I remembered how he forgot all our dates and how he ignored me more and more. And then I remembered going to his place for our 2nd year anniversary and finding him cheating on me.

I should hate him. I should want to scream at him, slap him across the face and pay back for all the times he hurt me. But I couldn't. I remained rooted in one spot, fear gripping me and tears threatening to come out.

His face suddenly turned in my direction. Our eyes locked. I couldn't breathe. Why couldn't I move?
"Lulu-chi?"

I didn't say anything. I just couldn't.

He smirked and turned to the fan-girls around him. "Excuse me, ladies, but I must talk to Lulu-chi for a moment. I'll be right back!" He winked.

The girls giggled, "Okay!" before turning away.

As he made his way towards me, I felt myself shaking uncontrollably (even though it was summer) and felt tears starting to drip down my face. Stop it Lucy, you have to stand up for yourself, I thought.

He soon reached me and raised an arm to hug me. "Hey Lulu-"

"No!" I shouted, finally feeling a small amount of self-control. "G-get the hell away from me Dan!"

Dan's eyes widened in surprise. Guess he didn't expect that. A few bystanders noticed my tear-stained face and Dan's upraised arm. They began to whisper amongst themselves, some even pointing to my ex-boyfriend.

Noticing this, Dan's face contorted in anger and he grabbed my arm roughly. "Lucy..." he growled threateningly.

I panicked when I felt him grab me. "NO!" I screamed loudly, "Get off me!" I managed to rip my arm from his grip and turned to run when my hair was painfully pulled back.

"Lucy, we need to talk."
"Never!" I yelled at him, tears freely flowing down my cheeks. "I hate you!"

Grabbing my hair, I pulled myself from his grasp and (finally) made a run for it. I was vaguely aware of the bystanders holding him back from getting me.

I ran. I ran and I sobbed. What just happened? For the two years we'd been dating, Dan had never tried to hurt or abuse me physically. This was the first time. And it was in public.

As I neared the park bench, I saw Natsu still rubbing his head in pain. When he heard me running, Natsu turned towards me with a smile. But once he saw me crying, he stood up quickly and asked me worriedly, "Luce, what happened? What's wrong?"
I jumped into his warm embrace and cried on his chest. "Natsu! I-I saw h-him!"

"Your ex?"
"Y-yeah. Natsu, he hurt me! Dan hurt me! He was flirting with other girls and tried to talk to me like nothing had happened! I can't take it, Natsu!"

Natsu shook in anger and continued to smooth down my hair.

"Lulu-chi." an all-too-familiar voice interrupted.

My breath caught in my throat. Natsu tightened his embrace slightly.

"Are you Dan?" Natsu asked.

"Yes, I am." Dan said.

"You bastard!" Natsu yelled angrily. His eyes burned in anger and he shook violently, trying to control his anger. "You hurt Lucy and made her cry. You don't deserve to be with someone like her. Now go away before I kill you for making her cry."

Dan chuckled, "Shouldn't I be saying that to you? Let go of my girlfriend, Pinky, and go run along. A peasant like yourself wouldn't understand a thing."

I took my head out of Natsu's warm embrace and turned to face my ex-boyfriend. "No Dan, you go "run along"! In the past couple of days, Natsu has been a better friend than you've ever been, and he cares about me, unlike you. I ended this so-called relationship we had three days ago when I found you cheating on me. Get the hell away from here, Dan. I don't ever want to see your stupid face again."

"Since when did we break up?" Dan sneered. "As I recall, when you saw me sticking my tongue down another person's throat, you just ran away like the coward you are. And according to my facebook status, we've never broken up and you are still mine."

"Screw your facebook status!" I yelled frustrated. "We are over, Dan. O-V-E-R, over! Now pick up your fat ass and take a hike, preferably off a cliff. Go away and don't come the hell back!"

The maroon-haired man widened his eyes in surprise at my choice-words before scoffing and turning away. "Whatever, bitch. And just a little heads-up, I'm definitely going to get you back, no matter what it will take."

Once he left, I felt my legs go numb and was about to fall, if it weren't for Natsu catching me.

"Thanks Natsu."

We sat back down on the bench. "Luce," Natsu began, "that was amazing! I'm really proud of you for standing up for yourself. That guy was a total jerk! He thought he could just waltz back into your life and steal you away again. What a total jack-ass! Ugh, you are so much better than he is, and you deserve so much more. What part of him made you fall for him anyways?"

I sighed and rested my head on his shoulder. "Well, first off, thank you. It felt good yelling at him -"

"You're welcome."

"-And second, Dan wasn't like this in the beginning. When we first started dating, he was so sweet and was obsessed with us getting married -"

"What?" Natsu interrupted, "Married?! But you guys were only - what - sophomores?"

I laughed a bit, "Hehe, yeah. But don't worry, I don't think he was actually serious."
Natsu grumbled under his breath.

"Anyway, I guess he kind of just caught me at my time of weakness. Back in Acalypha, I didn't have many friends because a lot of people were intimidated by my dad's wealth. Dan was one of the first to actually talk to me. At first, I thought I was just one of his targets."

"Targets?" Natsu questioned.

"Yeah. Before dating, Dan often targeted various females around the school and became obsessed with the one girl for a week before moving on to another one. Around the middle of freshman year, Dan became obsessed with me. I was pretty happy at first because someone was actually talking to me like a person. Then I realized that I was probably just another week-long obsession. However, he continued to follow me around and remained obsessed with me after the week was up. I guess we just grew closer to each other and, in the summer before sophomore year, he asked me out. I obviously said yes and we began dating.

The first few months were great: we were like any other couple. We went on dates and stuck together like glue. But then we slowly started to grow apart. He told me to wear makeup, lose weight, and act dumb. Too blinded by love, I agreed. He then started to ignore me bit by bit and forget important dates. I chose to ignore that. And eventually, during the last half of junior year, Dan began flirting with other girls again. I also chose to ignore that because I believed that since we were dating, he wouldn't deceive me. The last straw was when I caught him cheating on me."

I heard Natsu mumble, "That bastard," but I ignored it. Natsu's right, Dan is a bastard.

"And you know what the funny thing is?" I asked Natsu. He shook his head. "I think I'm still in love with that jerk." A few tears slipped out and I quickly wiped them away.

Natsu wrapped an arm around me in a warm one-armed hug and allowed me to cry into his shoulder.

After a few minutes, Natsu spoke, "I don't blame you for still having feelings for him. You've spent so much time together with him and he was even one of the first to become friends with you. But I don't think that feeling is love."

I looked at him confused.

"I think that what you felt for Dan was admiration or appreciation. He was one of your first friends, so you're probably grateful for that. But love, in my opinion, is more like a mutual feeling. Two people can't see anyone else but the other and they can't think of anyone else but the person they love. Two people in love wouldn't see any flaws in the other person and would want to treasure him/her. I don't know, but maybe you confused gratitude with love."

I looked down and wiped away any remaining tears. "Yeah, maybe you're right. He was one of the first to seem like he didn't care about my dad's wealth and one of my first friends. But I just can't help thinking that I love him."

"Don't think too much about it," Natsu said, "Even though he was one of your first friends, he was also a jerk for doing what he did to you. I think you just need some time to get over him. It's only been three days after all."

I sniffed, "Yeah, I need time."

Natsu hugged me a bit tighter. "Don't worry, Luce. I'll help you get over that bastard."

I smiled and nodded slightly. "Thanks Natsu. You've always been there for me and were there for me when I cried. You're the best friend anyone could ever hope for."

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter :)
Well, it turns out Dan was him! Sorry to those of you who thought "he" was Sting. I imagine Dan to be more like an obsessive, stalker-type guy :P
Thanks to all those who are following, favorite-ed, and reviewed this fanfic!