CHAPTER FIVE
Lucy's weekend was spent holed up in her house. After that dream she was feeling paranoid and avoided going out. Natsu had called Sunday morning but she ignored the call. She knew they couldn't happen so she wasn't going to keep extending the inevitable.
It was Monday morning and she was dreading the walk to school and not to mention seeing Natsu again. She opens her house door and looks around cautiously. When she doesn't spot anything suspicious she hurriedly locks her door and starts power walking. Her eyes don't stop scanning the whole walk to school. At the school steps, she takes a moment to mentally prepare herself for the day.
She puts on a fake smile and walks in. She says good morning to Laxus and walks away quickly, knowing he could see right through her. Passing by the office, she doesn't even look that way. As she goes up the stairs to her classroom, she lets out a breath. Thankfully, she had avoided Natsu, for now. She realizes she was relieved too soon, when she sees him waiting for her inside the class.
"Remember, kids, education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." With the quote from Nelson Mandela, Natsu waves to the kids and signs for her to follow. She groans inwardly and hates herself for what she's about to say. Natsu stops in front of the faculty bathroom, where it's quiet, and turns to Lucy.
"I called you yesterday and you never responded. Is everything ok?" He genuinely looked concern.
"I was busy." She shrugs.
"Ok." He stares at her silently for a minute but it feels like forever to Lucy.
"Look, Natsu, I'm sorry for Friday. I was drunk and I said and did all this crazy stuff that I didn't mean. Thank you for that again but honestly, I would like to get back to our old professional relationship. What happened Friday was inappropriate and it won't happen ever again." Lucy felt so terrible saying this and she wished she could take it back but she knew she shouldn't.
"Oh." Natsu's eyes looked hurt for a second but quickly change to indifference. "Yeah, ok, I get it. Sorry to have bother you. Have a good rest of your day, Ms. Heartfilia." He walks past her and it takes all her strength not to stop him.
She walks into the bathroom and takes a few minutes to regain her sanity. She knew Natsu was a good guy and would have been a great friend but she was catching feelings for him and that was dangerous. She couldn't drag him into her mess when she knew he was still out there looking for her.
She reminds herself the reason why things had to be like this and goes back into the classroom. It was crunch time since this was Bisca's last week and Lucy would be taking over. For the rest of the morning, she pushes out thoughts of Natsu and focuses on reading 'Hatchet by Gary Paulsen' with the students.
When lunchtime rolls around, she has thoughts of skipping the loft but then thinks against it. She knew Erza would spend the time looking for her and would be highly upset if she found her just fine and avoiding her. The girls didn't deserve that either, they didn't have any clue of Lucy's past. She grabs her packed lunch and heads to the loft.
"Hey, Lucy!" Mira is waving excitedly at Lucy and she knew she was in for some questioning. Levy gave her an apologetic look and Erza shook her head. Juvia hadn't shown up yet. She might as well get it over with so she sits next to Mirajane.
"Please do tell me how the night went after you left with Natsu?"
"Hi, Mira, how are you?"
"Fine, fine." She answers hurriedly. "Now tell me!"
"He took me home, I went to sleep and he left to his own home. That's it, the end." Lucy took a bite out of her tuna sandwich and looked down at the table.
"Oh, come on, that's a load of crap. I'm not the only one who heard you calling him sexy dragon and who saw you flirting with him." Mira leans in closer and tries to get the scoop.
"Well that's what happened, sorry to disappoint you." Lucy shrugs and focuses back on her lunch.
"Now I know something definitely happened. You're both walking around today like someone kicked your puppies. You don't have to tell me, I will find out eventually." Mira's eyes gleamed with mischief.
"Mirajane, just leave her alone. Don't you see she's not up for your silly questions?" Erza gives Mira a disapproving look and then turns to Lucy. "Are you ok?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Can we just talk about something else?" They accept that she wasn't going to tell them anything.
"Ok, Levy, how was Gajeel?"
"What do you mean how was he?" Levy's face turns bright red.
"Oh, you know exactly what I mean." Mira brings her eyebrows up and down suggestively.
"Nothing like that happened if that's what you're implying. He took me home and kept an eye on me through the night." Levy grabs her juice cup and starts chugging it.
"What else did he keep on you?" Levy shoots out the juice as she chokes and it gets all over Mira's white long sleeve dress. The women laugh hysterically as Mira yells and tries cleaning her dress with paper napkins.
"What's with all the racket up here?" The women turn to the tanned black-haired man and then start laughing harder. Levy tires to disappear under the table.
"Hey, shrimp, can we talk somewhere quieter?" She quickly gets up from her chair and drags him behind her with a blush still in her cheeks. Lucy wipes the tears from her eyes and feels a bit better. She needed a good laugh. Mirajane excuses herself to change, leaving just Erza and Lucy.
"Lucy," Erza puts her hand on top of Lucy's. "You know you can trust us, right? We would never betray your trust." Lucy sighs slowly.
"I know but I'm not ready to talk just yet." She didn't know if she would ever be.
"I can respect that." For the rest of lunch, they talk about a third grader who threw up on Laxus' shoes and then peed himself when he noticed who the shoes belonged to.
"I wonder what happened to Juvia." Lucy says as they walk out of the library.
"She's probably stalking Gray." Erza shrugs. "Oh, hey Natsu." Lucy looks up at him but his eyes are on Erza.
"Hey, Erza." His smile doesn't reach his eyes like usual. "Ms. Heartfilia." He hardly throws a glance her way. Lucy feels ashamed of being the one to rob of him of his usual happiness and enthusiasm. Erza notices their odd behavior but decides not to comment on it.
"I'll see you later." Lucy waves at Erza and takes the stairs up to the second floor. Unfortunately, at that exact moment Lisanna was walking down the stairs. She stands in Lucy's path, forcing her to stop and look at her.
"So, I heard about Friday night." She had a Regina George vibe about her and a hand on her cocked hip. Lucy was not afraid however and showed her so.
"Yeah, and?" Lucy crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow.
"I hope you know, as everyone else, that Natsu belongs to me and I don't share." Lisanna narrowed her eyes.
"First off, he's not a possession to belong to anyone and secondly, I'm not interested." The second was a lie but that wasn't Lisanna's business. Lucy pushes past her, ignoring her protests and heads to her classroom.
"Is everything ok, Lucy? You look like you want to punch something." Bisca asks with concern.
"Or someone." Lucy says quietly. "Everything is fine, nothing at all important." Bisca looks at her curiously but doesn't ask as the first afternoon class files in.
The next two days pass along pretty quickly. Natsu and Lucy avoid each other but at least Natsu didn't look as upset. Lisanna on the other hand, kept glaring at Lucy every chance she got. Lucy just ignored her and kept on with her day.
On Thursday, Lucy stays behind after school is over. The students and herself had planned a little party for Bisca since tomorrow would be her last day. When she finished decorating, she was surprised to find an hour had gone by. She smiles at her handiwork and decides it's time to leave.
She grabs her stuff and heads downstairs. When she's about to turn the corner to pass the office she hears lowered voices. She stops in the corner and looks around to see Natsu and Lisanna. Lisanna has her hand on his chest and Natsu seems conflicted with his hand in his hair. Lucy has the overpowering thought of breaking Lisanna's hand and getting it away from Natsu.
"Come on, Natsu, give me one more chance. You know no one makes you feel like I do. We've been together since we were kids, we're meant to be." Natsu bites his bottom lip and she could tell he was thinking.
"I don't know Lisanna, last time we gave it a shot it didn't go so well." Lisanna stands on her tippy toes to reach his eye level.
"Please, give me just one more chance." Before Natsu answers Lisanna presses her lips to his, when he doesn't pull away she deepens the kiss. That's Lucy's cue to get the hell out of there.
She goes back around and decides to leave through the back of the building. She gets angry with herself for being upset about what she saw. Why did she care? Natsu was free to kiss whomever he wanted.
When she gets outside, it's pouring and she had left her umbrella in the classroom. She was not going back for it, she would much rather get soaked. She walks slowly not caring that her work clothes were getting ruined. Half way to her house, someone honks at her. They pull up next to her and put their window down.
"Get in." She almost rolls her eyes at him.
"I'm good, thanks." She walks a few steps but Natsu follows slowly beside her.
"Don't be ridiculous, you're soaked and you're going to catch a cold. If it makes you feel better we don't have to talk." She considers making a run for it but admits it's a childish idea. "I will keep bugging you until you get in." She nods, he pulls a beach towel from the backseat and she sits on it. They both keep their eyes on the road and as promised he doesn't say a word.
"Thank you." They reach her house and she reaches for the door handle.
"Lucy, wait! It really bothers me that we can't be friends. I don't know what I did last Friday that made you uncomfortable but I'm sorry for whatever it was. I just want us to be cordial." She finally looks at him and she feels butterflies in her belly. "He was just kissing Lisanna! So stop it!" She screams in her head.
"Ok, we can be cordial." She gives him a smile and thrusts her hand out to him. He looks down at her hand and then at her face, smiling he thrusts his hand out as well. They shake hands, both feeling a thrill go up their arms but ignoring it.
She finally gets out his car and runs to her door. Unbeknown to both of them, someone was watching from a car across the street. His knuckles going white as he clenched the steering wheel. His teeth grinding together as he thought about making her pay for daring to be with another man.
It's a shorter chapter and I'm not to crazy about it but it all can't be sunshine and rainbows. Hope you guys enjoy it nonetheless and make sure you tune in for the next chapter!
Thank you guys so much for your support and reviews!
See you soon!