When Lucy woke up the next morning, the first thoughts that popped into her head were of Natsu and how he'd asked her to be his girlfriend. She sighed happily, and for a moment, she was just a normal girl in love for the very first time. Then she heard the heavy footsteps of her father downstairs and her stomach sank. "Oh right," she thought.

"Lucy!" Her dad called, "Get down here!"

She scurried out of bed, "Coming!"

She raced downstairs to find her dad gulping a bottle of wine at the breakfast table.

"So you're not dead yet," he said.

She shook her head.

"I'm not gonna whip you today," he said, "But don't forget you've got until the weekend to become a bloody splat on the pavement. You got that?"

Lucy nodded, surprised at how mild-mannered he was today.

"Now get to school," her dad said before turning back to his bottle.

Lucy sighed a breath of relief and scampered out the door.

When she got school the first thing I saw was Natsu's smile.

"Lucy!" He smiled hugging her

Lucy was so startled, she just stood there, frozen, for a second.

Natsu let go.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly.

Lucy smiled, "Don't worry about it, you just caught me off guard."

"Okay," Natsu said awkwardly, "...Can I walk you to class, maybe?"

Lucy giggled, "I'd like that."

He slipped his warm big hand into hers. Lucy knew it was cliche but it felt like his hand fit perfectly with hers.

She smiled at Natsu and they went on their way.

The whole way to her class, Lucy was smiling, and she felt she was the happiest she'd ever been.

When they got to class, Levy was waiting on the back with a smile on her face.

"You two look cozy," Levy smiled.

Lucy blushed, "Yeah, Natsu's great."

"That's good," Levy smiled and patted my hand.

She smiled back, unsure of what to say.

"I think you two are perfect together," she said, "You bring out the best in him, I think. Unlike any other girl he's ever been with."

She turned towards me, "He loves you so much, you know. I see it in the way he looks at you, like you're the only person in the room, like you're the sun, pure and magical."

I blushed, "You think?"

"Yeah," Levy said, "You're lucky, you know. Every girl dreams of it."

"You have Gajeel," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but Gajeel isn't really the touchy-feely kind, you know?"

"I guess," I said, but I didn't really understand. My knowledge of relationships extended only to what I'd read in books and what I'd learned with Natsu.

"I mean, all girls just want to be loved, right? I want to feel loved, you know?" Levy smiled sadly.

"Yeah..." I said, "I know better than you think."

We sat there for a bit, in silence before Levy brightened.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry for just projecting my feelings onto you like that," she laughed a little bit, "Just forget that happened."

"Don't worry about it," Lucy assured, "I get it, I really do. Honestly, you don't understand how much I get it."

Levy smiled, "Yeah, okay."

After that our conversation flowed easily and casually about mundane topics, but my mind was racing about what Levy said. I did want to be loved. I wanted to be happy. And for the first time, I was envisioning a future for me. One where I was happy. I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, I saw the happiness coming out of all this sadness. I understood and I dreamed. Fantasies were bubbling in my mind of all these possibilities that could happen. A weight had lifted off my chest that had plagued me my whole life. For a blissful moment, I was truly happy.

Then I remembered. What I had to do. I knew what the right thing to do was. It was to throw myself off that roof and save everyone the burden of dealing with me. But Levy's words had sparked something in me. Something selfish. Something that wanted to savor every moment of my happiness until I had to throw it away. It was selfish and awful and the wrong thing to do, I knew that. But thinking of everything that had happened, I didn't care.