Once more I get to throw in references that were made in Musical Chairs! Either way, I had a fun time with this chapter, and I hope you do, too! Chapter 11 time!
Chapter 11
"Okay, Lucy, don't freak out. Don't freak out," she was saying to herself, like a mantra. The blonde really wasn't sure of how well it was working, or if it was even working at all. She was sure that she was wearing a hole in the floor, however. At the very least, her room floor looked like it had indentations of her footprints from all her pacing. Giving a glance over to the clock, Lucy noticed it was after midnight, well after all the guests had departed…well after Natsu had departed. "Gah! No!"
What was wrong with her? Why was she freaking out over a little kiss on the cheek? For that matter, why on earth did her brain feel like it was exploding? Loke certainly didn't make her feel flushed and flustered with the exact same action, and she had reason to suspect that his was more than platonic. But Natsu…she knew that the lovable drummer had an unhealthy obsession with fire, but she never expected his lips to burn like it. Just the very thought of that brief minimal contact set her own face ablaze.
"Come on, Lucy, it's just Natsu," she said, maybe a little louder than she'd intended. "Yeah, just Natsu. It was probably a dare between him and Gray. Ha ha…That's right…"
So, why was it that a little voice inside her head insisted that she was lying to herself? Maybe she just needed to talk to someone about this strangeness. Mira was definitely out, as was Lisanna due to relation. Juvia was a big no-no, as she didn't want to endure a solid hour of her "Gray Diary". Levy was certainly an option, but Lucy didn't want to wake her at this hour; and if she was awake, she'd likely be chatting with Gajeel. Cana, drunk blabbermouth; Evergreen, she didn't know very well; Bisca, couldn't even handle a boy she was in love with. That really just left…
"What's wrong, Lucy?" Erza asked with a wide yawn after she picked up the phone. Lucy could have sworn she heard a squeak on the other end, like a rubber duck.
"Um…I just…" Lucy couldn't even articulate a proper sentence now. Great. "Natsu sort of kissed me on the cheek tonight. It was…odd…and kind of flustering."
"Probably because I told him to," Erza confessed. Lucy nearly dropped her phone and had to stop herself from swearing.
"You did?" Lucy asked incredulously. "Why would you do something like that? I mean…just…what? Why?"
"I doubt he meant anything by it, Lucy," Erza yawned off. "I told the boys that they had to engage in the festivities of the season, which included kissing anyone they found under the mistletoe. Now that I think about it, that was probably the reason that Gray was avoiding the mistletoe like the plague." Lucy almost snorted at that one: no doubt Gray was really just avoiding Juvia. "I'll have to have words with him…How dare he ruin the spirit of Christmas?"
"Erza, you do realize that Christmas is about giving, right? Not mistletoe?"
"Don't besmirch my ideas of lust and romance by a log fire in a snowstorm with your pagan thoughts of Christmas, Lucy!" The blonde didn't have the heart, or the bravery, to tell Erza that her ideas were the pagan ones.
"You just miss Jellal, don't you?" she teased instead. The redhead must have become a mess, judging by her completely incoherent spluttering. It was enough to make her completely burst out laughing.
"Enough of this, Lucy. I…I'm done listening." Lucy stopped her guffawing in time to hear Erza's parting words, though she certainly wished she hadn't. "Oh, and if you're freaking out like this, I'd guess that you have a crush on Natsu. Quite honestly, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner. Looks like Fried might have won that bet."
"Wha…?" Before she could ask just what Erza meant, the older girl ended the call. Sitting back against the pillows on her bed, she tossed her phone onto her covers. A crush? On Natsu? It was positively preposterous. Natsu was her best friend and nothing more. That burning sensation must have been gratefulness or happiness, and certainly not any sign of actual attraction. "That's just ridiculous…"
Yet, as she stared up at the ceiling and the star-spattered walls, Lucy's mind slipped into a bizarre version of the future. One where she and Natsu were side by side, like always, only with rings on their fingers and all of their friends clapping and crying. Of Wendy sobbing because she was Lucy's little sister for real now. Of she and Natsu holding a precious little girl with pink ha…Wait a minute. Lucy's eyes snapped open wide, the flush phasing through her entire body. She needed to scream.
"I AM NOT IN LOVE WITH NATSU!"
"Shut up, damn brat!" yelled Aquarius from a room nearby, sounding a little drunk. Definitely not wanting to incur the wrath of the blue-haired vixen, Lucy decided to forego thinking for the rest of the night by going to sleep. She just hoped that her thoughts about Natsu would be gone as well.
To that extent, she had much luck and found her next week to be relatively Natsu free. Then came the New Year's party.
"A scavenger hunt? What are we? Five?" Lucy expressed as Mira walked around with a can of straws.
"I thought it'd be a fun way to celebrate the new year. Now, pick a stick." Lucy had a niggling suspicion that Mira was up to something with all this when she picked out a colored stick that perfectly matched Natsu's. She would have thought nothing of it, if all the other couples weren't also on Mira's "Favorite Couples" list. "The pair that finds the most items wins a whole box or bag of chocolates."
"Come, Cana! Let us win!" Erza roared triumphantly. Cana just tipped her bottle back.
"Wish we coulda won some booze…"
"Let's do this thing, Lucy! We'll beat the smirk off ol' Frosty! I'm all fired up!" Natsu said and he began to drag her off. She fought down the heat in her face and instead focused on deciphering their scavenger hunt list. Levy and Gajeel were already hard at work with their own exact same skill set: brains and brawn. For some reason, that got Lucy fired up competitively within seconds. Pushing aside the tension in her chest, Lucy began to quickly decipher clues. Sure, it led to predictable fights between all the boys, some of them only ending when Erza arrived with threats and walked away with the prize. Lucy even once had to avoid a cat fight with Juvia, who seemed to be screaming, "Stay away from Juvia's man!" in her deranged state.
By the end of the hunt, all of them seemed to be in a dead heat for first place, which culminated in truly checking out all the weirdest places, including a rather posh linen closet in the Strauss household. At least, that was what Lucy deciphered from the list she had been given. "Are you sure you can't find anything?"
"I'm not a bloodhound, Lucy!" Natsu snapped as a stack of towels fell on his head. Lucy giggled at the sight, and took a moment to peer down the hall to make sure no one else had cottoned on to their location. "Why don't you help me?"
"All right…" Lucy sighed out, turning into the closet to help. She must have been searching for no more than thirty seconds, before the door seemed to close behind her, trapping the duo in complete darkness. "Natsu…"
"Wasn't me," he said defensively. It must have been true, considering that she heard him furiously jiggling the doorknob. It hardly looked to be doing much of anything. "Stupid door! Tundra Brain, if this was your idea of a joke, I'll kick your ass!"
"Seriously doubt it was Gray," Lucy huffed leaning against a stack of towels. Natsu must have stepped away from the door, because Lucy could suddenly feel his body against hers. All too quickly, she heated up and became very grateful that nothing could be seen in the tight, dark closet. Ugh…this is some kind of cliché sick joke…
"Hey, I think I hear something," Natsu whispered. From the crack of light underneath the door, Lucy could hear murmured voices, which caused her to get on her knees next to Natsu in order to listen.
"You can be one hell of a demon. You know that, Mira?" Lucy scooted a little closer to Natsu to get somewhat closer to the voices. Never one to shy away from physical contact, Natsu put an arm around her so their faces took up less space…which really just meant their faces were closer together. Either way, she was certain it was Laxus talking. "They're going to kill you when they get out."
"They'll thank me later," Mira said cheerfully. Lucy scowled; she knew Mira had ulterior motives.
"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Now, are we making out or what? It's going to be midnight in less than a minute."
Their voices faded away shortly after that and Lucy punched angrily at the door. "I knew she was up to something."
"Damn…didn't think Mira could be so sneaky," Natsu said, finally separating their faces from one another. "Oh, well, if I had to be stuck in a linen closet for New Year's Eve, I'm glad it was with you, Lucy!"
"Uh…you do?" Lucy squawked out as a response. She didn't want to admit it, but she felt the exact same way. There was a slight clatter next to her and it seemed like Natsu was trying to hug her when chimes sounded through the house. Only the hug missed, and instead his lips brushed against hers.
He said nothing. She said nothing.
And Lucy tried to pretend it, and the steam from her heated up face, had never happened.
When school returned a week later, Lucy was very happy. For one thing, it meant she no longer had to deal with whatever agonizing thoughts of Natsu were plaguing her brain, due to either time alone or a lack of work. It also helped that the ensemble was in full swing with practice for the upcoming competition. All of this amounted in Lucy completely abandoning most thoughts about Natsu, unless it was talking to him about the contest, or him asking her for help on homework. On top of all this, Lucy was also preparing for her solo piece. This time, she was actually going to play Mira's piece to completion, though she realized it was something she'd never be able to repeat again.
"You know you'll be fine, Lu-chan," Levy pointed out when the two girls were working on homework in her room one day. Lucy was embarrassed to admit that she almost had a meltdown there. "Besides, the Solo and Ensemble Contest is the least of our worries."
"Are you talking about the other contest? Piece of cake," Lucy admitted with a little shrug as she finished writing the final sentence on her English paper. Slipping it into her folder, she looked at her bluenette best girl friend. "What's wrong?"
"It's just…remember the Balam Demons?" Lucy nodded; it was hard to forget those guys. Anyone scary enough to freak even Erza out was pretty unforgettable. "Well, their three schools will be participating, too."
"I would think so," Lucy said, as though it were obvious. "I'm not too worried, even if the rumors are enough to make people cry."
"That's the thing, though, Lu-chan," Levy squeaked out. She sounded genuinely freaked out. "I know I shouldn't have listened, but I overheard Erza and Cana talking one day. Apparently that girl, Kyôka, she and her girlfriend Seilah once found Erza alone in a bathroom and they…"
"Levy?" Lucy asked tremulously when the bluenette seemed none too keen to continue on. Levy shook her head a moment.
"Apparently they did…things…with their instruments. And you know Erza, brave face and all," Levy said. Lucy almost felt like throwing up at the implication of what Kyôka had done to Erza. "I guess if it wasn't for Jellal, she would have fallen apart."
"Then we travel in pairs, especially to the bathroom," Lucy said, swallowing the hard lump in her throat. "Besides, I'm sure we have nothing to worry about. We've dealt with Minerva, and you know what our group is like. I'd be more concerned about Natsu, Gray and Gajeel destroying things before I worried about that."
"Ha ha…Yeah, you're right," Levy giggled out. That broke the tension between them and the two girls commenced their monthly book review.
It only hit Lucy how wrong she was when the competition actually happened. They were barely a few feet into the building where the contest was being held than the unwanted reunion took place.
"Well, well, if it ain't the firecracker?" cackled the voice of Grimoire Prep's Zancrow. "And is that Ultear, I spy? When'd you become one of the freakin' fairies?"
"Probably when I realized that working with a fool like you was mind-grating," Ultear answered coolly. Her smile betrayed nothing and she continued walking past. Lucy watched her go while also taking stock of some of the other members of Grimoire Prep. There weren't many, other than an older boy conversing respectfully with Erza and another boy that was almost sparkling with arrogance. Too bad she didn't notice the lump of dough on her arm.
"Hey there, baby," he said. Lucy jumped back, surprised that Tubby was sentient. "You lookin' to get on the Kain Train."
"No. No, I'm pretty sure I'm not," Lucy said, equal parts disgusted and revolted.
"There's no need to be shy, blondie. There's more than enough Kain to go around," the boy, she guessed his name was Kain, said. He certainly had that part right. "So, stop playing hard to get and just admit your true feelings for me."
"Hey, Tubby! She's clearly not interested!" Natsu yelled from the middle of his intense stare down with Zancrow. And here was where Lucy was wrong. She didn't need to worry about the boys destroying stuff, but rather them getting into fights with the enemy and destroying everything.
"Who're you calling 'tubby'? I'll have you know that I'm-" Lucy couldn't take it anymore, so she grabbed hold of Natsu and dragged him away before he could do something that he'd truly regret.
Unfortunately, Grimoire Prep wasn't the only school there. In fact, by the time they had all gotten to their practice room, Lucy was fairly certain each of their glares could level the concert hall they were in, plus the surrounding town. Her own glare was certain to send meteors raining down, all thanks to two individuals.
"I see you're looking as shabby as ever, Lucy darling," Angel had aid when Lucy and Levy were on their way to the bathroom. As soon as they heard that, the girls closed ranks. "Your band did quite well at Nationals, though I don't think you'll have the same luck here."
"You'd be surprised," Lucy snapped back, even though Levy was indicating that they should move on. Clearly, Natsu's love of picking fights had rubbed off on her. She stepped forward to smirk at Angel, who was easily smirking back. "Don't forget that you guys lost to us last year, too."
"Times are different," Angel commented, her eyes flashing dangerously. At this moment, Levy finally succeeded in pulling Lucy away and into the restrooms. When the two girls emerged from the bathroom, Angel was gone, giving them a free pass back to their practice room.
"It's bad enough having to restrain Gajeel, but now I might have to restrain you, too?" Levy said in exasperation. Lucy frowned, but also couldn't stop herself from laughing a little. "It's not funny, Lu-chan. Remember what I told you about Erza?"
"I know, Levy," Lucy reassured her, patting her on the shoulder. "And I am being careful. Angel really isn't that bad; she likes to put out that she could beat me or do mean things to me, but that's just a persona."
"Yeah? And how can you be sure of that?"
"Because I've met her sister. Though…she may actually hate me for that…" Lucy mused, but then shrugged, as if none of it really mattered in the first place. "Don't worry so much, Levy."
"Isn't that cute? The little blonde think she doesn't have to worry!"
cackled a voice from further down the hall. That was where Lucy caught sight of the boy, Jackal, his face leering at her. It was admittedly creepy, but Lucy was hardly afraid as he stalked closer to her. "You're associated with that stupid fireball, right?"
"If you're talking about Natsu, then sure, but what's that to you?" Lucy huffed, folding her arms indignantly.
"So, maybe if I hurt ya, the little fireball won't be able to take part in today's festivities," Jackal said, the psychotic smirk hardly leaving his face. "That way, our academy's almost sure to win!"
"Wow, you really don't do your research, do you?" Lucy chuckled out. Her statement happened to make Jackal freeze. "Natsu's not going to stop competing if you hurt me. For that matter, neither am I. It'll just make us more determined to kick your ass."
"That's right, Lucy! So, take a hike before my fist makes you, cat-boy," called Natsu. It was a small bit of relief to see him coming down the hallway where their practice room was. Jackal seemed to finally give a pause at all that, the cocksure smirk turning into a rather obvious sneer. At the very least, he stepped back.
"Well, then, guess we'll face off in the finals…assuming you make it that far," he said before twirling some drumsticks through the air and stalking off. With his departure (and sudden lack of struggle), the trio of Natsu, Lucy and Levy returned to the practice room.
It was pretty obvious how Tartaros Academy and the rest of the Balam Demons operated now.
By the time they were set to go out on stage, it had become increasingly more evident that just about everyone had found someone they'd come into conflict with. Gray had apparently had an icy stare down with a boy named Sawyer, codename Racer; Gajeel with a buff Junior named Torafuzar; Mira actually had a "she-devil showdown" with Kyôka's girlfriend, Seilah. Natsu seemed to have racked up the most animosity between Cobra, Zancrow and Jackal while Erza was apparently on decent terms with Midnight of Oración Seis, and the boy she had been talking to earlier.
If anything, the whole adventure fired them all up to do their very best. That's what Lucy was sure of, considering they had given their best performance to date. None of it stopped the four schools from all glaring daggers at one another, even the three that were in an alliance. That pretty much lasted until the results were announced.
Magnolia High won, but at the end of the day, Lucy felt a far more important result had occurred from the contest: Fairy Tail had pretty much declared war on the Balam Demons.
Spring, Ninth Grade
By March, the contest season was in complete swing, leaving Lucy with barely any time to breathe, let alone think. Not that this was the worst thing, but it was certainly getting the better of her at times. In some occasions, Levy felt like her little lifeboat of safety with how well she was handling things. Only a semester and a half into their high school careers and people were already calling her the "valedictorian bookworm". It was a little insulting to Lucy's ears, but Levy seemed to run with it…though Lucy heavily suspected that it had to do with the fact that Gajeel called her it. If those two got any closer, Lucy figured they would probably be sucking face.
They weren't the only ones making supposed strides in their relationships. Juvia had seemed to be stepping up her game (if that were possible) by baking buns for Gray. He had taken maybe one or two, but worried they'd contain some sort of "homemade love potion weirdness"; he seemed to have passed most of them off to Elfman. Lucy had then been privy to a scene of Evergreen slapping the crap out of Elfman with a fan after that. Then there were the sophomores. Even though Lucy didn't really see much of them, from her time in band class it was obvious they were having something…even though they were far more discreet about it than any of their freshmen counterparts. Jellal and Erza were unusually close lately, though they tended to split apart whenever they seemed to feel like anyone was watching. Mira and Laxus, on the other hand, were much harder to figure out. In the last two months or so, they would sometimes be acting almost like Jellal and Erza, while the very next week they'd barely talk to each other.
In other words, it was just like middle school. The only major difference was the rumor that Lisanna had gone on a date with Bickslow. The white-haired girl refused to confirm or deny anything. One thing was obvious, though: Lisanna had certainly gotten over Natsu.
Now, Lucy just had to figure out what was going on between herself and the pink-haired firecracker.
"Honestly, Natsu, I don't know how you can compose such brilliant pieces and figure out our science homework in a second, but your writing skills are abysmal," she said to him one evening. Her father was working late at the office that night, and Lucy decided to have dinner with the Dragneels. Thankfully, she had managed to get the flushing and inappropriate thoughts down to a bare minimum, and her friendship with Natsu had returned to normal.
"Because I don't care 'bout any of that stuff," Natsu expressed with yawn. He swung his legs over to drape across her own. She had half a mind of pushing them off, but didn't when she saw how comfortable he was. "Besides, you're around to do all that stuff for me."
"I won't always be around, Natsu," she scolded him, crossing out huge parts of his paper with a red pen.
"Why not? I thought we'd always be together," he confessed. The flush returned, but only slightly. "We're a team."
"Well, yeah…but…" Natsu was watching her in interest, yet for the life of her, she couldn't explain herself. Didn't he understand that one day they couldn't be best friends? That they'd get married or just go in different directions? Then again, it was Natsu, who had the optimistic mindset of a child. "Natsu…"
"What are you two up to?" Wendy asked from the entrance to the living room.
"Just chillin'…oh crap! I sound like the stripper…" Natsu expressed, his face drawn into one of abject horror. That broke the tension of the moment, causing Lucy to laugh and the previous topic of discussion to be forgotten.
It was a good thing, too. The contests they were thrown into for the following weeks just got more and more intense. After Alzack had led Fairy Tail through a narrow victory against the Balam schools in the Brass Festival, and Bisca seemed set to do the same for the Jazz contest, all attention was drawn onto the major contest of the year in mid-April (along with the concert in May). Even Minerva hadn't given the time to her usual vindictive pleasures, since Saber Tooth was expected to participate. This didn't stop Erza from being confident in their victory.
"Once we've won, we'll have an all-girl's sleepover celebration at Lucy's house," she proclaimed one day.
"Why?" Lucy couldn't help but ask. "And why my house?"
"Because it's big," Erza said simply. "Oh, and we can invite Wendy, to give her a taste of what our school's victory means!"
No one decided to argue with the manic redhead…at first. It was only a few days later that Cana dropped out for some trip (Lucy had a feeling it was to the cemetery), the Strauss sisters supposedly had dates, and Bisca was celebrating with family. Lucy didn't feel any concern; it was better that Cana wouldn't be there to drink her manor dry. Having the other girls over was no problem, especially with her father and Capricorn away on a trip, and Aquarius on vacation with her boyfriend (which was becoming more often the older Lucy got). Of course, they still had to actually help Magnolia win the competition.
So, mid-April quickly arrived. Unlike all of the other contests, this one actually required the entire band to take part in it, which meant everyone piling into a bunch of buses on that day. Thanks to size, it mostly meant that the guilds were all together on a single bus. Although, Lucy was pretty sure that Bacchus Groh, a sophomore drummer for Quattro Cerberus, had snuck onto their bus for a drinking session with Cana. Other than a very brief scolding from Erza, this went largely unnoticed. Similar to Nationals at the end of the marching season, the major contest, known as the "Fiore Concert Spectacular", was held in Crocus and was sponsored by the kingdom itself. Rumor had it that the king was an avid fan of music, and that the princess was no different, apparently being a part of the Crocus Academy of Arts. Naturally, they weren't the only Academy there.
"Fireball and the blonde. Had a feeling I'd be seeing you here," Jackal snarled out upon seeing them.
"Oh, yeah? Wanna finish where we left off?" Natsu said gleefully, cracking his knuckles. Lucy just grabbed him by the ear and began to drag him away.
"Not today, Natsu. No getting our school disqualified," she scolded him. He pouted at that, but nothing was deterring her from dragging him away. Jackal's psychotic laugh followed after them.
"That's right! Magnolia's fairies are just a bunch of cowards!"
"And their bimbos have stupidly big boobs! I wonder if they'd just go flat if we poked them with an instrument!" Lucy let go of Natsu, entirely intentionally. How dare someone call her a bimbo? ! Especially when she was only second in the class behind Levy, of all people. And how was it her fault that nature had given her the body she had? The insults still grating at her, she turned around to see if Natsu had punched Jackal's lights out yet. Instead, she found Laxus holding him like a sack of potatoes and dragging him.
"No fights, Natsu. Save the teeth punching for after we win," he was admonishing the pinkette.
"Come on! Come on! Let me smash him! I'll roast his ass!" Natsu was screaming, kicking and flailing under Laxus' hold. "I'm no coward! And Lucy's not a bimbo! How dare he-"
"Little fireball's got some energy," Jackal continued to laugh out while the girl with him attached herself to his arm.
"You're so cool with your insults, Jackie!"
"Seriously, Lamy; fuck off already." That was the last of their exchange that she heard, because with his other hand, Laxus started pushing her away as well. He didn't let go of either of them until they were in the practice room. While Lucy was able to eventually let go of her own negative feelings (prompted by her snapping at Levy), Natsu appeared to hold onto his rage up to, and presumably through, their performance. It ended up working in their favor.
Natsu turned rage into passion and poured all of his energies into making his performance amazing. Naturally, Lucy was entirely focused on her own performances, but it wasn't hard to listen to Natsu's drum solo, or his xylophone accompaniment that had this resonance to it. Only when he was done did his rage seem to subside, but Lucy had to admit she was impressed. Not that she wasn't always impressed; his high energy and tendency to put two hundred percent into everything he did was something to be admired. She was just doubly impressed here.
Lucy even told him that at lunch while they were waiting for the final results.
"You are?" he responded with, a rolled up taco halfway to his mouth. "Well, you're pretty great, too. Maybe we should try out for one of those experimental competitions one day. We'd make a kickass team."
"No doubt!" Lucy agreed, giving him a high five. She was soaring inside, thinking of that kind of possibility. Maybe it was the possibility of experimenting with her music, or maybe it was the chance to work just with Natsu. All she knew was that it all made her extremely giddy, even more than the results for the contest being posted. As could be easily deduced, Magnolia was able to more or less sweep the competition. Only Quattro Cerberus and Blue Pegasus were edged out by Tartaros and the Oración Seis respectively. That kind of victory essentially turned the ride back to Magnolia into a party bus.
"Suck it, Oración Seis!" Gray yelled as he, Natsu and Gajeel uncharacteristically danced in the middle of the raving bus.
"Yeah! Fuck off, Grimoire Prep!" Gajeel chimed in.
"And screw you, Tartaros!" Natsu finished, the three boys fist bumping.
Lucy watched the whole scene with laughter. She felt she would never forget that moment: the laughing, the dancing, and the general joys of celebration. It would have made for a wonderful scene in a book, and the blonde committed it to memory so that she could write it down later. Especially Natsu. She saw every moment of his be so animated and lively; from his sparkling onyx eyes to his laughing even as he resisted the urge to vomit. That alone could bring a smile to her face. It only made her wonder all the more what had really driven him to give one of the best performances he had ever given. She never asked.
They arrived at Magnolia in the late evening, splitting apart in their euphoria. As Lucy waited for Virgo and the car to arrive, the other girls had clustered near her with their bags. From there she could see the Strauss siblings heading off with their dates (Mira's surprisingly not being Laxus), likely to the tavern. She didn't watch them go very far, however, as Virgo soon arrived with the car (or "super stretchy limo" as Erza put it) and the girls piled inside. They arrived at the manor very shortly after, but Virgo stayed at the entranceway.
"Sorry, Princess," Virgo said with a light bow. "I know that your father asked me to look after you, but some friends and I were hoping to meet up." Lucy didn't want to ask what kind of hobbies that entailed.
"It's no problem, Virgo. Have fun." Virgo then left and Lucy locked the door behind her, walking over to the living room where everybody was setting up, even Wendy, who had apparently arrived early.
"Did you win? Did you win?" she was asking excitedly while bouncing up and down joyously.
"Yes, Wendy!" Erza replied, even if her delivery was a little hammy. "We tasted the sweet joys of victory! Now let us celebrate!"
"We could watch some movies," Levy suggested offhand. Wendy just clapped her hands, clearly very happy over the girls winning and subsequently including her. Lucy thought it was adorable.
"I have a better idea," Erza proclaimed and she seemed to zip out of the room. Lucy quirked an eyebrow, and just seconds later, Erza had returned…with bottles of wine or some other alcohol in her hands. "Virgo leant me the key, bless her soul."
"Juvia is underage," the bluenette pointed out. Erza kept twinkling and smiling.
"Everyone, but you, is underage, Erza," Lucy saw fit to remind the girl. It didn't dampen her excitement in the least
"Come now, girls! Let's live a little! We have something to celebrate," Erza insisted. Sharing a look with the three bluenettes in the room, Lucy realized that Erza was very much not going to let the issue go. Knowing this, Lucy sighed.
"Fine! But just one for celebration," she said, moving towards the kitchen for some glasses.
"That's the spirit, Lucy!" Once she returned with the glasses, Erza was immediately filling them up and gleefully handing them off to all the others, even Wendy, who was staring at it in disgust. "Just think of it as apple juice, Wendy."
That sent the snowball rolling.
It all started off at that one glass, which wasn't too bad (though Lucy rather disliked the taste), except for Wendy getting a little woozy on her feet. Then they decided to watch a surprisingly raunchy TV series that Erza had brought with her. Everything went to hell after Erza more or less started a drinking game, and considering that Lucy felt the show was going to kill her brain cells anyway, she was more than happy to take a drink. The characters swore, take a drink. A lewd sex scene, take a drink. Someone dies in the episode, finish a bottle.
Wendy was out cold mumbling about "pretty flying kitties" before the end of the first episode.
Were Lucy still operating at full brain capacity, she would have shut it down then. But she wasn't. And she didn't. Instead, they made it through three episodes and about five bottles before Levy, giggling madly, hit the remote and shut it off.
"See…ishn't thish fun?" Levy giggled out before she suddenly took her shirt off. Lucy was too far gone to notice, her hands reaching for her phone. She was only interrupted by the sounds of sobbing.
"What…what's wrong, Juuuuuuvia?" Lucy asked, her voice going a pitch higher at the end.
"Gray-sama doesn't love me!" she cried out. Lucy's limbs felt too heavy to stop Juvia from running off to the kitchen. At this point, Levy's pants were off, too. "Oh, ice cream-sama…you may be frozen, but not as cold as Gray-sama! Will you love me? Will you?"
"Hee hee…Juvia's in love with ice cream," Levy continued to giggle. She left from the room, too, streaking through the house with a giant, "Wheeeee!"
"Silly kitties…" Lucy hiccupped out. She began dialing a number into her phone. "Natsu likes Happy! Happy is a kitty! I wonder if Natsu would like it if I was a kitty?"
"Stop this foolishness!" Erza suddenly shouted, swiping the phone from Lucy's hand and throwing it on the floor, where it broke into pieces. "I will hear nothing of this love! If Jellal and I cannot consummate, you cannot either, Lucy! It's not fair!"
Next, she broke a rather meaningless vase while Lucy dug into Juvia's things for her phone. With her blurry vision, she noticed most of the contacts were related to Gray, but she had a feeling she knew what "Gray-sama's Best Friend" meant. So, she dialed, humming as she tipped back and forth.
"Uh…why are you calling me at almost midnight, Juvia?" came Natsu's voice over the phone. There seemed to be the sound of a loud video game in the background, but Lucy didn't care.
"Natsuuuu…do you, hic, like me?" She truly had no idea what she was asking.
"Lucy? What are you doing with Juvia's phone?"
"Answer the question, hot stuff!" Lucy said with a giggle. "Get it? 'Hot stuff'. Because you're into fire."
"Of course, I like you, Lucy. You should know that by now."
"Then do you looooove me?" There was silence on the other end, and Lucy's giggles turned into a frown. "Have I been a bad kitty?"
"Um…are you all right, Lucy?" Lucy would've answered if Erza hadn't crushed that phone as well.
"Why, Erza? I wanted Natsu to…" With that, she collapsed on the floor.
The next morning was met with five successive hangovers and a completely mortified Erza and Levy.
"Did I run around naked?"
"How much do I have to pay for, exactly?" Erza asked nervously. No one wanted to talk about it…at all. Lucy could barely even remember the events, but she certainly remembered enough to not pick up the house phone when Natsu called. "Never again girls. If I ever bring out alcohol again-"
"Juvia will smother you…" Juvia finished murderously. "To think Juvia cheated on Gray-sama with ice cream! He probably won't even look at Juvia now!"
That was all well and good, but Lucy found herself despairing and focusing on just one thing: why the hell had she been so intent on drunk dialing Natsu?
Author's Note: Denial is a funny thing, isn't it? That said, I have a few notes for this chapter. 1) Yes, the drunk stuff was drawn somewhat from OVA 4, but it was reference in Musical Chairs as this happening, and so…2) We're drawing a lot closer to that summer of Junior Year and so a lot of events are lining up here, most particularly, Lucy starting to realize certain things. Therefore, next chapter should prove enjoyable for, hopefully, most of you. Beyond that, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Until next time, please Review and Dare to Be Silly.
