A/N: Those 70+ reviews on the last chapter almost made me cry I just love you all so much

14

A tale of two blondes

Previously, on "How to Seduce a Lady": And that's when I noticed something sticking out from under the mattress. I lifted the thing and came face to face with a picture.
The headache was back. The need to vomit was back. The hatred was back.
Never had life seemed so hard.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I hid the picture back in record timing, feeling as though I'd just been caught doing something I shouldn't be. I walked out of the room the way a criminal would walk away from his crime scene, and waited until I was far away so I could check my messages.

Only when blood dripped across my screen making it impossible to see did I remember that I had cut my hand. I ignored the pulsating pain spreading across my skin and stared at the message I had received. Gray wanted to know if I was really coming to the get together they so calmly forgot to tell me about yesterday.

Natsu Dragneel was many things: smart, hot, attractive, strong, desirable, cunning; but he was no coward. I replied 'of course' and he confirmed the time and the place.

I sighed, knowing deep down that I really really didn't want to go there at all. I didn't want to see how the group has managed being good even without me there. They'll all have happy smiling faces and keep asking Gray questions and putting him in the center of attention and I'll just have to sit quietly in my chair and drink my beer like an outsider. I already know how much I'll loathe all of them and I was perfectly capable of doing that in the comfort of my own home.

But no. I was no quitter and I didn't plan on becoming one either. I would show up like the fucking masterpiece I am and blow away their pathetic little minds. They'll think I'm too much of a pussy to come and I'll show all of them. I'll fucking make sure they remember me the way I am: a damn winner.

The way I was thinking about it almost made me forget that we were once the best friends in the whole world. It made me forget that those people meant everything to me. That I would text all of them to inform them of any event that had occurred in my life. They knew everything about me. Sometimes before I even knew it myself. I thought that that kind of friendship would last an entire lifetime but apparently I was wrong. I guess it all started the day Gray moved out. Yeah, thinking back to it now, the earliest symptoms of our life together collapsing must've appeared six months ago.

I walked back to my room, the thought's about the picture I saw under blondie's mattress finally overshadowed by the picture I held hidden deep within the bowls of my drawers. I dug through the various things I'd put inside them over the years, and managed to find the picture we'd taken a few days after all of us met. It was magical.

Gray and I had met on the first day of our first year of high school. He was an idiot, I was an idiot, so it was practically meant to be. We clicked right from the start and he was my instant best friend. Couple of weeks later he introduced me to Erza, someone he met at the library. I introduced him to Gajeel, a guy I met trying to find the sweets isle at a supermarket. Gray suggested we all go to some bar and celebrate the beginning of the school year even though we'd been going to school for almost a month, but we accepted. It didn't matter what the cause was, we just wanted to have some fun. We went to this bar called 'Fairy Tail' and almost spent the whole night there. The barmaid turned out to be just a year older than us and she basically morphed into our ball of new friends. Her name was Mirajane.

The picture was taken on that day. I remembered Gray asking a stranger to take a photograph of all of us mashed together. The picture was fucking awful and we all looked way drunker than we actually were. But it had been a precious memory before. Maybe it still was.

So did that mean that blondie's photo was also a precious memory? Was that why she kept it there?

I had to jump on the bed and dig my head into the pillows to try and block that image from infiltrating my mind again. And after hours of trying, I finally succeeded. It was a long and restless night.

Needless to say I didn't go to school that following day. I was too tired from last night's events and I didn't want to have to run into Erza again. So I called Gray over to chill and was surprised when he actually accepted. I thought it would be a problem for him to ditch classes or something but he apparently didn't care enough to go. He was at my door in half an hour, with two bags of tacos and a huge fucking smile.

We watched some sort of stupid action movie and ate in silence, before he decided that he had something to declare and it couldn't wait until the protagonist stole the diamond from the museum.

I diverted my attention to him, even though I kind of wanted to see what would happen in the movie.

"So Lucy's not back yet?" He was trying to act natural but I knew he was up to something.

"As you can see."

"So, did you uh… cook that spaghetti?" The grin he was trying to hide was visible from miles away.

I stared at him with a look that said 'what the hell man', but I smiled nonetheless. "How the hell did you think of that?" He almost fell off the couch laughing, "I fucking froze the second she started talking about spaghetti, man. I thought I was hallucinating."

"Dude I wish I could've seen you face." He seemed genuinely happy, but at that moment his face turned serious. "What are you two, exactly?"

I raised my eyebrows, even though I understood what the question was about full well, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, are you dating?"

"God no."

"Why not?" He toyed with the taco wrapper in his hand, staring down at it like it was the most interesting piece of paper in the world. The movie was long forgotten, and my wish to see how it ends suddenly disappeared. I expected this kind of conversation to pop up, but just not now and just not with him.

"I never even wanted any sort of relationship with her." I started, looking at anything but him.

"Then why did you invite her to your house and accept her with open arms?" He asked, not leaving me any space to answer, "I hardly doubt it's because of your very generous persona. And to make matters even more serious, you started drastically changing after you met her."

"Changing?" I echoed, but I knew.

"Um, yes? You're suddenly not interested in other girls and you actually go to school. Does that not tell you something?" It did.

"It tells me that everyone you ever meet in life leaves some sort of impression on you and changes your life path."

"You actually sounded smart for a second there." He said and I had to laugh. "But seriously though, why does she affect your life so much?"

"That doesn't prove anything."

"Doesn't prove what?"

"What you're accusing me of."

"What am I accusing you of?" He stared at me for a while, before he started laughing again, "Od my god you can't even say it! You can't say the thing!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Did I?

"Dude come on! Say it! Say the L-word!"

"I'm not going to say love!"

"Oh my god! This is fucking priceless. I meant 'like'!" His laughing didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon. I just rolled my eyes and diverted my attention back to the movie when he had to go and interrupt me again.

"Alright, alright, I'm kidding." His hands were raised in defense, "I was just joking with you of course. It kind of seemed weird how you started talking to her after all the things I heard you did."

This seemed to catch my attention, "What did you hear?"

"That you slammed the cafeteria door in her face and made her cry in front of the whole school." I cringed at the memory, wondering just who had been feeding Gray this sort of information while he was away. It could very well be anyone for that matter, since everyone was on good terms with him. "But I also heard you saved her from some teacher so I guess that's okay."

I succeeded in keeping a straight face even though I felt like smiling when he said that. Yes, I, Natsu Dragneel, had rescued a damsel in distress. Even though she was anything but a cute and innocent little damsel. A nerd, maybe? A shunned freak?

"I really appreciate you being nice to her, after everything that happened back in Acalypha." He suddenly shut his eyes closed and breathed in as though regretting he had ever mentioned it.

And that reminded me of something I'd forgotten a while back. Lucy had never explained anything about the 'incident' Gray had mentioned to me earlier. I turned to look at him, noticing very well that it was too late to turn back now, and he had already said what he said. He stared at me as though begging me not to ask anything more.

"Acalypha?"

"Our hometown." He seemed relieved that that was the thing I'd chosen to inquire about.

I nodded, itching to ask more, but I knew better than to try and pry some information out of my best friend. If there was something they were trying to hide, I'd have more luck fishing it out of the heroine herself. So instead of throwing a temper tantrum, I decided on the one conversation I knew would take my mind away from her secret.

"I may have met someone connected to my real parents."

Gray looked like he'd been expecting me to say anything, but this. He stared in bewilderment but I couldn't take the pressure from his gaze anymore and turned my head back towards the tv. He might've been glad that the conversation took an entirely different turn, but it was masked by the look of sheer confusion on his face. He opened and closed his mouth at random, not finding it possible to respond in any way.

"Yesterday," I said, when it was clear he wasn't going to say anything, "This girl walked up to me and told me she saw a kid like me in pictures or something. Said the kid was adopted."

He fished for something to say but it didn't seem to come up. Instead, Gray leaned towards the table and got a taco, chewing on it with a look of deep concentration. After a few minutes of complete silence, he turned around. "So what's your next move?"

"I don't know, man. I don't even know who she is. For starters I'm planning on finding her. I already asked the guy who works there to call me when he sees her again." I ran a hand through my hair, "And when I see her again I'll… think of something."

"If you ever need anything or…" he set his hand on my shoulder, "You know my number."

"That's fucking gross dude," I shoved his hand away, laughing."

"I agree man," he accepted the laugh, "I agree."

Tomorrow. Blondie would return tomorrow.

I kept repeating those words to myself like I was chanting some sort of mantra as I paced around the house that night. I'd had a good patch-up time with Gray and I was grateful he was still my friend after our little friend group went their separate ways. To be honest, I was already nervous about the get together that was happening on Friday, not to mention I'd have to bring someone along with me.

Gray had told me earlier that it was not a formal event, so we should come along in a pair of sweatpants and just hang out at Fairy Tail like we always did. Always. Yeah, that would fit the description if we were still together, but truth be told, I hadn't step foot in that bar ever since Gray went out on his student exchange program. I hadn't seen Mira or Gajeel in months too, and the only reason why I've seen Erza was because we went to the same school.

I still had all of their numbers saved in my phone but what good would they do if I knew I couldn't call. It was like having your ex's number in your contact list. It's there. It's tempting. It's against your ego.

I dragged my feet across the room and picked up my history book. I'd have to learn a lot more than I already know for when blondie gets back and we start our study sessions again.

And there I was. Still talking about it as though she would stay here forever. We were sitting on borrowed time and we both knew that. It was just a matter of days before she got herself a new apartment or changed roommates at the dorms and she would be out of here as suddenly as she had gotten in. I wondered just what impulse had driven me the night I offered her to stay at my place.

I hated when girls stayed over. It was some sort of unspoken agreement for them to leave right after we'd had our fun, and not one of them had ever protested. Except that one girl that thought I was her boyfriend but that was a fucking lunatic.

Did that mean that I was the lunatic in this case?

Maybe I was. I mean, it was the only explanation as to why I'd been the one to tell a girl to sleep over. The best case scenarios are always the ones where the girl leaves in the middle of the night so you can avoid the awkward conversations in the morning. It was fast, easy and efficient. The three words that blondie probably hasn't even heard of.

And yet I was the idiot that invited her. It was probably because I needed a helping hand around, but I was fully capable of calling a cleaning crew, and the morning after the party was proof of that. So what was my motive? What made me want to have her around? To tease her? To have fun with her misery? Maybe?

I seemed to know a lot more about other people than I did about myself.

I forced my eyelids to tear apart from each other when my phone's ringtone woke me from whatever dream I had been having. I groaned loud enough for the whole street to hear, and reached over the nightstand to pick up my cell.

"Yo Natsu, bro, dude, man, fam," I ran a hand down my face, "whaddup?"

I allowed myself a look around. It was eleven pm and I had fallen asleep on my bed with my history book spread out next to me. Never in a million years would I've thought I would ever find myself in a predicament like this.

"watching porn." I lied. Anything seemed better than the truth.

Sting laughed from the other side of the line, "Niiice." I could hear Rogue's and a couple of other voices in the background along with some quiet music, "But the real deal is always better. Come down to Rixon." He was talking about the bar he's always at. "I'm with these few girls and one of them is desperate to meet you."

"Me?" I echoed with false enthusiasm.

"Yeah man. Guess she heard a couple of stories from here and there and wants to see you."

"Nah man I think I'll—" I stared down at the person I've become; in bed before 11 and studying history lessons before we've even gone over them in school; the life of the nerds I so deeply loathe, "—I'll be right there actually."

"Fuck yeah, that's the spirit."

That's the spirit, huh?

I was there in a flash, suit and all. I parked right in front of the bar so they could see my fucking awesome car if they looked through the windows, and my attire was straight out of a Lacoste store. I remembered to put my black Rolex on, and smelt strictly of Chanel.

It was like it'd entered the babe magnet cheat code in a Grand Theft Auto game.

Every girl in the vicinity turned her head to look at me and I didn't fail to notice it. I could hear Sting's annoyingly loud voice even before I saw him, but the wide-eyed look he gave me told me that I had made the right call in going all out. The girls that were with him started fanning themselves with their hands or napkins, and it took everything I had not to smirk. Rogue was there too, but as always, he looked as though he'd rather be somewhere else, and it scared me that I actually almost related to him.

I coughed to clear my voice before tossing a quick, "hey" towards them. Sting asked questions with his eyes but I stayed smiling. He wanted to serve me as a main course? Fine. But I get to pick the way I get prepared.

"Natsu," I said, shaking hands with everyone there, not forgetting to kiss the back of every girl's hand; a gesture that made all of them squeal. They were surprised to say the least.

One hour, three rounds of drinks and five confused looks from Sting later, it was about time we headed our separate ways. I excused myself to go to the bathroom, and I wasn't the least bit surprised to find that Sting had followed me there.

"Dude I know I told you to come, but I didn't tell you to fucking steal the show away for yourself." He suddenly seemed conscious of his basic black t-shit and worn out converse. "We never agreed this was a black tie event."

"We never agreed it was a casual night either."

He rubbed his temples, not liking the fact that I was right and he had nothing on me. After a few seconds of awkward silence, he looked at me with newfound determination. "Alright, I get it. You get to choose." He raised an eyebrow at me, folding his arms over his chest, "Which one do you want to take home with you?"

My smirk stretched out, "The blonde one."

The look of desperation and utter betrayal on is face told me I'd picked right. I noticed that he was interested in her the most, so my instincts told me to snatch her away.

"Dude. Come the fuck on. I've been talking her up all night! You were with the black-haired one the most! Don't you want her instead?" Those were the words of a desperate man. I barely contained my laughter.

"Don't I get to pick after what you did to my place?" He took a step back, plastering a stupid boy scout smile on his childish face and rubbing the back of his head, "Oh I forgot to ask," I snapped my fingers, "How did your driving lessons go?"

He clenched his fist and opened the door to the bathroom, "Fine." The word was spit out through gritted teeth, but it was still music to my ears.

"This is your house?" Her loud gasps filled the hall as I locked the front door behind us. I didn't even get a chance to reply, since she entered the living room like she owned the place.

I trailed after her, tossing my keys on the table before I started taking off my leather jacket. I was still halfway down the zipper when she pulled out a chair from the dining room table. She sat down backwards, stretching her long legs around the platform where her back should've been. My breath caught when I got a good look at her panties.

"I like your house," she said, a seductive glint in her eyes telling me she was already up for business. Her fast-forward pace was a bit refreshing compared to the slow-tease blondie I usually have walking around here. I chased away whatever sort of thoughts I might invite inside my head about her, and focused on the girl currently licking her lips.

My jacket fell to the floor, and I walked up to her. That was it. The final moment.

She didn't even wait for me to make any sort of move. We skipped the talking, we skipped the drinks, the food, the laughs, the foreplay; and before I even knew it her tongue was in my mouth and I was shoving her towards my bedroom. The kissing was loud and sloppy, the sound of my lips hitting hers completely drowning out the noise in my head. She pushed me away for a second and jumped onto my bed, marveling at its comfort as I slammed the door shut.

It scared me that I actually didn't like doing this.

Her hand reached up and she pulled me by my Roberto Cavalli tie and I fell on top of her. Her tongue was everywhere, and I was certain I could feel it explore the interior of my mouth. Before I knew it she was pulling off my suit jacket. It looked like she was in quite the hurry because she didn't even try to undo my tie correctly so I had to help her. She yanked off the buttons on my white dress shirt, pulling it down and getting rid of it by tossing it on the floor along with the rest of my attire. All that was left was the white t-shirt I had underneath. It went up in a matter of seconds, which was the only time she broke the kiss so she could pull it over my head.

It turned out that I didn't have to help her at all, since she unzipped her dress before I could even move my hands. I stared at her in bewilderment as she threw away her bra, and jumped back at me, rolling us over so she was on top. Her mouth ran kisses down my torso, as I stared up at the ceiling.

I looked down at her blond hair, her face hidden from my view as she licked the lower part of my stomach.

What would it take to make blondie do this? To make Lucy want to do half of this—or even just kiss me—seemed totally impossible. I felt like no matter how close we were with the fact that we were living together, that would not help in the development of something more. Not to mention the fact that she wasn't going to be staying here for long.

My thoughts went back to the picture I found, and yet I still wasn't ready to face what I'd seen.

"You like this, don't you?" Girl What's-her-face asked, taking my hyperventilating the wrong way.

She fumbled with the zipper on my pants, sliding them down my legs in an instant.

Oh, when had she taken off her panties?

Where is blondie right now? What does that picture mean? And why did I keep thinking of her even while I was in my bed with a girl who was clearly into me? Blondie didn't mean anything to me, though?

Oh, why is my underwear on the floor?

Is the alcohol finally getting to me because I feel a little whoosie? I feel like laughing and I think I'm laughing but I can't hear right because the thoughts in my head are too fucking loud. What does that picture mean? What does she mean? What is her role in my life? What is my role in her life? What is her life in my role and my does in her what and that picture and this girl and my clothes are on the floor I need to get up and get my clothes or they'll get dirty and Lucy will be mad and—Lucy. Lucy. I should get her some hot chocolate.

Oh, is that her tongue on my—

I sprang up like my body had been electrocuted and she jumped up in surprise. Muttering out some pathetic excuse about having to go to the bathroom, I disappeared behind the door and didn't go back for a while. I have no memory of which room I'd been in or what I'd been doing. I only remember crawling back into my bedroom and finding Whoever-that-hoe-is sprawled on top of my bed and sleeping like she was passed out. Maybe she was. Maybe I was, and I was dreaming and none of this was real.

I stood there for a moment longer before my body finally collapsed.

Another day – another hangover.

I squeezed my eyes even tighter as if that would stop the sun from shining on my face. When that obviously stupid plan didn't work, I sat up on my bed ready to face the consequences of my actions.

The blonde-haired bitch from yesterday was sleeping like no tomorrow, looking like she was having the best dream of her life. I sighed, thinking of ways I could kick her out of my house before the evening, when blondie will return. I somehow managed to stay upright and wobbled my way into the bathroom. I was almost scared shitless of the reflection that stared back at me when I looked at myself in the mirror. My bloodshot eyes were a horrendous contrast to the paleness of my face. I had bags under my eyes and I definitely needed to shave. Not to mention that I was completely naked.

"Are you so proud of your birthday suit that you show it off every morning?" The voice of the unnamed girl almost made me squeal like a little girl. I yanked the towel hanging on the wall and covered my lower body with it. Securing it as much as I could around my waist, I turned over to look at her.

She was wearing her panties. Only her panties.

My head seemed to hurt even more so I looked away from her.

"Last night was amazing."

In the end, we didn't even do it, but she clearly didn't remember anything. I had a few holes in my memory myself, but I was aware that we didn't go all the way. So she said it was amazing because she thought it was. She wanted it to be. I didn't correct her.

"So what are we going to do about breakfast?"

Occasionally, you get girls like this. It's bound to happen. They stay the night and they immediately think that gives them the right to stay the morning too. Those kinds of girls are rare; most of them know when it's time for them to leave so they sneak out while you're sleeping or leave first thing in the morning. And then there are the clingy and don't-know-when-to-drop-it types like this which are a fucking pain in the ass.

I rubbed my temples to try and numb the pain in my head but I didn't feel the least bit better.

She skipped over to my kitchen, and I followed suit. My mind was conjuring up ways of telling her to get the fuck away, and I hoped I'd had an invisibility cloak in my closet somewhere.

"So, do you want to get take out, or—" she took my hand, putting one of my fingers in her mouth, he tongue sliding across its surface making it dripping wet with saliva, "—do you want to eat me?"

We turned to the loud thumping that came from my right, and I felt the need to lie down and die when I saw blondie. She had the pale face of a criminal caught in the act, and she stared as though she'd seen a ghost. She had a backpack on her left shoulder and her duffel bag in her right hand. She'd apparently dropped her phone. She bend down at an alarming speed and picked it up, while casting an apologetic smile our way. "I'm sorry I—" she looked around for an escape route, "—I dropped my phone and I didn't mean to—" her hands waved around in the air, "—disturb or anything…"

Why did I give her a spare key? Wasn't she coming in the evening?

She turned around and headed for her room.

I wanted to drop dead.

A/N: Alright, so something happened to me today.

I was out with my group of friends and I decided to see if I'd gotten reviews on the last chapter. My eyes almost got watery when I noticed that there were more than 70 of you telling me to keep going.

I couldn't wait till I got home to start writing a new chapter for you guys! I actually went home early and started writing right away. After a few hours, I am tired and hungry and it's 4 AM and I think I'm going to faint.

But thank you for the continued support. This is why I'm here. This is why I write.

I honestly love all of you.

with keys, through flames! aye!