The Blind Date: Chapter 14

The blonde sighed and tapped her finger against the map that she was holding. "It should be around here…" she muttered to herself as she scanned her surroundings. There were few signboards around to tell her where exactly she was. She had taken a map from the train station and happily went off on her own, thinking she would be able to do it herself.

Regrettably, she was still trying to figure out if she was actually holding the map upright. Lucy looked up and tried her best to spot the Everborne Tree, which was a landmark right smack in the centre of the town. "Hera's Nest" was not too far from it.

Lucy walked on, hoping to ask directions from someone who could spare the time, but everywhere she looked, there were couples holding hands, sharing ice cream, sitting on benches and talking, and doing the kinds of activities that made her feel slightly sour and too awkward to bear interrupting them. Oh well, at least she could know for sure that this was the town that Hera resided in.

After asking for directions from single people passing by, she managed to make her way to Hera's residence. Lucy pushed open a small gate that led to a small rocky path to the entrance, and found an engraving on a wooden plaque that read, "Hera's Nest". She gave the house a once over and felt a small twinge of jealousy. The cottage looked like an upsized version of the cottage she and Levy visited the previous time they met her. Maybe she should save up and buy one of these cozy houses for herself. Then she wouldn't have to worry about paying her rent every month.

But, she supposed she could dream on about that until she became an S-class mage and actually had the capability to earn buckets of money from jobs, excluding damage costs for Natsu.

She took a deep breath and knocked twice, and then waited. She had no idea if Hera was even home, or if the matchmaker was currently serving some people. Lucy waited for a little while more before she heard some frantic footsteps and someone saying, "I'm so sorry, dear." The door then opened and she came face to face with the kind elderly woman.

The old woman pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and blinked twice as she scrutinized her sudden visitor. "Oh! You're Miss Lucy Heartfilia, aren't you? What brings you here?" Hera asked as a gentle smile graced her lips.

"Good afternoon Hera. I'm sorry for not notifying you before coming…"

"It's perfectly fine! What brings you here to my nest, dear?"

"Well... I actually came to talk to you and ask for some advice, if you have the time to spare."

"Ah, love advice, I'm guessing," Hera returned with a teasing smirk. "Well then, why don't you come in? I'm not busy at the moment, so we can talk to our heart's content this afternoon." She ushered Lucy in and the blonde tried not to gush too much at the strikingly beautiful interior of the house. The living room was incredibly spacious; there were two leather couches sitting perpendicularly to each other at the left end of the room, with a small glass table on top of a tribal-patterned carpet in front of them. A fireplace was situated opposite the couches, and on the mahogany wall above was a large, framed picture of a much younger-looking Hera together with her husband in a loving hug.

"That's my husband. Wasn't he the most attractive man ever?" Hera remarked when she caught Lucy staring at it.

"Um… He has a nice smile, I guess?" Lucy replied with an awkward smile. The man had a radiant grin on his face as he gazed into the eyes of his stunning wife. But his smile was the only attractive thing about him, in Lucy's opinion. He was wearing thick black glasses atop his tall nose. His eyebrows were so close together that if he were to frown, she imagined he would have a uni-brow on his high, shiny forehead. He served a major contrast to the gorgeous bride standing next to him with her arms thrown around his neck and smiling at the camera. Hera must have had many suitors, Lucy thought to herself. Why on earth would she have chosen to marry him?

"I loved his smile too. When I look at this picture, it's like he's smiling at me all the time," Hera said. Then she tore her eyes off the picture and turned to Lucy. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"Water is fine, thank you very much."

"You're welcome, just sit on the couch there and I'll be back in a minute."

Lucy muttered another word of thanks before she moved to sit on the soft leather couch. Her butt sank into it and she leaned back with a sigh. What she would do for a couch like this in her home, but it wouldn't fit anywhere, unless she gave her bed to Natsu and Happy and bought one of these as a replacement bed.

Hera returned a while later with two glasses of water and handed one of them to Lucy before she took a seat on the other leather couch. "So, are you here about the blind date you had? It was with Hugh Freeman, yes? How did it go?" she asked with a kind smile.

The blonde shifted uncomfortably in her seat and forced a smile. "Um, it went well, I guess…"

Hera raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing it must have gone downhill after that date."

"Not immediately after, but… we broke up not too long ago."

"I see…" Hera's face fell. "I'm sorry, this was entirely my fault. Would you like me to do something as a compensation?"

Lucy shook her head frantically. "No, no need to! I wasn't complaining or anything; you shouldn't take the blame for this. You couldn't have foreseen anything like this happening."

"But as a matchmaker, I still feel very sorry for this. Is there anything I can do as an apology? How about another blind date?"

Lucy shook her head again with a grimace this time. "No, it's fine, really. I only came here today to ask you for some advice."

Hera's frown disappeared. "Ah yes, you mentioned something like that at the door, didn't you? Silly me! Well, from the look on your face I don't suppose it involves that Hugh boy, so who is it about?"

"A… friend," the teenager answered vaguely. "Well actually, I'm just quite confused at the moment. I don't really know what to make of these weird emotions and feelings of mine and I don't know what to do, or how what I should be feeling."

"Perhaps I can help you out. Why not you tell me everything? And take as much time as you need, there's no hurry."

The blonde summarized all that had happened recently, including the dramatic break up with Hugh, her inexplicable attraction towards Natsu, even though she was dead certain of the feelings she experienced when she was still dating Hugh.

"I don't understand if it's normal to like two people at the same time… I just don't know, is it just my hormones? Will it go away after a period of time?"

Hera nodded understandingly and chuckled gently as she took a sip of water. "I think I understand your situation."

"You do? Is there some kind of explanation for this?"

"It's quite simple, really," Hera said as she placed her glass of water back down on the glass table in front of them. "It's simply the difference between being in love with the idea of love and truly loving someone."

Lucy blinked twice. "I may have heard something like this somewhere before…"

Hera smiled and leaned back in the leather couch. "You probably know the difference between the two. From what you told me about Hugh and that other "friend" of yours, the differences become plainly obvious when you compare your relationships with both of them. For example, your relationship with Hugh seemed to revolve around what he could give to you and the emotional highs of the relationship rather than what the both of you could contribute into it for each other. A true relationship is always about giving and thinking for the other's best. Hugh wasn't doing that at all, and you on the other hand, my dear, seem to have participated in it because you were so excited about meeting your "Prince Charming" and having a real romantic relationship instead of indulging in your fantasies with the help of books."

Lucy looked down ruefully. She didn't want to admit it, but Hera was spot on about everything so far. So all this time, she hadn't actually loved Hugh either… Suddenly she felt a pang of guilt for being in that relationship without ever having committed to it. In a way, she was similar to Hugh; neither of them had committed to loving each other from the beginning.

"On the other hand," Hera continued, "that "friend" of yours is the opposite. It seems to me that he cares for you dearly. Is that right?"

The blonde tried to force back the incoming blush on her cheeks. "Y-Yeah, he does… He cares for me way more than I care for him."

Hera grinned. "Well then, don't you have your answer already? The only reason you were mulling over this for so long was because you were too stubborn to acknowledge your own feelings towards him. All it takes for you to come to terms with your true feelings is some courage and self-honesty. You can't deny that you have come to love him anymore."

Lucy fiddled with her fingers as she averted her eyes from Hera's out of embarrassment. But, Hera was right.

A big part of her wanted to kick and punch herself for being so stubborn and dense. What was she? Dense, Romantically Hopeless Natsu the Second?

But then, at least now she knew for sure, that she actually liked- no, loved him.

Yes, the seemingly impossible had taken place.

Lucy Heartfilia had fallen in love with Natsu Dragneel.

"Now all you need to do is make your feelings clear to him, darling. It's a piece of cake!" Hera added gleefully.

Yeah, Lucy thought dryly, a piece of cake. Sure. She had just come to terms with her feelings for him, and now she was supposed to confess? How was she going to do that? Go up casually to him and tell him, "Hey Natsu, I just realized a few days ago that I've fallen in love with you. So, do you want to be my boyfriend?"

Yeah right. Natsu would think she was running a high fever and her brain was getting fried up in her head.

Besides, she wasn't sure if her feelings were reciprocated… The only thing that came to her mind now was Grace and Natsu chatting together like they were best friends since the beginning of time.

She really needed to get a grip on her sour feelings. Grace hadn't done anything wrong—other than spend a little too much time with her partners—and Natsu had also told her before that he didn't like her in that way.

But still, feelings changed quickly, didn't they?

Then again, Natsu cared for her way more than she cared for him. So surely he must have felt something for her before?

But this was the clueless goofball Natsu she was talking about. Maybe he only saw her as a friend…

The internal debate in her head continued relentlessly throughout her trip back home.

"Hey Luce!"

Lucy jumped up with a start and accidentally dropped her pen on the floor. Her head snapped up only to find Natsu staring straight at her with the widest grin she had ever seen. With a shriek, she leaned a little too far back and nearly fell backwards on her chair.

"Woah, careful there. Didn't mean to scare you," he laughed as he caught her chair and righted her. Then a frown appeared on his face. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

"Natsu, I think you made her angry," Happy interjected.

Before Lucy could respond in the slightest, Natsu was standing a bit farther away from her scratching his head sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that, Luce."

"No no, I'm not angry. It's fine- Wait. What did you say?"

"Um, sorry 'bout that?"

"No, before that."

"You… look like you just saw a ghost?"

"No! U-Um, what you called me…"

"Huh? You mean Luce?"

"Yeah," she muttered softly, looking away. Her face was heating up uncomfortably. "Since when did you start calling me that?"

"Since I came here," he replied with a raised brow. "You don't like me calling you that?"

"N-No, it's just…" When you give me a cute pet name like that it becomes so much harder to talk to you without swooning or turning into a tomato. "Never mind. You can call me L-Luce… if you want to…" It had an unusually nice ring to it, and when he called her like that in that masculine voice of his it made her want to go right up to him and—

"Eh? Where did Happy go?" Natsu asked, looking around for the blue cat. "He was here just a second ago."

"Happy?" Lucy called, glad for the momentary distraction. She needed to calm herself down. And maybe pour a cold glass of water over her head.

"Where did he go?" Natsu said aloud, frowning. "Maybe he went to look for fish to eat."

"I don't have fish in my kitchen so he's definitely not there," Lucy replied.

"Ah heck, he'll come back when he wants to. Anyway, do you want to go out together?"

Lucy turned beet red in an instant as her heart hammered against her ribcage. "G-G-Go out?"

He looked at her as if she had just grown two heads. "Yeah... go out… Usually you're not so excited to go out on a job unless you have to pay your rent."

Lucy mentally smacked herself and tried to ignore the small part of her that was wallowing in disappointment. "Oh, you meant going out together on a job…"

He furrowed his brows in puzzlement. "What did you think I meant?"

"N-Nothing. But we can't go on a job together without Happy, right?"

"Yeah, so we'll just wait for him here." Before she could utter a sound of protest, Natsu happily plopped onto her bed and lay down with his arms folded behind his head. He let out a long sigh and muttered something that sounded like, "I've missed you, Bed."

Lucy resisted the urge to roll her eyes at that, but her lips stretched into a big smile despite herself. She had missed hanging around Natsu like this. Carefree and goofing around together just like a family, in her opinion.

Whereby Happy was the little cat child of hers and…

Lucy quickly turned back to the stack of papers on her table and slapped her cheeks. "No weird thoughts, no weird thoughts!"

"Why are you hitting yourself, Luce? Finally gone crazy?" Natsu asked from the bed.

Yeah, crazy over you. "No, I'm just… trying to test my pain tolerance."

"Oh? I can help you with that!" he replied with zest, and suddenly he was off the bed and standing mere inches away from her with his right hand raised. The wicked grin on his face sent shivers down Lucy's spine and she shrunk back in fear.

"Don't worry Luce, you can do it!" he exclaimed.

"No!" she cried.

And then Natsu brought his hand down. She squeezed her eyes shut waiting for the hard, painful, ear-splitting slap to come, but she only flinched as his fingers gently grazed her cheeks.

Slowly, she opened her eyes, wondering what in the world was happening. The only thing she could register in her head was how much she wanted to lean into his hand and have him embrace her. Control yourself, Lucy, you can do it, she chanted in her head.

But then all rational thought left her the moment she met Natsu's piercing gaze. She had never actually taken the time to admire his face up close before. His eyes were a fierce black, and there was a certain sparkle in those dark orbs of his that drew her in. Her eyes gradually traveled down his nose to his lips. She noticed that he was biting his bottom lip, and tried not to think about how sexy he looked right then. The way he was looking at her was enough to turn her insides to mush.

"You didn't think I was actually gonna hit you, right?" he asked with a smirk.

"N-No," she squeaked a little too off-key.

His fingers were still barely brushing her cheek, and as he trailed it down her face at an agonizingly slow pace, Lucy vainly attempted to calm her furiously beating heart. His touch was sending electric shocks all over her body and it was taking all of her effort to not throw her arms around his neck and pull him into a hug. She had hugged him before, and she wanted that feeling of security and warmth he could offer her again.

Was this how truly loving someone felt like?

When Natsu's fingers reached the base of her neck, she drew in a sharp breath. His face was coming closer and closer, her heart was beating faster and faster, and her breaths were getting shorter and shorter. Anymore of this and she'd get a heart attack and die because of him.

Lucy waited as bit by bit, he drew nearer and nearer, bringing his lips closer and closer to hers. She shut her eyes, feeling his breath fanning against her face and suppressed the urge to just lunge forward and kiss him already. Just imagining his lips against hers was giving her goose pimples on her arms.

But just as she felt that their lips were a mere hair's breath away from each other, he abruptly pulled away and stood panting with a flushed face. He hastily turned away from her and scratched his head while Lucy contemplated between kicking him in the crotch again and curling up into a ball in a corner and wallowing in self-pity.

"S-Sorry, I don't know what got into me," he stammered in an unusually high-pitched voice, "Oh, look at the time! I think Happy and I are supposed to head to the guild! T-Talk to you later!" Without another glance at her, he jumped onto her bed and leaped out the window.

All Lucy wanted to do was throw herself onto the bed and scream into her pillow to vent her frustration. She was about to get to it, except a second before she could, she heard a loud thud and a muffled groan come from below her window. Anxiously, she rushed towards it and looked down, only to find Natsu lying face down on the concrete floor.

Evidently, he'd forgotten he couldn't fly since Happy wasn't around.

And despite herself, Lucy began to laugh loudly, all awkwardness from the scene before escaping together with her peals of laughter.

If this was how love was, then she was enjoying it very, very much. And she wouldn't trade it for anything else.

A/N: Woohoo! How are you guys? Anyone back to school like I am? For some strange reason, I'm actually enjoying it so far! (: Like really, I am. Hope things are great with you guys wherever you are too! ^^ I had loads of fun writing this chapter, especially the second section hehe.

Thanks for 200 reviews! You guys are the best, seriously. Thank you to Mhilano, MeGustaZeref, BlaccDragon25, LeeshyLoo, DancesWithSeatbelts, FDsecretart, AnimeBae, artistofthemind, PandaPiggy, Sashamonroe, JayandNya54evr, Waternixie, Whitebunny789, Tatertorocks, Guest, Guest and thehemingwaydilemma for reviewing the last chapter~ (:

Thanks for reading guys! God bless!