"He did WHAT?!," Mira shouts surprised.
I giggle and nod as I think about it, "He kissed me. Well, more like he made out with me… but I absolutely loved every second of it."
I smile, still giddy at the fresh memory from this afternoon.
"Ya know, it's not the first time he's kissed me, and I don't think it'll be the last either," I tell Mira honestly.
"He's done this before?! Are you sure you're talking about Natsu? Ya know, wild, pink hair, scaly scarf, obsessed with dragons- that Natsu?," Mira asks still in shock at the thought of Natsu doing anything like that.
I nod, "Yep... Twice."
"You have to tell me about them," she begs.
"I will, but at another time. This is much more important right now," I justify.
I get a groan of disappointment followed by a whiney, "okay, fine."
I take that as permission to continue where I left off.
"He thought of it as a way of keeping my mind off of my horrible dream," I continue.
"That's one hell of a distraction!," Mira states with wide eyes.
"Uhh-huh!," I agree immediately, nodding with wide eyes of my own.
"So, how'd it happen! I need specifics, Lucy!" Mira squeals a little too excitedly.
"Uhh... well, after I stopped crying and apologizing to him, I may have accidentally confessed to him that I love him out loud when I thought I had said it in my head. Then he got this weird, creepy look on his face after I told him that I needed his help getting my mind off of... things. Then, the next thing I know he's hovering over me just a few inches above my face. It was... thrilling," I explain.
"Wow!," Mira exclaims.
"Then, after that excitement, he tells me he loves me too which-"
I'm cut off by a deafening "AWWWWWWWW!" coming from Mira who is literally a foot away from me, and I don't know why she has to scream that loud.
I rub by my left ear to get some of the pain from her squeal to subside before continuing with a loud, "WHICH" to get her attention back so I can finish saying, "surprises me, but after a few minutes, we eventually talk things out and confess to each other."
She squeals with joy once more and jumps up and down behind the bar, repeating "Yay!" as I roll my eyes and get back to finishing up where I left off.
I feel my phone buzz again, taking it out to read 'I hope he lets you come' reminding me that I never actually answered Natsu's last text from before.
I type out an 'I doubt it' followed by a frowning face, then decide to omit the face and hit send. I sigh again, frustrated, as I get my belongings from the closet.
I say goodbye to Mira and start making my way home along the riverbank when I hear a familiar "Lucy!" which startles me and almost makes me lose my footing and fall into the river.
I hear him chuckle, "whoa! Careful, Luce," as he quickly grabs my arm to steady me.
"Natsu," I say, startled, as I try to catch my breath, "wha- what are you doing here so late? Weren't you supposed to be watching Wendy?"
He nods, "Yeah, I was.. but I missed ya. Uhhh...," he rubs the back of his neck. "Can I walk you home?"
She smiles warmly at me, "sure, of course!"
I smile back at her, giving her the biggest grin I possibly can and grab her hand in mine, shouting "well then, let's go!" as we're racing to her house, laughing hysterically.
***.***.***.***
When Lucy and I turn the corner, I hear sounds that are similar to whimpering and barking coming from the direction of her house which is about halfway down the street.
I stop in my tracks, causing Lucy to almost fall since we were still walking hand in hand and she didn't realize I stopped moving. She regains her balance within seconds and then turns back to me, worried.
"Natsu? Is something wrong?," Lucy asks.
"You still have Plue, right?," I ask her back, momentarily ignoring her question.
"Yeah, of course, why?," she replies.
"It sounds like he's in trouble. Come on!" I answer her, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the street to the source of the sounds.
"Wait, what? He's usually hanging out in my room or sleeping while I'm gone all day. How'd he get out?," she says confused as she tries to keep up with me.
"I don't know, Luce," I answer honestly. "I hope he's alright."
We make our way towards her house and we hear the barking and whimpers get louder and louder the closer we get.
"Plue!," Lucy screams when we come down her long driveway and find the dog whining as he's lying outside the house facing the door.
His ears perk up at the sound of her voice and his tail starts to wag a little bit, but he doesn't move much aside from that.
"Plue? What's wrong, lil' buddy?," I ask softly as we carefully make our way over to him. The closer I get to him, the more I can tell how much pain he's in.
He whines as Natsu carefully reaches down and pats his head, then lifts him up to his paws see what's wrong. When he does, Plue walks with a little limp and stands on three of his paws meaning somehow, he injured his back right paw.
"He needs to go to the vet, Lucy. I think he broke his leg somehow," Natsu says.
"How are we supposed to get there, Natsu? It's late, the dog hospital is across town, and I don't have anyway of getting him there fast," I ask worried.
Lucy seems lost and out of options when I remember, "hey, what about your maid-housekeeper-guardian woman. Can't you ask her?"
"Virgo? I guess I could ask her. Wait here, Natsu," Lucy instructs. "I'll be back in a few," she says while running inside her house to get the pink-haired maid with an odd kink.
While Lucy's inside looking for Virgo, I make sure Plue stays calm and as still as possible. I get down on the ground, sit Indian style, and pull Plue into my lap, making sure not to hurt the injured leg. I take a few fingers and gently stroke the top of his head and his back to keep him calm and relaxed. When Lucy comes out, she is fuming, spitting out "come on, we're leaving," harshly as she roughly pulls me and Plue off of the ground and storms off in the direction of the pet hospital, still holding my arm with a vice-like grip.
"Ugh, I can't believe him. I can't believe he would go that low to get back at me for not doing what he wants," I vent as we're walking to the hospital.
"Lucy? Who are you talking about? What happened to Virgo?," Natsu asks, puzzled.
"Forget her, she's just as guilty as he is for what happened to my dog!," I shout back.
"Lucy! Who?!," Natsu stops and I jerk back from the sudden halt, feeling like I'm pulling on a concrete wall.
I turn back to glare at him and groan, "I'll give you one guess."
"Oh, no! Your father?!," He asks surprised before Plue whines in his arms from the mention of the guilty culprit.
"Is that enough of an answer for ya, Natsu?," I ask before he nods.
"But wait, what does Virgo have to do with what he did to this little guy?" Natsu asks confused as he gestures to Plue by holding him up a little higher.
"Two things: she didn't stop him when he kicked Plue out of the house for no real reason and to make matters worse, he ordered her to 'punish him' which obviously resulted in his injury."
Lucy groans once more, aggravated "I am SO mad right now. Like, why would he do that to Plue? My dog almost never barks at anything... not even the mailman. He doesn't even leave my room unless he knows I'm home. I just don't get it!," she shouts as we make our way closer to the dog hospital.
"I don't know what to say, Luce," I shrug while she huffs in defeat.
"Come on, we're almost there," I point out after an uncomfortably long silence between us. Sure enough, the big, bright red and white emergency entrance sign comes into view and we bring Plue inside to get examined.
***.***.***.***
After what feels like a week but is really only a few hours, Plue comes out of his little 'surgery' with a nice little light blue cast on his leg. The doctor explains that they had to take X-Rays, open his leg up some, and go in and set the bones because the break was very bad. That way, they could heal properly so he can walk and run correctly once he's all healed up.
It's a little confusing to me, since it's very late at night, but Lucy seems to understand the vet. I think she's just relieved that her little fluff ball is gonna be okay.
After we get said fluff ball released, I carry him in my arms back in the direction of Lucy's house but she stops about halfway there.
I tilt my head, quizzically "what's the matter, Luce?"
"I don't think I want to go home. I just can't- not after everything that happened with Plue," she shakes her head and looks at her dog sadly.
"Well, you guys can come stay with me for the night," I offer. "I'm sure if we explain everything to my parents, they won't mind at all."
Lucy smiles up at me as she rubs Plue in his sweet spot, right behind his ear.
"I appreciate the offer, but I couldn't do that to you guys," she politely turns down my offer.
I insist, "come on, Luce! We do have an extra bed, ya know."
She thinks about it for a second before silently sighing and smiling, "oh, okay, fine. I guess we can take your offer and stay with you for the night."
I smile back at her before slightly changing direction so we can make our way to my house instead of hers.