Chapter 60
The next morning, Lucy cracks open her eyes. Her mind is a little fuzzy, but she can remember parts of last night. Before the alcohol really kicked in. She really enjoyed herself with her friends.
She sits up in bed and looks down at herself. At least she made it into her pajamas before crashing onto her bed. She didn't even use the covers. Then Lucy looks over at her alarm clock, discovering it is only a few minutes after eleven in the morning.
She rubs her face with both hands before lightly slapping her cheeks twice. A hot shower will do her good. Really good. So she gets to it.
Now fresh from the shower and all squeaky clean, Lucy dresses for the day. It is a pair of black running shorts and a pink cami. She'll have a lazy day today.
Grabbing her completely charged phone, she goes through her notifications. Email is easy enough to skip over. She checks missed texts, finding all the girls made it home safe and sound. She smiles when she discovers there are photos from Natsu via Snapchat. Some are of him just him and him with his family. Others are pretty views. The last one is a video.
Natsu's face is taking up the screen. "Hiya, Luce! I'm one more day closer to seeing your face!" His smile grows bigger. "So expect kisses from me! Like, a lotta them! Je t'aime!" He uses the remaining seconds of the ten-second video to wave with his free hand.
So Lucy decides to make a video as a reply back. "I'm excited for you to get back home, but enjoy your time in Paris while you're still there. I'll see you once you get settled back in Magnolia." She blows a kiss at the camera. "Je t'aime!"
She leaves her phone on her bed while putting on shoes. She plans on checking on Happy and Carla for the day. Oh, but breakfast. Even though it's almost noon now, she still needs breakfast. Well, maybe it'll be considered brunch.
One bowl of cereal later, Lucy is out the door with her keys, phone, and a book in hand. Just because she writes books it doesn't mean that she can't read from other authors. She plans on reading at the Dragneels while keeping the cats company.
x-X-x
The next morning, the cycle basically repeats itself. Lucy wakes up and goes for a quick run before showering. After breakfast, she leaves her apartment with the sequel to the book she finished yesterday.
After turning into the neighborhood where the Dragneels live, Lucy remembers that today is the first day the community yard sale. That means the neighborhood will have more people in it than usual.
Lucy comes across a slight problem when the Dragneel home comes into view. The driveway has been repaved and taped off. That means Lucy can't park on it like she has been. Unfortunately for her, normally empty, free spots in the street will have vehicles.
"Maybe I'll have to park further away and walk–" she begins to say to herself.
As if luck is on her side, a van backs up out of space and drives away. The spot is right across the street from the Dragneel home, in front of another house. Lucy eases her car into the space and gets out, taking her belongings with her.
She looks both ways before crossing the street. She checks the mailbox for yesterday's mail and takes it inside the house with her, locking the front door behind her. "Happy!" she calls out. "Carla!"
Like always, Happy trots down the hallway towards her all while meowing.
"Hello to you, too," Lucy giggles. She is careful not to accidently step on him while walking into the kitchen.
He rubs against her smooth legs, purring up a storm. He keeps meowing.
"You're so talkative today," Lucy says, setting the mail down on the island. After setting her belongings onto the counter, she scoops up Happy into her arms.
With eyes closed, he soaks up the belly scratches.
"You're living the life, aren't you?" she coos.
He only keeps on purring.
Using one hand, Lucy grabs her phone and opens up Snapchat. She takes a video of Happy and his purring. Then she types a message of "He likes me more than you…" before sending it Natsu's way.
After grabbing her book, Lucy walks into the family room to find Carla curled up on one of the couches. "There you are," she says to the feline.
Carla lifts her head, looks at Lucy, then goes back to her sleeping position with her head down.
Rather than turning on the television for background noise, Lucy uses her phone. The first song from her soothing instrumental playlist begins playing.
With Happy now on her lap, Lucy uses both hands to read her book. Thirty pages in, Happy abruptly jumps up and goes over to the backdoor. He starts meowing.
Lucy places a bookmark in the book and stands up. "I'm coming, I'm coming."
Happy is up on his hind legs, his front legs against the glass of the door. He is meowing and pawing at it.
"Do you want outside?" Lucy asks. She knows he is allowed outside since he never strays far from the house. Carla is as well, but she doesn't venture past the little wooden porch.
Once she opens the door, Happy darts outside.
Lucy looks over her shoulder at Carla. "Do you–" She stops talking when she realizes she is only looking at couch. Carla is gone from where she just was.
Closing the door behind her, Lucy looks forward to look around for Carla in the family room. She is all curled up right where Lucy had been sitting. She is soaking up the heat that Lucy left behind.
Lucy walks over to sit down next to Carla. "If you wanted to cuddle, all you had to do was ask."
Carla doesn't bother opening her eyes.
With Happy now outside, Lucy won't leave until he is back inside. Which means that she can read her book in the meantime.
x-X-x
Nearly an hour later, there is pawing and meowing at the backdoor. Happy has returned.
After marking her page, Lucy gets up to let him inside. She discovers a dead chipmunk on the porch besides Happy. "Oh… you shouldn't have…"
He merely trots inside, leaving the gift for Lucy to attend to. Only when she properly disposes of the chipmunk does she return to the couch and continue reading. After sitting down, she realizes that she didn't lock the door after coming back inside.
She looks at the deadbolt, at her book in hand, and back at the deadbolt. "Eh, I'll get it when I leave." After all, she always double checks to make sure that the backdoor is locked when she leaves. Then she locks the front door behind her with the key she has before driving away.
Lucy goes back to her book, delving into the world the author fabricated. Happy is on her lap while Carla is on her right side. Maybe the two are keeping her company while she reads instead of her keeping them company?
x-X-x
Lucy abruptly wakes up. The house is completely dark. It's already nighttime. Now she remembers taking a nap after finishing the book. She didn't mean to fall asleep for so long.
"Looks like they forgot to lock up after leaving," a male voice snickers in the dark.
"They might as well have invited us over," a deeper male voice says.
Lucy's entire body becomes rigid. Fear trickles along her skin. She woke up because of a noise. That noise had been the backdoor shutting.
What does she do? Maybe the two intruders haven't noticed het yet. Does she have of grabbing her phone and calling for help? Speaking of her phone, music isn't playing. The only reason the music would have stopped is she paused it or her phone died. She definitely fell asleep while the music had still been playing…
A set of feet venture into the kitchen while the other goes more into the family room.
Suddenly, Carla starts hissing. She doesn't like the unexpected company.
A flashlight is clicked on and the beam of light is aimed around to find the source of the hissing. Along with the cats, Lucy is spotted.
She is blinded by the sudden light and tries covering her eyes with her arms.
"Shit, there's someone here!" the man who spoke first says.
His partner makes his way over to the family room. "Neighbor lady said the family is in Paris."
Lucy scrambles to her feet, the flashlight staying on her.
Happy is the first to take action at the matter at hand. He runs along the couch and leaps at the closest man, clinging onto his clothed torso with his claws. He works his way up while the man tries ridding himself of the feline. The man flailing causes the flashlight to send light around the room.
"Turn it off!" the intruder with the deeper voice hisses.
"I'm being attacked!" he wails, not keeping his voice down.
Carla gets to work as well, going after the same intruder. She goes after a leg to bite and scratch.
With the erratic flashlight beam as her only source of light, Lucy looks around for something to use. Whether it is to defend herself or call for help.
"Pull yourself together!" the second intruder instructs, not lending his buddy a hand with the cats.
The one being attacked shouts in pain. "My face!" Then he drops his flashlight to grab Happy with both of his hands. He tries kicking away Carla at the same time.
Lucy moves, tripping over her shoes that she took off before napping. Rolling her left ankle, she starts falling. A scream of surprise slips from her lips. She hits her head on a corner of the coffee table. Her entire world goes pitch black.
A/N Part 1: I decided to skip over Girls Night Out since I wanted to get to this next part XD And when it came to that Snapchat videos, I used my app to make sure they fit under 10 seconds haha. I hope y'all can survive with this anticlimactic ending before my next update :P I have been planning this for months (even the ending of this chapter). Since the earlier chapters of CAF!
A/N Part 2: Not that y'all wanna hear this, but maaaaybe I'll be wrapping up CAF soon-ish. Don't worry, there still some things I wanna have happen. Maybe 10ish chapters or so if things go the way I want it to. If :P There are some other fanfics I wanna get to, or add on to one-shots I've already posted…
A/N Part 3: But Chapter 60, guys! Omg! CAF is approaching 2k reviews! Close to 950 Faves! It's in 6 Communities. And a solid 1,155 Followers! Y'all rock :D
