School sucked. He had a final that day, which he thought wasn't till the end of the week and on top of that he fell asleep in his lecture class, again. Honestly, it wasn't his fault the professor's voice just lulled him straight to sleep. The man could drone on and on about whatever it was this class was about. He really should pay attention to it, but it was honestly really boring. Natsu stifled a yawn as he was walking back to his dorm. He needed some sleep before he had to work tonight. As he thought about what he wanted to eat, he saw a flash of blue fur run in front of him. It took him a few seconds to register the fact that it was his own cat that had run across the school yard.
"Ah fuck. You have to be kidding me."
He rushed after his cat, hoping he could catch up to the damned thing. It wasn't the first time he's escaped, but one of his friends always ends up bringing Happy back to him. It looked like none of his friends would be able to help him out this time though.
"Happy! Come on buddy quit doing this!"
The cat just meowed, running underneath a set of parked cars and disappeared out of sight. Natsu stopped running, leaning over with his hands on his knees as he took a breather. That damned cat made him run all over the school, and now he only had 30 minutes before he needed to go to work. With a frustrated groan, Natsu trudged back to his room. He had given up on chasing Happy; the cat would show up sooner or later.
When he reached his room, he noticed that he hadn't done his laundry in god knows how long. His uniform reeked of alcohol and he huffed in annoyance. He really couldn't understand why he needed to wear a stupid black vest. Any other bar he went to they all wore what they wanted.
He sifted through his clothes and found some that smelled the best. He slipped on a white button up shirt and tucked it into his black slacks. He would put his vest on at work; he learned the first time around to not walk in full uniform because he kept getting stares. I mean he did look like he was going to a wedding of sorts.
He took a glance at his hair in the mirror of his bathroom and nodded in approval. He didn't mind the messy hair he was sporting tonight, and with a quick spritz of cologne he left his room in a rush. He had maybe 15 minutes to get to the bar and open it. He could ask one of his friends to bring him some dinner since he couldn't get some.
"Hey Salamander! It's about time you got here!"
Natsu grunted in reply as he unlocked the doors to the bar. He had to sprint there as the bar was on the other side of the campus and it normally took a 20 minute walk to get there.
"Just give me a few minutes guys and I'll get you your drinks."
"Don't worry, we can wait. Take your time."
Natsu was grateful he had such understanding regulars. If he didn't he woulda been in one hell of a shit hole. He quickly turned on all the lights and grabbed clean shakers, making sure his ice was actually stocked as well. He couldn't remember if he did it at all last night.
After finishing up with his last second prepping, he went to making the few customers there their drinks. Friday nights always started slow, but he'll eventually get the stupid rush or his friends would come in and harass him for free drinks…. which he would gladly say 'screw you' to.
"Salamander! Why the sad look?"
He looked up to see George sitting in front of him, an older woman beside him as well.
"Ah, my cat decided to run away again. I wasn't able to catch him this time."
George laughs, patting his wife's leg as he calms with the laughing.
"Well this is my wife, Trisha. She wanted to thank you for putting up with me while I'm here."
Trisha smiles gently and her eyes crinkle at the edges. She has peppered hair curled elegantly to her shoulders, and she dawned a simple black dress fit for her age.
"You wouldn't believe how much trouble he was on vacation! Every bar he went to he complained about the drinks not tasting the same. You've kept him a loyal customer Natsu."
Natsu blushes at the compliment from the older woman, and he rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"Eh, I'm just doing my job ma'am."
"Speaking of job! Scotch on the rocks for me! And a gin and tonic for the lady."
Natsu nods at the gentleman, grabbing glasses and a shaker for the drinks. It takes him no time at all to have the drinks in front of them.
"Thank you Natsu."
"Of course ma'am! You two enjoy."
Natsu watches as they go back and talk to each other about how their day was and he smiles softly. Eventually, he wouldn't mind that. Being able to talk so easily with someone you cared a lot about. He'd need to find someone first.
Hours drone by, and he finally has another person come in to help him tonight. He couldn't remember the guys name, he was only recently hired, but he never really had the chance to talk to him anyway. The guy was always running drinks to tables, while Natsu had the fun at the counter. Seniority gets him the benefits. Around 8 o'clock is when he gets the rush of people ready to get their drink on for the weekend, and he handles it all too well. Tricks around this time are great to do, people are more generous with their tipping when there're more people and everyone is a little tipsy.
The little rush lasts about 3 hours, and after serving well over 50 shots, he takes a breather at the counter. He wipes away some of the spills he can see and tops off some beer. It seemed like it was going to be slow now after everyone had gotten a buzz going. He saw a head of blonde hair make its way to the empty chair at the other side of the bar top and he notices she looks very familiar.
"Bubblegum!"
His eye twitches in annoyance. Bubblegum? Why couldn't she have used the name 'Salamander' or 'Natsu'? But bubblegum? He stomps over to her, an angry pout on his face.
"Really? Bubblegum? Why couldn't you have been more creative?"
She snickers at him, a hand covering her mouth as to be somewhat polite.
"Well your hair looks bubblegum pink!"
He frowns at her comment, and crosses his arms tight against his chest.
"It's salmon, not pink!"
She waves it off, tucking a hair behind her ear. He didn't realize just how long her hair actually was, it seemed to never end.
"What're you doing here today? Thought you would have been bored with this place."
She shrugs, a finger on her chin as she thinks.
"It's not all that bad really. Just needs some more people."
He looks around the bar, thinking what he has already was a lot of people.
"Well you gonna get a drink or what?"
"Lemonade."
He deadpans, staring at her blankly.
"It's a Friday night and you're getting a lemonade?"
"It was a good lemonade!"
He rolls his eyes at her pout, grabbing a tall glass for the lemonade. Only weirdos get lemonade at a bar. Actually, only weirdos get lemonade in general.
"Lemonade for the weirdo."
She snatches the glass from him, taking the straw into her mouth with a pout.
"I'm not a weirdo thank you very much! Anyway, why did you have such a long face earlier?"
He stares at her blankly.
"Long.. Face? Why would my face be long?!"
She coughs, her lemonade burning her nose as she chokes on it. He stares at her, offering her a napkin as she continues to cough.
"H-how did you not know what I meant?"
He shrugs and watched as she recomposes herself, patting her mouth dry.
"It's a figure of speech, like why were you sad?"
He looks away, grabbing a glass to absently dry. It wasn't a big deal, his cat always ran away.
"Nothing, really. My cat just ran off again."
"Ah! You have a cat? That's so cute! What kind of cat?"
Natsu taps his chin in thought, there really wasn't an easy way of explaining what Happy was. He was just a cat.
"Well his name is Happy. He likes fish and apparently running away."
She laughs at his description of the cat as she finishes up with her lemonade.
"You know, I found a cat running around my apartment building today. He didn't seem lost though, but I put him in my room just in case."
Natsu perks up at the possibility that it's Happy, and he starts grinning.
"What he look like? Did he have a green collar on? Was he eating fish? Did you give him fish?"
Lucy holds her hands up, a small chuckle bubbling out of her mouth as she was bombarded with questions from the pinkette.
"Whoa, just wait a second. He did have a green collar on, but this cat was a weird blue color."
Natsu grinned more, if it was even possible. So someone he knew had found his cat.
"Yeah! Green collar is him!"
"Does the fact that I say blue even faze you?"
"Blue?"
"Yeah. This cat is a blue colored cat."
Natsu just shrugs. Blue wasn't that weird of a color was it? There's a dog that's blue, isn't there?
"Not really."
The blonde sighs, giving up on trying to find reason with the man and she finishes up her lemonade.
"Well did you want to get your cat? I don't exactly have cat litter and such to take care of it."
Natsu looks towards the clock on wall opposite of them. He gets off in a little bit and he's already helped with the rush for the night. He was fairly certain the new kid could handle the rest of it on his own. His cat was more important than staying at work all night.
"I'm off right now. I already helped enough for tonight."
The girl grins, and she gets up from her seat.
"Well let's go get your cat!"
"Yosh! Let's go!"
The two leave the bar fairly quickly; the walk to the apartment took little to no time at all since she lived only a few blocks from the bar.
