Thank you all for waiting, I hope you'll enjoy this new chapter! ^^
Lucy couldn't sleep. Cana had left their apartment in the dead of night again and was blissfully ignorant of Lucy's knowledge about her nightly adventures.
Every time she had left their home, Lucy had believed her. Believed that she had just gone for nightly walks. It had never crossed her mind that her friend would do something dangerous behind her back. She wished she had never learned about the truth.
She felt betrayed and it would be harder and harder to pretend to be ignorant. The only good thing of the past week is that Cana had stayed sober. If she could keep this up for one more week, the professor had to keep his promise and Lucy could find a different way to approach Cana's secret.
Restlessly, she rolled around from left to right. She picked up her phone. 3 am.
She let out a deep sigh before tapping random app icons; she wouldn't fall back asleep anyway. Out of habit, she tapped her messages and scrolled back to her conversations with Natsu. She couldn't help but snicker at the stupid talks they had.
Her smile quickly faded when it hit her that she would have to spend an entire weekend with him. There was no way to hide nor opportunity to evade him now.
She swiped back to her photo gallery; half of the rasters were taken up by selfies with his bright hair colour. She tapped one and felt a now-familiar flutter in her stomach which rose to her chest. Lucy let out a groan in her pillow. He didn't deserve all of this stupid shit over a white lie she told Cana.
She balled her fists. This weekend she had to confront him. No more excuses.
''Whose idea was this again?'' Cana groaned as she reached for her back and leaned back as far as she could. She took in a deep breath of salty air. They finally made it.
The rest of the group crawled out of the cars behind her.
''I see no problem with fitting five people per car,'' Erza said, looking as fit as ever, ''and it saved us enough money to treat everyone to ice cream tonight.''
''The hotel is all-inclusive though,'' Lucy sheepishly laughed.
Erza quickly turned around and looked at her with sparkling eyes. ''It is?!''
As soon as everyone had freed themselves out of the cars and made it out of the parking lot, they could finally awe at the giant resort before them. It consisted of countless, colourful towers surrounding a square main building. A giant Ferris wheel peaked just over the roof and every tower was encircled by a part of a giant rollercoaster that serpentined around the entire complex.
Even though they hadn't even set foot through the iron gates, the smell of chlorine and the sounds of screaming children were already overwhelming.
''I'll ride that rollercoaster first! I bet I'm the first in line when I'm fast enough!'' Natsu exclaimed as he dashed off towards the entrance.
''What an idiot..,'' Gray said, shaking his head.
''Yeah,'' Lucy replied, ''everyone knows we should check in-''
She didn't get to finish her sentence, as Gray took off as well.
''...for thinking he'll be first!'' he yelled.
Lucy let out a deep sigh. It was going to be a long weekend.
It was late in the evening on the first day. After the activities that were included in the tickets, everyone kind of went their separate way to explore the rest of the resort. Cana didn't have to think long about where she'd go first. She had spotted the sign arrows that read 'bar' multiple times when they walked through the main building.
The baths and beach hours had been nice, but all the group activities were boring according to her and more suited for the elderly who visited this place. Who on earth goes to aqua-aerobics during a holiday?
However, just one glance at the bar was enough to conclude it wouldn't make the evening even a little more eventful than the rest of the day. Some dads were drinking the stress of their screaming children away and were making a fuss with a waiter, some old people were breaking the non-smoking rule with their cigars and the music belonged more to a saloon than a modern bar.
She took a deep sigh and climbed onto a barstool. Part of her wanted to just order every strong drink on the menu, but she also felt guilty towards Lucy. She had promised to tone down her drinking and if her friend found her passed out once more, she feared things wouldn't be the same between them anymore.
''Guess we had the same bad idea,'' she suddenly heard someone say behind her.
She turned around, weirdly surprised to see the professor sitting next to her. He had ditched his jacket and tie, leaving only a wrinkly blouse on top of his classy trousers.
Cana frowned upon both his appearance and presence. ''Why the sudden hello?'' she asked, ''didn't you constantly avoid me since the last time we met?''
''I just happened to see you and wanted to apologise,'' he said, ''I was a coward for running away like that.''
''Running? More like vanishing,'' she remarked, ''but yeah that was pretty lame, professor.''
She couldn't help but feel pleasantly at ease in his presence. The feeling she had felt around him up to now still lingered. The feeling of déjavu.
''Please, call me Doranbolt,'' he said as he gestured a waiter, ''I hear the students call my last name often enough.''
Not even his first name rang a bell. Cana shook her head. The familiarity must be the result of the connection everyone shared with the Fairy Tail home.
''Can I offer you a drink as an apology?'' he suggested.
He tried to hide a smile of victory. It was all going according to plan. This was the perfect opportunity; just a few drinks and the plan would be a success. Lucy was nowhere to be seen and the rest was used to seeing Cana drink anyway.
Before she was able to answer, they were brutally interrupted.
''Yo, Cana! Is that you?!''
A tall, broad guy with black, slicked-back hair approached them from the other side of the bar. He had leery eyes with tattoos underneath them and walked with a swaggering gait. He was closely followed by a gang of thugs.
Everything about him screamed 'delinquent'.
''Bacchus?!'' Cana let out, ''what are you doing here?''
A black-haired man. The words of the old lady echoed through her mind again.
He shrugged. ''Probably the same as you.''
''You know this guy?'' Doranbolt asked her quietly.
She leaned back. ''Just an ex,'' she whispered back, ''I'll get rid of him quickly.''
''You know the drill,'' Bacchus said as he slammed a glass down on the bar, ''whoever loses has to do as the winner says.''
''I know what I'll do if I win,'' he grinned and licked his lips, ''do you remember last time, dear Cana?''
Doranbolt watched the scene stunned. This was the perfect timing and situation. He couldn't let his own feelings interfere. However, he could no longer ignore the rage welling up in his stomach that grew with the second.
Before Cana could answer, he jumped off his barstool and blocked the space between the two. ''Challenge accepted.''
Cana blinked. ''W-what are you doing? This is a personal matter, stay out of it, would ya?''
''No, I won't'' The fire in his eyes sparked something in her when they met hers. Again, that familiar feeling. Just who in the world was he?
''I don't know who you are, dude, but I'm not drinking against you,'' Bacchus sneered.
''Afraid to lose?'' he teased.
''You hear that, guys?'' Bacchus yelled to his gang behind him, ''this snob thinks he can defeat the god of alcohol!''
They burst out in laughter.
''I'm pretty sure I make a chance,'' the professor said as he gestured a waiter for the first drink.
''Ho, ho! We got ourselves a badass over here!'' Bacchus laughed and the gang roared up again.
One after another, they both gulped beers down, seemingly sometimes without even swallowing. Even though they started at the same pace, Bacchus seemed to be the one who could keep it up. Doranbolt's eyes started to roll back and he seemed to be at the edge of throwing up.
''You've proven yourself enough already,'' Cana said anxiously, she felt like she was the only one who knew of Bacchus' legendary alcohol tolerance, ''we'll just ditch him and leave this place.''
He stopped for a second, gave her a glazy side-eye, and reached out for the next refill.
''Stop it!'' she yelled as she grabbed him by his collar and lifted his face up, ''you don't need to win, okay?!''
He finally came to his senses again when he looked into her bloodshot eyes. ''But he... he hurt you...'' he said in slurred speech.
Her eyes widened. ''How do you-?''
''What's the matter, Cana?'' Bacchus laughed, ''can't your babysitter keep up anymore?''
''Shut up! You filthy dog!'' She sneered. She picked up Doranbolt's arm and lifted it over her shoulder to help him walk.
Bacchus leaped forward and grabbed her wrist. ''We weren't done,'' he hissed.
She looked back at him in panic. ''Let go of me!''
All of a sudden he fell backward as he had lost grip on her. He didn't just lose grip. Her wrist had gone up in thin air. She and the professor were gone in an instant.
With a muted thud, Cana landed on the carpet of the hotel room hallway. Only a second ago, her mind had spun and her feet had felt like they had lost grip on the floor. What on earth just happened?
Doranbolt had landed just before her on the floor and immediately threw up. After he had pulled himself together, he sat down with his back against the wall, looked at her hazily, and gave her a sly grin. ''Just like old times, eh?''
Her breath got stuck in her throat. Old times?