Mermaid Heel's New Flare (Chapter 6)
Flare Corona was standing in front of a flower stand, looking at the various types and colors of flowers the vendor had available. Flare had decided to try and ask Risley out on a date, and from what she had heard in stories and saw in plays, people usually ask others on dates with a bouquet of flowers.
"Hmmm…which ones should I get?" Flare asked herself as she walked around, and stopped in front of a bunch of multi-colored roses. While Flare was looking through the selection of flowers, she felt a hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn around with a worried expression on her face. The person who tapped her shoulder was revealed to be her opponent at the Grand Magic Games, Lucy Heartfilia.
"Blondie…?"
"Flare, you can just call me Lucy you know."
"…I like 'Blondie' better." Lucy sighed before responding.
"OK, well what're you doing here?" Lucy asked as Flare looked away from her with a blush growing on her face.
"I'm getting flowers," Flare said simply, hoping that Lucy would drop the subject and let her continue her shopping in peace. However, that was not to be as Lucy looked over at her with an eyebrow raised in interest.
"Who are you getting the flowers for?" Lucy asked, causing Flare to look at her in shock.
"How did you know I was getting flowers for someone?" Flare asked before Lucy smirked at her.
"I didn't," Lucy said as Flare glared at Lucy before sighing and giving in, knowing that Lucy wouldn't let this go now that she really knew she was trying to give a gift to someone.
"…I…I was going…to give them to Risley," Flare mumbled, pressing her two pointer fingers together in nervousness as Lucy looked confused for a couple of seconds before her eyes shot wide as she remembered who Risley was.
"Oh, Risley! I remember her from the Grand Magic Games. I talked with her a few times backstage during the Grand Magic Games, she was really nice," Lucy said as Flare nodded with a soft smile on her face.
"Yeah…she was so nice to me, and she's so cute too. I…I love her a lot," Flare admitted, still pressing her pointer fingers together while looking down on the ground with a blush growing on her face. Lucy nodded as she looked down in thought before patting Flare on the shoulder with a smirk on her face.
"Listen Flare, all I can tell is that if you really like someone, you have to just tell them directly. I did the same thing with Natsu, and look at us now, I'm moving to his house and we're getting along great," Lucy explained as Flare continued to look down at the floor, slightly shaking from nervousness.
"But…I'm scared. What if Risley doesn't like me like that and she thinks I'm weird?" Flare asked before she began to pace around the space in front of the flower stand. Lucy sighed before walking up to a shaking Flare, putting a hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down.
"You'll never know if you don't try Flare. I know it's scary to tell someone you like them when you don't know if they'll feel the same way. But it's so much better to just let it all out than holding it in and hurting yourself. Even if Risley doesn't feel the same way, you'll only hurt yourself if you keep her in the dark about this," Lucy explained as Flare looked at her in astonishment. Flare looked over at the flower stand and saw a bouquet of blue roses next to the owner of the stand.
"OK…I'll…I'll try and tell her," Flare mumbled to herself before walking to the blue roses, and picking up a bouquet. Flare fished the appropriate number of jewels out of her pocket and gave it to the cashier to buy the blue roses while Lucy smiled at Flare and gave her a thumbs up.
"That's all I'm asking Flare. Good luck," Lucy said. Flare turned around and looked at Lucy's confident yet encouraging smile before giving her a small meek smile back.
"Thank you, Blo—Lucy," Flare said before she walked back to Mermaid Heel as Lucy looked at Flare's disappearing frame with a smile on her face as she silently prayed for Risley to accept Flare's feelings.
Back at Mermaid Heel…
Flare arrived back at the Mermaid Heel guild, standing in front of the door trying to think of what she was going to say to Risley once she got into the guild. Flare took a few shaky breaths and hardened her grip on the bouquet in her hand before opening the doors. As Flare walked through the hallways of Mermaid Heel, she continued to think of ways to tell Risley how she felt before finally seeing Risley in the kitchen with the other members of Mermaid Heel.
"Oh Flare! You're back! Where have you been?" Risley asked, putting down the knife she was using to cut up vegetables before she walked up to Flare. Risley being in such close proximity to her made her so nervous that she completely forgot of everything she was thinking of saying to her. While Flare was going through a crisis in her head, Risley noticed the blue roses in her hands.
"Flare, those flowers are beautiful! Who're they for?" Risley asked as she gazed at the flowers with stars in her eyes, as Flare jumped with how close Risley's face was to her.
"Oh…uh…they're…for you," Flare mumbled before pushing the flowers in Risley's chest. Risley took the flowers and gave them a big sniff before giving Flare a one-armed hug while holding the flowers in her hand. Flare started to blush before Risley let go and gave the flowers another big sniff.
"Thanks so much Flare! I'm going to put these in a vase right now!" Risley exclaimed as she turned to leave. However, Flare, in a state of nervousness, started shaking again before she started yelling.
"RISLEY DO YOU WANT TO GO OUT WITH ME!?" Flare asked, immediately covering her mouth with both hands, as her blush increased to encompass her whole face. Risley looked at Flare in shock as she started to blush herself, causing Flare to feel sick to her stomach as she thought that this reaction meant that she didn't feel the same way. Flare was about to apologize and forget about it (and probably cry in her bedroom for a little while), but Risley started smiling and nodded.
"Sure, that sounds great. I would love to go out with you Flare," Risley responded, causing Flare to look up at Risley, with her mouth forming a smile.
"Really?" Flare asked in disbelief. Risley responded with a laugh before grabbing hold of Flare's hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"Really. I'm almost done with cooking dinner, so after that, we can talk about what we're going to do on our date," Risley responded before giving Flare a quick peck on the cheek before going back to the kitchen. Flare stood absolutely still in the hallway with a hand over the cheek where Risley kissed her as her smile continued to grow. After several minutes of standing still in the middle of the hallway, Flare decided to go to her room and think of all the things she wanted to do with Risley.