I do not own FT. I am not Mashima Hiro. I wish I did though.

Chapter 2

Lucy sighed as she collapsed onto the couch. Her best friend sat across from her in what happened to be Levy's favorite chair. Levy would curl up with a good book and read for hours on end, completely ignoring her finance, when she had an afternoon free. If Lucy was over, she would have a book in tow also and they would relax in silence while reading, complaining to each other when they reached parts of extreme anxiety, but for right now, they were catching up and chatting as Levy had a graduate class to attend later in the evening.

Two coffees sat on the antique honey stained coffee table between the chairs. Levy reached for hers while asking, "What's wrong, Lu-chan?"

Lucy sighed again, grabbing an orange and blue pillow. "The meeting this morning was horrible. They want the finished version of my book by the end of March," she said as she hugged the pillow.

"You are close to being finished right?"

"I'm just stuck on the aftermath of the assassination."

Levy smiled. "I'm sure you'll figure out how to end it. It is partially a romance right?"

Lucy nodded. "It's just frustrating is all." She set the pillow down and reached for her own coffee. "So how are things going with you-know-who?"

"Oh… well the wedding planning is moving a lot slower than I was expecting."

"You know I'm here for a reason, right?" Lucy chuckled.

Levy nodded, motioning to the dining room table. Invitations almost completely covered the small table. "I still have to narrow down who we're going to invite."

"Ah."

"And you'll never guess who's also tying the knot soon."

"Don't tell me…" Lucy thought for a moment. "Erza?"

Levy shook her head. "Those two still don't want to admit that they're together yet."

"Gray?"

"Juvia's had the wedding planned since they first met back in middle school and he doesn't want that much of a commitment yet."

"Then I give up."

"Natsu."

"Really?" Lucy looked at Levy with slightly sad eyes, watching her nod in response. "That's not really shocking. They've been together for almost ten years now. I think…"

"It's not really shocking, but the fact that Lisanna was the one to propose was rather intriguing. It was all over Facebook yesterday."

Lucy sighed. "Well, they'll be happy together," she said as a matter-of-fact statement, causing Levy to drop the topic. She wanted to hear more, yet she didn't. Her emotions for Natsu were so conflicted that she had never wanted to confront them.

Levy pulled out her wedding planning book, to which Lucy pushed the man to the back of her mind to help her best friend with some more of the wedding planning. The wedding was coming up rather soon, a little over three months to be exact. Being the maid of honor, Lucy had offered to help Levy with whatever Gajeel would not help with. Today, they would be working on picking out the types of flowers for the bouquets and boutonnieres as Levy already had the flower shop picked out.

On the way home from Levy's, Lucy stopped by the park and sat down on a bench. The weather was beautiful for this time of year. An evening spring breeze rustled the trees, budding with leaves. She couldn't wait to see the cherry blossoms fall later that year. That was always her favorite part of the year, seeing the leaves change color and float along the wind as if the petals were pink butterflies. She could even remember the first time she had come to see them back in their first year of middle school. Natsu had been there with her…

"Natsu! The trees look so beautiful here!"

His giant smile beamed back at her. "I knew you'd love it!"

She returned his smile. "It's just the thing I needed," she said softly as he pulled her down the path to a bench.

Her mother had passed away the previous fall from cancer. Her father, she knew, was attempting to be a good father. He just didn't know how to cope with the loss of Layla and threw himself at his work, leaving Lucy alone for most of the time. Natsu had been the one to help her through that and come to be able to talk with her father again, like father and daughter. She sighed to herself at the thought of this, as the sun set on the horizon.

When there was only a soft orange/blue glow on the horizon, Lucy stood up and stretched, before hearing a loud "Oompf" from nearby. It wasn't uncommon for middle schoolers to climb trees this time of year, especially after school was out. She and her friends had done that as kids. This was the perfect place to watch the sunset at after all.

As she approached the bush the person had fallen into, she heard an "ow". The voice was deeper than she expected. Probably some college student back in town for spring break, she thought to herself. As she walked closer, she noticed he wore a black jacket with the hood up, his back to her. His jeans appeared to be torn at the knee, probably from when he fell. He couldn't be older than her; college age had to be right.

"Excuse me. Are you okay?" Lucy stopped at the edge of the bush.

"Yeah…" The man stood up. He turned towards her, his pink hair showing first. "Thanks for ask…"

The two stood there, staring at each other, eyes locked. Both sets of eyes grew wide. His eyes gleamed with a happy surprise, while hers… hers were wide with shock. Her body stood frozen, as if time had slowed to a stop.

A/N: So... That whole time slowing down thing actually did happen to me once. It was rather weird as I had thought that feeling only happened in books and movies. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! I hope to have the next chapter up in a week or two! 3 Have a good evening!