Chapter 11

"You mean to tell me that our whole relationship is built on a lie!"

"Luce…"

"No." Lucy pulled the ring off her finger and handed it back to Loke. "I'm done. I've already not been happy. You're always travelling for your work. You are never home. I don't care that you want to make a good impression on your work."

"Luce… Please just hear me ou…"

"No. The fact that you actually lied to me saying that you knew for a fact that Lisanna and Natsu were dating… I can't be with someone who doesn't make time for me and then when he does lies about things."

"But I wasn't lying… they were dating."

"In college."

"…"

"Yeah. I spoke with Lisanna this afternoon. She told me everything. Sounds like she had more of a heart than you did…"

"Lucy, I was only trying to protect you…"

"Oh… I'm sure you were. But I didn't need protection from my own best friend." Her eyes all puffed up, she grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. "We've had some amazing experiences together. I won't deny you that. But I can't marry someone who started out our relationship trying to prevent me from someone who had already verbally told someone that he loved me. And I loved him… You… I…."

She grabbed her bags and stormed out of their apartment.

Loke sat down on the couch, his head in his hands. "I…"

Lucy shook her head with her hand on the doorknob to the apartment. Just because I think that's how it will go, doesn't mean it will go that way…

She took a deep breath, then opened the door. She could smell something delicious cooking from the kitchen, rosemary, thyme, among the other spices. Loke had to be in the kitchen.

When she walked past the entryway into the apartment, that's exactly where she found him. Her eyes slightly watering as she took him in, potentially for the last time. He was wearing some loungewear that fit loosely around his hips and what appeared to be his favorite T-shirt. It wasn't what Lucy had seen him in for awhile as he wasn't normally home to cook. She bit her bottom lip as the tears began to fall.

She quickly disappeared to the bedroom to hide her eyes as she wanted to be composed for the conversation while Loke said, "Welcome home, Luce. I'm making one of your favorites."

She sat on the bed, trying to calm herself. "Deep breaths," she whispered to herself, her eyes closed. "You can do this."

"Everything okay?"

She looked up startled to see Loke at the door to the bedroom.

"I…" She shook her head. "No. I… uhm… got some news I wasn't prepared to hear…"

"Is it about your last article for the Celestial?" Loke moved to sit down on the bed. "Dinner is ready, by the way. Whenever you'd like to get some."

"I think…" Lucy took a deep breath again. "I'd like to talk over dinner if that's fine."

He nodded and they both made their way out to the dinner table.

"I can tell you're really trying to stay composed. You know you don't have to if you don't want to." Loke picked up his knife and fork, beginning to cut into the meat. "You're safe here."

Am i? Lucy wanted to scream. Instead, she took another deep breath today. "It's about us." She looked up at him. "I'm not sure I really want to marry you."

Loke dropped his knife onto the table, stunned with a mouthful of food wide open. "What?" he managed to ask after finally chewing and swallowing his food.

She nodded. "I spoke to Lisanna today. And I found out some disturbing things about us. Well," she paused. "Really, about you." Deep breaths, girl. You've got this.

"About…"

"About high school, Natsu, and how we first started dating."

"Ah…" Loke set down his remaining utensil and rested his arms on the table on either side of his dinner plate, food barely eaten.

Ah? Ah?! That's all you have to say?! Lucy finally began to dig into her food to keep her from screaming at him. In between bites, she said, "I'd like you to explain."

"I… Well, I liked you," Loke finally said after a long moment of silence. "I liked you a lot but I saw that you only had eyes for Natsu. I wanted you to be happy, so I stayed back. But when I heard what you said on the roof, I wanted to protect you from the hurt and pain you were feeling."

Another long moment of silence followed except for the clanging of Lucy eating her food, still trying to remain calm.

Loke continued. "Lisanna and I were friends, but she hadn't told me she confessed to Natsu prior to you telling me. She had just mentioned her feelings were probably unrequited because everyone could tell that Natsu only had eyes for you, too. After you calmed down on the roof and I helped you leave school without seeing Natsu at all, but Natsu saw you. And I stopped him. In fact, I blocked the entrance so he couldn't leave. I didn't tell him the whole truth, but I didn't lie either. Gray and Erza stumbled upon us arguing and kept him from beating me up and chasing after you, albeit, they weren't happy with the situation either. And the rest after that is history."

Lucy, having finished most of her food, set her utensils down. Tears welled in her eyes. "You… I…" She let the flood gates open. "You let me think that Natsu didn't want to talk to me, and then you proceeded to keep me away from him after that. Who all knew then?"

Loke's mind flashed back to a year after the incident.

"You know this isn't going to end very well if you keep this up," Lisanna's voice rang out into the ether. "When she finds out what you've done, she'll feel betrayed."

"We're dating now. She'll never find out… Only we know the whole truth." Loke looked at Lisanna. "And you won't tell anyone."

She shrugged. "If they ask, I might. But I won't be the one to regret anything because I tried to warn and stop you."

Loke stared down at the table for a long time, before looking up at her. "Myself and Lisanna knew the truth." His solemn gaze fell upon Lucy's tear-streaked face. "Only Lisanna and I, but Lisanna tried to talk me out of it. Especially once I found out that she and Natsu weren't actually a thing."

Lucy stood up quickly from the dinner table. "I… I'm done. I feel like our relationship is all based on a lie." She took the engagement ring off her find and slammed it into the table.

"Lucy, I only did what I thought was best for you."

"Hmpf. Some misguided character you are." She took the biggest breath she'd taken all night. "I just… I loved you and thought that you cared for me. But what misguided care you have, Loke. You…"

"Luce…"

"You can sleep on the couch. I'll take the bedroom, and we can decide what to do from there in the morning. But I do not know want to marry someone who started our relationship out in a manipulative way because I have no idea how many other things you've done to get us and you to where we are." She stormed back to the bedroom; the door slamming shut behind her.

Loke sat staring at the table, her plate almost finished and his left untouched. He wasn't in the mood to really eat anymore.

A/N: So, I think I've rewritten this a million times in my head, but anyway…. There's only one more chapter left and then an epilogue! The final chapter should be posted before Thanksgiving (U.S) and then the epilogue will come out around the end of the month. If you have any questions about the story, please feel free to send them my way. I'll answer questions in the final Author's Note when the Epilogue is posted. Anyway, hope you've been enjoying this fluff piece! 3 Until the next chapter.