A/N: If you're a new reader, I don't even know why you're here. But if you're a returning reader, PLEASE re-read this story from Chapter Seven.
Chapter Eleven: More Confusion
The bickering came to a halt the moment Natsu and Lisanna were aware of Lucy's stunned expression. Lisanna folded her arms as she drilled a jealous-filled stare right through Lucy - much to her terror. "So, you're the girl Natsu is using to get over me?"
"Stop attacking Lucy!" Natsu snapped, with rage filling his body, making Lucy jump out of her state of fear. She was able to grab a glimpse of Natsu's anger as he stood up for Lucy, which made her step back momentarily. "I never said anything about using anyone! And do I have to keep reminding you that YOU DUMPED ME?"
"Maybe I did the right thing for myself," Lisanna directed her glare back at Natsu, leaving Lucy to regenerate her state of shock, "Seeing that you were able to move on this quickly, you must've gotten ores of me ages ago. And tell me, did you dick her down so good that you feel the need to swarm over her?!"
"Nastu and I aren't dating!" Without realizing, Lucy put a halt to the arguing. Both Natsu's and Lisanna's attention were caught, as they reinstated their eyes on the blonde-haired girl, who was unfortunately caught in the middle of the drama. "Natsu and I never had sex - we barely know each other. I met him at a party, I ran into him again at a cafe, and I have Calculus with him. That's it!"
Lisanna was visibly relaxing during Lucy's brawl, but Lucy could hear Natsu swallowing sharply in anger. The cold, sharp stare that Lisanna drilled into Lucy disappeared, but a flush of embarrassment ran through her cheeks, as a flustered look appeared. "Well. I just thought - it didn't look that way to me."
"Just because you see two people talking, that doesn't mean they're dating. I'm surprised an experienced woman like you has to be told that by a little girl who's never had a real boyfriend."
With that, more embarrassment followed through, but Lisanna appeared a bit irritated as well. "We aren't going to have a problem, are we Lucy?"
"Not unless you want to keep creating them." Lucy bit back with a sharper tongue than Lisanna, stunning her. For the longest moment, dead silence trailed. Lucy tried her best to keep a straight face, but felt herself slipping away in the presence of Lisanna - who looked more and more hurt, and more and more pissed, with each passing minute. Lisanna inhaled deeply, and stormed out of the room - not giving anyone a second glance. Lucy sighed, before attempting to turn her gaze towards Natsu - who looked embarrassed, yet frustrated.
"I don't get why she's acting like this." Natsu crossed his arms while sitting on one of the empty tables. "How are we still fighting about menial shit, even though we're not together anymore?!"
"Maybe if you hadn't broadcasted me on your SnapChat story, we wouldn't be dealing with this." Lucy responded, equally frustrated. Natsu took immediate notice of her tone, and looked at her with a stunned expression. "You would've had to know that she would see it. And you posted it anyway!"
"I didn't mean to cause damage." Natsu said, almost in a pleading manner. He could sense that Lucy was annoyed and upset with him, which started causing a state of panic within his voice. "I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable - I just… I just wanted to record you singing."
"I'm not saying you hurt me."
A brief and mild wave of relief rushed over Natsu when he placed her eyes on Lucy's delicate, and yearning face. "You did anything but hurt me. Last weekend was also… one of the best weekends I've had in a long time."
Lucy tried her best to prevent succumbing to her vulnerability, but was feeling incredibly weak with Natsu standing close by her. She knew she couldn't give into what she wanted… even though she felt physically restrained from stepping backwards. She couldn't do it with ease at all - it was as if her feet were trapped with permanent glue. She wanted to be near him, she wanted him to hold her like he did the other night, and she wanted him to kiss her - really badly. However, despite the lust filling her body, she used every last bit of strength she had bottled in her to choke up those dreaded words.
"But… I… I can't do this, Natsu."
With his eyes shooting up, Natsu's expression went bleak. Lucy could tell that he wasn't expecting to hear that from her - especially after the connection they had. However, Natsu wasn't able to tell that Lucy didn't want to say what she did - but she didn't have much of a choice. She couldn't afford to keep any more secrets, or tell any more lies. "You're an amazing person, believe me. But... I just can't be involved in this."
But just as Lucy was about to open the door, Natsu stood up, and rushed towards her. Noticing he was just a few inches away from her, she turned around to face him. It was obvious she was lying through her teeth - she didn't want to stop seeing him, and Natsu caught that. "I know you don't mean that."
"Natsu... please..." Lucy begged, as she leaned her back against the door, while staring into Natsu's piercing eyes. There was no use in convincing him - he wasn't buying her bullshit. "Please, just let it go."
He brought himself closer, bit by bit, causing Lucy's knees to grow weaker and weaker by the moment. She wanted to kiss him then and there, but she didn't want to hurt Lisanna - not anymore. No matter what they had gone through in the past, and no matter what they had done to each other, Lucy didn't want an enemy in her again. However... with Natsu standing so close to her... the conflict became severe. His lips were so close to hers - she could already taste them. She felt herself dropping her guard, reluctantly allowing him to get closer to her, little by little.
But before their lips had the slightest chance to touch, the first bell to third period cut them off abruptly.
"…" Lucy struggled to find any words, while breaking off all eye contact they previously had. Not being able to say anything more, Lucy mustered the will to go through the door, without stopping to glance back at Natsu - who ran his hands over his face in frustration.
…
Over the next three weeks, Natsu and Lucy didn't speak to each other; more accurately, Natsu's efforts to talk to her had been shut down with rejection, over and over again. Juvia wasn't able to get much of an answer out of Lucy as to why she was avoiding Natsu - as Lucy wouldn't mention him around her. Over the weeks, Lucy became re-acquainted with Sting and Lyon, however, her secret was still guarded. They never talked about the girls around her, or with their friends. It had been months since the accident took place, and to the three of them, not mentioning it was their best coping method.
For Lucy, avoiding Natsu had been the hardest out of everything. She saw him everywhere she went, and sat a few seats in front of him in Calculus. There were times when Lucy could feel Natsu looking at her, and would suppress the urge to glance back at his direction. Even though not associating with Natsu spared Lucy of Lisanna, she began to wonder if it was really worth it. With Natsu, she didn't feel afraid. She felt a renewed sense of courage and determination; it was as if she was born-again around him. The sexal tension grew between them little by little as each day went by, and it became increasingly harder for both of them to be anywhere near each other.
It was the end of the school day, and the halls had been emptying slowly over the minutes after the last bell. Lucy said her goodbyes to Juvia - who left quickly for a date she had planned with Gray, and was wandering around the almost-empty hallways. Crashes of thunder could be heard from the outside - indicating a near-future downpour. The windows were no longer allowing sunlight to pass through, as dark-grey clouds blanketed the entire sky.
As she was about to make it through the door herself, Lucy noticed the sound of a distant melody coming from the school's Music Room. Curious, she found herself walking towards it. Something about the ambience felt familiar to Lucy - almost as if she'd heard it before. As she approached the entrance, she found the door ajar. Opening it further, she peered herself into the room - being careful not to interrupt whoever was working in there.
Lucy's eyes were met with the back of a young man's head. He had long, dusty-brown hair that touched the end of his neck. He was tucked inside of a chair, with his face in front of a computer. A black, covered piano was parked beside of him, and with a wall placed to the other side, the little corner he was in appeared to be his own little space. It wasn't until he stood up to turn around, when Lucy was able to see his face.
"Are you sure he goes to this school?"
Lucy had been rubbing her hands together for the past fifteen minutes inside of their car. The four girls decided to take the afternoon off of school to drive to Magnolia High; Lucy had been spending a lot of time online, looking through SoundCloud and Youtube for a domestic composer to help her make a song for the Movie Soundtrack Contest. Her strongest suit being lyrics, Lucy knew next to nothing about production work, or mixing. However, she stumbled across a SoundCloud artist who had been releasing songs for a playlist titled 'Blue Neighbourhood'. "I mean, I don't even know if he's going to agree to it!"
"Dude, come on." Sherry teashed, while keeping her eyes firmly on the road. She took one hand from the steering wheel and placed it on Lucy's hands - which were hanging on her lap. "Who would pass the opportunity to work with you?"
"I don't even know this guy…" Lucy sighed, as she leaned her head against the side of the window. She really was desperate for a composer.
"It's not like he's some serial-killer slash rapist." Yukino chirped in, trying to ease the tension. "Plus, you wouldn't let any of us help you with the production, so we need to find other sources."
"I didn't want any of you to help because at the end of the day, we're still a group, and whatever we do, we do it together." Lucy replied, preventing Yukino from saying anything else. "I already feel bad for not doing this as Fairy Tail… I don't want to make it worse."
"Hey, we were the ones who encouraged you." Sherria extended her hand from the backseat, to reach Lucy's shoulder. Lucy smiled, while reaching for her hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"And I appreciate that. More than you know."
After a few more minutes, the girls reached Magnolia High. It was lunch time, and all the students had already filled the school yard - eating, talking, and hanging out with each other. Once Lucy and the girls got out of the car, Sherry approached the girls from the driver's seat. "We should wait here until Lucy comes back."
"You guys aren't coming inside with me?"
"It's your song. It's probably best if we don't interfere." Sherria explained, as she put her arm around Lucy.
"Alright." Lucy responded, also putting her arm around Sherria, giving her a half-hug. Looking at Yukino and Sherry, she smiled softly. "I won't keep you for long."
Nodding, the girls stepped back towards their car, watching Lucy disappear into the crowd of students. After a solid moment of walking past them, they began to recognize Lucy. Excitement and curiosity quickly filled the masses; some students asked for quick autographs, while some others commended on how much they loved Fairy Tail's music. Because of this, getting into the school building itself took quite a bit longer.
While inside, more students took notice of Lucy - cheering for her, and congratulating her for their album release. Trying her best to stay on her feet, Lucy was approached by another one of Magnolia High's students. The short, and seemingly sweet dark-haired girl's eyes were beaming. "Hey Lucy! I'm Allison, and I just wanted to say I'm really loving your guys' album!"
"Thanks!" Lucy replied back, with emitting happiness. "Actually, I'm glad you're here. Do you know where I can find Dan Hirano? I really need to speak to him."
"Uhh, yeah, I think I know where he is." Allison said, while checking around her surroundings. Turning towards Lucy once again, she smiled. "Do you want me to get him for you, or do you want to come along with me?"
After thinking for a brief moment, Lucy nodded. "I'll go with you. Maybe you can tell me a little more about him."
"Sure!" Allison responded happily. As they both walked alongside each other, getting past the sea of students, Allison began detailing Dan's artistic ability, and doing her best to summarize it. "Blue Neighbourhood is turning to be his biggest project. It almost sounds like a movie soundtrack. It's so atmospheric and romantic. I can't wait to hear what the whole playlist sounds like." Hearing the details of Dan's work made Lucy feel more and more confident about her decision. And helped her feel more at ease. "Oh, by the way, he loves you."
"Really?" Lucy asked, taken aback by the statement.
"Oh yea." Allison nodded. "He thinks you're the best singer for our age."
After reaching the second floor of the school building, Allison led Lucy near an open classroom. Turning around to face her, Allison stopped walking. "I'm sure he's in there. Do you want to come in, or wait here?"
"I'll wait here for a little bt." Lucy replied, with a hint of deviousness. "I want to surprise him."
Giggling softly, Allison walked inside of the classroom, trying to keep her excitement down to prevent seeming obvious. There were a few people inside the room, branched into two groups. Allison found Dan amongst some of the other students enrolled in Music classes. "Hey Dan, there's someone here to see you." Allison informed him once she walked towards his group.
"Who is it? Did something happen?" Dan asked, visibly becoming slightly tense.
Shaking her head, Allison smiled reassuringly. "Nothing like that! You have a special visitor!"
Seeing the excitement in her face, Dan giggled. "You seem awfully chipper about it. Are you going to tell me who it is?"
"If I told you Lucy Heartfilia was outside this door right now, would you believe me?"
Dan's eyes suddenly went wide. But before he was able to find any words to reply with, a blue-haired girl named Juvia - who was with her boyfriend Gray - chirped in after eavesdropping into their conversation. "I'd advise you to come up with better pranks, because there's no way anyone would believe that."
Shrugging, Allison started stepping backwards. "Well, your advice would make sense, if I had actually been lying." She headed for the exit, and a few seconds after the peered out of the door, Lucy walked in, with a flashing smile, and a quick wave.
"Oh my god!" Juvia exclaimed - even her boyfriend was taken aback after seeing Lucy come inside the classroom. The people inside the classroom went silent, with a few whispers of astonishment floating. Dan went speechless; his jaw looked as if it was about to hit the ground. The term 'starstruck' was an understatement at that moment.
"Hello!" Lucy said enthusiastically, extending her arm in front of Dan, who swiftly took it. "I'm Lucy! It's so nice to finally meet you!"
"U-umm, hi!" Dan said, clearly nervous, but extremely excited. "I'm Dan."
A few moments passed after seeing Dan's face, but for Lucy, the time elapsed felt like hours. However, a sudden clash of thunder startled her, and at the same time, prompted Dan to jerk his head behind him to see who gasped.
"Umm…" Lucy felt herself going numb as soon as her eyes met Dan's. "I'm so sorry, I was just passing through. I didn't mean to disrupt you."
Before Lucy could leave, Dan took a few steps forward, and stopped her. "No, you weren't disrupting me."
Lucy let out a shy smile. "I heard a melody while I was on my way to leave the school. I guess I wanted to find out where it came from."
Chuckling, Dan ran his hand through his hair. "Yea, the Music Room is basically my home." Extending his hand towards Lucy, he smiled. "I'm Dan."
After staying idle for a brief moment, Luck took his hand among hers. "I'm Lucy."
Dan's character is inspired by Troye Sivan in his 'Blue Neighbourhood'