Lucy stared after him for a long moment, then slowly turned around and entered her apartment. Once inside, she kicked off her shoes, dropped her purse, and shuffled over to her bed, flopping down onto it face first. What the hell had that been about? It had felt for a moment like he was going to kiss her, and then he suddenly backed off. Was it because she had pulled away? She kicked her feet angrily against the comforter. Why had she done that? Sure, it was a new and kind of scary experience to think about kissing Natsu, but if she really did love him, shouldn't that be what she wanted? Or maybe she had been mistaken about thinking she loved him.

She mulled over that thought, considering all the evidence. She trusted him absolutely, and was always happy when he was around. She hated being apart from him, like when he had gone on his training journey for a year. She had yearned for him from the core of her soul, and when they had been reunited, she had secretly vowed to herself to never let him leave without her again.

And since that time, her feelings of attachment to him had only strengthened. She had known that, but had never really stopped to think what those feelings might mean. In a way, she supposed she was glad that Natsu had proposed this ridiculous contest, because hearing him say romantic things to her had helped clarify her emotions.

She couldn't be mistaken. She really did love him.

Sighing, she flopped over onto her back. It was just nerve-wracking, thinking about how their relationship would change after a kiss. If, in fact, that had been what Natsu had been trying to do. She might have just read her own emotions into it. She didn't even know for sure how he felt about her. He certainly was dense when it came to others' feelings. Sure, he tried, but he just didn't seem to get it most of the time. And he really did seem to be seeing this whole contest as just a game.

And yet…it had seemed like he'd been trying to kiss her.

Rolling onto her side, Lucy grabbed a pillow and buried her face into it, groaning loudly. This all was so frustrating. How the hell was she supposed to know what her idiot partner was thinking?

With her thoughts still in a muddle, the exhaustion of the day started to take a toll on her, and she slipped off to sleep.

The next morning when Lucy awoke, the sun was streaming in through her window. She blinked, blearily trying to adjust her eyes to its glaring brightness. She sat up and looked outside, and realized it was probably approaching noon. Rubbing her eyes, she swung her feet onto the floor and sat on the edge of her bed.

Her mind immediately started badgering her with her same worries and doubts from last night. Had Natsu been trying to kiss her? Did he actually have feelings for her, too? Or was she just deluding herself because it's what she wanted to see? Shaking her head hard, she decided that there was only one way to find out. She had to talk to him in person. One way or another, she'd find out how he felt about her, even if she had to use some awful pick-up line.

Before she could lose her determination, she stood up and shrugged out of last night's dress and rummaged around for a new outfit, and hurried to the guild hall in hopes that Natsu would be there.

When she finally arrived, she paused and took a deep, steadying breath before pushing the door open and entering. She scanned the guild for her partner, and easily spotted his distinctive shock of hair, seated at the bar with his back to her. She began to walk over to him, and noticed as she approached that he was sitting next to Lisanna. She hesitated for a second, loath to interrupt their conversation, but she decided the other girl would understand if she asked to talk to Natsu alone for a second. She could also make up something about needing to pick out a job. Resolute, she started forward again, finally getting within hearing range of the two, just catching the end of what Natsu was saying to Lisanna. "…how does it feel to be the most beautiful girl here?"

She ground to a halt in her tracks, then unconsciously began taking steps backwards. She bumped into a table, smacking the backs of her legs against the bench. She barely felt it as she turned and ran out of the guild hall.

Lucy burst out of the doors and pelted down a path leading into the woods. She hardly knew where she was going, and as she ran, she realized that it was because her eyes were fogged with tears. Her feet eventually seemed to decide she had gone far enough, and she collapsed at the base of a tree. Burying her head in her hands, she shook with quiet sobs.

Well, at least that answered all her questions. Natsu obviously didn't feel anything special for her if he was talking to other girls the same way he had talked to her last night. Hearing him call her beautiful so many times had really made her feel special, as if she was the only girl in the world he could see. But that obviously wasn't true. Either he just had been going around complimenting all the women of the guild, or…she forced her mind to complete the thought. Or Natsu was actually in love with Lisanna.

It made sense. They had been childhood friends, after all, and from what Lucy had heard, Natsu had been almost inconsolable when he'd thought Lisanna had died. They had even promised to marry each other when they had been kids. And Lucy wasn't stupid. She had seen Natsu's face when they had gone to Edolas and he had seen Lisanna. Even at the time, she had been pretty sure that it wasn't the face of someone who has merely seen a long-lost friend.

Balling herself up as small as possible, she cried, and willed all of her feelings of love for Natsu to leave her body along with her tears. She had never known that something could hurt this badly.

A voice calling her name brought her back to reality. Snapping her head up, she looked towards the source of the voice that she knew all too well.

Natsu.