*Disclaimer I don't own the characters in this story. All rights reserved to Hiro Mashima*
First Dates and Accidental Meetings
The streets were packed with people dressed for a good time. The group walking in front of Lucy looked like they had been pregaming a little too hard before hitting the streets showing off enough skin to make most mothers blush.
Lucy stopped as she passed a large bay window of an antique shop and inspected her outfit one more time. She had her hair up in a sophisticated bun with her bangs loose, a few stray strands of her longer hair was curled on either side of her face to help frame it. She had decided (with a lot of prompting from Cana) to do a medium smokey eye with hints of silver along the edges, and to use a nice nude matte lip stain to help focus attention back up to her large brown eyes. She had chosen to not use the fake lashes Cana had tried to glue to her face and instead went with a more natural full lash look. Her outfit on the other hand was only slightly better than the group of girls in front of her. She had chosen to go with a one shoulder satin blouse that faded from light blue at the shoulder to a soft cream color at the waist, it had a soft shimmering look to it under the light and that was why she loved it so much. She paired it with dark wash denim skinny jeans and a pair of sparkly nude pumps she had gotten on sale last week at a cute boutique downtown. A simple gold clutch and diamond stud earrings finished off her look.
She tilted her head back and forth inspecting every inch of her outfit looking for even the smallest imperfection. Once satisfied she checked her phone to see she still had about 15 mins left before they were supposed to meet and a good amount of battery left to last her through the night. As she walked the rest of the way to the bar she thought back to what her roommates had said to her before leaving the apartment.
"So why don't you tell us a little bit more about this guy you're going out with tonight?" Cana said as she sat perched on Lucy's bathroom counter.
"Yeah I haven't gotten to hear much about him other then how he spilled coffee all over you and decided to ask you out because of it" Levy whined.
Levy had gotten home about 30 mins prior and it had taken all of 2 of those minutes for her to sniff out that something had happened while she was at work. Levy worked part time at a bookstore across from campus and was always gushing over the new books that came in every Thursday during shipment. Well that and this really scary looking, but decently attractive, guy she worked with. Gajeel I think was his name? Levy had been crushing on him since he started working there about three weeks ago but she adamantly refused to acknowledge it as a crush.
"Is he hot?" Cana asked with a little eye wiggle.
"What's his name?" Levy asked after rolling her eyes at their friends childishness.
"Well his name is Natsu, I don't know his last name he didn't say. He is a few inches taller than me. Oh and he has pink hair." Lucy ticked off each item on her fingers thinking of what else she knew and realized it wasn't a whole lot.
"Wait, dude has pink hair?" Cana questioned, "Was it a bad dye job or like his actual hair?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Lucy said with indignation. "I barely said anything to the man other than to give him my name and phone number. Plus his hair color didn't really come up before I bolted out of there smelling like coffee."
"Well I'm sure you could see if the curtains match the drapes later tonight huh?" Cana giggled as she started to shimmy around on Lucy's counter top. At some point Cana had pulled out one of the bottles of wine she had stashed around the apartment and started drinking.
"When did you put that there!?" Lucy squealed, "I just cleaned this bathroom two days ago and that sure as hell was not in here!"
"Don't worry about it sugar tits, just know I have my ways and that's that." Her friend said with a smirk.
Rolling her eyes at their roommates shenanigans Levy looked at Lucy as she applied the last of her make up and wandered over to her friends closet. "So what were you thinking of wearing tonight? Because I doubt it's in your french fries shirt." her roommate giggled.
"Hmmm I don't know. I was thinking about using that pink blouse we bought at that cute resale store down on the corner, but it might be too warm out tonight for that. So my other option was the blue and cream satin top from last month's sale at Mira's." Lucy mused aloud as she walked over to join her friend at her closet.
That was another thing she loved about her apartment. The huge walkin closets each girl got to have all to themselves, and Lucy needed as much closet space as she could get.
"I vote the blue one" Cana called from her spot on the counter.
"Yea I agree the blue looks really pretty with your skin tone and you can wear your hair up to show off the cute one shoulder."Levy added.
"Don't forget it also gives easy access for neck kisses later in the night."Cana called out with a laugh at Lucy and Levy's reddening faces.
"Well I don't know about that last bit but I think you're right about the rest of it. Plus it gives me a good excuse to wear those sparkly nude pumps I got last week!" Lucy exclaimed before pulling out her outfit for the night.
Just then her phone chimed with a new text message that read, Can't wait for tonight! Hope you like dancing and bad singing. It's Karaoke night at Fairy Tail!
Lucy stifled a giggle at the cute text and sent back, I hear they have some great margaritas, if you're lucky and I drink enough I just might sing for you ;)
Oh now I gotta see that hahaha
What you don't think I'll actually do it? She replied a smile slow spreading on her face from his easy teasing.
Think? I know you won't! Me on the other hand. I'm gonna blow your mind with my awesome pipes!
She couldn't help but laugh out right at that comment and decided to text back a simple we'll see. before setting her phone down and finishing up getting ready.
Once she was satisfied she had her friends do one final once over of her and grabbed her clutch and keys to leave the apartment, Cana calling out to her retreating back, "Text us when you get there and let us know how the date is going! If you need rescuing I have a guy that works across the street at Cerberus that could bail you out!"
Lucy looked up from her walking daze when a familiar head of pink hair popped into her line of vision. He hadn't noticed her yet but she was grateful for the moment it provided her to collect herself before approaching him.
He was in a dark maroon colored collared shirt which was untucked from his dark wash jeans. The dark colors accentuated his tanned skin and bright hair pretty well actually now that she thought of it. I always figured pink and maroon would clash but I seem to be proven wrong. She thought to herself as she finally approached him.
Still with his back to her she walked over to Natsu and tapped him slightly on his shoulder, which caused him to squeak like a little girl and throw his hand up to his chest with a look of hurt on his face.
"God Luigi why did you have to scare me like that?" He questioned a pout on his lips.
"Its Lucy," she corrected him, her eyebrows pulling down just a little in a frown.
"Whatever you say." He chuckled to himself as he gestured towards the bar's entrance. She followed him over to the doors and walked through the one he held out for her before losing all sense of hearing.
"Wow this place is seriously loud!" she yelled at him so as to be heard over the crowd and the poor singing coming from the stage. A guy was sitting on a barstool with a white suit and fedora playing a guitar that was obviously off key and trying to sing what she guessed was old blues music. Though with how bad it was she really couldn't tell. About that time he lifted his head into the spotlight and she got her first good look at the man before her jaw dropped to the floor in astonishment.
"Oh my God," she exclaimed, "I know that guy!"
"What?" Natsu questioned.
Lucy leaned in closer to his ear, "I said I know that guy. He works with my roommate at a bookstore across from campus."
Just then Natsu looked at the man on stage and started to laugh before leaning over and saying, "That's Gajeel my roommate. He likes to come here on Thursday nights for the open mic Karaoke and of course to get drunk."
"Wow, I can't believe I know one of your roommates. I mean not very well but still." She laughed at the weird coincidence of them having mutual friends like that before he lead her over to some empty seats at the bar.
"Hey there. Welcome to Fairy Tail what can I get you to drink?" A cute bartender with short blonde hair said as she approached the couple.
"I'll have a crown and coke," Natsu said with a smile, "And I believe you wanted to try their famous margaritas tonight right?"
"Yea, frozen strawberry if you have it with sugar on the rim please." She told the bartender before they handed her their ID's and she walked away to fill the order. Once she was gone she turned back to her date and noticed him watching his friend finish his set on stage.
"So, do you plan on singing tonight too? Or was that just an empty threat to see if I would chicken out?" She teased him.
"Hmm, maybe later on tonight after a few more drinks." He chuckled lowly to himself.
They sat in semi awkward silence for a moment before the bartender returned with their drinks.
She took a grateful sip of alcohol and prayed that it gave her enough courage to get through this date. When she looked over at him from the corner of her eyes it looked like he had the same idea.
"What made you decide to ask me out anyways?" She asked him.
As soon as she said it he nearly choked on his drink and had to grab some napkins from a nearby dispenser before finally answering her with a simple, "I don't know I just kinda thought it might be fun. And I felt bad for ruining your stuff and spilling all your coffee ya know." By the end he was blushing like crazy.
Lucy just laughed at his cute reaction and said, "Well I'm glad you did. Believe it or not it's been awhile since I went out for drinks with someone who I wasn't living with."
Natsu looked over at her with mock astonishment and said, "Really, a pretty blonde like you?"
Lucy blushed and took another drink of her margarita before she promptly choked on it at the sight of Cana and Levy attempting to be sneaky half way down the bar.
Seeing her embarrassing reaction Natsu began to look around the bar for what could have startled his date so much. Not seeing anything too alarming he looked over at her and began patting her back in concern as she tried to regain her composure asking, "What's wrong did you see a ghost? Or Gray without pants?!"
She simply shook her said before glaring down the bar at two girls he had a vague feeling he had seen somewhere before. "No I'm fine" she said, " just saw a few people here I didn't think were going to show up tonight but I guess I was wrong."
"Ok... You wanna go say hi or something?" He asked a little curious as to who these people could possibly be.
"NO!" she quickly yelled, eyes darting over to his in a panic before she calmed her expression and tried to act a little less like a crazy person. "No, it's fine. I'll see them again soon I'm sure. No need to interrupt our date to talk to some friends right?" she questioned him silently pleading for him to drop it.
Wrong move it seemed as his eyes brightened a bit and a mischievous smile spread on his face before he stated, "Aww come on Luigi let's go say hi to your friends. Wouldn't want them to think we were rude or something right?"
She could feel her eye tick at his messing up her name again but tried to ignore it knowing it would just egg him on more. He was also testing her. He was trying to see how far she was will to go before she broke. She was right to begin with, this guy is crazy, but he was also right. Cana and Levy were just here to check on her and be sure she was safe. She knew that they would be worried and what better place for them to worry than at a bar that Cana loved to frequent and allowed them to spy on her date. Plus she had forgotten to text them when she got here but that's besides the point.
Before she could give in and go introduce him to her roommate's the guy from the coffee shop that caused Natsu to run into her table showed up behind them. Gray I think was his name. I wonder what he is doing here.
"Hey there flame brain what are doing here, I thought you had a date tonight?" Gray asked with a sneer.
"I am on a date dipshit. She's sitting right here!" Natsu exclaimed before gesturing over to Lucy who simply waved at the now half naked Gray. Wait didn't he just have a shirt on! When the hell did he take his shirt off?! And where did it go?!
"Oh? I thought she was just being nice and talking to you while you got stood up." Gray said his eyes appraising Lucy like he was looking for a flaw to throw at Natsu.
"No, she showed up early actually. I had just gotten to the bar when she snuck up on me." Natsu stated casually leaning into Lucy's personal space an arm now draped across her shoulders.
"Hmph. Well are you two singing? I'm running the board tonight for gramps since Laxus had some stuff to take care of at home. He should be back later though I think." Gray asked.
"Actually we are!" Natsu said with enthusiasm catching Lucy totally by surprise with the 'We' statment. "We're gonna sing a duet!"
"Wait, we are?!" Lucy asked Natsu her eyes getting wider with shock and a twinge of fear at his very happy and very serious looking expression.
"Yup!" Natsu stated popping the P at the end.
"Well just don't forget to drop a slip at the DJ booth so I can put you on the rotation." Gray stated grabbing a water from the bartender. Before Gray started to walk away Natsu simply chuckled yelling over at him, "Gray your shirt!" Gray looked down before yelling, "Shit! When the hell did that happen!?" and frantically began looking for it on his way back to the DJ booth.
"Um...Natsu?" Lucy said turning her attention back to the man next to her. "What exactly did you have in mind for us to sing?" she questioned knowing that she wasn't going to like his answer from the mischievous look in his eyes.
"Don't worry you'll see" was all he said before getting up and heading to the DJ booth to put in their song request."
"I knew he was gonna say that." she groaned to herself before simply ordering another margarita. If she was going to do this she was going to need A LOT more alcohol.
Authors Notes: Hey there everyone! Thanks for reading I hope yall enjoyed the chapter I left a bit of a cliffhanger for what will happen in the next chapter. Nothing too big but knowing Natsu it could seriously be anything :) Please leave a review if you liked the story or have any comments I love to know what yall think of the chapters! As always thank you to my beta readers yall make life so much easier! See yall at the next installment of Love is an Accident!