***Disclaimer I do not own this story or the characters in it. All rights reserved to Hiro Mahima***
Accidental Avoidance
It was coming up on 2 weeks since she had last seen Natsu. They had parted ways at the ice cream parlor when she left to meet up with Levy and Cana after a very frantic text from Levy saying that Cana had gotten them kicked out of a bar and she needed help getting the drunk girl home. Natsu had taken it all in stride saying he would text her later and they would try to meet up again soon.
Lucy could feel the frown that was becoming a semi-permanent feature on her face forming again as she stared down her phone silently begging for it to light up with a new text.
"The harder you stare at it the less likely it will light up you know." Lucy didn't even have to look up to see the smirk painted on her roommates face. Cana had all but dragged every detail of her date with Natsu out of her as soon as the three girls had gotten home that night, she kept assuring her that with the way the date ended there was no way he could stay away from her for long. However the more days that passed the more Lucy regretted being so bold at the end of the date and for ditching almost right after. What if he thought she actually wasn't into him or worse he thought she was easy because she had been so ok with kissing him that night!
Lucy groaned and dropped her head onto the kitchen counter still keeping her eyes glued to her phone but addressed Cana words muffled by her mouth being pressed against her sweater, "It's been almost 2 weeks though!" she moaned stating out loud what she had been just thinking. "I mean what happened? It seemed like everything was going so well and then...nothing. I mean I have even tried texting him myself but I still get no reply."
"I don't know hun maybe he got run over by a bus while walking to class or he dropped his phone in the toilet. OH or maybe he was like that idiot upstairs who threw their phone off the balcony a few weeks back!" Cana exclaimed laugher shining in her eyes before she sobered up and continued with, "But if he did decide to just ghost you like that then he wasn't worth your time to start with." Cana stated simply a look of sympathy in her brown eyes.
"UGGHHHH….maybe you're right." Lucy stated with a little more conviction than was necessary, "Maybe he decided I wasn't his type after all and just figured no harm no foul it didn't get too serious so no need to explain why he isn't messaging me back. And if that is what's going on then who needs him!" She finished sitting up straighter in her chair pushing herself away from the counter and looking away from her phone for the first time in over and hour.
Just then her phone buzzed and Lucy lept across the counter to grab it only to drop it sullenly back onto the counter when she saw it was just a text from Levy asking if they needed any paper products for the apartment while she was at the store.
Lucy ignored Cana's laughter at her misery and at how embarrassingly obvious Lucy was being about her feeling towards this guy.
Lucy didn't even understand it herself, she never got this attached to a guy after only one date! She didn't want to brag or anything but she had been out with her fair share of men and it had only increased since she started going to college thanks to the freedom of living in her own place and away from the constant scrutiny of her dad. How had this one guy gotten under her skin so thoroughly in such a short amount of time?
"I think I need to work out some of this frustration." Lucy mumbled to herself pushing out of her seat.
"I bet you do." Cana snickered at her a knowing glint in her eyes.
"EWW you perv! I meant like go to the rec and work out! Why does everything always end up being about booze or sex with you?" Lucy questioned her roommate her frown deepening as she headed towards her room to change.
"It always ends up there because life always ends up being controlled through either sex, booze, or a combination of the two. Plus I just so happen to be fluent in all three scenarios," She said with a wink doing a little shimmy on their couch.
"That's not true and you know it. So do you want to come with or are you going to make me go work out by myself?" Lucy questioned from her doorway.
"Fine I guess I'll go too if only to be sure you only use your phone for music and to get you to stop pining away like a love sick school girl."
"I am not a love sick school girl!" Lucy squealed with embarrassment.
"Sure you're not,"Cana replied with an eye roll before heading into her own room across the apartment. "Be ready to leave in 5 that we way we can catch the next bus before it leaves back to campus."
"Fine I'll be ready." Lucy replied before closing her door and heading for her dresser. She pulled open one of the drawers on the right where she liked to store her workout gear and grabbed a light grey loose fitting yoga tank that said "Oh my QUAD Becky look at her SQUAT!" on the front in bright pink and a pair of black skinny yoga pants that had hot pink running up the sides and little hot pink mesh cut outs behind her knee. She rummaged through her underwear drawer until she found her matching pink sports bra and quickly got dressed. On the way out she threw on a pair of socks, her running shoes, and wrestled her long blonde hair into a hair tie.
When she reentered the living room Cana was already there lacing up her purple running shoes that matched her purple workout top that said "SQUATS? I thought you said SHOTS" written on the front.
Each girl grabbed a bottle of water and a hand towel from the kitchen before they locked up the apartment and headed down to the end of the block where the bus stop was.
On the trip there Lucy was still anxiously checking her phone and Cana had decided to text Levy to let her know where they were going along with an invitation to join them when she got home. Levy had quickly responded back that she would be done in about 45 mins and then would meet them there.
They rode the bus in a comfortable silence having gotten lucky enough to get a seat. The ride was short and once on campus it was an equally short walk from where the bus dropped them to the entrance to the rec.
"So what do you want to try to hit up first?" Lucy asked Cana as they each swiped their student IDs and walked down to the equipment room in the back half of the building.
"I was thinking we could start off with some cardio and if the meat heads on campus haven't over ran the weights we could use some of the machines." She stated simply her eyes roaming over the sight of a group of guys playing a game of shirts versus skins on the basketball court.
Lucy simply nodded and they walked over to the lockers at the entrance to the equipment room to drop off their extra belongings.
Right as they were about to walk in though Lucy caught sight of a shock of bright pink hair causing her to squeak and quickly hide behind Cana who just stared at her friend extremely confused saying, "What exactly do you think you're doing back there?"
"I can't believe I forgot about this!" Lucy moaned her face still mostly hidden behind Cana's back.
"Forgot what exactly?"Cana questioned back her eyebrow raised at Lucy's strange behavior.
"Natsu works as a trainer here at the rec and I think he is working right now!" Lucy exclaimed quickly pulling the two of them off to the side where they could still see in but were out of the way and not making as much of an immediate scene.
"What?! How did you forget something like that? You have been thinking about this dude for almost 2 weeks and it just now dawned on the you we were headed right for the place you were almost guaranteed to run into him?" Cana questioned Lucy skepticism clear on her face and in her voice.
"Well when you put it like that…"Lucy sighed and then suddenly straightened up. "Well I came here to work on and if he chooses to avoid me still then I guess that's that." With a new look of determination Lucy squared her shoulders and flipped her hair before sauntering into the equipment room with Cana close on her heels the latter of which had a smile splayed across her face as she watched to see what would happen next.
Lucy knew she was decently attractive and even in workout clothes she could draw the male gaze with little to no effort on her part but this time she was doing all she could to try and get Natsu's head to turn her way, to see if he would come over and talk to her or if he would keep ignoring her like he had for the past few weeks.
She wanted to catch his attention but she didn't want him to know that she was acting that was for him so she didn't see the moment that Natsu looked up from helping spot one of the overly buff guys who liked to hog the benches.
The moment he saw her come in it was like the air had been sucked out of his lungs and his eyes were glued to her. He was so mesmerized in fact that he forgot what he was doing until he heard the struggling from the guy right below him. He hurried to help lift the bar back up to the rest apologizing furiously but still looking back and forth between the man and Lucy trying not to loose her in the crowd of the gym.
Cana on the other hand had no such desire to be inconspicuous and had seen the whole thing. Though she didn't think she would tell Lucy yet and simply followed her to the line of treadmills facing a wall of windows. Each girl got on and started their pace for slow but steady and it was quiet for a minute or two as the got into a good rhythm.
Every now and then Cana peeked glances over at a sullen Lucy who looked to be speed walking her irritation out and was more than likely listening to some punk rock band to match her mood and pace. In the window's reflection Cana had noticed she could still see Natsu across the gym and was amused to discover that he was still fully focused on Lucy, which caused him to forget his job 2 more time before another guy came over to relieve him of his post. The smirk on her face as she noticed where the pink haired boy was headed was lost on Lucy until it was too late and Natsu was already on them.
Lucy had been so caught up in her music and the feeling of the slow burn working its way through her legs and lungs that she didn't notice Natsu was there until he stepped right in front of her treadmill and waved at her to get her attention.
She quickly paused her song and pulled her earbuds out to hear him better but kept up her pace. "Hey what are you doing here?" She questioned feigning ignorance.
"I kind of work here."Natsu quirked back his lips pulling up just a bit at the corners the smile playing in his eyes. "What are you doing here?" he questioned back.
"I'm working out." She stated back her voice carrying a silent but obvious "duhh" at the end.
"Oh well I was just asking cause I hadn't seen you around here before now."
"Well I tend to work out around my apartment but I felt like getting a chance of scenery today I guess."
"Oh," he said his smile faltering a bit, "is that it?" He questioned her hoping that maybe she had come by to see him too.
"Yea, I mean that is why most people come to the rec right?" She stated back simply having missed the subtle hints he had been dropping.
"Well I guess. If you need anything let me know."
"Sure, I'll bet you're busy though." She said back a bit of an edge to her voice that he didn't understand.
"Ummm, Yeah..so I guess I should be getting back to work then." He said frowning confusion quickly coloring his voice and features.
"Ok, see you around then." she stated coolly putting her earbuds back in and returning to her work out.
"Umm, yea….see you." and then he turned on his heels and walked away in a way very similar to a kicked puppy with its tail between its legs. He sent only a small gaze back before shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck in confusion over what in the world had just happened.
As soon as Natsu was out of earshot Cana turned to her friend and smacked her on the arm causing Lucy to pull out her earbud again and hiss back at her, "what was that for!"
"Why did you act like that to him? He was obviously happy to see you!"
"Oh yea sure he was." She said back sarcasm dripping from her voice as she rolled her eyes and picked up the pace on her work out. "He was just doing his job and checking in on the people here working out." Lucy replied back a hint of frustration leaking into her voice.
"You seriously think that?" Cana shot back her eyes wide in disbelief of what she was hearing.
"Well yeah." Lucy shot back not understanding why Cana seemed to be so upset with her. I mean it was her fault that Natsu was only being nice since she just showed up at his work all of a sudden, 2 weeks after what she thought had been a good date, but of course now she wasn't too sure about.
"You're unbelievable." Cana simply stated back shaking her head as she went back to her work out. If Lucy couldn't see what was plainly in front of her then that wasn't Cana's problem, she would have to just figure it out on her own.
Natsu was so confused. It had been nearly 2 weeks since their date and he had tried to text her about 2 days after to see if she wanted to hang out again when his dipshit of a roommate Gray had bumped into him on his way onto their outdoor balcony, which had sent his phone flying off said balcony and into the waiting street 4 floors down. He still hadn't saved up enough to replace his old phone and he was currently kicking himself in the ass for not getting that damn insurance policy when he bought his old one a year ago.
Thanks to his lack of a phone the past few weeks he didn't have a way to contact Lucy at all and since he didn't know where she lived or when she had classes he couldn't just pop by and say hey. It had been bugging him for the past 2 weeks not being able to contact her or be able to ask her to hang out again, so much so he had started requesting to get more hours on in the afternoons. It had payed off way better than he had hopped it would when all of a sudden she just showed up at his work today.
As soon as he saw her it was over for his concentration. He ended up dropping 2 spots on some pretty big dudes who were not happy in the slightest though Natsu didn't give a damn, he was too preoccupied with the image of Lucy gliding through his gym and the look of her in workout clothes her long hair swinging gracefully in her high ponytail.
Thankfully one of his coworkers offered to take over for him and he didn't hesitate to take off to find Lucy. But when he got over to where her and Cana were working out she had basically given him the cold shoulder.
What was all that about? He wondered to himself as he walked back dejectedly to the weight machines thinking about how different she was acting from the last time he saw her. It was almost like she didn't even care that I was here. I thought we had a good time when we were out. Hell it was one of the funnest dates I have ever been on….What changed?
The longer he thought on it the more confused he got. It just didn't make sense, Lucy had been so warm and friendly last time they had talked how could she have changed so much in just a few weeks. There had to be a reason for it.
He ended up behind the front desk just watching as Lucy and Cana moved from the treadmills to the elliptical's, it was almost as if she was purposefully ignoring the direction of the gym he was stationed in.
He was steadily getting more and more frustrated by her behavior the longer he watched before he finally decided to hell with it! If she was gonna be that way then what does it matter to me. I guess she didn't really like me as much as I thought she did. If that's the way she feels then what the hell do I care!
All the while Cana kept watching as her two idiot friends watched each other while the other one wasn't looking and saw them get more and more frustrated by the apparent lack of interest the other one showed them.
This is gunna be a pain in my ass and one long ass work out. Cana thought ruefully to herself but again decided to leave it up to them to work things out on their own. No matter how stupid and stubborn they were being.
Hey there my lovely readers! I hope that you have all been well I'm sorry for the late update but ohh did I bring some drama with me this time :) Things are about to get so much more fun in the next few chapters as these too goof balls figure out how to act thinking the other isn't interested anymore ;) I know I'm a little evil but it will be sooooo worth the wait trust me! As always thank you so much to my beta reader and boyfriend Thomas for his amazing support and pushing me to write more! Until next time my lovelies and please do remember to leave comments on what you love hate or want more of it motivates me to get these chapters out sooner for yall to enjoy!