A/N: Shorter chapter that was meant to be in previous chapter but I had to separate it, continuing with some love/hate fluff though I doubt in quality of this chapter. Still this is all just prelude to bigger things and bigger plots so... until they come, please bear with me and let me know what you think about this chapter in reviews.

Of all the possible places of all the possible nights, did he have to show up there and now?

It was 10:30 and her shift has ended half hour ago but she couldn't exit up until now due to customers that wanted some more time with the new waitress that started working. She really was a big attraction at the club and all it took was a bit of her smile and small wink here and there for male customers practically swarm to her… Truth be told, there were cute girls who were very interested as well and even though Lucy felt shivers up on her skin at their flirts she kept her professional attitude and politely declined their advances on her. Perhaps this was a good night or perhaps not but then she thought… with everything that is happening in her life, the whole crap that piled over and waiting to crush down on her, small bits of validations that she is not a complete wreck was like unguent placed on burn. It felt oddly satisfying, invigorating. It just plainly felt good to feel attractive to someone.

Lucy took deep breath and placed her jacket on as she continued walking, holding the bag of her clothes in both hands that were in front of her as her feet led her on the sidewalk toward her house. This wasn't a complete waste of time after all; no it was better than that. She managed to earn almost 28 000 jewels and that is including daily pay. There will be one less thing to worry at least for a short while and give her time to breathe before another big rush.

Her mind suddenly shifted, unexpected, unintended, but there was a particular image that flashed before her eyes… the image of Natsu with devil's grin on face and 10 000 jewels bill between his fingers. There was no doubt in her mind that he will continue to press more and more but she knew that she cannot trust man like him to enter her life because there was undeniable fact that at one point once he realizes things about her, he would start hating her for her dishonesty… He would hate her, she would hate him and then she would hate herself and there was no room for last one. She had no such luxury to crack under the pressure.

Then there was another strange flash inside her head, but more of a complex memory than simple flash. There was this strange sensation in her chest as she remembered the point where her lips connected to his cheek. Soft scent of his perfume mixed with his own strong scent filled her nostrils and his cheek was oddly soft. She bowed her head continuing to walk. It wasn't a point of love that she felt, there wasn't attraction in her chest that bugged her, it was something else… something deeper, something more terrifying. There was a memory of different scent and different softness… there was pain.

For few minutes she cleared her head, removing any thoughts that lingered in her mind and t she enjoyed this calmness of empty street illuminated by lamps. There was no other sound but the one she made with her heels but that sound was interrupted by the ringing of her phone. Lucy reached for it and looked at the screen, again it was the number not added to her contacts. She stopped walking, staring at the screen waiting to see if it will stop ringing but once she realized it would continue her finger swiped across the screen and she pressed it lightly against her ear.

"Hello?" She said after making few seconds of pause

"You cheated" Said the other voice

"How did you get this number?"

"Who kisses someone on cheek? I mean that's obviously cheating?"

"Who gave you my number?" Lucy repeated, her voice was monotone

"You owe me the kiss on lips"

"No I do not owe you a kiss!" She raised her voice and started walking

"Yes you do, I paid well for it"

"Oh excuse me, for actually not being a hooker that does your bidding for money!"

"So why did you took it?"

"What?"

"The money…" there was pause on Natsu's side "If you didn't like my deal you could have walked away"

"Would you have stopped bugging me if I did?" She asked and for the long 10 seconds there was no response "Be honest. If I did walk away would you have stopped?"

After another 5 seconds of silence Lucy believed that he might have dropped the phone or forgot to turn it off and end the call however before she could move phone to end conversation on her own response came

"No"

"Are you satisfied now that I kissed you?"

"No"

"There is no winning with you is there?" Lucy voice received tint of growl, she was slowly becoming angry

"There is" Natsu replied, making Lucy slightly confused but she felt eagerness to hear what would make him stop "Go out with me on a date"

"No" this time she used his answer

"Why not? I mean… You are first girl who rejected me for 3 or 4 times in a row! I want to know the reason."

"Geez aren't I special then…" Lucy rolled her eyes as she looked left and right to see if there was any car incoming and she crossed the street.

"Is it because you prefer chicks?"

"What?" Lucy raised voice

"Are you by any chance lesbian? I mean I'm perfectly ok with that we can invite another chick to tag along and-"

"I am NOT a lesbian!" She shouted into her phone but her hand quickly moved up and slapped across her lips. Her eyes looked around to see if someone could have heard her but sighed as there was no one

"So then what is it?"

"You want to know the truth?" Lucy stopped again and stood straight, looking into some distant point "I hate guys like you"

"And who are guys like me?" he asked having same tone

"Selfish, arrogant, self-centered jerks who think with their dicks first and believe that just because you are a little bit handsome you can have any girl you want" She finished her sentence, waiting for his reply although she could not understand why she even wanted to hear what he had to say

"You think I'm handsome?" he said, although she could not see he was grinning wide

"Ugghhhhh!"

"You think… I am handsome! Don't deny now!" He began chuckling

"Fine, yes you are… above average"

"Handsome" he corrected her

"Fine, handsome, you are physically attractive but that doesn't change the fact that you are all I mentioned before!"

"And that's enough for you to hate me?"

"Yes!" she practically shouted

"Well that hurts…" he replied sarcastically

"Go to hell!" she yelled and hung up on him.

Lucy took a long sigh and she suddenly felt nauseated by the very conversation she had with Natsu… it was strong feel, one that made her stomach turn. She didn't mean to say that last thing but she did and while she didn't feel guilty that she said the truth there was also feeling that it was plain wrong thing to say out loud. There was nothing in her mind that would explain why he is so persistent in going after her and that very void of reason angered her further.

Why should I even be bothered? Not my fault he cannot take a hint Lucy thought and suddenly a thought occurred... what if he doesn't stop and presses forward until he discovers more of her private life... That much humiliation, that dirty look of pity she would never be able to shrug off.

Another ten minutes of silent, thoughtless walk and she was at her front doors. Taking another long sigh she slid the key in and turned once, twice and grasped doorknob, opening doors. House was dark, save for one light source coming from the living room, belonging to tv. Lucy removed her shoes and moved toward living room spotting Gajeel and Levy on couch, sleeping soundly. Gajeel was leaning back with head over the lean while Levy nestled herself under his arm. Lucy smiled softly at the sight as she gently shook Levy on her shoulder and the bluenette, being light sleeper, immediately opened her eyes

"Who… what…?" She asked still confused

"It's alright, It's me" Lucy replied as she moved to the wall and turned on the lights. Levy yawned wide as she narrowed her eyes from the bright light. Gajeel was not bothered one bit by it and he continued to sleep soundly.

"Oh, hey Lu…" Levy yawned again and stretched her arms up "You're back"

"Yeah, took a little bit longer than I expected but I finally got out" Lucy grinned "Was everything alright?"

"Mhm, all good" she smiled at Lucy

"Thank you very much for it, I don't know what I would've done without you"

"Well you don't have to think about it now do you?" Levy smiled wider at her best friend "Since I am here"

"Yeah" Lucy smiled softly in return thinking how incredibly lucky she has a best friend like that

"It's getting kinda late, maybe you two should sleep over for the night"

"No we should get going… I still need to get to dorm and grab my reports for tomorrow and he needs to get… my reports" Levy pointed toward Gajeel and decided it was good time to wake him up but shaking produced no effect on him.

"You wrote reports for him?"

"Maybe…" bluenette said with slight blush "I don't mind really. I love doing it and he works hard to take me out on dates and spend time with me"

Lucy smiled at what Levy said… indeed it would be nice to have someone to depend and lean on or at very least someone to make small gestures of kindness. Her smile turned into chuckle as Levy poked Gajeel under his arm and on ribs but that only made him swat his hands couple of times and mumble something about Sinatra and his singing dog…

It was incomprehensible but it probably means something to him at very least. Levy knew however how to wake him up, she sat on his lap facing him and pinched both of his nipples over shirt which made him jolt his head forward with a groan

"Ooy woman, don't do that!" he looked at her impish grin and rubbed his eyes "damn, how long was I asleep?"

"Half hour. Come let's get back to the dorm, Lucy's back" Levy said giving Gajeel quick peck on his nose before standing up, leaving him to rub his sore places. His gaze turned toward Lucy

"How was work?"

"It was very good, earned myself about 28 000 jewels"

"Haaah! I told you she is natural" Gajeel grinned wide while Levy gasped "There weren't any troubles, where there?"

Lucy waved her head and proceeded to tell them about her first day, about her boss and other waitresses and all the clients that gave her big tip… but she left Natsu out of the story. Despite her discontent with his actions she didn't want Gajeel to beat the living crap out of him and she knew he would do just that. For the moment she was still wondering about him, was it simply hate that she felt for him or was it something else, something stimulated by another motive that wasn't even related to him but to all men like him.

Gajeel finally managed to get himself up proving that he is one of the worst morning person or "afternap person" and this referred to the fact that he needed two mugs of coffee just to have his engine going but like all well-oiled diesel machines, once he is in full swing there is no stopping. Levy hugged Lucy tight and Gajeel joined with his hand on her shoulder and soon they left.

Lucy got herself to the bathroom and took her clothes off before entering shower and letting hot water fall down on her skin. The moment was comforting, soothing… her hands moved up on her arms and she sat down on shower floor and was still cascading down on her curves. Her head bowed down, eyes shut, pressing forehead against her bent knees and though her friends have already left she wanted to hide, she wanted to be cut off from the world… she wanted for water to hide tears that slid down on her cheeks…

Natsu on the other hand was sitting in the park looking at screen of his phone where there was a single image of Lucy he took earlier, sometime after the kiss. With tray in one hand and pink lips curved into smile she seemed happy on it but he knew better. There was discontent on his face considering that he failed yet again to become closer to her but there was something else on his mind too… he couldn't shrug off the feeling that she was hiding something from him and that only stimulated him further. If she has a secret, he would make effort to find out.

"I don't know if I'm going crazy or just horny but this girl makes me all fired up. You just wait Lucy" he said leaning back on the bench, averting his gaze from the phone screen and it was now fixed on the cloudless night sky "I'll show you the side of life that you haven't seen yet"