No copyright intended.

Chapter Two

Party Pooper

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lucy Heartfilia walk out of the bookshop she'd went in half an hour ago. I had started getting worried. She had been there for like thirty minutes and my mind started going wild and imagining worst case scenarios for her death. So I was flooded with relief when I watched her leave the store with two big paper bags in her hands.

So yeah, I followed her yet again. I had just finished my conversation with Gray when I saw her walk out of school and it was the perfect opportunity to see where she goes and what she does. And so far… I have been bored out of my mind. She went to the library, stopped to pet a dog, made a quick pit stop at Starbucks for some coffee, and spent half an hour in a stupid store for books.

I hate to admit it, but Lucy is really boring.

But just as I was about to step away from behind the tree I've been using as a hiding spot, I noticed her walk into a clothing store which had various kinds of dresses assembled in the window. She probably wanted to pick out a dress for tonight's party. That was weird, since I didn't think Lucy was the type of girl who went to parties. Come to think of it, she never did. So why did she decide to go on this one?

And before I could tell what was going on, my desire to talk to her overwhelmed my desire to stay hidden, so I found myself standing inside the store with no recollection of how I got there. I looked around, and saw her standing next to one of the clothing racks. Slowly creeping up behind her, I waited until I was at a close enough distance to whisper "Go for the red one" in her ear. Needless to say she shrieked and everyone within a 3 mile radius turned around to look at us, giving me nasty glares like I was some kind of molester.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She said, setting a hand on the top of her chest as if that was going to help her calm down. "I thought school ended a while ago?"

"Yeah, well," I racked my brain for excuses, "I wanted to buy something nice to wear for tonight."

She looked around, "In a dress shop?"

I played the ignorance card, "Is it? I had no idea."

"There's a flashing neon sign on top of the door that says 'Dresses of all kinds'." She looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Good point.

"Well," I started thinking of an explanation, "well…" but my brain was as dry as a desert. How the hell was I going to get out of this one? She's just too damn smart. "What are you doing here, though?" Offence is the greatest defence, as they say.

She looked a bit taken aback, and I could see a faint pink tint spread across her creamy cheeks. Was she blushing? Why, though? Buying dresses wasn't something to be ashamed of.

"I um," She looked around, as if she was going to find answers on the walls, "I guess I just wanted to look around."

"Can I come with?"

The nervousness disappeared from her face, only to be replaced with a flash of anger. "No freaking way!" She shouted, suddenly looking self-conscious, "Plus, I was already leaving anyway."

I decided there was nothing to be gained from making her stay and spend more time with me, so I guessed I'd just have to wait a couple more hours before I could see her again at the party. I promised not to follow her home, which made her relax a little. But just as she was about to kindly walk away without saying goodbye, I called out to her with a final remark, "You should have bought the red one!"

"I'm home," I yelled as if there was someone to actually hear me.

My house was not the biggest thing ever, but it wasn't small either. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. The kitchen, living room and one of the bathrooms were downstairs, while the two bedrooms and the bigger bathroom were up. The master bedroom was where I slept ever since my parents moved away to Europe for work, and they travel among the counties there almost every day. My bedroom was now just a vacant room in which my friends would often sleep over when they had nothing better to do. I no longer felt comfortable sleeping in a single bed circled by lightly blue painted walls and shelves packed with video games and comic books, when I could live in the huge red and white bedroom like a king.

Except I wasn't a king. I was anything but.

My parents come home once a month, and it's usually just my mom or my dad, while the other is still out working. They rarely come together, like maybe on holidays or birthdays. And when anyone came, they'd usually stay about two to three days before proclaiming that they've had a wonderful time but someone had to pay the bills.

And here's what I didn't understand: The bills were already paid. Just one of their monthly paycheques could pay off a year's amount of bills. And yet they still had to keep working. It's not as if we're going around throwing money as much as we please, so I really don't know what they're doing. We have a decent house, three cars – two of which are in Europe, and everything else we might ever need. So I didn't understand why they had to keep working so hard. One of my aunts had once said they were workaholics, but I still couldn't believe that someone out there would be addicted to working when there were so many better things to do.

I sighed, dropping my backpack down on the floor, and walked over to the peach and cream coloured kitchen. Opening the almost empty fridge, I reminded myself to make a list of groceries I need and leave them for the maid to take care of. Oh yeah, I also have a maid. I mean, it's not like I'd be capable of taking care of a house all by myself. She usually worked in the mornings only, so I was almost always alone after 3 PM.

I turned the T.V on just so the voices of whatever show was on could keep me company and make me feel more at home. But that was the thing: after living alone for almost three years now, I had forgotten what it felt like to be at home.

There was a plate in the fridge, with plastic wrap all over it. It was filled with some mashed potatoes, boiled peas and a juicy steak. I tossed the plate in the microwave and sat down on the table, turning on the laptop as I waited for my food to heat up. I went over my messages, two from Gray, asking me what I was going to wear, and if he should bring some extra cash. One was from my mother, telling me that she had safely arrived in Croatia, wherever that is. And the last one was from Gajeel, my other friend, who was currently suspended for smoking on school grounds. I ignored his questions asking if there had been any new fights in school today, and instead tried contacting Lucy.

I typed: 'What are you going to wear tonight?', but she didn't reply.

Hearing that familiar beep of the microwave, I got up to finally eat something before getting ready to go out again.

Parking my red motorcycle in front of the house who's address I'd gotten from Gray, I got up and marvelled at Juvia's cosy home. Alright, maybe cosy was an understatement.

Her house was huge, with two dark blue cars parked in the driveway, a neatly-kept lawn which screamed 'the grass is always cleaner on this side of the fence' and a marble three story fountain with a pinkish dolphin on the top , spewing water out of its mouth. There was a cobblestone walkway leading towards the backyard, where I guessed the loud music was coming from, and all those mouth-watering smells.

I was about to run over there, when I saw the door of the big cream house with granite-touched balconies slam open, and the hostess herself appeared. Juvia's unnaturally blue hair was slightly curled at the ends, her tight black dress hugged her curves nicely, and she wore cute blue slippers. To be honest, she looked pretty, and I couldn't get why Gray refused to go out with her.

"An uninvited guest has shown up!" She suddenly yelled, "Juvia is going to call the cops!"

And now I kind of did.

"Uh, I'm here with Gray." I mumbled, scratching the back of my neck. "Didn't he tell you I was coming?"

"No!" Her screaming was starting to irritate me, "Juvia would have remembered if the all-mighty Gray-sama had anything to tell her!"

All-mighty? I stifled a laugh and instead took out my phone to call that bastard.

"No, no, it's okay," She waved her hands around, "Juvia is always open for more company!"

"You could have said that in the first place," I said quietly, more to my nose than to her. She opened the door a bit wider so I could walk in, and guided me through the spacious red and black living room with expensive looking modernistic furniture, all the way to the glass door that lead to the backyard. My face widened in astonishment.

There was a fucking pool.

As if the house did not scream 'luxury' enough, this girl had a huge pool in her backyard, with comfy lawn chairs and two king sized beds with curtains waving around in the night. There was a barbecue, and a person in a tuxedo was flipping over burgers, while wearing a 'kiss the cook' apron which made me chuckle a bit.

I shook my head to remind myself I wasn't here for this. I was here for my guest of honour, but now that I looked around better, she was nowhere to be found. There were people everywhere, standing in line for a burger, drinking beer next to the snack bar, telling stupid jokes on the chairs, making out on the beds, and some were even admiring her perfectly-kept flowers. But not a sign of my Lucy. I turned around, looking for Juvia, and headed for her once I located her near the pool.

"Why isn't anyone in the pool?" I asked, starting with some small talk, before asking the big questions.

"Juvia hasn't turned the thermal heaters on yet." She replied, as I scratched my chin pretending that I knew what she was talking about. "And Juvia should turn the underwater lights too."

"Uh huh," I nodded, looking around, "So where's Gray?"

"Gray-sama is probably on his way. Juvia called him sixty-seven times but he didn't answer. He's probably driving. Gray-sama doesn't text and drive! Gray-sama is a responsible citizen!" Her eyes flared with passion, as she skipped around in her own delusion.

"And what about Lucy?" I asked nonchalantly, as if I didn't really care.

"Lucy?" She pondered for a moment, "Oh, you mean the best swimmer on Juvia's team!" Juvia's eyes flickered with excitement, like they always did when she spoke about something related to water.

"Well, well, well," We had to direct our attention to the man behind me. And as if on cue, Gray's grin stretched out even more. "Looks like my partner came here before I did."

"I was just talking to this lovely lady right here," I replied, trying to charm Juvia into telling me where Lucy was. Gray's eyes locked at me in confusion, mixed with something else I couldn't quite make out, before dismissing what I just said and walked away towards the hamburgers.

"Erza and Jellal will be here right about," His words were interrupted by the couple in question which had just walked in from the back door, "now." Jellal high-fived me before running off to catch up with Gray.

Erza and Juvia started a long talk about 'foundation' I think, and it left me pretty bored and alone. I could've gone with the guys, but they looked like they were bred just standing in the huge food line as well. I decided on checking the house to see if Lucy was somewhere in there, but all the lights were turned out, and it was probably empty. Juvia turned on the therma-whatevers and the underwater lights, and the pool looked like it came to life. A lot of the guests put on their bathing suits—something I wasn't told to bring—and got into the warm waters. Now that most of the people were inside, screaming and laughing, I decided to just risk it all and jump in with my clothes on.

I jumped as high as I could before I could lose determination. The water was hard on the impact, but I was soon thrust into the warm paradise everyone loved. I swam up to take a breath of air, and ignoring all the weird looks, swam up to Juvia who was drooling over Gray's naked torso.

"Hey," I shook her shoulder and she turned to face me with anger, probably mad that I had made her look away from her superstar. "Where's Lucy?"

"That again?" She asked and slapped her forehead as if I'd asked her a thousand times. "She's not coming!" She had to outyell the others so I could hear her. And even then I couldn't believe it.

"Why the hell not!?" I screamed.

"How is Juvia supposed to know!? She called and told Juvia she won't be able to make it!"

And those were the very words that shattered my hopes and dreams.

I left Juvia even though she was saying something else and climbed out of the man-infested pool. I was just about to leave when I heard Gray yell after me. Turning around, I watched his soaked ass approach me as he tugged on the pants he had finally found. "Dude, what the fuck man?"

"What?"

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" he asked, waving his hands around.

"I don't know man." I shrugged, "Home I guess. I thought Lucy would be here but I was wrong as you can see."

"I will never understand why you're obsessed with that girl, but I guess it's okay." He moved away his wet bangs from his eyes and looked at me like he had something else he wanted to say.

"What?" I asked, but he just shifted nervously from one hand to the other. "What?"

"Well uh," He ran a hand through his damp hair, "Did you hear what Juvia yelled after you when you got out?" I shrugged. Was it even important? "Well," He cleared his throat, "She said 'why do those two keep asking about her' or something like that."

My eyes widened. So that's why she was so frustrated when I asked about her again. "No way.."

"Yeah," Gray nodded, "Looks like you have some competition."

"I agree." Erza emerged from behind me and I almost screamed. What was she doing here?

And as if she heard my unspoken question, she said "I thought you guys may need some help." And just like the strategy planner she was, her voice boomed, "I'll go talk to Lucy cause she's been really open with me lately and find out why she's not here." My head nodded in thanks. "Gray, you go ask Juvia who's been asking around about Lucy that isn't Natsu, cause she trusts you the most. And Natsu will stay here and act like he doesn't care so we don't get traced back to him."

My eyes almost watered in happiness. My friends are definitely one of a kind.

And, just like the characters from Scooby Doo, they ran around in their own directions, enveloped in the missions. I just smiled watching them help me, glad that I had someone on my side.

Whoever it was that was interested in my soon-to-be wife, I was going to find out. And he won't be around much longer to stand as a threat.

Lucy was mine. And I was going to prove it.

Author's Notes: Yay, chapter two is out!

Do you guys like it?

Also, I read your reviews-thank you for taking the time to leave one, by the way-and most of you wanted me to stick with Natsu's POV. But there were some of you who said I should also do a chapter with Lucy's point of view. So that's why I've decided to go with this: Two chapters Natsu, One chapter Lucy, and so on and so on.

Do you guys like the plan, or what?

Let me know if you disagree, and tell me how you like the story by leaving a review!

Thanks so much, and I love you all!

~With keys, through flames! Aye!~