Cathedral Café, Magnolia, March, X792
"Lucy. . ." His voice was low and I could tell that he was surprised. I mean, it had been five years since he's seen me. "Is that you?"
"N-Natsu. . ." I turned on my heel, his face bright and smiling. My eyes were wide, and I could feel Mira's stare burning through the side of my head. "It's me."
We became stuck in an entranced situation, our eyes locked and his expression becoming serious. I hadn't stared into those eyes for five years. Those wide, green eyes that pierced my own boring brown ones. His face was serious, yet surprised. The time since we had last seen each other had done wonders for him. His face was more structured and his body was more toned. I could just tell by looking at his arms.
"It's. . . been so long. . ."
". . .since we've seen each other." I interrupted him, fluttering my eyes.
It then hit me. Realisation. And it was like a brick to the face. He left me. He didn't bother contacting me at all. He didn't write to me, or text me or call me, and the one time I called him he didn't know who I was. Why was I talking to him? I couldn't. I refused to go through it again.
With that, I turned to Layla. She was tugging at my skirt. "Mommy," she whined. "Who's he? I wanna go home. I want daddy."
Her eyes were wide and I closed mine. "Mommy?" Natsu's voice rang through my mind. "She's... she's your daughter? Who's the dad? Who did you run off with when I left!?"
My fists were tight and clenched at my sides as I turned to him with furious eyes and a burning fire in my stomach. "It's none of your business!" I exclaimed. "What is it to you, anyway? A dick who left me behind?! Why do you care what I do or don't?!" I turned again, whispering to Mirajane that I'd pay her later, and thanking her when she offered to pay for i herself. I picked up Layla and hugged her as she sat on my hip, storming from the cafe with tears pricking at my cheeks.
Loke left me alone for the remainder of the day, not bothering to ask me or Layla what had happened. I think he already suspected that I ran into Natsu. He did try to warn me about him being in town. I should have listened and just gone to the pizza place around the corner.
"Mommy. . ." Layla cuddled me tightly as we lay beside each other on the lounge, the channel seven news playing quietly. "Who was that man? Why did you yell at each other?" as she was young, Layla couldn't really speak that well. She spoke with a kind of lisp so instead of saying 'l' or 'r' she kind of pronounced it with a 'w'.
I sighed, glancing down into my daughter's wavering eyes. "Layla. . ." I began. "Listen, sweetie. Before you were born I knew a boy called Natsu. We were best friends until he ran off to Alvarez with his band -"
"Fairy Tail was down at Cathedral Cafe this morning, accompanied by a huge crowd of excited fans." The news anchor sounded from the TV. "While bassist Erza Scarlet and guitarist Gray Fullbuster shared lunch, lead vocalist Levy McGarden volunteered her own time to help around the restaurant. Fans spotted Natsu Dragneel, the drummer and fan favourite of the band, arguing with a blonde stranger who was accompanied by a small child and world famous Mirajane Strauss. Fans were shocked, confused and star-struck today, and continue to speculate and conspire about Natsu's friend."
I was silent, my eyes presumably dark and shaded. "Mommy! You didn't tell me your friends are famous!"
"He's not my friend!" I snapped. My hands clenched against the couch and I felt tears forming in my eyes. "Anyone like him is no friend of mine. He left me without even saying goodbye. I found out he left because your grandfather told me! That rotten 'friend' told my dad but not the girl he supposedly loved!"
My breath was rapid and uneasy now. I could feel anger boiling inside me, and I honestly thought that an egg would fry on my head. Sad eyes stared up at me, and then beside me. "Daddy.."
I turned to Loke, who had a solemn stare. "I never knew that," he said. "I never knew that he didn't even tell you. That really sucks." he didn't even look at me. His stare was fixed on the floor and I felt my anger dissipate.
"Loke..."
"Anyways," he straightened his back and hardened his features. "I was gonna say, since I've let you lay about like a lazy pig all afternoon, you should hurry up and make dinner. I don't know what there is and I can't cook nearly as good as you, so hurry up and get off your fat ass and do what you're good for."
My eyes were fixed on him until he stormed into his room and slammed the door behind him. I scoffed. "Bipolar misogynist."
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I couldn't bring myself to eat anything that night. I picked at the chicken schnitzel and the vegetables on my plate. Layla sped through her food and immediately rushed to watch the cartoons on TV.
I pushed my plate away and crossed my arms over the table, hiding my face in the dent of my arms. Why did Natsu have to show up? Why couldn't he leave me be? I spent three years trying to get over him. When I finally did I had a perfect little life with Layla. That is, until Loke showed up and suddenly decided to help me take care of her. By take care of her, he obviously meant verbally abuse me and her constantly, but have odd mood swings here and there and actually sounded like a heartfelt guy, like earlier.
I don't really understand Loke. When we dated those five years ago, he was the sweetest guy in pretty much all of Magnolia. Next to Natsu, of course. He was 19 and I was 16 when we dated. It was the year Natsu left, and we only dated for about six months. And despite all the contradictions we got from our parents and complaints about the difference between our ages, Loke and I still dated and for some reason, we had sex. I didn't really notice I was pregnant until two months later, and by then I had realised that Loke had changed entirely after I broke up with him.
My thoughts and ponders were interrupted abruptly as my phone started ringing louder than I remember setting it. My ring tone was the classic Sabertooth hit Knee Socks. I was a huge fan of them.
"Lucy Heartfilia speaking." I answered the phone with a groggy scratch in my throat.
"Lucy!" I heard my boss, Jason, exclaim far too enthusiastically. "It's great to hear your voice, doll! I was just calling to let you know that I'm gonna need you to come into work tomorrow?" His words sounded more like a question than an order, and that's what I loved about Jason. He was very flexible when it came to my hours and salary.
"Oh, Jason," I moaned. "It's a Sunday, though."
I heard a reluctant whine on the other side of the line and a chuckle. "I know, sweetie, but we've booked a last minute interview and none of our staff can do it. Please?"
I know I should have, but I didn't really think it through when I grumpily agreed. "Great!" Jason yelled into his phone, causing me to wince and pull mine away from my ear. "I'll see you tomorrow at one pm. See ya' then, Lucy!"
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Another chapter woo! For the next part, I think it's appropriate to request maybe three comments/reviews? I don't know, anyway, see ya next time :))
