Chapter 4

Thanks for reading again! R&R please!

Oh yea, there will be minor pairings (as you guessed) NatsuxLucy, GrayxJuvia, and JellalxErza! (duh)

"Lucy, help me pick out a dress for tomorrow."

Erza had gripped Lucy's wrist and dragged her again to the town boutique. "Hey Erza? Wouldn't it be easier to just wear one of the dresses you have from your magic?"

Erza only smiled at her when they got to the front door, "Lucy, I want the dress I'm about to buy to be special. I'm meeting up with Jellal tomorrow evening to talk about things."

'Yeah, I already know that...I'm going with Natsu to spy on you!' Lucy really wanted to say that in front of her red haired friend because she was excited and already knew what Erza was up to. "I see. Anyway, since I'm going on a date with Natsu, I think I'll pick a dress as well!" She chirped.

For the next three hours of that afternoon, the two mages spent their entire time in the dress shop, in the fitting rooms trying on clothes for their 'dates.' "How does this look on me, Erza?" Lucy had tried on her hundredth piece of clothing.

"I think this one is the best, Lucy." Erza smiled.

"Thanks!" she excitedly said, "I'll take it then!"

"I'm sure Natsu'd like the clothes you're wearing, but I'm still not sure about which one I'll take..." Erza frowned.

"Well..." Lucy said in slight frustration for her friend who couldn't find a good dress. "I liked the dress you had that you wore during that time we went to the resort before your friends from the tower of heaven came. You know, the purple dress with red roses on them!" Lucy cheered.

"Are you sure Lucy? I've only worn it once and that was an occasion for the casino!" Erza back talked.

"Yes, I'm sure." The blonde grinned, "If you wore it once, it still makes that specific dress still special!"

"Okay then, I won't need a new dress then..." Erza looked unsure.

After Lucy had purchased her clothes, the two walked back to the guild. Erza froze once she entered through the doors, there she saw Jellal sitting at a table talking to Natsu, Gray and Juvia. Natsu had picked up his girlfriend's scent and turned his attention to the girls at the door. "Lucy!" Natsu childishly exclaimed. He was waving his right arm around wildly at the two and smiled his trademark grin, which also caught the attention of the other three.

"Hi!" Lucy happily replied. She then rushed over to the group of mages and sat down on one of the two chairs Natsu had pulled to the table for the girls, her place was in between Natsu and Juvia. The dragonslayer then wrapped his right arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. When Lucy ran to the table of her friends, Erza was left all alone, standing still as stone at the front of the door. "Erza! Come sit with us!" The ex-quip mage said nothing as her gaze found the sight of Jellal's glance at her. She didn't want to go at all, but her legs for some reason protested and moved all on its own. She then found herself sitting between Jellal to her left and Natsu to her right.

Jellal sat in the middle of Erza and Gray, Erza sat beside Jellal and Natsu as said before, and Natsu was next to Lucy who was beside Juvia and Gray who sat between Juvia, his girlfriend and Jellal. It was silent now, and no one dared to break the awkward feeling amongst the group. Until Natsu couldn't take it any longer, "Come on! Is anyone willing to talk?" he broke out. Everyone in the guild turned their heads to the salmon haired boy. He then paused for a moment, and then shrunk back into his seat in embarrassment. The rest of the table only laughed at the flushed boy. Jellal was the first to stop and see the rest of table laugh. Then he saw at the corner of his eye, Erza giggling at Natsu's silliness; somehow, he found it...Cute? Jellal smiled to himself at the image of his love laughing sweetly. He turned
to the rest of the group sitting around the table and noticed something very specifically between everyone besides Erza and himself. Gray had his arm curled around Juvia's waist while laughing, Natsu had his arm around Lucy's shoulder and Jellal had his own hands kept to himself.

Jellal decided to go home and stood up, "Well, I better be going back to my dorm now..." he announced, then leaned to Erza's ear, "See you tomorrow night~" he quietly whispered for Erza only to hear. Erza flushed bright red and shot herself out of her seat. "I better get home too." Erza stated and walked hurriedly towards the door with her head down from anyone seeing her face. Jellal couldn't help but chuckle at her.

*Erza's POV*

'how could I let my guard down? I was so humiliated!' Once Erza stepped out if the guild, she started to stomp angrily back to her dorm rooms, thinking about what Jellal just did. 'How will I face Jellal tomorrow? He smirked at me with too much conifdence and that totally pissed me off! Oh well, I guess I can't do anything about it until tomorrow.' She jumped into bed and pulled the covers over her. 'Today was a long day...'with that thought in her mind, her eyelids shut and she drifted to sleep.

The next day

Erza woke up to the light chirping sounds of the local birds along with the bright golden sun's rays shining upon her face. She looked out of the window, 'Today is my 'date' with Jellal...I just hope everything will be okay...'she sat up of her bed and stretched her stiff body from sleeping. She departed from her bed to the bathroom at the end of her room. She refreshed herself by taking a shower and brushing her teeth. After that, she headed for the exit of her dorm and to the guild to see her teammates and her guild members.

A sweet girl with silver hair was cleaning glasses at the bar; Mirajane had caught sight of the red haired mage, "Good morning Erza!" The gleeful bartender said. Erza only smiled back and slightly nodded as a greeting in return.

Erza found her teammates Natsu, Lucy and Gray along with Gray's girlfriend Juvia at his side all drinking tea, when Lucy's eyes found the sight of Erza she called out for her, "Erza come sit with us!" There was an empty chair beside her, waiting for the ex-quip mage to sit on. The group was used to sitting all at one table, that they always have the exact same amount of chairs around it.

'Always waiting for me huh?' Erza thought. She smiled as her morning haze went away when she thought of her loyal friends. She walked over to the group of friends and sat beside Juvia and Lucy. Erza noticed that each person around the table had a lover besides her, just like Jellal had thought. 'Good thing Jellal isn't here...' The armored mage looked around to find the blue haired mage she was thinking of.

"Erza? Erza!" Lucy called out to catch Erza's attention. The dazed mage turned around giving Lucy her attention. "What were you looking for Erza? You seem really troubled." The celestial mage said worriedly.

"It's nothing! Nothing at all..." The scarlet mage drifted off.

"Anyway Erza! I'll help you prepare for your date tonight!" The blonde exclaimed cheerfully.

The whole guild grew quiet and stared at the table where Lucy had loudly volunteered. Lucy's words also got the attention of the master, Makarov. A few moments passed and everyone in the guild besides the table of Team Natsu roared in laughter, "Erza? Date? Ha! UNBELIEVABLE!" Wakaba said bursting in laughter hysterically. Erza stood up immediately from her stool and Wakaba then continued with his teasing, "Who is it? I bet it's Jellal! After all, he did kiss you!" that sentence made everyone giggle or laugh harder and shut their eyes from laughing too hard. The Scarlet mage clenched her fists hard and face flush bright red that can possibly compare to her hair. She walked up to Wakaba without anyone noticing other than Team Natsu and Juvia. She raised her arm and thrust her fist as hard as she could against Wakaba's right cheek. The impact was strong enough to send the brunette mage flying across the guild building and up the stairs. The laughing continued until the injured mage hit the second floor.

It was a good thing that her table of friends didn't bother laughing because they already knew what would happen if they did laugh, it would end up into disaster. "Anyone else wanna start something?" The furious mage asked loudly so that everyone could hear. No one said anything, not even the guild members that were drunk. They were obviously drunk by their faces, though they kept quiet enough that many could've possibly thought that they weren't.

"Now, now Erza... There's nothing to get upset over, he was just teasing." The master said from the bar top he was sitting on.

"H-He's r-right Erza...Come on, just s-sit back down..." Lucy stuttered, being scared of Erza's fierceness. Erza slowly turned around which scared Lucy. Natsu's hold around Lucy's shoulders pulled her closer to his body in fear of her hurting the blonde. The fearsome mage sighed and smiled gently at the celestial mage. She lowered down to her chair and sighed again then took a sip of tea on from her cup.

Everyone, once again, kept silent and only watched the now relaxed mage sipping her tea. No one dared to talk once. A few moments later, due to the silence in the room, there were footsteps coming towards near the guild.

As everyone stood quietly, the door of the guild squeaked open. And there stood a man of ocean blue hair, hazel brown eyes, and a tattoo under his right eye. All attention then switched to the newcomer at the door. Jellal then gave a confused look, "What? Is there something wrong?" Then at the center of the guild, sat a calm and collected Erza, drinking her cup of tea. "Oh, I see..." Telling by the faces of the guild, he definitely knew something had happened with Erza and the guild. He swallowed and proceeded to enter the building, trying his best to ignore the mute faces everyone gave off.

(A/N): hello dear readers! Thanks for reading Progressing Love! I'm going camping this week, so I can't update, usually when I stop updating for once, I can't continue cuz I'm lazy! So I'm gonna update early today as a treat! I might write another chapter while I'm gone at camp though! Can't wait 'till they get on with the date! I got a whole bunch of ideas, but for the continuation of this chapter...I got nothing...

To my dear readers: R&R! Until then my dear readers!

Oh yea, If there's any spelling mistakes or grammar, don't be afraid to correct me! I'm usually a grammar police, and i freak out sometimes about that stuff, but I'm not good with correcting myself, only others...

~Mattea with loveeee!