The Cell Phone Swap #2
Lucy realized how foolish she'd been after an eternal hour of waiting alone passed.
How could she easily believe his words? The he'd show up? Maybe it was something about his calming, easy-go voice that had calmed her down through the phone. Now she cursed, as the clock kept going, with her standing in Vermillion Street and Zeref Avenue.
At least it was a nice day, with white cloud adorning the blue sky above the gray city of Magnolia. Different from yesterday, she'd a good morning in her little apartment, with a full, delicious breakfast. But she knew the peace wouldn't last long, in just a few hours she'd have to go looking for a job again.
But none of it erased the fact that it was already 11 a.m. and Natsu Dragneel hadn't showed up yet. She missed her pink, little, old and cheap cell phone. She wanted it back.
The only upsetting thing about it, besides his absence, was the weird, pitiful glances people gave her as they walked by. Like if her boyfriend had dumped her there. Lucy didn't like it one bit.
Angry, she put out the strange phone from her pocket, feeling how new it was. It looked rather expensive, too.
It would be bad if she accidentally broke it. Really bad.
Carefully, she pressed her own phone number on it, once again fighting back the sudden urge to look at everything he had in there. She blamed her curious personality for it.
She put it near her ear, and he answered when she was about to hang up.
"Hello?" he said. "Who are you and what are you doing with my phone? You thief, I'm calling the poli-"
"W-What are you saying?" Lucy freaked. "Don't you remember what happened yesterday?"
"Uh- not exactly. Too many things on my mind. Who are you, again?" he asked, and much to her surprise, he didn't sound like he was joking about it.
Taking a deep breath and sighing, she said, "I'm Lucy. We kind of exchanged our phones."
He laughed. "What? That's so weird. You're weird, Lucy."
Puffing out her cheeks in annoyance, she replied, "Very funny. So now you remember?"
"Yeah. We bumped into each other on the street, right?" he asked. "I remember. You fell on your butt. Nice panties, by the way. Red lace is my favorite."
Blushing furiously, she yelled. "You are such a pervert! I'm really calling the police now!"
Oh God now she couldn't look at his face anymore. Why did she wear a tight skirt yesterday?
"Now, now, I was only joking," he chuckled. "Why did you call me?"
Gaining her previous feeling of fury, she hissed. "You were supposed to be here, idiot! A freaking long hour ago."
"Oh, right." he said. "I'm so sorry, Lucy. Stuff happened at work and well, I couldn't make it."
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Didn't you just forget?"
"No!" he shouted. "I have it noted down… somewhere. I didn't forget, I swear!"
"Yeah right. When are you giving me my phone back?" Lucy asked, running out of patience. A long day awaited her, and she wasn't in the mood of fooling around now.
"Uh… wanna come over?" Natsu asked sheepishly. "Erza will kill me if I go again."
Lucy wasn't sure if it was rude if she laughed at it, so she bit her lip, trying to hold back. The oh so flirty man was afraid of another woman? How hilarious.
"Where do you work?"
"Fairy Tail,"
Lucy sucked in a breath, completely shocked. There was no way…
"As… as in Fairy Tail?"
She heard him laugh at the other side of the line, "Yeah, Fairy Tail Company."
No way. He worked in the place of her dreams. Fairy Tail was a big company that reunited a lot of potential talents, not matter what they were, and made them big. It was famous for the familiar relationship between its employees, and the good service it had.
"W-What do you do there?" she asked shyly.
"Well, at first I came here because I wanted people to see my art. I drew. A lot of things. Fairy Tail really helped me a lot, maybe you've heard about the Salamander?" he chuckled. Of course she'd heard it. He was a famous artist of the new decade. "But now Gramps told me to help with the administration, so I both paint and sit in a desk doing stuff."
"Oh wow."
"Surprised?" he kept laughing.
"A little too much." Lucy said, shaking her head. "I surely didn't expect it."
"Well, are you coming over or what? I could give you a private tour if you like to," there he was again attempting to flirt. Lucy rolled her eyes.
"No thanks. I'll pass on the tour," she said. "See you in ten." And she hand up.
The smell of food, beer, and many other things filled Lucy's nostril as she crossed the wooden doors of the large building that was Fairy Tail. All the random people on its living room were lively; laughing and shouting at the top of their lungs, much different from Sabertooth, where she used to work until yesterday.
She saw many people of different ages, some of them even kids, but all of them had something in common -they were all smiling.
Those weren't the faked smiles one was used to see on TV, or in the streets. Every one of them looked truly happy, and Lucy died of envy. She would give everything to smile like that in work.
Now she understood why Natsu sounded always so cheerful.
Slowly, her eyes scanning every spot, Lucy walked up to the counter, where a cute secretary sat behind it. Her shining blue eyes and her short white hair greeted her, again, with a kind smile.
"Hello, we are Fairy Tail and I am Lisanna," the girl said, barely audible above all the sounds. "How can I help you?"
"I… uh…" Lucy said, clearing her throat. "I'm looking for Mr. Dragneel."
It felt weird to call him that after twenty four hours of calling him idiot.
Lisanna frowned, but a smile still played on her lips. "Natsu?"
"Uh… yes,"
And Lisanna laughed out loud. "Oh my, Mira! You wouldn't believe this!" she called.
Another beautiful girl appeared from behind, almost identical to Lisanna, but with longer hair and a couple of more years.
"What happened?"
"This girl is looking for Natsu!" Lisanna laughed again, sending secretive and amused glances at an awkward standing Lucy.
"Oh my, Natsu got himself a girlfriend!" Mira shouted, covering her mouth with both hands. "This is amazing. Oh, you make such a lovely couple!"
"W-What?" Lucy squealed, cheeks flaming. "I am not his girlfriend!"
"But you are so blushing!" Mira jumped. "Natsu's pretty attractive and cute, no wonder why you would look at him,"
"You got it all wrong!" Lucy groaned.
"And he's such a nice person!" Lisanna continued the tease, giggling.
"Yeah, right…" Lucy murmured under her breath, before she inhaled deeply and looked at the similar girls with seriousness. "Please, the pink haired man kind of stole my phone so I came to his work to see him and I swear it's nothing of what you're thinking."
The girls blinked at her before bursting in more hysterical laughter for a couple of minutes. Lucy waited there, blushing furiously and avoiding their gazes, until they calmed down.
"Oh my," Mira said. "I like this girl."
"I know right," Lisanna smiled. "Natsu's on seventh floor, door seven. Go on,"
Lucy sighed, "Thank you."
Trying not to make a big deal out of their laughter and everyone's stares as she walked up to the elevator, Lucy made her way through the building. Floor 7 was not calmer than the first one, even if it kind of was quieter. People walked around everywhere with tons of papers, and the mood was quite crazy. For a moment, Lucy even thought she saw a naked man walking around like nothing.
She searched for the number seven in the luxurious doors, until she found it in the middle of a long corridor, where she saw a sharpie drawing in the plaque. Just like a kid would.
She knocked on the door, but no sound came from inside. She repeated the motion, but the same reaction came. Running out of patience again, she opened the door blunty.
What she saw was a scared Natsu hiding something under a big pile of papers as he frantically held his hands up in defeat.
"I'm sorry Erza I swear I am working and not drawing!"
Though, he relaxed visibly when he noticed she was not who he was expecting.
"Oh, Luigi, it's you," he sighed. "I thought it was Erza."
"I am not Luigi!" Lucy yelled, closing the door behind her. "Did you forget everything again?"
"What?" Natsu frowned. "Of course not! Who would forget your face, anyways?" he winked at her.
She rolled her eyes as she walked up to his desk, putting her hands on her hips. "You did this ten minutes ago,"
"But I didn't!" he said. "I just have tons of work, see? I bet you have too!"
Lucy lowered her gaze, ashamed. But there was no reason to tell him that she got casually fired before she met him, right? It was none of his business, anyways.
"Yeah, yeah," Lucy said, "But I still remembered my own phone!"
Natsu rolled his eyes. "But I got so much into this drawing! I forgot everything, not just you!"
He threw the papers out of his desk with his arm, and as Lucy watched horrified at the action, he held up a single one with a proud smile, and Lucy held her breath.
It was a detailed, beautiful painting of a big, red dragon breathing fire. It was so well done, Lucy thought she was into one of those fantasy books she so adored in her childhood. Every scale, fang, even the lines of the fire were perfectly done. It looked like something only Salamander could do.
"Oh my God," she breathed out.
"You like it?" he grinned, his face popping out from behind the drawing.
"How could I not?" Lucy asked, shaking her head. "It's beautiful,"
"Great!" he exclaimed. "Here, you can have it,"
"What?" Lucy asked, perplexed.
"Took it as my apologizes for dumping you, it'd have been a great date together."
"You just ruined it." Lucy rolled her eyes yet again. "But I can't accept it, it must cost thousands!"
Natsu shrugged. "I don't care about the money, really. I'm just glad you liked it!"
Lucy blinked, "Says the guys with a freaking expensive phone."
"Well, if I just give my things like I'd want, my boss is gonna kill me," Natsu smiled. "But the phone was actually a gift of Fairy Tail for five years of work here,"
"How old are you?"
"22 and counting,"
So they had the same age. Even if Lucy started working only last year after she graduated from her university.
"Didn't go to college?" she asked curiously.
"I didn't want to," Natsu shrugged. "Besides, I couldn't afford it, I guess. Who cares, I only want to draw."
Lucy stared at him, completely awestruck. Here he was, doing all she couldn't. Working in a dream place, doing what he wanted, enjoying his life. She felt so envious of him.
"That's great," she forced a smile. Definitely not like the ones everyone here wore.
"Hm? Hey, you okay? You don't seem pretty well," Natsu asked curiously, looking at her with wide, puppy eyes.
"I'm fine," Lucy dismissed it with her hand.
"But I can't let you go with that face!" Natsu shouted, a rather… cute frown on his face. "I am starving and I bet you're starving too, so we're gonna get lunch together."
"W-What?" she asked, her eyes bugging out.
Natsu stood up from his desk and walked up to her, throwing his arm over her shoulders. "I know a really good place near her,"
"What are you doing?" Lucy squeaked. "Your boss… that Erza person is going to kill you!"
"Not if she doesn't finds out!" Natsu smirked dangerously, the excitement for a challenge written in his face.
"You're crazy," Lucy stated as they exited his office.
"Maybe," he grinned.
"I never agreed for this," Lucy said firmly, even though she actually felt… excited for this. Maybe she needed a distraction from the day to come, and what better than to have lunch with a pink haired man she just met? She was all up for a new adventure.
"We both know you're dying to go with me," he wiggled his eyebrows, more friendly than flirty. Lucy just had to laugh.
"Maybe,"
And so they went all the way down through the doors of Fairy Tail, Lucy all but ignoring the weird and amused glances of the white-haired secretaries.
It was only later than Lucy realized they still didn't exchange their cell phones.
Word Count= 2169.