Chapter Seven

'Smoke... why do I smell smoke...?'

Lucy slowly opened her eyes, and instantly regretted it when she felt a searing pain in her head. She groaned out, the brightness of the room blinding her, before she slowly blinked to get used to the light shining in from the nearby window. Carefully, she sat up and looked around her living room. Everything seemed to be in order, so why did she wake up on the couch in her apartment with her head hammering like she had a run in with a sledgehammer? She pressed her fingers to her temple to try and relieve some of the pressure and when that didn't seem to help any, she groaned again before standing up and making her way to her bathroom in search of some medication. Grasping the bottle in her hands she tentatively took out what she needed before popping them in her mouth and swallowing. Normally she would just take a nap or eat something when she felt the beginnings of a migraine, but with the way her head was throbbing, she knew medication was needed. Hoping that they kicked in sooner rather than later, she left the bathroom and was about to bypass her kitchen and back into the living room when something pink captured her attention.

Backtracking, Lucy glanced into her kitchen, her eyes widening at what she found before a frown graced her beautiful features.

"Yo!"

"What the hell are you doing in my kitchen?!"

Natsu rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "Well you see about that..."

Natsu stood in front of the door.

It was a rather nice door.

Natsu sighed and ruffled his hair out of habit. He was stalling... and he knew it. He had managed to convince Levy to reveal where the blonde lived and had immediately rushed over. He double checked the numbers on the door to make sure he was at the right place. His shoulders slumped as he noticed that they matched what the bluenette had told him. He wasn't ready for this... he barely even knew the girl! He crossed his arms over his chest, a pout on his face. He didn't see why he had to apologize. He did her a favor! Natsu grimaced, 'Alright... I could have gone a tiny bit overboard...', he thought. Shaking his head, and steeling his resolve he raised his knuckles to knock on the door. He needed to get this settled so that he could get back to the band and rehearse, especially with the concert coming up in a few short days. It was the last concert before the whole group started college, minus Wendy, she was still in high school after all.

Just as his knuckles were about to brush against the door, it suddenly swung open and before his eyes, the blonde emerged. Grimacing as her relaxed posture abruptly stiffened and an almost cool look entered her chocolate brown eyes.

"What do you want?"

Natsu grimaced, this wasn't going to be very easy. "I uh..." he stammered a bit, "I just wanted to apolog-" Natsu was cut off as an ear piercing scream ripped down the hallway, and he swung around. Standing at the other end of the corridor was a teenage girl, and she had her mouth hanging wide open. On her shirt, was a familiar logo, and Natsu paled a bit as he immediately recognized it.

"NATSU! Oh my god I have to tell all of my friends that you're-" The girl began but stopped when she looked up from her phone and realized that the hall was completely empty. "Natsu?" She walked down the hall to where she thought she saw him. "Am I seeing things?" She murmured to herself before shrugging and walking towards the elevator.

Natsu released a relieved sigh as he heard the ding of the elevator and looked through the peephole of Lucy's apartment door to make sure that the coast was clear. Satisfied that his fan had at least left the floor, Natsu turned around and rubbed the back of his head, this time in embarrassment, his eyes looking at the ceiling in exasperation. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened at the diner, and I'm sorry about barging in. I can't let my fans see me here, otherwise there's going to be a lot of problems." He tried to explain to Lucy but was met with silence. "Lui-uh I mean Lucy?" Natsu looked around a bit before his eyes finally landed on the blonde. "Uh... oops..."

"I guess when I pushed into your place, ya fell and hit your head or somethin'." Natsu shrugged a little sheepish about the whole thing. "So I picked ya up and laid ya down on your couch, I called one of your friends too so that they can look after you when I leave."

Lucy opened her mouth to ask why he was there to begin with but paused as something he said caught her attention. "Wait... which friend?"

"Just someone named 'Boozer' in your phone."

The blonde immediately groaned as soon as the name left Natsu's mouth. "Out of everyone in my contacts, why did you choose her?"

"How could I resist? Who names their friends something like that?" The pinkette snickered. "It was practically begging for me to pick it, and I mean, why deny fate?" He gave her a cocky grin and she felt her lips twitch in amusement. He just looked so free and careless. Ignoring the feeling, Lucy scoffed and sat down at her kitchen table.

"When is she going to be here?"

"I think in an hour or so? She didn't actually say..."

"Figures..." Lucy rolled her eyes. "Why are you here anyway?"

"Me? Natsu blinked at her confused making the blonde give him a rather dry look.

"Yes, you, why are you here?"

The pinkette said nothing as he took that moment to ponder why he had come over to begin with. With all of the commotion from earlier concerning his near run in with the fan, he had completely forgotten about why he was at Lucy's place! Maybe he should go to the doctor like his friends have always suggested... his friends... a threat... oh!"

"Erza!" Natsu blurted out in a panic, as the memory flooded into his mind.

"Erza?" Lucy gave him a look.

"Yea, Erza, she told me to apologize to you again and try and make things up to you! Levy gave me your address so here I am!" The singer grinned, proud of himself for remembering.

Lucy opened her mouth, a retort on the tip of her tongue, but stopped as soon as she heard her front door open and then slam shut. She gave Natsu an incredulous look which made him jerk back a bit in fear as he realized what that look meant. He had screwed up... again. His Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped; he had forgotten to lock her front door. The sudden smell of alcohol made Natsu gag a little as it reached his sensitive nose. He watched as Lucy let out a slightly aggravated sigh before she looked at the doorway as a busty brunette stumbled through. She looked at the two blearily before she focused on the blonde. A smirk creeped across the face of the brunette before she lunged for the blonde.

"Boobs!"

"Cana!" Lucy blushed to the roots of her hair, as she felt her breasts getting fondled. "Stop it! How many times have I told you not to do that! Especially in front of other people!" She pushed the girl away from her. Though her face was on fire, she couldn't help the exasperated smile as she watched her friend drape herself on her kitchen table. "I'm guessing you're drunk again..."

Cana gave her a happy smile. "Let's be honest here... am I ever not drunk?"

"Given." Lucy simply said with another smile on her face.

"So Lu-Lu..." Cana started, ignoring when Lucy frowned and her eye twitched a bit. "Who's this handsome guy?" The brunette slid her chair closer to Natsu who visibly gulped again but offered her a smile.

"Um... my name's Natsu Dragneel." He introduced himself to the distillery.

"Natsu, eh?" Cana grinned. "What do you say to the two of us going out and getting... acquainted?"

"Uh..." Natsu looked to Lucy for help only to see her smirking at his discomfort. "Well... that is..." He was at a complete lost as to what to do or say but thankfully he was saved when his phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, he grinned. "I have to take this!" He scrambled up from the table as he placed his phone to his ear. "Dragneel." He answered and soon left the room.

"Way to go Cana," Lucy said sarcastically. "Scared off another one."

The brunette waved her hand dismissively. "They'd never be able to handle me anyway." She took out a flask from her cleavage and unscrewed the top, before taking a quick swig. "Phew! That's the right stuff!"

"You should really learn to slow down." Lucy said as she rolled her eyes.

"Where's the fun in that?" Cana tossed her a wink. "So... Natsu Dragneel huh? Isn't he famous or something?"

"Or something... he got me fired today..."

"How did that come about? I've been begging you to leave that job since you got hired and within an afternoon, he got you fired? I need to take notes!"

"This isn't funny Cana! What am I going to do?" Moaned Lucy.

"Well duh, find another one!" Cana grinned. "I know this great bar-"

"I'm not working at a bar Cana!"

"What about a bar?" A deeper voice questioned as Natsu came back into the room, his phone no where to be seen.

"I was just telling Lu-Lu here that she should work at this bar that I know of. It's close by and the people there are really nice! I spend half of my time there." Cana explained a little as she took out her flask again.

"Half of your time? You're always there, I'm honestly surprised that you haven't been kicked out yet with how much you drink..." Lucy commented.

Cana mocked gasped before she grinned. "You're right, but they can't get rid of me! I'm a well respected paying customer!"

Lucy snorted. "Paying?"

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Yes mother; paying. I was there so much that they offered me a job." She shrugged.

"Cana Alberona!" Lucy gasped.

"What?"

Lucy stared at her friend for a few minutes making Cana feel a little uncomfortable if her crossing and uncrossing her legs were anything to go by. After about 5 minutes Cana finally opened her mouth to say something but was cut off as Lucy launched herself at the brunette and gave her a tight hug. "I'm so proud of you!"

Natsu watched as the two girls bantered back and forth before clearing his throat to grab their attentions. "So I have to leave, but uh... do you guys wanna go to the beach on Monday? It's kind of a tradition with the band that we all go to the beach one week before school as a last hoorah!" Natsu grinned at both the girls.

Immediately Cana sat up just a little bit straighter and Lucy sat back down in her chair. "Will there be booze?" The brunette asked immediately.

"Well yea, we'll also be performing a little bit, but anyway, everything is completely paid for! I can't wait for Mira's food!" Natsu hummed as he imagined all of the dishes he'd be able to taste in two more days. He snapped out of it quickly enough however and gave them a wide smile, his canine's flashing in the light.

"Mira? As in Mirajane from Fairy Tail? Mirajane Strauss?" Cana blurted out and watched as Lucy gave her a confused look out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah! You know Mira?" The pinkette questioned.

"I work for her!"

"You work at Fairy Tail? Sweet! Isn't it amazin'?"

"Wait, hold up." Lucy interrupted.

"What's there to hold up on? I'm in! We'll be there, handsome." Cana tossed him a wink before getting her flask again.

"What do you mean 'we'?" Lucy raised an eyebrow and gave her friend a rather dry look.

"Oh come on Lu-Lu! You never go out anymore! When was the last time that you actually went to the beach? It's been forever!"

"I've been busy..."

"Exactly! Now you're not busy anymore! So let's go!"

Lucy looked at her friend frustrated. This wasn't an easy decision for her. She barely knew the singer and above all he had gotten her fired! She bit her bottom lip nervously as she tried to mull over her decision. Cana was right too, Everlue had been a creep and she did let him abuse her and what not while she was at the diner, the balding man had always had a ridiculous reason to blame her for everything bad that had happened to the place. She would work double sometimes triple shifts, and get very little pay and then her tips would go missing every once in a while or lessen considerably. Even with how much she actually worked, she was barely getting by. Brown orbs locked with onyx and she shook her head, a teasing smile on her lips before she turned to look at Cana. "I guess someone has to make sure that you don't overdo it."

"Awesome! So I'll see you guys on Monday!" Natsu grinned as he slipped a black beanie onto his head to cover his signature pink hair.

"Where did that come from?" Lucy questioned. She didn't remember seeing it earlier when he had first shown up. Actually it looked a little familiar... she suddenly gasped as Natsu gave her a startled look, his face paling.

"Gotta go! Bye!" The pinkette backpedaled out of the room and disappeared before Lucy could open her mouth. She let out a breath of air instead as the two females heard the door slam shut.

"What was that all about?" Cana asked with a lascivious grin on her face, her cheeks tinted pink from the liquor she had consumed.

"That damned idiot stole my beanie!"

A/N: Sorry about the lateness of this chapter and I know it's slow going. I don't particularly like this chapter, including the way I ended it but I liked it enough to post it. There were just a bunch of issues as to how to come about this and I really struggled. If you can tell, it's actually extremely short to my standards but I needed it to end right there. It'll pick up again soon, I promise.

There's a note that I would like to address though, I know a lot of people don't read the lyrics that are in a story, myself included, but I will also not be removing them or making them shorter in my story. In my opinion it's crucial to know how they feel, and that's where the lyrics come in. The lyrics are in bold and italicized for a reason! It's to let people know that they don't have to read them if they don't want too! But in any case the lyrics are going to stay, because I feel like it plays a role in my story.

Now then, a couple of thanks to the people who have followed, favorited and reviewed my story! I am so so so so grateful to you all! I really wasn't sure about posting anything but you all inspired me to keep going! I didn't expect it to get so many follows and favorites! It really helps with my self esteem seeing as I hadn't written anything in so long! I'm really rusty in my opinion and to know that you guys don't care and truly like my story really makes me happy!

A special shout out to Kitanoe-Jyoni! Thank you so much for your help with this chapter! It has really made me think outside the box! And I never got to say this but another special shout out to daniagogo! You helped me a lot with that one review!

I hope there are lots more follows, favorites and reviews to come!

~*~ Sanity Challenged ~*~