I was supposed to have a three day weekend, but it has turned into a five day weekend. Tysm, snow days.
It's only been five days since I've been school yet I'm pretty sure I've forgotten how to hold a pencil.
It feels so strange updating so early today. For once, I'm glad time zones exist! Pretty sure over half of America right now is in school.
As promised, the drama has arrived. ;] I should write a cliffhanger sometime soon...
I'm so incredibly terrified that this story is two reviews away from 500. That's halfway to 1,000! asdfghjkl
Can't thank you guys enough for reading my stories; it means so much.
Enjoy this chapter, everyone! See you next Wednesday.
"Good morning, Luce," Natsu greeted from the kitchen as Lucy exited the bathroom.
"What do you want?" Lucy raised a suspicious eyebrow.
"Am I not allowed to tell you good morning?" he inquired.
"Not unless you want something," she replied, walking past him to get her schoolbag in her room.
"I don't want anything!" he insisted.
Lucy gave him a skeptical look; Natsu was never this friendly in the morning. He was definitely up to something.
"Well, alright," she chose to play along with it. "Good morning to you, too."
"Let's go," he beckoned her to leave for school with him.
"Are you humming?!" Lucy exclaimed while they walked together.
"I'm in a good mood," he responded simply.
"Why's that?" she gave him a curious look.
"You ask too many questions," he gave her arm a nudge with his elbow. "Hey, let's play two truths and one lie again!"
Lucy turned her head towards Natsu with bewilderment. After glancing at his radiant hazel eyes, she allowed her smile reveal itself.
Natsu's energetic mood was just too contagious.
"The first one is a lie," Lucy declared when Natsu was finished with his statements.
"Nope, the second one is a lie," he shook his head.
"But you always eat your dessert before dinner!" she pointed out.
"That's what I want you to think," he remarked with an index finger shaking towards her.
Lucy stared at him expressionlessly, but she couldn't hold it in anymore.
"What's up with that?" she asked in-between laughs. She wiped her tears away once she ran out of laughter.
"That's better," Natsu smiled, watching her regain her composure.
"What?" she questioned, not realizing they were already walking past the school gates until she looked around.
"You looked weird last night," he spoke. "Now your eyes are brighter."
"They weren't bright yesterday?" she countered.
"They seemed distant," he replied.
"Oh," was all Lucy could say.
Something inside of her fluttered at the thought of Natsu noticing the small things about her; she kept it to herself.
"Lu-chan, your cheeks are red," Levy instantly noted when Lucy sat down in her seat.
"Are they?" Lucy patted her cheeks to see how warm they were, but to her surprise, they were scolding hot.
"Did Natsu tell you something? You walked in with him," Cana smirked.
"I was just thinking about this show I watched last night," Lucy bluffed.
She was never going to admit that a simple observation by Natsu made her cheeks light up. It was too embarrassing to even admit.
As the bell dinged, the girls faced the front of the classroom and waited for their first period teacher to arrive.
Lucy had no control of her zoning out anymore. As soon as her teacher strode in, she went off into her own mind.
She was grateful that lunch came in no time. Scooting the desks together again, the girls sat together while they ate.
"I'm so excited to go to your job today, Lisanna!" Levy cheered in her seat.
"I hope they don't run out of cake," Erza muttered.
"Do you think you can get me a free drink or two?" Cana asked with a hint of expectancy in her voice.
"By two she means ten," Lucy mentioned.
"I'm looking forward to having you all come," Lisanna smiled happily.
"Hey, don't forget about us," Gray clicked his tongue in disapproval, bringing his chair to sit in the middle of Lucy and Levy.
"We're looking forward to seeing where you work at," Jellal stated, sitting next to Erza.
"I can get free food from you, right?" Natsu predicted, deciding to stand behind Lucy.
"I-I don't think I can do that," Lisanna replied nervously. "I'm not going to be working today, anyway."
"Well, it was worth a shot," he mumbled.
"What are you doing?!" Lucy exclaimed when she noticed a hand coming over her and snatching one of her foods.
"I'm still hungry," Natsu whined.
"Get your own food!" she commanded, leaning back to look at him.
"You look funny upside down," he grinned.
"S-So do you," she stuttered, sitting upright again. She briefly glanced across the long table and was relieved to find nobody paying attention to her.
She knew her cheeks were blazing enough to be seen in the dark.
The group groaned when the bell that signaled the end of lunch began to ring. Once everyone was situated in their seats, Lucy watched Levy and Gajeel eagerly.
"Let me have some of that," Gajeel reached over to her desk to steal a bit of her lunch.
"That's mine!" Levy shouted, attempting to get it back.
Lucy pressed her hand against her mouth to keep her from laughing out loud.
Gajeel stretching his arm out in the air that exceeded Levy's height was a sight Lucy would never get tired of.
"Girls are so possessive over their food," Natsu scoffed.
Lucy immediately sent him a glare. "We wouldn't be if we didn't have boys trying to take it away from us."
"But your food is good," he pouted.
She opened her mouth to retort something back, but seeing that pout made her mind completely blank.
"That pout should definitely be illegal," Lucy thought to herself as she turned back around with a huff.
Somehow surviving throughout the rest of the day, everyone was grateful when the last bell of the day rang.
"Let's go, let's go!" Levy bounced in place enthusiastically.
"Are you sure you're the same age as us?" Cana rolled her eyes.
"Doesn't look like it," Gajeel chuckled to himself, exiting the classroom before anybody could respond.
"Why don't we invite Gajeel one of these days?" Lucy suggested.
"He has to work," Levy responded.
"How do you know?" Lisanna asked.
"She probably stalks him," Gray snickered.
"I do not!" Levy complained.
"I want cake," Erza proclaimed. "Can we go now?"
"Yeah, let's go," Lisanna nodded, being the one to lead the group.
Lucy couldn't get enough of the cheerful feeling in the air that surrounded the group. She couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear with each joke Gray told her.
"Your jokes are really funny!" Lucy laughed.
"That's good to hear," Gray replied with entertained eyes. All he wanted to do was make Lucy laugh and he was succeeding with great accuracy.
Farther up in the group, Lucy viewed Natsu and Lisanna standing beside each other.
The feeling from last night surrounded her chest again—heavy and gloomy. But she ignored it and returned to listening to Gray's jokes.
This was not the time to wonder why this dark feeling was happening.
"Here it is!" Lisanna eventually presented a large building.
"This place is huge!" Levy blurted out, tilting her head back to see the whole building.
"Come inside," Lisanna widened the large wooden doors for the group.
The group randomly picked a table, dividing in half and sliding into either side of the table.
Lucy's eye twitched when she noticed Natsu sitting right across from her. She could feel the tips of his shoes pressing against hers under the table.
"Yes!" Cana cheered in a whisper. "Mirajane is our waitress!"
"Hey, Mira-nee," Lisanna waved from the table as a woman with lengthy white hair stood at the edge of the table.
"You have a lot of friends, Lisanna," Mirajane smiled at the group. "Nice to meet you! I'm Lisanna's sister, Mirajane."
Lucy found it remarkable how similar Lisanna and Mirajane looked. After everyone finished ordering what they wanted to eat, Gray pushed Lucy's shoulder gently.
"Sorry," he muttered. "We're sitting really close, aren't we?"
"We don't have a choice," she replied, observing how squished everyone else was.
"I wish we had our own table," he sighed.
She paused, not having a clue what to respond.
"Me too," she whispered.
Lucy didn't hear what Gray said next because Natsu's loud laugh caught her attention.
"I remember that, too!" Natsu leaned back to howl even louder.
"It's been such a long time since that's happened," Lisanna smiled as she reminisced with him.
Natsu nodded with a grin as he looked at her.
Just by the eye contact, Lucy could tell just how close they were. She directed her attention to Gray before she felt the darkness once again.
"Here is everyone's orders," Mirajane shortly returned to the table as she held up a tray on her hand.
Lucy sipped on her lemonade while she watched everyone eat.
"This cake!" Erza inhaled deeply in mid-chew, raising her fork in the air.
"Do you like it?" Lisanna asked.
"It's delicious," Erza closed her eyes and shook her head with disbelief.
"Please, don't tell me she's crying over cake again," Cana groaned, looking away.
"She is," Levy answered, viewing a tear escaping out of the corner of Erza's eye.
The group continued to eat; it took all of Lucy's strength to not scream at Natsu for being a messy eater, like always.
"You're not going to eat anything?" Gray inquired at one point.
"I'm not hungry," Lucy replied. "This lemonade is enough for me."
"No way," he opposed. "You need to eat something. Here."
Lucy's eyes widened when Gray picked up one of his strawberries and began to move it towards her mouth.
The point of the strawberry was centimeters away from her lips, but two fingers swiftly took it away.
"Lucy doesn't like strawberries," Natsu stated, popping the strawberry in his mouth.
"How could you?" Erza gasped with horror, dramatically dropping her fork on her plate.
"Lu-chan doesn't like strawberries?" Levy questioned.
"Oh," Gray coughed awkwardly. "Sorry."
The table was silent as the air thickened with each second. Lucy averted her gaze to her lap.
"So, how was everyone's day?" Cana asked plainly.
While everyone responded, Lucy slowly looked up to find Natsu's eyes already settled on her. The eye contact made her blood boil.
She knew he was simply trying to help keep her away from Gray, but she could do it herself.
Not once had she requested for Natsu's help and she wasn't going to be asking for it any time soon.
Tearing her eyes away from him, Lucy joined in as much as she could. With how much Lisanna and Natsu were talking, she had no desire to see it anymore.
But her attempts to ignore it were useless, because again, her chest ached.
"Why am I feeling this way?" Lucy asked herself angrily.
"I wish I had a long-term friendship like Lisanna and Natsu," Levy sighed beside her after some time.
"M-Me too," Lucy stuttered.
"Let's try to have what they have!" Levy demanded.
"That's going to take some time, though," Lucy giggled at her eagerness.
"That's okay," Levy assured.
"Hey, what about me?" Cana narrowed her eyes across the table. "Are you forgetting that I'm your best friend, too?"
"And me?" Erza chimed in, leaning over Gray to look at them.
"Can't forget about me either," Jellal followed.
The group turned to Gray, expecting him to join in.
"What?" he inquired.
"Don't you want to have what Lisanna and Natsu have with us?" Levy questioned.
Gray's eyes wavered, clearly uncomfortable with the topic.
"I guess?" he muttered as his hand went up to cover his mouth.
Lucy pressed her lips together at the gesture. Behind his hand were bright crimson cheeks; she wanted to giggle.
"That's flattering of you guys," Lisanna laughed bashfully.
"We have something?" Natsu furrowed his eyebrows with confusion. "What do we have?"
"A long-term friendship, of course," Levy stated.
"We do," Natsu nodded. "So what?"
Lucy couldn't comprehend in the slightest at how dense he was being. Since when did Natsu get so oblivious?
"Someday," Levy sighed again. "Someday."
"We should probably get going now," Jellal spoke. "It's getting dark."
"We've been here for that long already?" Lucy barely noticed the pink sky until it was brought up.
Together, the group left the table and began to exit the restaurant.
"Thanks for the extra cake, Mira," Erza smiled with bright child-like eyes.
"And the extra drink," Cana raised her cup in the air.
"Please, come again soon!" Mirajane waved from the counter as they left.
"I want to come back when Lisanna is working," Levy said when the group paused to speak together.
"You don't," Lisanna shook her head.
"Why not?" Cana asked.
"I always get flustered and mess up everyone's orders," Lisanna confessed with shame.
"It's okay!" Levy assured. "We all make mistakes sometimes."
"Not as much as I do," Lisanna pouted.
"When are you working again, Lisanna?" Erza inquired.
"Tomorrow," she answered.
"We're going to Fairy Tail again tomorrow then," Erza stated.
"W-What?! No!" she frantically waved her hands in front of her.
"I don't mind coming again," Jellal shrugged.
"This time Lucy can actually eat something," Gray joked.
"I will," Lucy nodded.
"Sounds like we're coming again then," Natsu smirked at Lisanna.
"You better not try to mess me up, Natsu," she lectured.
"I won't, I won't," he brushed her off with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
Lucy listened in on their conversation with envy, but as she let herself think about the situation, it clicked.
Perhaps she was simply jealous of their longstanding friendship. Yeah, that was it. It had to be it.
Right?
"I'm going this way," Lucy pointed to the direction of her apartment when everyone began to separate.
"Me too," Natsu pointed the same way.
The group waved goodbye to each other and went in their own directions. Natsu and Lucy's footsteps matched each other in silence.
"What was that all about?" Lucy eventually forced herself to ask.
"What?" Natsu raised an eyebrow.
"Me not liking strawberries?" she turned to him with incredulous look.
"Gray would have fed the strawberry to you if I didn't help," he stated.
"Who said I needed your help?" she blurted out with a frown.
"I was—"
"I'm not a little kid; I can do it myself," she interrupted, her anger getting the better of her. "I don't need your help, Natsu."
His silence made her want to blow up, but when he spoke again, all of her irritation deflated.
"I was just trying to help a friend," he muttered.
"W-What?" her eyes widened.
"Since you can do it yourself, I won't try to help you again," his steps started to quicken.
"Wait, Natsu—"
"See you later," he said before striding so fast Lucy was unable to keep up.
She watched Natsu become farther away from her. She realized she wasn't moving anymore, but she didn't bother to resume walking.
"What just happened?" she whispered with disbelief.
Whatever happened caused her stomach to churn and her chest to ache again. Experiencing all these emotions at once was exhausting to Lucy. She wasn't used to feeling like this so suddenly.
It was painful. Since when was it possible to feel this torn merely because of someone else's friendship?
"I hate this," Lucy sighed under her breath, moving her frozen legs as if she was a robot.
Whatever these emotions were, just how could she make them stop?
Lucy had no idea how, but she needed to find the answer as soon as possible before it was too late.