Hey, guys! How are you all doing today? ~
The reactions to last chapter were kind of unbelievable, honestly. I won't deny that I were offended by some of them. But I guess that's what comes with being a writer, right?
I am currently in the middle of nowhere! I've been in a car for the past 18 hours, so you know what that means.
I wrote. A lot. And when I mean a lot, I mean this is my longest chapter yet for this story, haha. Although a lot of it was on my phone, so there may be some typos...
Though I do have some bad news that some of you already know due to my other story.
I will be going on a semi-hiatus. I'm on vacation (well, going, anyway), I have silly wisdom teeth surgery after my vacation, and a week later it's my birthday! It's August 16, so mark your calendars. ;-) (totally joking) Then, to top it all off, August 17 is my first day of junior year.
It's pretty obvious how busy I'm going to be, so I'm going to take some time off. The next time I update will be around the second/third week of August!
I'm going to try my best to update as soon as I can. I'm really going to miss everyone.
I will always be responding to PMs, and you guys can find me on Tumblr since I'm in that phase right now, lmao.
So that's all I have to say! Thank you guys so much for reading, I can't believe this story has over 1,100 follows.
Since I won't be updating for a while, I'd just like to say thank you for 2000 reviews for whenever the time comes! :-)
Hope you guys enjoy this chapter! See you guys later. ~
For the next two weeks, Lucy did nothing but study, eat a little here, sleep a little there, and then repeat. Her life revolved around studying for the midterms.
Worrying about Natsu and Lisanna was not a part of her agenda.
Not only was she determined to get a good grade on the midterms, but she also wanted to beat Natsu this time. Even if it was just by one point—she wouldn't care.
Though there was a chance she may not even attend the school festival, but she still had a speck of hope somewhere inside of her. Seeing Natsu dress up as a girl would definitely make her laugh for weeks.
However, as Lucy whizzed through her packet to study, Natsu took the lazy route and chose to play video games the entire time.
"Don't you want to study at least once?" Lucy suggested from her spot at the kitchen table on one of her study days. All across the table were scattered papers, eraser shavings, and textbooks.
She expected the usual nah from him, but this time, Natsu responded, "Sure."
"R-Really?" her jaw dropped.
"I've beat this game twice already," he admitted while heading to his room. "Make some room for me, I'm going to get my packet."
Lucy involuntarily dropped her pencil. Fumbling around with her things, several papers fell on the floor. Never had she thought that this day would ever come.
"You're already on page seven?" Natsu's eyes widened once he joined her at the table. "How'd you do that?"
"By studying," Lucy replied proudly. Anything that impressed him was enough for her confidence to shoot into the sky.
"Want to let me see it?" he smirked.
"Nope," she shook her head with a grin. "I'm only here to help if you have a question."
"This is just like school," he grumbled under his breath. Lucy pressed her lips together to keep herself from giggling.
It was only ten minutes later when she realized that she had studied as much as she needed to. Sure, she could get ahead, but after becoming conscious that Natsu was this close to her, she couldn't focus anymore.
Natsu nonchalantly answered the questions on the packet, slumping into his seat so much he could almost be laying down. His legs were outstretched under the table, and he could sense Lucy's legs being right next to his.
Lucy peeked up from her study packet to steal a glimpse of him. His lashes were lowered so she wasn't able to see his eyes traveling across the paper as he read. Her heart pounded in her throat.
"Why does it have to be Natsu?" she thought in frustration. Pretending to answer more questions on the packet, the pencil in her hand paused.
"How are you and Lisanna?" she asked, breaking the silence.
"We're good," Natsu shrugged simply. He set his pencil on the table and placed his hands behind his head.
"Have you been on any dates with her?" she tried not to pry too much. "You don't really go out with her much, do you?"
"That's not really any of your business, Luce," he responded.
Lucy and Natsu's eyes became large simultaneously. They shared a couple of confused blinks as if neither of them could believe what he said.
"S-Sorry," he stuttered while snatching his pencil and returning to his work. He leaned on his left arm on the table and resumed to write, his face withdrawn from hers. "I just think that kind of stuff should be between me and her."
"That's fine, I understand. Sorry for asking," Lucy coughed out with a dry throat. A lump instantly grew inside of it.
A now awkward silence floated between the two; it was suffocating.
Any thoughts about how self-conscious Lucy was feeling had completely vanished. She even felt ashamed—this was her best friend's boyfriend. It wasn't right for her to be thinking like this.
She was about to reveal she was finished with studying, yet Natsu interrupted her.
"I don't really get this," his brows furrowed at the paper.
"What do you need help on?" she questioned.
"Am I supposed to put the fraction here or there?" he pointed to the equations with his pencil.
"There," she tapped her pencil on the second equation. "The fraction always goes there no matter what."
Natsu nodded in understanding, the silence taking over once again. But this time, it didn't last as long.
"I don't really get this one either," he was back to frowning at his packet minutes later.
Lucy gave an amused smile, more than happy to know that he didn't know everything like he claimed to.
Soon enough, it was like a wizard had casted a spell on them. One question led to another, Lucy was trying to dumb it down as much as she could, and Natsu was having more fun than he should.
She had missed this—their friendship that didn't let either of them worry about anything in the world. It was almost as though they had went back in time to when neither of them knew what they were feeling. It was all about who could make the other laugh the hardest.
"You really don't know anything about this subject!" Lucy laughed out, wiping a tear out of the corner of her eye.
"Hey," he pouted. "I tried my best to hide this away from you!"
"Why?" she tilted her head.
"So you would think I'm smarter than you," he explained. "But with how much help I've needed, it's obvious you're smarter."
"You're still smart," Lucy guaranteed. "If you weren't, you wouldn't have beat me last time."
"That was just luck," he grinned, loving the bewildered reaction he received from her.
She was seconds away from retorting something back, yet she was cut off by his phone ringing in his pocket.
Lucy could already feel the spell the wizard had casted begin to wear off.
"It's Lisanna," Natsu said.
They were now back to time where both of them knew what they were feeling.
"I'm done studying, anyway," she assured. "Go ahead and answer it if you want."
Picking up her materials to pretend like she wasn't listening, Lucy waited for Natsu to answer the phone.
"Hey, what's up? Yeah, I'm studying with Lucy right now," he spoke. "Right now? Okay, sure, I'll go. Bye."
Lucy wasn't sure if she could ask if he was going out, since like he said earlier, it wasn't any of her business. So instead, she waited for him to speak first.
"Lisanna wants me to meet up with her somewhere," he stated.
"Okay, have fun together," Lucy smiled at him. "I'll see you later."
Natsu rose from his seat once he had collected the materials he brought. After putting them back in his room, he headed to the door.
"See you," he stepped outside and clicked the door shut. Happy stared at the closed door for a few seconds then strutted off to his room to take a nap on his bed.
Lucy let out a sigh, not realizing she had been suppressing it in this entire time. She began to take her materials back, her phone on the bed lighting up as soon as she entered her room.
Her eyes landed onto the caller ID. Her mind became blank in an instant. She couldn't stop her hands from trembling as she brought the phone up to her ear.
"Hey, Mom. How's Dad doing?"
Waking up on the first day of midterms was more exciting than Lucy would like to admit.
Natsu actually studied this time, and for some reason, that motivated her more than ever before. It was as if she was being taken serious this time.
"I'm going to win this bet," Natsu whispered beside her before the test started.
"In your dreams," she whispered back with a smirk.
As always, on the two days the students took the test, they were released from school earlier than usual.
On the second day of midterms, everyone was too restless to go home and sleep like they did the day before. Now that the test was over, they had to wait until tomorrow to see their test result.
"How do you guys think you did on the tests?" Erza inquired when they sat down at their table in Fairy Tail. There was no better place to hold a group therapy session than here.
"Better than Lucy," Natsu answered immediately.
"Better than Natsu," Lucy replied confidently.
"Juvia did better than Gray," Juvia proclaimed.
"No, I definitely did better than you," Gray countered with a smug look.
"Did you two make a bet?" Lucy leaned over to look at them curiously.
"Yep!" Juvia nodded with a smile. "Did Natsu and Lucy make a bet, too?"
"She forced me into it," Natsu shrugged.
"I did not!" Lucy protested, holding back her smile as he laughed.
"I'm not going to get any sleep tonight," Cana groaned. She took a large gulp of her drink which had an extremely strong smell nobody could ignore. She roughly set her mug back on the table, the cups thudding in response.
"Try not to break the table in half, please," Lisanna giggled, having just returned with a circular tray with everyone's lunch on it.
"I feel bad that you have to come straight to work on our half days," Levy said unhappily.
"It's fine," Lisanna guaranteed, sliding into her spot beside Natsu. "There's not a lot of people here, so I get a lot of breaks."
"Gajeel gets a lot of breaks, too, even if there are people," Juvia stated, not paying attention to the glare Gajeel gave her.
"I wouldn't mind getting paid for not doing anything," Jellal remarked.
"Yeah, it's great," Gajeel sneered.
"Are we planning on doing something after midterms tomorrow?" Lisanna questioned.
"We should go somewhere," Lucy proposed.
"Let's go to your apartment!" Levy exclaimed.
"It's my apartment, too," Natsu mentioned.
"But Lucy is the one that keeps it clean, right?" Erza pointed out. Natsu wordlessly slouched in his seat in response.
"I wanted to go to the arcade," Gray grumbled, but loud enough for everyone to hear.
"We can go to the arcade, too," Lucy offered. "We can go to my apartment for a while then go to the arcade during the evening."
"Sounds good to me," Gray responded, everyone else nodding in agreement.
"Juvia has never been out with friends before like this!" Juvia blurted out. "Juvia is excited!"
"We're all competitive when it comes to arcade games," Cana warned.
"Juvia is, too," she replied. "Juvia thinks her specialty are the water games."
"Really?" Gray quirked a brow. "I'll take you on, then."
Juvia didn't hold back her squeak; the thoughts running through her mind were obvious enough for Gray to clear his throat.
"So it's set!" Lisanna stood up after noticing a customer. "I'll talk to you guys later!"
Going onto another topic until everyone had finished eating their lunch, they decided to go home for the day.
Everyone's anticipation was now being centered on tomorrow—going to the arcade and beating everyone and anyone who dared to cross their path.
"We both have bags under our eyes again!" Levy cheered the moment Lucy shuffled into the classroom.
"I still don't get why you're happy about that," Gajeel muttered, sitting beside her in a desk that wasn't his.
"Because we were suffering together," Lucy explained simply while leaning against one of the desks nearby them.
"Gajeel, I'm surprised you're not worrying this time," Gray smirked. "You're the only one out of us that failed last time."
Gajeel sent him a dirty look. "I studied this time."
"Did Levy tutor you?" Lucy grinned, loving how easy it was for both of their faces to become flushed.
They didn't get the chance to defend themselves as they were interrupted by the bell. Lucy plopped down in her desk, knowing that the day was going to be a drag since they wouldn't be doing anything.
The day was spent playing tic-tac-toe and worrying about the test results.
"Are you ready to see our results?" Natsu asked Lucy when the day was almost over. They hadn't really talked all day due to the excitement for the arcade later.
"I know I did well," she stated optimistically. "Are you ready to ready to dress up as a girl during the festival?"
"Nope, because it's not happening," he replied.
"We'll see," she hummed.
Minutes later, the bell rang throughout the school. Some students were already shooting out of the classroom.
Lucy couldn't help but feel disappointed since Natsu didn't snatch her wrist and drag her to the board this time. She glanced at Gray tugging Juvia out of the classroom with him.
"Lucy and I are going to go see our results," Natsu called out, letting everyone know. Beckoning Lucy to follow him, he left the classroom with her trailing behind him.
However, after taking two steps, the crowd all came at once.
Lucy was instantly pushed to the side by someone and before she could regain her balance, she was shoved again from her other side. Then suddenly, she was gently pulled from by the wrist.
"Sorry," Natsu mumbled. "I didn't think it was going to be this crowded."
"It's okay," she sent him a small smile. She hoped her eyes didn't give away how overjoyed she felt.
Despite not running through the hallway again, they did stride to the board so they would at least be able to see their scores from behind the crowd. And of course, Natsu didn't let one single person bump into her.
"Well, let's see who won," Natsu said as he squinted the board.
Lucy felt a rush of anxiety come over her as she scanned the names. Her breath stopped when she realized whose name was on the left this time.
"I won!" she proclaimed. "I won the bet!"
Natsu looked at her blankly while she cheered by herself. A smile danced across his lips, but it stopped once he remembered.
"I have to dress up as a girl now?" he groaned.
"That's right!" she rejoiced. "I have the perfect outfit for you!"
"I don't want to know," he sighed under his breath. "I'll make sure to beat you next time!"
Lucy paused, yet before he could notice, she nodded. "We'll see what happens next time."
"Did you beat Natsu, Lucy?" Lisanna's voice came up behind them.
Lucy's eyes widened, looking down at her wrist; Natsu's hands were already shoved into his pockets.
"Yes, I did," she responded smoothly. "He has to dress up as a girl now."
"That'll be amazing," Lisanna grinned. "I can't wait to see it!"
"I don't want to talk about it anymore," Natsu shivered, walking away to leave the school.
Lucy giggled along with Lisanna as they discussed how hilarious it was going to be during the festival. Both them were already looking forward to it.
"Juvia won the bet!" Juvia declared, shortly joining the three at the front of the school.
"What does Ice Princess have to do?" Natsu asked with a glint in his eyes that wished it would be something embarrassing.
"You're not allowed to tell them, Juvia," Gray commanded.
"Sorry, Natsu," Juvia sent him an apologetic look.
Lucy viewed Juvia and Gray with amusement. Gray really had given Juvia another chance—it was relieving.
Eventually, the rest of the group showed up, everyone content with their results, except for one person.
"Gajeel did better than me," Levy muttered into Lucy's ear.
"He what?!" Lucy shouted in surprise. Gajeel cackled to himself behind them.
"Now it's his turn to teach you when you need help," Cana snickered.
"I wouldn't mind," Gajeel chuckled. A violent blush blossomed onto Levy's face.
"To Lucy's house!" Erza announced.
"And Natsu's," Natsu added plainly.
"I still don't understand how you two ended up living together," Jellal frowned.
"Long story," Natsu and Lucy answered together with a shrug.
Jellal returned the shrug, walking up next to Erza as she led the group.
While they walked, Lucy couldn't help but notice the pairs. Not that she minded being paired up with Cana; the sight of everyone should have made her happy—it didn't.
Stopping at the convenience and getting three employee discounts this time, everyone was forced to carry two bags filled with snacks.
"We should do this more often," Natsu nearly drooled at the amount of snacks that surrounded them once they were at the apartment. Even Happy's expression matched Natsu's.
"Let's dig in!" Lucy allowed, smiling at how everyone seized the snack that they bought first.
Munching on some chips—and reluctantly sharing their snacks with each other—the group did nothing but relax and talk about how the tests were finally over.
It was relieving, not having to think about any exam until finals in several months.
"Does anybody want a drink?" Lucy suggested, standing up from her spot.
"Got some already," Cana winked, patting her schoolbag.
"I'll help you," Levy rose from her spot.
"Me too!" Lisanna volunteered, following the two into the kitchen.
"Girls," Gray scoffed under his breath.
He was beginning to feel stuffed by all the junk food he had just shoved down his throat. Folding his arms across his chest, he allowed his eyes to wander the apartment.
The door to Lucy's room was opened slightly; he couldn't stop himself from peeking into it.
He wasn't imagining it—there was a suitcase on her bed.
"Gray, are you okay?" Juvia gazed at him with a puzzled expression.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," he coughed out, having accidentally choked on his spit.
"Here!" Lucy quickly handed him his drink.
"Thanks," he mumbled. It took all of his strength to not jump up and ask why there was a suitcase on her bed.
Was she planning on leaving soon? When he texted her, she didn't say anything about leaving. Lucy wasn't the type of person to disappear out of nowhere. She was going to say something, right?
"Are you sure you're okay?" Juvia hauled him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, just thinking," Gray shrugged.
"Can we go to the arcade now?" Cana inquired. "I'm ready to kick some butt."
"Yeah, right," Natsu retorted. "I'm going to kick some butt."
Lucy and Levy shared a sigh as everyone immediately began to brag about how much butt kicking they were going to do. Of course, they were all oblivious to how ridiculous they sounded.
"This place is so cool!" Juvia gasped once they arrived to the arcade. "There are so many games!"
"You haven't been to an arcade before?" Lucy questioned.
"No," she shook her head. "Juvia never had friends, so she couldn't go."
"Well, good thing you have us, then!" Levy grinned. "Let's go play!"
The group naturally scattered throughout the arcade; however, they were all lured to the same game in seconds.
"Air hockey with four people?" Natsu gaped at the large table. "Who wants to get their butt kicked?"
"Stop saying that, it's weird," Gray spoke. "But I'm in."
"Me too!" Lisanna stepped towards the table.
"I guess I'll go this round, too," Jellal chimed in.
"The person who has been scored on the most is the one who gets eliminated from the round," Erza announced the rules.
"I'm ready," Natsu rolled his shoulders back with a competitive aura surrounding him,, Gray doing just the same. Lisanna and Jellal exchanged a slight shrug.
Lucy held her breath as they all inserted a coin into their side of the table. Each round was only a minute and thirty seconds, and with how vicious Natsu and Gray could get, the loser could be anyone.
The puck began to float moments later and the clock started to tick. It was no surprise that Natsu and Gray were the first ones to reach out with their mallets to get it.
"You guys, we're here, too!" Lisanna whined after twenty seconds passed and Natsu and Gray had only directed the puck at each other.
"To hell with this," Jellal muttered to himself as he swiftly stuck out his mallet and brought the puck to his side.
It was as though time stood still while Jellal plotted his next move on who he wanted to score on.
"Can't get me that easily, Jellal," Natsu taunted, smoothly blocking his goal.
Then, at once, the puck started to fly. Really fly.
Lucy's eyes weren't able to keep up with the crimson puck as it hovered all across the table with incredible speed. Even if someone had made a score, they promptly returned the puck to the middle of the table to resume the game.
It was becoming so intense, Gray couldn't stop himself from overly thrusting the puck. It flew off the table, landing on the floor a few feet away.
"Disqualified!" Erza reported.
"Seriously?" Gray inquired with disbelief.
"Yes," Erza gave a quick nod. "New player, please fill Gray's spot."
"Juvia will go!" she raised her hand. "Juvia will play for Gray."
"Whatever, I'll kick your butts later," he grumbled, nearly stomping to where everyone else was standing.
Lucy stifled a laugh, but she stopped once she noticed the beads of sweat on Gray's forehead. Was playing air hockey that intense?
One minute and thirty seconds had never flown by so fast before. Time was nonexistent during air hockey.
Gray wasn't the only one to get disqualified—Gajeel had thrown the puck so far away, it became lost. After waiting for the employees to search for another one, the game instantly resumed as if it never stopped.
Lucy had already started sweating herself, although she was only watching. She gulped when Natsu pointed at her.
"You must join the battle," he demanded.
Lucy knew she wouldn't be able to back out now. She was the last person to join. The remaining players were Natsu, Lisanna, Erza, and her.
Natsu and Lisanna had proved they knew how to play well. Erza didn't even need to prove she knew how to play well.
"I'm screwed," Lucy sighed under her breath.
Yet she wasn't as screwed as she thought she was going to be. She had managed to keep her goal blocked with her mallet the majority of the time, so she left the game up the rest of them.
As a result, Erza ended up becoming the next victim. The puck flew off the table again, hitting someone on the shin.
"Not again!" the person cried out.
"Didn't that guy get hit already?" Natsu inquired.
"That's not my fault," Erza flipped her hair back to hide her embarrassment. "Well, I'm out now. Good luck, you three."
"I can't believe I'm still here!" Lisanna proclaimed. "Let's do this!"
Going back to being the reporter, Erza placed the puck at the center of the table.
Lucy felt a surge of adrenaline the second the clock started. She speedily reached her mallet out to the center of the table and dragged the puck to her side.
"Nice one, Luce," Natsu commented with a grin.
"Thank you," she smiled back. Using the distraction, she used her peripheral vision to hit the puck into his goal.
"Really nice one!" Levy cheered behind her. "I'm rooting for Lu-chan!"
"My money is on Natsu," Gajeel disagreed.
"Lisanna could make a comeback," Cana reminded.
Natsu, Lisanna, and Lucy ignored the bets happening behind them. It took all their focus for them to see where the puck was going.
"If Lisanna doesn't score at least two more times, she will be eliminated," Erza announced.
Lucy didn't need to see the time to know that the round was almost over. She could win this. She could feel the win at her fingertips.
But that wasn't the only thing skimming across her fingers.
"My hand!" Lucy shrieked, instinctively releasing her mallet. She raised her hand up to find two of her fingers throbbing.
"Are you okay?" Natsu asked across from her.
"The puck hit my hand," she mumbled. She didn't think a piece of plastic could hurt this much.
"Due to a hand injury, Lucy must forfeit," Erza reported slowly. "I'm sorry, Lucy."
"It's okay," she assured with a forced smile. She was disappointed in herself, having to forfeit because of something petty like this. "Lisanna, you better win!"
"I'll win for you," Lisanna promised. "I'll kick his butt."
"Even though I said it earlier, it still sounds weird," Gray stated.
"Lu-chan, you should go get some ice from the concession stand," Levy advised when she came back to the group. "Do you want me to go with you?"
"No, it's okay. I'll go by myself," she replied. "I'll be back."
It didn't take long for Lucy to get a small bag of ice. Her two swollen fingers cooled with relief as she held the ice against it. With these fingers, she knew she wouldn't be able to play anything else tonight.
"Lucy, I won! I beat Natsu!" Lisanna shouted happily once she returned. "Is your hand okay now?"
Lucy glanced over Lisanna's shoulder, seeing Natsu leaning over the air hockey table with defeat. She couldn't help but giggle.
"Natsu definitely needed to get his butt kicked," Lucy spoke with an amused look. "My hand will be fine as long as I keep the ice on it."
"I'm not the one who made you hurt your hand, right?" Lisanna asked hesitantly.
"Of course not!" Lucy shook her head. "It's impossible to know who since the puck was going everywhere."
The ease in Lisanna's eyes was clear as she sighed. It made Lucy wonder—would Lisanna still care about her hand if she knew how she felt towards Natsu?
"Well, after watching all that, I'm ready to really kick some butt," Gajeel declared.
"Seriously, can we stop saying that already?" Gray inquired.
"Is there a water game here?" Juvia questioned. "Juvia wants to see if it's really her specialty!"
It was then when the group officially began to spread out. Lucy was planning on watching Cana play games, but Juvia wanted the both of them to watch her go against Gray at a water game.
"What are we supposed to do?" Juvia examined the square in front of her with handles on the side.
"The point of the game is to aim the water into that circle over there," Gray pointed to the red circle inside of the clown's opened mouth several yards away from them. "The more water that hits the circle, the higher the hat goes. The first person that makes the hat touch the top first wins."
"Juvia is ready!" she proclaimed. "Let's start!"
"Does Juvia even know how to aim?" Cana scoffed, noticing her struggle at moving the square that spit out the water into the air.
"I'm sure she'll do great," Lucy mentally encouraged Juvia, biting her lip anxiously.
Gray, Cana, and Lucy's jaws immediately fell the moment the game started. Juvia was a natural, having the most precise aim in seconds. The clown's hat shot up with no delay.
"How did you do that?" Gray's mouth was still open even after Juvia had won.
"Juvia's specialty are water games," she smiled.
"That was really cool," he complimented, sounding almost breathless.
"Gray was really cool, too!" Juvia exclaimed.
"Let's let them have their moment," Cana grinned while tugging Lucy away.
"I wish I could play with you," Lucy pouted, trailing behind Cana as she picked out a game she wanted to play.
"It's fine," she waved her off. "At least I know I'll win whatever I play."
Lucy stifled a laugh, shaking her head. She didn't realize how entertaining it was to watch someone play an arcade game until Cana revealed her true self when she lost.
"This game is stupid! Let's go to another one!" Cana huffed.
Similar to air hockey, time didn't exist in the arcade. Before they knew it, a voice sounding through an intercom was telling everyone the arcade was closing in ten minutes.
"Where are Lisanna and Natsu?" Levy questioned once the group reunited in front of the arcade.
"They should be here soon since it's closing," Erza stated with a hint of unease.
"Sorry, guys!" Lisanna's voice drifted in the air. She jogged up to the group with Natsu sipping on some soda beside her. "Natsu was eating."
"As always," Gray scoffed.
They stepped outside, the chilly air making goosebumps rise on all their skin. Lucy rubbed her arms to keep warmth.
"Let's all hurry home," Jellal said. "It's too cold for all of us to be outside."
The group nodded in agreement, hurriedly separating after waving goodbye to one another. Lucy expected to be alone as she walked home, so she wasn't surprised when she was.
But she was not expecting to have someone beside her halfway home.
"Hey," Natsu came up to her. Something about his voice told her that he had been running.
"Why aren't you walking Lisanna home?" her eyes widened.
"Lisanna didn't want you to be alone," he answered. "She has Cana to walk with, anyway."
"Oh, okay," she responded shortly.
"How are your fingers?" he asked.
"The swelling has gone down," she smiled gratefully, lifting her hand up to show him. She brought it back down to her sides and was about to put her hands in her pockets.
She squeaked as Natsu took a hold of her hand before she it entered her pockets. It was only a split second he held it, but in that moment, he had brushed his thumb across her bruised fingers.
"Sorry I can't do anything else," he muttered.
Lucy was about to ask what he meant; she didn't notice they were already back at home.
"I'm going to sleep now. Goodnight, Luce," he spoke.
"Goodnight," she whispered, though his door was closed.
Going into her bedroom, she fell into her bed, knowing the throbbing in her fingers wasn't just because of the air hockey puck.
It was because of him.
"Ignore it," she ordered herself. She pressed her arm over her eyes as she thought.
She could do this—this whole friend thing with Natsu. She was going to do it no matter what.
It clearly worked today during school and the arcade. If she could do it once, she could do it again and again if it meant everyone was going to be happy.
Lucy was going to be okay like this. Everyone was happy, so why couldn't she be happy, too? She was the only one stopping herself.
Things were surely going to work themselves out. Lucy wasn't going to take an unhappy ending for herself as an answer.
She was going to ignore her feelings for Natsu. She was still going to be his roommate. She was still going to be his best friend.
She was still going to hope that these feelings inside of her would be returned by someone.
Someday.