AN: Short chapter for today! Hope you enjoy though! :D

Chapter 9

Lucy was sitting on her couch spending her time reading one of her most beloved novels. It was the typical boy meets girl type of story in which they both hate each other at first yet somehow fall in love towards the end. These kinds of stories always managed to make her wonder what love was like. Then again, everything seemed to be doing that lately. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she was 17 and had never had her first kiss- though she had almost been in an arranged marriage before, which had to count for something. The girl sighed as her eyes scanned the page, jealous of the fictional characters.

"Am I ever going to fall in love?" Lucy wondered with a sad smile on her face. "Mother must be disappointed. She's probably never going to have grandchildren at the rate I'm going. Oh my gosh what if I turn into one of those old ladies that has a million cats? If I ever go back to Fairy Tail I am definitely going to have Cana help me with this kind of stuff."

Suddenly, her door was thrust open and she was brought out of her negative thinking. Lucy watched as Natsu and Happy walked into her apartment. It was clear that they were hiding something behind their back- it had to be her present. The dragon slayer grinned at her brightly.

"Close your eyes, Lucy!" he instructed.

Lucy giggled and did as she was told, excited to see what they got her. Knowing them, it probably wasn't anything too expensive or nice, but it still made her feel special that she was in their thoughts. Her heart started to beat at an insane speed when she felt a warm hand grab onto her own as Natsu slid the gift onto her palm. She tried to tell herself that it was simply because she was too excited about the present and that it wasn't because Natsu's hand was touching her own. Though deep down she knew it wasn't true, especially since she was too focused on the roughness of his touch to notice the hard material of the gift.

"Alright, you can open your eyes now!"

Lucy looked down into her hand and found a thick book in her hand. The mage was surprised to see that it wasn't an action-packed novel that Natsu probably preferred and was instead a romance book.

"Great, another thing to remind me of how terribly single I am," she thought. Nonetheless, a smile was glued on her face and she quickly wrapped her arms around Natsu's neck and pulled him in for a tight hug. "Thank you, Natsu. It's great."

"Hey, what about me?" Happy asked as he plopped onto Lucy's head. "I'm the one that picked out the romantic book instead of the fighting one!"

"Thank you, Happy," she replied, hugging the blue cat dearly.

The three then sat around on the floor for their second night of telling stories. Natsu was going on and on about how vigorous his training was and was removing his coat to show the girl a scar he got from fighting one of the many monsters in some far away forest. While the dragon slayer continued to talk about his training, Lucy stared at the scar and giggled seeing how tiny it was. Her eyes then admired his tan arm, which was just rightfully toned. He wasn't too bulky nor too scrawny. Even his abs were perfect, they almost had Lucy drooling before she caught herself.

"Oh god why am I thinking about that with Natsu!? Get ahold of yourself, Lucy!" she thought as she fought the urge to lightly slap herself.

"Your turn, Luce!" Natsu exclaimed, bringing the girl out of her thoughts.

"H-Huh?"

"It's your turn to tell a story!"

Lucy frowned. Her social life was just as bad as her love life. The story she told the prior night was pretty much all she had. Well, she did have one story, but the girl was unsure as to how Natsu and Happy would react. It wasn't even funny, but the celestial mage decided to say it anyways.

"Well, about a week ago I was visiting Yukino in Sabertooth because she was trying to convince me to go back to Fairy Tail-"

"Which you should."

"Hush. Anyways, she ended up dragging me into a storage closet and-"

"Lucy! Did you and Yukino do what I think you did!?" Happy interrupted with wide eyes. He clearly had the wrong idea.

"No of course not! Stop interrupting! She dragged me in there and poured a bunch of alcohol and oil on me!"

"Why?" Natsu questioned, unsure as to where this story was headed. Perhaps this was one of Lucy's kinks.

"Because dragon slayers have super strong sense of smells and two of them were heading towards us."

An imaginary lightbulb lit up above Natsu's head as he asked, "W-Wait, a week ago? Were you there when we went to see if any members were in Sabertooth!?"

"Yep!"

Natsu huffed and crossed his arms. "You didn't have to hide from us."

"Yes I did, or else you would've tried dragging me back."

"True."

Lucy stood up and raised her arms above her head in a stretch. Her back popped relaxingly as she did this and she knew she was getting tired. Walking back towards her room, the mage was surprised to feel a warm hand gently grab her wrist. This small touch sent a wave of butterflies throughout her, giddiness coursing through her veins. Why did Natsu keep making her feel like this?

"Let's go out tomorrow, Lucy," the pink-haired mage said.

"W-Where are we going?" Lucy inquired, though her mind was focused on the way he kept his hand on her wrist.

"It's a surprise!"

Lucy grinned at the boy mischievously as she asked, "Natsu, are you asking me on a date?"

Natsu sputtered back, "Of course not, stupid!"

The blonde winked at the boy and replied, "Sure, Natsu! Whatever you say! I guess I can go on a date with you!"

With that said, the girl went into her room and closed the door behind her. She leaned her back against the door and placed her hand over her chest. As she predicted, her heart was practically thrashing against her ribcage and she was flustered from head to toe. What was going on with her body lately? She and Natsu used to make jokes like this all the time, why was this any different? Did she actually want it to be a date this time?

Plopping onto her bed, Lucy began to think to herself. "Maybe I should go see a doctor. My hearts been going crazy, maybe this is a warning sign of having a heart attack? No, that's not it. I've researched heart attacks before and this was not on there. Why do I keep getting like this around Natsu? Is it because I haven't seen him in a while?"

Lucy looked at her nightstand and saw the hardcover book Natsu and Happy had bought her, reminding her of her nonexistent love life. "Wait… in every book I read or write with characters falling in love, their hearts are always beating fast. Oh shit… Am I in love with Natsu?"

The blonde shook her head furiously at the thought and stifled a laugh. There was no way that could be true! She hadn't even seen him since a few days ago! He had been gone for over a year! How could she possibly love him? Memories of Jason and other boys asking her out flooded her mind and she realized she had never felt these feelings with any of them. Even with the boys she found attractive weren't able to make her feel so light inside. Even before the guild disbanded she could remember these feelings existing around the dragon slayer. There was no denying it now.

"Damn it. I'm in love with Natsu Dragneel."

Lucy woke up the next morning and immediately frowned, wishing she could stay in her bed forever. She was in love with Natsu, her old partner and best friend. How could she have let this happen? And of all people, why did it have to be Natsu? The girl let out a groan and covered her face with her pillow. Natsu was even denser than she was when it came to these things. This love of hers was definitely going to stay unrequited and go nowhere.

"Why couldn't I fall in love with Loke or Jason? Somebody that I have a chance with?" the blonde wondered, screaming into her pillow out of frustration. She had finally fallen in love and it was with somebody that probably didn't even find girls attractive at all.

"You OK, Luce?" Natsu asked as he stood in her doorway. He could hear her muffled screaming from the living room and ran in thinking she was being suffocated only to find her shoving her own face into a pillow.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Get out of my room!" the blonde squealed as she threw her pillow at him.

"You're weird, Lucy!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Whatever you say, Luigi!"

"Stop calling me that!"

With that, the pink-haired mage was out of her room, leaving Lucy with a flushed face once again.

"And I really wanted to go back to Fairy Tail… How can I go back now that I love Natsu when he'll never like me back?"

Lucy sighed and began to get ready for her "date" with Natsu. Since it was her day off from work, the girl decided to wear something cute she wouldn't normally wear. She may have also been doing it to impress a certain someone, though she would never admit it. Slipping into a sundress, the mage admired herself in the mirror. It was a dark green dress with white hibiscus flowers printed near the side. As always, she could do nothing to hide her cleavage, though she didn't mind. If you got it, why not flaunt it?

Grabbing one of her zodiac keys, she summoned Cancer and asked him to give her beach-wave curls for her hairstyle that day. The crab spirit happily obliged and went to work, giving the girl exactly what she asked for. Her long, golden locks of hair flowed gracefully with loose waves, just like Mira's. Slipping on some white sandals, Lucy was ready to go.

Natsu was in the process of reading one of Lucy's unfinished stories when he felt a rather hard kick to his back. Groaning and rubbing the soon-to-be bruised spot, the boy turned to face the girl and yell at her for kicking him. However, when he did, he instantly regretted it. His breath hitched as he stared at the blonde in front of him. He took in the waves in her hair and the way her dress showed off her curves. The dark green complimented her golden hair and fair skin. It was definitely a nice color for her.

Natsu could feel his cheeks along with the rest of his body gain significant heat. Certain lower parts of his body tingled and he mentally cursed himself for it. The boy then shook his head furiously to snap out of his trance- which did not go unnoticed by Lucy.

Clearing his throat, the boy finally said, "Took you long enough." He then began to walk past the girl and out of the apartment towards wherever they were going that day.

Lucy smiled, thinking about Natsu's reaction to her appearance.

"Maybe I do have a chance after all."

AN: Lol this story really is moving fast! Oh well, I like it!

Mavis Chase: Thank you so much! And yes! I loved reading the manga when she got the Star Dress and was stronger! Needed to include it in my story!

Doom Marine 54: Lol, because you are probably a child, I will keep it civil. When I went to your account, I noticed you only had one "story" which is just pointing out somebody stole somebody else's story (which is a good thing you called out) and all 100 something reviews were people telling you how rude you are for leaving nasty reviews on other people's stories when you don't even write any yourself. You clearly love spending your time doing this to a lot of people because you don't like Lucy- which is cool, everyone has their own opinions- but being rude to people you don't know is not cool. So, I do not need to say much about that. However, I will correct many of the mistakes you made in your hateful reviews:

1.) As we discussed, I didn't have ANYONE in my story take Lucy's side yet. Erza told her everyone handles loss differently and that she should be more understanding. Rogue told her to be more understanding. Sting was upset with her for not seeing Natsu. Jason, Yukino, Leo, and Virgo said nothing on the matter. Get over it. :)

2.) I am very aware that Natsu probably thought she would be in the guild, but that didn't end up happening, so she was left alone. Which I am now using for my story. Get over it. :)

3.) In what way is somebody dying a first world issue lol? Anyways, I am very aware that they were in a war. However, that doesn't mean that they couldn't have figured it out after. I mean, they had to have been curious as to how they were just magically released out of nowhere. Again, because they didn't, I am using it in my story. Get over it. :)

4.) Lucy did lose somebody actually. Her first friend. Thus, I used it in my story. Get over it. :)

5.) Gajeel and Wendy left because they had to. The guild disbanded so they didn't have a choice.

ANYWAYS, have a nice day! Feel free to keep reading and leaving reviews lmao!

12Rayne: Your reviews just always manage to make me laugh! :D Thanks again! :)

J.C: Oops, hope you didn't think she was coming home in this chapter haha! Soon though, I promise! Thanks again my #1 reviewer! :')

Alexa: Aww, another kind review :') AND YES. I will definitely write a chapter with a mission to show off her strength, thanks for the idea! And while I would love for her to use Aquarius' powers, I feel like with this story in particular I can't let her because I wrote her off as dead haha! AND OMG GREAT IDEA! I WISH THEY DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN THE MANGA. I'll see if I can put that in somewhere! :D And I am thinking of an AU story after this one if you are interested :) And thank you about the Doom Marine person, I won't let their hateful words get to me :)

Sama775: Hahaha that would be so funny! They should do that in the manga lol. Thanks for the review :D

Kaylacutiepop: Isn't it so sad! D: At least once the war is over she can go find her! Well not in my story because I wrote Aquarius off as dead, but still! Thanks for another review :)

Mirror Flame: Wow I have never read a fic that long haha! The most I've read is a little over 100 chapters! Must be really good though! :D And thank you I hope it wasn't too much of a wait :)

Kyouya Sata: Lmao I know she didn't actually die. I am caught up on the manga. I just felt that for my story I wanted her to be dead because I want her to have a similar pain that Natsu had. It is a fanfic, I don't have everything go with the manga haha! It might also be because I didn't like how random it was where she came back and her key was magically put somewhere else and just needed to be found. Idk, I don't think I like the idea very much for some reason. Thanks for the review though!

Guest: I'm glad you enjoyed it :D Thank you for the review :D