2. Girls Night
Lucy was quite surprised when she found Erza sitting on her couch. She was even more surprised when Levy wandered in with a collection of papers she'd nabbed from the stellar spirit mage's desk. From the looks of things, the solid script mage was reading over her latest manuscript.
With eyes like saucers, Lucy gazed at her two friends. Why was it that the entire damn guild felt the need to break into her apartment? She was beginning to think there was some kind of competition running behind her back that encouraged Fairy Tail to sneak through her freaking window.
"E-Erza! Levy! What are you two doing here?" Lucy spluttered. The armoured mage shrugged, while Levy gave her a smile.
"Well, the girls at Fairy Hills decided to have a girl's night, Lu-chan! And we wanted to hang out with you too, so we figured we'd all come over," she explained, flipping over to the next page while she spoke.
"All the girls? But it's only you two… Right?'
Erza shook her head. "Wrong. Juvia, Bisca, Wendy, Cana, and Mira are here too," she said, counting off the names on her fingers. Erza then stopped for a moment, before looking around. "Oh. They're not here anymore. I wonder where they went."
"You mean you don't know?!" Lucy cried, running over to the bathroom. "It's a three room apartment! How can you get lost in a three room apartment?"
She pushed open the door, peeping inside. The lights in the bathroom were much brighter, and Lucy had to blink for moment until her eyes were accustomed to it. She then noticed steam drifting from her bath tub, and two familiar figures.
Cana and Juvia lay in her tub, bathed in steam. Lucy's eyes widened, as she absorbed the image before her. The brunette had perched her feet on the edge of the tub, while her head tilted back. She smiled dazedly at the ceiling, eyes closed. Juvia wasn't quite as languid as Cana. In fact, she was busy manipulating the water in the tub. By the looks of the little watery figures floating around her, she as trying to craft a miniature 'Gray-sama'.
Lucy blinked for a moment, wondering what to say. "Um…" she managed, drawing the gaze of both mages. Cana's eyes drifted open, and her head lolled to the side. She gave Lucy a grin, eyes half-closed.
"There you are, Lucy," she grinned. "We were getting worried!"
The blue-haired mage nodded. "Juvia thought her love-rival had vanished."
"So you decided to take a bath?! In my bath?!" Lucy spluttered, hands balled at her sides. Cana watched her silently for a moment, before nodding slowly.
"Well… Yeah. Hey, do you have any booze in your fridge? Mira and the others are in the kitchen, but they couldn't find any," Cana frowned.
A miniature Gray floated past Lucy's head, orbiting the blonde like a tiny, watery moon. Her eyes locked onto its small, spiky mop of hair, before she hung her head. "I'll go check," she resigned, batting the little figurine away with a splash. She heard Juvia cry out in horror as Lucy shuffled through the door.
Lucy steeled herself as she entered the kitchen, wary of what she might find. The shrill clang of pots and pans echoed through the door way, signalling some kind of havoc coming from within. Lucy peeped through, discovering the last of her friends.
Mira, Wendy and Bisca were huddled over a cook book, muttering to each other. Mira seemed to be in charge, standing in the centre of the group, and explaining the instructions to the other two.
"Ok, so to start, we'll need three cups of flour," she read, before looking up. Her eyes met Lucy's and a wide smile spread over her face. "Lucy! How are you?"
The other two girls looked up, and gave Lucy similar looks. Wendy gave a small wave as well. "Hi Lucy," she greeted. "I hope you don't mind, we just thought everyone would like a snack," she said shyly.
Bisca nodded. "Mm. We're making strawberry cake; Erza's request! By the way, where's your flour?" she asked, cocking her head.
"Uh… Cupboard on the left," she instructed. Lucy went over to her fridge, looking over its contents. It looked void of alcohol; Cana would not be pleased. She frowned. Lucy dug through a little further, reaching past a few tubs of yoghurt to the untouched realm at the back.
"Ok, so now we'll need to measure out the flour. Wendy, can you open the bag?" Mira asked.
"Sure! Hold on one moment…" she trailed off. Lucy heard a few strained noises, and then a very loud tear. Lucy jumped as the three girls screeched. Her head smacked into the roof of the fridge, and she noticed white powder settling at her toes. "Oops," Wendy murmured.
Rubbing her sore head, Lucy turned to find her kitchen floor covered in white coating, as well as Wendy's face and forearms. Mire blinked for a moment, before smiling again. "Oh well! The kitchen's clean; we'll just scoop it up again! Sorry about the mess, Lucy!"
No words came to mind, so the stellar spirit mage stood, dumbstruck. Well, there goes her kitchen.
Wendy sniffed, shaking her head clean. Flour still settled under her nose, and she twitched. "Uh-oh," she said quietly. "Ah… Ah…. AT-CHOO!"
Wendy rubbed her nose, now perfectly clean. Lucy's kitchen, on the other hand, had been thoroughly redecorated in flour. Instead of the floor, the walls and cupboards were now coated as well. Mira, Bisca and herself were now covered in the stuff as well. She sighed, producing a puff of white dust.
Wendy looked meekly at the ground. "S-sorry guys," she apologised. "I didn't mean to."
Bisca brushed herself off, and more clouds of flour took to the air. She gave the small girl a smile. "It's alright, Wendy. We can still use it."
"I'll go get some new clothes for everyone," Lucy announced, quickly leaving war zone her kitchen had become. There was no way she was sticking around there any longer than she had too.
Lucy returned to her lounge room, where her uninvited guests had curled up on her couch. Levy looked up from her papers, smiling. "So Lu-chan, did you find everyone?"
The warm, buttery scent of freshly-baked cake was a nice sedative, in Lucy's mind. After the earlier chaos, it was quite refreshing. Even though she knew that half the cake batter had been spilt throughout her kitchen before it found its way into the oven, she still couldn't say no to a sliver. It was pink after all. Pink cake! Who could reject pink cake?
Cana and Juvia had re-emerged from her bathroom, in matching pink pyjamas. Cana had chosen to alter hers by unbuttoning most of her shirt and tying it roughly below her breasts. Juvia had left her shirt alone, and now reclined on Lucy's couch, enraptured in a daydream that was provoking a fine string of drool to leak from her mouth.
The three 'cooks' had gotten changed as well, wearing Lucy's own pyjama's. Since Wendy was so much smaller, she'd chosen to forgo pants and parade around in Lucy's pyjama shirt like a nightie.
The group of girls huddled together, surrounding what was left of the glorious cake. They chatted happily, nibbling on their slices. It was actually kind of fun, Lucy realised, smiling and laughing along with the others.
"Ok, if no one else is going to say it, I will," Cana declared, flashing an evil grin. "Girls, what's going on with the boys?" She gave the girls a menacing look. "You know what I'm talking about." She pointed to Bisca. "Alzack." Levy. "Gajeel". Mira. "Laxus". Juvia. "Gray." Wendy. "Romeo." Erza. "Jellal." Lucy. "Natsu," she finished, still grinning. The seven aforementioned girls turned pink, with the exception of Mira, who just smiled.
"Well, I'm married with a kid, so I don't think there's all that much to say," Bisca rolled her eyes. "And both Al and Asuka get on my nerves actually. I'd be much more interested in these six."
Cana shrugged. "Ok, fair point." She turned back to the solid script mage. "So Levy, you're up. What are you doing with Gajeel? And please, don't skimp on the graphic details."
"I-I… Nothing's happened," Levy stuttered, flushing a violent shade of red. She hid behind her plate of cake, as if it would shield her from Cana's interrogation. The brunette just rolled her eyes.
"Oh please, like I'm going to believe that. Wakaba saw you two messing around in the guild after closing time, and we all know that he and Macao gossip like old women. Trust me, you're not fooling anyone here," Cana teased, and poor Levy flushed even deeper.
"S-someone saw?!" she squeaked, hiding her face in her hands. "Oh boy…"
"C'mon, just tell us what's going on," Cana coaxed. "The sooner you tell, the sooner it I stop harassing you and start on Mira!"
"I don't…. Oh, fine," Levy sighed, slumping forward. She took a deep breath. "It's not anything too big, it was just… I always liked him, it was late, and he was there, and everything just… came out. I blurted out everything, all my feelings, and I just sort of found my way into his arms," she finished. She looked up now, eyes sparkling. Her blush had diminished considerably, and now she looked almost happy.
"H-he loves me," she said softly, hugging her knees to her chest. "I don't know what else to say."
"So, did you do anything? Gajeel seems like he'd be pretty intense in bed," Cana mused.
"What kind of girl do you think I am? I didn't…. I didn't have sex with him," she threw back, indignant. The pink colouring of embarrassment returned to her cheeks just as swiftly as it had disappeared. Levy hung her head again, and muttered something that sounded a lot like 'Mira's turn'.
Cana sighed. "Fine then, I suppose that'll have to do. Now, Mira, you'll give us some gory details, won't you?"
Mira just shrugged. "There are no gory details to give. I'm just not involved with Laxus," she said simply.
"But do you want to be?" Cana pushed. "C'mon, we both know there's something there, even if you don't want to admit it just now. At do you think of him, at least?"
"Fine. I think he's had a hard life, but I think he's more than redeemed his past mistakes. He's strong, he's loyal, he's disciplined, he's mature," she listed his qualities, counting them off on her fingers. "Above all, he's just… loving." Mira looked up, smiling. "Satisfied?"
Cana shook her head. "Not even remotely. That little list just proved you do care for him. Now, please elaborate. Levy did; you can too."
"On what? He's nice, but I prefer playing matchmaker to be part of a match," Mira winked. "It's much more fun that way, you know?"
"Don't change the subject, this is getting interesting," Bisca grinned.
"Ok, theoretically, what would you do if you two were alone, and he went to kiss you? Would you make out with him? Screw him? What?"
"Well, this is theoretically, so, I guess I'd just… kiss back. He'd attractive, I won't deny that. But any girl would kiss him back. That says nothing," Mire replied honestly.
"Sure, sure," Cana brushed her off. "I feel like I've just proved something, so I'm satisfied for now. You two would be cut together, though."
The brunette turned her attention to Juvia. "So, Gray?"
Immediately, Juvia's eyes lit up. She smiled dazedly. "Juvia loves Gray-sama forever. He is the perfect man for Juvia, and Juvia think he will propose any day now. Then, we'll have four kids, and live in a beautiful house in the countryside and grow old together," she doted, hands clasped.
The other girls blinked, absorbing Juvia's little prediction in all of its grandeur. "Uh… Ok, let's move on to Wendy…. Wendy?"
The small girl was nowhere in sight. "Shit, she got away," Cana cursed. "Come on, Wendy! I swear I'll leave you alone!"
A soft voice rang out from somewhere behind the couch. "Promise?" Wendy called.
Cana relented. "Yeah, yeah, I promise. Now get your ass back here!"
The blue-haired girl sidled back to the group, settling down between Levy and Lucy. "Great!" Cana smiled. "So, now you're back tell us about you and Romeo!"
"What? No, you promised," she shrieked, getting up to run again, Levy and Lucy grabbed her, holding the little girl tight.
"Wait, hold up, we won't ask you anymore, I swear, right, Cana?" Levy consoled, throwing the brunette a look.
"Ok, ok, I'll leave you be," she sighed, shaking her head. Wendy, looking relieved, settled back down into her position, resting her head in Levy's lap. "Oh well, Erza's up. When was the last time you saw Jellal?" Cana questioned.
"The Grand Magic Games," she said matter-of-factly. "Where else would I see him?"
"Oh, I don't know, perhaps on a date, a romantic midnight visit, possibly in bed…" Cana trailed off. "Who can really say?"
Erza blinked. "He has a fiancé," she said simply.
Cana shook her head. "We both know he was lying when he said that. It was part of that ridiculous 'I'm not good enough' routine."
Erza smirked. "It sounds like you know plenty about it already, then. I see no need to ask any further questions."
Cana shrugged. "Maybe so. Can you at least tell us how you two parted?"
The armoured mage chewed her lip. Lucy could barely see it, but her cheeks had flushed a very light shade of pink.
Cana didn't miss the blush, and her lips curled. Ah, so it was that kind of good bye, huh?"
Erza's eye hardened. "I didn't say anything."
"You didn't have to. So was it a kiss? Something more? A promise, at the least, to meet again?"
Erza looked away. By now, her blush was very noticeable. "I'm not talking anymore."
Cana rolled her eyes. "Oh come on-"
In the blink of an eye, Erza's pyjama's had been traded for a full suit of Black Wing armour, and she stood with a sword raised above her head. Her eyes burned angrily, though her blush was still quite apparent. She towered over Cana threateningly. "I'm not talking anymore," she repeated slowly, punctuating each individual syllable. Lucy gulped, before shooting a Cana a warning look.
The brunette sighed. "Fine, fine, I guess we'll leave you alone for now, Miss Temperamental. Well, that only leaves Lucy, doesn't it?"
Lucy took a deep breath, and Erza took her place back in the circle, still in her armour. She casually picked up her slice of cake, and took a bite. She looked over to Lucy, and the blonde mage felt the weight of six pairs of eyes on her.
"Uh…" she murmured, unsure what to say. "What?"
"What do you mean, 'what'? Ever since you two came back from that mission at White Shore, you've been much closer. It's pretty obvious that something happened. So just spill already; what's with you two?"
Lucy took a deep breath. "Well… Natsu's my boyfriend now," she blurted, and a symphony of gasps and questions erupted around her.
"What?! Seriously?!" called Bisca.
"Oh my gods!" Levy cried
"It's about damn time!" Cana grinned
"Ha! Gray owes me one hundred jewels!" Mira said gleefully
"I see," Erza mused.
"Juvia doesn't have a love rival anymore?" Juvia asked, baffled.
Lucy smiled, and gave a brief rendition of her adventure in White Shore. She explained about the shared cabin, the fight with Redclaw, and their final night before the show down with Mr Breichs.
"So, we're a couple now," she finished, smiling softly. "I didn't say anything about it, since I thought he'd want to announce it, but yeah, we're together."
"Finally! Something juicy!" Cana howled. "Excellent! So tell me, what have you done with him? Did you have sex? Natsu seems pretty clueless about that type of stuff, but you never know…"
No, you really don't, Lucy thought to herself. The blonde smiled. "I'm giving any details. But, yeah, we've messed around."
Cana breathed through her teeth. "Oh fine! I guess I'll take what I can get."
"You know, Cana, you've been so busy interrogating us, you've failed mention anything about your own romantic endeavours," Levy reminded, giving her and evil grin similar to Cana's own.
Cana rolled her eyes. "My only love affair is with a good drink, now, what do you say we watch a movie or something?"
The girls ended up watching When Harry Met Sally, and drifting off to sleep one by one. As Lucy was sucked deeper into the realm of dreams, she couldn't help but smile, knowing that her friends, though crazy at times, were the best she could ever ask for.
BAM! It's finally here! A girls night chapter that I have been promising for way too long...
Sorry about the wait, but here you go. Believe me, I will have Chapter three up a lot faster, I swear. Pinky promise.
The next chapter will be... Date Night!
Please, leave opinions, comments and feedback-type stuff. It's always good to know what people like and don't like, since it will help improve future uploads.
Thanks for reading!
Love, Maddie