A/N Soooooo… *Laughs nervously* How are you guys doing? *Hides behind upturned table* Please don't shoot! I know I said I'd be able to update… Wow, was that really 3 whole months ago? Ha… Ha… About that... Well… I lied. Yeah. But hey! At least it's not a year this time! So here's the next chapter! I cut it off a little earlier than I planned, but I figured you guys deserved an update. All three of you who reviewed… :'( I guess that teaches me not to drop off the face of FF, if nothing else did. Thanks to those of you who did review! I really do appreciate it! I'm not going to reply to you here other than to say thanks, but for the third time, thank you so much! Anyways, without further ado, here is the next fantastic(?) installment of the most magicalest story ever! And yes, I did just make up a new word.

Previously on WMIBK

I immediately regretted my decision to hold his hand as the entire room seemed to turn toward us and stare.

I felt my face redden and turn hot as everyone stared at the two of us and our entwined hands. The silence was deafening; you could've heard a pin drop. But it didn't last very long, though. Everyone started to talk over one another.

Natsu looked bewildered, and a bit embarrassed, but he didn't say anything as his grip on my hand tightened. My face reddened further.

Loke looked at Natsu, then at me."Ohhh… That's why you didn't want me to buy you a drink." He turned to me and smirked. "Well, princess, any time you want to ditch the dunce and be with me, know that I am perfectly open for you."

"We're not-" I said, protesting.

But I was cut off by the white-haired woman. "What's your name?"

"L-Lucy…" I said, bewildered and extremely embarrassed at all the attention.

She squealed excitedly (not to mention loudly), and started bouncing around happily. "NALU!"

"Na what?" At this point I was painfully confused and I just wanted to find a nice hole to crawl into and let myself die there.

My question went unanswered, because Gray spoke. "So you two are a thing?" He whistled. "I never thought I'd see the day, flame brain." He glanced at me appraisingly, but not belittling in any way. "And she's quite a catch."

I literally almost died right there. "It's not-"

And then there was a loud bang. Everyone stopped talking and turned towards the sound, startled.

The red-haired scary woman from earlier, Erza, was standing. She had apparently hit one of the tables, hard. Somehow, she had gotten ahold of a new pair of glasses, and she adjusted them, causing a flash of light to hit my eyes. I squinted in discomfort.

"Natsu," she said in an accusatory tone.

He cringed and spoke for the first time since this fiasco started. "E-Erza…?"

"Why have you caused such a ruckus?"

"But I didn't-" he tried to protest.

She cut him off. "Yes, you did." She turned and studied me intently. "Who is this?"

I squirmed under her intense gaze, feeling extremely uncomfortable. "My name is Lucy Heartfilia," I said hesitantly.

She nodded slowly. "Well, she is very pretty." She folded her arms. "I'm proud of you, Natsu."

He shook his head, looking terrified. "I swear, it wasn't-" Then he stopped, his terror turning to confusion. "Wait, what?"

Erza put her fingers to her chin as if thinking, ignoring him completely.. "But I never thought you'd be bringing a girl here to meet our family so soon."

Natsu's confusion only increased. "What are you talking about?"

Here, I felt the need to interject. "You idiot! She thinks I'm your girlfriend!"

Now, I'll never understand how, but he managed to look even more confused. "Aren't you, though?" His look changed to one of concern. "We are friends, aren't we?"

My face made contact with my palm with a loud smacking sound. "You're hopeless."

Gray shook his head, apparently agreeing with me. "C'mere a minute, flame face." He took Natsu's arm and pulled him a little ways away from the crowd.

"You want to fight, ice princess?" Natsu said, immediately getting into a fighting position. "I'm getting fired up now!"

Rolling his eyes, Gray replied with a, "No." He took Natsu a little further away and whispered in his ear for a few seconds.

So slowly that it was painful for anyone watching, it dawned on the simpleton. I saw his eyes widen and I think he blushed, but I wasn't sure. He glanced at me, eyes still wide, and quickly looked away.

I bit my lip. I hope this doesn't affect our relationship… I was just getting used to being friends…

Erza shook her head and clapped her hands sharply. "Come on, people, we're losing time! The Master will be here soon, and we need to be set up before then!"

Most people groaned, but everyone dispersed to get to work on their different tasks. Gray was dragged into hanging some streamers from the walls by a young woman with shoulder length blue hair. He looked very uncomfortable, because the blue-haired woman wouldn't let go of his arm, which only impeded both of their abilities to work.

Erza turned to Natsu. "Natsu, come with me."

"Aye, sir!" he said, jumping to attention. She took his arm and dragged him to a corner of the room. He glanced at me over his shoulder, mouthing the words, "Help me!"

I shrugged helplessly, waving as he walked away.

I awkwardly stood where the two had left me. I hadn't been assigned anything, since I didn't work there. After a few seconds, I sighed and moved over to the bar, sitting down on one of the stools.

The white-haired woman from earlier popped up behind the bar, grinning. "Hi! My name is Mirajane Strauss, but my friends all call me Mira."

I smiled, but felt a sudden foreboding nervousness. "Lucy Heartfilia. I guess my friends just call me Lucy."

Mira's grin widened mischievously. "So, Lucy, what's it like to be Natsu Dragneel's girlfriend?"

I groaned, hitting my head on the bar in front of me. "I'm not his girlfriend!"

She pouted. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Aww… I was hoping he finally found someone." She put her hand up and cupped it, preventing everyone from hearing. "In case you hadn't noticed, he's extremely childish and more than a little dense."

I sighed. "Well, you've got that right. And he's got an appetite like a starving dragon."

Mira raised an eyebrow. "I wonder how that came up." Her eyes got little stars in them again. "Did you invite him over for a meal?!"

"Actually, I just met him yesterday," I said, shaking my head. "Twice."

Mira propped her arms on the bar and rested her chin in her hands, looking at me attentively. "How did you two meet? I need all the details!"

"Well…" I said, gathering my thoughts. "I work at Burger King, and he came in yesterday for lunch. I was at the counter, and he ordered ten sandwiches and two large fries. I couldn't believe it!"

She nodded sagely. "And he was eating light, apparently."

I shook my head. "He's a pig. He tried to raid my fridge this morning, right after he had breakfast."

Her eyes widened. "He's been at your house?!" She took my shoulders and held them tightly. "Did he spend the night?! Is that why you're here?!"

I blushed violently. "No! Why would you say that?!"

"Oh…" She looked disappointed, but she let go of me.

With a shake of my head to get that thought out of my brain, I continued. "Anyways, we had a short conversation, and I told him my name. But before he told me his, he looked at the clock and took off. I thought that was the end of it. So, I got off my shift at four. On the way back home, I stopped at Wal-mart to pick up some stuff."

"Hey, that's about when I sent Natsu to get the new mic cord!" Mira said, seeing where my story was going.

I nodded. "He snuck up on me while I was in line to check out. We talked for a minute, and then it was my turn to pay. I paid for my stuff, but…" I trailed off, frowning.

"But?" she prompted expectantly.

"But I didn't notice him put the cord in with my things. So I paid for it, along with all of the things I meant to pay for." I felt my frown deepen. "He more than doubled the money I paid."

Mira groaned. "I'm sorry, Lucy. I'll pay you back."

I shook my head, waving her off. "Nah, I'll just hound the idiot until he pays me back."

"So what happened after you paid for the cord?" she asked.

"Well, I noticed as soon as he followed me away from the register without paying. And so I chased him out the door and around the parking lot."

Mira raised her eyebrows. "Really?" she asked incredulously. "You tried to chase him down?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"Did you catch him?"

With a sigh, I shook my head. "No. He's way too fast. I'm not out of shape by any means, but he's insanely fit."

Nodding, she rolled her eyes. "That's the truth. Natsu spends almost all of his free time training his body."

I thought for a second, then decided to omit the cloud scene. It was more than a little embarrassing, and I didn't want her to look at it too hard. "After that, we exchanged phone numbers and parted ways."

Mira's eyes widened in shock. "Wait. He gave you his phone number?"

"Yeah," I said, surprised at her reaction. "He absolutely insisted. Said he 'didn't want to trust Lady Luck to bring us together again,' or something equally ridiculous." I waved it off with my hand.

The older woman's mouth dropped open. "But… Natsu never gives his phone number out, especially not to girls he just met."

I raised my eyebrows. "That can't be true."

She nodded fervently. "It is! I had to wear him down for two months before he gave it to me, and I wanted it purely for work purposes!"

I felt my eyebrows climb higher. "Really?"

She nodded again, sagely this time. "Really. Then a mischievous, almost evil, grin spread across her face. "You know what this means, don't you?"

I shook my head slowly. Suddenly my mouth was too dry to speak.

Mira leaned in close. "He must like you. A lot." She spoke quietly, as if she spoke any louder, it would break some spell.

I immediately felt blood rush to my face as I turned bright red. "Wh-what? No way!" I said, shooting her suggestion out of the sky before either of us could give it any more thought.

She pouted and moved her face back to it's original position. "Why not? It could happen!"

"No," I said, shaking my head as my face turned back to normal. "I just met him, and I already know that he's waaaay too dense to ever like anyone in more than a friend way."

"I guess you might be right," she said with a sigh. "I guess you can't blame me for trying, though, right?"

I narrowed my eyes at her. "If you're trying to set me up with that idiot, you can forget it. He woke me up at six this morning to drag me here because he-" I cut myself off, remember that he hadn't wanted Erza to know. I bit my lip, wondering if I should tell Mira.

"Because he got in a car crash, right?" She giggled as I raised my eyebrows at her. "I was one of the people he called for a ride. It's fine. I won't tell Erza."

Suddenly, Natsu popped up next to me. "Thanks, Mira! I really appreciate it."

I jumped six feet in the air. Holy- Natsu! Don't sneak up on people like that!"

"Oh, sorry, Luce!" he said, his eyes wide. "I thought you saw me!"

I facepalmed. "Of course I didn't, you idiot! I was trying to have a conversation!"

He frowned, looking ridiculously like a lost puppy. "I said I was sorry, Lucy."

I bit my lip at his troubled expression, then sighed. "It's fine. Just don't make it a habit, okay?"

"Okay!" he said, his face immediately brightening.

Mira watched this exchange with amusement sparkling in her eyes. I noticed and stuck my tongue out at her, blushing slightly.

She muffled a laugh behind her hand expertly. "So, Natsu, how'd you manage to get away from Erza? I'm surprised you survived the experience."

Natsu frowned. "I'm not sure how I did, honestly. I told her I wanted to talk to Lucy, and she just let me go."

Mira squealed and ran off. I'm really not sure why… But that left me alone with Natsu, and I immediately felt extremely nervous.

"Ummm…" I gripped my arm nervously. "What did you want to talk about, Natsu?"

He grinned at me. "I was wondering if maybe you'd help me out with something."

A/N So, thanks for reading and all that junk. Hope you liked it. Leave a review maybe? Laters! (^_^)/