Levy clutched the warm cup of tea in her hands like a lifeline.
"It just doesn't make sense," Lucy's voice wafted from across the table that paralleled the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room of Natsu's high rise downtown apartment. "Do you really think he's seeing someone else?"
Levy's stomach turned and she clutched her cup tighter.
She turned her gaze out the clear glass windows at the bright lights of the city below. She could see all the way to the dark waters of the East Bay that cradled the narrow peninsula of Magnolia. An endless parade of shipping barges meandered along the coastline.
It felt like she was drowning, trapped below the surface looking up at her normal life through a distorted lens. How did she get here? What happened to the girl who put work before everything else? Now she was, what? Pining over a boy? The future of her career, let alone her reputation, hung on the outcome of this case. They had the tapes, they had the documents Levy had stolen. But now it all depended on Gajeel being level headed and not doing anything rash or stupid. That seemed like an unlikely possibility.
"I need you", the message on Gajeel's phone had said. "Stay with me tonight?"
The two lines of text had lit up Gajeel's phone in quick succession. Two lines of words so simple and plain Levy could have spelled them by the time she was six. Two lines of text that cut deep across the tender surface of Levy's heart.
"Gajeel just doesn't so like the type to cheat," Lucy continued.
I need you.
"It's not cheating if you're not really a couple." Levy's voice was quiet, hoarse from the crying she had done. Crying in the cab as it wove its way downtown. In the elevator as it ascended toward the uppermost floor. In Lucy's arms as her friend had hugged her, comforting her in the way only a best friend can seem to do.
"But still," Lucy said pensively, "You were seeing each other." The blonde sat wrapped in a pink terry cloth robe that hit low on her thighs. She had one knee bent, clutched to her chest. Her free hand mindlessly toyed with the string of the earl grey teabag. Tousled locks fell from a messy knot at the crown of her head. Even though the girl had been pulled from her bed at four in the morning she still looked amazing. Levy had called her from the cab and without a beat of hesitation Lucy had insisted she head straight over.
"When he worked at the Blue Kitten he seemed so... protective," Lucy mused. "Sure, he was mostly tall, dark, and brooding in a corner. He was a bouncer, that was kinda his gig. But there was something about him that made me think he wasn't the kind of guy that would hurt someone."
Levy raised an arched brown at her friend.
Lucy sighed with a laugh at herself. "Well yeah, he looked dangerous as hell," she laughed. "But like I said, he always seemed really protective of the girls. He helped Natsu get all of us out of that hell hole. I just wouldn't have thought he would intentionally hurt someone he cared about."
"Gajeel doesn't care about anyone," Levy said flatly and turned her gaze back to the skyline.
I need you
Stay with me tonight
"He wasn't my boyfriend, and he made it pretty clear he didn't want to be my boyfriend. I just fooled myself into seeing what I wanted to see."
Levy could see Lucy's sad smile reflected in the windowpane.
"Maybe it's not what it sounded like."
I need you
Levy ignored her friend's half-heartedly optimistic lament and took a sip of her cooling tea. Her chest hurt. Her heart felt like an open wound, and she'd done it to herself. Gajeel had said he wasn't a relationship guy. He'd said that he would hurt her. He hadn't been lying about that.
And now Levy had to face him in an hour. She'd have to work in that cramped little van with him as if nothing had happened. As if nothing had changed.
But everything had changed.
Stay with me tonight
They had been the words he'd spoken to her just moments before the same line of text had flashed across the screen of his phone.
Stay with me tonight
I need you
"You guys know it's, like, four-something in the morning right?" Natsu's voice, low and still gruff from sleep, lamented from across the room. Levy turned in her chair as he strolled out from the bedroom. "Normal people don't get up this early. The only people up right now are strippers just clocking out for the night."
Natsu chuckled at himself then let out a strenuous yawn and lifted his arms high in long stretch. The muscles of his bare chest flexed as he stretched, a pair of grey sweats were slung low on his hips. Levy looked away feeling suddenly bashful. She spent enough time in this apartment to know Natsu wasn't too worried about modesty. But she wasn't used to looking at a friend she'd known for years and realizing she was checking out his abs.
"As a former dancer I take great offense to that." Lucy quipped with a feigned pout.
"As a former customer I appreciate all your hard work." Natsu's mouth stretched in a wide, wicked smile that made Levy glance back at her tea again.
Lucy gave an exasperated laugh but Levy could see in the girl's eyes how much love she felt form him.
"Hey Levy," Natsu greeted her as he made a b-line for the coffee pot. He poured a cup and turned toward them, leaning his elbows the long counter. "So why are you up so early? You worked pretty late last night. You were so quiet on the conference call I thought maybe you'd fallen asleep," he laughed and took a sip.
"I couldn't sleep," Levy said slumping back in her chair and rubbing her hands over her face. She wouldn't have been able to sleep even if she had tried.
"She's having an issue with Gajeel," Lucy blurted out.
"Hey!" Levy snapped as her.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "You know I would have told him the moment you walked out the door anyway."
Levy sighed in exasperation. "I know, but still, that's the polite way to do it."
"Wouldn't have mattered," Natsu said after another long gulp. "Your mascara is running down your face, Lucy made you earl grey tea rather than the usual lemon and honey, you're still wearing your fancy little dress there, you never wear heels," he gestured toward the shoes sitting near the table, "and if that's not proof enough the problem was romantic in nature, there's also the fact that you totally have sex hair going on right now."
Levy's jaw dropped and her cheeks went hot.
"Natsu!" Lucy scolded, much more serious than she had done earlier. The girl glanced back at Levy and paused in thought. "Actually he's kinda right Levy, you do totally have sex hair."
Levy franticly began combing through her hair with her fingers. "I do not," she shot back, a little too late. She grimaced.
"I'm never going to be able to face him. I can't be alone with him right now."
"I can come along," Natsu said between mouthfuls of dry ceareal.
Levy looked over at him blankly. "What good would that do?"
"You know, moral support and all that good stuff."
Levy laughed, relief swelling in her chest from the gesture. "Moral support?"
"Yeah," Natsu said with a nod and a determined smile. "Plus, he's not going to be a dick if I'm there."
Levy and Lucy both flashed him the same incredulous stare.
"Well, he's not going to be a dick to you," he laughed and brushed his fingers through his hair almost bashfully. The girls both laughed.
"But Levy," Lucy said somberly turning back to her friend, "you need to talk to him eventually, you know?"
"I know," Levy sighed, "just not today."
"Not today," Lucy repeated with a gentle smile.