prompt fifty eight: fake

rate: T for Teens and Up

fifty eight out of one hundred.

Introducing yet another plot for my kiddos.

"The faking of feelings is a sin against the imagination." —Seamus Heaney

x

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Desperate times call for desperate measures and while Lucy wouldn't consider herself desperate for anything of any value, this was something she had to deem as a bit important.

Granted, she was an adult now and not in high school getting bullied and singled out by the mean girls of her school, she still felt it was her right of passage to act this way because now she wasn't the ugly duckling. Her braces were long gone, she grew her hair out, she figured out how to do make up and dress herself. She would consider herself a catch if her many bachelors didn't say so herself.

"Okay… so…" Natsu's voice trailed off into a confusing tone, his brows furrowed. "You want me to pretend to be your boyfriend at your high school reunion to basically show your high school bullies you're doing well for yourself."

When he repeated it back to her, out loud, it made her cringe at how it sounded.

"Umm.. yes?" Her voice came out in a squeak and the way Natsu was looking at her made her wish she didn't say anything at all.

This handsome hunk of a man, who happened to be her next door neighbor and best friend for the last twelve years, was the one person she went to for everything. He has been her rock and partner since they were just teens starting high school. While she had gone to an all-girls private school right down the street from the public high school in her town, her and Natsu had crossed paths many times and eventually formed a friendship through the friends they shared. Soon it had turned into them all hanging out and Natsu walking her home and becoming her best friend.

At first she thought he could be a potential partner, but they have never crossed the line of friends. Her crush on her best friend always came and went, leaving her high and dry most of the time but she had never dared to do something about it. He was her best friend and she was his, both of them enjoying one another in ways that were neither sexual nor romantic.

She didn't know how it happened but the more time they spent, the more they clicked and she wouldn't trade it for the world. She had lots of love for this fiery pink-haired man who had an obsession with anything: fire, food, and cats.

It also helped that he was a firefighter with the body of a god and a grin so lethal it could burn the panties off women but yeah, just friends.

"Alright, count me in." He soon said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders and resuming his task of watching his show. He threw a handful of popcorn into his mouth and Lucy scowled, grabbing at the bowl to place it on the coffee table. "Hey! I was eating that!"

"Natsu, focus!" She snapped her fingers making him frown and lean back into the sofa. "This is important. Did you hear anything I said?"

"Yes, I literally repeated it back to you."

"No! I mean—!" She let out a groan, throwing her head back.

"What gives? I said yes."

"Natsu, you don't understand." She came over to sit down right beside him, her eyes wide and crazy. "These girls are not just regular mean girls. They made my life a living hell back then. I went to an all-girls catholic school and they bullied me relentlessly and they voted me to be 'most likely to be a cat lady' back then!"

"Well… you kind of are, aren't ya?" He quirked a brow at her, his eyes following his odd colored cat that now jumped up on his coffee table to investigate the bowl of popcorn. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"I am not a cat lady!" She shireked as Natsu rubbed at his arm, giving her a pout. "Do you even know what that means?!"

"You take care of Happy all the time! You're his mom!"

"That doesn't make me a cat lady and he's not mine!"

Natsu gasped loudly, reeling back into the couch with his hand pressed against his chest. "How could you say that?! He's right there!" He pointed at Happy who was pawing at the bowl of popcorn.

"Natsu! Focus!"

"Okay so what more do you want from me? I already said yes!"

"I need you to play the part of a loving boyfriend. God knows how terrible of a liar you are."

The way Natsu furrowed his brows made her huff and give him a questioning look. He rolled his eyes before reaching for the bowl of popcorn once more, dragging it to his lap as he tossed a couple of curdles into his mouth.

"I'll have you know, I am a great loving boyfriend."

"Tell that to your last girlfriend who ran out of your place crying her eyes out."

"That wasn't my fault!" He nearly threw the bowl of popcorn in his lap on the ground as he jumped up. "All I said was that I didn't like her new haircut! She looked like that short little king from Shrek."

Sometimes Lucy felt like her best friend wasn't really twenty-seven years old but more so still a child trapped inside of an adult body.

"And why are you even going to this reunion if you're so worried about everyone else? Just don't go."

"I can't. I'm part of the planning committee."

"Well, why'd ya go and do that?"

"Levy…" Is all she had to say for the rosy-haired fireman to nod and take that as his answer.

Levy was one persistent threat and even in that five-foot-one body of hers, she was not a force to be reckoned with. If she could tame and date someone as brooding and aggressive as Gajeel, she was the only person who could claim she was a force of steel.

"So please, please, please! I need you to help me, please!"

"I already said yes, woman, back off!" Natsu guarded his popcorn on his lap, trying to shield himself and his treat away from the flailing blonde.

"You saying yes and then acting the part are two different things!"

"You said to be a loving boyfriend and that's all I gotta do, right?"

"Right." She agreed as he scowled at her.

"Then that's what I'll do, okay? When is this thing?"

"Next weekend."

The flat look Natsu gave her made her want to explode. Sure, she gave him very limited time to prepare for this and even have him do something to act like her boyfriend but if those girls from her school found out that she was still single and had nothing going for her, they would tear her to pieces. And she wouldn't be able to survive even with Levy there to help.

She thought she had put all this behind her but she guessed wrong. She didn't just want to show these girls she did well for herself and she wasn't that timid ugly duckling in high school anymore but she also wanted to bring along a little arm candy that was successful.

Besides, everyone at her suffocating all-girls catholic private school believed marriage, money, and looks was the path to success. And right now, she only had looks going for her.

Especially since everyone would know her father had run his business down to the ground and he had lost his entire fortune nearly half a decade ago.

It didn't affect her so much since she had left that life of hers back when she had moved away to college and her relationship with Jude wasn't the best.

But this gave them more leverage on her since she wasn't the rich pristine heiress anymore of the massive Heartfillia fortune but instead just some regular person in society that had to work for their money. It wasn't something that bothered her since she always planned on taking her own route but now as she was cornered and realized that she wouldn't make her own high school reunion without blowing her brains out, she had to come up with some plan.

And that plan would work perfectly if only her fake loving boyfriend wasn't such a slob and terrible liar.

As she eyed her best friend who was making a mess by throwing popcorn into the air to try and catch them in his mouth, she could only pray to the stars that this would work.

X

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tbc