Sweetheart

77

Lucy had called her early the next day right after she had dropped Natsu off at his apartment. Aina answered her call, jumping on the bed and holding the phone in front of her. Moments later, Lucy's face appeared wearing a sly smile.

"So? How did it go?"

"It didn't."

"What do you mean?"

"I couldn't do it. I feel like such an idiot! I tried so hard and I still couldn't do it."

"Honestly, I kinda knew this was gonna happen."

"What does that mean?"

"Aina, you were freaking out and you couldn't think straight. You didn't sleep, you barely ate, and Rogue said you almost fed the birds a full seed meal."

Aina held her head in her hand and moaned, saying that she was pretty sure Natsu was pissed.

"Seriously? He didn't push you right?" Lucy tested, worried.

"No not at all. He was actually the one to say that we weren't gonna do anything because I guess I gave off an aura or something and--"

"Yeah I have no doubts about that."

"Anyway," Aina said, ignoring her friend's interruption, "he was actually really sweet and patient, but I just don't want him to hate me for wasting his time."

"Think about it, A. If he decided to just go through with it anyway, then he would just be a bad guy. At least now you know that he's not completely selfish. Having a girl say no to him is good for him."

The brunette slowly nodded and sighed loudly.

"Do you think he's like that all the time with girls?" Aina blurted.

"Huh? Patient? Probably not. He's used to girls basically throwing themselves at him. He usually doesn't really have to try."

"...Yeah. You're right."

Lucy had realized that she had brought on Aina's self-doubt and cursed. She quickly explained that she was obviously not just another girl if he was willing to wait as long as he had. Her argument was the same thing they were talking about, saying that he probably would've just dropped any of the other girls if they weren't interested in sleeping with him.

"We didn't do much, but I can definitely see how much experience he has."

"Don't think of those things, A. You're gonna throw yourself into a hole if you keep thinking about that."

"But it's true. He's so used to it and I'm just...me."

------------

Aina heard the front door open, and she had quickly hopped off her bed and rushed down the stairs, her loud footsteps heard through the house. She stopped short just before she crashed into her mother.

"Be careful, Aina. You might slip and fall with those socks on."

"I have to talk to you."

"Oh?" Kelia asked as she smiled mischievously. "Am I gonna get the gossip?"

"Uh, no. I, uh, we didn't."

"And now you're questioning yourself, right?"

Aina nodded, and she was led over to the couch and asked to sit down with her mother. They started to talk about what went on, and Kelia reassured her that there was nothing wrong with what she did (or didn't) do. Aina expressed her concerns about how it would affect their relationship, and Kelia didn't have an exact answer, but she gave advice.